Comments regarding Spring Hill Nursery (aka SpringHillNursery.com)

Last fall I ordered bulbs and was very pleased. This spring I ordered quite a few plants and several "shrubs." The plants came DOA and the "shrubs" were tiny twigs which did not survive. I will never order from this company again. I wish I had asked for my money back but really didn't remember the money back qurantee.

I placed an order on line for $125 in Feb. 2006. By mid May I was wondering where my plants were. A call to them told me that the order was being packed. A few days later I went on line to check the "ship date" & it was listed as 05/31. I wasn't happy about that but what could I do. On 05/31 I checked the ship date again & it was 06/07! I emailed them & was told that my credit card had been refused twice but they were shipping the plants & there would be a bill in the shipment. Wrote them back asking when the shippment would be sent & received a reply stating that they had sent me letter stating that the credit card had been refused & now they were out of the plants that I ordered but they would send them in 2007! No Way. I have been a long time customer of Spring Hill but not longer. I think they lost the order but won't admit it.

I ordered about $200 worth of plants from SHN last year and NONE of them have survived. Some arrived dead and tattered, some looked to be on their last leg but I tried, none the less, to nurture them back to health. My attempts were futile. One of the things that I ordered was a Lilac "bush" which turned out to be a DOA Lilac TWIG. They refunded my money for the twig. I was very dissappointed with this company's product and have no intention of wasting any more of my hard earned money on their inferior offerings. I also bought from Garden Crossings last year and everything was excellent and still growing strong. Later, SHN. I'm staying with GC.

My experience is pretty much the same as many other people's -- very long shipment, over 2 weeks by now, a week and a half after it was promised, almost ensuring that the plants will be either dead or dying by the time I get them. I still don't have them although I ordered on May 7th and the order was shipped on May 16th; estimated arrival date was the 21st to the 23rd. It's now June 1 and I'm still waiting. Also similar is my experience of their customer service people -- very nice, helpful, and agreed to refund my money immediately. So it's a wash, but I wasted all of May waiting for these folks. I will not be ordering from them again. (Had I seen this website before, I wouldn't have ordered in the first place.)

The order I just received came infested with bugs. One plant has died and by the time I realized what was going on, the white flies spread to the other plants. The bugs had to have come in on their order since they were kept in a glassed-in porch in pots until I had time to plant them outdoors. They had no contact with any other plants. When I Emailed Customer Service not only did they not care about the infestion (nor did they express surprise about it) but they did not offer to replace the dead plant. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM - you will get infested plants that will infest the rest of your plants. They will not replace the dead plants.

I ordered two complete gardens, some additional flowers and some fertilizer pills from Spring Hill in March. I was given a 2-4 week delivery window. About 4 weeks in, I received one set of bareroot flowers. Everything else on the list was shown as back ordered. I called to get a timeframe, since I was assured everything would be delivered within 4 weeks. I was told it would be another 2 weeks. Those two weeks have now gone by and still nothing.

The plants I did receive came with a generic book of planting diretions. I was assured I would get detailed information pertaining to the specific plants I ordered. As someone who is just getting started, this was very important for me. I found the information I received to be informative, but not specific to the plants I ordered.

I found this website yesterday, so I called and cancelled my order. I am now a month past the planting season and I have nothing to plant. I am going to head out to the local nurseries this weekend to see if I can get a planting bed together ASAP.

Spring Hill does have very nice customer service agents. They are very polite and helpful for the most part. It's just very disheartening to get this beatiful catalog in the mail that make it seem as if you are going to be able to whip up this awesome garden with their help, only to find that it's not going to happen that way.

I would not recommend this nursery becaue of their poor shipping and ridiculous delays.

I was sucked into buying from this company by their 50% off promotion. I figured I couldn't go wrong even if some were dead. Well, a lot were dead and the rest subsequently died. The plants were small with almost no root system. The only good thing is the company does stand by their money back guarantee. I tried to get my plants replaced but these showed up terrible as well so I just asked for my money back. They did refund my money promptly. I don't know how these people stay in business. (even the positive comments on this site are not very positive!)
Please remember how much time you will waste on planting poor quality plants!!

