Comments regarding Spring Hill Nursery (aka SpringHillNursery.com)

I ordered a 3 pack of Monarda from this company in MArch and was told that the plants would be here within 4-6 weeks. I then recieved an email that said they were 2 weeks behind in shipping but my plants would arrive in plenty of time. I recieved the "palnts" Monday and was surprised when I opened the box and found dirt all across the bottom and 2 of the plants were dead sticks and the other is nearly dead. I called customer service(long distance i might add)and was asked and I quote "Well, how dead are they?" I thought when things were dead they were dead! They assured me that they would send replacements. I won't be holding my breath that's for sure. I used a coupon on thses so they were free but I still feel ripped off. I would have gotten the smae box of junk even if I would have paid for them. I will keep everyone posted of the resolution on this.

I dont order a lot of things online.. and that dreadful TY TY NURSERY has about burned me from ever ordering again.. BUT I have for 2 years , gotten things from SpringHillNursery.com .. I always was satisfied with the things I received and as far as customer service it is the BEST ever, to me, besides Parks... I never called....all I ever did when I had a dead plant to replace was use their customer service email and tell them...within a day I will get an answer telling me when my replacement flower will be on the way......NEVER questions me, accepts my word... please try using their customer service email if you have a problem......I am 100% satisfied with Spring Hill Nursery..

When I first visited the Spring Hill Nursery website, I was quite pleased with their selection and sets of flowers. I was also enticed by the $20.00 off offer for first-time orders. I decided to order the Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden for $49.99 plus a Crape Myrtle in mid-April, 2004. After two weeks of no news of my order, I called up their customer service. Besides having a completely different order number given to me from the website than what was in the records, the customer service representative could give me no information on the status of my order other than it was "in process." She indicated that they were 2 weeks behind in filling their orders and that I should receive my shipment soon. It has been a month since my order and still no plants. I live in TN and it is already 90 degrees. The customer service reps now have told me to expect my order before June, 2004. Apparently my plants "were still growing and not old enough to ship..." and "on backorder." Frustrated and plant-less, I have cancelled my order with Spring Hill. This was my first Mail Order and may be my last. One suggestion for Spring Hill: On your website, indicate if a plant is not available! I would not have ordered anything if I knew you could not keep up with the demand for these plants

I've ordered from Spring Hill twice, and both times I had a less-than-ideal experience. First time was last fall, a big order of bulbs, which were finally shipped after we got a foot of snow (and more than 2 months after I placed the order). When I called about the problem, they said that I should still be able to dig under the snow and plant the bulbs. Possible, maybe, but practical...no. Second time I ordered a number of perennials, and two of the types of plants were completely rotted when they arrived. The rest of the plants were very small, and were on the brink of death, although I think I may be able to salvage most of them. While they did refund my money for those two plants that were rotted, I can't say that my experience was more than negative overall.

In spite of having poor/neutral experiences in the past with this company, I decided to give them another try, but this is the last time I will order from them!! You will notice that they do not have a toll-free number. When you call them they will put you through voice-mail indefinitely until you hang up in disgust. If you email them with questions about shipping or problems with your order, they either ignore it altogether or respond with no real answer to the question. Add this to desiccated plants, and you have the picture!!

These people have my money now for 85 days and I still havn't recieved .....today after several email they emailed me back to let me know it will take a few more weeks...common folks ....so sorry I have left two negatives on places to buy flower and bulbs I promise Ill do some good ones I have had luck with .....it just is so frustrating to do bussiness with folks like these...blooming bulbs and springhill should be shut down by athorities and not allowed to take peoples money....hope you think twice before ordering ...Doc

I have been wanting to place an order with this company since April but have been unable to get my questions answered by them in order to do so. The website ordering system keeps charging my order incorrectly and, judging from the experiences of others who have posted to Garden Watchdog, I'm not about to give the Spring Hill computer my credit card number in the hope that the charges will eventually be corrected and credited back to my card. The only response to my e-mails about this problem have been form letters asking me not to e-mail repeatedly (every 2 weeks or so) because to do so will only "slow down the response time." Apparently, the company is far too busy to fix their website or answer questions so that potential customers might order from them and be charged correctly for those orders. After many weeks of this attitude, I'm giving up on Spring Hill Nurseries.

