Comments regarding Spring Hill Nursery (aka SpringHillNursery.com)

In August, I placed an order for fall delivery. Originally, it was scheduled to ship in late September. I've been checking my account weekly since then. Whenever it gets within a week of the expected delivery date, that date magically changes--from late Sept to early Oct; from early Oct to mid Oct; from mid Oct to late Oct. Now it's just jumped from late Oct to early Dec.

Why do I have a feeling this order for FALL delivery is suddenly going to change to SPRING delivery. Very, very frustrating. If the plants aren't available, they shouldn't be offering them for sale.

In late winter, I received a catalog from Spring Hill and noticed they had a perennial that my uncle was looking for. A quick conversation with him prompted me to buy the perennial from them. I was told due to my hardiness zone (5) that the perennial would be shipped the first week of May. Well, since I am a garden center manager myself, and May is our busiest month, I lost track of time and when it was supposed to be shipped. Memorial Day rolled around and I saw my uncle at a family reunion... he asked about the plant and I told him I hadn't received it yet. I called Spring Hill the following day to see what was going on and they said the plant had been backordered until mid-June. Yep, you guessed it, mid-June came and went............ so I called them on June 25 to see when my perennial would arrive. They told me they had sold too many of that particular perennial and would not be able to ship it until July of 2008! I told them that they need to communicate better with their customers- if something is backordered from any other catalog or online service, they always let me know and tell me when it will be shipped out. I shouldn't have to chase THEM for a shipping date! Hellooooooooo, I AM the customer! Their response was "I'm sorry you feel this way, but sometimes we get too many orders for our material that we cannot fill. Would you like to be put on the list for next year?" Meaning, I wasn't already on the list for the next year? And just what were they doing with the $20 I sent them in the winter??? I told them no, their service stinks and if I ran my garden center the way they run theirs, we would be out of business in a year or two. I told them I wanted a refund, didn't hear back from them, called a week later and was told that it would be put back on my credit card within a week. It was......... but I will never order from them ever again because that was much more stress than one should have to deal with for one perennial!

I was disappointed with Michigan bulb because the seeds I ordered did not produce any yield worth speaking of. Everything arrived two months later than I had been told. I also received catalogs from all these different seed and plant places with similar coupons....hmm. Papered my parakeets cage with em. Lo and behold, this july we got a series of catalogs and $25 free no strings attached guaranteed super duper coupons. My aunt and I decided to use them to send bulbs as gifts. When we called the orders in, we dealt with some prissy, snotty woman called Natasha. She PROMISED that the bulbs were shipping in time for the birthdays of the people the following month.

Okay, it is a month later. Everyone got the bulbs late. Every time we called about them we were given conflicting dates.
Finally we talked to someone even more prissy and snotty named Stacey, who very tersely advised us that people who use the absolutely free coupon do not get to use the satisfaction guarantee because they did not really buy anything its just Breck's way of trying you out and vise versa.
And the woman's tone reminded me of a crabby nurse dealing with a child or senile person.

I know of at least four people who will not use brecks again, and to be honest make that four, include the people who got dried out bulbs for their birthdays almost a month late.

I was also told by "Stacey" that brecks is one of nine member companies through something called Gardens Alive, and it includes Brecks, Gurney, Henry Fields, Michigan Bulb, Mantis, Compost Tiller, Audobon Workshop, Gardens ALive and Spring Hill.

Does this mean that we can expect prissy people who all give different answers from all these companies? Are any of them about to go out of business?

