Comments regarding Four Seasons Nursery

This goes WAY beyond NEGATIVE! I have been trying to get my money back from this company for over a year, and they will not even acknowledge my correspondence now, as my guarantee "time" has expired, even though I have been trying to get my money back since before the time was up. NEVER NEVER NEVER order from this company or any of it's affiliates! They will send dead plants and refuse to honor their guarantee. Huge ripoff, horrible customer service.

I ordered from Four Seasons Nursery back in the early spring and that was before I had read all the ratings on this company. But I must say that everyting I ordered has been living and doing well. I ordered a couple citrus plants, a dwarf apple tree and several stone cherry bushes. I even went by to visit this company a few weeks ago when I was in the area. The name out front says Owen Nursery in large letters and then there are about a half-dozen other company names listed on the bill-board out by the road. Company names such as Four Seasons, Burgess, Direct Gardening, etc., etc. So, it is hard to tell which company you are actually dealing with! But again, I must say that I am pleased with what I ordered and what I received.

I ordered my plants in April 2009. Pruple Ice Plant, RED Carpet Border Lily, Batflower, Reblooming Iris, Mixed Hybird Lily Rose Collection. The order came. The plants were dead, mushy and molded. The only thing that survied was the Border Lily. Now they were suppose to be RED and some of them were. The yellow ones are beautiful but not as what was ordered. Nothing else made it. It was only distingued by the tags attached to the bags.

I called. When ask if I had to go through sending in the packing list from the bag I was told "I wouldn't waste my time telling you this." Ok..I would hate to thing you were wasting your time talking to me at all. Their letter sent back to me after sending an email stated "If they are in fact dead." Wow. Such customer service. I would be fired if we ran our customer service department like that.

I went though all that and got replacements. The Ice Plants most of them made it, Bat Flowers, Roses did not. Still to soon to tell if the others are going to make it. They shipped to late in the year now.

I am in the hole by $60. Although a little more expensive I will stay with Michigan Bulb, Brecks and Spring Hill. If their plants don't make it I only need to make a phone call. Great customer service.

I so wished I could have wrote a better review and was looking forward to writing them a thank you note for the reship. Now it is not worth my time after reading other reviews here.

This is the letter I just sent to Four Seasons Nursery:
Dear Four Seasons Nursery,
Well, that's it. I'm finished with you guys. I received my replacement order. Once again, the Mother-of-Thyme was completely dessicated, barely recognizable as a plant. The freesia bulbs were mostly rotten. The Irish Moss looked okay, but you made up for that by completely neglecting to replace the Helleborus.
Don't bother instructing me about how to get these plants replaced- again. I will never do business with you (or, just to be safe, any company from Bloomington, IL), ever again.
If you haven't already deleted this, I'm going to tell you what is wrong with your business- as a favor to you, and to get my frustration out where it belongs. Since your customer service department stinks (problem #1) I am going to send this to someone higher in the company if I can.
I am not interested in an obvious form letter when my order is screwed up, and it is the vendor's fault. I want a real person who at least pretends to be concerned about keeping a potential repeat customer happy. Anybody else who realized I had been sent the trash that you guys mailed to me would have been embarassed, and other merchants will usually throw a bone of some kind- free shipping, discount, etc. Not Four Seasons! Along with the form letter I get (problem #2) instructions to mail the packing list and a letter to get my replacements. Why do you think I ordered online in the first place? So I wouldn't have to use snail mail- the stamps, the lengthy waiting times- why can I order and communicate with you over the internet, but have to use mail to get your mistake resolved?
Last (problem #3), you have a serious quality control problem. Is it indifferent teenagers, or the blind, who are packing your merchandise? Strike that- a blind person would feel the difference between a Helleborus root and a tiny flat piece of rotted vegetable matter. You did the exact same thing several years ago, with the exact same plant. Twice you sent me mother-of-thyme that was, not just dead, but completely dried up. No one who had actually looked at that plant would ever believe it could grow.
I ordered from you this time, not realizing you were the same people who did this to me several years previous. You sent me a grapevine which, a couple of years later produced fruit, not the kind I ordered; and you sent me a same-sex pair of Kiwi vines, which I finally cut down just this year, because they never produced. I will be much more attentive in the future.
I have been happy to write endorsements of companies that build good business relationships, providing good products and prompt, good service. It takes a lot to get me to write a letter like this. The worst company I ever dealt with online forced me to buy another $600 item from them before they would refund me for the defective one they sent me the first time. You guys are the second-worst.
Don S.