I ordered oriental poppies, carnations, and hydrangeas from this company on April 29th. Though the order was shipped quickly, the hydrangeas were bone dry, appeared light-starved, and were badly broken in shipment. The poppies and carnations were in similarly poor shape: spindly and dessicated for the carnations and moldy for the bareroot poppies. The company replied promptly to my email, offering a reshipment or replacement certificate without requiring that I return the plants. I have requested reshipment (with considerable trepidation--who needs MORE dead or dying plants?) but will NEVER order from Spring Hill again! There's no point in wasting the time or the money when the quality of plants shipped is so very poor.

Living in zone 6, I have been ordering from Spring Hill for years and have been very pleased with the company. I agree with many of the comments on Garden Watchdog about the plant size being on the skimpy side. However, after patiently waiting for about 2 growing seasons, I have seen spectacular results. I moved to my present home 4 years ago and have furnished it with mostly Spring Hill products and my garden is flourishing. I'm scrambling to find "adoptees" for many of my Spring Hill plants that need dividing. (Made lots of Spring Hill purchases since the early 1990's but had poor garden karma at my previous abode).
My only negative experience was in the plants purchased Fall of 2003. All of my hardy pansies, phlox, and some of the hardy carnations that I planted in the Fall of 2003 did not survive. So far, I have been cheerfully promised replacements and am eagerly awaiting them. Meanwhile, my Spring 2004 plants have all arrived (small) but in good condition and look like they are taking hold.

I ordered 3 weigela plants and two collections of lillies in mid-March for a brand-new tiered garden we put in. I began emailing them about the order early April when I hadn't heard anything or gotten a shipment. The third time I emailed them, I received a reply which stated there had been a cold wet spell, but the order would ship soon. I began emailing them again early May and finally called May 7th, because I couldn't even find my order anymore online. I was then informed that the order was back-ordered. I asked which part (hoping I could at least get part of it). She couldn't tell me, so I cancelled the order. It is in the 90's here in Southern TN now, so I have an empty tiered garden and it's too hot to really plant anything substantial now.

I ordered for the first time in March of 2004. Included were plants for a "3 season garden" and I was told this should ship within a week or two. By April 15th I was ready to plant, but no plants had been shipped. I called and, like everyone else, was told "they are backordered." I also found that one of my plants had a billing amount, but a quantity of "zero." Every time I have called, I have been given vague answers that they will be shipped as soon as possible. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, they took my number, but no one ever called. When I called today, I spoke with a supervisor who gave me the same, scripted, "The only information I have is that they are backordered." When I requested to be allowed to speak to a supervisor I was put on hold and then told that "They are all on other lines, but they can't tell you anything more than I can." (Yikes??!?) As you can tell---the issue here for me is not even the one about not having my plants. It is the complete and total lack of customer service, even at a supervisory level. I intend to contact the corporate office to let them know how poorly they are being represented.

I have ordered from SpringHill for years, mostly with good success. This year I ordered several good sized orders from them. Everything has arrived with one exception, some Tenor Tall Phlox which are on backorder. The plants were well packed and in general were very healthy. There were only a very few that need to be replaced (5 or 6 out of 70 plants). I have never had a problem getting SpringHill to replace plants. I contacted Customer Service and they were very helpful, friendly and very cooperative in sending replacements. I will definitely order from them again.

I was worried about ordering from Spring Hill based on the reviews here but I am very happy that I gave them a chance. I ordered seven rose bushes and some perennials. All have arrived and are thriving. In fact, I ordered thirteen rose bushes from that other famous rose supplier and they arrived poorly packed and damaged. I will be ordering from Spring Hill again next year.

