Comments regarding Woodlanders Inc.

Great selection of hard to find plants. Received nice size seedlings packed with great care. I ordered mainly to get some Seaside Alder (Alnus maritima) to add to a planting from decades ago. I had ordered from Woodlanders in the past but my finances and colder climate zone limited my orders. If you live in a colder zone than Woodlanders like me (zone 6b/7a), I recommend ordering in the fall so the plants are dormant when you receive them. Don’t hesitate to order from Woodlanders but mark your calendar or set a reminder to order in fall if you are in a cold winter area.

Posted on November 2, 2016, updated November 2, 2018
Posted on September 9, 2016, updated November 2, 2016
I ordered a chitalpa and holly from this place in spring 2016. Plants arrived to me alive, but they looked weak. I suppose the shipping caused some shock. I worked with what I had, and babied them along. Anyway I'm pleased to say that the plants have lived and grown a little for me. I would buy here again. They have a neat selection that I really like.

I received my order of 12 plants today. It was my first time ordering from Woodlanders. All plants were received in good shape. I was impressed with the size of the plants,and the quality of the packaging/labeling.
I will definitely be ordering from them again.

I honestly cannot remember what I ordered from here, because I did so much mail order this fall and winter. I do know that if I had not had a positive experience, I would have been on here talking negatively a lot sooner than this. I'm sure whatever I ordered was a native plant, because that is what I always order from nurseries near me. Also, I only had one plant die this year, and it came from up north. That being said, I'll be ordering from them again.

I bought 2 plants from them people told me many different ways to plant them I contacted woodlanders a several times they were very helpful and had patients with me EVERY ONE WAS TELLING ME WRONG WOODLANDERS HELPED THANKYOU I WILL BE BUYING FROM THEM AGAIN FLORIDA

Very pleased with the plants I received, especially the Manfreda and Muhly grass. High quality large plants for very reasonable prices. Will order from them again. Recommended.

I was very pleased with my order I received this past fall and one I recently received. All of the plants were healthy and packed very well. They offer many plants that are difficult to find. I would definitely order from Woodlander's again.

Ordered 4 plants. An Illicium f. var. Album, Illicium lanceolatum, Punica g. 'California Sunset', and a Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata'. All of the plants were in great shape when they arrived. Shipping was quick.
It's clear they remove the plants from the gallon pots and keep only about half of the original soil in order to ship. The wrapping of the roots was nice and tight. Plants sizes ranged from 1ft (Daphne) to 2ft (Illicium f. var. 'Album').
I wish they did not have to remove so much soil, but it is what it is. The selection is so good for some rare-ish plants and the prices are very reasonable.

Posted on April 1, 2010, updated February 3, 2015
They have a good selection, but terrible customer relations. A couple times I have tried to order in early spring, close to their unusually strict March 31 cutoff date, and even though I have been within that time frame, have been denied. This last time they even accepted the order, then emailed me back denying the order saying they just didn't have time. When I expressed my frustration with their lack of an unclear ordering deadline, I got a reply from the owner, Robert McCartney, and I quote: "We hate to loose (sp) a customer but one less Massachusetts yankee with attitude is not likely to make me loose (sp) any sleep."

Positive: Woodlander's has a great selection of rare plants, and since that's what I like to grow, I've ordered from them a few times.

Negative: The plants that I have received are often smaller than those that I get from other mail-order sources, sometimes pathetically small, but otherwise viable.

Therefore I give them a neutral rating. I'd use this nursery basically as a source of genetic stock, but be prepared to grow their plants up to size in pots before transplanting into the yard.

Great woody plant selection at reasonable prices. I've found the plant quality to be fair to good.

Excellent selection. I ordered around a dozen plants, including various woodland wildflowers, camellias, and shrubs. The customer service was good (i.e. order confirmation was prompt and an e-mail was responded to within 24 hours). Everything came true to description. Plants were "balled" (plants removed from pots, the loose soil shaken out and the roots and remaining soil tightly bundled in plastic bags) and packed in newsprint, which I wasn't expecting. On second reading, this is mentioned on their website, but could be noted more prominently. They had nice root systems, however, and only one plant seems to have suffered any shipping/transplant shock (a Camellia euryoides).

I really like this nursery. The plants I've received have been really nice, and their prices are attractive, even with plants that are quite rare and often command a greater premium.

I'm a northern gardener, so I have mixed feelings about the shipping policy. On the whole, though, I think their decision to limit shipping to times when the stock is dormant or near dormant is the best thing for the for the plants that they grow. I've ordered about 15-20 plants from them, and with some special protection from the weather, they have all broken bud and flourished in the garden.

