Digging Dog Nursery

In February I ordered several plants from Digging Dog. In early May I got an email from them that they were ready to ship (on May 16) but some of the plants--hardy geraniums--were not available. They suggested a possible substitution, for another geranium varietal that was hardy only to zone 7, not my Chicago garden in zone 5. I declined and asked them to ship the balance of my order. May went by, we got into June. I called the company, and emailed, but no one answered. I called again and again and finally got a live person. She said they would ship my plants the following week (that now being the second week of June). I reminded her that we have a shorter growing season in Chicago than in her home state of California, and that I would appreciate getting the plants soon or I would have little time to enjoy them. She promised that they would go out the following week. It is now the last week in June. No plants, no communication from Digging Dog. I called again, and sent another email, and used the contact form on the website, asking when I would get my plants. If not right away, then I wanted to cancel the order. But I have not received a single answer. This is terrible customer service, unresponsive and in my experience--as a retired marketing executive and a long-time certified Master Gardener--also rather rude.

I live in MD, USA, hardiness zone 7b. This is my 3rd year ordering from Digging Dog Nursery. This year I have ordered from them 3 Filipendula rubra 'Venusta', 3 Rodgersia pinnata 'Superba', and 1 Styrax japonicus. I received perfectly packed seedlings, strongly rooted, and properly bulked up with vigorous crowns and foliage. I give to them 5 stars for the quality of the plants, and very good service.

Strongly rooted plants properly bulked up with vigorous crowns and foliage. 5 stars for quality, good communication and well packaged.

Late to post this on plants ordered for the 2022 growing season but better late than never. Digging Dog Nursery not only has excellent plant material, they also offer many excellent varieties. I'd been looking for a "Harrington's Pink" aster for years and was thrilled when I found it in their catalog. Got the plants last spring, they grew magnificently over the summer, and by early fall, the plants were about 3' tall, 3+' across and literally smothered in pink blooms...which were smothered with late season pollinators. It's an old (mid-20th century) variety but I had no mildew problems (or any other plant/insect disease issues). Plants were shipped on time, received on time. Shipping is not cheap but I get it: it costs to ship live plants across the country. And when you get such great value for the money, for plants you've been longing for for decades, I'm more than happy to pay. Needless to say, I've made a 2023 order.

I live on Hilton Head Island, (Summer zone 7b/ winter zone 9a), and thus am lucky enough to be able to plant almost year-round. I received my Gaura order yesterday, November 11th, from Digging Dog Nursery, and I must say I was most impressed. I was afraid that I was going to get somewhat questionable looking, dormant plants, which may, or may not 'take' next year, but the plants arrived beautifully packed and healthy looking with a decent root system. How do they do it? This is the middle of November. They told me they grow them in a greenhouse. I was very pleasantly surprised! In general mail order companies have been a disappointment, but Digging Dog wasn’t. I’ll be ordering again !

Digging Dog has won my loyalty after three years of several orders a year (I can't stop), and I order probably 80% of my perennials from them now. They know their plants and have the most wonderful customer service. Their selection of perennials which includes the rare and unusual is utterly amazing. I have learned so much about plants by reading their website. I do wish they had photos for everything, but their catalog is immense and the company small, so I understand. It's easy enough to look up photos online from other sources. Their shipping costs hurt, but after discussing it with them I understand that their volume of business is too small to get discounts from carriers. An odd thing I appreciate is that when they are too overloaded with orders to do a timely job of fulfilling them, they shut down ordering until they have caught up. I am so glad I stumbled across this small company.

I placed several orders this spring, received email's needing to clarify the number of plants etc. I responded. They said it would ship out shortly. That was in April and May, it's now July and still no plants. I emailed asking when they would ship and they never replied. I definitely will not order from again.

Posted on June 22, 2022, updated June 24, 2022 Disappointed to leave a negative comment about Digging Dog as I have purchased plants from them in the past and, apart from the occasional plant that failed to thrive, I have been overall pleased, Unfortunately, it appears at this time that they are in great need for increased staffing to meet the pandemic era boom in online plant shopping. I placed an order on May 1st to add a few extra plants for this year's garden. I waited a while as I know this is a busy time of year for plant purchases. After 20 days I emailed for a status update and received an email that they had fallen behind on orders and had ceased all new orders to catch up. This was disappointing but understandable as they are a smaller business. Waited another 23 days and checked their website and saw they were accepting new orders again, but I hadn't received any update about my order. So I sent a follow up email on June 13th...this time no answer. Waited 6 more days and sent a follow up email...No answer. Finally called today, June 22nd, and was told my order would be ready for shipping August 9th...100 days after I placed my order and at a very hot time of year to plant. Since I placed that order on May 1st, I have placed orders with 8 other companies big and small who were able to fulfill orders in 2-3 weeks or less. Furthermore, no contact was ever initiated from Digging Dog in the now 52 days since I placed that order...only responses to my inquiries. Hoping this experience was an abnormality because as stated earlier I have generally been pleased with the plant quality and selection.

