Willis Orchard Company

Posted on April 17, 2023, updated April 24, 2023 Who I am. I am a member of Garden.org and many other state garden groups. I run my own very local city garden group with over 200 members. I'm very good at what I do and I'm currently growing over 26 cold hardy pomegranate trees and I have currently succeeded in growing and fruiting 5 citrus trees in zone 6B/7a outdoors in the ground. I placed a multiple pomegranate order from Willis Orchard Nursery a year ago. This included cultivars of different sizes. The larger sizes did very well and I was very happy with the product. The smallest size barely leafed out and then failed. I consulted a specialist on the problem and was told it was usually a sign of roots being underdevoped on the cutting. Another member of my garden group had also bought one of the very small cultivers and reported the same problem. I placed an email request for a replacement and I the company happily replaced the tiny pomegranate with another tiny pomegranate that had the exact same problem. When I called the company to kindly report what happened the second time with the small cuttings the receptionist very rudely told me they have a whole greenhouse full of thousands of the rooted plants and that my complaint was the only complaint they had received so it was obvious that my growing skills were the problem. This review is not necessarily based of product since I have received some excellent stock from Willis. This poor review comes from poor customer service and the choice to immediately insult and accuse the customer before asking a single question. I warned the receptionist that I would place a negative review on The Garden Watchdog to which he responded that the reviews were possibly coming from "The Competition" so the complaints were most likely not valid and he was convinced I was still a crappy gardener. That said, I was informed that the Owner would pick out a very good cultivar himself of the same size and send it to as a replacement. Fair enough! We will see what happens. I have a home gardener hobbyist and no "competition" for a commercial grower. I informed the receptionist that this review would turn positive if I received a healthy, sturdy growing cultiver as a replacement.

A plant I purchased did not come out of dormancy. While the company is willing to replace the $4.95 plant, I have to pay another t$25 shipping cost to get it!! Really not a good practice if you want to retain customers. If you buy from then, be aware of this. . .

I ordered 4 plants from Willis Orchard and all 4 were spectacular. 2 pear trees, 1 fig tree and 1 wisteria. All arrived at the perfect time for my area. They were healthy beautiful and well rooted. They were nicely wrapped with the roots protected and kept moist for their journey. I put them all in a bucket of water to soak and rehydrate for about 30 minutes then planted them. It took a bit for them to start to grow but once they did they have all done very well and are happily growing. So pleased with my order. Thank you Willis Orchard!

Ordered a Bonanza Dwarf Peach Tree (Jan 2021) came within a week, healthy. The only thing I would caution, I had not checked the chill hours for my zone so called the company up before the tree shipped, just to make sure it would produce fruit. The lady who answered the phone said "you will be fine it requires 800 chill hours" to which I responded that I would not be fine living in SC (29210) as there is no way we would get 800 chill hours. She put me on hold to check and the tree actually only requires 400 chill hours. I was a little perturbed about her immediate answer she gave without her actually knowing.

The trees were not the size purchased. They offered to replace them provided I pay an exorbitant shipping fee even though I had already paid for the incorrect sized trees to be delivered. Only two out of four survived! Lousy company. I will never use them again or recommend them.

I ordered: 3 Peach 3 Crabapple 2 Chickasaw Plum 1 Damson Plum 3 Elderberry 1 Blackjack Fig grand total with shipping, ~$125. If it is possible to start gardening at somewhere less informed that "beginner" that's where I am, but I've stumbled back-arsewards into a large property with not a whole lot going on by way of pretty, practical plantings. My theory is starting with little plants that are under $10 (for the most part) means that the price of my learning curve won't be *too* expensive. All of the trees I ordered came bare root, not much more than whips. I planted them upon receipt - I think back in January - without much coddling. As of mid-to-late March, the Damson and two of the peaches are busting out with leaves, the crabapple are budding, the elderberry are doing well, and only the fig, one peach, and the Chickasaw plum have yet to show exuberant signs of life. I tend to assume that any plant failures are my fault, and any signs of success are a miracle, so take my review with that perspective in mind. Is Willis Orchard as clearly superior in care and attention as Heirloom Roses? Nope. That being said, I've also gotten suckered in to one of the worst-rated mail order places (the one in Tennessee that shall not be named) and Willis beats them by far, so I'm sticking with a generally positive rating for my experience with Willis. My experience wasn't knock-your-socks-off great, but based on my personal experience and success rate, I would order from them again.

On November 2nd 2018 I placed an order for a 4-5’ black mission fig $49.95 plus $19.00 for shipping. I received the tree on November 13th and upon unpacking it was very disappointed, the tree was dried up with just a couple dried leaves left on it. I emailed Willis Orchards orders department and included a photo, I was assured that the tree was dormant and would be fine. After planting and carrying for it hoping it would re-leaf it never did. I have been emailing them with no response for a refund or replacement. I tried calling them and you can’t even leave a message. Buyers beware! This is a scam company!

