Comments regarding Spring Hill Nursery (aka SpringHillNursery.com)

Last year, I ordered a large (and expensive) shade garden group, plus some phloxes. I prepared my garden plot so I could plant as soon as the order arrived. The phloxes arrived in late May (very late for planting around here) in good condition, and the packing slip said the others would arrive later. Weeks later I called to find out what was going on. SH said they cancelled the rest of the order, but never sent a notice to me. So here it was, almost the end of June in hot Nebraska weather and I have a large barren area in front of my porch going to weeds.

For some bizarre reason, I decided to give them another chance this year-- let's face it, not many companies put together those handy garden sets. I ordered 2 more shade garden selections for this year. I got one in early May; the jury's out on how these plants will do, tho I got them in the ground the same day they arrived. I have yet to see the other part of the order. Checking the website tells me they have moved the order back to July. July planting of shade plants in Nebraska heat?!! Yeah right -- don't think I'll be dealing with this company any more.

I ordered from this company twice, in a 2 week time period. The first ordered arrived to my Mom, and even tho it's been 3 weeks, her roses still aren't growing (at least she received what I ordered for her). I ordered 4 rose plants for myself, and did receive them, but one was substituted without my knowledge (sudstituted with a cheaper rose that Spring Hill doesn't even carry). Judging by the negative feedback for Spring Hill, this is a common practice with them. I won't order from them again, even tho you can't beat their lifetime guarantee. After I called them, on my dime, they did send me a replacement certificate for the value of the rose that I did not receive. My question is, why is this a common practice with this company? Simply notifying customers of lack of stock, and giving the customer the option of what they would like, would be a FAR better business practice!!!!
PS So far, none of the 3 Royal Amethyst rose plants that were ordered have shown signs of growth. Will post update later on.

I ordered two roses, but SUBSTITUTIONS were sent without notifying me beforehand so that I could have the option to cancel the order. One item that I ordered was NOT delivered until I emailed customer service. It was finally delivered, but to my BILLING ADDRESS and one of the plants was already dead! Another order was also delivered to my billing address and remained at the Post Office for one week before we checked our mail!!! When I placed my order with Spring Hill, I gave my SHIPPING address, and they sent plants to this address, but for some reason, the shipping address got changed to the billing address! Spring Hill still has both roses that I originally ordered STILL ON THEIR WEBSITE FOR SALE. They did send certificates for $20 for future purchases and another for $5 dollars for YET ANOTHER plant that I ordered and did not get. This company sends me emails all the time wanting me to BUY, but they could not send an email to inform me of the unavailable stock that they took it upon themselves to substitute for?? I have ordered hundreds of dollars of plants from this company over the years, but after I attempt to redeem the aforementioned $25, I don't see much business with them in the future. It's a shame: they used to be reliable.

My mother received a catalog from them. They had a sale where every order up to a certain amount, minus shipping, was half off. I purchased the hybrid tea rose, Caribia. I didn't hear one word from them until a box arrived. There were atleast two of the biggest roots broken and all roots were so dry the shoots were an ugly whitish color. I was so mad I had to wait until the next day to call them. Then I noticed a slip of paper that said they didn't send me the rose I ordered and hoped I wouldn't be disappointed with the substitution, which was similar in color. By the time I did contact them, I was fuming. They apologized for not sending Caribia, but according to them, they didn't have it in stock by the time my payment arrived. I was offered a refund which I gladly took. The person I spoke to must have been reading my mind because I was thinking 'what am I going to do with the rose they did send?' and I was told to keep it if I wanted it or give it to a 'gardner friend.' Mojave has long been planted and there are three buds on it already, but I swore to myself I would never do business with them again.

I figured the $25 coupon would be easy enough so what the heck. I had never shopped with them before and was floored to find out that $25 doesn't go very far with this company. I ordered one(1) Black Elephant ear. Shipping has been pushed from Mid April to Late Aug. I am waiting to see any day now a shipping date with "never" attached to it. I give them a negative on this alone and secondly, the prices are un-real. Any plant that cost $13 better be a picture perfect item. The elephant ear was $15 and with shipping it came to $23. I found Black Elephant ears locally for $8.
Oh not to mention they used the midwest cold snap as a reason for delayed shipping. That's been more than a month ago. Heck living in the midwest, I may never get the plant. Maybe the Eagle's tune Hotel California could be changed a little to say, You can order, but you can never receive.........If you do order, good luck. My suggestion after reading all these postings, buy the seed and grow it yourself. 20 to 30 plants for $1 is a heck of a buy.

