Aesthetic Gardens

I just received my order from Aestethic Gardens. As always (I have ordered once or twice a year for the past 5 years) the order was shipped immediately and the plants are of superb quality. They carry many rare and hard to find plants, and both their prices and their shipping charges are very reasonable, considering the large size and excellent quality of their plants. Highly reccommended.

I ordered Alba wisteria and Blue Sapphire wisteria. They arrived in perfect condition. Also, customer service was very helpful about answering my pruning questions. I will definitely shop here again!

I received three magnolia trees this year in excellent condition... plant quality, packaging, root structure and delivery will result in repeat business.

I have ordered several woody plants. The packing was fabulous! THe best I've ever seen in terms of protecting the plants from damage during mailing. The plants themselves were very healthy. My only concern is a wish that the size of the plants would be larger. I am impressed with the extremely large number of unique and hard to find plants available.

I ordered some rare blackberry hybrids from this place on February 18, 2003 and asked for the order to be shipped on April 21, 2003. I did this as I live in Michigan and it was too cold here to have them shipped at the time I ordered. Their website states that they ship to the east coast via UPS 3-Day-Select Service. Well, today is April 24, 2003 and my berries have not been delivered! My credit card has been charged though and, it was charged at the time I ordered...not at the time they ship! I've faxed and e-mailed them and haven't gotten any response in the past couple days. I am attempting to get a UPS tracking number from them. Their website does not list ANY phone number, only a fax number. They only give you a toll free number AFTER you place an order...and it's not Aesthetic Gardens(their parent company perhaps?). Anyway, here is the toll free number- 1-800-805-9157. After calling that number, twice today, a nice lady gave me the number for Aesthetic Gardens- (503)393-8112. According to their answering machine, they are closed till April 28th because of RAIN?!!! I don't see why rain would hinder the shipping process. This place does have some rare plants that you can't find anywhere else and, this is my first time dealing with them. So, I will give them a neutral rating, for now. I will come back here and post when my order actually arrived.

Last year ordered two small pines--they have a very nice website. HOwever, one of the pines died, and there is no replacement offered. I was told that the plants were in good condition when they shipped (from Oregon to Ohio), and therefore, if anything happened to then, well, too bad. My feeling is that they should at least make this known on their website. I told them this, but, too bad.....

Plants were shipped quickly. They are very healthy & growing well! I'm very happy with this company.

I too have had excellent results ordering from these guys. I think one of the principals is Larry Stanley of Stanley and Sons Nursery, who also give excellent service. They have material you can't find anywhere else at good prices. Two thumbs up.

Based upon my experience, I give Aesthetic Gardens a #1 rating on superior customer service, excellent packing methods, & good quality plants. In May 2000 I ordered 9 plants (in 1 gallon containers). The order consisted of 7 grafted conifers, 1 grafted Japanese maple, & one bamboo plant. The complete order (NO substitutes) arrived the following week - quick service! The shipment was EXCEPTIONALLY WELL PACKED & all plants arrived in excellent condition. They "go to extremes" to make sure the plants are packed well: 1.) A round heavy cardboard paper is placed on top of the potting mix to keep it & the plant inside the 1 gallon plastic pot (the stem of the plant passes through a hole in the center of the cardboard). 2.) A plastic bag is taped to the bottom of the pot AND to the cardboard insert, holding it in place. The plant & potting media are securely held inside the pot. 3. The pots are taped to the bottom of the box, ensuring that the tops don't get crushed when the box gets turned upside down during shipping (which often happens). They even used bamboo stakes over the tops of the pots to further hold them down to the bottom. 4.) The boxes are apparently "cut down to size" if your order does not completely fill their boxes. The "cut down box" is very securely stapled together. This eliminates excess space, keeping the plants from jumping around inside the box & crushing each other during shipping.All were very nice plants except for one conifer--its graft union had not healed properly (which affected its ability to grow). The new growth was quite weak.I sent an email to Aesthetic Gardens describing the plant & its condition. I asked that they replace the plant & listed 2 substitutes in the event that they were out of stock of that variety. The VERY NEXT DAY (Saturday) I received a short reply: a replacement plant (of greater value; 1 of the substitutes I listed) would be sent out the next business day.I received the replacement plant in perfect condition. It was an excellent specimen. There was NO CHARGE for either the plant or shipping. Based on my experience, Aesthetic Gardens has earned my trust for their superior customer service, excellent packing methods, good quality plants, & for standing behind their products. I will definitely order from them again & will recommend them to my friends.

My wife and I have been dealing with mail order nurseries for 35 years. We have ordered dozens of fruit trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals from companies all over the country. We have had generally positive experiences with the companies. Aesthetic Gardens has no catalogue, no city or street location, yet list some of the most exotic plants available. Apparently it is a group of wholesale growers in the Portland, Oregon area who have banded together to establish a retail outlet through the internet. My snooping suggests that the lead outfit is Handy Nursery, a long-established wholesale outfit. Ordinarily I would not deal with an outfit that has just an internet address, but I wanted to have two of their listed plants and was unable to find them from other companies. So I took the plunge. I received gorgeous plants, large, healthy. But a problem developed. I had ordered a rare variety of Cladrastis (yellow wood) for $42. The plant I received was excellent. When I went to plant it, I discovered that they had a slightly different botanical name on the plant tag. It turns out that the substitution -- of a plant not listed on their website -- would be less hardy (Zone 5b or 6 against the zone 4 for my requested plant), and since we are in 5b, I balked. At first I contacted the company via E-mail, later I was contacted by phone. They concurred that the substitution would be problematic and shortly refunded my $42. They also told me to keep the tree! I am impressed!