Comments regarding The Banana Tree (Banana-Tree.com)

Key Company Status for 2026
Ownership Change: Following the passing of long-time founder Fred in late 2025, the shop is transitioning to new ownership. A local entrepreneur named Karen Waters is reportedly taking over, aiming to preserve it as a downtown staple.

I say let them sort things out and then we’ll see if Dave is keeping an eye on his creation.

I was pleasantly surprised to have received my order so soon. I have ordered seeds and plants in the past and did have poor germination rates with certain varieties of seeds. Mostly with seeds varieties that are difficult to sprout unless the seeds are really fresh, so I would recommend to any potential customers to do some research before purchasing if concerned about germinations rates as some of the other reviews have mentioned.

In the past when I have ordered the packaging was often sloppy and kind of dirty- this time around everything looked much cleaner which is greatly appreciated. Overall, I would recommend this company for anyone thats willing to put in the time to research and learn how to care for, grow and protect some of the beautiful tropical plant species this company works with.

May Fred Saleet be in peace.

He was a good and honourable man.

i saw this much Negative Experience about this co , but ordered 600$ seeds ,now after 22 day i didnt receive my order when call them said i sent your order 27feb with regular post to california .
rellay this company is Irresponsibility

Hi folks, I think the bad true is, that banan tree is not working anymore.

I bought many many seeds for years. Quality was mixed. Delays were normal. E-Mails sometimes answered most not.

I was always wondering, why they are not updating their page for years. Now from my last 3 orders, they charged my credit card for one 100 Euro and shipped order just 1.5 months (!) later. 2 other order were not charged or executed at all. I sent massive emails, no email anwered any more.

Posted on October 25, 2014, updated November 5, 2014
Posted on October 17, 2014, updated October 25, 2014
I am from Jakarta - Indonesia. have some 2 or 3 times purchased seeds from Banana-tree. On Oct 7th, 2014, I have placed an order to them. on Oct 9th, Mr Fred Saleet from Banana informed me that my CC is denied . I was quite surprised, because I believed that my CC is in active and have enough credit. So I asked him to hold the transaction and keep the order remain valid while I will contact my CC issuer. In short , 2 more days ahead I email Him that my CC have been debited by Banana on Oct 9th..as much as the order price including the shipping cost.. but Mr Saleet , never respond my email. I took more than 6 email just to inform him that my CC have been debited on that Oct.9th... emails were sent directly to Him as well to banana message box... I warned Him , if doesn't response my email in 3 days ahead , I will post his black reputation. and now I just do it here.. and again the Banana website seems closed or in trouble right know,,,

I was surprised to see some of the negative reviews here. I have been purchasing seeds, rhizomes and plants from The Banana Tree in Easton, PA for years and have never had a bad experience. They have wonderful items on offer -not the usual stuff that you will find in the big box stores. Their prices are more then fair. My plants have flourished and are great focal points throughout my home. The owner of the store is a very knowledgeable gentleman who is a wealth of information and an asset to his customers. His love for plants is evident. It is very rare to find someone like him who is so knowledgable about his product and so willing to share that knowledge. The store itself is a little oasis in Easton and I enjoy stopping by to see which new items the owner has procured for his lucky customers.

Poor to no germination on all of their seeds. Livistona chinensis and Livistona nitida = 0% germination from hundreds of seeds (!!!) after 1 year. Washingtonia robusta germination, they usually germinate around 80-90% but Banana Tree seeds germinated only at 15% to 20% rate. Other palms and trees - no germination or very poor germination. As it seems they do not sell fresh seeds (in spring).

I first placed an order then read this blog with so many negatives. I thought I had made a mistake and expected the worse. My experience was very good. I ordered 2 of the Basjoo, 2 of the Musella L. and 100 Sikkimensus seeds. I received my order in about a week. So far all 4 banana plants are growing well in small starter containers. Doing some research on the seeds, I see that these can take 1 to 12 mos to germinate so we'll see. The jury will be out for some time while I wait to see any form of sprouting. If I can find any fault with this company is their lack of informing via email that the order shipped and of the tracking number. Always nice to know your order is not held up (which turned out not the case for me). I would buy from them again.

I placed an order for a banana tree and got it w/in 3 weeks so I was happy about that BUT right after we thought it was going to take off we started having signs of Black Sigatoka. From my understanding this would have come from where we bought it. I am going to contact them and see if they have any remedies or will like to replace the plant because it's not going to make it. I will keep you updated if they resolved the issue.