WARNING. THIS COMPANY SENDS DEAD PLANTS AND WILL NOT RETURN YOUR MONEY. DO NOT IGNORE THE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK/COMPLAINTS LIKE I DID. YOU WILL GET RIPPED OFF.. REPLACEMENT OFFERED BUT IF IT DIED OR ARRIVED DEAD - THEY WOULD NOT DO ANYTHING. THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM - LOOK UP THE COMPLAINTS FROM THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU AND OTHER SOURCES

My husband ordered 5-6' tall Red Delicious and Granny Smith apple trees at the end of February. Both arrived shipped together in good condition. The trees were planted in the ground in mid-March (we are in zone 8A) and both of the trees already have leaves. So far, so good.

Buyers, beware. After placing a $500 order with Willis Orchards, they refused to replace a bare root tree, a Saijo Persimmon, that never broke dormancy and died in its sleep. I would guess that after buying 12 trees for $500, they would want to make this right and keep my business. Not only did the company refuse to replace a single tree from my order, but when I emailed them they responded with a cynical email which offered me a "packet of plant healthcare for my inconvenience". The other persimmon trees of the order did not respond well or grow with as much vigor as trees I bought from a competing nursery. I suspected the poor performance may have been due in part to the rootstocks. None of the bare root whips were labeled with info about the rootstocks, so I called Willis Orchards to ask them what their trees were grafted with, and they did not know what their own trees were growing on. My suggestion is to save yourself the headache and order from some other mail order nursery. I recently bought from Raintree Nursery and had a much better experience and received trees of superior vigor and size for the same money.

I received my two fruit trees from Willis Orchard today, and I am very happy with my purchase. They came in one box, with roots wrapped in plastic and packing jelly. They shipped the trees when I asked, and I had no problems what so ever, with the whole process. I bought them early in the summer of last year and I have waited all year for this, it was definitely worth the wait! I purchased a 3in1 Apple tree and a Pawpaw tree. But what I received was a 4in1 Apple, which made my day! The grafts on the Apple tree are nearly 4 feet long with a gorgeous, branch structure. The Pawpaw tree has a thick trunk and branched out beautifully. After reading all the negative reviews it kind of discouraged me. I am very glad I did business with them. They have exceeded my expectations. I will do business with them in the future and have already started to recommend this company to all my tree-loving friends and family. These two trees are my new pride and joy, and I can not wait for them to fruit! Thank you so much Willis Orchard Company!

I am new to gardening, the extent of my knowledge comes from guessing and vague memories of 4 years in FFA classes for school. They sent me 10 grape vines, most of them had huge root stocks. I am assuming that's a good indicator of grape vine health. The roots were 3 feet long. They are vining out now, and hopeful by next year they produce something. Negatives, they are very iffy on shipping times and notices. One has to be very careful when ordering to ensure a shipment doesn't go out when there's frost on the ground or that it's snow season. The canes of the grapes are very thin I was a bit puzzled by that, hopefully in the next few years they will thicken up.

I give this company a rating of 0. They suck you in with good plants sent at a reasonable time that grow well. Then on your next order they sucker punch you. I live in northern Iowa 95 miles from Minnesota and they sent trees and of all things strawberry plants on November 28th. The ground was frozen but we planted and hoped for the best, the strawberries were planted indoors and we tried to keep them alive. I thought orchards were supposed to send plants when they had the best chance of survival and of course they won't replace the $30.00 of strawberry plants, I'm sure they are hoping I will reorder the strawberry plants. I ordered in good faith that they would send plants when they were supposed to be sent. All of the trees I purchased died and I have to pay to either send the trees back or send pictures and pay for the shipping for them to send me replacements. This doesn't sound like a company that I will ever do business with again. I also talked with one of their representative who talked over me the entire time and could have cared less what I was saying. My husband talked with the owner who pretty much had the same attitude. Unfortunately I can't say this is the worst I have ever dealt with. I ran several businesses in my younger days and if I ever caught one of my employees talking with a customer in this manner it would have been an immediate dismissal but then again they were taught that in their training. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't buy from this company it will be the only thing they understand.

6 of the seven items I ordered arrived healthy and are doing terrific. But the 7th item, a hardy pecan, didn't look good upon arrival but drinking from the fountain of hope I planted it and waited for it to leaf out. Eventually I gave up and contacted Willis Orchard. They do not give refunds (as stated on their website) however they also won't send replacement plants. They will give a $ credit to my account for future orders. But there won't be future orders as I believe in not ordering from a company that does not stand by their products.