I placed 3 orders with this company. I should have refused the first shipment and ended it right there, but I fell for their "guarantee." I'M WRITING NOW TO WARN YOU NOT TO FALL FOR ANYTHING THEY OFFER. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE. THE REFUND OR REPLACEMENT IS A JOKE. MY $15.00 PURCHASE ENDED IN A REFUND AMOUNTING TO $1.50. IT COST MORE IN POSTAGE TO RETURN THE DEAD JUNK THEY SEND. GO TO THE LOCAL STORE AND SEE WHAT YOU'RE GETTING WHEN YOU BUY.

This company is a big rip off and they offer crap for products. Your products arrive in a plastic trash bag, broken, dead and all the roots are broke off AND VERY SMELLING OF MOLD. If you soak the products you may get lucky and salvage something, but why? Go to the local nursery and get something nice that you can see is alive. The guarantee is a complete waste of time, money and energy. Just take your money and flush it down the toilet. It is much less work. I ORDERED ROSES, THEY HAD TO BE SOAKED IN WATER FOR A WEEK TO GET ROOTS AND CLEAN THE MOLD OFF. SOME NEVER MADE IT. THEY ARE SCRAWY DRY MOLDY STICKS WITH NO LEAVES. THEY DO NOT EVEN PUT THEM IN DIRT. THEY STINK OF MILDEW. THE TREES ARE DEAD STICKS. YOU MAY AS WELL GO TO THE WOODS AND CUT A BRANCH AND BRING IT HOME. THATS ALL YOU GET. A DEAD BRANCH! NOT EVEN WRAPPED OR PROTECTED. ALL THE GROUND COVER WE ORDERED ARRIVED DEAD AS A DOORNAIL. I CAN'T BELEIVE SOMEONE WOULD PUT THAT CRAP IN A BAG AND SEND IT! THEY GAVE ME $1.50 BACK FOR ALL THAT. A TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY. POOR PRODUCTS AND THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE! THE FREE PRODUCTS THEY OFFER FOR BUYING DON'T ARRIVE AT ALL EXCEPT FOR THE SEEDS IN PACKETS. THE SEEDS ARE THE ONLY SALVAGABLE THING YOU'LL GET. AND IT IS NOTHING YOU WOULD BUY ON YOUR OWN. THE REST IS NOT WORTH THE MONEY YOU PAY FOR IT. 3 TIMES I GAVE THEM A CHANCE AND ALL 3 TIMES IT WAS A BIG DISAPPOINTED.

most of plants were DOA (dead on arrival).
apricots dead- they shipped a 10' LONG STICK WITH NO ROOTS!!!
6 blueberries, all dead,
ornamental grasses dried out and dead. Spent
$140.00 and got about $10.00 in value.

All planted in pots in greenhouse to see if they would revive, and they didn't. By the time i got back to the 4-seasons people their guarantee expired. offered to replace, but who wants more of the same dead garbage in return.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY

I was billed for my order in April- Never received my order- was told they could not track until June 14th-they claim they sent the order out on 5/14- I asked them to track it and they said it was delivered-I asked for a proof of delivery and they claim they can't do that- I filed a dispute with my credit card company and they issued a credit- Now they just charged me again-just notified cc company again- This is the worst company I have ever dealt with

I've ordered a few times over the past 5 years and have always had good luck. This time I ordered 10 Poplar Hybrids trees, got one extra. Amazingly cheap, arrived in the twig state, but healthy. I stuck them in a bucket of water, then a few weeks later after the last frost, started setting them out. By then all 11 trees had starting leafing out. All I did was dig a hole, put each one in it, added some extra dirt, watered them for a few days. They are all thriving, have added two feet in height, making them almost as tall as me, over 5', healthy leaves, they will be shade trees and tall as my house in 3 years.

After reading some of the negative comments here I must say I was skeptical. I placed my order anyway, I got 2 purple empress trees, 2 manchurian apricots, 2 hydrangea trees, 12 phlox, and 12 creeping red sedum. They all arrived fine, shipping did take a while though. So far everything is doing fine except for the phlox which I planted on a very steep hill with no good dirt at all on it. They are still trying to make it so we'll see. All in all, the plants were in good shape when they arrived and besides the shipping taking a long time, I have to say the experience was positive so far.

