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Recieved 8 giant toms and all are growing well. 3 tumbling tom, 3 big bertha peppers, plus a few other plants. All plants arrived packaged well and i gave them a few days to relieve shock from shipping. All plants are fruiting in a full sun environment. The plants all gave fruit within one month and I have already harvested red tomatoes from the tumbling toms. Could not be happier with the product.
Ordered 2 empress trees form Gardner's Choice and to my surprise got them pretty quick and even more surprising they were alive and well. I ordered one from summerstone and to date they have sent me a locust Tree and four dead sticks. I am very pleased with my order from garners choice. The lady I talked to on the phone was quite pleasant (unlike the rotten lady I talked to at summerstone) and every thing that she said worked out perfect. Ill order from them again next year and I would have to say it was a pleasure doing business with Gardner's choice after the night mare of dealing with summerstone. That's it
Everything arrived as expected. Egg tree plant is large and green- strawberries all dry bare root which I expected. Came on time- was notified via email when plants shipped. Only complaint is that the box was not labeled as 'live plants this end up' and the ups guy put it up side down which bent my eggplant-- it didn't break it though and they look fairly healthy- some of the strawberries are even starting to leaf out just out of dormancy!
Ordered Tomato seeds from Gardeners Choice. Received shipment within 7-10 days. Read instructions. Planted seeds sprouted mutiple healthy plants in each pod within 7-10 days. I see most of the complaints have to do with dead plants and difficulty making contact with the company for refunds of the same. I can't imagine ordering a live plant through the mail - especially vulnerable young plants - sorry folks, not a good idea. Unless you want the thrill of germinating your plants from scratch, stick to your local nursery. JB from CA
I originally placed a small order for six asparagus plants, while I was still hoping to get my full order from another source. The six turned out to be twelve beautiful crowns, and when I cancelled the Parks order I immediately ordered another 24 from Gardeners Choice. They came quickly and are absolutely gorgeous, large plants. I also got pepper plants which arrived well developed, healthy and at a very reasonable price. I will be giving this company the business I formerly gave to Parks. (at least till they let me down)
I ordered trees....and had excellent results. They were low priced and small, but healthy. My "Cherry Hedge" prunus tomentosa...were very nice. I've ordered a few each year for the last 5 years and now have a beautiful and productive hedge. I've also received their Monroe peach trees and their "strawberry trees" which are cornus kousa. The ones I bought last year are budding out and look good.
Note: I received most of my order on April 14, but I waited until now to post a review. Two reasons:
A, I was waiting to see if the missing item (Strawberry Tree) would show up. It could have simply been shipped separately, even though there was no note of such happening on the paperwork.
B, Because the paperwork lacked a note, I decided to send them an email about the missing item the next day. After sending that email I felt it was only fair to give them a couple days (almost a week) to respond.
But since they have failed to respond or send my missing item I've decided to go ahead and post my review with a less than positive rating. To tell you the truth I don't care if the company talks to me or not as long as I get my tree OR a refund for said tree - that's all I care about! Give me what I ordered or give me back my money! Easy, right? Well see, I suppose.
*sigh* You see, I really (and I do mean really) wanted to give this company a positive rating, because the plants that I did receive were very well-packaged and in very good condition. So, lets note up front that I have no problem what so ever with the plants that I did receive from Gardener's Choice, my problem is with the one (the strawberry tree) I paid for but didn't receive nor been given a refund for. Though in all honesty, I'd rather have the tree I ordered, if I hadn't wanted it I wouldn't have ordered it in the first place.
Yes, I know going by most of the feedback here I admit that I didn't really expect a reply to my email, but decided to give it a try, because contrary to the description of plants received by other customers the ones I received really are awesome - that is really the best way to describe them. Which is funny, to me, because I almost decided against placing my order with this company, not just because of the negative feedback here but because of all the negative feedback for this company all over the web - this company is not well loved, but I finally decided to do so because there were two items I wanted which I couldn't find elsewhere (one shipped the other has not).