I've ordered couple of banana trees from them. I've got an email saying my order is being processed. A week or two passed i didn't get any status on that. But since it was mentioned in the site that the shipping of the plants may take up to two weeks depending on the availability, i waited till that time and sent them an email asking when my plants will be shipped. Immediately i got a mail from the company saying, my order is processed. The mail was not so clear whether or not the plant is shipped. Anyway i got the rhizomes in mail in a week or so. After one month in the pots, one of them is showing some signs of life and another one is all dried up , but still there is hope since banana will survive in most cases just with the bulb. Still waiting to see new growth and eager to see whether or we got the right species. Think it will take more than a year to find that out. Anyway i'm happy with the order and they are very reasonably priced.

First time customer-ordered a Musella Lasiocarpa, reasonable price and shipping, appears to be healthy. I also wanted to add another plant to the order and promptly emailed them within the hour of placing the Musella order and never got an answer. I recently sent an email asking what the age of the plant was (for fertilizing purposes) and never received an answer. The customer service is non-existant. I find customer service to be a very important part of a mail order/online business. If I don't receive any answers, I will assume they don't need the business and therefore will not be giving them anymore of mine.

Bananatree cost me an extra $50. I paid for a "Manzano" banana tree and instead received some type of plantain. Now, it will cost me $50 to get the rhizome dug out because the plant was over 12 ft tall! If you want a trusted source, check out "going bananas" on this site. They are a local nursery with a great feedback history..unlike these con artists.

I also purchased Bay Leaf seeds from them that were not viable.

A number of the seeds I've bought from this company have not been viable. Generally I've then ordered the same seeds from another company with good germination. Furthermore, two of the Heliconia rhizomes I've bought from them, once they flowered, turned out to be something totally different from what I ordered.

Posted on December 19, 2009, updated December 19, 2009
Posted on March 26, 2009, updated December 19, 2009
Shipping is a little on the slow side; but I have never had a problem with the seeds that I have received from them. Plus, their prices are better than most other places I have researched.

I've spent HUNDREDS of dollars on their seeds, probably 25 different types of palms. I've had VERY LITTLE success getting anything at all to sprout. The old guy was a bit rude, treating me like I was a complete dumb ass. I don't know how they stay in business with customer service like that and seeds that don't sprout. I won't buy from them again. I wish I could send them all back for a refund.
I've got a 20 ft by 20 ft area in my front yard full of containers with soil and seeds that won't pop up. I'm very disappointed. I wasted a LOT of money with no results. Seeds suck!

I did not order palms and banana trees. I ordered Bletilla because their price seemed to be very good. They did not have these for a while. But once I placed an order, the package was delivered very quick. And I was very pleased with the quality of plants as well. Actually, it was far exceeding my expectation, so I was pleasantly surprised.

I ordered 21 types of seed about 3 weeks ago after reviewing Garden Watchdog comments. Prices were excellent. Within a few days of my account being charged, I received my order. The seed looks great and I consider the 3-week time frame very reasonable. The seed packets all have planting information which, given the "exotic" nature of some of the seeds is helpful. I will definitely order from this company again.

I have ordered twice from bananatree, and both times received the complete orders, and seeds were all viable. I am very satisfied and delighted. Just because seeds don't grow for you doesn't mean the seeds were bad- so many reasons why seeds won't grow. Be reasonable. Also, don't bother trying to call them- whoever that crabby old guy is obviously doesn't want to talk to you! The seeds will come in a couple of weeks- those people are just not good communicators- who cares- they have unique seeds at the best prices on the internet. If you want to be treated elegantly, then don't buy from them; if you want to get some fabulous seeds, then swallow your pride, shut up and order from them!

I found banana-tree.com through a google search for passiflora seeds (I LO0O0VE passionfruit !!). I got super excited by the prices, quantities and variety of not only passiflora but other tropical plants and fruit. I soon had 23 items (all seeds) in my shopping cart! I couldn't find better prices after spending an hour or so searching. Then I decided to check for reviews and found most on this website (davesgarden). I was disappointed with all the negative reviews because I really wanted these seeds! I buy a lot of things from the www, I think reviews are a great help for everyone and I usually listen to them! This time, however, I was too excited with my 7 different fruit-bearing passiflora and other fruits and plants in my shopping cart, that I decided "what the hey" and I placed the order. I decided I would order from the next cheapest web-page I found if the seeds didn't arrive in a couple of weeks. Today, just over a week later I was excited and nervous to find a package from banana-tree. I opened it and everything was included, correct and even packed in the order on my shopping list - too easy! I'm sorry for the others that had negative experiences but mine was perfect. Now, to the backyard...