I ordered some clematis, trumpet vines and lilac. They were all well packed and labelled well. The plants were fairly small and didn't have much of a root system compared to some other online nurseries but overall I am happy with my order.

I received their catalog in March with a 50% off coupon. I placed an order in mid-March for 2 of the larger complete gardens, 126 plants in all for $164 including shipping. It was such a good deal (so I thought). 5 weeks later, I got 1 box of the 2 that were supposed to be shipped. Most plants in the box were either dead or dieing, were barely more than stems, and had almost no root systems. I emailed them to let them know I had received only 1 box, and they said they would ship out my order again. 3 weeks went by and I hadn't received any of it. I emailed them again, this time not very nicely, asking where my order was. A week later my order arrived. This time the plants were more well-developed. I was pleased (finally!) with the plants but not at all pleased with the two months of lost growing time. I have my doubts about doing business with them again.

I have ordered from Spring Hill for the last several years. I won’t say that I’ve received perfect orders from them, in fact this is the first year that I have received a trouble free order. In previous years I have received diseased plants on more than one occasion.

I will, however, say absolutely that their customer service is very helpful and prompt regarding replacements and by the end of the season I have always ended up with healthy specimens of all the plants ordered.

Their prices are typically fair in and of themselves, but with the special annual offers they provide, I have found no reason not to take the chances on their plants because I know if there is an issue that they will gladly assist with it.

Their plants tend to be on the small side and some a touch questionable, but more often than not they graduate into lovely specimens. I have received a large number of beautiful plants from them in the past and did so again this year.

While they are far from my first choice in regards to quality, their prices and selection make it well worth ordering from this company. Overall I have been pleased with Spring Hill and will continue to order from them in the future.

Good for them that I didn't read all the bad reviews, as I might have thought twice about ordering with them. But I happened to be new to the country and eventually had a good experience. I ordered somewhere at the end of Februari a variegated Weigela, three pink magic roses, a flowering almond, a primrose lilca and a double mock orange. The order was split in two, but I paid for one shipment. When the double mock orange, the first to be shipped out, did not arrive 1 month after the money was taken from my account, they shipped another one at no cost. The other order with the rest of the plants arrived as predicted at the end of April. I planted all that same weekend, not knowing that it would be snowing and freezing just 3 days after! All but one plant survived, although they were quite in shock. The only one that died on me was the Wiegela. The others had affected leaves, but are all happy growing by now!

On 4-13-06 I ordered the naturalized shade garden collection and an "on special" black-eyed susan, all to be shipped on 5-1-06. On 5-12-06, I received the black-eyed susan, with a note on the packing slip that the balance of the order was back-ordered. According to their website, the rest of my order will be shipped by 7-2-06, far too late to do much good this year.

I ordered 4 Dwarf Red Hardy Azaleas from Spring Hill Nursery in early April. The items shipped about 2-3 weeks after I ordered, and my card was not charged until my order shipped. I just received the shrubs today. All four are good-sized, healthy and in beautiful shape.
I had a bad experience with another online nursery, and I was nervous about my order with Spring Hill, but I was very pleased when I received the azaleas. I'm suprised at all of the negative feedback I see - based on my experience, I will definately order from Spring Hill again.

This is definitely a company to avoid. They were a great company when they operated out of Tipp City, Ohio, years ago. I ordered a Red Perennial Garden, but the Tenor Phlox and astilbe turned out to be purple. They sent replacements. The new astilbe was still purple! I'm waiting for the replacement phlox to bloom. Who knows what color it could turn out to be? The Autumn Red Daylily was actually a butterscotch color! By the time it bloomed I didn't bother to complain. An oriental poppy collection did not survive the winter. It was to be replaced the following season. It never came. When I called to inquire, they told me it was no longer available. Of course, they did not offer a refund until I asked for one. I honestly don't understand how Spring Hill can stay in business!

