Comments regarding Sooner Plant Farm (Shop Smarter Shop Sooner)

During the 2019 season, I have placed several orders with Soon Plant Farm, and I have been very pleased with each arrival! Here is my response to them:

I received my orders! Thank you so much for the beautiful plants. Not only are they healthy and robust, they’re bigger than I expected! Thank you for the wonderful customer service. You accommodated my request without hesitation. I truly appreciate your immediate response, which also saved me money! Thank you and Sooner Farm for the environmentally friendly packaging that demonstrates socially conscious business practices! It is a pleasure doing business with a company with such high standards.
I look forward to my next order!

Posted on July 15, 2012, updated July 5, 2019
I do a lot of mail order business with several companies. This is the first time I\'ve ordered from Sooner. Not only were they extremely helpful on the phone, but they managed to get my order thru a brief window of 70\'s temps in the middle of a heat wave. I received the most beautifully full heuchera \"Georgia Peach\" and heucherella \"Kimono\"! Unlike box store plants which I sometimes suspect were \"growth-hormoned\" to rootless fullness, Sooners plants are now withstanding the worst 90 temps and rainless weeks I\'ve seen in Western PA in many years. And they\'re thriving with minimal watering.
Thanks, Sooner Plant Farm! I\'ll be back this fall.

April 2018 I ordered 2 one gallon Wedding Gown hydrangea from Sooner Plant Farm. This year they bloomed for the first time and were pink--Wedding Gown is always white. When I contacted Sooner with a photo showing the pink blooms, they immediately shipped me two replacement Wedding Gown hydrangeas at no charge to me. Today I received two beautiful hydrangeas full of white blooms, and they were two gallon not the small one gallon size I ordered last year! I've always been pleased with the high quality of plants from Sooner and now I know their customer service is unsurpassed as well. Kudos to Sooner Plant Farm!

We were delighted with the plants we received last week. They were carefully packaged, healthy and much larger than we'd expected.

We've gardened for over 45 years and ordered plants from a number of on-line suppliers. The plants we received from Sooners were sublimely superior. We're "Sooner Swooners"

Susan
Omaha, NE

I have shopped with Sooner for several years now. I have put there plants in my yard as well as in my families yards. This company sends out wonderful plants. Their packaging is superior to alot of mail order plant sellers. Things do some times happen when dealing with live plants, but dont worry these people at Sooner want you to succeed. It is obvious that they all care about there product and their customers. Thank you to all of you at Sooner Plant Farm.

I purchased a whitebud tree for our Illinois yard, when I did, it wasn't the proper time for my zone, so I went with their zone shipping recommendations, and left a note to ship on the first day possible, which was May 15th, today is May 16th, and the tree arrived, in perfectly created, rigid box, not even a leaf was damaged.Time will tell on the growth, but, I'm not doubting that it'll be around for a long time, thank you for the timely delivery, and quality plant.

I renovated all of my flower beds this spring and by renovate I mean that I went down to bare dirt and started over. I ordered plants from a handful of carefully researched online suppliers, some of which I found on this site. My experience with Sooner Plant Farm was beyond head and shoulders superior to any other supplier I dealt with. They worked with me before I placed a single order, helping me locate and identify particular plants. Every time I've dealt with Sooner, they've been helpful, patient and friendly. Sooner's plants were noticeably larger and healthier than any others. I ordered several plants from different suppliers to compare product and without fail Sooner put the competition to shame, including specialty suppliers. Sooner's prices are also better and their service is superior. What more could anyone ask?

I have been purchasing woody ornamentals and specimen grasses from Sooner Plant Farm for three years. In each case, I have received very fine plant materials carefully and professionally packed for shipment. To date, not a single plant has failed to root properly in the first year and fulfill my expectations in the second year and beyond. We have clay soils in mid-Missouri and we have had some cold, dry, windy winters. But the plants from Sooner have done better than every other plant source that I use.

First, Sooner Plant Farm had the rare viburnum specimen I had searched everywhere for. Second, they sent me beautiful, healthy plants at exactly the time I requested. Third, they responded quickly and personally when I had a follow-up question. I live a thousand miles away, but I'll be a repeat customer!

