Comments regarding Kigi Nursery

Took a chance on this company. They had a great selection, and there hasn’t been a review on it for a couple of years.

First things first, I ordered a couple of plants near the end of spring/beginning of summer. They did reach out, letting me know that shipping would be delayed to the Fall due to the severe heat. Good initial sign…

I later reached out in the summer about maybe swapping a plant out because of its questionable hardiness in my area, since I'd just moved here and wasn't too sure about plantings. (*Dang USDA zone change getting my hopes up*). They offered a refund, but I was OK with them sending something similar in price that has no hardiness issues.

*Note: nothing has been shipped.

After sending my concerns and willingness to be flexible, all I got was silence. Fine, I'll take the chance on the plant when it ships.

Fast forward to the beginning of October 7th, I messaged them about fulfillment/shipping dates, and now, on November 4th, I have still heard nothing back.

Really sad that this didn't work out.

WORST Nursery I have ever dealt with. I ordered a Cedar snake tree, and they sent me a dead twig that was 4 inches high. Dead on arrival. Ordered a cedar snow sprite as well, that was expensive and was also, about 4 inches high but alive at the time. As soon as i planted it, all needles fell off. Shipping took forever, when they finally got around to placing my order. I got a cedar as store credit. The cedar literally had 2! 90 degree bends in the tree, it looked like someone threw it to the side and forgot the tree was there, and shipped it to me. That snake tree though. Anyone who would have seen this would have just laughed and be in disbelief that someone would actually ship that with a straight face.

They do not guarantee their plants. The plants I purchased did not survive. So, I recommend that you purchase plants from a company guarantees their plants.

I ordered a few trees from Kigi Nursery winter 2019. I had a couple questions and sent an email through their contact us page and I received an email back within a few days with answers to all my questions. I saw that it is clearly stated they do not ship during cold or hot spells(my wording not theirs), and if there is any issues with product they need to be notified with pictures upon delivery or within 24 hours which makes sense to me because plants are living and shipping can be stressful. Well, my trees just arrived and they are beautiful and exactly what I ordered! I was a little apprehensive to order because I did read some reviews. I will say you can’t satisfy everyone and maybe this is why there are negative reviews...I however am one happy Gardner and will definitely purchase again!

I had ordered 2 trees from Kigi in June. A month later I received an email stating they were not in good shape and I would be refunded. It is now almost 3 months later and still have not received the refund. I’ve tried over and over again to email and call with no response. I would NOT trust this site!

I’ve tried poorly rated nurseries before and had great outcome. Not this time. Not entirely bad either, but finally had to cancel my order.

Justen Homer, the proprietor, has little interest in customer service. Emails went unanswered post-sale, although he was quick to respond pre sale. There’s zero excuse for blowing off your customers routinely.

I’ve farmed full time for decades, worked 100 hour weeks, raised a family, and I had to return my emails to be successful. Maybe this is just a hobby for him and he’s lost interest.

I would not feel comfortable - or good - about sending this guy any money. And if you need a reliable vendor, this isn’t it. This guy isn’t reliable, he’s got a bad attitude, and he gives me the impression he is not trustworthy. He’s willing to hold your money and string you along with empty commitments. When he responds.

I’ve already ordered the tree elsewhere, and won’t be going back to Kigi.

Ordered 4 plants on November 11 and recieved order confirmation email. I requested that they ship the first Monday after the order was placed since these particular plants were cold sensitive. I waited 2 weeks without a shipment email, before emailing them and simply asked when the order would ship, NO RESPONSE. I emailed a couple more times giving them time to respond, but again NO RESPONSE. I finally decided to go through paypal resolution center explained the situation, and simply asked they tell me when this order would ship. I recieved an email saying my order was refunded the day after I filed a problem with PayPal resolution center. What kind of lame POS company is this? Why still no communication? Not, were sorry we didn't have the plants you ordered, just refund. I mean were they not going to refund me unless I contacted PayPal resolution center? Were they just going to just ignore me and hope I gave up and forgot about the order? This company is a complete joke.

I have never purchased material previously, so cannot comment about mail order or customer experiences with the company. However, having recently moved from the Massachuset to the Portland Oregon area, I was able to visit the nursery directly and meet with the owner. I was not only able to pick up good examples of plant material I had been looking for since I moved out here (Picea abies ' Lanham's Beehive' / Ulmus minor 'Jacqeuline Hillier') but found the owner quite gracious, and helpful as I looked over his plant material on the property. I found his prices cheap and the plants healthy. Mind you, I had made an appointment to visit, but found the direct experience with this vendor quite satisfying.

