Comments regarding Greenwood Nursery

Bare root roses looked dead upon arrival. Planted anyway. Never grew. They do not respond to emails. Don’t waste your money.

Would not recommend buying from them. They have horrible customer service. I ordered plants from them and payed, then months later they never came. When i called the first two times they claimed they were being shipped soon. Then the third time i called they were all out of the trees i ordered. I ended up not getting anything! They didnt even offer to send me a different species at a discount price for my troubles! If i had of known this i would have ordered from a differnt place that i found after with cheaper prices. DEFINITELY WOULDNT RECOMMEND!

"On May 14, 2019 12:40 PM, Greenwood Nursery responded with:

I have copy/pasted the email below that I sent to this person. He ordered one bare root tree in summer just before the nursery closed for a week for staff vacation. When we returned after holiday, that plant was not in stock. His card had not been charged. Our staff made several attempts to call him with no success.

Mr. "Bacardi", finally called later in the summer and wanted to add another tree (bare root oak tree) and he knew that it would not be going out until November when field grown bare root plants would be dug for fall shipping.

In mid September, he sent an email wanting to know where his trees were. Below is a copy/paste of the email that I sent to him. All of a sudden, he didn't remember that his order was scheduled for November which is why I recommended our container grown oak trees to him.

After the email below he called and cancelled his order. There was no refund as we had not charged him. I feel that we tried to be accommodating but as plants are not factory made, once we sell out of bare root trees and shrubs, it is often the following season before we can dig again.

Today, I received a reply from our newsletter that went out this morning. It was from this person. The message in the reply he made was extremely vulgar. He, also, made horrible and untrue references. I would post here but his language is most vulgar, offensive and would be removed.

Below is a copy/paste of the email that I sent in September. I have removed the email info and greeting as Dave's Garden will remove it anyway.


"We were not able to fulfill your order at the time your order came through in June due to being sold out until late October.

Adam tried just a few minutes ago to contact you again by phone and left a message. We do have Nutall Oak trees in quart size pots. They are running in the 22 to 32 inch height range and look quite nice.

We will be adding the Nutall and other oak varieties soon to the website. If you would like to order several of them, please call us to place the order.

I think Adam may have explained to you that since we could not ship your order, it did not get processed or charged. Paypal is our credit card processor and we only pre-authorize charges. Since you used Paypal Express (your paypal account) it only pre-authorizes for about 28 days and then expires.

I apologize for the confusion.

Do give us a call if you would like to order the container grown oak trees. We are available Monday through Friday, 8am-4pm central time.

Thank you.


At Your Service,


Cheryl


Cheryl D. Jones

Greenwood Nursery, Inc.

636 Myers Cove RD

McMinnville, TN 37110"

No wonder there are currently 31 negative reviews of Greenwood Nursery.

Their customer service is wretched.

After I received my order for a Major Wheeler Honeysuckle, I noticed it didn't look anything like the photo they have online. It is smaller than depicted in the greenwoodnursery photo and did not come with the "Bamboo arch (perfect for gifts)". Instead of answering my email, they shipped out yet another unnecessarily giant box filled with tons of messy paper, without any apology or explanation, it simply contained the missing bamboo arch. No response about the size difference. No response at all. However I noticed they altered their website to state the plant will look nothing like the photo of the potted plant they still use. Lol, what a company.

- Environmentally wasteful not to mention annoying to wrap up for garbage pick up.

- Terrible customer service. They simply don't care! Nice work Greenwood Nursery.

"On Jun 5, 2014 9:58 AM, Greenwood Nursery responded with:

,

You did send an email after hours last Thursday and I responded to it first thing Friday morning. Below I have posted the email that I sent to you at that time.

Plus, on Tuesday morning, I not only phoned you asking to please check your junk/bulk email, I resent the email from Friday. I wasn't aware that you didn't receive any of my correspondence.

I truly feel bad when a customer isn't happy with their plant or when something is missing. With proper care, the plant that you purchased will look very much like the one in the picture as the picture was taken around mid to late summer (roughly) last year. A plant in spring will not be the same size as it will be in different parts of the year.

Friday, I boxed up the bamboo arch and mailed it to you. I boxed it so that it would not likely be broken during transit and arrive safely to you. We package orders with recycled paper that is free from print and safe to be re-used in many different ways. It is actually an environmentally safe way to package shipments. the box and packing was not excessive so I don't understand why it would be an issue for trash collection. Tuck paper back into box and it's ready for trash pick up.

Yes, i did make the notation for that image on the site so that it is clear that plants don't always look exactly like the images. The difference in the time of year that plants are shipped directly affect how they look. THis is what I placed on the Major Wheeler Honesuckle page: "Note: picture of plants will vary with the time they are planted, how long they've grown and when they're shipped."

I wish you had received Friday's correspondence. After i publish this rebuttal, i will try once again to resend the email to you. Though you will have received the voice mail that I left for you and asking you to check your bulk/junk email folders.

Maybe you will take the time here to read the email that I sent to you Friday morning.

We've been listed with Dave's Garden since 2001, which is long before many of the new mail order nurseries ever started their businesses. Though I started Greenwood Nursery in 1978, we've been online since 1998.

Regards,
Cheryl Jones

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Cheryl Jones [mailto:cheryl@greenwoodnursery.com]
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 9:03 AM
To: 'adrienneb*****'
Subject: RE: Your Order Has Shipped
Importance: High



I’m so sorry about that. After checking with my shipping department, I found that the grower didn’t include them on their last delivery. We are getting a supply today and I will be mailing one out to you (through Priority Mail – so it should arrive Monday…maybe Tuesday at the latest).
Thank you for pointing that out to me so that I could correct it.