Spring Hill, although a bit slow on delivery, sent me all my plants, in good condition. I had ordered two complete gardens and a couple of extras. The few plants (four out of about 50) that did not come up were promptly replaced, after sending customer service one e-mail. Now I've received the daisy collection, and three of the plants that have arrived look a bit chewed up, however, I will still plant them and see how they go. While the plants I've received don't look enormous, for the price I am exceptionally satisfied as they took root and are growing nicely.

Like many of you with negative remarks about Spring Hill, I too, who consider myself a pretty smart gardener, fell victim again to Spring Hill. For the past two years, I have hung on to a credit on some mini roses I had purchased. To further temp me, there was another free $20.00 I could use. You know what...if it sounds too good to be true, trust your instincts.

When I placed my order, and I called it in, on my dime.....I was very very specific about when they were to ship it. I was going on vacation, and would be gone for two weeks, and I did not want anything shipped till after May 21st.....Well yeah...you guess it, the stuff came while I was away, and needless to say was shriveled up and all I can say is I have stuff on my compost pile that looks better. I called them back and they were replacing the entire order. Problem is, I know when the new plants arrive, they will still look as sickly as the first bunch....and this vicious circle continues.....Lesson learned.....Do Not.....I repeat .....DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY.

Deann

Another horrible review!

My mother tried to order me a garden collection for my birthday, which they never actually told her was backordered and we finally figured it out 2 weeks later. We then cancelled that order and ordered some things individually, one month later none of them have shipped and conveniently the "estimated ship date" is pushed back one day every day! One of my items was automatically cancelled with no word from them, of course the one thing I wanted the most.

I send a very long and detailed e-mail to their customer service people to see what is going on and get an automated responsesaying things are a couple weeks behind due to a cold winter (mind you it's been a month now) and if I'd actually like to have a customer service rep. work on my order to reply to the e-mail with the details, which I already did, but nobody was ever intending to look at in the first place!

I do understand that plants can't be stockpiled on a shelf indefinately and they may have to wait for replenishment on occasion, but a little common courtesy by letting your customers know BEFORE they've been waiting and waiting and fuming and getting peeved could go along way. I went throuhg all the woork of transplanting things and mapping a garden leaving a 8 by 15 foot hole in my yard for 2 months and all they actually sent were 2 puny hydrangeas and a 4 inch butterfly bush that I could have bought larger at wallmart without waiting or paying shipping!

Their professionalism stinks and I have cancelled all my orders. I hope this helps saves someone else from the headache they gave me.

Spring Hill has been a nightmare from day one for me. I will never spend another dime at this place!

I placed my order that came to over $200 in April The 17th of 2005 to be exact. Each day the order was pushed back further and further, on the delivery chart. They used the excuse of a " very cold winter" when I questioned them about it. I was assured that my order would ship within the week after I phoned. Two weeks later nothing still and then the delivery dated stated July 20-31st. According to the shipping schedule they WILL NOT ship during July and August due to hot weather. So basically they are telling me my order will not ship until fall or possible next year!

I cancelled all but one item a Tree Form Wisteria that I really wanted......The nightmare continues....

I was checking my email one day only to discover that my tree was put on "backorder" Until July 31st as well. So now I call to find to out what the problem is, they cannot seem to give me an answer. I spend 35 minutes on the phone waiting to find out where on the planet my tree is, no real answer except it's backordered. I am glad I have free long distance with my phone company the call would have cost just as much as the order otherwise.

They assured me the tree would ship within the week, This was 2 weeks ago again the date has been changed to August and the tree is no long even listed on their site! I ended up cancelling the order and getting the tree elsewhere for twice the cost, but at least I have it. Better to spend more money and have the item then get a bargin and wait forever.

I would not recomment this company at all. The only thing they managed to ship to me was 3 tiny daisy plants from an order I placed in March. Bah! This place is terrible.