My first order with Kigi. After emailing them several times requesting when my plant would be shipped, I finally had to message them thru the PayPal resolution center to get them to ship it. They did then send it priority mail 2 day and the plant looks healthy and about the size I expected.

My son purchased a gift certificate for me to Kigi Nursery. In March, I used the gift certificate to purchase a weeping hemlock 'Cole's Prostrate. I could not be more pleased with the conifer I received. The plant is in excellent health, is 19" tall and compared to other 'Cole's Prostrate's I looked at at local nurseries, well worth the price I paid.
The nursery was very prompt in responding by email as I changed my mind several times as to the variety I wanted and I had several questions regarding plant care until the weather broke here in the Midwest.
I would definitely purchase plants from this nursery again.

I placed an order in the amount of $369.50 on April 15th 2018. I expected to receive a conformation and receipt of the order. I received NEITHER. I have attempted calling, emailing, messaging via their FB page and now i have contacted Paypal with a complaint about non-receipt of the items i purchased. I would be happy to change this to a positive if the SELLER would CONTACT me and assure me the items will be delivered. If not i will escalate my Paypal complaint. I wish i would have read the reviews on the company. BUYERS BE VERY CAREFUL when dealing with this company.

I placed an item in my cart and then thought to check out Dave's Garden Watchdog, where I was shocked to find 25 negative reviews (almost a third). So when Kigi sent a reminder that I had something in my cart, I told them I wasn't comfortable buying from them with so many customer complaints on Dave's. Here's the reply I got from Justen Homer, and my response to him:

On Tue, Dec 19, 2017 at 9:19 AM, Justen Homer
wrote:
We also have thousands of happy return customers. The math works for us as we have strict policies to protect us from freeloaders.

Justen,

I'm puzzled by your reply. Are you insinuating that I'm a freeloader? Are you saying the 25 people who were unhappy with their purchases are freeloaders? Does your 1-year guarantee not apply to them? That's the poorest customer service I've ever heard of!

James Weinberg

"On Dec 19, 2017 9:23 AM, Kigi Nursery responded with:

I don't know why you would take offense to my comment when you have never ordered anything from us? All I am saying is 2-5% of people out there are not good. When people don't understand our products or kill our products from their ignorance or weather issues we do not replace their products, we don't have a 1 year plant guarantee and never will, we guarantee safe arrival of plants and work with customers if our products rapidly decline, this has always been our policy and always will be.

1 year plant guarantees were set in place by box stores and are quite ridiculous. I have seen first hand people returning annuals to these stores purchased 8 months prior, and their managers accepting them. What culture does this set for our industry. At some point a customer has to stop blaming where they purchased a product and just realize they may have killed it through ignorance, poor weather...

As a nursery we count on 15-20% losses throughout the year due to weather and such, as a customer if you order 20 plants and one dies 8 months later do you demand a refund?

I have been involved in this industry for over 25 years and most of our customers understand and accept our policies. Like I said "The math works for us", you will never please everyone!

Happy Gardening
Justen "

Posted on August 31, 2013, updated October 16, 2017
I purchased a 'Fernspray Gold' golden Hinoki cypress and am entirely pleased with the plant, the speed of shipping, and the packing. The plant is healthy and doing well. In no way was I disappointed in Kigi Nursery and I intend to make additional purchases from them in the future. Their plant selection is outstanding.

Ordered two conifers, paid 86 dollars including shipping for two plants so small they fit in palm of my hand. The box they shipped in fit in my mailbox and they charged 26 dollars for shipping!!! These were not bonsai or tiny dwarfs or liners. Now I see why Kigi will not post pictures of the actual plant that you buy (or may buy). Never again especially since having good success with other mail order nurseries.

bought umbrella pine 'green star' and hemlock 'jervis'. both arrived better than described and in timely fashion.

Placed an order for a ' Golden Spreader ' Dwarf Golden Caucasian Fir and a Picola Dwarf Japanese Umbrella Pine. They both arrived in good shape and look healthy but the packaging certainly didn't keep them safe. They were laying on their sides in a small cardboard box with some newspaper balled up as protection. I'm not sure there is a better way to ship them but they could have easily been crushed.

I was hoping there would be more to the Golden Spreader but they are slow growers and I purchased one with 3 years of growth. The Umbrella Pine is beautiful. I wish the site had photos of examples for the year of growth you are purchasing.