I found Banana Tree through a web search. They had the three bananas I wanted to purchase. It's been almost a month and I have heard nothing. I sent an email to them to find out what the status was. They could have told me it would be another month before they could ship and that would have been fine. I was more concerned that perhaps they had not received my order. Instead, I received no response. After searching the web for ratings, I found this thread and realized I might have made a mistake. I immediately sent them another email asking that they cancel my order. I received a prompt email stating it had been canceled. If they'd been so fast answering my first email, they would be $50 richer.

I tried to order banana plants on April 24th. On May 14 I called them since I had not received the order. The person said that it had not shipped but he would process it that day. On May 21st, when I still had no plants, I called again. Well.... this time I spoke to Dr Merritt? who was very rude, refused to help, blamed it on my credit card (which is a business gold card) and proceeded to basically tell me off! I have NEVER been treated this way by any company and I will NEVER do business with them (he kept repeating that he was a Doctor which I found quite amusing since I have a MD and a PhD... so I was not sure what that had to do with anything). I can't comment on the plants since I never actually got any!

Very fast order processing. Seed quality and their package was good. This merchant have nice prices (about $5 for 100 Neem seeds) and shipping charges was only $2 to Israel.

I placed order in Banana-Tree and I certainly recommend Banana-Tree.com

I ordered two things via the internet from this company: A dwarf variety heliconia and a shampoo ginger both as tubers.

The products took three weeks to show up through USPS and since I trust the mail service whole heartily I suspect they delayed sending my package, even though they did charge my card.

I have experience growing ginger from tubers so I understand that you have to treat tropicals differently from other kinds of tubers. Once I unwrapped them ( they were in wet paper towels and then wrapped in bubble wrap and duct taped closed - not very professional, but oh well ) I noticed that the ginger was dry, shriveled, old and plus it had MOLD on it. Nothing was going to grow from that but I figured 'why not?'

So I followed the instructions on the web-site about how to plant the heliconia - followed them to the T. Neither the ginger or the heliconia grew.

These were expensive tubers and plus the shipping, but the heliconia tuber was big. The reason it died was obviously my error in how it was planted and treated (info. I got from the website), but that being said 1/3 of the tuber was mushy and rotten.

I think this company has great plants, but obviously you have to buy from them in person, don't go through the hassle of ordering from them online because they probably will give you their worse products.

I ordered one Musa basjoo (spelled several ways) or Japanese Fiber Banana (hardy). After over a month, I received a small banana "bulb" which is what I expected. The bulb was planted per BT's instructions and has grown very nicely. The only problem is it is the wrong species. The plant is a dwarf variety with red and green leaves. Two e-mails to BT remain unanswered. Two phone calls went unanswered. Given all the negative postings about BT and my less than satisfactory experience, I have made these conclusions. BT's customer service is very poor. And I note that sending out the wrong plants or seeds seems to be a common occurence at BT (see other postings). There are several supplies of tropicals on the web who provide better, more reliable service.

Spoke to the "old" guy about a year ago via phone and he couldn't have been ruder. The conversation was so bad that I stayed away from any contact with Banana Tree for over a year and one-half. He was impatient, demeaning, appeared put out that the call was even placed. Just down right nasty! It was so bad and memorable that when I mentioned this experience to another business owner who lives in Easton, he reinforced the fact that this individual's demeanor was well known.

Have several clients who are looking for specific greenery and thought I'd give it another try. (Perhaps he had a bad day the first time and not everything I heard was true?)

Instead of calling I emailed a polite inquiry with a thank you and my name. While they answered the same day, I got back a one word "No" in reply. No thank you for your inquiry, no signature as to who sent the email, no invitation to stop in to see all that they do carry, nothing that even implied that they were other than inconvenienced by having to take the time to respond!

I have heard so many negative and bad things about this individual over the past year and apparently it's all true. They may have a decent product, but there is virtually no customer service involved.

I personally am finished with the Banana Tree and will take my client's business elsewhere!

