Herbs for herbal remedies - Growing or wildharvesting your own vs mail-order

Here is the difference I see in what I've grown in my garden or wild harvested and what I get through mail-order. Mine are on the left, mail-order is on the right:

Calendula:

Goldenrod:

I prefer my own. I mean, just look at the goldenrod. With the mail-order you get stems - big ones from the looks of it - all shredded up with the flowers and leaves.

When I make goldenrod infused oil, I only use the flowering tops. All I have left of what I harvested from last fall is what you see in the picture, so I mail-ordered some to get me through to this fall when I can harvest some more. I'm a little nervous about using the mail-order now. I'm not sure how the oil will turn out.

I'm glad I've planned a big garden this year full of lots of different herbs. I'm really looking forward to using only my own homegrown or wild harvested plants.