Any Praise/Complaints for "Fast Growing Trees" Nursery?

Hi all,

This is my first post here, and I'm close to a gardening newbie (other than container gardening). My husband and I just bought a large lot where we plan to build a home next year, but we'd like to go ahead and plant some screening trees and a couple shade trees now and get them started. My husband found an online nursery at http://fast-growing-trees-com that has semi-okay prices, but they list NO physical address, NO staff/owner names, and the one local customer service number they offer back-traces as an "unlisted/unpublished" number. The registration for the domain name has a Charlotte, NC address. The only "contact us" information they provide is a phone # and email address.

It's a comprehensive website with a lot of information, but I'm leery about ordering from a company that's keeping a low "real life" profile. Has anyone here had any personal experience with them, good or bad??

http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/3298/

There was a thread on gardenweb recently, which was very negative
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/trees/msg0120243529886.html

Resin

Wow, thanks guys! I've heard that "it was a PC problem" song before with other companies, but it's rarely true. They're not a member of the BBB, and their company rates a whole page of complaints which have been resolved (eventually), but which clearly indicate that the company is problematic. (http://www.charlotte.bbb.org/commonreport.html?compid=121091)

A number of the customers refused to accept what the BBB termed as a "reasonable offer to resolve", which tells me that they were so angry and frustrated by then that they wanted blood. I'll definitely pass.

It always raises a red flag to me when companies hide their contact info.

Just another quick note - if you're planting before building, be mindful of where you plant. Large construction vehicles used for deliveries, earthmoving, etc. have large turning radiuses and are very heavy - do a lot of soil and root damage. You'll need to keep any plants quite far away from the building site and be prepared to flag and rope off a relatively large area around them.

Thanks for the advice... for now, and until we've definitely decided on the placement and footprint of the house, we're mainly hoping to add some evergreen screening trees & shrubs along the S & SE boundaries to screen the nearby roadway over the winter. Hm, I'll try to attach a couple pictures of the lot that I took last week when the leaves were just starting to pop on all the deciduous trees.

We'll be moving (or demolishing) the house that's currently on the lot. We're renting it out this year while we get all our ducks (and trees) in a row.

EDIT: Hm, I thought I could post more than one picture, but apparently not. And now I don't see a way to change the one I already added. It's not the view I'd have picked as the primary one, but I'll post a followup with another picture.

It's a very irregular triangular lot (.82 acre), with the longest side and "point" adjacent to a roadway. The existing treeline is fine over the summer, but in the winter when the leaves fall you can see the traffic. I've been gradually identifying the existing trees and shrubs, most of which are what the nurseryman calls "fenceline trees" planted by birds. :) There's one elm and several scraggly redbuds mixed in there along with a couple hackberries and a number of Mystery Trees!

It sounds like you've ruled out doing business with that particular nursery, but in case you're still considering the trees they sell as option to purchase somewhere else, the Paulownia tree is a weed tree that is invasive in some parts of the country so I would make sure and do your homework on it before you consider it.

I read up on the Paulownia because it sounded interesting, but it doesn't seem like it would be a good choice for a neighborhood. It's classified as invasive here in Texas.

I was looking at the Thuja "Green Giants" as a possibility for planting (just one or two) in between/among the existing treeline. I'd like if possible to save the existing trees, which are tall and healthy albeit unsophisticated, and just add evergreens to fill in the gaps. I'm a fan of an irregular "wild" look rather than any kind of formal planting, so depending on the soil, sun requirements, etc., I'd rather like to add some of my local evergreen favorites like Southern Magnolia, Texas Mountain Laurel and Yaupon Holly, and maybe some local evergreen shrubs & vines like Fringe Flower and Lady Banks Rose. Blueberry Junipers (Post Cedars) also grow freely at the edge of the property, so they might also do okay.

Anybody have any experience/advice about trying to get new evergreens planted and growing among mature deciduous trees? They'd be almost completely shielded from the morning sun but they'd get some evening sun, with dappled sun/shade in between.

Check out the thread I started about Cryptomeria japonica (Japanese Cedar). Our local Lowes had plenty of them, I think they should do well in your area also.

Last spring (2006 not 2007), I purchased four trees from Fast-Growing-Trees. The Scarlet Maple was broken in the box. They sent me a much smaller replacement than what I had paid originally. Additionally, it was already topped off. We had to keep going back to them and never got a satisfactory replacement. Finally gave up. The other trees did not do well. Bought my trees locally this time and had nursery install them. Will NEVER go back to Fast-Growing-Trees.

Have you tried the Arbor Sociey?
www.arborday.org

For the $10 membership, you can choose 10 trees free. It's an affordable way to shade your house of brighten up a corner of your yard on the cheap. I love shopping on this site.

Carol

http://seedlings.uidaho.com/ You have to check the zones for each tree on a different site as they only tell you what zone they grow in Idaho 100% on the watchdog

Also, I would plant very few fast growing trees since these trees usually have a very short lifespan. Plant a couple for some quick shade and then plant some quality trees for the future. Fast growing trees usually have very brittle wood and don't stand up well to storms, disease, insects, etc.

There are a few exceptions to this rule when it comes to trees. Taxodium (Baldcypress) is fast growing and strong-wooded. It holds up very well to the hurricanes in Florida.

Buy the fast growing trees as small trees since they grow fast anyway. You can spend a little bit more on the slower growing trees, but don't get them too big since smaller trees will establish sooner and become better trees.
My .02
Good luck,
Mike