Willis Orchards sells many, many fruit tree varieties. Their website doesn't specify root stock and, in fact, claims that some of their trees will grow in zones that they absolutely will not flourish in. So, since I live in the Piedmont area of NC and they are located in Cartersville, GA, we have similar climates. I emailed them to ask which plums, peaches and nectarines they recommend for my zone and what root stocks those trees are grown on. This is the response I received: "We are a southern company with trees and plants designed from different zones. If you are in Charlotte, then anything we grow you can grow. We will begin shipping to the Carolinas after Thanksgiving and up to April. ". Huh? So because they grow and sell Bing cherry trees and Blenheim apricots (probably in a greenhouse), that means I can grow those trees in my back yard? I think not - especially not knowing what root stock they are grown on. Because they grow trees "designed from different climates", that means I can grow all of them even though some are "designed" for zones other than my own? Anyway, they didn't answer my questions about anything. So, I responded to their email as follows: "Thanks for responding. You said that you "are a Southern Company with trees and plants designed from different zones." So if you sell trees that work in many different climate zones, how can I grow "anything" you grow? I can only grow what works in my zone. I can't grow what works in California or Michigan! I was asking for specific suggestions of what grows best in the Charlotte area. Unfortunately your response was not at all helpful. I will go elsewhere." And this is their response: "Each tree has a growing zone listed beside it. You are zone 7. We are zone 7. We can grow the trees and you can grow the trees you wish to purchase. The varieties are listed on our website. You can choose the items of your choose by reading descriptions. If you want a list of items that are particular to your area, your local county extension service can provide that for you.". Wow, talk about customer service, or lack thereof, and caring about your customers! This is a factory that pumps out trees for the $$ and couldn't care less about the success of their customers. Why couldn't they take 5 minutes to offer advice and root stock details? Needless to say, they won't be getting my business. A few more things, they sell one plumcot hybrid and no mention of the plum and apricot cross or root stock. Their growing zones are inappropriate (clearly designed just to sell trees to the unknowing). Buying trees from them is like rolling the dice and hoping to get lucky.

Bought a Cleveland Pear from this company which arrived in a dried out state and appeared dead. None the less I planted it as instructed and cared for it for approximately 2 1/2 weeks. I never showed any signs of life. I emailed the company asking for a refund (less the $20 in shipping) and what I got was a long series of email questioning my ability to plant and care for this tree. I eventually came to the conclusion that their policy is to wear of the customer out with endless emails until they gave up on the refund. A pretty sleazy way to do business.

I was very unsure about ordering from here because of all the bad reviews. I decided to take a chance, because they were the closest place that I could find that sold a Catalpa x erubescens 'Purpurea'. I emailed them first to make sure they had them, and I received a reply the same day. I received my tree about 4 days after ordering. It was about 3 feet tall. I was still nervous because it was winter, and I had several months to wait and see if it leafed out. Needless to say, I had no need to worry. It is covered in pretty purple leaves and doing well. I would have no problem ordering from them again.

I have never ordered bare root plants before. I ordered from Willis,taking a chance on bare root plants. I ordered a bing cherry,Rainer cherry,Pawnee pecan,and an elberta peach in late January. I waited about 10 days until my order was shipped. I received about mid February all 4 trees in a box about 7 feet long. When I unwrapped the trees and detangled the roots, the roots were still moist from their 3 day trip up interstate 75. The day I received them I soaked the roots in water for about 6 hours and had them in the ground by sunset that evening. It's now been almost 2 months, the bing and Rainer cherries are almost in full leaf, the elberta peach has bloomed and is now leafing. The Pawnee pecan is getting ready to break! A few weeks later I ordered 4 Thompson seedless grapes and 4 concord seedless grapes,all bare root 3 year old vines, almost all the buds have broken and the vines have about 2 inches of growth. I had my doubts about Willis, but those have been put to rest. All trees and grape vines are in excellent shape. My only disappointment is when I went to reorder more trees from Willis they were out of stock. When Willis gets more trees ready I will order again!

Purchased 4 peach trees, 3 cherry trees, and 3 grape vines. Two of the peach trees arrived in bad shape, the roots were dried out and broken. The trees were dead. Sent e-mail and pictures. They have not answered and appear to be a bad company to do business with. Beware

I bought apricot,cherry,blueberry,quince,apple tree from this company and couple berry bushes last year.I was so excited with their price and the bigger three you can get.Spend $$$ They came in a box squished all together and cut of side limps, and more horribly some threes are cut from roots!!.One tree was beheaded actually and just a stick.They put some kind of gelatin and all looked alive though. Apricot and quince arrived a little damaged on the body.During summer, quince kind of died and come back still struggling .Apricot has a bark disease as well right know,cannot decide if I should get rid since its a big tree and these threes are fruiting size supposedly. which they did not !!! Cherry looks fine but no fruit as well... apple so so...berry bushes no good spend around 50 .I got some from lowes dollars each and they gave me fruits !!! Should I cry or laugh? I am going to buy loquat ,sour cherry,plum,and pomegranates ,but will try **rolling river nursery** which has so many high ratings, this year.It looks like they are going to send small trees but I think its better.