Finally, I wasnt really sure when my trees would ship after my purchase. A week later I still hadnt heard anything so I sent an email to the nursery. While they didnt respond directly to it, I did get a ship notice later that day.

I have placed many orders over the past few years with Kigi and have usually had a good experience. However, this has recently changed with my orders this year. I only received part of my order and had no explanation as to why. Apparently they were out of stock on the other plants I ordered but did not explain this to me until I had to take the initiative and contact them. Also, the plants I did receive were in poor shape or already dead. The ones that were alive were barely twigs. Not sure what has happened with Kigi but their prices have gone up while quality has definitely gone way down. I will not be placing any future orders with Kigi. Seek your mail order conifers elsewhere as you can get larger and better quality plants for the same or less money.

I am very disappointed with my order from Kigi Nursery. I have ordered from several nurseries and always was pleased with my order. This is the first and last time I will order anything from Kigi Nursery. I paid $25 plus handling and shipping for a Japanese Maple tree and what I received was a twig. I emailed them to let them know my disappointment but never got a response. Save your money and shop elsewhere.

Very disappointed with my order from Kigi nursery. I paid extra to get a specific tree( Weeping Alaska Cedar) for a specific place in my new garden. The advertising says the tree will grow, on average, 14 feet tall in 10 years. Maybe this tree will have some bamboo DNA, because when I received my 7 year old tree, it was only 40 inches tall. This means that, "on average", the tree will need to grow 10 feet, 6 inches in the next 3 years; not very likely.
If you are going to purchase a tree that is important to you, shop somewhere else because this was a total waste of money and now I will need to purchase another tree for that special place in my garden. BIG Thumbs Down for Kigi.

I ordered a couple of trees for a property I have in NE Ohio(z5) along with instructions to ship as early as possible. I didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to ship to that part of the country until at least April, but I was wrong. They sent the trees in early March and we've had 2 snowstorms since their arrival and almost constant rain when it hasn't snowed. The company had the nerve to tell me that this was a good time to plant, yet the ground is still pretty much frozen and way too wet on top. We had to build, in the middle of the night, a makeshift greenhouse out of scrap lumber and plastic just to try and keep the trees alive. As if this isn't bad enough, there were no labels attached to the VERY small trees nor instructions of any kind. I think this outfit is more concerned about moving their inventory than they are about satisfying their customers. Luckily, I can get everything they sell somewhere else.

Jan. 7, 2016 I ordered 2 miniature firs from Kigi Nursery. I found them just surfing for miniature fir trees, and I ordered the following fir trees:
Dwarf Korean Fir (Years of Growth Available: 1 Year) and
Miniature Caucasian Fir (Years of Growth Available: 1 Year).
I immediately received an order confirmation, and on Jan. 19, 2016 I received a very concise detailed email with a tracking number, when shipped, who shipped with, arrival date, etc. And I received my Adorable little fir trees as promised. They were just as I expected, they pretty much look like a little branch off my real Fir Christmas tree. At 10 years growth estimate is 1', so that pretty much guarantees their going to be small at 1 year. LOL They were packed very ice, beautiful color. Only thing I would have liked would have been maybe a little info page about care to start out maybe

I ordered a JM Moonrise which arrived today.
So far I am very pleased. It was well packaged - they had packing around the limbs to prevent breakage.
It is March so it hasn't leafed out yet but it is very well branched for a 1-2 year and you can see the buds. I have purchased other JM from other vendors online so I have seen a lot of variances between vendors.
The graft is 3" from the dirt - its straight and healed well. From the dirt to the top of the tree is 13".
I'm really happy with my JM - and will purchase again.

It's been about 5 years since I last ordered Japanese maples from Kigi Nursery. When the 4 trees arrived today, I remembered why it had been so long. To call them trees is misleading, because they were no more than little twigs with roots. They should really be ashamed to ship these pathetic liners for $25 each, plus shipping. The Kigi product must surely be the worst value on the internet. BUYER BEWARE!

Ordered a number ornamental conifers from this company. They all arrived in excellent condition, well packaged, and without any issues at all. No disease or blemish. They have all been thriving, despite being ordered in the dead of winter! Timely delivery and as expected. Looking forward to future business with this company!

This was my first purchase with Kigi Nursery and so far so good. The product was delivered as listed on the delivery date and it arrived in good condition. The graft looked clean on the Colorado blue spruce hoopsii sapling. I look forward to my next purchase with Kigi Nursery!

