Comments regarding Kartuz Greenhouses

After drooling over their begonias for a few years, I finally decided to order. Most of my first choices were sold out, but I called the nursery and was told to put my wish list in the comment section. I was pleasantly surprised to get several from that list, plus all the available ones that I had ordered. Shipping was reasonable, but the plant prices were a bit high. The selection cannot be beat, and that, in the end, is what I am paying for. The plants ranged from small to large, but all were healthy and are growing nicely. I look forward to another order.

Impressive stock of exotic plants. Excellent customer service. Small issue with shipment was handled professionaly. I would buy from them again, as well as recommend them to my friends.

Kartuz was great to do business with- they only charged me when they shipped, everything was packed well, and all of my Jasmine arrived in healthy condition. I will do business with them again!!!

I ordered four begonias, just a few days ago. They arrived very quickly, in excellent condition. They were beautifully and carefully packaged. I'll order from them again, with no hesitation.

Received order today and I am thrilled with the plants - very well packed - great condition and excellent sizes!

Thank you :-)

The three plants I ordered were small, but two (Paraguay Nightshade and Red Cestrum) were blooming when they arrived and have grown tremendously since then. For the third plant (Copperleaf), they sent two plants for the price of one because it was small. The smallest of these, unfortunately, didn't make it, but I'm not certain that I planted them in the right spot. I would definitely order from them again.

Yesterday I received 6 plants I had ordered within the last couple of weeks. I received an email informing me when they had shipped.
The plants arrived well packaged in shredded newspaper and taped in place to the box. The dirt in the pots was also covered with shredded paper and taped down to the pot seperately, so no dirt was anywhere in the box. It all stayed where it should. Very good packing. The plants were in excellent shape and look very healthy. Some have little flower buds.
I would order from 'Kartuz' again.

The packaging was the best I've seen in a plant mail order company...no complaints there. However, the 2 of the hoyas I ordered were tiny (smaller than I've rec'd at other vendors. The 3rd, H. meredithii, was bigger. Mixed feelings. The prices weren't great for the tiny plants rec'd. Will not order from this vendor again.

I have ordered from this company several times in the past couple years. They have always answered their emails promptly for me, was kind and courteous and helpful. Sent decent sized plants. I was pleased with the over all service of this company. sometimes it may take a bit longer to receive your plants, but i've always emailed them first and asked when they were going to be shipped , they told me and they always arrived when they said they were going to arrive. Thanks for your great service. I'll continue to come back.

I just recieved my order yesterday and was pleased to see everything was happy, healthy and packaged with loving care. I typically don't order mail order plants this time of year due to the risks of a winter chill, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to add a new and unusual vine to my collection! I had never even heard of Camptosema before visiting their site. I really appreciated the email notification letting me know when my plants had shipped out.

This was my first purchase with Kartuz and was very pleased with the quality of the plants for a mail order company and the interesting selection that they have available. I will be doing business again with them in the future.

I placed my first order with Kartuz on 11-2-07 and received it today, 11-8-07. The box had been damaged in transit, so I held my breath as I opened it. The plants had been so well-packed and taped to the box that they suffered no damage at all. The plants were nice and healthy. I'm very pleased with Kartuz and would not hesitate to order again.

I received my plants today. They are healthy small plants, one is even blooming! I have ordered many times over the years, and will continue to do so.
They have many hard to find plants. The service has always been good.

I just received some Brad Thompson begonias from Kartuz. They were big and healthy.

Kudos to this company for their outstanding product and super fast shipping. I am in Maine, and it took only five days from the date I ordered from this California company to receive my beautiful big begonias. They arrived well-packed and in great shape. I am a very happy customer and recommend Kartuz to anyone looking for good plants and outstanding customer service!