Let them keep their nasty attitude in place, it will catch up with them sooner or later.

I've been ordering seeds, and plants from these guys for about 5 years, and I don't have a single complaint(I usually do). They seem to have the best prices for alot of different types of seeds(nearly whole sale pricing on small packets), and the plant prices aren't bad either. They also seem to get in rare Musa seeds at the same time they are being offered by other companies, but at better prices.

I've ordered from Banana-Tree multiple times over the last few years for several hundreds of Dollars each order, but had always the feeling, that I am a petitioner that asks for welfare and not a customer. Sometimes orders took several weeks with no notification when it will be sent and I have yet to receive an order that was totally complete. Every time there have been mulitple packages missing, because they didn't have them, but nowhere on their web site was shown that they are out of stock. When I called after 2 weeks, to learn when my order will be sent, I got always a very unfriendly reply with an endless monolog about their own farms in Ecuador, where they harvest everything fresh and that all is weather depending. and not always immediately available. And that I should have patience and not ask after such a short time about the shipping status.

Geez, 14 days isn't a short time! The old guy made me feel as if I was the worst thing he had ever to deal with and he always got pretty angry, when I just wanted to know when to expect my order.

Why would they offer seeds on their web site, when they don't have the stuff? Anyway, I kept ordering from them, although I didn't feel at all like a customer, because they have an incredible variety, which I couldn't find anywhere else in one place.

My last order was 3 weeks ago (a $500 order) and I placed this order on the phone, so I would know immadiately what is available and what isn't. Also because their website charges immense shipping costs, if you order in bulk, $40 for one order was the average shipping price for a 1 pound package.

Anyway, when I called the last time and ordered, I got the promise that 90% of my seeds are in stock and will be sent within 3 days. 2 weeks passed and I got nothing, until I finally grabed the phone and called again. I asked very friendly about my order status and was wondering, why I didn't get charged after 14 days, although I had the promise that everything will be sent within 3 days. The guy got very rude immediately and said, "You are pushing too hard, and I didn't promose you anything" I thought I don't hear right and said;" Yes you promised me to send the order within 3 days", and his reply was:"I'll hang up if you go on this way". Now he reached my breaking point and I canceled the whole order. Never ever I got treated like a piece of crap when I ordered for thousands of Dollars from a company and have been a regular customer for several years.

Beside that I doubt very much that they have own farms in Ecuador like the guy kept telling me over and over again, because if they had their own plantts, they would have their own pictures and not show pictures from other companies on their website, that even contain still the copright prints And I know exactly that they didn't ask for permission, because they even show a picture of mine that I made of my own plant Datura inoxia, that he sells as Datura wella.

Considering that I doubt very much, that he really sells what he is showing.

Never ever I will order from this company again and I hope more people read these posts here. This guy lacks any communication skills and obviously is not aware of that he makes a lving from his customers and that a customer is not somebody that he can treat like an unwelcome pest.

I recently ordered about 50$ worth of seed from there website, as was posted by many there was no "its in the mail" email which would be nice, but they did send and email confiming the order. so far germination is so so, but I ordered difficult and unusual seed, so I wasnt expecting 100%. the seeds all appear to be the correct species, but until they are grown out who knows. I was leary of ordering from them at first because of the so so rating here, but would do so again as my experience this time was good. Caleb

I have made several seed orders and have beed disappointed everytime. Things are mislabeled. Seeds are mixed up, often non-viable. its really disappointed to nurse seeds for 12 months to find out you did not get what your ordered. The last time i ordered macademia nuts and was sent jatropha nuts which look the same -- sort of taste the same -- thank god the tree looks different because jatropha can be deadly if eaten. And thank god i didnt eat any of the nuts they sent me.

When i complained he had the nerve to tell me that perhaps birds ate all the 100 nuts i had planted in bags and replaced them with something else! That was the last time i will buy anything from them.

I ordered 4 banana plants from this company, unfortunately before checking out their rating in davesgarden. The plants were tiny, smelled moldy and poorly packed. Two of them managed to survive, but 2 died. It took a lot of research to finally find the phone number. When I got thru and explained the problem, the man was argumentative and treated me like I was trying to rip him off. Gee! He's the one who charged a lot of money for trashy plants! I've ordered many, many plants from various places and this is one of the worst. Given the choice of sending me replacement plants or giving me a refund, he said he'll give me a refund and told me never to order from them again. What a jerk. I'll be watching my credit card for his refund or he'll get a complaint from the Better Business Bureau.