I placed an order for 16 Thuja Green Giant evergreen trees
and finally received my order about 3 weeks later. Only 3 plants were in good condition, 7 more had only a hint of "green" evident and the remaining 6 were completely dead. Almost all were covered with a white mold or fungus.
Because of the poor condition of the plants, I planted all 16 plants in plastic pots, utilizing a very high quality tree planting mix. This company is nothing more than a scam outfit, out to rip off as many people as possible. I would be more than willing to lead the effort of a class action lawsuit, if enough of those that were ripped off want to join me.
E-mail jodolynch@embarqmail.com John Lynch

I'm wavering between neutral and positive-- depending on how they treat my request for replacement plants, I'd go with one or the other. I ordered about $60 worth of plants: Japanese toad lilies, assorted hostas and ferns, pink and fernleaf bleeding heart, Christmas roses, Rose Rugosa, native daylily and two hydrangea trees.

Shipping: I did not receive an email notifying me that the order had shipped, but it was on my doorstep just about two weeks to the minute of my having placed the order. As others have mentioned, the plants were shipped in green plastic bags-- with no protection whatsoever. Surprisingly, to me, everything seemed in fairly good shape (although some of the bareroot was very, very small indeed), and one of the Rose Rugosa had even started putting out green shoots.

Two months later, I've had about a 60% success rate and have submitted, in writing and with my original packing labels, replacement requests for the non-successes. The pink bleeding heart grew fabulously-- within two weeks, it was larger than the one gallon plants at the local nursery and has bloomed steadily. At less than two dollars a bareroot, I'd order it again in a heartbeat. Most of the hosta bareroot also did extremely well; the regal blue hosta did not sprout, but the others did and almost all of them are respectably large. The Rose Rugosa has all leafed out, and my lilies have sprouted (lost one or two to a cat charging through the flower bed-- hardly 4 Seasons' fault and I did not request replacements for these). My "failures" were the toad lilies (which sprouted eensy sprouts and then rotted), the fernleaf bleeding heart, the Christmas roses (no sprouts-- just died), and all but one of the ferns (one grew fantastically-- the others did nothing and I treated them all the same). The tree hydrangeas have also failed to come out of dormancy but, frankly, I wasn't expecting much for $2.01 for two "trees."

I would order from them again, but would probably limit myself to bulbs and bareroot hostas. Given how cheap they are and how fantastic some of the plants have turned out, they're a good value. If they actually replace my dead plants as I requested, I'd rate them positively-- they're cheap, they shipped quickly, and, truly, some of the plants are spectacular. It's a gamble, and you probably have to look at it that way, but so far I've been satisfied.

BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! Don't buy from Four Seasons Nurseries. Plants are dead, dead, dead. They say they are in a dormant state. Don't believe it. When in the coldest parts of the USA, and plants are budding, they say their plants are still dormant! THEY ARE DEAD!!! SAVE YOUR MONEY>>>BUY FROM BRECKS, GUERNEYS, HOLLAND BULBS, HENRY'S.

I ordered a variety of lilies last fall. 7 of the plants came in
liquid form. All I could do was laugh. I tried to give them (Four
Seasons Nursery) another chance. This company will send you replacements if the plants are distroyed in shipment or
just don't grow, but it's time consuming. My liquid plants was
so called destroyed in shipment from the heat(september). All the other 23 plants did not grow, so now i have to wait until
next fall to get 8 plants and the others will be shipped in 3 wks. Getting burned twice is enough for me. The other 23 plants did not look healthy so i'm sure thats the reason they did not grow.I guess I'm off to the local nursery to pay big bucks.

We got our 3 English Walnuts in the mail today. They look OK. We planted them outside in pots. They were at least 1 foot tall as advertised. We will let you know in a few weeks if they come to life.

Poor quality plants. Packaged poorly. Poor customer service. I order a lot of plants online from different companies, and Four Seasons took the longest time to deliver the plants. The plants were the worst quality plants I had received from any company.

Beware of Burgess Seed and Plant Company. (www.eburgess.com)

The companies are affiliated, and I have had poor results with both companies.