I received my order from Digging Dog nursery and was delighted with the plants. They were beautifully packed and sparklingly healthy. A couple of anemones had produced "babies" and even those tiny plants had well developed roots. I will certainly order from them again

I have received three separate orders from Digging Dog Nursery over the late fall/winter season. All of the plants are, of course, in a dormant state. The root system on all varietals has been outstanding. Packing and delivery has been excellent. I have ordered only perennials, so most of my orders have been in medium band boxes. The plants were well watered, wrapped in plastic to keep the moisture in, and rubber banded. On the occasion I needed to get in touch with them, someone has always been available either in the nursery, or in the office. They have been very helpful. Just an observation regarding plant health: I needed to relocate a plant 2 weeks after planting. When I carefully dug it up, I could see it had already sent out 1/2 inch rootlets on every side. These people know their stuff and have a large selection of plants that are difficult to find. Can't wait for my spring order.

I've ordered various plants from Digging Dog over the past several years. Always came well-packed and healthy. I just wish they didn't have a minimum...

The customer service is outstanding. We had a recent heat wave where I live and customer service contacted me to say that they were waiting to ship plants until the following week when there will be a cool down. They respond immediately to any questions and I feel like I know the people there. Plant stock is excellent and arrives in top notch condition. Even though I am on the East Coast, I still order my plants from all the way across the country from Digging Dog.

First off, the catalogue of plants is remarkable, with many classics not often seen elsewhere in this country. And they are grown and shipped very well. But the jewel in the crown is 'beyond the call of duty' customer service. I consider myself lucky to have run into their site by accident.

Love the selection, but the customer service is even better! When a certain plant i ordered was deemed not to have sufficient root mass to survive, owner contacted me as to whether i wanted to chance it, cancel it or substitute it. I told her to surprise me with a substitute! She did with a plant more expensive than the one she replaced! Plants arrived beautifully packaged with care and very healthy. Nicely identified with weatherproof tags! Super pleased with this place!!! Thank you again for your amazing selection and phenomenal service !

The plants I ordered arrived in great condition, with nice healthy root systems, and packaged well but without too much plastic.

Digging Dog Nursery was awesome on all levels. I love their inventory of unusual plants and even more so that mine arrived healthy and in a timely manner. Great company to buy from, and packaging was stellar.

I’ve placed two separate (very pricey) orders for heathers, eryngium, and echinops. Every single plant was stunted, straggly, and despite my ministrations, dead within one month. Very, very disappointed in the poor quality vis a vis the high cost.

I wanted a local (Beech Mountain, NC) wildflower for my garden, but could not find it in local nurseries. I was not willing to dig up a plant growing in the wild. I finally found a plant at Digging Dog Nursery. I planted it in a container and it grew and blossomed the first season, last year. This year it has multiplied and grown even taller and more beautiful. I credit this success to the robust plant I received from Digging Dog, the meticulous packing that kept it safe on its coast to coast journey, and the good planting instructions. The plant is Joe Pye weed. Beautiful! Digging Dog is a favorite source for plants. Personnel super helpful.

Early this year we found Digging Dog Nursery as a source of Springwood Pink heather when we had not found it locally. They said it would depend on the weather, since it was cool, for the plants to be ready to ship. We received them today and all 55 are in great shape. The planting tips in the box are very helpful. Their email updates helped us have the area ready before the plants arrived.

WOW!! They were behind due to Covid19 lock down but OK with me. Once they got my order ready they let me know and it shipped as scheduled. Communication about this was EXCELLENT via email. The 5 Clematis Alba Luxurians I ordered arrived quickly and in PERFECT condition - absolutely no broken stems from the crown, not even a bent one!! This was due to their excellent potting and staking of the plants. The plant were carefully surrounded by shredded paper "fluff" and very carefully nestled together in the shipping box. Their small root containers and soil were very moist and wrapped in plastic to keep the water in. All this took a lot of effort and time- way more effort than I have EVER seen done from any other plant nurseries from which I have received things in the past on-line. I am impressed. Not only that, the clematis plant are much larger than ever I expected!! They are at least a foot tall from the crown to the top. Very healthy looking. I would definitely try Digging Dog again for another purchase of plants this Fall and next Spring. Worth the wait- very pleased. Happy gardening!