In June of this year I ordered a special of theirs, a total of 12 phlox plants for my front yard. One thing I was very careful about was to make sure I checked the box stating do not send me any e-mail... did not want newsletters etc... I immediatly started receiving all kinds of ads in addition to receiving junk mail from a number of other garden centers.... funny they claim they don't share this info but I do find the one time a place an order all of a sudden I get innundated. Ok, next I receive a notice saying they cannot ship my order until September.... wonderful... I now have a big bare spot in my front yard waiting for the plants that won't arrive for 3 months. I decide to just purchase my plants locally. I called up Springhill customer service and cancelled my order and also requested that they take me off the e-mail list that I had originally requested they not put me on. I was told by their customer service department that the order was cancelled and I would be removed from the list. Ok, fast forward to mid-September.... I received and was charged on my credit card for the plants that I had cancelled back in June.... half of them do not appear to be healthy enough to make it until the end of October.... they are in the ground... after all it was obvious they would never make it being shipped back and I figured ok... they are paid for.... overpaid for to be exact as they are half dead and I can definitely see that at seven of them are not going to survive... but I am a sucker at times and just could not send them back to end in a trash heap... I hoped that I could give them half a chance... better than no chance at all.... now in the mean time... I have received endless junk e-mails from Springhill.... over the past few months I have called their customer service dept several times to get them to stop sending me this crap.... I have been told repeatedly that they would fix the problem... it just gets worse.... I have gone through the process of having the underpaid preprogrammed droids that answer their phones fill out the approriate form for a "supervisor" to call me back... no one has ever called back.... On October 8th I finally reached my limit... I once again received more junk e-mail not only from Springhill but other companies that "they never shared my address with" the plants that I overpaid for are all but dead... I called them again around noon time eastern standard time... the droid that answered was name Eric... very unhelpful person.... I asked to speak to a manager... not a supervisor but a manager... I was briefly placed on hold... Eric came back on the line and told me all supervisors were busy... I restated that I wanted a manager not a supervisor... folks in a call center there is a difference.... a supervisor is just another droid who is paid an extra .15 per hour to the paper work that the managers don't want to do... and then it gets filed in the circular file.... I explained to Eric that I had been through this proceedure more than once and no one ever calls back and I had reached my limit with them.... I wanted either a manager or the number for corporate.... Eric was incapable of providing either.... the only thing Eric could and would do for me was to take the information and fill out yet another "form" for supervisor not a manager to call me back.... this is one company that no matter how good the offer sounds don't waste your time, energy or finances.... product quality is poor at best, customer service is worse and their honesty and integrity is completely non-existant.

I was really mad at myself for not looking here before I placed an order from Spring Hill, thought I'd just wasted my $$. When I came home today I had the box from them waiting (I just got the email yesterday saying they'd mailed it), and was eager to open it. I ordered crazy daisy, diamond grass, verbascum & blue ice phlox. All of the plants look to be in wonderful shape, need some light and to be in the ground, but really not too bad for the trip. I am very pleased so far & would definitly order from them again. Maybe they saw all the bad feedback they were getting from people & changed some things-I don't know, but so far I'm thrilled and can't wait to see everything in the spring!!

I placed a small order with Spring Hill months ago. My original estimated delivery time was the 2nd to 3rd week of September. Yesterday, I checked my order status on-line and each of the 4 plants had a new and delayed estimated delivery time...all between the 3rd and 4th week of November. I called to see what was happening and the 'customer service' person told me that she did not have access to that information and according to what she was looking at, they should be at my house by the end of this week. I explained to her that if they were not there by the end of the week, I would cancel the order because if they arrived the last week of November, there was a strong possiblilty that they would never get a chance to establish before they were killed by frost. She immediately told me, "That is what our 100% guarantee is for." I guess she thought I do not really care if my plants made it through the winter or not. She followed this statment by telling me all about the wonderfull specials they had available at the moment...like I would want to order more from them now that they cannot complete my first order in a timely manner. Lastly she told me that I really needed to get into their 'special' program so I could save %10 on all my orders. After all of this I reminded her that my present focus was on the plants that I had already ordered but had yet to receive. I hung up.

After a few minutes, I decided to go ahead and cancel. I called back, this time speaking to another 'customer service' representative. Since the previous lady told me that she was sure they would be here by the end of the week, I asked for a tracking number (which would at least indicate a shipment). This time I was told that there was no tracking number because my order had not been shipped. I immediately cancelled the order.

First person says that according to their 'computer screen', the order should be here if not today, by the end of the week. Five minutes later, the second person says that according to their 'computer screen' the order has not even shipped.

I am also very glad that I checked out here first before placing a large order from this company. I almost bought a bunch their poppies, but read here all the negative feedback and will definitely not order from them. I am thankful I have this site to go to before I place my orders!

Same thing happened to me like CompWiz. They told me I had too many refunds and my account was closed. I cancelled an order and will have nothing more to do with them. They ship to me too late.

I have been ordering from Spring Hill Nurseries and from Brecks for over 10 years. I have occasional used their guarantee when plants have failed to grow. I have never asked for a refund, just a credit to be used on a future order. This spring I ordered and received 24 mini-rose bushes. They started off ok, but after a couple of months about half of them died off. I called and talked with CS and the lady I spoke with said she would warranty the entire order, about $75.00. I told her to give it to me as a credit, which I promptly used to order other products.

