Comments regarding Florida Colors Nursery

If you are in the market for a plumeria plant avoid this seller at all cost. They have a wonderful website with beautiful pictures of all types of plumerias for sale. They even brag about their excellent customer service which I have found to be horrible. Here is why I make that statement. I purchased a grafted Donna S plumeria from Florida Color Nursery (FCN) in 2015. It grew but never bloomed so in 2020 I purchased another Donna S plumeria from FCN (rooted but not grafted) and this plumeria bloomed in 2022 and again in 2023. The grafted Donna S also bloomed this year, however it is NOT Donna S. I always like to give people a chance to explain because mistakes do happen. I sent an email and received no response after waiting well over a week. I then tried calling and I get no answer. Do yourself a favor and avoid FCN. No sense in paying good money for a plumeria only to discover it’s not what you purchased and you have no recourse.

Please note: FCN has not responded to any of the negative feedback left on this site. However, on other sites that offer reviews FCN is the best thing since squeeze bottle ketchup! Sounds bogus to me!

I ordered from FCN about a month ago and am pleased with what I received (keep in mind, FCN sells grafted plumerias). Carol was even able to accommodate a last minute change in my order. But even with that, it was still shipped promptly. Would definitely order from FCN again in the future.

I bought a plumeria from Carol and Luc a month ago and was thrilled by their knowledge and hospitality. I needed one plant which only cost $25 and almost felt guilty about that - lol.

I live down here and have been to a LOT of different nurseries - these folks do customer service the right way! Despite only needing one plant I got the VIP treatment. I was carted around the property, stopping at many different trees to collect a flower from each to help decide. WOW - they just could not have been nicer. In fact I was shocked to read some of the negative remarks - no matter what, you just can't please everybody.

I have no technical news to report other than its still green at this tender stage but the Carol and Luc could not have been more kind and helpful!

Posted on June 17, 2010, updated June 28, 2010
Posted on June 17, 2010, updated June 17, 2010
I had my worst experience in over 30 years of gardening with these people recently. Everything started ok, I placed an order and paid. Then, a week later, I'm wondering where my order is. It finally arrived the next day and I start to go through it. The packing list shows (4) Plumeria, which is what I purchased, but only (3) are in the box. No note or mention is made of the missing cutting. Upon further inspection, it reveals one cutting has a tag with 2 different registered names on the same cutting. It says Leela AKA. Rainbow Starburst. I knew these two names referred to two different cuttings, but I even checked it with the National Plumeria Society Registry to be sure. Sure enough! So, I'm wondering what happened that cuttings are missing, one is mislabeled and no mention is given? Wouldn't they think someone would question this? So, I contact them in email and get no response for 48 hours so I call them. Carol answers and says she read the email and she offers to let me keep the cutting and she will refund it to my card. She will also immediately send the missing Duke cutting. Great! 7 days, 8 days, 9 days go by, no cutting and no refund. I contact them again by email to ask about this. I received a short and informative response. Then, the cutting arrives and it is grafted. I question this and asked why it was not rooted. I then realize it is a different Florida Plumeria company that I was dealing with that offers rooted cuttings and I immediately reply with an apology and ask them to forgive the mistake. Following this, I received the following response from Luc...

Sir

Please do me the favor to refuse the parcel coming your way. We cannot satisfy your total ignorance of horticultural principles. A full refund will be done upon receiving the returned parcel.

We rather loose as a customer and not receive any more of your ignoramus statements. Carol is pretty upset and she will not answer any of your phone calls in the future.

Luc Vannoorbeeck. Owner.
Florida Colors Nursery.

Needless to say, I am a bit flabbergasted at this bold and uncaring statement. So, I am sending the cuttings back and scratching my head as to what I did to initiate this type of childish response from someone? I think to myself, the entire world is like this now, maybe Luc is a young kid with a poor upbringing? But what's Carol's story? I upset her by asking about getting what I ordered? They are the ones that screwed this up since the beginning, not me.