Concerning the plant, the picture was taken about mid to late summer, I believe. Plants vary in size according to the time of year. In spring, they’re just beginning to put on growth or new growth so that as the growing season progresses, they grow taller and fuller. I have taken pictures of plants that are in all stages of growth for our site. Some range in just sprouting to mature size. It depends on what is available to me at the time we add a new item to the site.

Have a wonderful weekend and look for your bamboo arch early week!

Sincerely,

Cheryl D. Jones


Cheryl D. Jones
Greenwood Nursery
P.O. Box 686
McMinnville, TN 37111
1.800.426.0958
1.931.668.3041 (local phone)_____________________________________________
http://www.greenwoodnursery.com

I ordered a weeping willow tree that could only be sent in late fall, which I planted according to their directions. The tree appeared dead, but I was hoping it was merely in hibernation. This spring it did nothing and looks no different than when it arrived. It is still dead. The tree arrived about 2 feet tall, but was just a stick. It arrived with no soil and only a few roots. When contacted, they would only replace this tree next fall, and they would not cover shipping, and so it would cost another $20 to get a dead tree. What a terrible experience!

"On Jun 5, 2014 9:16 AM, Greenwood Nursery responded with:

It's horrible when any plant fails to leaf out after planting. Greenwood is committed to working with its customers so the plants that they purchase from us are not only growing but thriving.

When we hear from a customer who lost a Greenwood plant, we work with them to replace it or provide a store credit so that they may select another item, which is what happened with Sander. Sander replaced the willow with gorgeous hydrangea plants. We are curious as to why he made this post and, then, failed to update it.

As do most mail order nurseries, we ship bare root trees and shrubs as they have begun to go dormant in fall...which generally is mid to late October. Leaves are left on the plants to fall off naturally which is healthier for the plants.

After the winter that made record books across the country, many homeowners lost a large amount of plants in their yards, both old and new plantings.

Ordering bare root plants is a new concept for some homeowners as they have not seen what younger trees and shrub and their root systems look like after digging. It's much like a person who wears clothing nicely doesn't necessarily look good naked. The mystery is gone!"

This is an email that I sent and 2 business days later I still have NO response. Will never order from again:

I received my plants today and I was so excited to put them in my beds. However, much to my dismay the condition of the plants was appalling. Here is what I found:

Box in excellent condition, top 6” filled with shredded paper. This is where the care of packaging stopped. There was nothing at the bottom of the box to cushion the plants and nothing in between the plants. The plants were thrown in the bottom of the box, on their side, on top of each other. EVERY single one of the plant containers was crushed. This prevented being able to extract (what was left of) the plants from their container with the entire root ball/dirt intact. 90% of the plants were broken and bent. One of the plants had only 1 leaf and another had no leaves, only a stick. I have no idea if these plants will survive & I had no idea which was the “good side” as there was no good side. To charge 9.95 each and have them arrive in this horrible condition is, at the very least, not the way to give a good first impression. If a nursery had plants in these conditions they wouldn’t be able to sell them for more than $1-2. I have a gardening board on Pinterest as well as many friends that I garden with. We share our experiences, good and bad, and are always looking for new resources for plants and supplies.

The fact that once you charged my credit card meant that the plants were my property and I expected them to be taken care of. All other nurseries that I have ordered from took care in making sure their plants arrived in pristine condition – full, blooming, and properly packaged/protected (and I paid no more for them than from your nursery). Right now, these plants look like carefully placed weeds in my bed; they certainly don’t resemble anything that anybody would purposely plant.

Please let me know what compensation that I can expect to receive. I can send a multitude of pictures for your reference if necessary. I look forward to hearing from you.

"On Oct 21, 2013 12:30 PM, Greenwood Nursery responded with:

Ms. Paulsen received a full refund on October 14th for her purchase even though she had already planted this plant order in her garden not allowing us to pick up the damaged plants.

Due to the urgency of Ms. Paulsen's situation, a phone call to our office would have been most appropriate in addition to or in lieu of an email. After resending her email on Friday night and cc’ing me, Ms. Paulsen did not respond to my email from early Saturday morning when I followed up with her. Emails can be a very iffy way to contact at times especially when someone desires resolution immediately. It seems that many email providers have been updating their systems recently which can delay and even delete correspondence.

We feel bad that the staff member that Ms. Paulsen had sent her email to was out of the office on Thursday and Friday unexpectedly on a family emergency. Her emails were not forwarded to other staff members until late in the day on Friday.

Greenwood Nursery is a family owned and operated nursery business. We want each of our customers to be delighted with their purchases and are here to help make each planting experience a successful one. Being in business for 35 years, we do understand that oversights can happen and do apologize that Ms. Paulsen's order arrived damaged. It was very disappointing and our shipping department has, also, been reprimanded for the error.

We wish that Ms. Paulsen had given us the opportunity to resolve the damaged shipment before she began blasting throughout the internet with bad and even horrible reports about our company that she has since not updated in any way to note resolved and that she received a full refund. Also, had Ms. Paulsen signed up as a Greenwood Garden Club Member, she could have purchased the plants at the clearance price as well as received a 10% discount off that, her first, order.