Inexperienced gardeners might want to do some research before ordering from Woodlanders, but intermediate to advanced gardeners, I think, will be very pleased.

Ordered a "First Lady" Flowering Cherry Tree from Woodlanders. I would have to agree with previous reviewers. Although I received well-packaged plants in good shape within a week of ordering, the "1 gal." size tree was clearly grown in a much smaller container than that. It also appeared the original leader was pruned, causing growth to continue as an offshoot. This impacts on growing in true upright form. Based on my experience and the experience of others, it appears there is an adverse trend with this mechant in this area.

I have ordered many times over the years and have not had one bad experience. Nice to have somewhere that has unusual and rare plants that work in my part of the country. The plants are always nice and packaged very well. I'm sure I'll be ordering many more times.

I really do appreciate this nursery's inventory of rare and unusual plants, and overall I consider their prices to be fair given the nature of their offerings. I just received my order and received well-packaged plants in good shape. I must agree with PhillyLover's comments, however - the "1 gal." size plants were clearly grown in much smaller containers than that. The plants were of large caliper given the size of their root masses, and the tops had been severely pruned about a year ago. Had I planned on growing these for an upright form, I would have been disappointed that they no longer had their original leaders. One other point to note - this is a southern nursery which ships in late winter to ensure plants are still dormant on arrival. If you live in a colder climate, be sure you have a place to keep your shipment until it's time for planting.

Posted on April 3, 2010, updated March 1, 2012
Order was shipped to me quickly.

Overall the plants appeared to be in good shape and packaged well for shipping. However, the "1 gallon-sized" plants were more qt-sized or slightly larger sized plants.

I was pleased with my order of six deciduous native shrubbs: they arrived well-packed, within a week of order with their one-gallon root-ball wrapped in a plastic bag, their stalk, free of leaves, unwrapped but undamaged, layered with newspaper. I think I remember the one plant with leaves, an itea, might have been on the top. Anyway, the plants were easy to extract from the box and all transplanted within a day and appear to be well on their way to re-establishing in my yard. I would consider using them again for these types of plants as the cost is very reasonable ($12.00 per). And their selection is good. The nursery is also in the general agricultural zone as my area, so I feel the plants will feel at home once they are put in the ground. I have now ordered within the last six months six small trees, and sixteen native deciduous shrubbs from six different online nurseries listed in Dave's Garden and all having excellent to well-respected reputations and located within about a 500 mile radius from where I live and I can say I am very happy with all purchases and will be very curious to see how the plants do in my yard. I now feel that I can order with confidence the plants I want from the nursery that gives the best price for that type and size of plant and that it will arrive quickly and in good shape.

Woodlanders is awesome and I consider Bob McCartney a personal friend. You simply have to understand a little about plants before you purchase them. This is one of my top 3 favorite sources for hard to find Southern species. John H Prince, Norfolk,Va , Prince Landscapes, LLC

My first order to Woodlanders consisted of 2 plants, Ceratostigma willmottianum and Pinus palustris. Both were sent the week I requested and were sizable considering their relatively low price. Based on this positive experience, I would order from Woodlanders again!

I too had a very negative experience with the owner of this place. He has a very sharp mouth and nasty attitude. Not only that, the plants he sent me were pitiful. I have enjoyed shopping elsewhere and receiving fine plants -- no need to shop with them.

My plants arrived in a timely manner in lovely condition. I was surprised at how large they were! This was a no-drama, no-suprises transaction. I received exactly what I ordered. I will order again with no reservation.

I have ordered a lot of new plants this year, and I got some of them from Woodlanders. I always like to get plants that are rare and unsual. Everything I got from this nursery are all growing well and the ones that suppose to bloom, have bloomed. I am pleased with them and will order again from them.

Overall great experience.

Called March 25 to inquire about Baccharis halimifolia -- wanted to ask availability, as their shipping season was ending; size; and double-check plants were female, as these are the producers of seeds, which are the plant's primary ornamental value.

Gentleman on the phone was very polite and clearly knowledgeable about this obscure plant.

I ordered the plant, it arrived within a week in great shape and was a good size at over 2 ft. tall.

Woodlanders' web site is great, and they carry a lot of hard-to-find natives, a HUGE plus in my opinion. Would definitely order again.

I was looking for a variegated Gardenia and was very happy to find that a local nursery sold them. After visiting Woodlanders, I was overwhelmed by the awesome variety of unique plants they sell.