Either way, I don't recommend doing business with these people. They seem to operate in a world of their own and are not organized enough to know what is going out. They don't keep things clearly labeled, as you can see from my experience and other negative complaints here about cuttings not blooming true to their label, things are missing from orders that they don't even have a clue about and they certainly don't know what the term "customer service" means. Then, they will blame YOU for their problems and verbally and personally attack you. Imagine that? Out of all this, I was the only one to apologize and I receive the above response? Go "F" yourself, Luc!

I recently received a grafted plumeria from FCN. It was well packaged for its trip across the country and a week later all seems well. I have no complaints and, if I can find the space, will most likely be back for more some day.

A very pleasant experience. Carol is extremely nice and very quick to respond to emails. They are about quality and not just the sale. I will definitely be ordering again from them.

I purchased a Hilo Beauty grafted Plumeria and when the scion failed they replaced the plant with no questions. Excellent service throughout the first purchase and replacement. I only wish I could order more from them, as I love to support good companies like this.

Ordered a number of plumeria from FC some time ago and wanted to let readers know about the outstanding performance of several varieties received. Muriel de Paris now has a ripening pod on it and was absolutely breathtaking in bloom. Both Double Delight and Carol H have been with inflos consistently since I've had them. They just keep on churning out those beautiful flowers. Very pleased.

im extremely happy. i ordered from them and asked if they had the plant i ordered with an inflo could they send it . they did and it looks great !

This is a very nice place to get huge healthy plumeria plants I have ordered 3 so far and each one is perfect!!
This is a top notch place to get your plumeria from I highly recommend Florida Colors.

Hey everyone!

I have just returned from my trip to Miami…got my cast removed and the steel rods taken out of my thumb. I am gaining more “reach” with it every passing day and the therapy seems to be doing it’s thing. Not ready to swing a hammer with it yet but soon…

My flight was late yesterday afternoon and my friend and I got to spend a few hours with Luc and Carol at Florida Colors. I was amazed to see the acres of plumerias growing! Every color from everywhere around the world! Row after row of reds, whites, yellows, rainbows….small, big, you name it! The tallest one is over 35 feet tall!! I really enjoyed my visit. Luc took us on a tour of the whole grounds, stopping at specific plants to tell us about them. The differences in all the different cultivars from around the world, like leaf shape and texture, inflo size, height, etc. Don’t have to tell you the colors and fragrance on the grounds was heavenly! We sat inside to cool off for a bit and chatted about DG and many other things. I am going to try to get our local nurseries here in Cayman to start doing some business with Florida Colors. So many different and beautiful plants…would be nice to see more of them showing up in the gardens around the island…

I, in the meantime, will be starting from seed a whole bunch of plants that Luc and Carol were kind enough to share with me. These are the seeds I have acquired from them.

1. Maui Beauty
2. Sondra B
3. Ryan Chelsea
4. Cross Key
5. Tomlinson
6. Samoan Fluff

Each baggie has many seeds in them and Carol gave me some tips on how to get them started….This is going to be exciting!

I highly recommend a trip to Florida Colors if you ever have a chance. Great folks with Great plants! Friendly and honest, a great way to spend an afternoon!!

Thanks again Luc and Carol, and to Clare for suggesting it to me!!

Aurabest,
john

I finally got the chance to stop by Florida Colors Nursery today on my way home from the Keys. Both Luc & Carol were absolutely wonderful, Shared a couple hours with us showing us the nursery and educating us on their many Plumerias and their origins. We only had room to buy cutting today but I am positive we will be back to visit many times to fill our nursery

I can't recommend this company enough! I called on a Tuesday, talked to Clare and recieved my 4 grafted plants that same Friday. She was extremely helpful and very pleasant to talk to. My plumerias are doing great. I can honestly say that when I get more plumerias, this is the place I will return to for them.

I called Florida Colors a few times with questions prior to ordering and spoke with both Carol and Luc. I've been actively educating myself on plumeria for 3 years and they taught me a few new details in just minutes. They were friendly, knowledgeable, courteous and extremely helpful. I purchased 4 plants (received in March 07) and waited to post my comments until I could confirm my sucess rate, which is 100% - far better than other establishments. The graftings are an excellent price (next time I'll skip the cutting), very good quality and shipping was inexpensive. I have already recommended Florida Colors to close friends and family without hesitation and will undoubtedly make additional purchases through them if the need arises. My only suggestion to them would be to please consider adding more detail regarding flower fragrance and plant height to the website. However, a quick phone call does solve that problem. Overall, excellent job and thank you Carol and Luc!

