Comments regarding Sooner Plant Farm (Shop Smarter Shop Sooner)

IMPRESSED!!!!
I can honestly say that this company has it's act together! I have ordered several plants online from other companies and none even come close to compare to Sooner Plant Farm.
I ordered the Endless Summer Hydrangea from Sooner Farm and when I opened the box I was a little nervious but once I saw how they package their plants and what great quality the plant was in I knew that I had made a great purchase. Since the plant arived 2 weeks ago it has grown like crazy! I can honestly say that I will continue to order through Sooner Farms!

Thank you Sooner Plant Farms!

Very nice to deal with. Excellent packaging. I'll be ordering again.!

I ordered two dormant Burning Bushes. They arrived fast and intact. They are in pots with the proper soil. The pots were sealed off beautifullly so as to not lose the soil. Very precise directions for care until time to plant.

I hightly recommend Sooner Farms :)

I ordered three trees and immediately received three good looking specimens at very reasonable prices. One, a tamukeyama Japanese maple had several branches broken off. I called and they immediately
sent out a replacement. I will order from them again without hesitation.

Every plant I have ordered arrive quickly & very healthy. They have one of the most exstensive assortment of heuchera collections iI have found. Bought so much last year I definately would recommend joining their Garden Club. Saved alot of money. Would'nt buy anywhere else... and I live in Cincinnati, Ohio! A loyal Fan, Deborah

Quick shipping and extremely well packaged with detailed planting instructions. Very impressed with the quality of the acer palmatum dissectum Orangeola I received. Will definitely be a repeat customer!

Very fast delivery of my trees and excellent packaging along with complete planting and care information.

This past spring I ordered 5 Japanese fountain grass plants in gal size pots. They were shipped promptly, and arrived well packaged and protected. However, the plants I received could easily have been in 3" pots, not the gal sized plants I expected to receive. Two of the plants were dead on arrival. I also received a free Japanese Maple tree, bare root, and about 12" tall.
Customer service was very easy to deal with, and I received a full refund for the 2 that were doa, and partial refund for the difference between a 3" pot and a 1 gal pot size plant. And they refunded part of my shipping costs. Refund was swift and precise.

The Japanese Fountain Grass that survived the trip, also survived the summer in my garden. Although they didn't grow, nor did they spread, I understood they might not be a fast grower in my zone. They have all died back to the ground now, but since I can't find out much about their habits growing in my zone, I'm going to wait until spring to see if they come back. My fern do the same thing, and always come back. The FREE Japanese Maple, has thrived and grown at a startling rate and is now over 3' tall.

Over all, I'm very pleased with this company's customer service. I would buy from them again, and probably will in the spring.

I ordered a 3 quart Lavender Twist Redbud tree in the spring of 2008. It arrived in a timely manner, in good shape and with planting instructions. It kept well for a few days as I was unable to plant it right away. The tree has done exceptionally well despite having served as dinner for deer on several occasions. Brian Chojnacki and his staff were also very helpful when I contacted them for information on how to winter the young Redbud. Overall, I had a good experience with the folks at Sooner Plant Farm and intend to order again.

I just got 2 Blue River ll hibiscus plants from Sooner Plant Farm this week. As can be expected, they were well packed and arrived in perfect condition. I've ordered from Sooner before and am always pleased with the quality of plants they ship. Thanks Sooner!

Ordered twenty two gallon trees (liriodendron, quercus, and acer) and seven two gallon shrubs (juniperus) sent this September to South Lyon, Michigan. All of them were large and of top quality! Excellent packing and excellent customer service! I highly recommend this company and plan to order from them again.

I have ordered 3 times over the past 4 years and have always been pleased. A Panicled Goldenrain Tree planted over 3 years ago has thrived, as did the beautyberries planted last year. Great service! I recently ordered some Blue Plumbago plants and they arrived within a week of ordering. Always very good sized and healthy plants and well packed!

I ordered a 3-gallon Buddleia 'Pink Delight' from Sooner Plant Farm. In short, the plant was magnificent and this company is a "class-act".
Their painstaking packaging alone tells me that they love plants as much as we do. I'll be back.