However, before I filled out the form and wrote my check, I decided I would check this company with the BBB - if the rating they had with them sucked, then I would give up. To my surprise, I discovered that whatever might have went on in the past with GC at present they have a satifactory rating with the BBB. So, I decided to take a chance, and (have I mentioned?) I am very happy with the plants that have arrived.
The four tomato plants arrived looking... Well, three of them (the Tumbling Toms) arrived looking a bit worse for wear, but they were clearly big enough and healthy enough for shipping. They've perked up nicely. There wasn't a lot of dirt around the roots, but there was clearly enough, and what was there was nice and moist. So I believe they will be a-okay.
GC also gets kudos for wrapping all the Tom plants with a cardboard flap to keep the branches from bending (or worse breaking off) during transit. Also they get more kudos for the fast shipping.
GC was the last company I ordered from this year (early March), and surprisingly it was the second company to ship (most of) my stuff. To be honest, based on all the feedback, I wouldn't have been surprised if I hadn't got my stuff until much (much) later. So, yes, despite that one missing tree I am pleased to have gotten a shipment from them this quickly.
The other tomato plant (tomato/potato) arrived even bigger and better looking than the other three. There was no wilting at all with this plant, but after several days I am noticing that a couple of the leaves are starting to look a bit yellow.
Anyway, it was in a large peat pot (color me surprised), and also wrapped in cardboard to protect it. Now I admit the dirt here wasn't quite as moist as the others, but it wasn't dried out either. And the dirt had stayed completely in the pot during shipping. Honestly, this one could have went right into the garden - alas I couldn't put it right out because cold (and I mean cold) weather was forecast. It is warming back up now, so as soon as I get the garden ready it will be one of the first things planted.
Now I must admit that I was a bit disappointed with the three Strawberry plants... Disappointed at first, mind you, not after planting them. You see, I was expecting those to be live plants as well, and while they were alive they weren't shipped as live plants, but as dormant (or at least semi-dormant) stock. However, I planted them and even the next day I could see that all four were showing signs of growth, and now almost a week later I'm seeing leaves on all three plants. YAY!
Now granted I had an extra edge here, because once I decided to order strawberries I bought me some special strawberry dirt (not from GC), but clearly the plants were in good shape, because special dirt is not magical dirt - meaning if the plants were dead (or dying) nothing would have helped them. And my guess is that since the plants greened up so fast they weren't exactly dormant to begin with. Still when I unpacked them, I was a bit sad, but honest enough to admit that even if I could only get one to live I would be happy. Now I am thrilled because I believe all three are going to live. Wonderful!
But as you may have quessed (or read) by now, you realize that the reason this rating is neutral over positive is because of the missing strawberry tree. Had that been included (or shipped separately) this would have been a very positive experience for me once again with a company that doesn't exactly have a sterling reputation. Alas, I cannot be totally positive because of the missing item - they've taken my money for the tree and alas I do not have it. It's nicely ironic, I suppose, that said tree is the main reason I ordered from CG and it is the one thing I haven't gotten.
Finally, if I get the tree, and it is not dead, I will come back and change my rating to a positive, because as I said I really wanted to give GC a positive in the first place. Or if I get a refund check for the price of said tree without having to bring in a third party, I'll be back to change my rating to positive. But lets face it with Big Oil trying its best to not just destory America but the world itself, I can't really afford to let a company get away with screwing me out of $5.98.
On April 22nd, 2008, ConGar changed the rating from neutral to positive and added the following:
Okay, I said if I got my tree (or a refund) I would be back to change my rating to a positive, and so here I am. My tree arrived in the mail this morning (Tues April 22), and it was big enough (bigger than I expected actually) that I now completely understand why it wasn't shipped with the other plants.
Though, as I said, I wish GC would have noted that the item was shipping separately on the paperwork that was in the first shipment, but it's not that big a deal.
Obviously the tree was shipped dormant, but the tree part as well as the roots look good, so I believe once I get it planted it will do just as well as everything else I've received from GC.