Although their customer service is rough around the edges, I am extremely satisfied with Banana-Tree for the quality of rhizomes I received. I do wish they would send you an email stating that the order has been shipped, so I could prepare planting my order when it arrives.

I ordered three items form BT this year and two are not what they are supposed to be.

Knowing form past experience with seeds purported to be Ipomoea purga, before my order shipped, I sent an email stating if they could not guarantee that the I. purga seeds were just that, to cancel my order. They never responded and the seeds are in fact another vine.

The second incorrectly shipped item was ordered as Alpinia galanga and what I received was Curcuma zedoaria, though it was tagged as the former. That the plant was not A. galanga was immediately apparent as C. zedoaria has a bronze stripe down the foliage which the other doesn't.

I can only hope that the third item, Curcuma longa, turns out to be that.

What bothers me most about this is that I only wanted the vine seeds, but they have a $20. minimum order, so if I wanted them, I had to buy more plants. Then, one of them, at $9.95, turns out to be an item they didn't (don't?) offer on their website.

I know plants get misshipped, mis-identified when sent to a distributor like BT. One hopes they would test what they get for verification, especially very hard to find items that are already considered as having questionable authenticity, as with I. purga.

2 out of three isn't good at all.

I will be contacting them about my order. We'll see what happens.

Robert.

I ordered back in March and am having outstanding results. My 2 banana trees (basjoo & chinesis) have REALLY taken off the last month or so. I ordered an agave and 3 lithops, which are also doing good. It took about 3 weeks for my order to arrive...another month before the bananas showed any signs of life, but are really making up for it now. My basjoo has just started a side-bud, so it looks like another tree on its way.

It is a shame that others are not having this same experience. My experience was terrific, however. I'd take the chance again with another small order of banana trees next spring.

I ordered 2 banana plants from Banana-Tree.com on 4/21 -- nothing has appeared to date despite 2 e-mails (which were not responded to!) and 1 fax (also not responded to!) -- I will next attempt to phone them but from what I've read I guess I shouldn't expect too much!!

It is interesting that people who live in England and Japan received their plants/seeds in 5 days while those who live in PA or nearby states waited weeks! I may cancel my order with them and try another company -- or have my local nursery that handles tropicals get a musa bajoo for me! What a disappointment since I have a pool and the weather here in CT has been spectacular so I was hoping to get my plant growing by the time the weather really warmed up!

Well, you are all lucky you even got seeds, LOL I live in their hometown, have visited their store, and when hubby went in to ask if he could purchase seeds for my birthday, they treated him as if we couldn't possibly know how to grow the seeds and refused to sell him seeds. They do sell some very impressive plants, which are displayed in their front windows.

I FIRST ORDERED FROM THEM ABOUT 7 YRS AGO. THAT ORDER AND THE SECOND ORDER WAS VERY GOOD. AFTER THAT, THE SEEDS THEY SENT DIDN'T GROW. I ALSO FOUND THAT THEY WON'T E MAIL YOU IF SEEDS ARE OUT OF STOCK. I WAITED 2 MONTHS TO CALL RE AN ORDER. THEY SOUNDED IRRITATED THAT I CALLED. WHEN I DID GET MY ORDER-NOTHING GREW. SO I TRIED THEM AGAIN RECENTLY. SAME THING-NOTHING GREW. I HAVE SINCE BEEN OREDERING ELSEWHERE. I KNOW GUAM IS FAR FROM THEIR COMPANY BUT THE SEEDS USUALLY CAME IN A TIMELY MANNER-1 OR 2 WEEKS.

Ordered 200 Carambola seeds .... ZERO sprouted! I've grown these before, so i know it was not my fault. I contacted them about this, and that I would pay shipping if they wanted to replace them (with more worthless seeds) but all I got was RADIO SILENCE. I'm switching to seedlings, seeds suck! More $$ down the drain. When will I learn. (If they replace my order with VIABLE seeds i MIGHT change feedback to Positive) I have pics to prove seeds swelled & rotted.

I've been ordering from BananaTree for a number of years. Never had any problems, plants arrived in tip-top shape, and packaging was in great order.
Their prices are decent..Even when I ordered a Banjoo Musa Banana, they wrote back explaining about the care of this plant, and if I planned on planting outside, it'd need protection. Toni