Having recently bought our first home, this is my first year to try my hand at gardening. Since I live in a small town without a local nursery I decided to try mail-order. When I found Spring Hill's website I thought it was very informative and the prices were reasonable so I gave it a shot. After ordering and receiving almost 50 plants this spring, I must say that I'm very pleased with their products and their service. The shipping sometimes is a little on the slow side, in fact I am still waiting on my "Magic Rose Collection", but my orders always get to me in good shape. I have had 5 plants that didn't make it, probably due to shipping, but the customer service reps have been extremely helpful and issued a reship right away. They respond to my emails with 48 hours and are always ready to make it right. I have read several negative things about them on this site, and it doesn't even sound like the same company I've been dealing with! Yes, the plants are a little on the small side, but you get what you pay for. In my experience, the plants are also healthy and usually quick to grow after planting. I will continue to order from Spring Hill.

Ditto on this company being terrible for shipping. I placed my order of over $200 on March 3rd and I am still waiting. Everytime I go to the website, the 2-week delivery window is pushed out AGAIN. I upgraded to UPS shipping, since I will be on vacation from May 20-29 and I don't want $200 worth of plants to sit in a box on my porch and die . I called to do this 2 weeks ago (of course they did not offer to upgrade shipping free of charge since it was taking so long). I called May 3rd. I called again May 8th and she told me "I will put a RUSH on it" and that in 48 hours, I'd be able to check the website for an order status and see a link to UPS tracking. NO SUCH THING HAS HAPPENED. I called again today (May 10th) and he told me it has been printed and should ship tomorrow. I'm tired of promises from this company. These plants better be unbelievable considering the wait I have had. I WILL NEVER ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY AGAIN...

I sent an order to Spring Hill Nurseries on March 8, 2006. The beginning of May I'm still waiting for my order that exceed $86.00. When I called the first time, they came up with an excuse that my order was "shipped" to a different state. And they would reship the order. After waiting another 2 weeks I called again. They said that they are still processing the order and that it would take another 2 weeks to ship my order. Then I left a message for a supervisor that NEVER called back, so I called for the third time - they acted like it was no big deal and didn't care that the incompetent people working there made a huge mistake with my order. They wouldn't speed up the delivery of 2 weeks. (HOW CAN THEY SHIP LIVE PLANTS WITH A 2 WEEK DELIVERY DATE). So now I'm waiting on my refund. This is what you call incompetence at its finest."BLOOMING IDIOTS". I WILL NEVER ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY AGAIN. BEWARE OF SPRING HILL NURSERIES.

This is the first time I've ordered anything from Spring Hill. I ordered 15 plants and when they finally arrived (it took almost 4 weeks) none of them were labeled! Also, 5 of them were dead. The lady I spoke to was very nice and she has reordered the plants for me with labels. However, she informed me it will take 3 to 4 weeks to receive them. At least they are replacing them so I know which plants are which.

For the past 2 or 3 years, I have spent hundreds of dollars ordering from SHN. I've always talked and spread the word on how pleased I was with their product and service. But for some reason in 2006, that all changed. In the past, I've had to call a few times here and there to have something replaced and SHN was very polite and helpful each time - now I'm calling all the time, and receive 'snappy' responses from their customer service. With my last call the young lady in C.S. commented that I already had an 're-order' currently in place with other plants and did I know that. I told her 'yes,' but this was another order of plants that had recently died from a separate order I had just received. She said okay and became awfully quiet. When she did speak she said she had placed the order and was there anything else I needed and I told her I would like to have the confirmation #. "Oh, I just put those plants on the same order with the others." I had received confirmation those had been sent out already - but, 'Don't worry Maam, they would be included.' Of course they weren't and I still don't have them. Not to mention, half of those I did get - were DOA. Not good at all. I am very disappointed with SHN.

I have been a long time customer with SHN. Some of the past experiences were lack-luster, but most were decent. I however had a bad 2006 kick-off with them that prompted this posting.

A month ago I placed various orders with SHN. Naturally these orders would be sent at various times. The first order came with roughly 40% of the plants DOA. The clasps on the box weren't tightly snapped and they were tossed around in the box they traveled in. SHN packing staff hadn't seen fit to pack in any cushioning materials to secure the tiny box containing my plants in the big box it was sent in. I emailed them through their websites registering my complains. They then offered a reshipment. I agreed.

