Comments regarding Raintree Nursery

Orders have been quick, accurate and everything is thriving!!!

A few years back, I ordered some roses and maples and pea shrubs. They all made it except for one vine maple that was constantly pruned by a neighborhood seven year old who used to try to hurdle a six foot bed regularly. I figured this was no place, even for a maple, so I gave the vine maple away to a friend. It's been almost ten years and the vine maple is doing great as a specimen plant with great long lasting color in the fall. I encourage anyone who is interested in vine maple's to plant them out in the open rather then up against a wall, although they do well as an understory. This almost sounds like a plant review so I will get on with it.

The Pea Shrubs are doing well.

The roses were the Frau Damar Hastrip Rose. These are incredible as well. They are fast growing and make a nice hedge or barrier. I hedged them out and they can be controlled with not much labor. They resist most everything. They have a nice flowering period and the hips are long lasting. They really bring the bees in !

G-Man

I ordered 4 grafted paw paws from Raintree. I received them as promised with good packaging. The trees look healthy and have been planted for about 3 weeks and are even trying to put on some new leaves. I exchanged some emails prior to ordering with their customer service department. It took a few days to get an initial response, but follow ups were quick.

I am a fruit tree enthusiast on Long Island and upstate NY, growing over 75 varieties from online nurseries. I have 27 more trees ordered through 7 nurseries. I am satisfied with these current orders except for Raintree. I placed the Raintree order on August 27 for several Pear trees. An automated e-mail was returned to me that said someone at Raintree would confirm my order. My credit card was charged $127.40. On September 3, a week later, I e-mailed about the confirmation. September 4, I received a reply that Raintree would soon confirm the online order. I e-mailed again September 11 and called on the phone. September 22, I received confirmation. If I known this order would be this much trouble I would have added similar pears to the other orders and saved half the cost and a month of aggravation. Actually I tried order the pears from Cummins but they sold them out during this fiasco. Raintree did appologize in their confirmation, so I may change to neutral when the (without delay) delivered trees leaf out ok.

Raintree has a nice selection of plants, and I've been happy with some of the things I've ordered.

However, one year I ordered a Hardy Chicago fig tree. It was DOA. They sent me another one, and it didn't make it through the winter. That was the limit of their warranty. As you can tell, I'm still unhappy about it, and haven't ordered from them again.

(I have had success with many other trees, and it wasn't a particularly hard winter.)

good quality plants, prompt shipments, they honor their warrantees, customer service is helpful and knowledgeable

I have ordered from this company a couple of times and been extremely happy. I purchased blueberry bushes, raspberries, and blackberries during the past 4 to 6 years. All the plants grew vigorously and were very healthy. The postman had banged them up some, but the plants were hardy and weren't fazed by it. I was even sent a couple extra raspberry and blackberry plants with my order. I will continue to order from them.

I ordered three semi-dwarf apple trees from Raintree in 2007. When the trees arrived I was pleased with the care taken to package them for shipment. I planted them the next day and was happy. Unfortunately one of the trees, a Liberty apple did not survive. I e-mailed Raintree July 2007 with a request for a replacement tree. I recieved a prompt response from them telling me I would recieve a replacement tree next spring. I recieved a new Liberty apple tree this spring as no cost. I planted it the day it arrived. The tree has already grown 8 inches since I put it in the ground. My other two apple trees are also growing faster than I expected. Thank You Raintree for your excellent products, and customer service.

I have ordered from Raintree the last 4 yrs(approx. 50-60 various fruit trees) While I had sev. trees die in 2007 it was due to the severe dry spell we had from early June until Sept. and not the fault of the nursery stock. Everything I have rec'd. from Raintree has been healthy, strong, and well formed. I will order fruit trees from no other company.

Ordered sweet cherry tree on gisela rootstock and a dwarf apple tree. Both of them arrived on time, well packed, and in excellent condition. Both trees are doing wel.. The tree and plant selection they have is excellent, and cannot be beat by the local nursery. Got 25 tristar bare root strawberries as bonus with order, and they are just producing great strawberries (though not as sweet as I would have liked)

Nice plants; timely shipping. Will use them again.