Now the fun begins. Yesterday, I received a letter from Brecks, not Spring Hil, but Brecks. Here are the first 2 paragraphs:

We received your recent Breck's order!

Normally it is company policy to extend credit to our customers, however, because of your order history with us, we cannot extend you credit and we cannot process your order. YOUR ORDER WILL NOT BE SHIIPED. (emphasis was theirs, not mine)

The next paragraph was even better:

Pursuant to company policy, your account has been put on hold because, during the past twelve months, you have returned 50% or more of your purchases with us. It appears that our company's products are not a good match for you, and we regret that we have been unsuccessful in satisfying your gardening needs. We are somewhat puzzled by this, because we do strive for 100% customer satisfaction, and in most cases, achieve it. This can be evidenced by our devoted customers who purchase from year after year from us and by the many testimonials we receive from satisfied customers.

Again, we are sorry our products have not met to your satisfaction.

The letter was un-signed.

I had been, by the way, one of those 'devoted customers who purchased year after year' from them. Not anymore.

Now the only thing that I had 'returned' was the mini-rose bushes, which I had told them only half of the plants died. The CS rep made the decision to cover the full order. Plus, that was Spring Hill and the letter came from Brecks!!

I called Brecks CS and they were unable to find a reason why I received that letter. She did see the 'return' order for the mini-roses at Spring Hill, though.

I have ordered hundreds of dollars of products from these 2 companies over the past several years and have only asked for refunds for an extremely small percentage of those plants. Because of one order in the past year that they decided to give me a full refund on instead of the half refund I asked for, they decided to put my account 'on hold'. Well, they can hold onto it for as long as they want at this point, I don't need it anymore.

Needless to say, I promptly canceled the small order that they they refused to ship to me on credit.

I'll climb down off of my soapbox now.

My experience with this company is totally uninitiated by me & exactly what happened is a mystery, but - I had a Breck's bulb catalog with a $25 coupon. I tried to use it on their website, but it wouldn't "take" so I called them, and placed the order with no problem. Within a short period of time I had an order confirmation email from Breck's summarizing my order, name & address, etc. I also had an order confirmation email from Spring Hill -- I did NOT order anything from Spring Hill - ever, in fact. It cited, as the Breck letter did, an order confirmation number, my full name, my address and a bogus order for $47 worth of stuff. The last four numbers of the credit card are not those of the card I used for Breck's - it may be one I no longer use, but will not know that until and unless I get a bill. I called Spring Hill (long distance - no 800 number) and was told yes, they are affiliated with Breck's but no idea how this could have happened. "Maybe somebody saw your Breck's catalog and ordered." Yeah, right, from Spring Hill. I will never use either of these companies again.

I ordered a number of roses and Mock Orange shrubs. I received the plants in a timely fashion this spring, and the plants were a reasonable size too. After growing for several months through the summer I cannot believe how well all of the plants are doing. The rose bushes are all 4 foot and have tons of blooms and the mock orange shrubs, 10 of them, are gorgeous and have already grown to 4-5 feet each. One of them seemed questionable after a late April frost but diligent feeding saved it. I would definitely recommend the products from this company.

Boy am I glad I found the Garden Watchdog. I ALMOST ordered over $100 worth of plants from Spring Hill just this week. I decided to check it out on the Watchdog before I ordered, and boy am I glad I did. Thanks to you guys and the warnings here, I'm not going to waste my money.

I have to also post an "imagine my surprise" comment about Spring Hill. I've been using them for over 7 years, and have done nothing but praise them for their customer service and beautiful plants. Even though I have had problems with their plants since I first started using them, I never followed through with their "lifetime guarantee". After receiving a set of six Starburst iceplant that had only one plant alive, however, I finally decided to hold them to their guarantee, and I asked that it be replaced. They sent me another one that arrived in the same condition. I called again, and they said they wouldn't ship it a third time. I said that's fine, that I understood, so they issued me a credit.

I of course continued to order plants, because I was impressed with their guarantee. Living in Colorado, it's very hit or miss as to what will grow here. Hostas, for example, will not grow in the shade. They have to be in full sun to part shade. So I would order plants from Spring Hill that I thought would fit my region and area of my garden, but they wouldn't return the next year. Additionally, I planted a red bud that looked like a stick when we first planted it, but it ended up getting beautiful leaves on it and doing great by the end of the first year. The next year, however, the redbud also did not return.