I've been doing business with Sooner Plant Farm for over 2 decades. Their unwavering dedication to healthy plants and happy customers hasn't changed a bit.
Last weekend I ordered a Dura Heat River Birch and selected the "send now" option at checkout. Soon after they sent an email with a shipping date. (How awesome is that?!) What's even more awesome, it really shipped that day and I received it the very next day. (I live in OKC) THESE FOLKS DON'T MESS AROUND!! Now you know.
I will continue to be a loyal customer to such a wonderful company with outstanding values.

I love this company and them recommend to all of my friends. I live on the coast in South Carolina about as different from Oklahoma as you can get. A couple of years ago we paid $$$$ to a local landscaper to landscape our backyard with lorapetalum, hardy salvia, muhly grass and abelia. Almost everything died in less than a year and the Landscape company was nowhere to be found. Being an Okie, myself, I figured if Sooner Plant Farm plants can grow in the Oklahoma dust bowl then they would stand a chance here.

I have been thrilled. I’ve even added additional landscape selections from Sooner Plant Farm to my yard over the years ... Esperanza, Clematis, Gamecock Iris. And, it all thrives here on the coast in my Zone 8b where it sometimes freezes and snows.

Their Customer Service has been outstanding. Recently, I found that I would be out of town on my shipment week and I notified them via email asking whether it could be delayed. I received an immediate response delaying the date to my convenience. Another time they were unhappy with the quality of a item that I ordered and they called me to discuss whether I wanted to replace with something suitable or cancel. I couldn’t ask for better care in delivery or packaging. Sooner Plant Farm is definitely worth the money.

Over the past year we have ordered literally dozens of trees from something around 10 different online nurseries. The Red Maple we purchased from Sooner was by far the best tree out of all of them! Perfectly packaged and pruned. Also nobody includes the root bag or grow package and Sooner does. Six months later the tree is in perfect health and growing beautifully compared to all our other maples and oaks. And this is in the Las Vegas desert! Thank you Sooner!

Searching for a grower that could provide me with a Avondale Red Bud (Chinese Red Bud) as a ornamental specimen tree for my front yard. Found Sooner Farms and their selection of various trees was excellent.

Shipping and packaging was done with care, as was their root pouch approach to mail-order plants and trees. This tree arrived with buds set from the fall and was in great shape.

Spring is here and the Avondale Red Bud is bursting with color. I just returned to Sooner Farms for more plants.

If you are searching for unique and a large selection of plants and trees that you cannot find in your local big box, Sooner Farms is a great resource.

We ordered and received twp wonderful smaller trees from Sooner Plant Farm and it arrived in superb form and health. The packaging is super sturdy and designed to give the tree air as it makes its way quickly from the farm to home. Instructions are ample and very helpful, and the root sacks they come have ensured vigorous growth and health. Questions about care and planting are quickly, expertly and thoroughly answered with a palpable sense of how much they care about their plants and their customers.

This was my first experience with ordering any plant via the web. My thinking after gardening for decades is that some things are best done in person. How wrong I was. Sooner Plant Farm has the process down to a science.

Plants made it from Oklahoma to Texas in less than a week and look as fresh as they would if bought from one of the local nurseries. With the decline of local nurseries in my area this is an invaluable find.

I have ordered from Sooner Plant Farm several times in the past couple of years, and every time the experience is top-notch. They have a great selection of plants, many of which are difficult to find locally. The plants have arrived well-packaged, in great condition, and are still thriving several years later. Only once have I had plants which didn't survive in transit, but that was because we had an unusual hot spell late in the season once the plants had shipped. I took photos of the plants and emailed the photos to Sooner Plant Farm, and they sent replacement plants to me at no extra charge. I will definitely continue to order from them!

It is so refreshing to be able to send an email asking a question and receive response in such a timely manner. I have only a positive experience with this company. In July, knowing I would not be home during my shipping window, I ordered two Maple trees and requested a specific shipping date. The trees arrived yesterday, in great condition, and well packed. Due to flooding in our area, I again contacted Sooner Plant Farm about planting and received a response within 12 hours. What a pleasure, I cannot express how rewarding it is to deal with this business. I look forward to getting these trees planted and see the vibrant colors next fall!