I have ordered from Raintree several times over the past 2 years. I've also had a relative pick up several large orders from them. They have always been polite and helpful. They were willing to work with me regarding ship date, which had to be very specific. The plants arrived in good shape. I've had a couple that didn't make it (empress tree, walnut tree), but it easily could have been the environment they were planted in. I appreciate that they carry many different types of blueberries and huckleberries.

I've been ordering from Raintree for many years. Not every plant has been perfect, especially late in the season when supplies dwindle, but overall they've been one of the very best companies that I've dealt with.
This year I ordered multiple plants of several raspberry varieties and a mountain huckleberry, and they had terrific root systems and thick stems.
I've always found their customer reps. to be courteous and helpful. Sorry to read of other folks bad experiences. I've dealt with many mail order plant companies and over time, I've received the occasional less than perfect plant from all of them. I've found Raintree and Stark to be among the best.

I will say that my first and only shipment was wonderful although I had to call about one missing sea buckberry bush which they later sent. My main problem with them is that after several attempts to get this year's catalog, I have never recieved one nor have had any of my emails replied to. Now it is too late to order anything from them.

I am very pleased with my first order from them. Received a nice sized comice pear, still dormant. Packaging was good and bare roots were kept safely inside a plastic bag filled with moist, shredded newspaper. I will definitely order from them again.

This was my first order from Raintree. I purchased several currants and gooseberry bushes. They arrived in excellent condition. A couple of the currants were already leafing out a little bit. They had good roots and were a nice diameter at the base of the plants. The packaging was very good - a nice triangular shaped box and packaged such that they would not shake around inside it. They came in damp shredded paper wrapped around the roots, and then bagged. The plants have been in the ground for a week or so now and are all looking well. I am very pleased with the plants I ordered and would order from Raintree again in future.

I ordered from them 3 times. All the plants were very well packed, healthy and all have budded out. The blueberries I ordered in January are in the ground and are covered with berries. Other blueberries that I ordered from a different nursery are just twigs with buds and little leaves on them.
The arona bush has put on 6" of growth already. The black mulberry was forming fruit a week after I got it as a 10" stick.
Very satisfied indeed. I especially like them shipping UPS which treats its drivers well, pays benefits etc. Other nurseries use Fedex which pulls the "independent contractor", you buy your own truck, insurance, take all the risks" number on them.
Fiji water, isn't that owned by Resnick, the guy that's going to spray the entire Bay Area?

I just received my two persimmon trees. They look great! Nice size, quick shipping, easy website. Thanks!!

I just got a large order of lingonberries and they arrived in great packaging and looked good. They web site said they wouldn't be shipped until the right planting time so I didn't expect them immediately. They didn't charge my CC until the time they shipped and their communication was good.

I ordered about 12 shrubs from this company.

Most of them were in containers, only 4 of them were bareroots. the bareroots are doing good. been a week.

There was a stawberry bundle missing, but I called and they are sending a replacement. No hassles. Top notch.

Pineapple guaves were big, 2 and half feet tall or more.

Friendly customer service.

Well, where to start! I have had excellent quality from this nursery in the past few years I have been ordering! They were always well packed and the plants were always there in all of their glory.

I have had a few failures in the past, but after careful consideration I decided that it was my own fault. Of course when I stated it to the customer rep on the phone last year, they simply replaced it! Amazing! I could not believe the luck!

What really took the cake was the weekend that I had come down to pick up my plants. I had come into the store, talked to mia behind the counter about some plants and she directed me to Theresa. There she answered all of my questions and I made my order.

All in all in all I love Raintree to pieces and would recommend this company to everyone....In fact, I do!

Good job guys!

I've had some good experiences with this company inthe past, ordering several times, all the plants were healthy and are still now healthy and growing nicely. Shipping is high but their on the other end of the US so I expect to pay high for shipping costs.

service was nice, emails were answered promptly.

packing wasn't so great, it would cut down on shipping alot if they didn't ship the plant in the gallon pot full of dirt. All my plants did arrive healthy but I haven't a clue as to why when their packed theway they were packed in my order.

