Avant Gardens

I have ordered from Avant a gardens in the past and have generally never had a complaint. They have a nice selection of plants and the mail order experience was fine. In recent years, they seemed to do a deep dive into succulents, which is a plant category I’m simply not that interested in, so there seemed to be fewer new and unusual items in other categories I tended to follow. However, today I have to post a comment not about their plants or their shipping but about the new website. For several days, I haven’t been able to get beyond the home page. Its not a WiFi issue, and I am up to date with my iPad updates. I am not having issues with any of the other online nurseries I follow, so I have to assume that the new Avant Gardens website has data-heavy features like stupid videos that play automatically (if I am interested in video, which I rarely am, I can click on it myself.) Honestly, if you have to update your website, could you please provide an option that doesn’t force every casual visitor to deal with massive amounts of data? I much preferred the website Avant Gardens had 10 years ago which was simple yet effective. All I need to see is a genus list that I can click on if interested that maybe includes photos for each species or cultivar. I certainly don’t need to wait 5 minutes or more to load a page that gets me to the actual catalogue. I don’t know what Avant Gardens has on this “improved” website that takes so long to download, but I can go check out Far Reaches or Plant Delights or any number of other online nurseries without the wait. Here’s a tip for Avant Gardens: gardening tends to skew to older ages. Much of your potential customer base is not going to have the latest digital tech or even be all that interested in flashy upgrades to a website. All I really need to see is what plants are on offer at the present time. If your website can’t manage that, I sure as hell don’t care about all of the other bells and whistles it might have.

I live in a zone that limits the plants I can choose from this nursery, but each time I've ordered from them, I give them very high marks for their attention to shipping requests, the care with which the plants are packaged -- no upside down or damaged plants from them! -- and above all, the vigor and appearance of the plants. Applause to all!

The plants that Avant sends across country to me in New Mexico are in excellent condition and are BIG compared to other online places I've tried. Plants are well rooted in good size containers and do well the very first year. The grasses I received last year were 18-20" tall!!! The packaging is the best I've experienced. Kudos. Should be in top 30 at least!

This year was my first time ordering from Avant Gardens, and overall i was very pleased with my order! There pricing is great, and they sell some hard to find gems that I haven't seen anywhere else. I highly recommend buying trees from them. There perennials I ordered were for the most part well established without being pot bound, the only exceptions were an iris that got a lil buck wild in the box during shipment and slipped it's pot(not their fault, the plants were well packed) but I planted it out immediately now it's doing fine. Also a rudbeckia henry eilers I had ordered wasn't very well rooted but there were signs of new growth so I planted it out and assume it will make it also. I got my order early in the planting season so I don't think they could tell without unpotting it, and honestly I don't mind because everything else was in tip top shape and they even sent a bonus plant. I would definitely recommend them. Thanks for the awesome plants!

I was notified by email that my order, placed in March, would arrive today. It came as expected. The plants were expertly wrapped and were in excellent condition. I was impressed by their size and how healthy they were. I'm very pleased and will happily order from them again.

My healthy plants arrived in excellent condition; the packaging was great. What I found so impressive was Avant Gardens' attention to detail and communication: I received an email saying that because of the late spring in my and their area, my plants would be shipped a week later than had been stated on my confirmation order form. I'll definitely order from them again! Thank you.

I have ordered from Avant Gardens in the past and have been very pleased. I recently took a vacation to the Mass/Rhode Island area and was fortunate to be able to visit their nursery. It was a pleasure! The folks I spoke to were helpful and friendly. I was flying, so couldn't buy things to take home. I found several uncommon plants that I "needed" and made a list of them. Once home, I ordered on a Monday and had the UPS shipment on my porch on that Friday morning. Everything arrived looking just great. Nice sized and healthy plants in their pots. Packing was excellent. I'll be ordering more in the spring. Wish they were close enough for me to visit in person on a regular basis, but my yard probably isn't big enough if that was the case!