I ordered some mayhaw trees which were actually seedlings of the varieties I wanted to order. I apparently didnt see the small listing for seedling next to descriptions of the named cultivars. Either way I ordered seedlings but they arrived with tags of the named cultivars they were seedlings of! This practice of labeling seedlings with the tag of a named cultivar is EXTREMELY FAUX PAS and should be noted by anyone trying to buy accurate cultivars. I've left an email last week with no response. I've called twice since I sent my email and the lady who answered the phone would only tell me that she will tell somebody that I called. That was very unprofessional or is she brain dead? My issue should be able to be solved by anyone who answers any ringing phone at any reputable nursery. Read the other reviews of Willis Orchard Company and you will see more of the same, sending people wrong/incorrect varieties for the sake of selling a plant. I WILL NEVER BUY FROM WILLIS AGAIN!

I have ordered 9 trees and asked about no pruning. What I've received was just shocking. The trees arere chopped in a half, all have the same size as 1' tree although tree sizes were from 1' through 4'. A few trees look like thin twigs growing from the broken stumps. Tree bark is cracked and comes out, the roots are black and rotten, those rotten parts can be taken off with a light touch. I've sent them the pictures and no response on all of that issue. I am going to contact the state authorities and sue them.

I ordered 7 raseberry bushes and two blueberry bushes. They shipped within 2 days of the order and I Got them in one day. The blueberry bushes are growing great, but I had a couple of the raseberry bushes not take. I called them back and spoke to Mr. Jay and explained the situation to him. He was more then willing to help and he sent new bushes back out to me. It is hard to get service like that anymore. I have been unsure about other problems with plants That I own, and I have emailed pics to Mr Jay and he has always looked at them and told me what was wrong and what I needed to do to address the problem. This is a great company and I encourage the each of you to buy from them.

I ordered two Damson plum trees from Willis Orchards about 8 years ago. The trees grew nicely but I have yet to have any plums ! One year, I had a handful of plums on one of the trees but they were clearly NOT Damson plums, they were some other variety, I was shipped the wrong variety. The other years, the trees blossomed nicely but WAY too early for Buffalo, NY - - usually around April 1 - 15 so the blossoms would freeze. My father had told me NOT to buy fruit trees from a Southern company because the trees are "programmed " to bloom too early and he was right ! So, I've taken the trees out this years and bought new plums trees from a local place that sources from an area tree farm and I know these are correct variety.

I purchased 10 apple trees and 2 peach trees from Willis, and they all arrived at the end of March. They were all planted the day I got them. They were all listed as 1" caliper, and the peach trees were all listed as "instant orchard." All the trees have started leafing out, so I doubt I will lose any of them. However, not a single tree is actually a 1" caliper. All of them came in between 3/4"-7/8". Also, not a chance that the two peaches are instant orchard. Neither one has a single bloom, and there is simply no such thing as an instant orchard tree that is 3/4" caliper. So while the Willis trees should produce some fruit eventually, I am about a year behind where I thought I would be production wise.

Posted on May 28, 2015, updated May 5, 2016 I ordered 5 trees from Willis Orchards back in March. The trees were shipped and all were well branched and large, very impressive. Unfortunately some failed to come out of dormancy. When I contacted Willis Orchards, Jay Willis got in touch with me. He explained that if I had used any fertilezer in my potting media, it could have compromised the roots of the trees. But, Jay was so sweet, courteous and professional, and offered to replace all the trees which failed to emerge from dormancy. Jay patiently explained their t policies, and that my new trees would be shipped in the fall. I am so happy that my trees are to be replaced, but also am delighted with the service I received from Willis Orchards. The nursery is one that offers mature fruit trees, which is difficult to find. But, they also stand behind their guarantee and service. I wholeheartedly recommend Willis Orchards and would love to use them again. Unfortunately, I live in a townhouse, and I turned my tiny backyard into a stone patio, so I have to grow my trees in large "smart" pots. Thank you, again, Jay, and I wish you and your company great success!!!!

Very pricey little tree. One hundred dollars for a five foot crabapple. Really go somewhere else.

I ordered a a crab apple and two Asian persimmons fromWillis Orchard last spring. The crab apple and one of the Asian persimmons survived the summer and are doing well in dormancy. This past week, my second order of Black Beauty mulberry, a Big Red Mayhaw, and two Paw Paws arrived today in excellent condition. They went immediately into the ground. So far I am happy with this company and its plant offerings. I will do a follow-up and post a final review in the Spring on the recently planted trees. So far, so good.

I have purchased over 300 trees from online companies that send them bare root. I judge the trees by the quality of the roots that on them. Willis always has a huge amount of roots and they don't trim the top so I have the choice on how I want to trim them. This year I ordered two apple trees from them (Pink Lady and McIntosh). I needed a 6 foot and a 7 foot. This is my only compliant. every tree I have received from Willis is 4 foot and since they are untrimmed they were not cut to fit in the box. They were 'really' 4' but labeled 6 and 7 foot. However, the trees take off right away and it is now August and they are hitting a second growth spurt. I never let the trees set fruit the first year. The Pink Lady tried but I pinch them off to give them a year to grow. I learned that the trees are 4 foot no matter what I order but I have 100% success rate with their trees, so I will continue to order and recommend them to others.