My plant arrived in an expertly created package. It was ventilated tough cardboard. The plant was attached solidly to the package bottom so even the roughest handling could not dislodge it. The root ball was shrink wrapped to prevent any spillage and the foliage was free and unrestricted. The product was shipped in one business day from OK to my home in TX. The root ball was moist and easily planted. The biodegradable pot made the thorny barberry easy to handle Thanks Sooner Plant Farm for a pleasant experience.

I recently purchased 3 Blue Shadow Witch Adler plants from Sooner Plant Farm. The plants arrived well packed and very healthy. I appreciate Sooner's customer support and plant availability and quality. The root pouch alternative is a very convenient and fool-proof way to purchase and plant.

I placed my first order with Sooner Plant Farm 9/3/2018. Two (Mary Milton) viburnum bushes and 1 wisteria (blue moon variety) that I could not find at local landscape centers. I also added a perennial husker red beardtongue plant so that my total purchase qualified me to receive free shipping.

I was very impressed with attention to detail this merchant provides. It exceeds what I have been accustomed to when establishing accounts and making purchases from other online merchants. Email notification was thorough and alerted me to anticipated 9/11/2018 ship date well in advance.

When the shipment arrived 9/14/2018, I was impressed with packaging. The best I had ever seen. Sturdy box. Ventilated. Cardboard dividers between plants. Plastic wrap around the top of containers. Planting instructions and fertilizer packs for planting enclosed too! Packers added moisture gel granules to prevent drying out on top of the soil for the vine and for the perennial plant.

Unfortunately, the Mary Milton shrubs had dried out during shipping. The soil was dry and some of it had fallen into the box despite the plastic wrap to contain it. These bushes had dropped many leaves; it looked like there were more in the box than were left on the plants. I do not know the reason for this, but unlike the other plants, there were no moisture granules on top of the soil to prevent drying. A few branches were broken, but not badly considering the rigors of shipping. I was worried about these plants, because of leaf drop. Sent email, and photos too, to Sooner so that they could see why I was worried. I received a prompt response and comment that leaf drop is common, more for some plants than for others, and that Sooner staff didn't see cause for concern after looking at photos. They would make a note on my order and asked me to let them know if plants looked worse in the coming weeks.

Thankfully, immediate watering, planting the day following arrival, and days of rainfall after planting seemed to make these bushes happy. Leaf drop quickly subsided and as of 10/2/2018, a few small buds of new leaves have emerged, well in advance of fall frosts that will cause these deciduous bushes to drop all leaves. It appears that my Mary Milton viburnums have adjusted nicely to their new home. I am optimistic that I will see new growth Spring 2019, assuming that we do not have an unusually harsh winter that no merchant can predict or control.

This was my first experience with Sooner. I have no complaints. Attention to communication detail and quality in shipping care is the best I have ever seen. Prompt response to reported concerns, notes made to the order for potential problems, and requests to hear back from me if plants looked worse in coming weeks give me an impression and sense of comfort that I am dealing with a high-integrity company. I will surely consider buying from Sooner Plant Farm again.

A phone call prior to my order was productive and helpful. Once my order was placed, I received another phone call to reassure me that my order would be delivered in the time frame I requested. It arrived right on schedule.

The rising sun red bud I purchased is the largest mail order tree I have ever received. It was amazingly packaged and very healthy not seeming to have suffered at all in transport. Not only couldn't I have found such a tree in a local garden store, I also thought is was very, very fairly priced.

I'm kind of old and may not be gardening much longer. I wish I had found this source years ago.

Sooner Plant Farm far exceeded my expectations! They quickly responded to e-mails requesting information before my purchase, even including photos of the trees I would receive. I submitted a pre-order several months in advance and the trees were shipped on the date promised. It took them 5 days to get here and to be honest I was nervous to open the boxes when they arrived. I opened them and the trees were packaged extremely well for the journey and all looked perfectly healthy. I ordered Taylor Juniper's which are hard to find. The web site did state the tree size however, I do wish they were a little larger for the money paid. Overall, I'm very pleased, thank you so much!!