GREAT COMPANIES: Michigan Bulb, Gurneys, Brecks

I placed an order of over $200. with 4seasonsnurseries.com in the spring of 2008. The products took a 14 day (customary for this company) trip in a sealed plastic envelope the size of a medium pillowcase. Each plantlet was also sealed in a plastic bag and was the size of a seedling. You can only imagine the beating the plants took without any protection whatsoever. When I opened it up, then stench of mildew would knock over a bear. 4seasonsnurseries.com's customer service said there would be no refund, they would only replace stock after I planted the gooey mess and waited 6 weeks for a miracle to happen. Wanting to humor both of us, I did as instructed and waited patiently for 6 weeks. When the ground remained barren, I followed instructions and mailed the original packing slip (it is part of the package, folks, don't throw it away) along with an itemized list of failed plants. I received a replacement shipment in LATE OCTOBER AND THE WEEK OF OUR FIRST FROST. The nasty folks at 4seasonsnurseries.com could care less when we get it - they think they have performed up to the low standard they have set as a business model and refused any further satisfaction. Believe me, even the crappiest little local nursery will outperform these bozos.

IT HAS BEEN OVER A MONTH SINCE WE PLACED OUR ORDER; STILL NO PLANTS! AFTER MANY PHONE CALLS & FOLLOWING THEIR INSTRUCTIONS TO SEND AN E-MAIL & LETTER REQUESTING A REFUND, WE'RE TOLD THERE ARE NO CASH REFUNDS -- BUT "WE WILL RESHIP". WE AWAIT THE RESHIPPING. SUGGESTION -- READ THE FINE PRINT ON THEIR RETURN POLICY -- NO CASH RETURN, ONLY REPLACEMENT. IF YOU RETURN SOMETHING TO THEM YOU PAY THE POSTAGE. I, PERSONALLY, WILL FIND ANOTHER SOURCE FOR MY GARDENING NEEDS.

LI, NY

Ordered one rose bush, one fern, and twelve carnations - all arrived dead, sent for replacements for all - rose bush looks much better putting on lots of leaves, most of the carnations are doing ok only two have died, fern has never even came up.

I ordered plants, some of them died and were replaced. A few weeks later, some more died and I sent them back and they are stalling in replacing them because I send the original packing slip back with the 1st replacement; but I did make a copy and sent that along. But someone there does not understand this because they keep asking me for the original. How many times can I tell them that they have it, I don't. duh...
anyway, still trying to get some satisfaction, but I get better sense out of my plants.
don't know how they stay in business.

I have had 4 seasons replace my order 5 times within a year do to the plants arriving cooked do to being left in the heat or moldy rot. This last time when I requested another replacment I was told my original one year warr. was up and it was company policey to stop replacments after one year of purchase. Stay as far away from this company and all that are connected with them as you can, they are just a scam waiting to take you money.Im going to take my $100 plus loss as a learning exp. .Stick with Walmart , Home Depot or Lowes , at least you can reason with someone face to face. Oh yah and your not paying 20 dollars for a small stick.

I placed an order in late April 2008 for a combination of Blue Spruce and Thuja Giant trees. When they arrived on May 31, 2008, all of the blue spruce trees were brown and without needles. I immediately planted, fed and watered them and contacted customer service about the state of the shipment. I was told that it was normal for plants to go through shock during the shipping process. Well, now almost 6 weeks later, I have a row of brown, needle-less blue spruce trees and thuja giants that show no sign of life. Customer service will not assist me because, although I have all the shipping numbers, package numbers, order numbers, etc, I do not have the original green package it came in. Judging from other reviews on this forum, it sounds like it wouldn't make much of a difference if I had the original package or not-- 4 Seasons Nursery ships dead plants, makes their money and cares nothing for the consumer experience. I couldn't be more unhappy about this experience. Buyer BEWARE!

BUYERS BEWARE! My order from the Four Seasons Nursery arrived and I followed all their instructions regarding planting and care of the plants and I had only a 50% survival rate. I have spent over three months attempting to get replacement plants for those that died or never grew. I have sent three letters explaining my disappointment with their plants and requesting replacements. My letters were returned to me with a xeroxed note telling me I need the ORIGINAL shipping lable which was underlined in red ink, not the invoice, like most companies would request. If you do not have the orginial shipping lable don't waste your time attempting to communicate with them. I believe that this is just their way of getting out of their guarantee for free replacement of dead plants. I recommend you shop else where.