I received 2 outstanding very mature chiritas. One Kohleria was so tall that I was able to take 3 cuttings from it which is a positive.
They were not able to fulfill my entire order which was fine. What is not ok is that I paid 14.50 each for two cultivars of variegated episcia which require high humidity. When they arrived the leaves were dead and there were just a lot of stringy roots.....am trying to save them and get something going. One Kohleria was rotted at the base of the stem and broken.....no cutting could be taken as the leaves were brown. (I didn't pay for a small rhizome to work with).
The reason I am so sad is because they have great inventory in their catalog but there is no consistency in growing or choosing what is to be shipped. I calculated that I paid over 35.00 for material I did not get. I have emailed them 3 times with no answer which makes me even sadder as I would love to order again, but cannot afford to take the chance .

Their order was not all bad.......just what was bad was really bad and not usable.

First order last Nov. 06. After a long search Kartuz was the only place I could find Zant. 'Hercules' and at a great price (10.00 ea). I ordered 3, received very healthy plants, packed very safely, They grew well inside and are now growing like crazy outside. I originally inquired per availability and received immediate confirmation email and another when they were quickly shipped. Could not be happier with their service.

This is a WARNING to anyone who may want to visit Kartuz in person. This is a very small operation so be sure to check the web site for hours of operation (they are closed Sun-Tue). You may also want to call and let them know you are coming so that the appropriate person (evidently Michael) will be there to help you.

When I visited, the place looked abandonded. I eventually came across someone tagging plants who said he was not an owner or an employee, but 'he lived there'. They had some wonderfully unique plants and I would have gladly made a large purchase, but the guy was strangely quiet and not very helpful so I left without a single purchase.

I can understand why there the ratings on this company are all over the map. My guess is that the owner keeps the place running and without him, they're lost.

"

This letter is in response to TLeaves of San Diego, Ca. We are very sorry that TLeaves had an unfortunate experience while visiting our nursery. We express our sincerest apology.

However, we do need to explain our operation. Kartuz Greenhouses is a mail-order nursery (for over 45 years) and not setup as a retail nursery. Although we welcome visitors, we are open to walk in business as a courtesy. Our website and our phone message states that it is advisable to make an appointment prior to visiting. Since many days often pass between such visits, there may be times when no one is on hand to help. If we had known ahead of time, a staff member would have been available. The person who lives on the premises, that TLeaves met, does not know what plants are for sale or is authorized to make sales.

We believe that giving us a negative rating because of this experience is totally unfounded.

The comment that the nursery is only able to function without the presence of Mr. Kartuz is wrong. We have a dedicated staff of 6 employees who work very hard in the propagating, growing, packing, and shipping of over a thousand different plant varieties.

And, the comment that the ratings are all over the map needs to be addressed.

As soon as we became aware of the negative reviews on this page last year, we expressed our apology to those customers and either replaced their plants or refunded their money. Unfortunately, they didn't bother to update their comments.

With thousands of orders each year, there is bound to be the rare problem, such as plants being damaged in shipping, etc. We do want our customers to be happy and we do our uppermost to correct any problems to their satisfaction. And, please give us a call before visiting. Thank you.

Bill B.
Spokesman for Kartuz Greenhouses
Propagations, WebMaster"

Their selection intrigued me because they offered very unique plants. When I received them, they exceeded expectation. The iochroma was even blooming. Will definitely order again!

I ordered some rarer cestrums that I hadn't been able to locate anywhere else in the USA. The plants were packaged extremely well and in very good condition. It's been several months since I received and transplanted them...they are all growing really well!!! I am very pleased with this company and the plants I ordered.

~ Cat

I ordered 3 iochromas from them. When the shipment didn't arrive after 10 days, I emailed them, and it took a few of those before I got a response. They didn't ship out because of the cold wether we were having. That is a good thing, but I wish they would have been a little more communicative around it.
The plants came very, very well packed. I allowed subs, but got everything just the way I wanted it. The plants are small, but they seem very healthy.
The note that came with the plants informed me how to care for the plants (not repotting until a week has passed) and it told me how to let them know if there is a problem.
Overall; a good business, will order from them again.

