The scoop on 'Fork & Spade (Scenic Nursery)'

I just called Scenic Nursery at the number someone mentioned below. They indeed ran the Fork and Spade operation and it has been shut down permanently. I had a tree last year that didn't grow and when I asked for a replacement, they said they are not giving replacements since they are out of that business. They did offer a refund.

So, Fork and Spade is gone.

Scott

I ordered a small garden hand fork from Fork & Spade on January 16. I got an EMail receipt immediately. When I had not received the order within 3 weeks, I replied to their receipt to check the status of the order.

Instead of reaching Fork & Spade, I reached an outfit called Hurricane Electric. After several EMail exchanges, this is the information I got from Alex at HE:

"Looks like they are in the process of moving their domain's hosting to us. Best bet is to contact them directly with their public contact information found in the WHOIS database. You can perform WHOIS queries from pretty much any domain registrar like register.com or netsol.com."

Obviously, not very helpful.

I am worried about this because I ordered over the internet, and used a credit card. I am watching my credit card bills very carefully to make sure things are OK.

I gather from your comment listing that my experience is not unique. I would never order anything from Fork & Spade again. I just hope this order doesn't turn into a nightmare!

mhutch

I visited this nursery two days ago. They are opened and are doing business. Their local phone number is working. It's (209)-523-7994. I purchased 100 Ozark Beauty strawberry plants for $20. Plants are doing great for today. They also sell nice looking raspberry, blueberry plants, fruit trees and ornamental plants.
In the local phone book they are listed as Scenic Nursery.

All of the roses I purchased last year from Fork & Spade are thriving here in Riverside, CA.

So far my dealings with this company have been positive overall. The trees are of very good size. I ordered five trees, late in the season at clearance prices, and three did not survive. However the two that did survive are very healthy and vigorous. The way I see it, if a company makes good on a refund it makes up for any unforseen problems with nursery stock. I have already received a refund for one of the trees (the first one I reported), though not for the other two. I will update this report later.

I will not order from them again.
I just can't believe Fork & Space send me mold & rotted can roses. I planted them and they still survive poorly. :(

I ordered 9 roses. Even though they were on-sale. But with shipping and handling it costs me over $100. With this price, I can get 6 own-root rose from RU which I just did. They came very healthy and took off.

Ordered 5 bare root roses. Two are potted and blooming and lovely.

The third never broke dormancy. I discovered today the 4th is a different rose. (White instead of peach) Have contacted the company to ask if they might know what is it and if they had have other inquiries into this 'mismarked' Alpine Sunset rose... 5th rose is growing but not yet bloomed...

For a $96.00 order - not too thrilled...

DECOBUG

I hate doing this...
But two bad orders in a row....AND a promised replacement never received...
First order, missing bare-root plants...those that I did receive had mold and white leaves/budding (in the boxe too long). Contacted them and was told replacements would be sent out.
Placed second order before replacements arrived (BIG mistake on my part)...
Again, missing bare-root stock and again mold, black-spot and bare-roots with white shoots/pale leaves from being a box too long.
Never received replacements from first order...
Was told these were lost and would be re-sent... Still have not received.
Notified company that the second order was short and condition of bare-roots was really BAD!
The company has said they are going to refund my money-but in the meantime it's too late for me to find replacements.
Be aware that if you live OUTSIDE of California, your plants will be stuck in a box, in shipping for 7-10 BUSINESS DAYS-that's a week and a half to TWO weeks or MORE!
I did contact the company and ask that they re-think their shipping method (FedEx ground for PLANTS???)..but they never responded.
It makes me angry-the plants I got looked like they WERE beautiful, healthy, enormous root-stock.... What a waste!! I'm trying to save the plants I received but it's very 'iffy' and time/labor-consuming.
In short, if you don't live in California, be prepared for your plants to spend literally WEEKS in shipping...

Got some of biggest and best roses, blueberries, and raspberries at 1/2 off, end of season sale (end of April, beginning of May, '04.)

Some roses were actually 'tagged' with well-know rose growers' names! Blueberries were in gallon-size containers, several feet high. Raspberries big - 2 year old.

Customer service is wonderful, problems are quickly addressed and rectified, credits back to account are prompt. Customer service people seem to know what will grow locally (in California, specifically foggy, damp, and cool San Francisco).

Can't say enough good things about this company. Am genuinely pleased with all transactions and plant quality. If this experience was any indicater, and if they mantain their professional, caring attitude, they should be placed among the very top plant providers on this site!

URL is: [HYPERLINK@www.forkandspade.com]

I ordered 12 half price bareroot rose bushes at the end of season sale. They took about 2 weeks to arrive and were HUGE. The rootstocks are almost 2 inch diameter. The service was excellent and personal - some of my choices were out of stock and they e-mailed me several times in a day until I had the selection I wanted. When the roses arrived they were already budding out. They have been potted into 5 gal pots for a few days and seem very happy. The eleven roses with shoots have greened up and just carried on sprouting. I also received three blueberry bushes in 6in pots which are healthy, with several 18inch canes per pot, and buds forming. I will definitely use Fork and Spade again.