I used Spring Hill Nurseries frequently during the 90's, and then stopped when they began having problems. This year I decided to try it again, and I am sorry I did so.

I ordered 5 rose bushes and a few perennials, using the $25 coupon I was offered. They shipped the 5 rose bushes to Pennsylvania on March 9, 2004, and they arrived when we had several inches of snow on the ground! I called, and I was offered an apology. I said I would hold them for planting, if they survived, and if they worked it would be ok. Otherwise, I would want replacements - they said they would make a note of it.

I also told them to HOLD the perennials until at least March 30. Well, they still have not been shipped. I sent 2 emails (not answered - it is now May), and finally called - they have no 800 number. The person who answered was disinterested, and said that they were "backed up at the warehouse." She could offer no other answer and no ship date. I told her I still wasn't sure about whether the roses would survive, and she was quite noncommittal and disinterested about this as well.

I won't go back to Spring Hill again.

I tried to place four orders with Spring Hill Nurseries. One arrived complete (with substitutions), one arrived partially filled, and two never arrived. It is now May and I ordered back in March. I was well within their correct shipping time for my zone.
I emailed and phoned the company, but the emails were not answered and the phone contact said the orders were shipped, but nothing ever arrived.
Of the plants that arrived, most have lived (one died), but they were all very small.

I have placed several orders this spring through Spring Hill and have been satisfied with the state of the potted perennials that I have received so far - their packaging is superior and provides excellent transport for the plants. The plants arrive looking healthy, are well watered before shipping, etc....

I have also sent them a few questions on their website regarding plant care - they are quite prompt on their responses so far and provide good information.

I ordered with the $20 off coupon in March. No plants have arrived and the website info says expected to ship 3/28. After several emails, they finally responded today saying that all items are on back order and they can give me no estimated ship date. Well, they could have let me know! I had to pester them to find out. I haven't been charged, so I guess I'll just wait and see. I don't really expect to get any plants at this point, but I didn't have a lot invested in these particular plants anyway. If anything shows up, I'll update this rating.

I used a $20.00 coupon to "try" this company & ordered three Hellebores. Although I thought that the plants did arrive a bit early for my Zone 5A location, I was impressed with how well the plants were packaged and how healthy they are. I hardened them off for a couple days, and planted them & they are taking off like gangbusters.

If it wasn't for the coupon I most likely wouldn't have tried this company due to some of the negative things here on Garden Watchdog. I do feel though, that a person who has a negative experience is much more likely to post their feedback than someone, like myself, who was very happy with the plants they received. I would not hesitate to order again from Spring Hill. Their plants were larger, and better packed than some I've gotten from the top-rated Watchdog companies. The pots were well protected in a special plastic carrier that protected the top growth from damage. I'm really glad that I gave this company a chance!

Ordered several items from Spring Hill before I consulted Garden Watchdog. I had wanted particular plants which were all conveniently being offered by Spring Hill and weren't, in toto, being offered by any one other place. Even after checking here, I still thought I'd give them a chance, because there were marginally more positive than negative ratings.

Received one of the items, ostensibly a purple smoketree, unexpectedly (no email notification) 2 days ago. It consisted of two long shoots and two shorter twigs. The tree was entirely dessicated, light as a feather from lack of moisture, roots totally dried up and the top of the tree bent--not surprising since it came without ANY protective packing to keep it stable and with no packing to keep its roots moist, just a flat plastic sheet loose in the box, an invoice, and a heavy package of ads, so it had just been knocking about in its box being buffetted by this envelope (hence the almost broken-off branch). The two twigs were entirely dead--looked dead and broke right off when I tried them. I tried my nail on the bark of the bigger shoots to see if any life remained in them--however, no clear indication of green without a lot of digging through tough, dead bark, so I believe the tree was dying even before it was so irresponsibly packaged and sent.

Noting that there was no 800 number to call for customer service and not wanting to pay for a toll call, I tried emailing Spring Hill in response to an email they had sent me telling me a second part of my order had shipped. This message would not send, and finally bounced back to me today.