I placed an order for two complete gardens, and 2 sets of daylilies. The daylilies arrived quickly and are doing well.

Anxious to plant the complete gardens, I expected them to arrive at the end of April - beginning of May (as indicated by Springhill). However, Springhill kept changing the estimated delivery date - it kept getting later and later (although their customer service representative couldn't provide any explanation as to why). Frustrated, I ordered the same garden from Bluestone Perennials and received it promptly - and the plants are thriving.

NINE weeks later - I received ONE garden from Springhill (although I had canceled my credit card and thought this would cancel out any existing orders and expected no shipments). I refused the shipment. What happened to the other garden? Well, they pushed the shipping date back to mid June, of course. I officially canceled my order - and will never deal with this company again.

With this company . . . you roll the dice, and take a chance. Slow service, inexperienced customer service representatives with NO toll free number, it's just not worth it.
This company is full of idle promises.

I have ordered from Spring Hill for three years now. I wait until I get the $20 coupon then place a small order. The plants are usually small, but survive. If I do have problems, customer service is always great and things are taken care of quickly.

I ordered from them because they gave me a $20 certificate. I thought the plants were a bit small but 2 of them made it ok and seem to be thriving this year. One didn't come back after winter. I wasn't very impressed with the plant size or vigor.

Ordered the blue perennial garden last Sept. and most were bare root. A few did not come up, and Spring Hill promptly sent replacements, with no hassle. The plants are growing well and looking great. My wife and I are very happy with the plants and service. We will order from them again.

I recently purchased perennials from spring hill. They arrived in a very fast manner, I had 2 items on back order and since my initial order I received 1 of the 2 on back order. I still have one on back order and hope to receive it very soon. The quality was good and I will buy again.

Although the company seemed to have a lot of negatives, I decided to order some plants using a 50% off coupon I received with one of their catalogs. I ordered a potted variegated Weigela (marginally hardy in my 4b Zone), some bareroot Nora Barlow Columbine, some bareroot Physostegia virginiana alba, and potted Knautia macedonia and Aster 'Wild Romance'. The bareroot stuff and the potted Knautia macedonia came first, the bareroots were packed in a sealed, labelled plastic bag with semi-moist sawdusty packing material, they looked fine, the Knautia were packaged very nicely in a 3 pack container, they looked great as well and had good growth. I planted them right before a late hard frost so they don't look so hot right now but that isn't the fault of Spring Hill. I got the Weigela a few days later, that was also packed very carefully in a tall narrow box with plastic around the pot, and a cardboard frame around the pot and plant so nothing would get bumped. The plant itself looked healthy and happy, it too was later damaged by the frost but that wasn't Spring Hill's fault. I am waiting for the Asters, I expect they will be carefully packed as well. I would say that perhaps the negative reviews were acted on by Spring Hill and they have taken steps to pack and ship stuff in a better way. I would buy from them again.

After reading the postings on this site, I was quite worried that the order I placed BEFORE finding this site (4/21/05) may be a bit of a problem. I prayed & crossed my fingers hoping for the best. Needless to say, I was quite surprised when I received very helpful and friendly customer service via the telephone as well as an email indicating that two of my selections were on BO, but two others would be arriving between 5/2/05 and 5/4/05.

As promised two of my selections (coral bells & balloon flowers) were delivered by USPS this afternoon. The outside packaging was a sturdy cardboard box (with air-holes) and the coral bells were packaged in plastic containers having a protective "flap" to keep the soil in the "pot" while supporting the leaves of the plants. The balloon flowers were packaged bare root in a plastic baggie but appear to be healthy and have good root systems.

Although I am unable to comment on the remainder of my order, I am quite pleased with what I have received thus far. Maybe the comments posted here have prompted those companies with less-than-optimal ratings to re-evaluate their product as well as their issues with customer service. Hopefully this will become a win-win situation for all of us!

In Feb. 2005 I placed my very first order with Spring Hill Nursery. I have had a wonderful experience with this company. I received one of those "Buy all you want- get 50% off" offers and took advantage of it. I ordered 7 gardens and 18 foxgloves. Whenever I called to check on the status of my orders, the customer service reps were always friendly and helpful.