We are not owned by a larger corporation, as are many mail order nurseries. Greenwood Nursery has remained privately owned and we provide everything in-house. When you call our 800 number, you are able to speak with one of our staff here at the nursery. Like many who work in small businesses, when one or two staff members are out, everyone else has to pitch in to make up for the lack. It is regretful when any situation slips through the cracks and we do work quickly to resolve any problems, once we are aware of them.

Certainly not that Greenwood wants to turn away any customer, however due to the hurtful and mean behavior exhibited by this Ms. Paulsen, we ask her to not to return to Greenwood Nursery.


The Greenwood Nursery Staff
"

In July of '11 I ordered two Cornus kousa dogwoods.
I chose Greenwood as my vendor purely because they were so close to me that I can receive my items in one day, thus (presumably) reducing shipping shock.
I received two dried up sticks with not the first leaf.
Where does one even find dormant dogwood twigs in July?
Clearly they keep stock dormant in coolers.

I contacted Greenwood and was told by Cheryl to plant the trees and care for them for six weeks, which I did despite knowing a dead plant when I see one.
After six weeks I again contacted Greenwood and after exchanging far too many emails over far too many days I was finally told that if I paid shipping again they would replace them the end of October.
I agreed and waited.

The end of October I received two replacement kousa dogwoods, each fully leafed out and both drier than sand. There is no conceivable way these plants were in good shape the day they were shipped and completely dessicated when I received them the next day- it's simply not possible. They were crispy critters, leaves crumbling every time you touched them.
It was not that hot.
Sigh.

But I again went through the motions of planting and caring for the two trees and now spring to summer '12 the two sticks are still just as dead as they were last fall- no color in the cambium at all, no leaves, no nothing.

I understand poor quality plants, and I understand plants not surviving stressful conditions. What I do not understand is being within the one day shipping area and receiving dried up crispy dead sticks.... twice.
And I mean they were dry like they'd been hanging in a dehydrator. The weather was temperate and I am always home to receive- nothing out of the ordinary occurred to explain my losses.

Because of limited local availability I do most of my plant shopping online and over the years have purchased from every high profile plant vendor in the contiguous 48 and this has been the only one I have had this degree of failure with- 100% death is pretty bad.
The fact that I can literally get plants from 1000 miles away in far better condition is very telling to me. Something in their shipping or prepping to ship procedure is not working.

I was extremely disappointed then and remain so now.
I will never ever spend the first dime on them again- it's easier to just throw cash directly into the trash.
Same result.

Ordered 120 black berry plants this past spring. Upon recieving my order I called Brenda and explained what very poor quality plants I had recieved. They were very tiny and most had no root sytem just a white bulb forming at the end .
( not 2 year #1 as advertived). Brenda said I had to plant them and give them a chance. Two months later 45 plants had not started to grow and the remaining were doing poorly.
Brenda said the would replace them in the fall. That is to little to late as I could not miss the growing season. I told her they had wasted my time and money and wanted no further dealings with them. I replaced the plants from another nursery and they all grew very very well. Do not waste your time and money with Greenwood Nursery.

They are complete frauds and when dealing with (Brenda) beware. They will repeatably send you dead stock and charge you S & H. Do not trust them!

BEWARE OF GREENWOOD NURSERY, my experience with them was terrible they legally steal your money and give you dead trees then if you complain to them they tell you to send them more money for shipping and handling if you want a replacement plant...they seem to do this regularly..

I purchase two White Diana trees I planted them as instructed in my garden one on each side of my garden and couldn't wait for them to bloom, one leafed out but the other one didn't so I complained to Brenda, in order to get a replacement tree I had to pay shipping and handling for the replacement tree, so I paid the S/H and when my new tree arrived it was only 3 feet tall not 4 to 5 feet tall as advertized, I was not happy with this tiny little tree but planted it anyway well this tree did not leaf out either, I gave it months to leaf out and it still didn't leaf, so again I contacted Brenda and complained to her she told me in order to get another replacement tree I had to pay shipping and handling again...when your tree doesn't leaf out they make you go thru all this trouble of taking photos of the tree and sending it to them, I have purchased many plants, bulbs and trees from other companies and if something doesn't bloom they replace it no questions asked and no extra shipping charges they stand behind there plants unlike Greenwood Nursery.

This is how they legally steal from you they send you dead trees and keep your money and then tell you to send more money to replace that dead tree, what a scam Brenda how are you still in business is beyond me... I was pretty piss but needed that other tree to balance out my garden, so I had to pay S/H again, the tree arrived I planted as instructed when spring came around I couldn't wait for it to bloom when the first bud bloom it was pink I had order white, Brenda sent me the wrong tree, I was suppose to get a White single Diane tree instead I got a pink/mauve colored double Diana which doesn't match my white single Diana now I have one tree on each side of my garden that doesn't match each other they are both very different....

The same thing happen to my friend I warned them about buying from Greenwood but they did anyway when there plants arrived Brenda sent them a twig of only 5 inches with some tiny roots to them can you believe that it was suppose to be a 5 ft tree, they also never sent them a shrub that was suppose to be in a container, so they had to pay shipping and handling to get the right plants that they ordered, this company is just disgusting they should be put in the Hall of Shame for scamming people and taking there money and sending them dead tree...

Bought 185.00 worth of cedar green giants fall of 2010. From the start they were sickly. I emailed and Brenda and told her she said they will be fine. Its spring and they are dead I asked to have new ones shipped to me and she wanted to charge me 120.00. I said you wont stick by your plants than I will contact the better business bureau and make a facebook page on how I was sold bad trees. brenda than stated how she would sue me if I said anything bad! This is how they do business? Threaten to sue? Run... do not buy from these crooks!