Having contacted customer service and having been impressed with them, I decided that I would call them about all the plants that didn't survive. I received I believe over $50 in credits, and then combining that with various coupons that they have issued (such as the $25 one, plus others), I ordered a lot of other plants this year. I originally ordered the plants in April, and the ship date was supposed to be the end of May, beginning of June. This then got pushed back to end of June, beginning of July, which then got pushed back to mid-September, beginning of October. In the meantime, one of the plants I had ordered was no longer available, so I ended up with a credit of almost $15 on my account, plus a coupon from them for $5. Thus, I decided I would order more plants.

This was the beginning of the end of my relationship with Spring Hill. I sent in my order to them, asking them to apply my credit, plus the coupon, and apply the difference to my credit card. In response, I received a letter stating that they had cancelled the order I had sent in, and in turn, they had also cancelled the order that has been sitting there since April. I called to voice my frustration, and was told that my account had been termed a "bad account" due to the high volume of requests for refunds. After speaking with a regular customer service rep, I asked to speak to a supervisor. He told me that I had called on August 1st and asked for a refund (completely untrue), and then basically accused me of trying to rip them off because I had actually held them to the word of their guarantee!

I was absolutely astounded by how I was treated, and would absolutely not recommend this company anymore!

So far my experience with Spring Hill has been positive. I placed a large order in April '07.

Shipping: The order did take quite some time to get here, and yes, the ship date did get pushed back at least once, but the plants arrived in plenty of time to plant them before hot weather set in (because of the slow shipping, I wouldn't recommend ordering as summer heats up in your area, even if they are still taking orders). Everything was packaged well, and was moist and green.

Replacements: My order included a few substitutions, but for the most part they just substituted something I bought bareroot for a potted version--a better value. The one exception was Hen and Chicks (sempervivum). They were supposed to be 3 potted plants, and they sent me 3 bareroot instead. I called Customer Service and said that the replacement was not equal or greater value. They offered a gift certificate for the full price I'd paid, but I asked instead for 3 additional bareroot sempervivums to be sent. They agreed, and the plants arrived within a week or so.

Growth: Almost all of my flowers are doing great 2 months after planting. I've gotten blooms from bareroot platycodon, from small monarda plants, and I will be getting them from a small hibiscus plant. Most everything else has significantly increased in size and seem to be doing well. My only problem, actually, was with Crocosmia bulbs that I was sent. I haven't seen life out of those yet, and plan to call and ask for a refund if nothing emerges by the end of the summer.

I would echo what others have said. The plants from this nursery are small--bareroot or small pots, but they have great potential, it's just going to take time!

After many years of being a good customer with Spring Hill, I received both a credit and a $25 coupon. On my next order I took advantage of the credit and the coupon and applied them to my order. I wrote a check to cover what I owed, but a few weeks later I received a letter from David Wright, the Credit Supervisor threatening me to penalize me for late payment. Of course it was a form letter that did not acknowledge the credit, coupon and payment I already made. I wrote a letter complaining of this rude treatment and asked for the name and address of the president of the company, but was given the runaround. I still have not received it. I am grateful for this opportunity to express this frustration because the quality of customer service generally in going downhill and we need to step up the to plate and demand our rights.
thank you.
mfreed

I ordered from Spring Hill last year and was supposed to receive my order in April. Part of it arrived on time. The potted lilacs were not the potted plants I had ordered, but little teeny sprigs in packing moss. They were weak and yellow but I babied them and now they are thriving. The yellow primrose lilac I ordered arrived very late in May as a "bareroot" even though I ordered and paid for a potted lilac. It was obviously dried up and dead. I gave it a try though, and it was a waste of time. Spring Hill did replace it, but with another dried up dead "bareroot". I am an experienced gardener and I have planted succesful bareroot plants before, this was such a disappointment.

Do not do business with this company.

File a complaint with BBB (Better Business Bureau)

They helped me get a complete refund.

I ordered a collection of miniroses and 2 hydrangeas.
In June 2007 I received the miniroses, they were all dead or dying. The hydrangeas were backordered.
They replaced the miniroses, much better packing this time, but still 2 of the replacements died. Finally, I received one dead hydrangea. They said they would send a replacement, but later said they would send a substitute. Later they said the substitute was not available. I never did receive the 2nd hydrangea.