Needless to say, I would be willing to order from this company again.On April 17th, 2009, ConGar added the following:
Another POSITIVE!
I know some would call me crazy, but I decided to place another order with "Gardener's Choice" this year. Yes, I was that pleased with last years order. Now admittedly one item did not do well - the tomato-potato plant. The tomato part did wonderfully, but the potato part not so much, still that failure was most likely my own fault. The strawberry tree also worried me for a bit. After ordering it I did some checking around the net and realized that it wasn't likely to survive a winter in this area, so I potted it rather than putting it in the ground. And when I brought it in for the winter within a couple days I noticed that the leaves were falling off, and I (mistakely) decided that it was probably going to die. This spring I got a nice surprise - the trees outside were starting to bud, and when I went to water my plants I saw that my little strawberry tree was starting to bud - YAY!
This year I decided to order two of the famed Tree Tomatoes, as well as three blackberry plants, and one blueberry plant. I admit that the blueberry might have been a mistake, because I'm not sure it will do well in this area, the summer winds might be just a touch to warm for this plants comfort, but I decided to give it a try anyway, cause buying blueberries in the store just isn't an option (too expensive).
(I have not yet received the blueberry yet, but for now I decided to leave my rating as it is with the assumption that "GC" will be sending my blueberry plant soon. If they go by pattern I'll probably get it in about a week and a half.)
Oddly enough the Tomato plants came first, and admittedly they looked horrible. However, both were bigger than all four of the tomato plants I got from GC last year. The difference is that the ones I ordered last year reached me very much healthy looking and moist. This year these two reached me in a very dried out (pratically dead) state. The day I got them and took them out of the box, I admit that I didn't think they'd recover, but I decided to give them a fighting chance, and surprisingly they have recovered.
However, when I got them they could not even stand up on their own. And the leaves actually looked as though they'd been done in by frost, but since it hadn't been frosty cold before they reached me I suspected they were merely dried out. So, I decided to place them and the little bit of dirt around the roots down into a bowl of water, about half a day later I checked and noticed that one of the plants had started to stand on its own, so I removed both from the bowl and proceeded to plant them in peat pots. I did keep them overly moist and out of direct sunlight for another whole day. That seems to have been just what the doctor (tomato) ordered, because on the second day the other plant was able to stand on its own, and I decided to put them under full sun, so I moved them to another window where plants get all day sun, I did keep them a bit more moist than I usually do tomato plants just to be on the safe side. Within three days one was already sporting new healthy growth, the other one was/is still lagging behind, but its finally started sporting new and healthy growth. Though I do believe if they hadn't reached me when they had I would have ended up with two very dead plants.
The blackberries arrived Today (April 17), and while they are bare root (which was expected) I believe all three are healthy and ready to go. I am actually impressed with their size, even the "runt," which is still bigger than two other blackberry plants I ordered from another company (small though they were they arrived alive, but didn't make it because I planted them in a bad spot, which is why I needed to buy blackberry plants again), so I am extremely hopeful that once planted (later today) all three will take off and do well, especially since I have a much better spot picked out for blackberries this time.
On Apr 18, 2008, SuzySweetPea Acampo, CA (Zone 9a) wrote:
Well I got my order at work from Gardeners Choice, so I did not open until I got home. When I opened the box I was very surprised to see healthy plants. And believe me I order alot from mail order co's. #1 the price is always very good ( I am cheap ) and I enjoy getting unusual things that at my local nursery are outragiously priced. #2 Half the fun of gardening is seeing if you can grow it right ?? I usually don't plant right away I let them sit and relax in my greenhouse for a few weeks then replant them to bigger pots....Anyways very happy with this company !!!
Hi everyone,
I have been reading all of your comments while I was awaiting my shippment to come in. I surely was expecting to get nothing but dead twigs. To my surprise, almost all the plants came alive. You can check out the progress of all my GardenersChoice plant at http://home.comcast.net/~mpawlina
I posted all the thing I did when I got the packages. Granted, all is not perfect, but mostly is growing nice. I'm not pitching for the company, but you have to admit they do offer interesting and unique plants. Oh, and they sure came small in size.