Ordered Hybrid Poplar trees and received Hybrid Willow trees...... If you would like to play the lottery when ordering your next addition to your yard and/or garden then go ahead and order from them....

I placed a large order in fall. Some stock arrived in time, the balance was held until spring. I had 10 spicebush bare roots delivered for immediate spring planting. Upon opening the plastic bag I noticed they were bone dry and the finer roots, those that were still there, broke off while separating them. This packet was obviously DOA. Called and was put in touch with the owner who said they will grow if I wait 6-8 weeks. I explained 50 years of growing nursery stock these are dead. "No you have to wait 6-8 weeks. I had them in the ground and of course no growth on brittle dead wood. Called again with the news and was told, "more time needed".

Finally told Brenda I was shipped dead stock. Her response was since it was on sale there is no guarantee. I object to being shipped dead stock with "no guarantee".

Save yourself some time. If you have to order from Greenwood (name is ironic) just give the money to your church and push used popsicle sticks in the ground. Same results less aggravation.

I was very disappointed with my experience with this company. I paid $24.95(well, they did give me 10% discount) plus shipping fee $13.95 for a tree form Forsythia. This is what they describe on the website : "Size at time of shipping: 4 year old transplants, four to six foot husky tree-form, professionally trimmed and trained." I was confused when I got my order. Indeed It is a Tree form (If they define a single twig with some roots called a tree) 4 year old? I don't think so. Look at how big my forsythia bush can grow after 1 year. I was not convinced by such a thin twig I got at all. I sent them an email asking for an answer. Never replied. I think I learned my lesson and will never buy from them again.

I ordered 3 Cherry trees on the "Clearance Page" That's my first mistake. That's essentially where they unload all their dead junk because it is not guaranteed. I paid $60 for the order. They arrived a week later and I planted them that day following their instructions. When they arrived they were wrapped in plastic and had semi-damp shredded paper around the roots. The trees had NO branches whatsoever. Only a few pathetic looking buds. They looked dead. I watered them every few days and we had plenty of rain, as well. 6 weeks later, they're still dead. Brenda claims they're dormant. No, they're dead. I scratched off some bark near the base and there is nothing green. I will NEVER order ANYTHING from them again. Don't waste your money!

Last week I ordered 5 Hibiscus Ardens "Rose of Sharon" plants from Greenwood's Clearance page. (Order number: 1306846) With shipping they came out to about $10 each, which I thought was pretty good since the pics of the plants on the website show a beautiful bare root plant with leaves and TONS of roots and well over 2+ feet tall.

LINK to Page: //www.greenwoodnursery.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HIB+SH+AR-5

As well Greenwood Nursery proudly states: "Plants are shipped blooming size. Not to be confused with single stemmed inexpensive shrubs from other suppliers. These plants are FIELD GROWN HUSKY TRANSPLANTS 2 - 4 FEET IN HEIGHT WITH 3 - 5 CANES. " Well, they DO have 3 to 5 canes each... and about 3 to 5 small broken roots to go with them! As well, I measured what was sent to me and the TALLEST plant is NOT 2 feet, more like 18 inches, much less 4 feet tall and the shortest is around 9 inches tall!!!... As well, there is ABSOLUTELY NO GREEN GROWTH anywhere around these plants!!! AND they were twisted into a "C" shape to fit into the box!.... and they say they are shipped "Blooming size"??? are you kidding? This pile of lifeless sticks as NEVER bloomed! NOT HAPPY!!!

To add insult to injury, Greenwood's website states: "Light requirements: Full Sun, Partial Sun and shade" However after planting these plants (first time I've ever worked with Rose of Sharon) in a shady-ish area I find on the web that they really only grow well or bloom in FULL SUN!!! AAARRRGGGG!!!!

I feel like just ripping them out of the ground and throwing them in the trash! Where my $50 now is!!!

Of course as with a couple of other posters about Greenwood the disclaimer at the bottom of the page pretty much allows them to commit armed robbery... "All plants are sold and shipped in excellent condition but because of the deeply discounted price no further guarantees or discounts will apply. While supplies last! "

I will however NOT be ordering from Greenwood again and will warn others to not order from them as well... So, I hope scamming me out of my $50 was worth it Greenwood?!!!

"On Jun 12, 2009 4:05 PM, Greenwood Nursery responded with:

Greenwood received an email from our customer the next day. We do not know if she will change her standing, but below is her email to us. We have removed her email address and last name for privacy.

From: Shannon
Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 2:07 AM
To: brenda@greenwoodnursery.com
Subject: RE: My posting on Dave's Garden

Hello again,

Upon reviewing my charges for the plants you shipped I have noticed that you in fact further discounted the price of the items to reflect the fact that they did not meet the size/quality described. As such, I have contacted Dave's Garden to retract my previous review as I feel what was charged was fair and equitable.

If I had known previously that I had been charged only part of the cost I expected I would not have posted what I did or been dissatisfied.