I ordered sweet cherries Kristin and Black Gold, along with a sweet plum Kuban Comet, several grape vines, and a honeycrisp apple.
The trees were of excellent quality, thick trunks and branches, leafed out quickly and did well.
The grapes were similarily healthy and of good size.
Service was very good. One tree was out of stock and they e-mailed me promptly. They also answered my e-mail questions within 1-2 days. I will be ordering from them again.

We've placed 3 orders with Raintree so far and have always been thrilled with the quality of their stock. We've ordered hardy fruit trees and bushes for zone 3 and, even though we live in zone 7, they were very understanding and were the only one of several nurseries we ordered from who got the ship date correct. In addition, their trees and shrubs have always arrived still dormant, with none or very few breaks in the branches, and with excellent packaging and instructions accompanying them. Plus, their customer service reps are very helpful on the phone!

We love Raintree and recommend them to all of our Northwest friends!

I have placed probably 8-10 orders, and spent approx. $1000.00 with RAINTREE nursery.

Like most of you, I have placed muliple orders through RAINTREE due to the exotic nature of the plants they have for sale. When my first order arrived, the plants looked great. By the time of my last order(s) arrived, I felt like the plants I ordered were from the "marginal pile" and if not for my placing an order, they would have been trashed.
I had to toss 4 high bush huckleberries the day I got them in addition to several other items that were in bad shape when they arrived

I can't say that 1 order has ever lived up to my expectations. None of my orders arrived in the time frame given, spindley plants, etc..

These issues repeatedly forced me to purchase from local nurseries (I have a small biz that I purchase for) while I was awaiting my order from RAINTREE, a fact that I'm happier with now as most PDX based nurseries now sell most of RAINTREE's items.

The straw that broke the camels back for me was an order I placed last September to be delivered this Fall. Since I had not received my order by November 30, I phoned to determine the delay. I was told that there was a slight problem with my order (the person on the other end of the line read the order back to me so the order was placed), and that someone would call me right back. No phone call.

It is now January 10, and after still no word, I sent an email asking that the order be cancelled and to remove me from RAINTREE's mailing list.

The response from RAINTREE was that I had no order placed and they would be happy to remove me from their mailing list. After spending close to the $1000.00 referenced earlier, I expected a better response than that. (They should have apologized, taken a new order, and shipped asap) As an small biz person, this response typically drives away business. Keeping customers is the goal of any business. If there is a problem, you try to correct it, not send your client base to another nursery.

I have spent my last dollar with these guys, and believe me, there is nothing like picking your own plant stock. I suggest Shorty's as I have found everything there that I purchased from RAINTREE, and get to pick my own stock.

Perhaps RAINTREE needs a few savvy business people working for them as well as nursery folk.

Good luck to those of you who are having success with RAINTREE. You can take my word that once they think they have you hooked, the customer service goes downhill fast.

Sign me "Used to be optimistic about RAINTREE..."

4 figs and 1 olive, all nice, but where are the bonus plants? do they arive in the spring?

ordered 4 sweet cherries all came with good, well formed roots and were shipped very well and at my specific request. I will order fom them again!

This was my first time to order from this company. I had ordered 3 wolfberry vine in gallon pots and ten tristar strawberry in four inch pots. When the items arrived, I discovered that the wolfberry was in four inch pots, and they were barely rooted, "needle-thin" caliper seedlings (cuttings?). The Tristars were plugs that had been replanted into four inch pots. Four Tristars had barely sprouted roots!

Since I had been charged for gallon-sized wolfberry vines, but received four inch pots, I called the company to ask for a refund of the difference on my credit card. I have yet to see the refund on my credit card statement.

This nursery was one of the few that carry low bush blueberries. The plants arrived in good condition. They were well packed. They were also much bigger than I expected -- always nice. I will order from them again.