Fabulous packing for some happy plants. They came very quickly and are already thriving in the garden. I will be sure to order from Avant Gardens again.

Posted on August 16, 2017, updated August 17, 2017 I had a bad experience following an order for two succulent plants. The packing was horrible. The two plants were crammed into a small carton, top-to-top, and were smashed together, which damaged both of them. It was as if Avant Gardens was trying to avoid using a more suitable carton size for shipping. The two plants were so taped shut in their containers and squished together that they were ragged and damaged when I, with much difficulty, removed them from the container. How this company is so highly rated is a mystery to me. I will never again place another with Avant Gardens.

I loved Avant Gardens when I lived close by in RI. When I moved to Vermont I was afraid that the separation would be total. However, I have been completely satisfied with the plants that I have received by mail order. I can find plants at Avant Gardens that I might or might not discover after miles of driving here in Vermont.

Service was excellent. Offered to hold the 5 Fothergilla 'Blue Shadow' for me until fall when the weather cooled. At my request they were quickly shipped and arrived extremely well packaged and watered. Only a little stressed looking, but it was 90 degrees in Monroe, Ga that day. Will definitely order from this company again.

Very happy with large healthy plants, timely delivery and careful packaging. And much to my surprised included was a beautiful bonus plant. Will definitely buy from this nursery again.

What a wonderful experience with Avant Gardens! I ordered Kalimeris Incisa Blue Star. Ordering was very easy, and I felt I was in capable hands. When my plants arrived, I am extremely pleased with the packaging, from the exterior of the box to the contents. The plants to be sure carefully packed in pots with every thought given to ensure their delivery in as perfect a state as possible. And they were!! They are beautiful, and I planted them according to Avant's instructions. It is obvious that the owners take great pride in their plants and that it is their love not hobby or business that takes precedence. I give the wonderful owners 5 STARS!! I look forward to ordering again and again!!

I've gotten three orders from them; they are great. Nice healthy plants, good root systems, sanely packaged. I've purchased helleborus foetidus, an enkianthus, pieris...a bunch of other things that I'm blanking on. Got a 'bonus' plant with shipments -- I don't know why that's so delightful (I spent a lot of money, but maybe it's just a random thing, I don't know) but it really is to great to be like 'a godzilla painted fern! I *totally* wanted one of those!' And they put a note in my order with the hellebores that the flowers were left on to help with self-sowing. Little niceties, they're rare these days, it's appreciated. High-quality, some off-beat plants--neat stuff.

I ordered a Seven Son Flower, Autumn Lilac (Heptacodium miconioides). I was notified by email a few days before it arrived, so I was home and ready to receive it. My plant arrived in perfect condition. The packaging protected it well. It was hydrated enough to keep it moist, but it wasn't soggy. There were plenty of leaves on it and I was surprised at how big it actually was. When I am ready for another plant, I'll look to Avant Gardens again.

I placed my order with Avant Gardens on April 3rd. I was super excited that they had kniphofia in a solid yellow color instead of red and yellow. They emailed me a status update on April 8 with a tentative delivery date for the week of May 1. On April 20 I emailed to see about adding 5 stipa tenuissima to my existing order of 5 Kniphofia 'Pineapple Popsicle' , Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue', Verbena bonariensis, Veronicastrum virginicum, and Helleborus foetidus. Katherine gave me instructions for purchasing without any extra shipping charges, which I did. I received the email from UPS tracking on May 3rd and received my order May 4th (we are both in MA so ground shipping was overnight!). Everything is just beautiful. I do wish I'd ordered more verbena since it's so spindly, but will probably make do and get some seeds for next year. They sent a free 'Will's Wonderful' mum plant! Will definitely purchase from them again.

Plants arrived very quickly and in perfect condition. Plants were healthy and well rooted without being pot bound. The bonus plant was much appreciated and seemed to have been thoughtfully selected, with foliage that complemented the rest of the plants in my order.