Shannon



"

I ordered three kousa dogwoods from Greenwood Nursery, and planted the bareroot dormant trees upon arrival. While the roots did not look great, I have had good experiences with bareroot plants from other sources and planted the trees. After about six weeks I noted no budding or signs of life. When I emailed Brenda at Greenwood, I received the following response: "Normally it does take a new transplant anywhere between 6-8 weeks to bud/leaf out. The dogwoods you purchased in February were on the members value page and I apologize but it is stated on each sale page, “All plants are sold and shipped in excellent condition but because of the discount in price no other guarantee will apply”. I will note your order with your below email and give the plants a little longer to bud/ leaf out." I admit that I had not seen the disclaimer, and that was my error. However, when the sticks did not come out of dormancy, I contacted Brenda again, because I could not believe the company would use such a policy to unload dead plants. I was wrong, as Brenda quickly pointed out by claiming the plants had been sent in "viable" condition and that Greeenwood would do nothing. I have ordered plants extensively by mail and, maybe I have just been lucky, but I have always had good experiences except with Greenwood. I had ordered from them only once before, several years ago, and received forsythia plants that all either never left dormancy or quickly died. I had been singularly unimpressed with their service at the time, but decided to give them another chance. I will not order from Greenwood again, and will actively warn others not to throw their money away.

In January I ordered six Apache and six Arapaho blackberry plants from Greenwood. They shipped them to me the first week in March, and I planted them on the evening they arrived in a bed that I had prepared in the interim. Several of the plants sprouted new growth within a couple of weeks, a few took over a month before showing growth, and three have never shown any sign of life.

Also this season I ordered two more varieties of blackberries that Greenwood does not carry -- three Navaho from a second nursery and six Ouachita from a third. These were planted about a month before and a month after the ones from Greenwood respectively. The plants from both of the other nurseries had significantly larger root systems, and every plant from these nurseries has successfully leafed out since I planted them.

At this point, I don't believe that the three holdouts from Greenwood will ever emerge from dormancy. I contacted Brenda at Greenwood nursery and asked what could be done to resolve the situation. She replied asking for photos of the plants, a description of the planting bed and watering scheme. She also pointed out: "the guarantee which you will find at the bottom of any of our web pages", and provided a URL. I sent her the following description:

> All 12 plants were set in a bed about 20' long, mulched
> with about 1-1.5" of pine bark and had a drip hose run
> under the mulch. That hose was on an automatic timer set
> to water whole row (also my blueberry bed -- not that
> it matters) for 30 minutes every other day. The soil
> drains quite well being composed of a good bit of sand,
> but with a reasonable amount of organics tilled in.

I also said in my reply that if the guarantee that she was referring to was the one whereby I must pay an additional 50% of the purchase price plus shipping to receive three replacement plants, that I would not be making use of it. Had these plants been obviously living when I received them, and then died on my watch, that's one thing. However, as dormant bare-root blackberries, there was no way for me to tell at the time of receipt if they were viable. They have never shown any sign of life and have been treated in the exact same fashion as the nine plants from Greenwood (and the three Navaho from a different nursery) which *did* leaf out successfully. A quarter of the blackberry plants from Greenwood is not an acceptable loss rate -- especially when the others had 100% success.

I followed through and sent Brenda photos of the lifeless plants and two shots of my planting bed. The photo of the one arapaho was notable in that it was a lifeless twig midway between two others that had leafed out quite well.

Brenda's second reply was a partial rehash of her first one:

"Below is a link to our guarantee, which you will find at the bottom of any
of our web pages. If you decide you would like to proceed with the
replacements, just drop me an email and I will get the order set up for you."


Obviously the email is indicating that this is the best I'll get from them. My problem with this is as follows. With essentially **any** plant that is shipped bare-root while dormant, there is no way to know at the time of receipt whether the plant is viable or not. By the letter of their guarantee, if you do not refuse the order at the time of receipt, then if the plant never takes, you're on the hook to pay another 50% of the purchase price in the hope that the replacement will be better than the original. The personal guarantee that I can provide is that I will never be 100% satisfied with that deal. I'll also note that in a review below from April 30, 2008, a customer indicated that they had some plants that never emerged from dormancy and created a positive review because Greenwood replaced them without argument. A Greenwood rep replied with a self-congratulatory note about playing fair and owning up to their mistakes.

I won't be giving Greenwood any money for replacements, or for any future purchases. If and when I replace these plants, it will be with ones I order from one of the other two nurseries that provided me with better stock. Given the overwhelming (nearly unbelievable in fact) ratio of Positives to Negatives on this site, I expected better of them.

Unlike some other reviewers on this board, I will *not* be changing this rating to positive no matter what Greenwood does from this point on. If it takes pointing out their flaws in a public forum to make them act responsibly, then this is not acceptable behavior and I won't reward it. My customer experience has been extremely negative and nothing that they do at this point will change that.

Received 25 barberry plants last fall. NONE survived the winter. Rep said send pictures and replacements would be considered. I sent the request and pictures. Two weeks later I sent e-mail inquiry. No reply received.

In June of last year I ordered 10 Cinnamon fern from Greenwood at a price that I thought was too good to be true. I was right it was too good to be true! The bareroot fern arrived and appeared to be very old (black no signs of life) but I planted them anyway in rich well textured highly organic soil. In the following months only one of the 10 fern grew and that one a year later is still struggling for life, one frond at 4" high. I assume that when a person orders fern from an online nursery that is because what they actually want is living fern. Should I not expect a live plant even for a great sale price? I will not buy anything bareroot online again at any price and I will certainly not buy anything from Greenwood Nurseries again. I post this message on behalf of other unsuspecting customers who simply can't resist the price of the fern.