I called the toll number, got an agreeable woman who did work with me to cancel the rest of the order not shipped, and refunded the cost of the smoketree plus some of the postage (though I had to prompt her to do this). I agreed to see if the second part of the order arrived in decent shape and told her I would heel the hapless smoketree in (I soaked it well immediately after opening it) and see if it lived. If it does I will of course pay for it. But she said it wasn't necessary--also that I didn't have to send it back (when I offered).

I am giving Spring Hill itself a negative rating because it does not perform well where it counts--in shipping good healthy plants in appropriate packing to customers. I do, however, rate its customer service centers highly because of the courtesy of its operators. But I will not order from Spring Hill or any of its affliates again. I feel very sorry for the smoketree's mistreatment. Why bother growing something just to kill it in shipping because you don't want to pay for packing material and water weight?

I wish I had found this site first. I used a promotional coupon and ordered from a catalog. I ordered 3 items. The first item arrived. Two items were missing. I planted the one item and emailed and tried calling. When you call you are placed on hold. When you are transfered you get a fast busy signal. This call is long distance...so this costs money...
Email after email no response. Phone call after phone call busy signals after waiting..and being charged for the calls-
Finally the second item arrives..All but one of the bulbs are dead and mushy. Again..emails and calls..the third item still missing.. The first plant I planted DIED. Finally today..1 month and 1 wk later 1 get a real person on the phone . I ask his name and he says his name is Shawn. He tells me about the bankruptcy- the loss of the 800 number and then tells me it will take 3 to 4 billing cycles to refund my money. I tell them that is not acceptable. My husband processess credit cards for companies and I do know about "charge backs". He goes to his supervisor and comes back with 5 to 7 days. I ask for his name again he says "Phillip" I say waiiiiit... that is not what you said before.. he then says it is his last name..Shawn is his first.. I am sooooo unhappy with this company. I did mention the Better Business Bureau..All i wanted was a few nice plants........

I used a promotional coupon to order a free plant (a crepe myrtle). It arrived in good shape, packed well and a respectable size for the price listed in the catalog

The only downside to my one and only experience with this firm was that I started getting lots of unrequested promotional e-mail, which stopped after I asked to be taken off their mailing list.

I agree with LindaMB2. I live in Michigan and received my plants a full month earlier than other nurseries are shipping. We are still below freezing some nights, with daytime highs in the 40's. Not everyone has a cold frame or grow lights to deal with plants that are shipped WAY TOO EARLY. All of the other nurseries that I have placed orders with either ship according to the "last frost date" for my zone (May 15) or give me the option of telling them when to ship. Springhill needs to allow its customers to tell them when to ship the plants or, at the very least, pay closer attention to frost dates by zone.
To be fair, I will add that the plants they sent me were well packed and very healthy looking. Unfortunately, that really won't make much of a difference when they succumb to frost bite!!! Had it not been for the ridiculously early shipment, this would have been a positive review.

I received part of my order from them last week. The problem is that I'm in zone 5, and we have had a low of 28 degrees overnight for the past 4 nights, and an average high of 40. It is way to early to send live plants to my area. The other thing that bothered me was that there was no mention about the rest of my order -- was it on backorder, not available, what? I couldn't even find a record of any part of my order on their web site, so I e-mailed them. Their response was "the items are on backorder, we don't have a future ship date, check back with us". I have ordered from them in the past and have not had the best experiences, so I'm not surprised. I will not be ordering anything more from them in the future. I'll be surprised if I get the remaining items I ordered.

I bought a daylily collection last spring and it arrived with all of them pretty small and sick looking. I called to complain and they sent out a refund right away. I decided to try them again this spring and purchased a miniature rose collection. They arrived right on time, and while small they all look green and healthy. They're prices are typically very good however you do need to expect small plants, and if there is a problem they seem to have very good customer support.

Overall a very pleasant experience.