One of the best for begonias. I have never been disappointed by what I have received from these folks. They have added to and improved their website over the past few years, too. Mike Kartuz is a leader in the begonia community. I wish him success and good health.

I placed a web order for 5 begonias with Kartuz Greenhouses. Their website gives good cultural information as to humidity needs, etc. I was very happy with the plants I received. All were larger than expected, well packed, and in great shape even though they're on the opposite coast and had traveled far. I felt their prices were reasonable. I was disappointed that two plants were out of stock. I would order from them again, however, next time I will definitely list substitution plants in case their website isn't up to date.

This spring I ordered 5 plants from Kartuz. When they arrived, all of them were very small and poorly rooted. One was not the correct plant ordered. Four of the five died almost immediately.

I e-mailed them explaining the problem. I have had not response from them at all.

I will not order from Kartuz again.

I received my shippment yesterday of 3 plants.They were in fine condition for being mailed. They were packed fine and delivered just as stated. I would do business again, because they have plants that you can't find elsewhere, and the prices are very good, for the size of the plant.It is passed planting time in Texas also, but if you want the plant bad enough you keep it in a pot and take care of it until planting time which for some of us is fall.And some plants even in hot Texas can still be planted with extra care.Trust me, I do alot of ordering from Nurseries as well as shop locally,I have had bad experiences.This is a good nursery.

I ordered 5 passiflora from Kartuz. They came in the following condition: most of the leaves have dropped, and all were yellowing. I e-mailed this concern to them, and they promptly replied: "Michael says this is normal due to the stress of shipping. Please provide them with ample light and humidity and they should recover." To my surprise, I noticed that all of the plants I recieved were also crawling with dark mites and webbing ( of course they take the needed steps to control parisites like all reputable nurseries should). This was after a day I sent my first e-mail. I quickly separated them in my greenhouse away from my other prized plants. I was NOT happy: I know several methods of mite control and have been dealing with diseases and plant recovery methods before. I just did not feel that I was to be responsible to take care of 5 newly purchached plants ( and not cheap ) in this manner. I promptly e-mailed them...than again after 5 days...then called them directly after no response. Only after calling THEM did I find out that they do not refund. OK fine, Michael said that he would replace them. To be fair to them, I will give them ample time to deliver. I will wait and see the result and post a follow up here.

I have bought plants for myself from Kartuz on a couple of occasions and purchased 'gift certificates' for my daughters. I suppose it is possible 1 or 2 minor improvements could be made,but my experience has been better than I expected as a new mailorder plant buyer. I would (and have) recommend them. They pack very well and, when a substitution was made, it was a reasonable one.

Carl
1 Lucky Texan

I bought zant. Hercules from Kartuz. Plant was properly packed and promptly shipped and I when I placed my phone order I thought the staff was competent and polite (it might have been Mr Kartuz himself, don't know for sure).

I bought from them based on feedback in GWD, but I am still a little nervous as there are many people that sell stuff that is not the real Hercules, but Kartuz is supposed to have the "real deal". I guess time will tell and I will post here accordingly. May be 2-3 years from now, though, lol

Gee, I have bought from Michael Kartuz on a number of occassions and visited his nursery as well. He has an amazing and very healthy nursery with robust plants. The place is clean and Mike is a real guru about the plant materials he sells. I email them a few times a year to see if they are out of things and I get an email back promptly even when they don't have it in stock. I do find that it helps to verify that the plant is in stock because the website is not updated immediately. I generally do that with most mail order companies though because this is the nursery business we are talking about here and the inventory is not computerized. If you do not check in advance of the order being placed, you may be disappointed with many mail order nurseries.

Kartuz carries things you cannot get elsewhere online and at a very very reasonable cost if you need a plant in your collection. It is not neccessarily the best place to buy gigantic specimen plants but to get plants on your Need It list at a reasonable price, Kartuz is a great resource and I am much happier with the plants I buy here than at Logees as far as their readiness to be shipped (Kartuz's are always well-rooted and ready to ship if he allows them to go out). He has flat out refused to let me carry off plants that were not ready to go out yet so I find him to have a lot of integrity.