"

After much searching for this customer in our database, we cannot narrow it down to just one person that might be listed as “Healsing”. If he/she would like to contact me personally, I will be happy to try to work with them to clear up any hard feelings. lori@greenwoodnursery.com
I can address the issue at hand right now.
This is the link to our guarantee page. http://www.greenwoodnursery.com/page.cfm/11587

If you will notice there is a section that states:
PLEASE NOTE: Our guarantee is void when customer orders plants not listed for their growing zone or requests shipping outside our recommended shipping times. Planting instructions are provided for our customers. failure to follow these recommended instructions voids our guarantee.

If you will notice, this customer ordered Bare Root material in June. June is a VERY hot month for planting as well as shipping. All sale prices are on end of season stock. If the customer would like to purchase these items, the customer is aware that transportation to various areas of our country may take a few days. This is why they are on sale. This fall, when we have new stock on hand, it will revert back to original pricing.

Heat stress will wilt leaves on almost every plant, unless it is completely dormant. It may not kill the plant but leave it very stressed for that growing season. This is a factor the customer will weigh in on their decision to buy the plant material or not.

As for the Bare Root vs. the Container issue, that is up to the customer in most cases, with the exception of the west coast states. Their Dept. of Agriculture requires ALL plant material to be brought in as bare root material. This is point-blank, no exceptions. (Since we really don’t want to face federal fines, we tend to follow the rules, on this one particularly.) Container and bare root are both cared for the same way. We place a moisture retention gel on the bare root material and wrap it so that the moisture cannot leak out.

If anyone has questions on plant material or shipping or growing, don’t hesitate to call or email us. There is a combined 40+ years of nursery experience in this little office itself and if we can’t figure it out, we will work to find out the right answer for you.

And if you are “Healsing”, please contact me personally.

Lori Boyd
"

Ordered 4 fruit trees for planting spring of 07 received 4 DEAD twigs right on time. When I could not see any life I notifyed them by E mail. end of story. No I didn't send shipping label or pictures as their policy calls for, as I dont need any dead twigs to replant.

"

On August 5th of 2007, Greenwood offered to replace this customer’s plants under our guarantee.

• 1. If any part of your order is incorrect or arrives damaged, let me know immediately and I will send out a replacement as quickly as possible at no additional cost to you. YOU MUST keep all boxing and plants/products until you hear back from the nursery on how to proceed.
Failure to do this will void the guarantee.
UPS has one week from date of notification to pick up damaged shipments.
• 2. If any plant dies during its first planting season, we will gladly replace it. You pay only 50% of current member pricing, plus actual boxing/UPS shipping charge. However, we must be notified by email or snailmail and receive pictures by July 15th. Otherwise, this claim cannot be honored.
• 3. If any plant dies within twelve months from the date of purchase, you may request a replacement within those 12 months and pay only 50% of current member pricing, plus boxing/UPS charge which can vary according to weight and size of box. Pictures may be
• emailed or sent snailmail to us during that period.

Since we can’t see the conditions that the trees were planted in, we request that pictures be sent in so that we can see if there is a possible solution to planting situations.

The customer never responded to our replacement email sent to him on August 5th.

Since the trees were received by the customer in Spring, but he did not let Greenwood Nursery know until August that they were not fairing well, the order is guaranteed under part 2.

Now, In January of 2008, months later, this customer decided to post a negative review.
Greenwood Nursery at that point emailed the customer to offer the replacements again under the guarantee as offered in August, and the customer did not accept the offer again.
We stand behind our quality, which is why we offer our guarantee.



"

I ordered 3 Sedum Autum. They were squashed beyone recoginition
5 Douglas Fir that were so dry they were brittle
6 Buddleia Black Knight That ware barely a plant.
I emailed them in protest of the horrible plants they sent but I never got a response.
Most of the plants did not make it.
I will not buy from them again.

"

In response to Caer4me2 rating, I would like to note that all 3 ladies that work customer service have double checked their archives and cannot find any correspondance with this customer. I left a D-mail with this customer the day after her post and have not heard anything back. I have also sent her numerous emails from my work account. I would love to talk with this customer and find out the exact problems; shipping problems, packaging problem, or maybe lack of knowledge of the plant itself. All problems can be remedied if both sides will work to solve it.
If anyone knows how to contact this person, please tell her to email lori@greenwoodnursery.com
Thanks!"

I ordered three bareroot trees, two never rooted. The company would replace one if I paid freight. The two new ones I ordered never grew either. I got one out of five trees. Most companies have a one year plant policy.

I ordered three potted hosta. When I went to plant them there were grubs in the soil. I repotted them in the house to try to save them. I survived and is thinking about growing. Two others from another company are twice as big, bloomed and a year younger.

I ordered 1 burning bush tree, 10 burning bushes, and one Japanese Maple. All of them were bare root. I planted them promptly within 2 days of arrival. Unfortunately, none ever showed any signs of life.

I emailed photos of the dead plants to Brenda of Greenwood who agreed to send replacements for the burning bush tree and burning bushes if I would pay for shipping but balked at replacing the Japanese Maple. Apparently her supervisor examined the photo and felt that this plant could not have come from Greenwood as their maples were 1-2 ft tall.

I emailed Brenda another photo of the Japanese Maple next to a measuring tape which shows that it is nearly 1 foot tall. Why would I lie about something like this? I am still waiting for a response from them.

I do not feel that I should have to pay for shipping to get replacement plants when my entire order was defective (the order cost me $58). What if the replacement plants are all dead too?