The orders arrived in a few different shipments, but this wasn't a problem. I've never seen such great packaging for mail order plants! The only major problem I had with one of the shipments was the fault of USPS... it arrived looking like a gorilla had sat on half of the box. Amazingly enough, only two of the plants inside were damaged.

So far, out of approximately 200 plants ordered, only 6 did not make it either on arrival or once planted. I'm still waiting for some of the ferns and lily of the valley plants to emerge, so they aren't included in my plant count.

Regarding replacement plants, Spring Hill is the best! When I notified them of the plants that did not survive, the replacement process was hassle-free. I thought I'd have to endure an inquisition about getting the plants replaced, but the customer service rep was quite friendly!

I'm pleased with the replacement plants they've sent. For the potted plants, if you only need to replace one, they send three (since they only have them in 3-pack bundles)! And there's no additional charge. Quite a bonus. I'm hooked on Spring Hill Nursery!

Last year I had real trouble with SpringHill/Gurneys. I ordered a lilac grouping (4 different types) in Feb. of 2004. I received the lilacs around the end of Feb.! I live in Colorado at 5000 ft.! I called them and told them that the ground was still frozen, and they would die before I could plant them, so I asked if they would resend them at the appropriate time. Apparently, for them, it was 2 weeks later. We had just had a snow storm and there was 31 inches of snow on the ground! I called again. I told them when to send them. They said that the company had been sold and there was new management, and that the were having problems with identifying the zones. I did recieve my lilacs, in the middle of April when I asked that they be sent. I planted them, and they came up. Very nice.

I thought that was the end of the story and I had had a rocky road, but a happy ending nonetheless.....but I was wrong...

This year (since I thought they had solved thier "zone" problem), I went online and ordered through both Spring Hill and Gurneys. I received an order number, and I waited....and waited. No plants. 3 1/2 weeks later, I called Spring Hill and asked when my plants would be shipped. She said "your order has been cancelled". Why, I asked? Why wasn't I informed? Why didn't you call or email me? She had no response, no apology. She said that Spring Hill would get back to me in 48 hours. I waited. No response. I finally called back.

Another operator (much nicer than the last) told be that they were really busy and that the last operator "didn't know what she was doing when she told me 48 hours". I told her my order had been canceled and I was never informed that it had been canceled. She told me to wait on the line, and ten minutes later (this is NOT a toll-free call), she told be that "our plants are not thriving in Colorado, so we have decided not to sell our plants to Colorado anymore", and that I could not order from them anymore. I told her she was lying, that it wasn't the State of Colorado that Spring Hill had a problem with, but with me. The fiasco I had with lilacs last year came up to bite me on the .....well, you get my point. I explained to her that it was Spring Hill, not I, who was at fault here with thier zones and shipping dates problems of last year. Spring Hill had admitted fault and replaced my lilacs...twice.

I asked to speak to whomever told her to tell me that I could no longer buy from them, but she said that they were "too busy to talk right now". She also said that I would be getting a letter in the mail "very soon", and that I could call that number and explain my situation. I asked her for the number, and said I would call immediately. She told me she didn't know it. I asked her to ask her superviosors for the number, and without asking them, told me they didn't know it either.

Why should I chase them around for the mistakes that they made last year? They just lost themselves a good customer.

If I ever get that letter, I will call the number and write an update.

I received my order today and the plants are beautiful, healthy, and they were so well packaged in the shipping box that they have no damage at all.

The lilac is about 12" tall and all leafed out, and the rudbeckia is about 4 inches tall and lots of leaves.

I'm very happy with my order and will order from them again.