Hi Justen, I have experienced (ordered 10 trees from you) and believe that you ship quality healthy trees! They should grow fine for folks that give them proper care. But your trees are smaller for the cost than most people experience from as you say "chemical forced" nurseries. They are also not shipped in pots as is the typical experience. Hence you are receiving more negative reviews than is actually warranted. I am recommending that you find a way to make sure these potentially negative reactions are mitigated by thorough upfront communication. So that every customers knows about the practices creating smaller stock and the positive reasons it is done this way prior to order shipping. Also the reasoning and fact of the shipping without pots. What is the reason for not shipping in pots?
Have a wonderful day! ~Shawn

"On Nov 21, 2015 4:49 PM, Kigi Nursery responded with:

Thank you for the questions!

It has never been our objective to be deceptive about the plants we sell. We grow all of our plant material in pots with quality slow release fertilizer outside the greenhouse environment. We never apply high nitrogen fertilizers to push abnormal growth. The combination of quality slow release fertilizer and zone 7 full exposure make our plants hardy and proportionate. With all this verbiage posted on our policy page on the website we hope people due the research if they care. With over 10,000 internet orders completed a few negative reviews are to be expected.

We pull pots for shipping to keep shipping charges affordable. We have found this to have minimal effects on plant vigor and with our bagging system allows plants to last up to 12 days in transit.

I will look into a better way to communicate all this in a more "upfront" way.

Thanks again for the feedback! "

I ordered 3 trees from Kigi Nursery. They are all 4-year-old trees. My ordered arrived promptly, and was well-packaged. They are about 4 feet tall. The trees arrived in excellent condition. They are all beautiful! They are strong trees and none of the branches were broken. I found special places in my garden for these lovely trees. They are focal points and I am so pleased to have them. The trees I ordered were:
Cedrus atlantica ' Glauca Pendula ' Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar
Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ' Jubilee ' Narrow Alaska Cedar
Cedrus atlantica ' Glauca Aurea ' Golden Blue Atlas Cedar
These trees have character! They seem to have a personality! I have never seen such unusual trees at any of my local nurseries.
I highly recommend Kigi Nursery.

I have ordered from Kigi Nursery three times in the last three years. Each time, plants were well packed for shipping and arrived in very good condition. Yes, these plants ARE small, but range of varieties is extensive and small MAY be better for adapting to a new environment. Some of the plants did die, but these I had planted at our church, where they get lots of strong sun and not good watering attention. In my garden the small plants have some shade, I water attentively, and they are developing well. I am pleased with the stock and will continue to order here.

Purchased a grafted Pinus Thunbergii Ondai and received it in a well carefored shipping box. The plant appeared to be very healthy and the graft was sure and strong. Needles were a deep green and the total plant was very healthy. Shipping was very fast and they sent updates including links to the status. Would do business again.

I always read reviews before ordering so I was confused because I have ordered from this site before and was extremely shocked at the bad reviews!!!!

When dealing with the owner with questions I've had he was very helpful and educational with what I needed.

I got the plants I ordered and could not have been happier.

As a business owner myself I expect great customer service as well as quality products and that is what I got dealing with this nursery.

I will continue to order from this nursery as I have for the past 4 years.

I wish I would have read Kigi Nursery's reviews on this site before ordering from them. I ordered 5 Round Dwarf Colorado Blue Spruce from this company. They were 1 year growth and were VERY small when I received them. 1 looked 1/2 dead and the others seemed to be fairly healthy. I took great care in planting them...researched where & how to plant them. Within a month all but one is dead. I contacted Kigi and was told "We guarantee safe arrival of products only. If you want a discount on a re-order we can do that?". I responded questioning this business practice and did not hear back from them. They DO NOT GUARANTEE their products. I paid $20 per tree. Why would I want to risk spending more money on trees that died within a month of planting them. I do not recommend doing business with this company.

Posted on October 16, 2014, updated July 23, 2015
Posted on May 16, 2013, updated October 16, 2014
Posted on May 16, 2013, updated May 16, 2013
Ordered a conifer and the stock automatically dropped to no longer available,so he has one of each plant.Not good odds to get a nice one,also seems to be distracted with other things rather than tending to business(the landscaping in his name is a tip off)tends to be out of town when packages need to be delivered.Refunds are not a problem however as it seems this is easier than filling an order.