Rolo57

I ordered several trees from Sooner plant farm to plant this fall (sept 08). The shipping was quite quick, the packaging was very good, very very minimal breakage during transport, the plants arrived healthy and looking quite good. The only surprise we had was that someone from Sooner called us to give us some tips for how to make our Redbud survive the winter, which were much appreciated.
One should be aware that these plants are being shipped in boxes, and therefore some of the larger/longer shoots will be cut off, I guess we'll see in the spring what that means for the growth of the plants, but overall I am very happy and would order from sooner again.

I ordered a Japanese Maple from them just recently (September '08). It arrived very quickly. It was in a big, rectangular box, not quite a foot in width and length and a few feet in height. The supple branches had been folded up, into the box, but everything came out quite fine. Good bit of growth on it. The still moist rootball was packaged up in a plastic bag and thoroughly taped so that there was no dirt escaping into the rest of the box. The tree was held nicely in place inside the box. It was the height promised. Many of the older leaves were showing browned edges (too much sun??) though I guess I'm not worried about that; they'll be falling off soon for fall anyway. Some branches were already turning the brilliant red color for fall.

Overall I was very happy with what I received. Would definitely buy from them again.

I like to get plants locally but my garden has reached a point that I only have space to get just what I’m looking for.

Hardy Hibiscus are my favorite & in early 2007 I heard about Hibiscus Crown Jewel that stays short. Only found 2 places that carried them. After reading reviews DaveGarden.com I decided to try Sooner. I was hesitant though because I have had bad luck getting plants to survive when grown in the southern states (Sooner is in Oklahoma) & I plant them in Michigan. I called Sooner with my concern and they assured me the plants they would send were hardy, healthy & would do just fine in Michigan.
I ordered 6 – They arrived as healthy 1 ½ ft tall plants. Then I ordered 2 more.
As they started blooming one was a red & not the white with red center. I contacted Brian & he replaced it & I ordered Hellebores that I was looking for to that shipment.

Spring 2008 the Hellebores did great & still look good and the Crown Jewels grew & bloomed wonderfully.

Two weeks ago had a spot I wanted to change and decided on Echinacea Kim’s Mop Head – Was having a very hard time finding them. So checked Sooner & they did! So ordered 3 along with a Tiki Torch. Plants came in good shape & big. I am looking forward to their blooms next year.

Keep up the good work – Sooner Plant Farm.

I just received my first order. The order arrived in excellent condition. The three plants looked great - like they were just removed from the garden. I will definitely be ordering more items in the future.

I ordered a Helleborus and a bonsai tree. The helleborus came in huge (2 bulbs, though one may have been a part of my gift for having a membership), and was extremely healthy. It looked healthier than most plants at the local nurseries, despite having to be sent by mail. The tree (japenese red maple) came with the membership, and though it lost a few leaves on the way, it is still very healthy and was packed very carefully. The customer service is amazing, and I have already recommended Sooner to others. A sure bet.

I am the Producer/Host of the TV series Garden Wise with Arlena.
Brian from Sooner Plant Farm sent me several Cone Flower plants the summer of 2007 and I am very pleased to report that all of the plants came through a harsh Wisconsin winter and are blooming beautifully this summer. On my series Garden Wise with Arlena we did a feature on Echinacea and that was made possible by the healthy plants provided by Sooner Plant Farm.
Thank you Brian and Green Blessings
Arlena.

Sent in an order in late summer for double knock out roses, a hosta, and some Elijah Blue Fescue. The roses were outstanding that late in the season and large in size. The grass and the hosta were large in size and the condition was what I expected ordering that late in the season. My items were packaged well and shipped quickly. I love their discount on multiple purchases of a single item. I became a repeat customer today because my experience was definitely positive.

At the suggestion of a member of this forum (thanks!) who read my very negative review of recent experience with White Flower Farm, I ordered several tiki torch echinaceas and french lingerie daylilies from Sooner. I exchanged some email with Brian, who promptly answered my questions before I placed the order. The plants arrived yesterday and are quite hearty looking and well developed. I will definitely order from Sooner again. Great company.

I was thrilled to be able to find the Ajuga repans 'Burgundy Glow' that I had searched for. The plants were shipped quickly and were packed exceptionally well. They are now all planted and are thriving. Thanks for the wonderful mail-order experience. I will be back!