It is a pleasure to deal with this company. I placed an order with them partly because they carried a plant I wanted, but most of all because I remembered all the good things I read about them here at gardenwatchdog.
I placed an order for 3 roses first, later I kept adding other roses one by one. They were prompt to answer, they were always friendly, prompt and accomodating, not making any fuss about additions.
This week I got my roses. Most of them were superb, some of the size I have never seen before in bare roots. I had a minor problem with one of the roses and they promptly answered that they would replace it.

I can recommend this company to anyone who wants high quality plants, friendly advice and good customer service. The owners want the customers to be happy and they respond to emails, take care of problems personally. So far my best mail order experience. I doubt that I have to change my opinion when I receive the replacement plant.

I was trying to locate a difficult-to-find rose. I was told Fork & Spade had the rose. I e-mailed them and the rose was mailed very quickly. Although it had a little powdery mildew, shipping accounts for that. All roses I have ever received either had PM or blackspot from the container (particularly in hot summer weather). The rose was beautiful and after watering and spraying, it was up and running in no time. When I voiced that to others, I received an E-mail from F&S assuring me that they would refund or replace. I really was happy to know that they had taken note of it, although it was a minor problem and my experience was positive.

I emailed Fork & Spade on Sept 22 in search of a pot grown rose bush that I was having a terrible time finding this time of the year. I'm zone 5 and I needed to get it planted quickly as it's getting cold here. They emailed me back within a couple of HOURS and told me to call them. I placed the order over the phone that evening and they're sooooooooo friendly!! Ordered on a Monday evening and it arrived the following MONDAY morning!! AND WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PLANT!! They had to cut it back a little just to fit it in the box! Huge canes, very well packaged!! I've definately found my new plant source! FORK & SPADE!! WONDERFUL PLANTS AND SERVICE!!

I originally placed a large order with this company in January, then realized some of their trees were not assigned optimal growing zones (and I am in NY, where it is very much colder than CA; I was told they simply didn't know growing zones for some of their varieties), so I cancelled my large order, and that went very smoothly. I decided to order one pear tree from them (one I had wanted available no place else), which was a standard, as I understand most of their fruit trees are, for reasons which they explain on their website. I ordered it both to try out their technique and of course to have the variety and have planted it as though it was a semi-standard, hoping to prune it back to a semi-dwarf size but gain the hardiness of a standard. The tree arrived well-packed, in the timeliest manner, and in great shape, just great. It has been growing beautifully and I would definitely do business with Fork & Spade again, despite the drawback of their not knowing growing zones for all of their products, especially since I am thinking of planting a few standard varieties of antique apple in my orchard for posterity.

I ordered 2 climbing roses from this company and was very pleased with the size. They were the biggest canes and roots I have ever seen come from a mail-order company! In all honesty though, one of the roses was black... not just in spots, but BLACK all over... I didn't have much hope that it would survive, but it has so far. It's still struggling, but I think eventually it will thrive. Shipping was pretty darned slow too.

I was surfing the web looking for pluots and came upon this CA company. I called up and received tremendous and knowledgeable help in ordering three fruit trees, a grape vine, currant and persimmon.

I have ordered from Raintree and didn't think it was possible for another company to compare in terms of quality. However, I was amazed when I saw the sheer thickness of the huge, bare-root fruit trees they shipped....the grape and currant was fine as well.

The trees are doing well and I will definitely order from them again.

I just found this company this winter. They have an excellent selection of bareroot roses. I placed my order in late January and received the roses in late April. They were well packaged and in excellent shape. In early May, they had an end-of-the-season sale, with all roses half-priced. I ordered four more roses, expecting they would be small and a little dried out, but they were just as good quality as the first order I received. The roses are all growing well, and I'll definitely order from this company again.

Finding Fork&Spade was by chance. I was a little scared to order at first. Everything was maked down to about half. (Wow)! was I in for a suprise. The canes were some of the best I have ever ordered, The roots huge. I am so looking forward to planting my roses. I ordered six all together. Also the the packaging was good. I would recomend Fork&Spade. I am looking forward to doing business with them next season.

I ordered 2 fruit trees from them in November 2002 realizing I will not get them until February 2003. I sent 2 follow up e-mailed in 02/03 and got responses back timely. The trees arrived on 3/13/03 in good condition with one tree's roots perpendicular to the trunk. Will see if they will to replace it.

NIce roses! I received my order in time, very satisfied! They had a nice variety too. Will order again!

I ordered some roses from this company last year (A Barbara Streisand, Michelangelo, Teasing Georgia, and Pristine Rose). The roses arrived on-time, and in great condition.

When I had some questions about caring for them, I called and the owner was the one who answered the phone. He was incredibly helpful, and very knowledgeable.

My roses are now blooming wonderfully. (I've already made a few flower arrangements from them!).

I definitely got the impression that these people enjoy gardening, and they did a very good job of sharing that enthusiasm with me. I can't wait until next year!