The replacement shipment came, and to my horror the plants looked worse than the ones they were supposed to replace. Some of the leaves had been completely separated from their stems and roots. In some containers I couldn't only see a tiny amount of soil left. I couldn't locate what's left of the root system on some plants. It was just a mess. This time I called SHN explaining to them what had happened. They asked if I had wanted a reshipment or an issuance of replacement certificate. I chose the latter.

The third box that came 4 days after the second box was delivered. This shipment was supposed to bring with it 30 plants in total. I was disgusted at what I saw in the box upon opening it. Out of the 30 plants, only two had barely intact stems that would hold the limp leaves semi upright. The others were so weak, limp and wilted that they were absolutely darkened and were in the process of disintegrating. I could accept a few damaged plants out of 30, but 28? That's a little too much.

I planted them anyway hoping to revive them. Needless to say, I spent more time cleaning up the mess than I had on planting. The plants looked as if they had been trampled on all day and left to rot; definitely not plants that were matured enough to be delivered.

I wrote them an angry email outlining the situation; promising never to return, and that I would want the payment for that shipment cancelled. One of their customer service associates had the nerve to email a response, saying a reshipment had been scheduled.

Upon reading that I immediately called them, and have the reshipment cancelled, and asked for a full refund. The supervisor on the phone took care of that. But wait, there's more. Two hours after the phone conversation, an email came from SHN customer service informing me that they would be glad to forward my "request" to their accounting department for review. Is this a joke?

Yeah, I will definitely not returning to SHN. I am not interested in supporting the philosophy that it's ok to disappoint your customers with dead plants en masse. Three disgustingly disappointing shipments a little over three weeks. That's no coincidence.

I've ordered from them in the past and never had any problems until this last order. I spent over $100 and many of the plants were in pitiful shape or DOA. Since they use USPS for shipping there's no way to track the package. What bothers me the most is that I can't seem to get any answers to my emails. I'm very disappointed in their service and I won't be buying from them in the future.

I thought I was getting a really good deal from this company, and I was, as long as I didn't actually expect delivery. The delivery date changed from April 24 to June 18. I ordered about $750 worth of plants from them, and ended up cancelling everything that hadn't arrived yet, as no one could tell me when (or even IF) I might actually receive anything.

I didn't order from them this spring because of small plants in the past. I recieved a $10.00 coupon and explanation that their greenhouse collapsed last year. I decided to order 6 Moonbeam coreopsis. They arrived shortly after, were well packaged and had 5'' of topgrowth. The roots were well developed. I planted them the same day and they look good. I don't order from them too much because I have most of what they sell.

I have had issues on 4 separate orders arriving partially damaged or even Dead On Arrival in 2006. I live in GA and it is about a 3 business day trip for their plants to get to me. I have noticed that they ship at least some of their orders toward the end of the week (which means two extra days of sitting in limbo while in-transit due to the weekend) and they use USPS which does not have real-time tracking and they are not as reliable as UPS or Fed Ex in terms of the timing of the delivery. Specifically, I had a whole order of Delphiniums arrive barely alive after arriving late. I called and the re-shipment of this order had to re-shipped a second time due to the shape of the plants when they arrived. I had two separate orders of petunias as well where 1 arrived dead and another where 6 (half of the order) were dead. To their credit, Spring Hill customer service will re-ship without giving you any hassle, but it is no fun to have to keep calling in for re-shipments. Unfortunately, I am afraid they have lost my business due the consistent problems with my orders this year.

I ordered several plants and used a great coupon. They arrived quickly and the bare roots were healty and good sized. The instructions said it could be several weeks before the bare root plants sent up new growth...it has been 4 days and ALL of the roots are displaying new growth. I am very pleased and have aready placed another and larger order.

