I bit off a bit more than I could chew and ordered a ton of plants via mailorder this year to plant in my new orchard. I thought I'd share my thoughts with everyone here in case you're considering ordering for the fall or next year:
Raintree: Very nice bareroot trees, including a huge Saijo persimmon, nice bareroot raspberries and very nice shipova trees. Some of the potted material (roses) was very small for the price. The fig I ordered was tall but didn't have any low branching that I'd prefer. I think this is just a consequence of how they grow. I'd definitely pay attention to the sizes listed on their website and I'd tend to order their bareroot material over the potted.
Stark Bros: Very nice potted pawpaws, figs, and persimmons, all in 9" band pots. Pecan was a little small for the price but still nice. Their stock seems sturdy and of very high quality and very well-packaged. The grafts are very nice. I think this is the largest nursery I ordered from, and therefore I was skeptical. If only their selection was as diverse as Raintree. I did encounter an issue with placing an order for a couple items and having it dropped due to being out of stock. I was assured this isn't the usual case.
One Green World: Okay trees and bareroot raspberries. The raspberries had already begun to leaf out but seem to recovering okay. Maybe only lost one or two. Their pawpaws arrived in 9" tall tree pots actively growing and were much delayed from the original scheduled ship date. One has defoliated but the others are doing okay. I'd hesitate to order from then again after the delays and I'd rather they have shipped the pawpaws dormant rather than growing out the first flush to claim they met the size requirements. The figs were in different sized pots, one pot was about a half gallon or less, the others were in 1 gallon trade pots. All were grown as a single trunk. I'd hesitate to order from here again even though the majority of the plants are living.
Hidden Springs: Very nice trees but rather small, but arrived in good condition and everything leafed out. Even the bareroot pawpaws (container-grown) seem to be nearly as healthy and vigorous as the potted trees. Time will tell, as I've been warned in the past about bareroot pawpaws.
Just Fruits and Exotics: Expensive trees but well-established (2-3 gallon) with good root systems. Figs were healthy and vigorous. Asian persimmons were also healthy and have leafed out well. Shipping was also expensive. I'd use them again if I were to get more Asian persimmons or figs (they have a good variety).
Petals from the Past: Very nicely rooted figs. Great prices and the most reasonable shipping I encountered. Just wish they had more varieties of figs (currently have 11)! Very friendly on the phone.
Any other experiences anyone would like to share?