This may seem premature since I haven't yet recieved my order, but I feel that order quality aside (that remains to be seen) I can give some positive feedback on my experience thus far. On April 15th I recieved the spring 2005 catalog. There was a coupon for 50% off the entire order. I went to the internet and ordered $171.00 worth of plants. When I entered the special "key code" on the coupon it didn't work. I called customer service and the girl didn't realy have any idea how to fix the problem, but put a note in the computer that I was requesting the discount even though my bill did not reflect it. This was at 2 a.m. and, although she couldn't solve the problem, I was impressed that there was someone even there. I called the next night to see if things had been rectified and pretty much got nowhere, but was told someone would call back. No one did. I called the next afternoon and found out that the people I'd been talking to earlier were actually not customer service (they are available 8 am to 5pm) but were phone order operators. At least they tried to help. When I finaly talked to Customer Service durring their hours, they very quickly explained that the coupon had expired several weeks earlier and that I must have gotten a late mailing. Well I thought that was that and I was not getting the discount, but the girl said "but because you couldn't have placed your order on time since you got the mailing late, we will be happy to honor the coupon even though it has been expired for several weeks and some of the items you ordered were not even available then and would not have been subject to the 1/2 off special." FANTASTIC!! Barring any unforseen little shop of horrors plant problems when the items do arrive, I am quite sure they have a long time customer in me based on the service alone. (Just be sure that you are talking to customer service and not phone orders, though they were equally polite)

My experience so far has been at the negative end of neutral but I going to call it neutral for now.
Let me start with my experience last year. I ordered the carpet phlox collection which arrived (totally unexpected because I had not received a shipment notification) looking extremely dead and rather like little brown weeds. Being new to ordering from an online nusery I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and planted the poor little things. They did survive the summer and have come back to life this spring which is great. I decided to give Springhill another chace this year and in February ordered the Freedom Hedge Rose collection and a Butterfly Bush with a $25 off coupon for an order over $50. Received shipment notification for the roses and the delivery date passed by with no sign of any plants. I first tried emailing CS, I did this twice and the only response I got was that they would respond within 24 hrs, which did not happen. Then I called, spoke with a very nice guy who decided the order had probably gotten lost and immediately entered a replacement order to ship ASAP via UPS. I was told that it would ship that Friday afternoon if possible or on the following Monday. Apparently this was incorrect as I have since been told that Springhill cannot guarantee that plants will ship on a certain date. Anyway, over the weekend I checked my order status and it had an est. del date of May..I thought this was strange considering I had just been told (on April 22nd) that it would ship pretty much ASAP and deliver in 6 days. This morning I checked again and the delivery date had been pushed out again to June 6 - June 11....pretty far out considering my much anticipated shipment had been lost and I was expected to wait another 6 weeks??!!
I called and spoke with a nice lady and asked her to cancel the replacement shipment as I did not want to wait that long. She gave me a replacement certificate# so that I could order some other plants. I decided on the Sub Zero rose collection and called CS again and spoke with another lady. I said I had found something else to order and wanted to use my replacement cert. but had a question regarding my original coupon. I thought that I should should be given another $25 coupon to take the place of the one used for the order that had been lost but that was not the case. When I asked, I was told no, I was told that the coupon I had used had expired back in March. When she told me no, I told her to credit my credit card for the amount of the Freedom Rose Collection. Before she did this I questioned her again about the coupon and she finally said that they can give coupons but have to get supervisors permission...she DID NOT tell me that in the beginning when I first asked so I was a little frustrated. She then told me that she was confused about exactly what I wanted to do...that first I had called wanting to cancel my replacement certificate (NOT TRUE) and then I was talking about ordering again but wanted my coupon re-instated (TRUE). In the end I gave up trying to help her understand my situation and told her to just credit my credit card and have her supervisor call me. To give her credit, she was polite during the whole conversation (as was I) but I would have thought she would want to make me feel better about the company and rather than saying NO outright to giving me a $25 coupon back so that I could place another order (over $50) she should have suggested that she could go to her supervisor for permission right at the beginning of the conversation, or at least tried to find some other alternative..afterall, It was not my fault that the shipment was lost. Why should I re-order from scratch paying full price without the coupon I had for the original order which I never received. I guess I will wait and see if anyone calls me tomorrow, I'll ask again for a $25 coupon to replace the one used on the order that was lost. If it's a yes then I will order again, if not then I'll happily go elsewhere. Sorry if this is a bit long winded but I wanted to include everything.
By the way...my Butterfly Bush arrived this afternoon. VERY small, about 4 inches tall. Looks alive but like I said it's small and not bushlike at all. It has 6 leaves on it. I'll plant it and see what happens.

I have ordered from a number of different mail order nurseries this year and last. I have to say that Spring Hill has done a great job for me. The bare root bleeding hearts I ordered last year (my first time for bare root) had my husband laughing as he "planted" them. Sure enough they came up and came back this year with a vengence.