I ordered various plants (three freedom hedge roses, three ostriche ferns, cascading petunias collection, and ground cover Hosta collection) and it took exactly 8 wks. to arrive (standard USPS). When I opened the boxes I was not very suprised at the damage to the plants. I expected some loss due to the length of time in transport. The petunias were shipped as transplants. I lost 10 of the 12 and the two remaining I have been able to baby and have gotten new growth to begin, the rest have all withered away. Everything alse was dry, very dry and brittle, still trying to salvage what i can. I had immediately called Springhill and as per advertised, NO Hassle, they voluntarily replaced everything. Great customer service experience. When asked if they wanted me to return all damaged plants, they replied with a big fat NO. I have received the new shipment (this time UPS--- much faster delivery) and still lost some of the plants but overall what was lost was regained through the new shipment. I know the risks of mail order and I was willing to take it. Over all Springhill kept to their word for sales and customer service. Not sure if I will order live plants again, I am tired of losing the plants or fighting a tough fight to revive them.

I ordered many plants(Lilies; Daylilies; Liatris; Giant Chinese Lanterns; Silver Beacon; Queen of the Prairie) from Spring Hill for the first time this year. I was very happy with the quality of the plants, the way they were packaged and shipped, and the way they are now growing. All are disease/insect free. I plan on ordering from them again in the near future.
Marsha.

After receiving their mail order catalog with 50% off everything I purchased, I went hog wild and bought 100$ plus of plants. They were initially supposed to be sent Apr. 4th and continued to be pushed back each week. I finally called them after a month of watching the push back on the websites and they told me that everything was ready, packing slip had been printed and it would be leaving that day. A week later it still hadn't been shipped and I called again and was told the same story that the slip had been printed and it was going to be leaving that day. At that point I canceled my order, but they said it couldn't be canceled at this point because it was being shipped out today. After some debate and talking to a supervisor they canceled it. They said that I would most likely receive the flowers anyway, and that if I did to keep them. I doubt that they arrive, but if they do I'll be sure to let everyone know. I haven't received my refund yet either, but if I don't you can be sure I'll be adding some more commentary.

I ordered a few items this Spring and one of them arrived already. It's a Golden Chain Tree. The size was as described in the catalog and appears to be in good conditon. I planted it a couple weeks ago and it is just starting to bud out. The plant did smell awfully musty when I got it, but didn't seem to be harmed by that. It appears to have been in shipping for 2-3 weeks based on when I got the confirmation e-mail and when it arrived. I will keep you posted on how this does and the other plants when they arrive.

I received my order from Spring Hill last week. I ordered 12 plants, and the only ones that had any sort of root structure, other than the bareroot daylily, were the phlox, which were very lanky. All the others either arrived dead or near death, with brown shriveled leaves and barely any roots to speak of. The plants all arrived with moist soil, so it isn't from drying out during shipping. I plan to contact the company as soon as I have an accurate death count for my money back. I don't want replacements, and will never order from them again. I will pay more money next time for healthy plants from a reputable company.

I have ordered from spring hill a few times and the plants keep getting smaller and more scraggly. Id pay a few dollars more for shipping if I could get just a little bigger nicer quality plant.

I'm very disappointed with Spring Hill and hope that sharing my experience will save someone else a big headache. I ordered the Dwarf Daylily Collection and 6 Red Coral Bells in September, '05. The Coral Bells were shipped right away. The Daylilies were scheduled for shipment in the fall of '06. I wasn't happy with having to wait a year to receive the lilies, but thought that perhaps they were out. The Coral Bells did not return this spring. When I went to the website to request a replacement, I found that the Daylilies are shipped in the spring as well as the fall. Today, I called the company to ask why I could not receive the Daylilies this spring, and was told that they'd probably entered the incorrect code (for fall shipment) when the order was placed. After checking, the representative said that all available Daylilies were being held in reserve for new spring orders. I feel that they should give priority to backorders, instead of holding stock for new orders. I cancelled the entire order and asked for reimbursement for the Coral Bells. The coupon offers are very enticing, but I don't feel that the service this company offers is worth the trouble.

Four years ago I ordered 2 Primrose Lilac bushes from Spring Hill. The shrubs were 2-4 yr old plants and they were beautiful when they arrived. According to the catalog they were guaranteed to bloom the next year. They grew to 6 ft and were nice shrubs, but they never bloomed. I called Spring Hill and they said it takes 4 years for this lilac variety to bloom. This is the 4th year for them and they did bloom, but they were pinkish-lavender, not yellow. I called the company on 4/24/06 and told them they had sent me the wrong plants. Their website says they refund money or replace plants regardless of how long ago they were ordered. They said that they couldn't find me in the company records, so they couldn't refund my money. When I asked them why I wasn't in their database, the lady at Customer Service said that the company had been bought out several years ago and all of the customer information had been purged. These plants were expensive. I paid $65 and some odd cents for these 2 plants. She said they couldn't do anything about it. So they just took me for $65 plus 4 years of weeding, watering, feeding and pest control.