Stay away from Greenwood Nursery.

"

As explained to the customer, the trees he received were still dormant. They came from the cooler so that they would bud and leaf out when he received them. They might look like "sticks" but after leafing out, they will look beautiful!

We ship hundreds of Burning Bush out each season. The customer did not want to plant these bushes, since he didn't understand dormancy, and decided to lay them on the deck of his house and let them dry out before planting. In 80+ degree weather no less.

So yes, technically they are dead NOW.

As for the Japanese Maple, he had many Maples planted in his yard (as was noted in the picture) but the ones that are sent out from this nursery are grade A Japanese Maples that are at least 1 foot tall, yet under the 2 foot mark. They are also well branched Jap Maples.

The picture sent in was of a whip, a younger Jap. Maple that had not even started budding. In other words, this tree was a full growing season younger than the ones that we send out.

If this customer had called in when the items were received, he would have received replacements within 10-14 working days at no charge. Not even shipping, as per our stated guarantee in part 1. Since he did not call us until three months later, he falls into section 2. Only shipping rates will apply.

We apologized for any ill will that he feels for us, but this is a policy across the board for all customers."

I ordered 3 'Ruby Queen" Weigela. I am a professional horticulturist and used to dealing with mail order material. These plants were just breaking dormancy - I think I saw a few green buds on arrival. When I checked the next several days, there was nothing green, and no improvement in the 4 days after arrival. They must have had heat stress during transit & died. (it had been very hot.) I took a photo & asked for a refund since the weather was not looking like it was going to be any better for a second, later shipment.
The rep said she would pass on the photo & get back to me. After the initial response, they did NOT get back to me. I contacted them again. They insist I must send back the dead plants & soil in order to get a refund. These things happen; good companies do not make their customers jump through hoops when a transaction goes poorly.

I am so disappointed... I bought a new house last October. Over winter I spent hours and hours pouring over websites searching for a nice border plant. Finally, I found the Willow Nashiki at Greenwood. I placed a large order on February 10 and, to take advantage of special shipping rates, bought several other items as well. I dug my holes and eagerly awaited my hedges.

On May 2 I received an email stating that they were out of the Willow Nashiki. There was no apology or explanation. Now, either they were out when I ordered way back in February and waited until May to let me know or they sold the plants to people who ordered after I did. Either way it was not fair. I passed up so many good offers to order from Greenwood. Now everyone is sold out of what I want or no longer has the great offers.

I am not one to give a negative lightly. I really wanted a nice pleasant transaction. I wrote back and canceled my order. I never heard from them again. Still no apology or anything. They have an overwhelming positive rating here, so I expected something better. :-(

"

Dus to the sudden spring freeze that Tennessee and most of the mid-west to southern states received during the Easter Weekend, all nurseries received tremendous amounts of freeze damage to their stock. We, too, received damage to quite a bit of our inventory. To all of our customers that ordered Nishiki Willow, Dynamite Crape Myrtle, Cosmopolitan Grass and Red Barron Grass, we sent out an email stating that the freeze had damaged most of these plants. They are still alive, but the quality of each plant is less than we wanted to send out to customers.



This was a blanket email.



Sometimes email from companies is stopped in the junk filter of the customer’s email software, and we realize that. If you would please contact me at lori@greenwoodnursery.com, I will do everything that I can to make things right with the customer.
Mother Nature has the power to wreak havoc with the Nursery Industry, as well as the Agricultural Industry as a whole. Please be patient and work with us. With over 9,600 customers that have outstanding orders for the spring, we sometimes get a little behind on our email.



Lori Boyd

Greenwood Nursery.com

"

I am disgusted that after I wrote a very fair email to this company about a cancelled order they never notified me about their rep wrote me back saying "maybe I was having a bad day" and did NOTHING to remedy the situation. I waited all spring to receive plants that were never coming because of a problem with my credit cards expiration date. And NO I was not given the option of continuing my order by their rep, only more confusion about why I was not notified that they cancelled my order. Isn't it their job to keep me updated after I gave them $200 of business??

The amount of negatives this company has speaks for itself. I came back and found that their representatives have outright lied about my experience with them. I did not say that they should ship me my plants and I would figure out how to pay for them and I have never cursed at anyone over the phone in my life. I would love to hear about this 'proof' that they have. I worked in the customer service field for years and treat people how I want to be treated, and I am a professional- these are two qualities not possessed by Greenwood nurseries. I am disgusted that they once again proved their horrible customer service skills. If you order from this company you better hope that no problems arise because they are a backwoods company run by a few people that don't know how to satisfy customers, keep customers updated or problem solve for that matter.

"

This customer had 2 orders waiting to be shipped, both to be charged to the same credit card. Greenwood Nursery sent two (2), documented emails to the customer at the email address that the CUSTOMER entered on our website. It is not our policy to make sure that the customer entered their email address in correctly. They are an adult and should hold themselves accountable.
Both emails stated that her credit card had a problem, to please call us and we would fix the problem. On April 28th, the customer called in and spoke with Shasta, one of our customer service ladies, about her orders. When she was told of her card problems, she then wanted us to ship them to her anyway and she would "just figure something out" about paying for her orders. When she was told that we didn't operate that way, the customer told Shasta to “keep your %^& *#$ plants then!” plus other things that we don’t believe are worth repeating. All of this is documented.
The customer then emailed the owners telling them what was stated in her negative review. After that, she was told her business was no longer needed here.
We can work out or tolerate most issues that arise, but we will not allow our employees to be treated this way by a customer, no matter how much money they spend.
"

Here is a picture of the David Phlox from Greenwood which arrived May 31, 2006. Leafless, poor condition. The company spokesperson said "it looks great".