I've ordered trees and shrubs by mail for over 36 years, first by catalogue and now by online nurseries. This company stands by it's plants if you follow a few reasonable rules. The plants always exceed my expectations and are ready to adapt and grow here, not the easiest place to garden as I live on a sand and gravel dump left by the glaciers. The plants often come in "root pouches". Do not fear them. The feeder roots are intact and this gives them a leg up on adjusting to your garden.

I've never had a bad experience at Sooner and I think you might want to give it a try.

Colin and Brian are men of integrity. On the day my order was to ship it was noticed that the tree to be sent may have been miss marked. Because of the uncertainty they Called to discuss the options. They could have just sent the tree they had, but wanted the order to be right, We spent nearly 30 minutes discussing the situation then the site for the tree, sun, soil, space etc. Then reached a decision. My Shirazz Japanese Maple has a new home! The tree arrived quickly and in wonderful condition. I have already made an additional order. Thanks Guys!

I LOVE Sooner Plant Farm. I am in Ft. Worth, TX and was looking for a particular kind of plant and found them in a random internet search. I have used them 2 times now and bought 8 different trees from them. They arrived in perfect condition and packed very well with good instructions on how to plant them and care for them. After a couple of my crape myrtles bloomed and had pink instead of violet flowers, they quickly answered my email and are going to send me the correct plants. They have been very professional and courteous. I will use them again for sure and have referred them to several friends.

I HAVE PURCHASED MANY PLANTS AND SHRUBS FROM SOONERPLANTFARM.
THE PLANTS ARE SHIPPED PERFECTLY, WITH GREAT CARE TAKEN TO ALL THEY DO TO MAKE SURE YOU GET HEALTHY, AND INTACT PLANTS.

THE PLANTS ARE EXTREMELY HEALTHY, AND HAVE WONDERFUL ROOT SYSTEMS.

I HAVE HAD ONLY ONE ISSUE OUT OF ALL MY ORDERS,AND IT WAS RESOLVED TO MY 100% SATISFACTION IMMEDIATELY.

THE CUSTOMER SERVICE, IN MY OPINION, IS SECOND TO NONE.

I HAVE MADE CALLS RECENTLY, AND IN THE PAST, AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HELPED WITH ANY QUESTIONS I MAY HAVE ABOUT PLANTING ALSO...

I AM TOTALLY SATISFIED WITH THIS COMPANY, AND WOULD RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE WHO WANTS QUALITY PLANTS, AND CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT TREATS YOU LIKE FAMILY...

My first order from Sooner Plant Farm was a great success. The shipment arrived with larger plants than expected and well packed, everything healthy and in good shape..

The plants arrived on one of the hottest weeks in 6 years and still are hanging in there, so a true sign they were well looked after before they shipped.

Posted on June 30, 2016, updated June 29, 2018
I had put my name on a waiting list for Koelreuteria paniculata \'Coral Sun\' and when I was notified that one was available, I ordered immediately. My well grown tree arrived in perfect condition, at least 4 feet tall, well branched, covered in leaves with fresh emerging \'coral\' growth. I planted it the next day and even though that was only a week ago, it appears perfectly healthy and thriving and happy in its new home.Excellent packing, shipping and customer service. Thank you.

I highly recommend buying plants from Sooner Plant Farm! The plants that I received are absolutely beautiful, in wonderful shape even after having been on the road for five days. Communication with staff at Sooner Plant Farm was also excellent.
Again, I highly, highly recommend.

I ordered a Dwarf a Pomegranate from Sooner Plant Farm, and before shipping I was contacted by Colin as he was concerned about the structural quality of the plant. He offered to send some pictures so that I could look at it and let him know what I wanted to do. I agreed that the growth habit was not the best, so decided to cancel the order. It was not a problem and Colin canceled the order and setup the refund for me. This was the very last one they had in stock, so they didn’t currently have another to replace it.

Even though I didn’t buy the plant, I wanted to share how amazing their customer service is! Most companies would just take your money and send you the plant anyway, but Sooner Plant Farm stands by their products and will not settle for less than perfect, which means their customers don’t have to settle either. Very few companies go this far for a great customer experience, and I can’t say enough how much I appreciate these folks for going above and beyond. They have gained a new customer here, and I will definitely order from them in the future!