Back in March I placed an order for a shell vine and hardy gladiolas. They are now blooming and I cannot believe that I did not get a shell vine or hardy gladiolas. What I got was a snail vine and regular funeral parlor glads. Neither blooms match the pictures as advertised. I called the company today to let them know that I was not pleased. I don't care to get my money back because I did get healthy bulbs and a healthy plant which are all blooming right now but I did not get what I paid for. I did not keep my receipt because this is a problem that I could never foresee and since I received healthy bulbs and a healthy plant I did not see a need to keep it. I will not be ordering from them ever again.

Dorothy Dobra

We received their catalog out of the blue sometime in may and decided to place a "test" order with them to see what we got. We ordered 6 rose of sharon, 4 hydrangea trees, 3 pampas grasses, some irish moss, a few red sedum and a couple of walk on mes. I knew they would be bare root and that wasn't a problem. I have limited experience with bare root stuff and gardening in general but knew they would be "twigs" . After placing the order, I came across this site and saw all the negative reviews and was somewhat dissapointed I had placed the order. I was expecting to receive either mush, dead twigs or nothing at all...Few weeks went by and we finally received our order. Everything we ordered was in the bag delivered by DHL. The rose of sharons were around 2' tall 'twigs' as described in their catalog, the hydrangeas were 2-3' (much bigger than I expected), the pampas grass was alive (it was actually green in their own little peat pots) but were rather small 6"-8", the irish mosses were all alive but were somewhat small, the red sedum looked like it was DOA, the walk on me looked DOA as well. I was still skeptical any of this stuff would do anything (based on the reviews) but we planted everything anyway. The small stuff was planted first, we then soaked and "heeled" in the hydrangea and rose of sharon in a wheel barrow with soil because we didn't have time to plant those during the week. Saturday came along and we went out to see our "twigs", to our surprise, most of the Rose of sharons had started to bud, a couple of the hydrangea did as well. So we planted everything based on their recomendations. By the end of the week the RS had small leaves and the hydrangeas had a few buds. Two weeks later, the hydrangeas began to bud and now all have leaves. The sedum also began to bud and has some growth though not a whole lot. To be honest our dogs have trampled them a few times. The Irish mosses didn't fare so well, 3 of the 4 have disapeared (dead or buried probably due to their small size) one is still there and somewhat green but has not grown (might be getting too much water). Pampas grass is dead (they were probably too small and should have gone in a container until they got some size)The walk on my was truly DOA. So all in all we are pretty satisfied with our order considering the cost. If there was one negative it would just be the size of some of the items we received but then again they are inexpensive for a reason. We won't bother with the refund for the stuff that died as it was not very expensive and not worth the time. So our average cost for the surviving plants based on our order total is probably around $1-$2 so I can't complain.

I ordered 3 items, 3 small trees, 3 ferns and 1 groundcover. The trees arrived dead with the growing tips on 2 of them broken off and the single root covered with a white mold, something others have mentioned. The ferns were so dry their roots crumbled when I removed them from their small bags, and after 3 weeks I have seen no signs of life. The single ground cover was green, and seems to be doing ok.

This company has some intersting plants, but I would never buy from them by mail again. If you live close enough to visit, and can examine the plants before you take possession they might have some things you would want.

I will try to be as honest as possible with my rating of this company. I have received three shipments of plants from them, the first two were timely, the third shipment took more time (2-3 weeks from time of order). All of the plants we have received looked fine and are doing just fine. We have ordered items such as trees, grapevines, blueberry plants, hostas and strawberry plants. I will remind people to keep their shipping labels for one year...the package and website both tell customers to do that (just put them in a drawer like me!). I had some strawberries that died after we planted them, and I simply followed the instructions...sent the shipping label back to them with a letter detailing which plants died. I called them today (about 2 weeks after sending the information), and the representative told me the replacement order has shipped. So far, I have had good dealings with this company.

What a rip-off! I've been trying to get replacement plants from these jokers for nearly three months. I've sent a letter, bank statement (per their request) and pictures of the dead plants. All the mail went certified! Still they refuse to replace the plants. One supervisor ever used the phrase "get away with it" to describe his companies policys when I informed him I would be handing over to the credit card company. I'm finished. I'll let MasterCard deal with these clowns.