I am a repeat customer of Digging Dog, and their plants always arrive healthy and well packed (not always the case when mail ordering plants). I particularly appreciate the bits of droll humor in the plant descriptions in their catalog! I also appreciate how accommodating and helpful the staff is. My garden is the definition of a shade garden, and they offer lots of plant choices for my "little sun" situation. I was so happy to find them, and hope others will buy from them with confidence. I always support small family growers. Karen H.

I am very pleased with the service from Digging Dog. I placed an order before the Covid crisis. Naturally it was held up due to shipping difficulties and workers being off. During that time Digging Dog kept me informed of my order status. My plants finally arrived last week. They are in great condition and I'm very pleased with how healthy they look. Can't wait for next year to see the blooms.

I've been looking for a new primary source of perennials and think I have found them. They have a great selection, varied and deep, with very reasonable pricing. After placing my order, I received a detailed email regarding expected shipping time and anything else I needed to know. Prior to shipping, I got an email letting me know the date the plants would ship and arrive, as well as informing me of an item out of stock and asking if I wanted a substitution, which I did, and communicated with a simple email back to them. Great communication through the whole process. The plants arrived healthy and well packed, with the soil still moist. They use deeper pots than most places, which means the plants have been able to develop deeper roots. This is a really nice touch. Very happy with them and expect to use them often.

Posted on May 7, 2020, updated May 15, 2020 On 4/22, I placed my first order with these folks and received an auto-reply email confirmation that indicated "IT COULD TAKE 7 TO 10 DAYS TO ASSIGN A SHIP DATE TO YOUR ORDER." The next day, I emailed them and asked about when my order might ship as I had a problem and needed to know. I received no reply. It has now been 15 days since I placed my order and I have still received nothing more from anyone at Digging Dog. My credit card has not been charged so maybe I will never hear from them. I realize it is peak shipping season and the pandemic has probably increased their orders even more. However, lots of people out of work now and it seems to me they could hire a few extra temporary workers to provide basic, nominal level of customer service.

This was my first order for 10 perennials, 7 in-stock shipped on 7th business day; 3 are on BO about 40 days. After shipping across country to VA they arrived 2 days later in excellent condition. Great packing in carton. I heeled in that same day and planted the next. Seem to grow a bit each day; had strong root system in dirt. Nursery had a question about my BackOrders; emailed & called me. Exceptionally good customer service. The distance made me hesitant but they were best supplier of 'Persicaria' I wanted. Will definitely use them again!

I ordered five oakleaf hydrangeas and called first to make sure they had enough on hand - I did not want any substitution. The lady called me back the next morning to confirm they did have enough. My order arrived as expected, the five plants were all carefully packed and very healthy. The emerging leaves looked as fresh as if the plants had been packed moments earlier. I planted them a couple of days later, and they all look healthy.

Digging Dog carries an exceptional selection of perennials and natives for my Northern California garden. In addition, their professional approach to meeting their clients' shipping requests is greatly appreciated.

I ordered some plants year ago, everything grows well. Plants were in good size containers (not tiny plugs), strong healthy roots (that's more important than green stems) and with very good soil mixture (heavier, with small rocks and lava). So i didn't have to remove the soil from the bale, like I have to do with pure bark soil mixtures or pure peat soils. I can recommend DDN and I will order again. Rad, Bloomington, IN

I have ordered many plants (mostly asters) over the last few years from Digging Dog Nursery and all of them have come well packaged and have grown well once planted. They have an excellent selection of plants that cannot be found readily elsewhere. I recommend them highly just so long as you don't order the plants that I want! (joke) I have found the postage to be reasonable.

Beautiful healthy plants, Begonia Sutherlandii. Also excellent customer service, when I called to inquire about the plants. Thank you.

First time customer. Delighted to find my hard to find plants. Plants arrived quickly, packed with care, not even a leaf broken after crossing entire US. They were well rooted in very deep pots. I will not hesitate to recommend this company and to buy from them again! Thanks guys!

First: shipping is high because they use huge boxes and ship second day. But as to the plants. A mixed bag. Out of 9 plants, 5 were okay for the price. The other then 4 were suceedingly small. The final plant, a geranium phaeum album was a bad joke. Imagine placing two seeds on a wet towel. When the sprouts are 1” tall and the first fat leaves start to open—well that’s what they sent! 2 little sprouts! And one was broken. Oh, they seem like nice people and would probably take care of things. But this plant was an insult. And the other 3 were not worth it. I was in the nursery biz for 24 years, and I would be mortified. Whatever their reply is, I am writing this as a neutral- to share the plant experience.