"On May 16, 2013 5:59 AM, Kigi Nursery responded with:

Actually on most varieties we carry between 10-100 at any given time. We don't start doing landscape jobs until shipping slows down in June, we left town to deliver a large order of trees. Please do not order unless you are willing to wait for us to ship an order when it is best for the plants to survive the shock. When our trees are pushing new spring growth is not a good time to ship and you may have to wait a couple weeks. As stated above we would rather refund than deal with impatience."

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!"

There will never be a twice. In April 2015, I ordered a 4 year old Round Dwarf Colorado Blue Spruce for $88 w/S&H. Very disappointed in the size of this 4-yr old. I should have gotten it from any local garden center for less than half that price. Too much money for too little plant!

On the plus side, it is a very healthy plant.

I ordered one of my favorite trees, a Karl Fuchs Cedar. It arrived in very good shape and ready to plant. This tree came from California to Wisconsin in very good shape. Thanks for great packaging. Tree is about 4 ft and is 6 years old.

Posted on December 21, 2014, updated May 22, 2015
I recently received my order of conifers and maples from Kigi nursery. Plants are healthy and were packed very well.
This is the 4th time I've ordered from Kigi and will continue to do so.

On 4-28-15 I placed an order for a 2 yr old black pine, after seeing on Dave's garden that Kigi Nursery had the plant I was looking for. Kigi website did not have a picture of the actual plant or actual size of the plant. I paid $50 (including $15 shiping). I received a tiny plant just about 8" tall . Emailed Kigi the same afternoon I received the plant (5-6-15) but never got a response.

Same problem as others have commented on here, very small plants at a high price. I do not recommend this seller. I would not buy again from Kigi Nursery.

Posted on September 23, 2014, updated May 11, 2015
I recently placed and received my first order with Kigi and it was a great experience. I ordered a European beech and a dwarf conifer, 1 year plants. Both arrived in great condition with good root systems. Speedy delivery, 2 day priority - plants were packed carefully. Thanks Kigi!

Posted on May 6, 2015, updated May 6, 2015
Posted on May 6, 2015, updated May 6, 2015
Posted on May 6, 2015, updated May 6, 2015
Posted on May 6, 2015, updated May 6, 2015
I ordered a dwarf yew from Kigi. They had options for 1 year, 3, and 10 year. When I called Kigi, the rep (I think it was Jason) and inquired about the size of the plant for a 3 year growth, he said it would be a 1 gallon size plant. I went ahead and ordered the 3 year growth and paid $16.50 for shipping plus $45.00 for the plant and was expecting a nice big package (size of 1 gallon) to arrive at my door. When the shipment arrived, boy was I disappointed!!! A small plant that was wrapped in some dirt with a plastic wrapping around it!

When I called Kigi, the guy said that is a three year growth and we don't ship them in gallon size containers! What a rip off!!! I have ordered from other places like Monrovia and a gallon size on the website was a gallon size when it arrived!

My recommendation to you is before you buy from places like Kigi please read some of their reviews...They don't have very good positive reviews....I would recommend buying from reputed places like Monrovia, Great Garden Plants in Michigan etc.

Buyer's remorse!

"On May 6, 2015 1:54 PM, Kigi Nursery responded with:

We go out of our way to make reasonable customers happy! We obviously cannot please every customer and understand this. When a customer can't understand that a 3 year dwarf yew is not going to be "a big full plant like Monrovia sells" whatever that means... and wants us to return it so he doesn't get in trouble with the wife... Please, Please, Please understand the products you buy from us before we ship. A little research can avoid the "Buyer's remorse!" We are always happy to answer questions via e-mail or phone!

Justen"

I placed an order with Kigi Nursery in November of 2014. I was disappointed to receive such small plants, some no more than 6 inches tall, even though they were called 2 year plants. After the Acer p. Aka Hosada failed to leaf out this spring and I realized it was dead, I contacted Justen on 4-8-15 about a replacement and he replied on 4-9-15 with " I would be happy to send a free replacement with your next order." Against better reasoning, I proceeded to request another small order just to get a replacement for the maple that I lost. After several emails I have yet to get a response from the nursery. I would recommend anyone considering placing an order with this nursery look elsewhere. You can find bigger and healthier plants and spend less at a nursery that actually cares about the products they ship. ( On a side note, many other small Acer palmatums that I ordered at the same time from other mail order nurseries are growing well and look great.)

"On May 6, 2015 2:02 PM, Kigi Nursery responded with:

"You can find bigger and healthier plants and spend less at a nursery that actually cares about the products they ship."

But yet they wanted to place a second order... Some customers you just have to walk away from... As always we stand behind our products and customer service!"