I recently visited Carol and Luc and found them not only most knowledgable but a delight and instant friends..I have ordered many grafted cuttings from them and have trusted over 40 of my cuttings to them for grafting...The service and quality can't be topped...

Should I say thanks Clare for recommending them or oh my, I wish you wouldn't have! First go around I purchased 4, they were such healthy plants that yes you guessed it, I had to get several more. ALL of them had excellent root systems. Unfortunately one broke in shipping [you should see the box] and I phoned them and they are sending me a replacement. She even told me how to try and root the broken one. I highly recommend Florida Colors. One of them, Nebel's Rainbow even came with blooms! I so want blooms after reading everyone's comments on the Plumie threads but I wasn't expecting any for at least another 6 months and that if I was lucky. Now, well how pleased am I!

Florida Colors has great prices and great plants/trees. Great prices!! If i were to get a plant mislabeled and it bothered me that much i would call them up. Usually you can get the problem corrected. Always easier to contact them by phone.
I always enjoy visiting and taking Luc's tour. Great people!!!
cliff

In 2004 I emailed and requested availability for over 30 cultivars of plumeria graftings that I wished to purchase for a garden design. They ignored this and two subsequent email requests for information and stock availability. I simply moseyed on down the road.

Cautiously take note that as of this writing, their order form requesting personal credit card information is not a secure site.

Last Wednesday I received my approximately fifth order from Florida Colors: healthy, well-packaged plants. I have never received an incorrect cultivar from these folks, and I will continue to purchase from them as long as I continue to collect plumeria.

Cam

After reviewing the other comments about this nursery, (are you folks in some sort of club or something). I can only say that I had a very similar experience to Glenda. I do not know how the term "professionals" can be thrown around so easily. It is in all facets of life so I guess it would be here too.

My experience with grafted plumerias from this nursery has not been all that hot. A couple of of the grafts have broken, and a couple that bloomed were the incorrect flower. I was told the flower was to be a Moragne #23 and when it finally bloomed it was a White Shell. It had a metal tag saying Moragne 23 so that is what I thought I was getting. My supposed Duke turned out to be something I cannot even recognize. I was in South Florida summer before last and went in and I did not see anything I would use the word professsional to describe. I tried them once but I will not again. Sorry to disagree but I can only share my own experience. I do not mean to be impolite, but that was my experience which is what I think this site is for.

Carol

We have been customers of Florida Colors for many years, and our dealings with Luc and Carol are always delightful and informative. Their grafted plumeria plants are top quality and we have yet to lose one, even through the past two nasty hurricane seasons. We visit the nursery at least once each year to see Luc and Carol, and always enjoy a tour of what's new. They go on plumeria expeditions around the world every year, and bring back exciting new varieties. Also by visiting the nursery we have the opportunity to acquire large 3 gallon plants which are too big and heavy for shipping. For those new to plumeria, by getting the varieties you like grafted to an established one year old rootstock, success is certain.

We recommend Florida Colors to all!

Fred and Eileen Clark, Fort Myers, Florida

I am a complete novice to Plumerias and ordered my first 2 plants from Florida Colors in Sept. '05. Carol was incredibly patient with my rookie questions both before and after the purchase. She was also kind enough to encourage me in my new hobby by sending one of the plants with an inflo just beginning to emerge. That inflo is now about to bloom (indoors under a grow light) and the plant itself is lush with beautifully healthy leaves.

I received my 2nd order from Florida Colors just 3 days ago...and again one of the plants has an inflo on it. If all goes well, I anticipate having winter blooms on 2 of 4 plants from FCN. It would be an understatement to say that I am happy with both the service and the plants from Florida Colors.

I will also note that although I usually prefer to order things online in order to avoid talking to any type of salesperson, talking to Carol has been extremely helpful and involved absolutely no sales pressure of any sort. Luc has also been friendly & informative with advice through email. This type of personal service is priceless in my opinion.

