Comments regarding Kartuz Greenhouses

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.

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.

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 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'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.

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!

On August 5 I ordered four 2" Nematanthus plants from Kartuz. The plants arrived today (in only 6 days!) and are very healthy and well rooted. There was no damage at all from shipping and one of the plants even has a bud on it! I am very happy with Kartuz and will order from them again.

I just received some hoyas from Kartuz. It took about 8-9 weeks, but they are great plants. I inquired about my order and was promptly answered in an email. They were waiting for some of my orders plants to root. They shipped the ones immediately that were ready. I will definitely order again.

This was my first order with this company. The plants are healthy and about the size I would expect for mailorder. My only complaint is that it took a month to get them. To their credit, they did not charge my card until the day they shipped. I would order from them again.

I recently purchased 3 iochroma's from Kartuz's and a week later they arrived...it may not even been a week. They were in excellent condition. Very healthy impressive plants as well. Thank you Kartuz Greenhouses.

Coming from a long line of botanists and plant collectors and therefor not one easily impressed, I consider that my recent visit to Kartuz's greenhouses in Vista was well worth my six-hour drive across the Mojave Desert to get there. The nursery is basically a two man operation most of the time, yet there was quite an extensive and most interesting selection of plant materials to be had including many rare or hard to find varieties. Mike's collection is quite obviously the fruit of many decades of work.
I would highly recommend this supplier to the more advanced collector if for no other reason that there simply are selections of plant material here that are not generally available elsewhere (and if on occasion one happens to find that the long-awaited mail order plants they recieve are a bit small, it should be considered also that the asking price was also small).
Those who are able to schedule a visit to Kartuz's will find an informative and accomodating host, and several greenhouses and lathe houses about the property lined with benches groaning under the weight of plant varieties that will make one want take home everything. It is one of those 'magical' places where something is growing everywhere to the delight of weekend gardeners and more advanced plant enthusiasts alike.

I'm very happy with my purchase! Granted, the Deppea plants were only about 2 inches tall, but where else can you find them online? And for only $10!!! Everything arrived with just the normal shipping stress, and quickly recovered. A few of the plants were much larger than I expected! I received the plants within 2 weeks. I have, and will continue to recommend Kartuz, and look forward to many future purchases. Is it just me? Or do they just seem to have everything that I'm looking for, at a very fair price, and honest shipping rates!

I have ordered from Kartuz Nursery before and have had a positive experience. The plants I received are always well rooted and healthy. To the person who ordered a Deppa Splendens, I also ordered the same plant and it is doing very well in my garden. The only complaint I would have is that they are slow in sending orders and they need to pack their mercendise more carefully.

I ordered about 10 plants from this company. They arrived in good shape and I am pleased with them. I would order from them again.

I have ordered many plants from Mike, when send order heard that received order and thank you. I have ordered every type of plant he has, Always happy with plants and customer service has been great. My husband does bonsia trees, he ordered from him after seeing my plants.
going to order my second order this year.
Sincerely
Marlene Motz