Comments regarding Garden of Delights

Posted on August 28, 2012, updated August 30, 2012
This is a hard one to review..

First I'd like to say I think the owner is a pretty nice guy..

Secondly.. his website and nursery.. being a one man show.. I feel he's overworked..

When you can't spend enough time taking care of your plants they tend to get weak.. this is exactly what I experienced with a few of the plants i ordered from garden of delights.

I ordered two plants... they came in an old flower box that looked like it had been run over.... one of the plants stems was broken below the graft line... Taped it up and hoped it would heal as the owner had advised me when i e-mailed.

the other plant i got in that order came looking so sickly.. there was NO WAY that it was a healthy thriving plant before it shipped.. plants experience stress BUT you can see indicators of long term stress.. this plant definitely had it.. lack of fine roots is usually an indicator of little water.. small leaves is another indicator,, and stunted growth are all visible signs... i.

I was very disappointed.

the good news is the owner, did send me replacement plants "with my next order" the down side is the replacements and new plant i ordered were seedling plants... (one of which died, the other is hanging on by a thread) What the hell kind of customer service is that? If I had wanted seedling plants I could have got them MUCH cheaper anywhere else which MUCH cheaper shipping.. and He saved money by sending me seedling plants as opposed to the grafted I had ordered.

I was later told that I should have reported the damage to fed ex as soon as the package arrived.. I was never told that when I first e mailed about the damage..I was simply told to tape up the damage and see if the plant pulled through.. it didn't!

I've shipped plants... for what they charge for shipping they shouldn't bareroot plants!

all in all i coughed up over $170 for 3 seedling plants...

I will never order from this vendor again.. especially since I've had such great experiences with other online vendors..

I think this guy is pretty good.. I really hate to give a negative experience.. but it is what it is...

he could have a really great operation if he hired a few people to help him.. he is a very knowledgeable guy and he always responded to my e mails

"On Aug 28, 2012 12:44 PM, Garden of Delights responded with:

The "one man operation" is 30 years old with satisfied customers worldwide. The trees DanV25 ordered were very rare if not one of a kind. In an effort to satisfy Dan, We replaced his order for free with the strongest trees we could find. If Dan had asked for a refund, that would have been reasonable. However to take free plants and then complain to Garden Watch Dog is unreasonable."

I was very tempted by the great selection of fruit trees despite some negative reviews here. I ordered three plants which were supposed to be shipped 2nd day air, and shipping handling was extremely expensive so I expected this to be done as stated on their site.

The plants were shipped unsecured in a box with saran wrap loosely "draped" over the root balls. On top of this they were shipped "3-day select" and were delayed an extra day. When the plants arrived, two of the three were smaller than stated on the site (not a huge problem for me), and were nearly dead (big problem). The roots were nearly dry, leaves were dry, drooping, and just generally stressed, near-death looking. I have mail-ordered plants many time, and this was the worst packing/shipping job I've seen and was actually the most expensive shipping charges I've paid by far.

Within a few weeks one of the plants was clearly dead, a second is still holding a few leaves, but has not grown in the 8 months I've had it (praying on this one still). The third plant (macadamia "arkin") was actually a nice large plant and is doing fine.

I emailed my dissatisfaction to Murray and he said he would replace the plant that died. Was to the point that he was shipping "next week"...but then the plant never arrived and I have not been able to get a response for the last several months.

I like to give people a chance, and some time to make things right (this order was placed ~9 months ago), but I feel like I have to get this out there at this point.

I see that there is some sort of emergency now and they are officially not shipping, so if they make good on their promise and replace the plant that died, I will update here.

I do want to make it clear that this review only applies to mail order. It seems that Murray is very knowledgable, and has an unbeatable selection of rare fruit trees. It is very possible that going to the nursery is a completely different experience.

Posted on April 16, 2011, updated April 23, 2011
Hi;

I ordered a Eugenia Reinwardtiana, Australian Beach Cherry, from Garden Of Delights on 4-12-11, receiving a receipt on the next day, w/o any tracking # (none ever since, either), &, despite repeated phone calls about every day since, at various hours day & night, I've never got anyone to answer.

If I would have known about the 'less-than-ideal' ratings of this outfit beforehand, I would have avoided it, but, the main reason I tried it was because they offer on their website, a version of this tree that is a 'very nicely sized' 30" tall, long-since able to bear flowers & fruit, and, this is an ideal size, that I want.
Sure, if I wanted to try & raise 'seedlings', I'd go over to Logees.com & buy one of their dinky little 2.5" pots, but, since I hear that they grow slow, it'd likely take 2 if not, 3 years, before I'd ever get it to fruit, &, I just really don't want to wait that long!
I'd like to have fruit THIS SUMMER!

On this outfit, I called the UPS on the evening of the 15th, &, the operator there said I should request a refund already, since it was supposed to have been sent by '2nd-day-air' (Reference # 79), but, I'm going to basically give them till this evening, but, since it's a Saturday, I'll end up actually giving them until Monday afternoon, the 18th of April; if I don't have it here by then, I will be getting my money back via my Bank, &, account there, labeling the experience as a Fraudulent transaction.

When an outfit is 'too cheap' to send their customer a receipt by email, etc, without a Tracking Number, that is just a really bad way to treat any customer, anywhere!

Then, with this 'Murrays' refusal to answer either of his phone numbers, that really "seals" my feelings about this place!

Even if I finally get my order in before the deadline I've set, this will be my only order!

After all, how hard could it be, to have a friend to sit in the office for a few hours every-so-often, giving them some money, plants, etc?

It really sounds about like my landlord, who wants to keep all of the profits for himself, &, is too cheap to do things like any customer should be able to have them done, because it'd cost them a few pennies.

I bought two fruit trees from this vender 6 months ago. He has never delivered. His phone is just an answer machine. He never returns calls. Scam.

I ordered a kampong mauve sugar apple on April 27, 2008. The money was debited the next day. It is now August 16 and still no plants. I've emailed several times but no replies. Finally, I asked for a refund but no reply.

thought i would give this place a try and order one plant. the order was charged on my credit card the day i placed the order and i waited 4 weeks till I began to attempt to contact the company. i tried contacting by email and telephone for about 2 additional weeks and received no replies whatsoever. it was not until i filed a claim with the credit card company that they finally geared into action. i finally received received the plant on a 110 degree weekend that i was out of town (not particularly their fault, but i email forewarning would have been ideal). At any rate, it was in horrible condition and i never received an apology or explanation (although it did miraculously suvive). this company has the most dispicable customer service i have ever experienced in my years of mail ordering plants.

I bought 2 expensive fruit plants with a $30.00 shipment on a three day delivery day, too expensive. One tree is broken in half, the roots were brown, no soil around the roots, nothing. The trees were too small for their prices. I contact the dealer and was told to contact Fed Express to ask for a refund, the told me that the plants were not insured because they are life plants. I e-mailed them a couple of times but so far nothing but silence, I will never buy anything from them again until the company give me another plant. It is such a shame to think that all the dealers are honest, only a couple of rotten apples in between. It is very scary to do buiness now on the internet. From now on I will read your watchdog and start ordering other plants from people that is honest. Adik

The plant arrived in mangled condition. The top branches of the plant were cut off, so the plant would fit in the shipping container, and the cut off branches were stuffed into the container with the plant. The leaves were all dead and there were no roots on the plant, despite it supposed to be a "bare root" plant.