The plants I received were carefully packaged and in very nice shape when they arrived and Avant included a very nice bonus plant! Avant made sure they timed the shipment so the plants did not spend a weekend in a ups warehouse and informed me of the scheduling.

Could not be more pleased with the quality of the plants. I placed a fairly large order of succulents to start a rock garden and the size of the plants will make it look like it's been there a year already. I went back and started a wish list for the next go round. They will certainly be on my "must look at" list of mail order nurseries when I place my fall orders. They also threw in a bonus sedum which I had considered ordering but did not. Thanks!

I've attended and purchased plants on Avant Gardens' open days. They offer a great selection of hard-to-find plants. Their prices are fair, and the plants are well grown. The people are knowledgeable and helpful. One caveat: Because they sell both by mail order and by spring open days, they are often out of stock on the plants I most covet by the time the first open spring day comes around.

Ordered their succulent clippings and was send a very generous amount. Great variety and nice quality.

Beautiful, healthy Fothergilla 'Blue Shadow', a Smooth Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve 'Bluebird') and 2 Thalictrum rochebrunianum plants arrived in great condition via UPS overnight delivery, along with a gorgeous bonus Heuchera. I was impressed with their excellent communication and careful shipping of plants, and that they had in stock exactly the plants I was looking for. First rate transaction, and I will buy from them again. Highly recommended.

Received my first order from Avant Garden last week.Plants arrived in great shape, especially given the time of year and heat. They kept me abreast of my order status and recommended delay in shipping due to weather conditions. VERY SATISFIED. I will order from Avant again.

I've ordered twice from Avant Gardens and have had a positive experience each time. I was very pleased with the quality of the plants they sent me as well as the overall service. In addition, the plant prices were very reasonable in comparison to other nurseries and the order was filled and arrived via UPS within two business days of my order date. Finally, and to add to an already great experience, Avant Gardens sent me a free bonus plant, which was a nice and unexpected surprise. Bravo Avant Gardens!

I ordered 5 plants. They all arrived very well packed and looking beautiful. They were healthy and they were much larger/more established than plants I have ordered elsewhere. Haven't planted them yet, so if something bad happens I will update. However, they look in great condition. Bonus - they also sent a free extra plant!

Absolutely Wonderful!! My plants arrived in excellent condition. Packaging was A++++++. Plants were so very healthy and robust and wonderfully large. Avant Gardens is beyond the average mail order house. Great company to do business with. Very, Very pleased and impressed!! Thank you, Avant Gardens. I will be ordering from this company again.

I ordered 3 Japanese forest grasses from this company and was very pleased with the large size and well developed root system of these slow growing plants. Shipping was a bit slower than expected, I had to send a quick email, but it was totally worth it. I found these great plants after they were sold out nearly everywhere else I looked.

I was very pleased with the plants I received from Avant Gardens, They were large and healthy and a few were already blooming. These were the best plants I have ever received from a mail order nursery. I also liked the fact that they sent me a refund check for one plant that did not meet their standards instead of promising to send it at a later date or giving me credit for another plant. I would definitely recommend this nursery to anyone who is interested in unusual plants.

I ordered 3 Anemone japonica 'Honoriere Jobert' on 4/13/15 afternoon and received excellent plants today, 4/16/15. I am thrilled as I was finding this plant difficult to find and the ones I had planted last year (from a different supplier) appear to have succumbed to our harsh winter. The plants I received today from Advant were in excellent condition, lots of leaves and healthy roots. This is the first time I have ordered from them and found them recommended on Dave's Garden which has become my "go to" site on the web for any gardening questions. Thanks so much!

Posted on June 2, 2012, updated March 18, 2015 This is my third order from Avant Gardens. The plants are in good shape and well grown. The unusual varieties are always tempting. This year I had to change my delivery date on short notice and this was accommodated with a personal email. When rabbits ate one of the plants during the intervening week not only did they notify me and refund me for the plant, but also sent me a complimentary plant of the same genus. Excellent plants and service.