And Kartuz offers varieties that are largely unavailable anywhere else. Plus he is a heck of a nice guy. The nursery is run by him (he is maybe 70-80 I guess), 1 full time and one part time employee. It is a large space full of one of the most amazing collections you will see outside a botanical gardens and run by a small staff, but the place is healthy, clean, and it's a professional operation. I buy there about 3 times a year and am really glad to be close enough to drive up and visit it when I get my plants. Kartuz is an honest business and I have been more than happy with all my purchases.

I made a gift order from Kartuz back 5 mos. ago and the bad feellings it generated haven't abated.
I made an order for my sister's birthday gift. She lives in Albuquerque and my best supplier(Gary Mikita) didn't ship in winter. So I figured a seller out west probably would cover that area with no problem.

Through garden watchdog I thought I had the perfect answer -Kartuz. I selected 3 strep plants and told them I would like them delivered end of Dec. or January depending on their weather conditions.

I emailed them several times and always stated it was a "Gift Order,". My sister loves plants and I thought I would turn her on to streps(which I adore). Mike answered me back promptly, I thought this was a real "go.".

To cut to the chase my sister got her order the third week in Jan.2006. When I asked her about it she didn't have much to say except they were very small and only one I ordered was sent. The other two weren't even on my sub list. No one had mentioned them being "out" and their web site listed plants that were sold out, so I thought everything would be fine.

She wanted to know if they should be repotted so I asked her to email me photos. Well they were the ickiest looking plants you can imagine. Two tiny ones with ragged, browned leaves and brown holes in some leaves that looked like cigarette holes. I can only imagine what could be lurking in the potting mix.

I was very upset and told her to dump them and I would replace them as soon as our area was shipping in spring.

She refused and said she would wait and see how they did.
She ended up tossing the two smallest and the one almost decent looking one still hasn't bloomed or shown any appreciable growth as of this writing..My sister used to grow blooming orchids so she isn't a total novice, just never had streps.

Of course I had immediately emailed Kartuz and told them how unhappy I was and totally embarassed that THIS was the gift order I kept telling my sister she would be receiving.

The reply I got from them was that the streps were grown outdoors and this was the worst time of year to be ordering them. In other words "what did I expect for my money."

Not once did they ever advise that streps were grown outdoors. I figured California, greenhouse, warm, sunny, grow all year round. My streps bloom all winter. Ignorance is certainly not bliss.

If they had good customer relations, they should have advised me at the start and suggested a gift certificate or ordering in spring, whatever. No one enlightened me about this being the "worst time" for them . They just told me to send in the check which I had done promptly.

After reading how the positive comments on them on Garden watchdog, I thought surely they would make good, either replace the plants in spring, or send a gift certificate.
They made no attempt to right this situation, or admit any part of wrongdoing.

This was an expensive lesson.

Even if the company is rated highly, buyer beware. I'm out $32.50 and I know my sister was very unhappy . I will never buy from them again, this was a very unpleasant experience

I guess its a coin's toss whether you get treated well or not because some people luck ed out buying them them but not me.

I buy a good deal of plants and supplies from various
suppliers and they lost a chance for what could have been a
profitable relationship. They did not stand behind their plants, or advise me not to buy at that time. How would I know it was illadvised?

I'm very pleased with my order from Kartuz Greenhouses. I ordered in late March, and asked them to ship the plants in early May. The plants arrived promptly today, May 3, appear to be in fine condition, and were very well packed. That was proved by the fact that, although I accidentally dropped the box on the floor from counter height before I opened it, none of the plants were damaged. Kartuz did have to substitute one item but, since I had provided a list of acceptable substitutes, that was no problem. Highly recommended!