I have purchased and planted about 30 bare root fruit trees over the last ten years with almost entirely positive results. Lat year, I bought two bare root cherries from Willis and paid about 3 times as much as I have paid for any other fruit tree. They were supposed to give me fruit the first year. I received two little things with hardly any branches or roots and already leafed out. I managed to nurse them through the first year. Now in the second year, they are almost doing as well are three cherries for which I paid about a third the price and planted this spring. I don't anticipate any fruit for several years. Incidentally, one of the trees I ordered from this nursery was a black gold cherry. When they shipped, the email invoice said it was a stella. The plastic tag says it is a black gold. I will never do business with these people again.

I'm giving Willis Orchards a positive review, even though my experience with their trees hasn't been perfect. Part of why I'm doing that is, I had one experience with an online nursery this year (Garden Delights aka Online Plant Nursery aka TN Plant Nursery, which is in NO WAY affiliated with Willis, they just also happen to sell bareroot) and that was truly, terribly horrible, and frustrating, and, by comparison, Willis Orchards is doing okay in my opinion, so far, depending on how things go in the fall. Let me explain. Last summer I ordered 5 trees from Willis: A 6 ft. Chickasaw Plum, a 4 foot Loblolly pine, a 6 foot Sycamore, a 6 foot Tulip Poplar and a 6 foot Southern Crabapple. All these trees were bareroot, and so, they did look a little like sticks in the box they came in. The pine is still pretty spindly, but it's alive and green for the most part (not the full pine I was hoping for but...) the Sycamore is doing well, and the Chickasaw plum, though it had a good bit of breakage on the branches in the box, is doing okay. I wouldn't describe any of these little trees as looking super strong and I think I've learned the hard way not to order bareroot if possible, or at least only to order smaller bareroot trees--I feel like it traumatizes the tree a little to be shipped bareroot--but the three trees I've mentioned are living and putting out new growth. Anyway, the tulip poplar and the crabapple were the problems. the poplar tree just stuck there like a stick, on into May. I kept tending it and waiting. It tried putting out a few leaves at the base, but the top was completely dead. As for the crab apple, it never came back to life at all, poor thing. I should say, I babied ALL these trees equally, had pre-dug square, not too deep more wide holes for them, soaked them prior to planting, took them out of the box and had them in the ground almost immediately from the time they arrived, researched where to plant each species of tree, have many other trees and shrubs from different nurseries that I planted and cared for last fall that are now thriving...I don't think the fact that two of them died was my fault. Fortunately, Willis didn't act like it was my fault either. I took pictures of the dead trees, and had no problems in my dealings with an employee at Willis named Cynthia. She issued me a $69.90 credit, and although I will have to wait until the fall to plant things once again, I'm still not incredibly upset about it because at least I have credit so my money is not completely gone. I spent hundreds of dollars on bareroot trees from that online TN nursery Garden Delights place, on over 50 trees, to have only THREE survive, and their customer service is horrific, they sent me trees that weren't even the species I had ordered, demanded that I mail the trees back to them if I wanted even a store credit, and had the rudest customer service I have EVER experience. That was not the case with Willis though. They assured me that I have a full 69.90 dollar credit, the replacement trees they will send me in the fall will also be under warranty, and they do seem to know how to properly dig bareroot plants (I think the other place just dug trees out of the woods the day before they sent them to me, with no root pruning the season before or anything, knowing they would die). I will write again about Willis, depending on what happens with the trees I receive in the fall and how healthy they are, but at least this company shows *some* good faith in terms of making it right if some of their plants die on a customer, and I appreciated that. I guess bareroot trees are higher risk, so I'm glad they offer some form of guarantee. Also, all the trees I got from them were, in fact, labeled correctly, and, sadly, I don't take things like that for granted now either!

I purchased 3 grape vines last July 2014. The vines were shipped and arrived in early November 2014. I paid nearly $40.00 for these vines which included a $19.00 shipping charge. I planted the vines within a day of receiving them as per the included instructions. As of today June 5th, 2015, the vines show no signs of life. I called the company and was sent an email on how to check and see if the vines were indeed dead. I did the test as instructed and found all 3 vines to be dead. I again called on how to get a refund for the dead vines. I was told that if I emailed a picture of the vines, I could receive 3 replacement vines by just paying $19.00 for shipping. I Already paid for shipping once and think it is unfair to ask me to pay another$19.00 for vines I already have paid $40.00 for. If I were to do this I would of ended up paying close to $60.00 for 3 grape vines. Also the replacement vines would not be shipped until November, once again making me wait until spring to see if they have survived. Then what? What if once again I find the vines are dead? Do I call again and have them replaced and spend another $19.00 for shipping? All I wanted was a refund, the gentleman on the phone stated no way , no how does this company offer refunds, replacements only and shipping for this item would be in November at a cost of $19.00. I have decided to go to a local nursery and buy the vines. In the meantime I am out the $40.00 and no growing grape vines. I would recommend anyone thinking about doing business with this company, think it over long and hard. My advice is to try a local nursery or a better rated grower. This company does not follow accepted business practices and should be avoided.