Posted on July 18, 2008, updated January 29, 2015 Yeah, I'm not too impressed with this company be it small or not. We turned in an internet order in mid-February and got a confirmation in a format that we couldn't open but had a copy of the original order so didn't fuss about it. The scheduled ship date for 12 Abutilon savitzii and 2 Solanum ratonetii was mid April. The day before the scheduled ship date we received an e-mail stating that the Abutilons would be delayed until mid May, no mention of the Solanums. We're now in the third week of July and no plants, no e-mails, no explanation. Jaaah! I called the number on their website and got an answering machine telling me to leave a message. I'll e-mail them to cancel the order.

I explored their site as they offered a tree in the small size I wanted. Initially I found their site a bit difficult, I could not figure out what size the plants came in! I emailed for help and got a prompt response (you click on Help to get plant size info). I chose three plants as well as the tree. I was ordering at the very end of spring planting season, and they let me know that once they went out to the nursery a couple of the plants did not meet their standards and asked if I wanted to choose something else. This really impressed me--they did not want to send a poor-looking plant. They always ship plants on Monday, another way to ensure great condition, and the packing was terrific. While the plants came in pots around one quart in size, two of the three plants were what we'd normally see in a gallon pot at the nursery. The other plant was a hellebore and while it wasn't gallon-sized it was a good size for its price. I'm very happy with how the plants and tree have done and will shop from here again.

I found the website to be very easy to navigate, the order shipped in a timely fashion. The plants were packed very well and arrived in a thriving condition. I appreciate their lengthy customer service notice that arrived with the plants, they obviously take great personal pride in their plants and business, and it shows in the care and time they spend on even small orders.

I received my order today and wrote three words on my plant log: Spectacular! HUGE!! HEALTHY!!!. Then I deleted other vendors off my Excel Go-To List, and highlighted AVANT GARDENS with a bright yellow box. A reminder to myself that last year, I grudgingly ordered from them because they were the only place that had Red Satin Coreopsis. Their price was higher than my usual vendor, with whom I’d backordered. Long story short: Avant sent 3 terrific large plants plus a bonus Lemon Coral Sedum. (I always assumed “bonus” plants were a way of getting rid of last year’s losers as a free gift to impress customers.) Company B eventually sent 3 so-so Red Satin and 3 tiny Fire Alarm Heuchera – but, hey. Good price. Avant’s Red Satins bloomed profusedly from the get-go. And I absolutely fell in love with the bright iridescent Lemon Coral Sedum. Company B’s plants limped flowerlessly along thru the summer. I babied them and kept reminding myself I’d purchased here before and had a 50-50 chance. But look how much money I saved! Then the Super Winter of 2013-2014. I thought I’d lost half my perennials. But then … up came Avant’s 3 Red Satins, lively and active. Lemon Coral, a zone7, didn’t pull thru our Z6-going-on-Z2 winter. But neither did ALL 6 of Company B’s Red Satins and Fire Alarms! Minus the money I’d “saved”, I still had a 90% net loss and also lost a whole growing season! And I didn’t get to enjoy my plants! Sent an SOS order to Avant Gardens for 3 Red Satin, 3 Heuchera Fire Alarm … couldn’t find Lemon Coral Sedum in their catalogue and begged if they found one, please add it to my bill. Today, I’m delirious. Big, Happy Plants! Almost too excited to wait for them to acclimate. And guess what – a bright, glowing Lemon Coral Sedum. Bonus. Avant, I plan to enjoy every bloom this summer. You’re my heros. To anybody else reading this, too many places don’t get you what you pay for. Avant Gardens is not one of them. They’re worth every hard-earned penny.

My first order included asters, butterfly weeds and a fotherfilla. The plants were carefully packed and arrived in great shape! I was so happy that I followed up with a second order - a Cornus kousa tree. I've found that ordering trees online can be hit or miss in terms of the shape of the tree. The tree arrived and I was very happy with structure of the tree. Great experience with Avent Gardens.