Every order gets an email confirmation and another when it ships with a tracking link to see it on its way to you. Only one order did not go perfectly, a collection of mini roses, after two phone calls (one to ask why it hadn't shipped and another to follow up) it was shipped priority. All the plants I have received have been healthy and viable and the bare root plantings have grown beautifully. I will order from them again!

I love SpringHill Nursery. I have purchased from them for 12 years and all purchases have made me happy ($100's of dollars worth yearly) I have moved 4 times in the past 12 years and have 4 times started new gardens with their plants, bulbs, trees and shrubs. All the trees and shrubs are shipped dormant so they appear dead - they are not. They are easier to plant this way and have a much better survival rate than things I have bought on impulse at garden centers.

Plants I love from them are butterfly bush, clementis, weigalia(sp?) butterfly garden collection, lily's, and hosta. I live in heavy clay area now and with correcting the soil to the plants need, everything survives. One exception, a butterfly bush - the poor thing didn't survive the lawnmower as my husband wasn't paying attention. Their prices are not as low as some wholesalers, but their $25.00 off $50.00 coupons help and if you order online the shipping charges count towards that $50.00. Their penny sale is awesome and all the bulbs I have ordered and not taken very good care of - keep coming up!

Do you like to gamble? Spring Hill has enticing prices (if you use their large coupons.) The catch is that it's uncertain if you'll get quality plants, or even the right ones (which is why every order's a gamble). I've had mixed luck with Spring Hill. I've placed 3 orders in the past two years. Some plants were ridiculously small, while others were quite large for the price. Some thrived in my garden, while others died instantly. Some were shipped at the right time for my zone. Some shipped way too early. Some shipped so late I thought they lost the order. Most of the plants sent were the ones I ordered, but not all. Last year, I was able to reach customer service via email. This year, emails generated an automatic response promising someone would contact me in 24 hours. One week later, and still no one has contacted me. Today I phoned customer service. If you're willing to pay the long distance charge (there is no 1-800 number with this company) their representatives are friendly and helpful. So, that's the deal. If you don't mind the gamble, give them a try. If you want the simplicity of knowing you'll receive the right plants at the right time, pay a little more and choose another nursery.

I was a first time Spring Hill customer, and I read this site before I ordered--with fingers crossed that I would be in the happy half of the customers who have rated the company. I only ordered a few plants using the coupon that came with the catalogue. I was really anxious to receive my order, as I wasn't really confident that I would receive plants I could use. The shipping confirmation came on Monday, and my plants came on Friday. I planted some of them today and will do the rest tomorrow. The plants were a little small, compared to what I have purchased locally, but if they thrive they will be well worth the price.

I basically ordered a couple of inexpensive items from this company as an experiment, because there were so many mixed reviews. I ordered a $5 Nikko Blue Hydrangea and a $3 Old Fashioned White Bleeding Heart. The Hydrangea was small (but I obviously expected that) and it was very healthy and vibrant. It had been carefully packaged, and in my opinion, was a bargain for $5. I just wish I had ordered 2 more of them. The Bleeding Heart was a little less entralling. It was basically just a dorment bare root, but upon inspecting it, it does look firm and healthy. The order came in yesterday, and I live in a zone 6, so they are going to have to hang out in my greenhouse for a few weeks, but otherwise, I think I got a pretty good deal. If I had paid a whole lot of money, this rating would be different, but the prices were so low and that makes me a happy customer.

About a month ago, I placed a very large order with Spring Hill Nurseries. Much to my dismay, I ordered BEFORE i joined and read the comments on this website...but I figured live and learn. Yesterday I received the first of my order (partial shipment). I was a little annoyed at receiving the order, considering its too early to plant just yet in my zone. However, when I opened the box I was pleasantly surprised. I had ordered 3 rose bushes as part of my total order: 2 subzeros and a climber. These are, by far, the largest bushes I've ever received via mail or purchased in a local nursery for the price. All three plants had very thick bases and a large root system. I can't say I was too impressed with the shipping (bare root plants in a plastic bag), but nonetheless, they were healthy and very moist. Now granted, they'll remain in my basement in pots for atleast a few weeks until all the snow melts, and that is a bit inconvenient. But I'll gladly deal with this minor inconvenience considering the large, healthy plants I received. All in all, well worth the money. I'm anxious to receive the rest of my order and I'll keep you posted on how everything turns out.