Anyway, check it out, maybe you'll feel better about your pending orders.
On Jun 16, 2007, sir_blackthumb New Florence, MO wrote:
I ordered some vinca, a couple of hummingbird vines, 2 moonflower vines, and some trees earlier this year. My very first online "gardening" purchase. The vinca arrived on the very weekend spring tried to act like winter. I missed the mail carrier so my poor plants sat out in the freezing cold all night. It didn't help that the mail carrier decided to punch a hole in the box so it'd be easier to hang on my mailbox. Anyway, the vinca was divided into 2 bags and the contents of one of them didn't look too good. The others looked okay. The hummingbird vines didn't look too good either. While waiting the re-arrival of spring, I put the plants in a thick slurry of MiracleGro-enhanced garden soil and water and put the whole lot in my sunroom. There they sat for 2 weeks. Then I used a bulb planter to make holes for the vinca and put them in the ground with some of the slurry in each hole. I didn't expect much from the ones that looked for all the world to be dead. Here we are a couple months later and ALL the vinca is doing well. The hummingbird vines not so good. They haven't died yet though so there's still hope. Part of their problem may be poor location choice on my part and poor judgement on the part of my mail carrier so I'm not holding Gardener's Choice responsible for them. The moonflower vines are growing like crazy. They're scrambling up the little trellises I got for them so fast I can almost watch it happen! Can't wait to see the blooms! I have yet to get my trees so I can't say anything about packing quality but I'm really looking forward to getting my dawn redwood. Overall I'd say I'm pleased and will be ordering some veggies next year.
On Apr 19, 2007, carinemartinez Tulsa United States wrote:
I have purchased a dozen of perennials, and an Empress Tree. I just received it, exactly during the period they said I would receive the package. Everything looks fine. I planted all of it and need to check the growing now...
I did get a little bit scare because I found the Dave's Garden watchdog website after I placed my order.. it was too late to cancel. I'm happy that everything went ok but I still decided that I won't buy any plants online again. It's better to buy local and help them out and if there is a problem with the plant, they replace it on the spot! Quality vs Quantity.
On Jun 21, 2006, bdsflowers Cold Spring, NY wrote:
The cherry tree that I ordered 3 summers ago that came dry root and about 24 inches high and I wondered what would happen is now over 7 feet with lots of cherries. This one had 4 different cherries varieties grafted to the trunk.
Daffodils, hyacinths, grape hyacinths - the most beautiful! These top quality bulbs from The Netherlands (I'm Dutch and Swedish descent) can't be beat. I live on 2 1/2 acres of very shady property with as many as 16 deer at a time munching on my plants. They do not eat the bulbs, and they grow with proper care year after year. Do give them bulb food in the fall.
I ordered tomatoe plants and petunias this year and the 1st time they came to my house to early to plant and dead at that. Then today they resent them to me and they were even worse than the 1st batch they sent me. I was so Mad!!! I called them up and told them to send my money back. I will never order another thing from this place again what a rip off!!!!!!!!!!!
I ordered 2 Tomato trees last year and i recieved them in a plastic bag and they were really wilted. However i got them into some soil immediatly and they both survived they both produced big tomatos but i only let them get three feet high. I saved my seeds and now this year i have 40 extremely healthy tree tomato plants. I am going to be doing some experimenting to see if i can truly get it 8 feet high . By growing my own plants I now see how dumb i was to pay 6 bucks for two plants... thats crazy. I would recommend doing a search for "giant tree tomato" on ebay and you can order 10 seeds for right around $3.00 after shipping. yeah its a little bit more work but growing a plant from a seed is cheeper and the plant is as healthy as you work for it to be. If you order from gardners choice your gonna be doing a lot of work anyway nursing the plant back to full health so i would just recommend buying the seed.