The plants were promptly delivered, look very healthy and were packed beautifully. I placed a second order based upon this very positive experience.

This is the second year that I have ordered from this mail order nursery. I am absolutely highly impressed with the quality of their plants. The plant quality far exceeds that of the "big name" mail order nurseries. I highly recommend this nursery. R. Blume, Certified Master Gardener, Morris County, NJ

My order arrived in less than a week of ordering. The plants were securely packed and were much larger that I expected them to be. I will order from Avant Gardens again!

I am very pleased with my recent order of fall plantings from Avant Gardens NE. I ordered some hellebores, ferns, and japanese anemone. All the plants for carefully padded with straw, held by rubber bands, and wrapped in butcher paper. The plants arrived healthy a few weeks ago and have responded well to transplanting on my terrace. I would recommend Avant Gardens and would order from them again.

I am very impressed with the speed with which my plants were sent. Avant gardens sent me emails about the order being received and shipped out. Once spring returns I will be ordering more ferns from Avant Gardens for the shady area in the works.

I had never ordered from Avant but based on their excellent Watch Dog feedback and wonderful choice of interesting and unusual plants, I ordered 4 annuals. Somehow my order got mixed up with another customer. The Company informed me of the problem and told me to keep the misdirected order and they would resend my order ASAP. I was happy to get 6 free plants, but then my own plants were not delivered when expected. By the time they came they had been in the box for almost a week and looked it. Even before I complained, they were very quick to replace the plants. The new plants arrived in good condition and I was happy with the resolution of the problem. The misdelivery was not good, but I could not ask more than the excellent response to the problem. Mistakes happen to us all, but what counts is a company's response. I would definitely use them again and recommend them highly.

Posted on May 20, 2012, updated May 30, 2013 Avant Gardens has become my new favorite nursery after 2 very successful orders. Great diversity of offerings. Very competitive pricing with no shipping cost shock. They included a bonus plant with the 2nd order which was a thoughtful expression and gave me a new planting idea!

Avant Gardens consistently ships excellent plants that are packaged very carefully and arrive in superb condition. They also have outstanding customer service. Kathy actually emailed me a couple of weeks ago and asked if she could hold my shipment an extra week so that some plants I ordered could grow on a bit more. That is so unusual! I'm so used to having plants shipped to freezing Chicago in early April by companies that don't care. Really an exceptional company!!

Have ordered a couple of times and would happily order from Avant Gardens again. Plants were healthy and packaged with great care. Communication about shipping/answers to questions about plant care were timely/accurate.

Posted on May 12, 2010, updated May 14, 2013 Posted on May 16, 2007, updated May 12, 2010 I placed an order with Avant Gardens on April 13, 2007 for several viburnums, and other shrubs plus some unusual perennials. They sent a confirmation with a date for shipping, then followed that with an e-mail saying that due to frost warnings that they were holding the order for a couple of day. Today a BIG box of "as good as it gets" plants arrived plus a very generous bonus shrub. They must have picked out the bonus based on my order, as it couldn't have been more perfect. The plants are huge. I am totally thrilled with the service, the selection and the shipping. Patti

My order arrived with such good packaging, not a thing was broken off the large, beautiful, healthy plants. I can't wait to plant them after their recuperation time!

Posted on March 21, 2012, updated April 9, 2013 I ordered four fancy geraniums on Sunday and received them on Tuesday - that's fast! The plants were securely packed and arrived in great condition. They were large and healthy with lots of branching. Communication was excellent. I am delighted and will order from Avant Gardens again!

Beautiful Black Mimosa tree. shipped promptly and in excellent health.

Ordered Abutalon" Victorian Lady"on 10/21/012 and was delivered on10/23/012 in perfect condition and a much larger size than I was expecting. Very friendly service.

The tree and plant I ordered arrived well packaged and healthy even though they had traveled from Massachusetts to Washington State. I am pleased with their service and would order from them again.