Andrew
Berkeley, California

I have purchased plumerias from Florida Color Nursery for the last five years and have been very happy with my grafted cuttings as well as dealing with Luc and Carol. They are both delightful, helpful and are always willing to share their knowledge and experience with you

They are never to busy to answer any questions you have when you call them in spite of the busy schedule they have.

I finally had the pleasure to meet Luc and Carol this year in Huntington Beach, Ca at the PSA meeting! They are both caring and warm individuals - they don't just make you feel like a customer but they make you truly feel like a friend.

I had mentioned to Carol and Luc at the meeting that two of my grafted cuttings rotted and without saying another word, Carol told me that when they get back home they will send me replacements. So as you can see they really care about their customers and back up their plants. Inspite of all the damages they substained to their nursery from the storms, they took the time out and sent me the replacement cuttings within two weeks after they got home!

Florida Color Nursery is a great place to do business with! their prices are great, their plants are healthy, and most of all the owners are sincere, warm, and caring. They both always go that EXTRA MILE to help you!

Esther Teraishi
Monterey Park, CA

After hearing that I was unable to source seeds from plumeria "Pudica" Luc very kindly offered to send me some seeds from his nursery, and would take no money, not even postage. What I found when I opened Luc's package, a week later, was not just the seeds I was expecting, but lots and lots more, from many other varieties too, well-known around the world. Despite it still being winter in Australia, I could not resist planting just a few of each variety, and they are now growing madly, some really quite big already. Even the little 'puds' are powering away, despite the smaller size of the individual seeds, as compared to rubras. Luc is a very kind and generous man and I am only sorry it is so hard to bring plants and cuttings here too, or I would be spending up big at Florida Colors!

Luc and Carole,
All the dealings I have had with FCN over the past several years have been wonderful. The plants are always healthy and very well grafted. The lengths you will go to in order to provide variety and quality to your customers amazes me. (trips across the world, etc...) Thank you.
Pat Fisher-Jamul, California

It doesn't get any better than this!! The 2 cuttings I received from FCN have to be the heartiest most robust Plumeria that I have. I always joke around that they are on steroids that is how big, fat and healthy they have become in only 5 months!
I've never met Luc & Carol in person but they always make you feel like an old friend. And they are always more than willing to share their vast knowledge on Plumeria.
Thanks Luc & Carol!!
Lisa

My husband & I had the pleasure of meeting Luc & Carol at there open house in April '05, they are most gracious hosts! There nursery was loaded with tons of grafted, fully rooted, healthy potted plants for sale, in all sizes.

We purchased 2 grafted plants with inflos emerging that day and both bloomed about a month or so later to what they were tagged. 1st flowers were smaller and not as vibrant but this is normal for 1st bloom flowers, 2 weeks later when the heat was higher they burst to life with the correct size and color, they continued to bloom for a month or so. Both are sending out new branches and happy little growers, look forward to watching them grow over the years!

Keep up the great work FCN for all the knowledge you share, for huge variety of plants you have found in your travels, new plants you have create to share with all us Plumeria fans around the world! Look forward to purchasing more plants from you both in the future, truly A +++++ people in my book. Thank you!

Wow! I ordered grafted plants from FCN and was shocked at the wonderful grafted cutting I received. Being new to plumeria, I had ordered 2 grafted to test the waters. they were robust, with such a professional graft, nice rootball, and thick sturdy trunks. Even had some prized cuttings grafted. I am nothing but pleased! Excellant customer service, nothing like talking to the boss, Luc and Carol, in person.

Luc and Carol are in this business for their love of plumerias and people and it is obvious to all who deal with them.
Their prices are the lowest anywhere, even on varieties they could charge three to five times more for; the quality of their plants cannot be questioned. I have never had a Florida Colors grafted plumeria die, in fact, I am always happily surprised that they will usually bloom the first season I receive them.
Even though we plumeria addicts are spread across the world, we are a tight community and share our experiences in buying and growing these wonderful trees. We all agree Luc is the "master grafter" and he is the one to go to on that subject.
When I am looking for a certain cultivar, FCN is who I call first. If they don't have it (rare), then I will look to other sources.

