Comments regarding Whitman Farms

I had the most wonderful experience with mail ordering Japanese maple trees from this nursery. The trees were high quality and professionally grafted. I will definitely order many more in the near future. Thanks again Lucile!!!

Overall great experience--answered questions through e-mail promptly, reasonable shipping, nice plants, friendly service. Also very honest about hardiness/reliability of certain stock. An online shopping cart would be awesome, but making the phone call is definitely worth the extra effort. I would love to try some of the bigger stock--there is always next year.
Plantloco

I had a wonderful experience with Whitman Farms. Lucile is super friendly and helpful and goes the extra mile with customer service. She even took pictures of a tree I was interested in and sent it to me through email. The shipping and prices are very reasonable. The trees I ordered were sent entirely across the the country (to NC) in just a few days. I highly recommend this nursery. A+++++

Since we are about an hour from the farm I phoned to ask if we might make and appointment for a visit. Lucille was friendly and more than willing to make an appointment for us.

We were delayed in traffic, so I phoned to tell her we would be late. She was friendly and said we were welcome whenever we arrived.

She met us at the office with her 9 month old black standard poodle, Lulu. When she was we had two dogs in our truck she invited them along on the tour. They had as good a time as we did.

I explained that we are new in the area and trying to plan and plant our property. I told her the areas in which we wanted shrubs and trees and she asked detailed questions about our desires for appearance, size, etc. She also asked the sunlight and shade in each area.

She proceeded to take us on a tour of her very, very impressive tree farm. I felt comfortable asking any questions, even very basic ones from a new person in the area.

She showed us trees and shrubs for each area we asked about and, when I asked her about various plantings she answered every question thoroughly. She is a delightful and very knowledgeable person.

She pulled out specimins of each tree or shrub we decided upon, reserved sold out items for us for next spring, gave detailed information on what to do with the bagged plants until they are planted, took me in the office and made labels for each one, wrote on my receipt a more detailed description that the one printed by the computer, helped us load everything in our truck, and, in general, made it a very special, fun afternoon.

Every single tree and shrub I saw on our tour looked health and vigorous. The trees and shrubs we brought home with us are large, well branched, many in bud, and reasonably price, especially because many are unique, all are large and all very healthy.

Her farm is a beautiful property with a fabulous view of the countryside and the city of Salem. When we left I turned to her and said, "You've got a good life and seem to love what you do." She grinned and said, "It sure isn't bad."

I can bearly wait until tomorrow when I can start placing them on our property. Now, if someone would just come dig a whole lot of big holes for me.......

Big thumbs up for Lucille and her wonderful farm.

Roni

Whitman Farms lives up to their reputation, and in my opinion even exceeds it. In 2005, I ordered two 'gold treasure' sweetgums , and though they are young, have many branches. There are many feeder roots on the root ball, and they took right off, I had ordered two other of the same tree, from another grower in 2003, for the same price, and but they were sparse compared to the ones from Whitmans, Recently I telephoned and ordered two of their Stewartia Pseudocamellia, and asked Lucille if Whitmans offered Craetegus 'Winter King. These are hard to come by in my experience One good nursery has them, but the shipping and handling is way more than the cost of the tree itself. Lucille said she didn't offer them , but knew someone who did, and she went there, and looked them over. She now has them in storage for my order!! I was amazed (and grateful) she went to the trouble, Thank you, Lucille.

On November 21, 2005, Monday, placed a small order by phone in the morning and it arrived November 23, Wednesday, at 3 PM at my address in Downers Grove, Illinois! Red Currant 'Tatran' and White Currant 'Blanka' were 2 year old, well rooted, well packed, shipping charges normal, the person taking the order very pleasant. What else could one want?

I ordered a dogwood tree from Lucile last fall. The tree made a long trip across the country. After its journey, the tree was beautiful when it arrived and it made it through our tough winter with flying colors. Her system with root bags allows for shipping of large trees at a very reasonable prices. She has a great selection of hard to find trees and shrubs. I would wholeheartedly recommend using this company.

I ordered three Paw Paws last week and was asked by Email from Lucile Whitman when I wanted them. I said the middle of this week, and received them yesterday in good condition and very well packed and labeled according to variety (Wells, Sunflower and Penn Golden). So far the payment hasn't posted to my account.