I used my $20.00 coupon and ordered plants. Two orders came last week. The plants were packed very well and the plants themselves are a good size, healthy, and well leafed out. I have one more order coming from them and if it is nice as these, I will surely order from them again.

I have purchased from them 3 lupines, a mini-rose collection, a hardy carnation collection, etc. Everything arrived in perfect conditions. The lupines came dormant but with an excellent root stock. I put them in the grown about a month ago and the three plants have taken off beautifully.

Customer Service is excellent. The mini-roses took a while to arrive because they were out of stock but that didn't bother me. It arrived about 2 weeks ago. They are in very good conditions.

Their prices are very good. Will be doing business with them again!

I ordered two Meyer Lemon Trees and three cascade mini roses from Spring Hill, using a $25 off coupon for new customers, so the prices were very good. My plants arrived two weeks after I ordered them with no problems. This is the first time I have ordered plants online, although I buy just about everything else on the 'net. The plants were extremely well packed and look strong and healthy (roses about 5" x 5", lemons about 12" tall with 5-8 strong branches each). Quite a few leaves were broken on the lemons, but I'm assuming that is the danger of shipping and they will recover fast. I am very happy with my experience with Spring Hill and will order from them again.

Received a rather large order from them last week. Bulbs and peony roots. Everything was in great condition. Two things(a clematis and one other perennial) will not ship until the 17th of this month); for me this is no big deal as I will plant when the order arrives. Also I lost some iris that were from them last year and will be receiving a coupon for the entire cost of the iris plus shipping since it was the only item on the order. Customer service is excellent. They have stood by their guarantee so far for me. Just wanted to say if you use their coupons($20 or $25) off the order you can get an even better deal.:)

This is the first and last time I will order from this company. I placed my order over a month ago and was told I would receive my items in 3 weeks at the most. Every time I call to get a status on the order, I get different answers, either it is on back order, or it is scheduled to ship out tomorrow or some other answer that they have scripted to tell people when their order isn't ready. They tell their customers that they can only ship orders out when their region is ready. What makes these people decide when people want to plant their flowers when they can receive them and how do they know what the weather is like in each region so that they can ship the flowers. What ever happened to the customer is always right? This is the worst company I have ever dealt with in my life. They are worse than dealing with the U.S. Government. I will never order from them again and will probably cancel my order.

Hello,

I worked for the Tipp City Ohio location of this company. Needless to say, I have seen some of their practices up close and personal. I watched them take plants out of their over-wintering huts, that looked extremely bad, and possibly dead. They then would take last years sales tag off of the product, and put this years tag on it, passing it as new product. I worked in the perennial greenhouse, and walking up and down the isles, just looking at some of the plants, just made my stomach turn. Some had mold all over them, some were brown and dried up, literally dead, and they would put these out and sell them for full price.
Needless to say, I only worked for this company for a month. I was terminated due to the fact that I left 10 minutes before my shift was up, because I got a phonecall from the school that my child attends, saying she was sick. I asked for permission to leave, and was granted it from my supervisor. This was on a Thursday, now remember I only left 10 minutes early. I get a phonecall the next day, Friday, from the same supervisor that gave me permission to leave, telling me I was terminated because I wasn't catching on, and that my leaving would be an ongoing problem. This was the first time I had left early. I have a Master Gardeners Certification, and all they let me do down at the nursery was water the plants, unload new shipments of plants, and sweep/take out garbage, And I get terminated because I wasn't catching on.
You can think all you want about this company. Like I said before, they sell old product as new, and their guarantee at the nursery is "true to name and disease free."
So another words, if you buy one of these dead perennials, thinking it is new, and try to take it back saying it's dead, they do not honor it. This is how I feel about this company. Oh, and by the way, even though it says Harrison Ohio for this company, the mail order comes from Tipp City, Ohio. I forgot to add that. Thank You.