First let me say that I have not contacted the company to attempt to return anything, so I can not comment on their customer service. My experience was this:

I got a catalog in the mail, I had already ordered everything I intended to order this season, but they got my attention with a $25 off coupon. So... I ordered a wisteria vine and a golden chain tree. I assumed from the high prices that I must be getting some pretty large plants. And with the $25 off, I was willing to try a company I hadn't tried before. Then I would know if I would want to ever order again at full price. Well - I don't.

The $13 wisteria was a tiny withered plant (1" to 1 1/2" tall with two wilted leaves), very badly packed. It wasn't secured in the container so by the time it reached me the tiny container was almost without soil - all the roots were exposed and the plant was badly wilted. I planted it immediately. We'll see how it does. If I'd realized how small it was going to be I would have gotten one locally that was larger and that I could visually inspect instead. I saw beautiful ones last week for $9.

The $20 golden chain tree arrived today (25 days from when I placed my order!!). It was again horribly packaged. It was in a crushed/pieced together cardboard box. Inside the tree was next to a piece of plastic. It wasn't "in" anything. There was no root gel on the roots or anything to keep them moist. They were completely dried out. I have wrapped them in a wet paper towel and plastic and will plant them first thing in the morning, we'll see... I also feel $20 is too much for the little stick I got in the mail. I could do better locally, and will next time.

Perhaps they sent me the "crap" plants in the "junk" packaging because I wasn't paying full price. But if that's the case, they just lost a potential new customer by advertising a coupon. Kinda missed the whole marketing point...

When I get bad products, in bad packaging, I don't haggle to make them fix it - I just don't make that mistake again. Fool me once - shame on you. Fool me twice - shame on me.

I ordered a Daylily collection from Spring Hill Nurseries in last fall. After all my daylilies started to come up, I noticed that three of the ten had not made it. All were rather small when planted, but I hoped for the best.

I called Spring Hill this afternoon and explained the situation. I no longer have my order number, and didn't know my customer number, but the customer service rep was able to pull up my information quickly, and tell me which collection I had ordered. I asked for replacements for the three that died, and she told me that she couldn't replace just three because it was a collection, so they are reshipping me the entire collection of ten plants.

Five minutes later, I had an email order confirmation in my inbox showing both what I had ordered and that the order status was a reship. I am giving them a positive rating for the speed and politeness that I received when calling for replacements.

Placed a large order about a month ago. Just recieved part of it so far (due to delivery times for my area) - a Golden Chain Tree. It came packed fairly well, was larger than advertised (they had to bend the top a bit to get it in the box, but it sprang right back) and appears to be very healthy. Very green with bulging buds.
Roots are a bit more insubstantial than I'd like to see on a tree this size, but they appear very healthy nonetheless. No obvious signs of insects, disease, or damage.
They also sent me an e-mail confirmation when they shipped.
Only issue I have is that now that I've ordered from them (my 1st time) , I'm getting at least 2 pieces of junk mail offerings from them EVERY DAY. Oh well, I can live with that if the rest of the stuff I ordered comes as healthy as this one did.

I purchased Spring Hill's "Red Perennial Garden" back in the early spring of 1995. (one daylily, 3 dianthus, 1 monarda, 3 phlox, & 1 astilbe). I also purchased 3 lavenders.

Plants were shipped VERY promptly, & although small, all were extremely well packaged, alive, & healthy, except for the lavenders, which unfortunately were packed way too wet & had developed fungus/mold. Although I tried my best to repot & nurse them along, only one of the 3 lavenders survived.

I planted everything else immediately, & everything commenced growing beautifully. As these were very small plants, I didn't expect much if anything in the way of flowers that first season, but in fact the dianthus, phlox, & the daylily bloomed that very first summer. Unfortunately, the phlox bloomed a bright neon pink, & the daylily a dark rusty orange. Only the dianthus was red.