I ordered the "Gazania Collection" - two collections for $64.00. They arrived with each plant in a small plastic container in a paper bag. Half were nothing but rotted strings. The other half looked alive but just barely. I planted them in potting soil and they lay down and died. I wrote to the company who said they were being reshipped "soon." I suggested a week in the mail was not conducive to a young plant's health. The response? "Thank you for your email. Our plants are conditioned to withstand the stress of shipping and should grow very well for you. If I can be of further assistance please feel free to contact me."
I'll go to K-Mart or Lowes or the local "Down and Dirty in the Dirt" to buy plants henceforth. Never this outfit again.

Around March 1 I placed two different orders for hydrangeas, both placed on the same day. I was notified by email that my orders were being processed, and again when the orders were shipped. The first of the two orders arrived via UPS less than two weeks from the date I ordered it. I expected the second order to arrive a day or two later. However, after three weeks, I had not received the second order so I contacted the company via email. The next day I received an email reply from Customer Service with the same information that had been on the shipping notification email. So, I made a phone call to the company and a very courteous customer service representative told me that one of the companies they had contracted with to do their order processing had gone bankrupt and my order had been delayed by this. I was told to call them back if the order had not arrived by April 10 and they would replace my order. On April 3 my order arrived via USPS. All the dirt from one of the pots had fallen out into the box. Three of the plants were almost dead. I immediately called the company and informed them of the plants condition. They promised to replace the order right away. On April 15 the replacement order arrived in excellent condition. In fact one of the hydrangeas has the beginnings of a bloom on it! Although there was a delay in receiving the initial order and there were damaged plants in the order, the company had excellent communication and was prompt in reshipping the damaged plants. Overall this was a positive experience and I will not hesitate to do business with this company again.

I ordered LOTS of plants from Spring Hill and I was pleasantly suprised when everything so far has shipped quickly (after reading all these posts). The plants were packaged perfectly, not a single stem broken. The plants are small, but at that price you wouldn't expect them to be huge. The JFK Rose, however, is large and leafing out well. I have another order coming in early May, and I will post how my new arrivals adjust :)

Oh my! I fell for it! That 50% off coupon was too much to resist, so I ordered a ton of Lombardy poplars, and two miniature rose collections. I called mid-March to see when they would ship, and was told after 3/26. So - I called a couple of wks ago, and was told they shipped from Belleville, MI on 4/7. Then a week later I called back since I hadn't received and Belleville is less than 2 hrs away, and was told no, it shipped from Missouri on 3/31, then Belleville on 4/7. Hmmm ... live plants in a box since 3/31? All their CSR is able to provide is THEIR tracking number, not the USPS tracking number. (I've been to my post office three times.) On Monday the 17th I called for the 4th time, and cancelled the rose order, since it hadn't even been shipped, and have not received a credit yet. Yesterday the 20th I called again and they finally let me cancel, since it has been 14 business days, and I haven't received the trees. Still waiting for the credit to appear on my charge card - hope this doesn't get really ugly.

I have ordered two of Spring Hill's collections: the miniature roses and butterfly bush collection. The roses arrived several weeks ago and were all healthy. There were nine in the collection. All now are blooming profusely! The butterfly bush collection arrived just last week so can't really comment on the growth, but the plants appear healthy and show no signs of damage or shock. I have also ordered their cascade petunia collection but have not received yet. I find them very pleasant to deal with.

I recently purchased several perennials from Springhill, although everything arrived looking healthy, 2 plants died within the week, Springhill shipped replacements at no cost within a few days. I found their customer service to be very helpful, I was able to work with a staff gardener (via email) who gave ideas on the best plants for the look I was trying to achieve. I will definitely order from them again.