In April 2007, I used their "$25 off" coupon to order about $25 worth of plants. The coupon reads as follows: "Use the order form inside this catalog to order as much as you like and use this gift coupon to deduct $25. Just take $25 off your product total prior to shipping and handling. If your product total is $25 or less, you'll pay only shipping and handling. To validate, please enclose this coupon with your order or mention it when you place your phone order. To take advantage of this offer online, just enter your account number and key number from the back cover." I followed the instructions. So, imagine my surprise when on my next credit card bill, I saw a charge from Spring Hill for $21.45. I emailed them asking them to correct the amount. Their auto-reply assured me that a Customer Care representative would get back to me within 48 hours.

So, three days later (after I emailed them again asking if anyone had been planning to get back to me anytime soon) I received this reply: "Thank you for your email. The coupon you used was if your merchandise total was $50 or more, you would then receive a $25 coupon to be applied towards your balance due. Your merchandise total only came to $24.98. Therefore, your coupon was prorated accordingly." In my response, I reiterated the terms of the coupon and asked for immediate action to correct the problem. Again, the auto-reply assured me that within 48 hours, I would hear back.

Five days later, I received this reply: "Thank you for your eMail. I have reviewed your account and see that one of our agents has already assisted you in this matter."

I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau that day, and the next day received this email from Spring Hill: "Thank you for your email. Please understand that our company is based on 100% Customer Service. We are trained and qualified to answer any questions you may have or assist you with any problems that may arise. Please accept our apology for any inconvenience we may have caused you, and we ask that you consider giving us one more opportunity to provide you with world class service. Refer to the credit memo number given below with your next mail in order and receive $10.00 off."

Oops, I guess I didn't understand that their company is based on 100% customer service. I'm glad they cleared that up. "Trained and qualified"?? World class service? I'm a little unclear on that part, too.

That same day, I received another email from a different rep: "Thank you for your email. Please accept our apology for any inconvenience we may have caused you, and we ask that you consider giving us one more opportunity to provide you with world class service. Refer to the credit memo number given below with your next mail in order and receive $2.50 Again, our sincere apologies for any inconvenience."

??!! Right. Apology accepted, and don't worry about stealing my money, since apparently you're in denial about your mistake. But, do I get $10 off or $2.50 off my next order? Or do you overcharge me again regardless? I'll be ordering again real soon! (NOT)

In the meantime, they apparently received the BBB complaint, because suddenly they were very responsive and actually notified me that they were issuing a credit to my credit card. When I asked them to confirm the amount of the refund, someone replied almost immediately. Hmmmm...

I learned that I should have checked the BBB complaint files first, and now I do so for EVERY company I am considering ordering from.

The plants I received were OK, but I would never order from this company again. After my experience, and after reading the complaints on the BBB website and the reviews here (take a minute and read back a few pages: a lot of the complaints are about Spring Hill not honoring coupons, sending the wrong plants, refusing to honor their return policy, sending plants at the wrong time, not sending plants at all, not responding to problems, etc.), I don't think it's worth the chance. I wouldn't bother even if they sent me a coupon for $100 worth of free stuff. These people are, in my opinion, either rip-off artists or totally inept and do not deserve anyone's business. But, like good rip-off artists, they stay in business by keeping some of their customers happy. There are many other good, reputable garden stores/sites, so why bother with these people? Best of luck to you if you decide to take a chance and order from them. Hey, maybe you'll get lucky.

I bought a new house and bought almost all of my plants and shrubs from Spring Hill/ Michigan Bulb/ Breck's (they are all the same company.) I spent well over 800$. Some of my boxes got too hot and the little plants arrived fried. Some of the bulbs and tubers arrived slimy. I called to report this and was told to plant them anyway. After the first winter I lost over 65% of my healthy plants and had to call for replacements/ refunds. Roughly half of these also arrived in tough shape and the quantities were not the same (so if you got it on a three-for-one special, you would only get one plant back). They had me in the wrong zone (we are on the edge between 3 and 4). Heartbreaking and infuriating for a new gardener. Their replacement/ refund/ credit procress is time consuming and seems designed to discourage customers from claiming the lifetime guarantee (which is why I bought from them in the first place). The plants that made it are beautiful, however.

Hi I really have to say I am suprised by the many negative comments such a great company has received. First, let me say if you want to "grow" plants and not just look at the beautiful results then Spring Hill is for you, you buy very young plants often those that WILL NOT BLOOM this year because they are so young, part of the joy of gardening (for me anyway) is to plant something and nurture it until it grows up and produces flowers. Secondly, the guarantee CANNOT be beat. My husband weed wacked three aster plants and they replaced them, my husband "weeded" 6 foxglove plants and they replaced them, my husband pulled up my virginia blue bells when creating a border fence (hmmmm I seem to notice a pattern) and they replaced them. Not only do I really enjoy this company I am almost embarassed to have contacted them so many times for their return policy never to be turned away. The prices are extremely reasonable for the smaller plants. I love them no problems except they did cancel one of my orders because the delphinium I ordered was sold out but hey really no big deal, (my husband probably would have accidentally eaten it or something!)