I had never purchased any plants from Kartuz before. So, my first time ordering from them I only ordered 3 begonia's. I did leave a substitution list. When I got my order I only had 1 plant out of the three that I wanted. That wasn't the problem. On one plant called Plum Gorgeous, it was substituted with Caribbean Corsair. This plant wasn't on my sub list. I called Kartuz nursery to see why this happened. The person that I spoke with was VERY RUDE and informed me that both plants were almost identical. I guess he thought I was dumb and wouldn't notice the difference. While both plants are similar in color their shape is totally different. C. Corsair is round with one point and Plum Gorgeous is star shaped. He wouldn't have it. I asked him, if the plants were identical then why did they have different names and that I ordered Plum Gorgeous not something that is "almost the same". This is the part that made me soooo mad. He asked me, How much was your order. When I told him the amount he replied by saying, "OH, you had a small order". To me, that shouldn't be a factor in me getting the service that I deserve. As a business man he should be glad that I spent $1 with him. He informed me that when and only when I place another order will he send me a "complimentary Plum Georgeous". So in other words, I didn't spend enough money for him to worry if I am a pleased customer. What happened to the days where the customer is always right? If he had half a brain, he would realize that while that order might not have been big, he could have secured me as a repeat customer, for years to come. Now, I will never order from him again!!! He is too expensive to recieve poor customer service like I did. Just want to let everyone know. If you have ordered from him and gotten what you wanted then I guess you are lucky but buyer beware, if you ever are unsatisfied with something be prepared to talk to a jerk when you call. And don't expect for him to make good on your order. That is my two cents worth. ~ibegoniacrazy1

communication was good prior to sale. i got an answer from mike everytime i wrote. i knew when the plants would be ready. i got them yesterday. while not large, the iochroma plants are much bigger than i expected. only one of them didn't have that great of a root system. packing was good. overall i am pleased and would order from them again. the only thing i would fault them on is this: lots of places send a catalog when you place an order but kartuz did not.

Ok my Kartuz experience was NOT good.
I emailed them and asked if I should wait to order. They said in an email that is was not neccessary for me to wait since they ship to southern states year round.
Well I get my order today (after 5 weeks)....one of the most expensive plants is NOT well....a variegated episcia.
On the invoice...hand written it says "It is too cold to ship episcia this time of year. This is shipped at your risk"
So I call them..I tell them I got my order..and I tell them what I was told in email.
He says he didn't say that...someone else at his greenhouse must have....I said, "well aren't you responsible for you employees?"
I told him that a couple of the plants didn't look to good from the trip and that I could send him the email that said it was fine.
He came back with ..You should have known better!
Not to mention 2 of the items I ordered were not even in stock!
I will NEVER, NEVER order from them again
and this is the FIRST time I have ever left a negative feedback

1st order rec'd plants quickly, well packed and very healthy!

This was my first order from Kartuz, and it went very well. I ordered six plants, including Duranta, Manihot Esculenta, Acalypha, and Tecoma Stans. They arrived in less than two weeks very well packaged. All are decent size for mail order and green (except the Copperleaf!) and healthy looking, with the Manihot just a little limp. I'm pushing zones on some of these so from here it is up to me, but I already have items for my spring order from Kartuz picked out. A very good experience overall.

Two orders. Great service. Great plants. Reasonable. What else can you say?

Having hunted for Iochromas all over, I decided to order from Kartuz.(Ebay 25 seeds=$46) I paid between $ 6-8 for small but healthy plants, some of them where in bloom when they arrived, none had suffered during shipping.
I think the prices are very fair, as the plants are still hard to find readily
Very satisfied, have placed another order.

I was very happy with my recent order. I usually place small orders the first time I buy plants from a place I haven't bought from before, but they had a lot of great plants so I couldn't resist ordering more than I normally would. Everything arrived quickly and in great shape so I will definitely order from them again.

Good quality plants (yes,small, but worth the price) and great packaging...good communication.

I recommend!