Digging dog plants came in great shape-well wrapped &still moist. Very happy to find some unique & hard to find plants. Always a hit and miss coming through the mail,but I will order from this company again!

I have a couple companies I use on a regular basis, but this year I was looking for something they didn't have. This company did, so this is the 1st year I used this company and I loved them. Most of my communication was during their busiest time so answers weren't immediate but they were addressed. That's important to me.. The plants were beautiful, and the prices were good. The shipping was a little high but the length of time (2 days from CA to WI) was worth it. I highly recommend them.

I ordered 10 plants from Digging Dog Nursery. I have been gardening for over 50 years. The plants I received from Digging Dog Nursery were healthy robust and perfectly packaged. I have purchased approximately 100 plants on line in the past year. These are certainly the most beautiful and hardiest of the lot. Their customer SERVICE is just that - SERVICE. The crew at Digging Dog has earned another customer. Larry Croft Martinez, Georgia

I live in Buffalo, NY. I am always on the lookout for rare perennials, or perennials that are zone 6 that aren't available in Western New York. I came across this nursery online in search of a Trachystemon orientalis that I read about in a gardening article. I was amazed by the variety of plants in the catalog. I placed an order of 16 plants. One of the plants, based on its natural growing season, was not going to be available for about one month. I received a personal phone call and email with options on how to process my order. Also, because my order was so large, the nursery worked with me to arrange more cost efficient shipping, which only added one day to the trip! Also, I had a concern, after I had placed my order, that one of the plants may not be hardy enough for my zone based on many diverse internet articles, some saying it was, some saying it wasn't. The nursery thoroughly researched the plant and the climate where I lived, including talking to customers who own the plant, to give me a recommendation on the findings. I have NEVER had a nursery go so far and beyond to help me. The communication was fast, very clear, by phone and email. The staff at this nursery are awesome. Prices and shipping are very fair. Next year, I will be placing my order early to get some of the species that are sold out. Looking forward to more repeat business.

I received my order today via UPS and am delighted! The plants survived the journey across the country and are nestled in their warm, moist garden beds here in Virginia. The timing of their arrival couldn't be better as we are enjoying a wet tropical rain, the remnants of Alberto. I appreciate the variety of plants that Digging Dog has to offer, as well as the health of the merchandise. Thank you, Digging Dog Nursery, for good service and the careful packaging of my plants.

Although I was at first worried that the catmints I ordered might not make it and would rot (they were soaked) they did make it and are doing well, so I am as usual a happy customer of Digging Dog. I have purchased on and off from them for years and I've always been happy with my orders.

Posted on April 29, 2016, updated April 19, 2018 This was my first order with Digging Dog Nursery, and I have to sing their praises. I ordered from them because they had a particular plant that I wanted: Thalictrum Splendide. When I realized there was a minimum order I looked around their site and found a second plant I had decided to order some time before: Cotinus 'Grace'. I had owned two at my previous home but ordering it again from the same company was extremely expensive. Since it was $14 I expected a quite small plant, but did not mind since the other source would have knocked a good hole in $100 with the shipping. The third item that got me to the minimum was campanula 'Bernice' of which I had two, so I didn't mind adding another. That is when the pleasant surprises began. They were out of Bernice, and suggested two substitutes, neither one of which I really wanted. When I declined, they VOLUNTARILY reduced the mandatory order amount to the amount of the remaining order. I thought that very professional. But the knockout punch was the perfect 40 inch Grace I just unwrapped. This gorgeous thing is 90% of the size of the $49 I purchased years ago - and the shipping was almost the cost of the plant. The thalictrum is a perfect little gem. Great communication, great cooperation, beautiful plants. This is like the best first date I can possibly image. I am beyond impressed, and I will be back.

I find their website a bit difficult to use, but have generally been happy with the plants I've received from them, which seem quite healthy and ready for growth. Their prices on ornamental grasses are great, and they've done quite well for me, putting on growth quickly.

Thus far, extremely pleased with the plants ordered from Digging Dog. All arrived extremely healthy, with perfect root balls (I winter order, so not everything has top growth). Root systems are beautifully developed, filling out the pot but not pot bound. Already, the epimediums are going gangbusters in the garden--yes, it is January but one is already blooming! Everything else is either growing or starting to bud. Everything was perfectly and expertly packed, so fingers crossed for a glorious spring (although I will have to see whether I put everything in the right place for my climate!

I changed my mind numerous times and Marie and Deborah were very patient, even suggesting other blue geraniums that I might want. The shipping date was Tuesday and I received four geraniums on Thursday. Two days! They were very well packaged, with instructions (3 options as to how to care for the plants immediately and how to hold them temporarily, if necessary). They have all of their leaves and! they look great!