I placed an order in April, 2007. My plants arrived and I was very impressed with the quality. I ordered 6 monardas and 6 red scabiosas, which I purchased during the 50% off sale. All the plants arrived in 3" pots and were huge, with healthy foliage and large roots. I would definitely order from them again. My only suggestion - and my sister told me about this - they seem to do better with Spring shipments that Summer shipments. I guess its the heat. I'm just happy that my order arrived in great condition. Also, the plants were much larger than Bluestone Perennials. If you're thinking of ordering from them, pick stuff that's sold in a pot and consider placing a small order first. I find that getting some of the field grown perennials to grow is kinda of tricky. Hope this review helps you!

I have to say that this is my first order with Spring Hill and I placed my order back in April 18th, I took advantage of that promotion with 50% off and that was the last day for the promotion. They shipped the climbing roses right away which I planted immediateley and they are all doing very, very well, one didn't seem to want to grow, it didn't have enough sun exposure, I took it out of there and moved it in full sun, it's growing like crazy. I also got the mini roses collection after a little while, one is dead, the one that came as a bonus, but all others seem to be doing fine, they all have small roses. After that I kept waiting and waiting, the shipping date got pusehd back every day, on May 19 we took vacation for 11 days, the night I came back I checked the status of my order, it turned out they had shipped most of the rest of the order the day before I left and all my plants were kept in the post office with all my mail. Needless to say that most of the plants were dead, even some of the roots were completely dried out of content, I took the day off from work just to try to save what I can save, I spent a fortune in preparing the soil in the front yard and I was ready to plant, the lilac collection was ok, they had replaced the yellow one with the bare root, that one is not growing any leaves but the other three are doing very well, the rasberry is doing ok, out of three, only one didn't survive, the astilbe collection, they are all growing beautifully, mostly everything that came as bare roots did make it but many of others were dead, I still planted them just to watch them dying, I called and requested replacements, they put an order in right away, no questions asked and they shipped, not in couple of days as I was told but in couple of weeks, unfortunately some of them came in the almost the same condition, the verbena collection, some of them died shortly after planted, the others are trying but I doubt that they will make it, the hydrangea collection that they sent is doing fine, the primroses and all the scabiosas I cannot say yet, they are very small plants and don't look too good. I also got the carnation collection as part of the initial order, they had replaced some of them with others, one was missing, I got some plant pills instead, I couldn't get it but they were all almost dried, I did plant them but it was useless, I'll just request a refund for everything that didn't survive, it looks like some of the plants just don't like to be shipped, plus, it's already too hot around here, no wonder nothing makes it in a good condition.
Bottom line is that I don't have any complains about customer service other than the fact that they can never tell you when is your order going to be shipped or give you a real estimate, they should at least e-mail people letting them know that their order will be shipped in 2-4 days, had I known they'd be shipping my order I would have asked a neighbor to take care of the plants. But it is what it is. In the future, I will only order roses from them, these seem to be very strong plants. And what they send you are already 2-3 years old, everything else is way too small. But you get what you paid for.

I was glad to find plants in the Spring Hill Nursery catalog that I couldn't find locally. However, the prices were absolutely ridiculous for the size and quality. Luckily, the butterfly bushes I ordered will continue to propagate so I feel I got my money's worth on those, but the 1 cent sale was a joke. When my order arrived, I realized I had paid 6.99 + 1 cent for two plants that would have cost me less than $2 at a local nursery.

This one was really the last straw with this company (loved them years ago). I ordered a number of iris 9/14/05, Pink Haze Siberian iris among them. It came very late in the year and was a tiny little thing. For a year it struggled to survive, not blooming of course. After 18 months in the ground it started to make a nice little clump, and this spring I was ecstatic to see buds arising! All my babying was going to pay off. Alas, when it bloomed it was the commonest kind of nondescript blue that faded to a hideous muddy purple. Spring Hill offered to credit the $7.99 it cost, but what I really wanted was the year and a half I spent filling that spot in my garden. I am 69 years old--I don't have a spare year and a half of my gardening life to waste ripping things out and starting over.