Two days before my order was to be shipped, I received an e-mail notification AND a voicemail at home from Brian with the news that one of the groundcovers I ordered was not available. I called Brian back, and he recommended a hardier substitute groundcover, which turns out I really like. The order shipped out when Brian told me it would, and both groundcovers were nice-sized, beautiful, healthy, and well-packaged when they arrived. Many kudos to Sooner's for their wonderful customer service and terrific plants. They make me wish I had an acre to design and plant! These people really care about their products and their customers.

Quick order acknowledgment and ship notice. Box came packed with two heucheras packaged nicely. Will order again.

This is the first order I have placed with Sooner Plant Farm. Their customer service is exceptional. They even called me at home, to be sure of my orders placed from the internet. I appreciate this as internet orders could be fradulant. I recieved the 3 plants and all were in wonderful condition... they were large! Other than a stick in the dirt. Beautiful healthy plants. I have found my nursery and give them an A++++++++ Excellent --- Polite---- Fast---- and they really enjoy doing what they do. It shows! Thank you!
Sheree Gardner

I ordered 4 Tiki Torch Coneflowers from Sooner's Plant Farm in March 2008 via the web. Since this was my first experience with Sooner's, I wasn't sure what size plants I would receive, and in what condition. I had requested mid-May shipment, and was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from Brian Chojnacki, who explained the Tiki Torch's needed to grow a little more before he was comfortable with shipping them, and asked if he could delay shipment for 2 more weeks so the plants could develop a stronger root system

Most nurseries would have just shoved the plants in a box and shipped them without another thought. It is rare that someone would take the take and care to make a phone call and let me know what was happening with my small $77 order; and he also cared about the well-being of the plants themselves.

When the plants arrived, they were absolutely huge! Each coneflower was budded and ready to bloom and was well-packed in 2 qt. containers in moist soil. I have never received such large perennials before and I have been gardening for 20 years.

Sooner Plant Farm will be my first choice for perennial shopping and I highly recommend Brian's personal customer service, high quality plants, and expert shipping methods.

This is one of the few companies that really does care for the customer! The plants I ordered arrived very fast, very well packed, in great condition, with excellent instructions on caring for them. I am pleased and will order from them again.

I was reluctant to mail order plants again after a negative experience last summer with a different online nursery. But I wanted an Aesculus pavia tree which is hard to find and went ahead and ordered it from Sooner Plant Farm. They sent a beautiful 2 ft tree, carefully packed, not one leaf or twig bent or damaged. Also a healthy root ball, not pot bound or with roots growing in a circle (like plants from the local nurseries). I will definitely order more trees from them. Thanks to the people at Sooner! Patricia Murtagh

First time ordering and I ordered two Heucheras. They were packed very well. One of them looked good and the other didn't but I went ahead and planted them. I did e-mail and let them know that one plant was "iffy".
They acknowledged my e-mail and they said to wait a day or two and let them know how it was doing. Next day it looked totally wilted so I took a picture and e-mailed them. They did not ask for the picture, it was my idea. Brian got back to me right away and said sometimes that particular one doesn't ship well. He said he would be happy to replace it with another one of a different type. This was all on Sunday and yesterday I received an e-mail that the new plant was shipping this morning. I would say that is very good service and I will be their customer again!

I ordered and received 2 Dicentra Formosa 'Adrian Bloom' from Sooner Plant Farm. ..The plants were in 6 inch tall by 5 inch wide pots and had (that being the operative word) approx. 10 inches of healthy green growth. ..They probably were beautiful when they were selected for shipping. Whoever packed them for Sooner took these two lovely plants.. threw in some gel capsules to keep them moist for the trip.. wrapped them in one layer of some sort of plastic which was then taped to fit around the tops of the pots.. then placed them 'on their sides'.. green plant top to green plant top.. in an 18 inch box! ..You do the math. ..Box -18 inches long.. 2 Plants – 6 inch pots + 10 inches of growth each. …They 'smashed' them together to fit them in that flimsy, tight little box ..and that was it. They weren’t even placed inside of another box ..no peanuts or bubble wrap or anything. ..My plants arrived in pretty good health with most of the tops broken or ..breaking.. off. ..It was one of the most irresponsible things I’ve ever seen done to plants. ..I was very saddened by this situation. With a little loving care, I have every confidence that these plants could have arrived to me looking very much as they did when they were selected. ..An experience I’ve had with two other mail order nurseries. Sooner should make absolutely sure that all of their staff is properly trained to pack plants for shipping. ..I cannot believe that this is the best that they can do.