As I sold the house before the next season, I can't comment on what color the other plants were. And since I was selling the property, I didn't bother contacting Spring Hill so can't comment on what customer service would have done re: the color or lavender snafu. So I can't fault them for that.

Thus I am leaving this rating "Neutral".

I ordered 3 vigna caracalla from Spring Hill this spring. They were shipped promptly and arrived healthy. I also ordered two roses from them last year. Those were the biggest bareroots I've ever gotten from a mailorder nursery, and I've ordered from a lot of nurseries. I was surprised to find out this company only has a 58% rating. I will definitely order again.

DianaT

I have ordered numerous plants from Sping Hill and I am relatively pleased with the plants I received. Yea...most of them are small, but they are not that expensive. I would say they meet my expectation. I did receive some plants that looked a bit bad when I planted them and I lost a few of them. I emailed Spring Hill and they sent me over twice as many plants as what I told them died (NO QUESTIONS ASKED AND NO PROOF REQUIRED). Their products are priced reasonable and I have found them nice to work with. I definitely will order form them again.

I wish this company would offer reasonable shipping. There is no reason to charge individuals from Alaska triple the shipping cost. Alaska IS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN in the continental United States! Priority mail arrives within 3-5 days, except during the second and third week of December when everywhere else in the United States is getting late mail. Please reconsider this practice.
Thanks

Wow, some really strong comments. I don't think they are that bad. Their customer service was very good in my situation. Last year I had ordered some of their wave petunias to be sent to my sister-inlaw for mothers day. They had arrived late (june) and were dead on arrival. (that was the bad part). My sister inlaw called them and told them that they were dead. They asked if she wanted replacements and she said no to just credit the order back. They did. promptly. She told me about a month later. I got my cc bill and the order was already credited back. ...I didn't have to call or follow up with them at all for this. I thought that was really great of them.

This past weekend an article titled "Avoiding shady dealings" appeared in the Garden section of the local newspaper. This article contained an interview with Dave Whitinger, and his website address. Having just placed an order with Spring Hill on 3/4, I immediately logged on to determine if Spring Hill was a reputable company. To my horror I learned that there were seemingly endless complaints -- and very similar to what I had experienced with one of their affiliates, the Michigan Bulb Company, years ago (dead, decaying, and dying, NOTHING lived, no response from company despite "guarantee," despite numerous attempts to contact them, etc... , same sorry story. Since that experience I have vowed to tell everyone I can about that scam. I am still very angry and bitter -- very disgusted.) First thing this morning I called Spring Hill customer service (NO toll free number, 1st clue), and the
"friendly" service rep's tone changed immediately as soon as I let her know the nature of the call. When I explained that the reason I was cancelling the order was that they obviously have serious customer service and business practices problems, and appear to be quite disreputable, the service rep snapped back, "I have ALREADY cancelled your order." Thank God for that! MUCH appreciation to all who have taken the time to rate and review. Whew, that was close!

I would like save anyone else from the horrors of ordering and receiving of plants from this company! Last year I ordered and finally received a large amount of plants from this company, and would like to express my opinion of the service and products from this company. I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone based upon their response to shipping dates, problems with shipping, attitudes about their products and mistakes, and the product itself. From my experience,,,I would have to say they they were not responsive to my questions nor concerns, tried to charge me twice for products concerned, withheld a shipment on a large order for a disputed .82 cents, and when I finally received the order, I felt that the products were very small, unthriving, and quite costly compared to better, larger and cheaper nursery stock quite readily available in the local market,,,,in fact, the plants in my opinion, were very small and about 4 times the cost of local plants. Please save yourself a very large headache and avoid this company as I hade one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life with this company!

I ordered a hydrangea collection last year. The plants arrived and the packaging was nice, but the plants were very small and spindly. I planted them last summer and would be very surprised if they have survived the winter.

I have placed several online orders with this company and have not had any problems so far. A few items were placed on backorder for shipment the following season, but I considered that a minor inconvenience.

Just received an item (backorder from last season) : cabernet sauvignon grape. Very pleasantly surprised and well worth the wait. I was expecting something about 1' high so I was very surprised when it arrived in a 5' box, the kind trees are shipped in! The grape is 3-4' high with multiple, substantial branches all with multiple "buds". In addition, the plant has a substantial root system and appears VERY healthy.