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Welcome, Fellow Plant-Nerds!
We're passionate about rare and amazing plants, and our family loves providing you, our plant-y friends, with tropical rarities you'll never find in your neighborhood garden center or big-box store.
Our plants are carefully grown with the goal of giving our customers the very best value, and we're happy to provide "service after the sale" with care advice, answering your questions, and helping find the perfect next plant for your collection!
Come check out our ever-changing selection of unique plants!
Thanks to all our awesome in-person customers for your patience, as we're bouncing back from some recent health
problems! So many of you have offered prayers and support, and we're happy to say, Steve is doing well and getting his hands dirty daily with propagation of new rare plants.
We're in the process of clearing and resetting the benches for lots of new items from our own in-house production,
as well as special shipments from our grower-partners, following weeks of shipping challenges due to the ongoing
heatwave in the Southeast.
We've just dropped some amazing new plants, with many coming soon. Included in the latest drop are:
LOTS of new Alocasias, including gorgeous 6" 'Frydek' variegated, Jacklyn, Bambino, and more!
New Plant-Themed Shirts, Mugs, etc. New Nepenthes & other Carnivores ST Proprietary Soil Blends African Violets, including new Variegated Ones!
Orchid Restocks Monstera 'Thai Constellation". 4" & 6"
New Rhizomatous & Rex Begonias Exotic Pipers & Rare Peperomias
New Hoya varieties Aglaonemas, Dieffenbachias, Goeppertia/Calathea Varietes
Rare Philodendrons including 4" joepii, Jose Buono variegated, Orange Marmelade, Naomi, Etc.
COME VISIT US SATURDAYS FOR THE BEST SELECTION!!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Find the answers here
Have a question? Want to learn more about our store and policies?
We’ve compiled a list of some of the most popular questions, accompanied by our thorough answers.
Don't see the answer to your question? Message, email, or call us!
Part of our advantage as a family-based, small business is that we LOVE talking to customers, and we're always glad to answer
questions, offer advice about choosing plants that will thrive for you, help you find the best shipping rate, or locate that
ultimate rare plant you've been seeking!
Message from our site, or:
specialtytropicals@gmail.com
(828) 527-6113
(If you don't reach us, please leave a message or send a text--we're probably up to our elbows in plants or helping another customer!)
WHAT PAYMENT METHODS DO YOU ACCEPT?
Our site accepts all major credit cards, ApplePay, and other options. Your information is stored securely and is never accessible to us or to anyone else. vFor on-site sales (by appointment only), we take cards or cash.
WHAT ABOUT SHIPPING COSTS AND TIMES?
Due to recent rate changes, we're finding that USPS may not be the most economical option for some customers. The default shipping price you'll see on your order will change if you select a different option during checkout. Look at the available options and choose the one best-suited for your needs.
If your order includes several plants, please feel free to contact us. We'll be happy to figure out the most efficient packaging and work out the most economical rate to ship your order. As always, delivery within the U.S. is FREE on orders totaling $100 or more in merchandise.
Please note: FedEx will not delivery to post office box addresses, only residential or business locations.
HOW SOON WILL MY ORDER BE SHIPPED OUT?
Experience has shown that plants shipped late in the week may end up sitting in an uncontrolled environment over the weekend, often resulting in wilted or dead plants. For this reason, we normally ship on Mon-Tue-Wed only. Once your order is received, it will be pulled and packaged and leave our location on the next regular shipping day (if you order Saturday, for example, your shipment will go out on Monday.)
We've developed a pretty smooth system for packing and shipping, but we are a family-based business. In the rare event that your order is delayed a day or more, we will notify you using the email provided with your order.
WHAT DO I DO WHEN MY ORDER ARRIVES?
Orders of live plants come with instructions for unpacking and acclimating your new specimens, as well as care instructions and a copy of your order. Please be sure to open the clear plastic envelope on the OUTSIDE of the package, the one that covers the shipping label!
WILL THE PLANTS I RECEIVE LOOK JUST LIKE THE PHOTOS ONLINE?
Item descriptions on our site may include both photos of mature plants and of the plants we're currently shipping. Please note: photos labeled "AS SHIPPED" are representative of the actual ones we'll send you. If a plant is labeled "SPECIMEN", that means that the plant in the photograph is the EXACT one you will receive! ("SPECIMEN" for us indicates that there is a single plant for sale, which is common with some of our Orchids and Nepenthes.). If you have any doubt, please contact us and we'll be more than happy to send you some photos of the plants we're shipping right now!