Here's the "Greenview Bamboo" I ordered:

//www.charlenenj.gardenbuddies.com/gallery/albums/Greenwood-Nursery-Purchases/phloxdavid2.sized.jpg
//www.charlenenj.gardenbuddies.com/gallery/albums/Greenwood-Nursery-Purchases/phloxdavid.sized.jpg

Literally, there was not a drop of soil in the container. The dry root ball was the exact same size and shape as the plastic container it arrived in. The pics here make that clear, so it was somewhat amusing for the company to say the soil must have fallen out in the box:

//www.charlenenj.gardenbuddies.com/gallery/albums/Greenwood-Nursery-Purchases/greenview1.sized.jpg
//www.charlenenj.gardenbuddies.com/gallery/albums/Greenwood-Nursery-Purchases/greenview2.sized.jpg

"

Customer was correct that the plants did not meet their expectations nor did they meet Greenwood Nursery standards. Though the plants survived and will prosper we felt obligated to meet the customers expectations. Customer was contacted and offered free replacements or a full refund as well as keeping the original plants. They did not accept this offer."

I just found this site while trying to locate a better company for both customer service and quality. In 2004, I ordered three "premium" redbud trees for over $150. I had one die immediately and the other two didn't make it through the winter, after carefully watering, etc in our harsh Colorado climate.

I also had been given a "bonus" 25 butterfly bushes for my expensive order and all 25 were dead in the dirt with never a leaf or sprout of life. I mentioned this to Steve and Cheryl and they didn't seem to bat an eye to my displeasure. I corresponded probably a half of dozen times with them and neither offered any replacements trees or mentioned their guarantee. Not until I actually brought this up on the 6th or 7th email did they even acknowledge a guarantee.

I would look elsewhere if I were you. The roots on my trees were also severely pruned back and I wonder if this was the cause of all three not making it a year planted. They, of course, seemed to always think it was my faulty planting skills. I planted over 30 total plants that spring and only 5-6 things died, all 3 of their trees and 2 potted groundcovers plus a potted lavendar from Home Depot. I don't think I was particularly poor at my tasks as all my holly bushes (7) and juniper tree and Dogwood tree and barberries, boxwoods, cotoneasters, hibiscus, and even two roses did fine!

You be the judge but I think for the price and poor service, go to your local nursery or HomeDepot, Wal-mart for that matter for some things!

I bought 5 plants from them. All the plants look very sick. One is just a dead dry stick without any label. One plant is very tiny, so the price is extream high.The customer service is very very poor.

I ordered the 5 crape myrtle collection. After about three weeks the order showed up on my doorstep. I opened the package and the plants were pretty much dried out. I planted them in pots and watered them daily. After a couple of weeks three showed signs of life the other two looked like there was no chance. I kept warering them anyways. After a couple more weeks the three were really staring to grow. The other two were just dead sticks. I emailed the company and no one ever returned my email. Well one is blooming and the other two are really growing. I was still mad about the two that didn't make it. I really wanted the peppermint colored plant (one of the two that never grew). Anyways I emailed them them the second time. Guess what no response. So much for their fantastic guarantee!! I will not do business with them again. BEWARE

The customer service for a simple question was so poor I won't be ordering from this company. Nasty, surly responses don't win customers!

I ordered 25 hybrid poplar trees which they advertise as being "very fast growing". They claim they grow as much as 6 feet per year. So far, in 3 years, mine have grown about 6 INCHES! I sent them an email asking about it, but they never responded.

We applied to their affiliate program, and we were told of a "special stats" page to view our statistics, however, we were unable to find such a page. We contacted doug@alternativefundraising.org (Douglas J. Riemer) per their prior emails to us about their program, but after three more attempts to get the information, we were unsuccessful. We contacted Mr. Riemer to inform him of the temporary removal of Greenwood Nursery from our advertisers until he could supply us with our stats page and data, and we received a reply stating that Alternative Fundraising.org had terminated our affiliate status as a result of our inquiry. We reported this to the Federal Trade Commission. We will not give our customers access to any online business that does not give its full customer support to address any issue brought forth to rectify a misleading or false statement or complaints arising from inferior merchandise, satisfactorily. We guarantee safe, secure online shopping with quality merchandise. We recently accepted Spring Hill, Direct Gardening, Michigan Bulb, Gurney and Henry Fields Nurseries because they have been taken over by Gardens Alive! and we hope to see better service and quality, based on our experience with Gardens Alive! in the past. We encourage our customers to tell us about any problems they have with our advertisers so that we may take appropriate action, and if necessary, remove them from our sites.

I tried them for the first time this year. What a major disappointment. I ordered 50 Butterfly and 50 Ninebark bushes. They were all supposed to be bare root. The Ninebark were bare root but they were also all sprouting when I received them. None of the Butterfly bushes took and only about 20 of the Ninebark have survived so far. (I also ordered a supply of their Repellex tablets. The tablets did not help with the 20 Ninebark bushes - the deer have been nibbling away on them and enough time has passed that the tablets should have become effective. Oh well - back to hot pepper spray and fencing to keep the deer away from the young bushes.) Their prices are certainly cheap enough, but with the very low survival rate, the cheap prices become rather expensive. I won't be ordering from them again.