I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting these people in person, but look forward to the day I do:-) Have ordered from them and absolutely delighted with the quality of plants received
Carol was the nicest person on the phone and treated me like an old friend. When calling with a question later Luc too acted as if we were already friends.
Professional, courteous and a delight to deal with. It doesn't surprise me in the least that they have an impeccable reputation!

I've been purchasing from FCN for several years .. always receiving nice plants for a decent price. Luc and Carol are a delight and I especially enjoy their avocados and their avocado eating dogs!

Florida Colors Nursery is one of the finest plumeria nurseries in the world. The owners are top notch and go the extra distance to make their customers happy. For example, when I first ordered from them 5 years ago, I ordered a grafted Maui Beauty. When a Hilo Beauty showed up in the mail, I called Luc (the owner) and he said, "Oh sorry, that was our mistake. You keep the Hilo Beauty and we will send a Maui Beauty asap." I received a healthy and robust Maui Beauty the following week. It even bloomed a few months later! He will always make things right. Luc's grafting is superb, and allows northern growers a head start to having blooms when they purchase grafted plants. I have had Luc do many custom grafts on cuttings that were almost dead...he is a miracle worker and can bring many of them back to life with his superior root stock which he uses for grafting rootstock. The many hurricanes they have suffered through have strengthened their business, believe it or not! After Hurricane Andrew, his seedling called Moonlight proved to be superior, and therefore he has chosen it for almost all of his grafted rootstocks. It was the only plant that was not uprooted in that terrible category 5 hurricane. I have met them both and consider them as gread advisors and friends. Do not hesitate buying from this wonderful nursery...they are quality people with quality plants and quality service!
Paula Furtwangler
Director, Plumeria Society of America

I have bought plants from Florida Colors for several years. In all the time I have known them you will not find anybody more honest than Luc and Carol. They know their stuff at what they are doing and know their plants inside out. If you ever have a question about plumeria or hibiscus they are the people to talk to. My expierence with them is above and beyond a lot of other growers i have dealt with. Can't get much more professional than Florida Colors.

I have purchased from FCN for years - close to 45 plants and have always been more than satisfied. Additionally I have sent 25-30 cutting for them to graft for me that were too weak to start on their own. Some plants I received in the spring bloomed by fall and most all the following year. They are very healthy plants even after traveling across country to my home. FCN is an A+ ++ nurshery and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.

Florida Colors Nursery is everything a nursery should be. Knowledable (and more then willing to share that knowledge), honest, and has a sterling record with me for delivering what I have ordered. Their grafted plants are always healthy and robust. I have received probably 150 plants from them over the years, and have never regretted a single perchase. I just wish more growers had their integrity.

I have dealt with FCN for over 4 years and I have NEVER been unhappy with anything I purchased. I'm not talking about a few grafted plants now and then .... I'm talking many times A VAN LOAD!!! Keep up the good work Carol and Luc and hopefully every customer you have will respond and blow Glenda 160 completely out of the water!!!!!
Don

I have never gotten a bad GRAFTED cutting from FCN. Carol and Luc are two of the finest growers of plumeria in this country. All plumeria have bloomed and have been the exact plumeria I have ordered.


Roger

It just goes to show that you can't always believe what you read on these sites. This past summer and early fall some plants that I had ordered from this company finally bloomed after more than two years. Out of the six I ordered four bloomed, but they were not the flower they were supposed to be. I now have lost two years of time to find out they did not know the difference. They were not even close. I was very disappointed when I opened the package upon receiving the order. They all had puny looking tips which I guess were grafted on tips of other plumeria or possibly seedlings. I paid for what I thought were particular varieties only to get shrivelled up plants with ugly scars. If I pay for something I want the whole thing I paid for, not simply six inch slivers.I guess you get what you pay for. Needless to say I will never order from this company again.

Just received my plumerias and they are big, healthy and one has buds. I am new at this and ask Luc for help. He was very helpful and kind. I will order all my plumeria from them.