Neutral because 1 of the 4 trees arrived clearly dead and with very little root system to it (the pomegranet). Planted it anyway just in case. Never did come out of dormancy or develop at all. I figured that was ok-ish since the other three came out of dormancy and did well the first season, so didn't persue refund. However, a little over a year later only one of them overwintered. Neither the apple nor peach came out of dormancy this year. So now I am down to 1 of 4 trees alive 15 months after ordering. Both peaches and apples do quite well here, and I've raised both for decades. So I'm quite disappointed, and now out of warranty.

Posted on November 29, 2014, updated May 24, 2015 I've just received my first order from Willis ... its almost Dec. now, I was expecting the plants to come in the spring because the nights are already getting below 20 deg. here in Missouri ... so I am alittle nervous about their survival chances ... I ordered 3 pear trees and I have to say that if these stay alive I feel that I really got my money's worth .... the trees are a very good size for the price I paid ( when compared to some tiny crooked " twigs " you get from some other online outfits.) They also have a good shape , nice straight and normal looking ( not rejects or picked-overs ) ...I wish that they had left a few more roots on them when they pruned , but we'll see what happens.... of course the real test will be in the spring , if these trees survive the MO. winter and wake up .For now , I have to leave a positive rating because I got these at a good price , the trees are large and of a nice shape . So I will report back in the spring and let you know if they woke up or not.

Posted on May 5, 2015, updated May 12, 2015 I purchased a Katherine Havemeyer lilac from Willis. I have wanted this lilac for many years. I gave it a prominent place in the garden I have designed and built from scratch. As expected it bloomed this week, but I am very disappointed to find that it is NOT Katherine Havemeyer! Today, I sent an email to Willis with the order # and complete information and have asked them to please send me the lilac I ordered and paid for. I think they may assume that most customers will not know the difference, but this lilac is nothing like the one I ordered. I will change this review only if I get the right one, and if they send it to me promptly. Of course, I will have to wait till it blooms in 2016. I am not getting any younger...

I ordered a Meader Hardy Kiwi, Pecan Tree, Banana tree, Palm tree, Olive tree. All arrived well packaged and in good condition. I'm happy with my purchase.

Last year I purchased a variety of trees and vines from Willis including a 4 in 1 Apple tree, a 4 in 1 Cherry tree, an English Walnut tree, a crimson grape, a merlot grape, a blueberry grape, and a blueberry bush. I received my items on March 21st and planted them the next day. Although the roots were packed with gel, I personally felt more care could have been taken to ensure all of the roots were secured inside of the plastic packaging, some of them slipped through the folds and were not exposed to the gel, leaving them dry and brittle. The Apple tree showed signs of life right away and actually began to produce fruit on two of the branches, though I picked them off before they could mature into anything. Soon after the blueberry bush leafed out and the crimson grape after that. The Cherry tree, merlot and blueberry grapes, and the English Walnut tree never made it. As per their 1 year guarantee, I followed their instructions online which were to remove the dead trees/vines from the ground, and ship the lower half back to them for a replacement. Their return process was fairly painless, the only time I called was midway through March to get an idea of when I could expect delivery. My replacements arrived today, a little later than I would have liked (the Cherry tree has broken dormancy) but overall they all look good. I still feel that more care could have been taken in packing the roots, but the root structures on these trees are a little less butchered than I remembered them being last year. Though I have not had a chance to see if these replacements take, it is irrelevant from my perspective as their guarantee only applies to a single replacement. However, I do feel the company deserves a positive review for a quick and easy replacement process. Aside from the packing of the roots, both the original shipment and the replacements seemed in good health upon arrival.

I ordered three of each: 2 year-old Indian Summer Red Raspberry Plants, Heritage Raspberry Plants, and Southern Bababerry Raspberry Plants. They had a shipping window of 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015 but arrived in November. They were very securely and well packed and had moisturizing gel covering the majority of their roots. They were all fully dormant. I did a nick test and they all had green underneath. I planted the same day they arrived. It's the first week of April now and they have all broken dormancy and are doing really well (some that get more sun even started growing a month ago).

Ordered several varieties of apple and pear threes. A couple of my trees on my order were really beat up. They had a lot of heavily damaged bark at about mid height. I planned on espaliering some so it wasn't too big of a deal. I did find out this year that a Chojuro Asian pear tree from a previous order is really a Kiefer pear. I contacted Willis Orchards about having the wrong pear and sent them pictures of the pears showing that they are not an Chojuro pear. Jay from Willis Orchards said that it looked like I had 2 different varieties on the tree. I sent further pictures from different angles showing positively that it was not in any way shape or form an Asian pear tree. I have not received any further response from them. I'd hate for anyone to spend the time tending to a tree for several years and ultimately find out that you don't have the same tree that you ordered. Based on my latest experiences I will no longer order from them.

I bought a Pomagranet tree last year. I planted it. It never came out of dormancy. Willis orchard replaced it this year. Waiting & hoping for better results. My problem with Willis Orchard is they promised a satisfaction guarantee. However, with the replacement, they provide no guarantee. Not sure if I will ever do business with them again. Waiting for tree to come out of dormancy again.