I ordered from GC before I read the negative information on this website. I did have to send an email and ask about my order but received a prompt reply and received my plants in the time they told me they would arrive. I must say that I was less than pleased with the condition of the tomato plants so I took digital pictures and sent an email to GC customer service. They replied back in a reasonable time period and said if I had any problems with the plants or if they died to let them know. I think they have done everything they can to satisfy my questions and concerns.
On Mar 23, 2005, gardennerd Newfoundland, NJ wrote:
Looks like you roll the dice with these folks! I ordered their cherry bush and my grandfather ordered the tomato tree. I wanted to know the exact scientific name of the tree and I eventually found out but it took a bunch of phone calls. They did answer the phone usually and were pretty nice. As far as the cherry bush goes, it was an experiment to see if it would grow unprotected and virtually abandoned (hunting camp) on a mountain unattended in upper NY state...and despite being continually harassed by deer, groundhogs, etc. it's a survivor. Now, mind you the thing hasn't grown much- still a scrawny tiny little thing- BUT was alive despite a particularly harsh summer (long droughts) and winter (went down to 20 below on a dozen occasions)- . For all you shouting "cruelty to plants!" I am planning on bringing the little bugger home this year (I now own a home) if it makes it through this once again harsh winter. As for the tomato tree, gotta say that grandpa was pretty happy with it and it grew as described.
So why in the world would anyone order from this place in light of the negative ratings and relatively high prices? Because they offer a few varieties that are kinda hard to find elsewhere - the "fruit salad tree" comes to mind for example.
My advice would be to order as close to shipping time as possible and use a credit card- if you're not happy you have 60 or 90 days to refuse payment from your credit card company if you are dissatisfied.
I just called their number, it rang a few times and some one answered. They said I should have my plants (Trees, Strawberries, and lavender) second week of april.
We shall see. I will post more when and if I get them.
On April 19th, 2005, Nazgul_lord changed the rating from neutral to positive and added the following:
I did receive the items I ordered. Most of the plants have survived. Only one died.
On Jun 3, 2004, melissamelinda Brooklyn, NY wrote:
well, after i placed my order with gardener's choice i discovered this site. i was sure i had made a mistake when a month later my order hadn't arrived, but when i phoned them they pointed out the zone/shipping issue and i understood and hoped for the best.
when my plants arrived i was amazed, not because they had arrived but because they were *beautiful*, bright green and very healthy. i had ordered the indoor tomatoes and planted them a day later in a hydroponic medium. they are doing GREAT! they are green and growing well and between the six of them have 18 little buds!
i will definitely order from this company again. in fact, i plan on ordering the hanging strawberries right this very minute.
I ordered 6 rainbow tomato plants on 3/4/2004. Check was promptly cashed and I have yet to see any plants and it is now 5/30/04. Gardener's Choice responded to one email and said I would have my plants in 2 weeks. Didn't happen. They busy out their phone and have not answered 7 other requests for plants or a refund. I have contacted the Michigan Attorney General's Office and reported them. They should not be allowed to operate in this manner, and from all the negative feedback, it appears to be their norm. I wish I had checked out this website before I ordered.
On June 2nd, 2004, jami93 added the following:
After giving a negative review of Gardener's Choice, my tomato plants were delivered on 6/1/04. Three were broken and 3 are skinny sticks with a little greenery on top. Although I'm glad I finally got the plants, I can only hope something grows. I won't bother seeking a refund, it probably wouldn't happen, but I would never do business again.On June 6th, 2004, jami93 changed the rating from negative to positive and added the following:
I got a big surprise when I got my mail on 6/5/04. Gardener's Choice refunded my full purchase price for 6 tomato plants I ordered even though I received the plants a couple of days before. Only 3 plants are alive (barely), but I do feel they made amends by sending me a check. After all my complaining, it's only fair I give credit where credit is due.
Despite being very wary, I decided to give the tomato trees a try. I am a seasoned gardener, and did this on a whim. After ordering 4 plants of the tree variety I became quite concerned reading results such as those on this page after I had placed my order. To my great surprise, I rec'vd about 4 weeks after my order 4 very healthy plants which are now thriving very well in my garden. The end results are yet to be seen, and from what I have read about this variety, I most likely will not "reap" the best results until next year.So in all fairness, I must say at this point that I have gotten exactly what I ordered. These plants are "zooming up" and very healthy. I will report back later in the season as to their progression. I can not say I am disappointed at this time.Patience is often the key to success.