…There was no response to my voicemail message to them which also makes me rate them as uncaring. I am not going order from them again. It is too heartbreaking to open a flimsy box and see perfectly healthy plants which were damaged …by the nursery.

"

It is and has always been our number 1 priority to only have positive feedback. I dropped the ball on this one. The customer did leave us a message regarding the packaging of her plants. I understood the phone message as only a packaging dissapointment, but that the plants had some damage but they would be fine. I did not respond as she was not asking for a response or replacements, only to voice her dissapointment. I now wished I would have called her back, as that may have turned this into a positive experience. We always replace any damaged plants without questions. We are a small company with only selected packers, that understand the importance of a satisfied customer.
I did call the customer, and are sending two replacement plants, along with 2 free plants for her troubles out today.

Again I'm sorry for her dissapointment, and I hope she has a different opinion about our company.

Brian

"

Great shrubs shipped in excellent condition and are thriving.

OK- my first order from Sooner Plant Farm.
In completing a recent project (and apparently unable to count to five) I found myself in desperate need of just three plants- my regular sources were sold out and I was beginning to panic a bit.
I found the plants at Sooner and in the comments section added a little snippet about not wanting the order if it could not be shipped immediately.

As this was my first order, these guys did not know me from Adam. I fully expected a return email about their being unable to drop everything and tend to my demands, other people were in front of me, their system can't do that, and an acknowledgement that my credit card had not been charged, see ya bye.

MUCH to my surprise and delight my order arrived in time and in perfect condition- no raggedy plants for the crabby lady at all. Further, the plants are huge- inordinately so. I mean gargantuan!

So my review is five stars, two thumbs up, 10+, and every other kudo imaginable. Not only have I received wonderful plants, I have found a great new plant source that I will undoubtedly use again and again.

Thank you Brian & company, and I apologize for demanding service above and beyond what is convenient for you. I shall endeavor to plan ahead much better in the future!

Good job!

I just received my prairiefire crabapple tree and I am amazed at what excellent condition it came in. Sooner stated it would be 4-5 feet tall, and it is about 4 feet, but it is not just one skinny tall twig with a few leaves on it like I expected. It has a full top already and you can tell the time they put into this small tree from the beginning to make sure it had a beautiful shape, not just height. I will definitely buy from Sooner again! I highly recommend this company!!!

Fort Mill, SC

The trees and shrubs arrived in beautiful condition! They were willing to let me change my order, originally made in December, right up until my requested shipping date in June. Thanks!

Very robust plants arrived in perfect condition, precisely at time requested -- can't ask for better than that. Look forward to dealing with Sooner again.

The Sooner Plant people worked with me over the phone for about 1/2 hour to solve a problem with my credit card being approved. They then took my order and I had my tree in 5 days. It arrived in great shape. I am very pleased with their willingness to give me the personal service I needed. Their price for the tree was also unbeatable.

I ordered a Green Envy Echinacea from Sooner and it was shipped within a few days of the order as stated. However they sent it UPS so it sat around 4 days in transit and was pretty dried out and tossed about from its days in transit. They would have been better served to send it priority mail to cut down a day or two it transit. The plant was a decent size ad described and has since started to come around and seems to have survived its ordeal.

My hibiscus shipped promptly, and arrived in great shape. It came with planting/care instructions, fertilizer, and is doing great! I'm very happy with the company.

VERY HAPPY with this company - ordered Betula BIRCH 'ROYAL FROST': 1ft - 2ft tall multi stem and was pleased to see a healthy, dare say robust little tree arrive at my door...beautiful. Was small, as advertised, but glorious, apparently just coming out of dormancy.
Packaged with care to avoid damage and then temporarily potted, this tree is now thriving in my front yard after I held off planting till the last late frost passed, following special soil preparation for Birch - free from blight, no creatures or disease...demanding a LOT of water, but I knew that already.

VERY HAPPY.

Thank you.