I ordered from Willis Orchard I was so afraid because I found this website after the fact. My order arrived today via Fed Ex and was packaged nicely. My Dwarf Nectarine Tree has buds and is very green. My two Gogi Bushes they are really nice and green. I'm so happy to get everything. My order is beautiful and I couldn't be anymore happier. I never give reviews but when I read all these comments and they were so negative. I decided to give my input. I hope this helps the next person with their decision to order. Thanks Willis Orchard.

I bought some nice pecan trees from Willis. I would recommend their pecans. Teresa

Very pleased with my recent order. The Albemarle Pippin apple tree (hard to find elsewhere) was good-sized, well-shaped, and sturdy. The packing was excellent. Very pleased with my purchase. Much better than what I have gotten from some better-known companies!

I was pretty satisfied with my purchase here. My trees arrived 6 days after the order was placed. The root ball was wrapped and packed with ice, and the roots were in very good shape (by my judgement at least). I ordered two 4-5 ft trees and three 3-4 ft trees. You can see from the pictures below that almost all the trees were ~5 ft + 1ft of root, so I thought that was definitely as advertised or better. Here are a few pics of the trees as I opened them. //googledrive.com/host/0B7eL7BH54ZMsb1p4VVdMdUp5Y1k/1.jpg //googledrive.com/host/0B7eL7BH54ZMsb1p4VVdMdUp5Y1k/2.jpg //googledrive.com/host/0B7eL7BH54ZMsb1p4VVdMdUp5Y1k/3.jpg I've had bad experiences in the past with other mail order plant companies and have come to realize that there are inherent risks with bare root plants. What I expect from a good company is: 1) You got your order as specified (size, species, etc) and it wasnt *over* pruned, or a younger plant sold as an older pruned plant. 2) It was delivered on time such that the roots didnt dry out. 3) Customer service is good in the case that a mistake is made. (And for my part I always make sure I plant the trees within 24 hours of when I get them) I thought this company met all those expectations. Now I just have to take care of the trees to make sure they set in and grow!

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COST!!! . Ordered two fruit trees on 6/9/14 as advertised for zone 4 area. At a later date (after some research) I informed them they misrepresented zones in the fruit tree section and wanted to cancel my order, Spoke to Jay Young (customer service mgr.), put on hold for a bit only to be told that I was correct and the trees were not for zone 4 and would perish. Also told they would change the errors on their web page... (its been weeks and hasn't happened yet) I asked for refund and told I would get it minus 10%. I objected to the minus percentage refund due to the fact they misrepresented the product and was no fault of mine. And to just find out that they ship in March due to Georgia weather was my other reason for canceling, we still have snow on the ground up till May some seasons. They had plenty of time to refund my credit card and when asked why nothing has been posted yet they blamed the banks and credit card company.. Just got of the phone with both and nothing on Willis Orchard end is being done. When Jay was pressed on why all the 193 bad reviews at Dave's Garden, guess what? Not their fault, we are somewhat disgruntled...Maybe if enough of us wrote the Attorney Generals office of Georgia it would open their eyes up and deal with customers in a different way. I'm writing and mentioning Dave Watchdog site as evidence!!!