Looks like I'm one of the lucky ones. I've ordered and planted tomato and lavender plants that arrived healthy and are doing well. It looks like trees are a problem with this company as most complaints are targeted to trees. I am very happy with my flowering and vegetable plants.
Wow! I don't want to upset anyone, but I have had a great experience with these folks. Several key things to remember in dealing with this company:
1) Don't every call them on a Monday or Friday or any weekday afternoon (call Tues-Fri AM only)
2) Plants will only ship at certain times of the year
I sort of forgot that I had ordered and purchased my Royal Paulownia trees, and got a bit of a surprise in the mail in the fall.
Also, the key with these trees is to remember that they are native to Southeast Asia!!! Thus, if you live in the Northeast or Midwest US you probably won't do as well with them as if you lived in the swampy Gulf Coast or Southeast. We live in Southeast Texas and these trees do great here - they love lots and lots of water.
In the second year of growth, we've had up to 12 feet so far. The first year was a lot less, and don't expect any blossoms for the first few years (we've had none yet in two years). I will be ordering a few more of these tress this fall for planting during the dormant winter months.
We ordered tomato trees and asparagus in February 2002. Received notification from company that they had received our order and plants would be shipped in April. We received them in April and the plants were dormant (as they said they would be). We planted them after Easter. All plants received from this company are THRIVING. We are very pleased. Perhaps they have corrected their problems.
My daughter ordered 3 Siberian Sage (Lavender) plants for her mother and paid by check. They arrived as expected and all three grew, made it through the winter and are growing well.
I ordered several tomato plants from them. They came in great condition. I also got some gerbera daisies from them in great condition. But the Empress Pualouwnia tree I ordered though came in a little 2" pot, and was only 3" tall, which did not grow. The banana tree was just as small but grew to 3' tall very quickly. They gave me 5 free packets of seeds, and they were good ones too. Overall I would say they are a pretty good company, and I am going to order agian from them this year.
I have had some very good merchandise from GC. I did get some poor Paulownia trees, the first time I ordered them, they replaced them without any problems. The last time I ordered Paulownia, they were about 12 inches tall and they are doing very well. I planted them in late June 2001 and today (8-07-01) they are about 2 ft. tall. Last year in July, I planted a Paulownia tree and I cut it off at ground level in November. It started to grow again in April and today, it is over 10 feet tall. (8-8-01) I plan to order some windbreak trees as soon as they will ship them
I also ordered two Paulonia trees from Gardeners Choice, along with some Lavender. They came at different times, and it took quite a while toget them. But In must say, everything that has been planted IS alive, save one Lavender plant. (And I think that was probably me would plantedit in the wrong location.True, the delivery process is in need of MAJOR overhaul. But I can't complain other than that.
I ordered some plants in spring of 2001. When they came, some were heat damaged. I found the company's website and emailed them. Within a week or two they priority mailed me multiple replacements and instead of the six strawberries I mentioned in my email I wanted to buy, they sent me 25 for free. This company gets very busy in the shipping season, and it is hard to get through by phone, but I can't complain about the service I have received.
I had ordered in the spring of 2000, 3 trees I received them and planted them. They were 1 1/2 inches tall at planting and they grew to three to four feet that summer. I have had great success with them.
Finally some good news on Gardeners Choice. In the spring of 1999, I also ordered 3 Royal Paulownia seedlings from them. It did take some time for me to receive them and my check was not cashed until after the shipment was made. The seedlings came in wet soil wrapped and in good condition. I planted two of the seedlings and gave one to my sister to plant. One of mine died, but the other has lived. It is now approximately 7' tall. My sister's also lived and it is not growing as fast, but is about 4' tall. I think the key to making these trees live is to fertilize well when planting.