I ordered many plants from Four Seasons last spring and was pretty much disgusted with the quality. The plants weren't even worth the small amount spent on them. I think one tree survived out of approximately 15. I'm not sure they were all alive when they got to me. One didn'e even have ANY roots to speak of. Some of the plants were rotted and not able to be planted. A couple of the creeping phlox made it. I didn't try to get my money back. I didn't bother sending anything back. I will never order from them EVER AGAIN, though. You have a year guarantee or something, but who's going to hold onto to the shipping labels for that long? Not worth the time, money, or frustration. I'd much rather spend a little more money and get good quality plants instead of trying to save a little. Plants and trees are a worthwhile investment. Thanks to this website for making people's reviews available. If I had looked before ordering from Four Seasons, I would have ordered from somewhere else. I learned that some things are just too good to be true...

Four Seasons is by far the worst company I've ever done business with. Their Giant Thuja tree is a scam. It's been 19 months since I received and planted mine and they are still less then 10 inches tall. I originally complained upon receiving them and wanted to return them but as I had not saved the shipping label they refused. I keep them in small pots as a reminder to never do business with Four Seasons.

I placed an order with 4 Seasons on March 16. The plants, if that's what you'd call them, were received the 1st week of March. We're OK up to the receipt of the order, but it was when I opened the bag and started looking at what they sent that I became truly bothered. I'm very familiar with bare root plants, so that wasn't my concern. Of the 3 Orange Glory plants, 2 were covered with heavy mold; the Red Weigelia was a twig with no root base at all, Of the 6 Sundrops, 4 were rotten, 7of the 9 painted daisy were rotten, all 3 of the purple ice were rotten, and I didn't receive the Lewisia or the Poker Primrose. When I contacted them, of course it was the story of sending the shipping label, and that's when I lost it. They just shipped this junk and want me to jump through hoops to get them to make it right. Why can't they look at the order number and confirmation they sent me in email? I can understand providing the shipment label months from now when plants die, but not immediately after the order is received and the plants arrive dead. Their policy is no more than an attempt to frustrate and cause aggravation to make their customers give up. I will NEVER EVER order from them again. I am asking my credit card company to reverse the charges until they get this right. Shame on you 4 Seasons Nursery!

we put a large order in.They sent everything while we still had deep snow and frozen ground.The fruit trees were dead & broken the strawberry plants were one big gloob of mold the rest was just plain garbage.We shipped everything back with the original shipping order for replacement or refund over 3 weeks ago we still haven't heard anything back from them.We must be on their waiting list yet like all the other thousands of dissatifed customers .

I read all the negative reports posted here and decided to give Four Seasons Nursery a shot anyway and placed an order for lots of mostly bare root trees. When my order arrived, I inspected everything and everything looked healthy. I was short three Colorado Blue Spruce and six Rose of Sharon bushes and immediately e-mailed customer service. Within a short time, the missing stock arrived and were healthy also. All 96 are in the ground and doing beautifully. I would definitely order from Four Seasons Nursery again.

Just felt I should give credit where credit is due!

I got much more than i expected after reading the reviews, but for the price of three nursery plants, I consider it a bargain. My order arrived at the time i wanted it to even though you can't pick your date. the order was complete plus extra seed packs,and 3 varieties of bulbs. I ordered 3 paw paw,16 wash. hawthorn,5 red twig dogwood,2 peegee hydrang.,10 aparagus,4 snowball bushes. plants are well rooted, easy to plant, came with a planting and instruction booklet, no damage whatsoever, very surprised because they came in a green bag. everything was dormant and bareroot(nice roots for size), the snowballs came potted like a large rose band. After learning my lesson on the large $300 trees, now suffering transplant shock, this seems to be a more sensible way to go. I don't have a cardiac if i have a loss! Would order again from this company.

Shipping time was reasonable and my order was sent complete. Everything is in good shape, though dormant - exactly like they said. We are in the process of planting our items - a bunch of rose of sharons, strawberries, strazzberries, rasberries, asparagus and a fruit cocktail tree. The roots look healthy and nothing was dry or brittle. I will update once I see how they come in.

Not sure how anyone could miss the return policy on keeping the shipping label. Its on their website and also written clearly on the front page of the booklet they send with the items.