Posted on December 30, 2014, updated January 29, 2015 I very carefully weighed my options when I decided what and where I was going to order from. I opted to use an online grower for multiple reasons, one being I could check out reviews about them and another being I could fully research exactly what I was buying before I bought it to ensure it would grow properly in my home. The fact that Willis was located in Georgia, to me was a bonus because the record low temperatures in the regions did a number to area growers. -- What I ordered: Red Delicious Apple Tree, Granny Smith Apple Tree, Stella Cherry Tree, Weeping Santa Rosa Plum Tree, Golden Delicious Apple Tree, Shinko Asian Pear Tree, Blenheim Apricot Tree, Sam Houston Peach Tree, Bartlett Pear Tree, Then three I believe of 3 year old grape vines, and a blueberry bush What arrived: Everything- Wrapped meticulously and nicely pruned in a box, bare root, with gel. They arrived just as we had begun to warm up a bit and they had not broke dormancy. We had already prepared all the holes as we were expecting their arrival. We purchased mostly Ez-picks, a couple instant orchard size but the Blenheim was young and was the only tree we bought on a whim (without previously researching). The blueberry bush already had some green on it and was the first we planted immediately out of the box in an area with acidic soil just perfect for blueberry bushes. We soaked the roots for the others and added mycorrhizal fungi to the soil when planting to help the roots have the absolute best start. All the trees were planted within a few hours of arrival. The grape vines honestly looked fairly poor. I know dormant vines always do, but these had me really wondering. We planted them along the trellis built for them and crossed our fingers. Within about a month, the Sam Houston just looked pitiful despite it being one of the more expensive trees we bought. I called a neighbor who happens to be a horticulturist and asked for help. He said a lot of peach trees were fairing poorly this year, I explained it had only been transplanted a month prior and he said the best we could do was give it some time to see how well it would do. By late August, a scratch test revealed it was indeed completely dead and we removed it. It was also around that time that my shinko asian pear died of fireblight. The entire tree (that is suppose to be resistant to fire blight) was overtaken and had to be removed as well. Our blueberry bush did not take off either and our grapes remained sticks as well. Dead. Now onto to the good news. The Santa Rosa weeping plum flourished beautifully. The Stella Cherry tree had minimal growth but it is thriving. Our three apple trees had lots of foliage growth and grew wonderfully. The blenheim we purchased was not much more than a 1 year maiden and as such performed like one. A little growth but too soon to say how she'll perform. The barlett pair had minimal growth, I am keeping a close eye on him- but being now it's winter, we will have to see how he does once breaking dormancy. So why the neutral- Well, my experience with their customer service was positive when I ordered. They answered questions in a timely manner and I appreciated that. I was disappointed that my trees did not perform as well as I'd hoped, but I am still watching carefully. Due to an error on my end (tossing the receipt that came in the box) and being a victim of identity theft, I had closed my bank account so I could not pull up my receipt. After reading their guidelines on their website and other reviews stating the difficulty of attempting to get replacements, I didn't even bother and have sucked it up as my loss. I am now researching to put a new order in for this year for several more trees and some other bushes and grape vines. I am not sure what company to order from. I am on the fence with whether or not to order again from Willis or not. I appreciate that they offer mature trees that other companies do not. In the same breath, I'm unhappy that my blueberry bush did poorly, and my grapes and a few trees died. I'd rather pay a little more and have healthy plants and trees than to put all this time, research and effort into a losing battle. I may update this eventually in the future when my trees get a little older. I did take many pictures when I unboxed my trees that I had planned to blog about, perhaps I'll do that this spring and update their growth. I noticed when researching this company there were some but not many unboxing/planting/growth updates online. That is vital information for someone like me with limited land to grow on, and a large family to feed.

My experiences with this company have met all expectations. All orders were correctly and timely shipped and all plants have survived but one, and I believe that the problem there was may fault. I have ordered, on several occasions fruit trees suitable for wildlife, and they range from paw paws, apple seedlings and crab apples, pears, mayhaws and mulberries over a 3 year period. Most were tubed. All were bare root, and I am NOT a fan of this to start with. I'm an air root prune, accelerators or rootmakers, propagate them myself kind of guy. I just like to plant stuff. But I have to admit that I've done well with the bare roots so far, and I wanted pollinators and genetics from different populations to go with my own. And I give them the proper care. My reason for this post is to convey my experience and to add that a satisfied customer rarely says thank you to the vendor, much less post on a publicly shared site. I have no stake in the game. But I WILL use Willis Orchard again. They offer selections that I want, the quality so far has been good, and the customer service contact, while limited, has proven to be excellent. They do seem to know what they are talking about. I hope all find this helpful.

I wasn't happy with Willis. I wouldn't order from them again. I ordered $75 worth of berries. I had to remind them a couple months after ordering to receive them. I ordered mixed ages - from 1 to 3 year old canes. There was very little difference in the cane size. It took me two years to figure out that the Baba Berries I ordered were not Baba Berries, but Wineberries (sort of a weed berry). I emailed the company and sent a photo from a website as that was how I finally figured out that they weren't the correct berry. The service representative said I needed to send a photo from my garden of the fruiting berry but by that time the berries were gone. None of the berries I got from them did very well. I bought some golden berries and they didn't produce either. The shipping was on the high side as well for what I received - a box that weighed about a pound with about a dozen spindly canes in it. Not worth the money and lousy customer service.

I recommend that you use another vendor other than Willis Orchard Company for your plants and trees. I made my order in early March 2013 and received my products in early April 2013. I had pre-dug holes for each of the items, sprayed them down thoroughly upon arrival, and quickly got them into the ground. I kept the plants well-watered during the 2013 growing season. My results with their products were highly disappointing. All-in-one Almond tree: No leaves or growth in 2013 or 2014 Mahan and Hican Pecan trees: 2013- one tree had three leaves, other no leaves or growth; 2014- no leaves or growth on either tree Anne Raspberry plants (5):- 2013- two plants had a few leaves; 2014- no leaves or growth on any plants Chickasaw Plum tree: No leaves or growth in 2013 and 2014 In contrast, cherry, fig, apple, and pear trees from other vendors grew very well on my property in 2013 and 2014. In contrast, Anne Raspberry plants from Burpee grew very well on my property in 2014. I am a gardener with 40 years of experience. I did not contact Willis Orchard for an exchange because, quite frankly, I do not wish to receive more weak trees and plants that will take up my time and fail to prosper.

I recently purchased a few bare root pecan trees from Willis Orchard. They arrived a little later than expected, but they looked excellent. I was pleased with the price, compared to what I saw online from other similar places they were a little below average on the price but a little above average on the quality. I purchased last year from another nursery here in S. Carolina and had less luck.