2 years ago I ordered grafted paw paws and grafted ginko's. they all arrived out of dormacy when my area still had below freezing temps. they all managed to survive going through the summer, but they didn't really grow. the next spring 3 out of 4 were dead from the graft on up, and the 4th was just dead! a phone call to the company pretty much got me an, "oh well". WILL NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY ANY MORE!!!

My experience with this company is absolutely wonderful! They kept me informed via email of shipment, etc.. The plants I ordered came well packed in their own contaniners with names, directions on planting and the plants are very healthy!
I will definately order from them again!

I bought several plants and trees from Raintree and the order arrived today in good shape. I have got to say the the grafted oriental pear is huge and I am very impressed. Things fared well for being shipped across the country - a paw-paw lost some leaves - but it will get more, I'm sure. I ordered once before and they called me to tell me they were out of one of the trees I wanted and that the cornus I ordered needed a pollinator - which I didn't know. I decided not to order then because they were out of the saturn peach - but I remembered their kindness in contacting me and placed an order. I'm pleased and will buy form them again.

Positive feedback is long overdue for this company....

Given my poor experience w. receiving live plants in the mail before, I was hesitant to try again. After thumbing through the Raintree catalog and seeing the 2x1 peach/nectarine combo tree, I figured I'd roll the dice again.

The bareroot tree arrived less than two weeks after I ordered it; timed perfectly for planting in my zone. It is in a whiskey barrel next to my back porch, and thriving in it's second year. I was concerned that w. temperatures getting down as low as -10° last winter, the tree would be damaged as it wasnt mulched, but it came back w. a vengenance this spring. In fact, I will be ordering a 3x1 cherry tree from them next week for another barrel planting.

Raintree has changed my perception on mail-order plants. Their stock is beautiful, healthy, and guaranteed to grow .

If you order from this company, prepare to be 'wowed' in a good way!

Ordered six varieties of fig trees. All were received in good condition well packed.
My only complaint is with their website and administrative procedures. I received an acknowledgement of the order by email, but it didn't list the items in my order or say when it would ship. The site indicated shipment would be mid-month (April) but nothing more specific. I had to contact them twice by email to get a tracking number for the shipment.
It's not that big a deal, but I don't like for packaged plants to sit in the sun (where the delivery guy leaves things) if we're not home when they arrive.

Hey Raintree,
There was a 3 day delay getting my order shipped because you have been so busy. Understandable because the trees were really thick, well taken care of and of rare varieties not found elsewhere. 6 apples (Karmyn DeSonneville and others, yum), 4 peaches, 4 plums, 2 apricots, 1 nectarine, 2 filberts, 3 pears, and 3 raspberries, 3 blackberries and 2 grapes. Great packing job on everything. Now I have my orchard the way I planned it out on graph paper. Thanks for the excellent stock and your guidance picking things that do well in this area of the Northwest.
Regards,
Rob

I have ordered many items from this compny, incl. grapes, black berries, marrion berries, peach trees, plus ornamentals. I have to say that when they are good they are VERY good, but when I received my first blackberries, one was huge and strong and the two others were tiny and dead, the company replaced them, with MUCH better quality plants. The same exact thing happened with the grape plants I ordered. There customer service was great about sending new products, but I would prefer quality the first time around. This company is not a cheapie garden center, the items are full price, the merchandise should always reflect the price paid. I have stopped ordering from this company after the above purchases.

I ordered 75 Eversweet strawberry plants. They arrived in fine shape, beautiful long roots, healthy plants. Actually got more than 75 plants -- 81, I fhink.

I requested a specific shipping time - they arrived right on schedule. Well packed. Extensive planting instructions sheet included. Couldn't ask for more.

I will definitely be ordering from them again.

We ordered some of the European plums from Raintree, (Kirke's Blue and a Gage). They came in beautifully tended and in a heavy caliper, (over 1"). The root systems were trimmed a little more than I had hoped but they were healthy. We will order from Raintree again next year.

I received a range of fruit trees (apple, pear and cherry) from Raintree last spring. The order was in good shape except for one tree with a damaged root. Everything leafed out and grew. I'd rate value, packing and service as above average.

Good experience.