I bought a lot of different plants from 4 Seasons last spring (2007). I live way up north and we get BRUTALLY COLD winters! I ordered hibiscus, delphiniums, butterfly bushes, a silver lace vine, fern leaf bleeding hearts, strawberries, and many more. Everything arrived in an appropriate time to plant, in "dormant" conditions. One of the hibiscus did have mold on it, but I planted it anyway. Everything I put in the ground performed beautifully! Even the moldy hibiscus! Spring has just barely begun, but so far everything is coming back nicely. I've found their products to be very hardy, so far. I just ordered another batch of plants, and hope to do as well as last year. I've recommended 4 Seasons to others in my area, as well.

i ordered from 4 seasons for the second time last yr, the first time was a few yrs ago and it wasnt any better than, but i figured i would give em another shot.
Well the plants they shipped were VERY small plants, most not old enough to be transplanted at all let alone make a trip in a box (one yr old seedlings, some 8 months depending on when they were started) , they arrive dry and partially dead if not completely, overall (depending on the hardiness of the plant) i would say i lost about 60% of the plants by summers end, and probley more over the winter (i will have to update in spring).
I also purchased from MB- another mail order co with a bad rep! But i hadda give MB a pos since i had around 70% survival rate on their really small plants, and they also had a easy replacement policy , 4 seasons gets a big old NEG though cause their return policy and their customer service is absolutely worthless. and they dont even offer any coupons to reduce the cost of these WAY overpriced roots.
Alot of these cheap mail order places sell small roots, but 4 seasons are by far the worst i have ever seen.

I considered giving a neutral instead of a positive, because admittedly a quarter of my order was obviously Dead On Arrival even to my novice eyes, and now I suspect half of my order was actually DOA.

Still I decided to give everything a chance before I tried to get replacements/refund. Oops, because I didn't store/hide the bags and someone else in the home assumed they were trash and tossed them out before I knew whether things would live or die.

One really positive (for me) was that I experienced speedy shipping from them, and I always give bonus points for speedy shipping. Hence the main reason I gave them a positive over a neutral rating.

Interestly enough some of order that arrived alive later died, in at least three cases I still don't know why they failed. Admittedly, the rest that didn't make it was either my fault (in one single case), or they were eaten/destroyed by pests, and Four Seasons can hardly be blamed for those last two.

Still it is disappointing that in the end less than a quarter of the stuff I wanted/ordered survived. The plus side is the stuff that did survive is thriving, and I suspect once warm weather arrives those things will actually look like the pictures on the website.

So, based on my 2007 experience with Four Seasons, I'd say if you order trees/shrubs and/or potted plants then Four Seasons is as good a place as any to get them, especially since they tend to be cheaper at Four Seasons than anywhere else (seeds and bulbs are iffy, I'd say fifty-fifty), but if you order bare root or "dormant" plants then you probably won't be happy with the product.

(Honestly, I was thinking about ordering from them again this year, but much of the stuff I wanted this year was not listed in the book or on the website, so I used other sites to order from this year.)

Word of warning, Beware their return policy!!! You must keep any shipping labels for the year after you receive the products (side note I have been told the clock starts when the order is submitted, NOT when it is delivered!!! Makes no sense with bulbs ordered in the spring, shipped in the fall, and you won't even see results until after the year has passed!) On the plus side, they have honored the guarantee w/o the shipping label and after a year.

Their prices are very good, but the quality is rather hit or miss. All of the shrubs I have received have been severely dehydrated. Immediate soaking in a bucket revived some but not all. I did get exactly what I ordered but they were shipped in a plastic bag, literally...

I ordered 3 snowball bushes, 4 lilacs, 2 hydrangea trees, 2 apricot trees (of some sort), 2 pink pussy willows and got some bulbs for free back in November 2007. Total was about 30 some odd dollars/change. The snowball bushes were packed in dirt, bulbs packed in sawdust, and the rest was bare root. I did not unpackage or soak/plant my items for about 5 days after arrival, but when I did- I noticed I was missing one of the apricot trees (no big deal, it cost me an extra cent.) I used this hormone growth formula that has brought many of my "dead" plants back to life on the items I did have and am very pleased to say, they are all sprouting nicely this time of year in Florida. I was afraid the cold chill we got in January would kill them all, but only one of my lilacs died from the chill (it was sprouting before the chill.)

The pussy willow and two of the snowball bushes were a gift to my boyfriend, and they are doing quite well at his house as well. And, yes, here we have the worst kind of soil possible...sandy, swampy, super compact soil.

Everthing is still small, and I may not be able to enjoy any flowers for some years to come, but they were all very cheap and are still alive.

If Four Seasons Nursery has a fantastic sale on hybrid willows, I would make a purchase from them again.