Posted on May 21, 2018, updated May 21, 2018
I have been only started buying plants from Sooner Plant Farm this year as they came up on a web search for Dogwood Trees. I was impressed when i called about one variety of dogwood, and the gentleman i spoke with went out to their nursery and checked on the condition of the two trees they had in stock. He called back shortly and said he didnt feel good about either tree and would i wait until September for a better tree. Wow! Did not sell me an inferior product even though it was in stock! I was impressed. So i ordered 5 other dogwoods and will get the last variety in Seotember. Every tree came in outstanding condition. We planted them exactly as directed, and all 5 are thriving! Cant wait to get the last one planted.

I ordered a Sunsation magnolia and was expecting a small whip. I am amazed at what a large specimen they sent me! I can't wait for it to become established! I will certainly shop Sooner Plant Farm again!

Words cannot fully express the wonderful experience I had with Colin and Sooner Plant Farm. I ordered a Mimosa and everything in the order process went smoothly and all the communication from Sooner was great! However, UPS told me and Sooner the tree was delivered and it was not. After MANY communications with UPS they FINALLY sent the required claims forms to Colin/Sooner. In the interim, Colin and Sooner were in constant contact with me and they were so wonderful in shipping me a replacement tree right away! Again, their communication was great and yes, the second tree arrived and is being planted today! It is in great shape and a wonderful specimen and know it will do really well! You don't always get to deal with a company with great customer service like Sooner. I have been in healthcare for over 40 years and understand the importance of being honest, courteous, understanding and "doing the right thing" for people. I must say that Sooner and Colin are all these things and more and definitely give them a 5 star rating and recommend you utilize them!

Ordered three dwarf crape myrtles. Two arrived dormant and soon began to bud exuberantly. One was stone dead, and remained so. After receiving a phone call and a photo, Sooner sent a replacement, which just arrived in excellent health. Five stars.

Ordered my two JM's this past fall and was shipped at my request last week. What a pleasure it was to finally get to order and receive trees from this Company, the package arrived on time and not a leaf out of place. All I can say is Wow, and I will be ordering again soon! Thanks so much Sooner, for all you do and God Bless!!

All of the plants that I have bought have arrived on time, healthy and large enough that they bloom the first year. Customer service is outstanding and they pride themselves on excellence. They possesses the qualities necessary in a plant farm – the ability to balance the needs of the farm with the greater needs of the customer. Quality plants at a reasonable price, backed by an organization dedicated to customer satisfaction.

After having a respected Nursery fail me, setting things back ten days as well, I messaged the after hours business email address of Sooner Plant Farms with a request. Manager Colin Mcinnes was kind enough to email back that if I ordered the specimen tree that I desired the next day from them, it in my hands within an estimated 48hours. I was a happy man once again, and pleased indeed when Sooner came through as promised and with the root pouch planting method. I will never again plant a container grown tree because the handles of Sooner's root pouch make the lifting and positioning of the tree into the hole so much easier and the pouch makes for a much more sure planting transition. The obvious higher quality of care that my tree has had growing in their nursery makes them my "Go To" from this day forward. They are competent and confident nurserymen, so say we all, and a special thanks to Colin Mcinnes for his "over the top" effort to make things happen fast!

Terrific plants well packaged and shipped quickly. One of my favorite places for stuff I can't find locally. Today's batch was some Mini-Penny Hydrangea, which were beautiful in the box and are now planted.

Great resource for trees and shrubs! They send detailed instructions on how to plant with little fertilizer packets. I found them to be very helpful along every step of the growing process. If I ran into trouble, I would send a picture and they would make suggestions to get the plant healthy again. Very hands-on and helpful. The way trees and plants are packaged for shipping is foolproof.....even the UPS driver said he wished all companies packaged their plants as well as Sooner's. The quality is good, and they stand behind their product completely. It's a nice resource for someone like me who does not live near a nursery. If they are out of a product, they will call and tell you when it is back in stock. I can't recommend this company enough, because I would have a much more barren landscape without Sooner's! Their service is better than a lot of brick and mortar stores. Don't hesitate to mail-order from them.