I have ordered from Digging Dog over the last 3 years. They have such interesting plants. I love their discriminating efforts sorting through the plant kingdom that result in such gems that they offer. Their plants arrive well packed and ready to go. They make an effort to work around bad weather to ship in safe conditions for their baby plants to arrive safely. I love this company.

I have placed two orders with this company this year and have been extremely satisfied with the plants, the shipping, and the customer care they exhibited through the ordering process. The prices on their plants are very reasonable, but some may think that the shipping is a bit on the high side. I was a little hesitant at first because of the high shipping cost; but because they had a plant that I could not find anywhere else, I went ahead and took the plunge - getting as many plants as I could for the minimum flat shipping cost. The packaging is absolutely top notch! Very carefully packaged and when the weather looked to be too hot to ensure safe arrival of the plants, they contacted me with their concern and we worked out a plan to get the plants shipped safely. This family owned business did everything they could to make certain that my ordering experience was as pleasant as possible.

I was. completely satisfied with the quality of the plants I received from Digging Dog, as well as the packaging which was protective but not overpackaging. I love their selection and was very appreciative of their help with a backordered item. I look forward to ordering from them again!

An excellent service from an excellent family owned company. The plants were shipped quickly in secure packaging and were just as advertised (all those who complained about the size of the plants should take the time to read the description - it's very clear). All the plants are doing great. Digging Dog is such a good service that they contacted me personally to inform that some of my order are not hardy for my area (I'm greedy & went ahead with them anyway - I'll take my chances). I would recommend Digging Dog to anyone & will be ordering again from them. Cannot thank Digging Dog enough.

I've ordered perennials & shrubs from Digging Dog Nursery. Have been well satisfied with their offerings. I order by phone and the process is always a delight, with either Debbie Kruse, horticulturist and nursery co-owner, or Marie Keller, social media person,ready to answer my questions or make suggestions regarding their plant stock. The plants arrive on time and in excellent condition in their efficiently-sized pots. The little guys happily thrive in their confinement until I, the sometimes faithless gardener, finally plant them in the ground where they continue to grow and prosper. In early spring of 2016, I ordered many plants but hadn't got all of them planted before summer's end. Two Persicarias Amplexicaulis 'Taurus,' one Veronicastrum Virginicum 'Lavendelturm,' and one Buddleja x Weyeriana 'Honeycomb' got left to their own devices, in their pots, as autumn rains began and then winter bore down on us in Portland, Oregon. Winter was a nasty piece of work; cold temps, early snowfall, ice storms, more snow, and then rain everlasting all through spring 2017. Dead and deader, I thought, when I checked on the forlorn plants in their little pots during the depths of winter. Immediately, I succumbed to a bad case of gardener's guilt for murder by neglect. I furtively put them out of sight and forgot about them, mostly, until spring. Thrilled and delighted, I discovered all the plants not only survived, but were growing healthily and hardily, multiple roots poking out of the various pot bottoms. It was like getting brand new plants! The Veronicastrum is branched, tall, and tightly budded. 'Honeycomb' is showing off its handsome foliage and those Persicarias look grandly healthy. These plants are bred to survive! I'm looking forward to the arrival, next week, of my 2017 order.

I ordered a large number of perennials from Digging Dog Nursery this spring, and I am very pleased with the experience. I chose Digging Dog because (1) they had cultivars I couldn't find anywhere else, and (2) they could verify that the plants I ordered were grown neonic-free. They called me before they sent out the order and informed me that a couple of the perennials I had ordered, weren't well rooted yet so rather than send any poorly rooted plants, they worked with me to find substitutes (I could have waited for those ones to grow on also). The plants I received were all strong, well-rooted little plants, and I am very satisfied. I will happily order from Digging Dog again.

I'm happy to report that the 16 plants I ordered from you this spring are all thriving and I'm thrilled with my purchases. The plants were packed with great thought and care, and they arrived in excellent condition. I turned to you because I was unable to find a number of plants at my local nurseries in MA. Thanks to your exceptional selection and conscientious attention, my garden will be even more special this year!

After over 40 years of catalog and online plant ordering, I can easily say that Digging Dog ranks near the top in my experience. I have ordered difficult-to-find plants from them twice. I knew up front that I would be receiving newer starts/rooted cuttings, and was quite surprised at the instant growth I noticed shortly after repotting the plants from them into my larger containers. After one month in my own containers, Additional root growth was so rapid that I was able to replant them in the ground. I like to repot and babysit plants for a short time to insure success, but also have no doubt that the plants I received from DD could have been directly planted into the ground with good results. THANK YOU DD for the insanely cool plants you sold to me!