I couldn't resist ordering from their Spring 2004 catalog with the $25 off coupon. I ordered their hydrangea collection and some hardy primrose because I want to try to get something to grow on the shaded side of my house.
I don't have much mail order experience with plants, but to me, the plants came well packaged with plenty of dunnage to keep things in shape. They appear to be very healthy, and they may even survive my mis-handling (I'm a true neophyte at gardening).
I also ordered the cascadia petunias, but they did not arrive yet. I expect them to be in the same shape.

I placed an order Feb. 18, the plants were shipped Mar. 30, and arrived Apr. 5, in excellent condition and were very large and healthy. All were packaged extremely well. One plant was on back order, a hardy banana. I called the customer service department to cancel the future shipment. Figuring, that I probably wouldn't have very much luck with it anyway. The service rep. was very helpful and pleasant. I had a very good experience ordering from Spring Hill and will order from them again without any reservations.

I ordered a yellow lilac from them and it arrived on time, in great shape and looking pretty fiesty! It is very healthy and eagerly awaiting to be planted.It cost me $3.94 because of the $20.00 coupon that they sent. I'm very pleased and will order from them again as they have some really great offers.

I recently ordered from this company for the first time ..
It was an internet purchase of 4 Brugmansia ( angel trumpets )..I recieved these plants in very
good condition ....just as good as they would have been..
sitting around my house dormant for the winter....
at least a foot tall.....can't wait to get them outside...

This was the first time I have ordered from this company. I was sceptical due to comments left in the garden watchdog, but decided to try when I recieved a catalog with a coupon wich if I kept to a certain amount would make my order free.
I sent the order via internet and everything proceded as I figured it should. My order was sent and recieved when they said it would, the tubers seem to be in very good shape and packaging was great. So far I am happy with my order and have no complaints.

This is my first time dealing with Spring Hill and I wasn't impressed. They didn't send all of the order and said nothing about a back order something got missed. Then when the plants arrived they were so root bound I had to cut them out there pots gently as to not break off any roots.
I don't think I will do buisness with them again. The price wasn't bad and the customer service was nice but the quality of items was poor.

If I could make up my own rating I would say neutral-to-negative. I just got my order a couple days ago. To me this was good timing for them. I was not going to plant my miniature rose and orange tree outside but if I had been going to it would have been right on time. I ordered the Purple Chariot minature rose. It arrived kind of pitiful looking but it is a miniature rose and will survive. The orange tree looked like it had been hacked at, the leaves were cut and torn though I believe it will also live. Still I think they should get someone to really trim the plant to fit in the box not just hack at them with something. One branch had been broken some time ago but not all the way through and started to regrow. I understand that this is a big company but $20 for these two things is a pretty good profit if you ask me and they could at least prune them decently.

This was my first order from Spring Hill. I ordered three bare root roses. I was informed that the bare roots are misted then sealed in a plastic bag to prevent moisture loss. When the roses arrived, the bag was open and the roots were dry to the touch, various canes were broken, and the the canes were the smallest I had ever seen (most the size of a pencil). I called and was treated incredibly well. Two roses were replaced. The package arrived today. Again, the bag was open and the contents dry. So dry, some of the roots 'snapped' when bent. And the canes were even smaller, the cuts are not clean, and two have significant amounts of dead wood. Although the staff has been excellent, the quality of roses has been less than acceptable.

As this is the first internet order I ever placed for plants, I kept an open mind, so that may influence my opinion on this company. However, the "shrubs" I ordered for a hedge were actually sticks when they arrived, and my husband and I found it quite hilarious, but I soaked them in water for a couple of days before planting and they are now covered in leaves. It has been quite fun to watch their progress and they seem to be thriving. I had also ordered a clematis, which was very small and wilted, but it is now a vigorous 6" plant, after only 1 week! Also, the hydrangea (also sticks) is now covered in leaves and the African Iris' are taller than the daylilies that were already in the ground. So, while the plants are not the most impressive upon arrival, just a short period of time has shown them to all be vigorous, healthy plants. I am quite satisfied and will use Spring Hill again.