What a great place!!!

I have really wanted to go more "native" in my yard/garden, but there just aren't any good sources in my city. I thought it would be best to look for a native plant source in my planting zone. I looked at several websites and was amazed at the large selection at Woodlanders. Though I was reluctant to order given the expense and the fact that I have never had success with mail order plants, I decided to try again. The dormant plants arrived at the right planting time, well packed, in great shape, better than I expected and with excellent roots. It is now a month later and they are coming out and look like they are going to do well.

Plants arrived in good condition and of the expected size or better. The company was easy to deal with and respond to e-mail promptly. Will order from them again in a heartbeat.

Placed an order on line but then cancelled 1 of the 5 plants I ordered. Received prompt email confirming the cancelled plant. Received the plants in beautiful condition 4 days after placing order. Very happy with size and condition of plant

It's been a little while since I ordered from them, but somehow I managed to forget to write a review! I've placed 2 orders with them, one was either in fall '06 or spring '07 and the other about a year earlier, and I was very happy with the plants on both occasions. They have some rare plants that I hadn't seen anywhere else and I will definitely continue to browse their site and won't hesitate to order from them again.

After having my heart set on a Quercus suber and being unable to find this variety available elsewhere I was delighted to find that Woodlanders not only supplied this variety but that they did so at a more than reasonable price.

They shipped promptly and the tree arrived well packaged. It was large enough to only barely fit in the box but they positioned it so that it still fit without pruning the leader back, which I greatly appreciate.

It arrived in perfect condition with moist roots and very healthy leaves. While I was initially concerned about ordering an evergreen from a warmer area so late in the season it’s a gorgeous little tree that has so far weathered the winter weather well.

Many thanks to Woodlanders for offering this wonderful and hard to find variety.

After receiving Woodlanders' post card by mail announcing the on-line catalog, I ordered through their site on Sept. 5, 2007. A reply came in the same date from info@Woodlanders.net thanking me for my order. A charge of $ 197 appeared Sept. 26th on my credit card statement. Shipping was to begin on Oct. 1st.

On Oct. 16, 2007 I emailed Woodlanders about the shipping date since nothing had arrived. The next day I received a reply that " bad news", I would not be receiving any plants. Their customers on site picked up plants and they ran out of stock of all items I had ordered!

To date, Oct. 25th, I have not received a credit to my charges or a refund and there was no attempt made to retain me as a customer. It appears as though Woodlanders does not value or want mail-order customers.

I first ordered from Woodlanders in Nov., 2006. I ordered a second time from them in Oct., 2007. New owners took over this nursery sometime in 2007, but they had previously worked at the nursery. The new owners have raised prices. The plants arrived in good health before and after the ownership changed. I would recommend this nursery.

I recently (12/3) ordered six ferns from Woodlanders. The plants were well priced and arrived today in good shape.

(I would have appreciated an e-mail letting me know that they had shipped).

I have ordered plants from Woodlander's for many years. The plants I have received have all been good size for the price (NOT true from all mail order nurseries I have patronized) and were also shipped promptly.

I ordered 15-20 plants and made arrangements to pick them up at the nursery. The plants that they selected were in good condition, and, considering the rarity of them, a good value. The staff was very knowledgeable and helpful.

I've now ordered from Woodlanders every year for 5 years without a single bad experience. Have all survived and thrived? Of course not; that's par for the course when dealing with the hard-to-find natives and exotics that Woodlanders specializes in. But every plant I've ordered has arrived in good condition, and every interaction I've had with the folks at Woodlanders --- whether by phone or email, has been friendly and professional. Receiving a package from Woodlanders is the closest thing to Christmas for the serious plant geek.

I had mailed them a check for their catalog and was told I would recieve it in time for the next planting season. I never got it. They never responded to my e-mail about this problem and I have yet to recieve a catalog.

Plants arrived in great condition. They handled a last-week change in my order and the ship date via e-mail with no problems. Will order from them again in the fall.

I have ordered from this nursery since the early 1990s. I have always been pleased with the quality of the plants. This is not a place for amateur gardeners to order from. If other people have had problems with the descriptions or hardiness information given for some plant, they should check a reference book before ordering. Their hardiness ratings are generally accurate but no specialist nursery should be held to a standard of perfection in this area. Some kinds of plants, like ferns and leguminous shrubs, are hard to establish. In this case it is not always the nursery's fault if a plant fails.
If there is one thing I could fault them for, I wish they used their website to update what is sold out, since they do not operate on a reservation system - what is available is shipped at the time you request shipment.