I ordered the Endless Summer garden on March 30th. I too recieved an email confirmation. The items were supposed to ship in May. I have checked my order status on their website several times and each time the ship date is pushed back. I checked today and it is now supposed to ship in July. I cancelled my order and will never do business with them again. There are too many quality nurseries who may charge more but deliver what they promise.

Last fall I received a phlox collection. I planted them in an area I had prepared and covered with screen. This spring I removed the screen and there were two plants growing but they weren't phlox...hollyhock and daisy.

I ordered a mini rose collection, Barbara Clematis, Climbing Shell, Blue Eyed Grass and a Dianthus Collection

The mini roses were delivered with most of the petals in the box...only three survived. The blue eyed grass and shell both died and since have been replaced. The Barbra Clematis is only 6 inches tall. I am afraid it won't survive eeither as it never grew and looks the sme as when it was planted

The dianthus came on Friday and were dried out and the stems were yellow and dry half way up the stem.

I wrote a letter and enclosed photos of the roses and haven't heard from SPRINGHILL yet. I sent an email about the Dianthus and haven't received a reply to it yet either.

I really wish I had found this site prior to March 12, 2007, I could have saved myself a lot of time.
I am a novice gardener so when I received the Spring Hill Nursery catalog with diagrams and planned out gardens I thought I found the greatest resource.
I ordered three of the "Three Seaons of Beauty" gardens. I was even happier to find I could place an order of up to $1000.00 and receive a 50% discount. I placed the order & then I waited. I understand weather conditions need to be appropriate for the items to be shipped so I really didn't expect the early April ship date was accurate. I was correct, everytime I checked the website the shipping date was changed.
I broke down & called them today (I'm not overly frugal but I do resent the lack of a toll free number and the long hold time). Appears the item in question is STILL on backorder. I give them credit for very low prices and a lifetime warranty but frankly seems a moot point if you never receive the plants.

I sent an order in to Spring Hill Nurseries on March 18...it it now June 5 and I have not yet received the merchandise. I called them over two weeks ago and was told my order would ship out in about two weeks.My check has cleared, so they have my money. I have requested a cancellation of my order and a refund. I am very disappointed!

I wish I would have looked onto your web site before I placed an order and talked my daughter into placing an order too. I ordered the starter shade garden sometime in April. I received an email they got my order and about a month later I got another e-mail my order had been shippped. A week later (Spring Hill is in Ohio, I live in Iowa...not that far) I got the plants. Forget-me-nots were wilted and black, the hardy primrose had leaves, but they fell off when I planted them...which was the day I got them in hopes the roots were healthy enough to make up for the sick leaves. Six plants were useless and not showing any form of life one week later. The root plants seem to be getting started. The poker primrose might survive. Two goats beards are on back order and I haven't heard a thing. Wrote them an e-mail about my disappointment a week ago and haven't heard a thing other than the immediate response that they got it. l told them I wanted my money back unless they could send me plants worth my time to plant. Maybe that is why I haven't heard from them. I would NEVER order from them again.

I took advantage of "your order ½ price” coupon and “double for 1 cent" specials this spring and was very pleased. I somehow expected all the plants to be potted versus bare root; I think the description of the plants is a bit hidden in the catalogue, but I just had to wait a bit longer to see flowers.

They have plants I cannot easily buy where I live and it is so easy to order online.

Biggest disappointment: 3 Eryngium species – 1 arrived a gooey mess and other 2 grew 2 leaves, then got same rotted root mess. They came in separate bags, but I have to wonder if they all had some disease.

I called customer service and got immediate credit for them as well as some verbena that did not make it. Most of my order has done spendidly - I am very pleased with Spring Hill Nursery so far.

I first heard of this company via QVC and ordered some rose bushes back in 1996... My poor gadening skills led to their demise and Springhill not only sent me the 3 relacements, but an additional 3 as well. I got 6 for the price of 3... 5 lived..

I have shopped with them extensively this year and they ALWAYS, without question have replaced any and all plants that died due to my poor gardening skills.

Once again with their "Sub-Zero" roses I manage to kill a few and all were replaced.

I can make an extensive list of plants that were replaced. I almost feel guilty about costing them the extra plants and "FREE" S&H costs they absorb.

I can not reccomend a company more highly as customer service and suppot that was provided to me. Buy with the utmost confidence.

James Cross

I had shopped at Spring Hill years ago when I lived in the mid-west, but hadn't ordered from them since I've lived in Georgia (since 1993). Back in the early 90s, Spring Hill was very nice, and I was not aware that they had changed ownership.
This year, we ordered a perennial garden from them. My main reason for ordering from them was to get the garden design - I'm new to perennials, and not good at arranging them. They were supposed to ship between April 4-7. I did not receive them. When I called to ask, I was told they were out of stock. I found out that the customer service rep I spoke with was not at the nursery and was not an employee of the nursery. They apparently "farm out" their customer service department, and this person supported several other unrelated businesses. He was nice, but not able to help me at all. Anyway, on the day I had finally decided to cancel my order, I received an email that it had shipped. So I waited, and received it. They did not send me the plan diagram! And it took so long in shipping that I needed to plant it ASAP. I called customer service again, and after 2 days, I managed to get them to email me the diagram.
As far as plant quality, they were small, but most are doing ok - a few were dead. I'm not thrilled. I'll try Bluestone Perennials next time, since they seem to be well rated here.

I have ordered from Springhill numerous times. Most recently, I ordered a hybrid rose plant (Caribia). It arrived nicely packed and was HUGE. It was healthy with new growth shooting out everywhere. I have never purchased a rose in such great condition, even from the local nurseries. They tell you the general size of the plant that you're ordering, but I was still not prepared for such a healthy rose! I think some people complain just to complain...and sometimes you have to wonder what their motive really is. I continue to order from Springhill and just placed another order this evening. I wouldn't do that if I had any doubts about them!

It’s been 30 days and no plants. I email them 10 days ago and they said my order is on its way but the status is still “Not Shipped”. The shipping date keeps changing and it possible I will not get my plants until mid June. I understand they don’t ship until it’s time but ALL the greenhouses in my town have the same plants for sale and have had them for a few weeks. There customer service is terrible. Takes over 2 days to reply to an email. I’m in the same boat as a few others here. I don’t have that long of a growing session and need to get the plants in soon. Will Never order from them again.

I used a coupon sent to me by Spring Hill. I received a confirmation from Spring Hill verifying my order and the total. I was surprised when I received my shipment, and the total for the order was different-they had not deducted my coupon. Customer service has been absolutely frustrating. In the initial feedback I was required to give order number and account number. When they responded, they requested the same information. I again sent it, then they requested the number on the back of my catalog (which I no longer had). If they have an order number and account number, shouldn't they be able to access my order? Now they are telling me that I misunderstood the coupon and it wasn't what I thought. Again, I have a confirmation from them verifying MY totals, but that doesn't seem to matter. I have told them to go ahead and keep my $10.00, (I've wasted too much time on this already), but I will NEVER order from them again and am more than happy to share that opinion with you fine people. Happy gardening!!!

I have worked closely with spring hill. A lot of time their plants are done on first come first serve. When u call to place an order for plants the shipdate they give u is not a ship date but the date when your growzone opens up for shipping. They have issues with training people there and not everyone gets the same training for customer serivce. I would order on line about this time of year and I would never get my plants do to the fact that I waited so long to order(what ever) I am glad that I am not charged until they ship the plants. They need help with the customer service end cause one day I would call about my plants and be told one thing and the next day I would call and be told something different. I think they need to get everyone who works for them on the same page, so when u call u get the same answer and not what ever is on that person's mind. I am not sure if I would order from them agian if I do I will go to spring hill in Tipp City

I just received my order the other day. It was very well packaged and did arrive on time. They were offering a deal that could not be beat-- $25 off on orders over $50! My only twinge of disappointment is that my plants were kind of on the smallish size, but they do seem healthy and considering the deal I got, I feel very pleased overall!

I ordered from this company, even after reading the mixed reviews, because of a great cupon deal. I recieved small but healthy plants. Unfortunately because of the terrible spring weather 3 lilacs and 3 shell plants frooze and died within 2 days.
I emailed the Co. and got an instant automated reply, telling me that a customer service rep. would contact me.When I didn't get a response in two days I emailed again. Before the end of the day I got an emailed appology with info. that replacement plants would be shipped. I got them 4 days later. These plants were bigger and healthier. And even with one more spring frost are doing well.
I am warry of really big comercial nurseries. I'm a new gardener and have read a lot of reviews here but I was impressed with this companies customer service. And the coupon couldn't be beat. (half off price of orders over $50. Which by the way I sent in,accidentaly, after the cut off date-they honored it anyway)