Comments regarding Gurney's Seed & Nursery

I didn't what to expect when I ordered from this company. The reviews seems so negative.

But I was pleasantly surprised, even impressed their service. My order came in a couple of weeks, everything was fresh and alive and thriving. The packaging of the plants was the best I have ever seen. And I am not easily impressed. Maybe they've change management or something, but I will continue to order from them because they have given me the best product and service from a internet order ever!

I am happy with my 6 new bi-color butterfly bushes and they are now planted (and still alive) in my garden.

I ordered 2 trees and a blackberry. They were shipped in separate packages several weeks apart. Everything arrived in great shape. With a $25 off coupon, the price was excellent.

Very early this year, I ordered multiple tomato plants from Gurney's. My plants arrived at my house the second week of April. They were beautiful, but I live in Zone 6, and our last frost date here in the mountains isn't until mid-May. I potted the plants, kept them in a relatively warm shed and babied them, but they were not happy and soon were droopy and mostly dead. I called Gurney's and spoke to a customer service rep who was very pleasant and helpful. She quickly set up free replacement of my plants with no problems. My new plants arrived today and are even prettier than the first ones.

I was nervous about ordering from this company after seeing so many negatine reviews, but I wanted a Sundance apple tree and Gurney's is one of only two nurseries authorized by Purdue University to sell them. I ordered two apple trees in January '09. Received confirmation, and they showed up on March 18, optimum time for planting. Five weeks later, both trees are vibrant. I am pleased with my experience.

I am a first time customer. I heard rave reviews from a couple ladies I work with and I thought it would be so easy to just web shop and then wait for my plants to arrive. I also thought that taking part in a 'special' would make it worth my while.
I placed my first order online from Gurney's. Each of the grasses I ordered stated "for each offer ordered, get 1 plant". So I thought great!!! I ordered 2ea Fountain Grasses, so that in my mind would lead me to believe I'd qualify for at least one plant free, as it states 1 to 2 $5.95. Ok, then I ordered Golden Forest, 3ea of those, and it states the same statement about the "offer" and I thought I'd get at least 1 free plant. I also ordered Gracillimus Ornamental Grass, 4ea of those and the "offer" for "3 or more $5.45", so again I'm led to believe I would get a free plant.
On early morning on 4/27/09 I emailed their customer service thinking I'd get a response and it was just an oversight. No response. So today the 28th I called as I just had my account number and order number, but not the printed out pages I had at home to 'question' the "offers". I was told I did not qualify for the "offer". So what is the offer?? Is it hidden on the page somewhere?? I'm confused and angry at the same time, and I doubt I'll do any reordering with Gurney's in the future. I'll just go back to supporting my local nursery.

I've ordered vegetable and flower seeds from them this year, and I received my order quickly. It's too early to tell so far how the seeds do, but as far as ordering and shipping time, my experience has been positive.

I placed two separate orders with Gurney's to take double advantage of the $25 off (with a $50 purchase) offer. But I messed up the first time and didn't hit the $50 minimum. I found their customer service (via email) to be very helpful. They immediately added the requested items to my order to help me qualify for the discount. That's impressive to me because they took the time to add items that generated no extra charge. Let me say that again. They spent extra time on my order to give me free products. That's why, no matter what else happens, they automatically get a positive.

The plants I recieved are the exact size described. They came rather poorly packed as bare root plants in a plastic bag with clumps of loose, damp newspaper not necessarily on the roots and plenty of loose space to bounce around in the box. Out of the six raspberry plants I ordered, one was clearly dead, and showed no greeen when clipped. The native plum trees are perfect specimens.

I'm still waiting on my Carmine Jewel cherry tree and my dwarf meyer lemon plant, and I'll update this review as needed.

MAR. 30 2009

I THOUGHT I WOULD TRY GURNEY'S AGAIN. IN THE PAST I HAD MIXED EXPERIENCE WITH THEM BUT THIS YEAR EVERYTHING I ORDERED CAME. AT DIFFERENT TIMES (WHICH WAS O.K.) I RECEIVED MY BLACKBERRIES AND WAS VERY PLEASED..THE PACKING IS A LITTLE SPARSE BUT THEY LOOK HEALTHY.

My first and second experiences with Gurney's have come in rapid succession and both have been very positive. I was a bit nervous since the grape vine, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries I had ordered were said to be on their way last week. I was nervous because we are nowhere near being able to transplant "awake" plants in this area yet. But they arrived and, fortunately, were still dormant. The grape vine cutting had a better than Class 1 root system. Amazing! The blueberry and blackberry plants are larger than expected, obvious green wood and very nice roots again. The raspberries are just twigs at the moment but have nice roots as well. So far, everything is fine! Let's hope they all "wake up" heartily!

I have ordered from Gurney's several times over the course of the last five years and have always been very happy with them as a company. Once, I received the wrong variety of raspberry, and so called them up. The customer service was great, and they sent out the correct variety right away, so I ended up with three extra raspberry plants. Another year, a potted blueberry I received late in the fall didn't survive the winter- due possibly to my ignorance of, and their lack of instruction about, what to do with it. I didn't call them about it until about two years later, when I moved to a milder climate, but they still agreed to send a new one without a problem. I recently ordered a variety of plants from them including their dwarf lemon tree, dwarf pomegranate, and some native plums and bush cherries. The plants all arrived in great shape and are doing really well. I plan to continue buying from Gurney's, and look forward to watching my plants grow.

The abundance of negative comments concerned me, but Gurneys was the only source I could find for Blue Star Sea Holly (bareroot), so I gave them a try. To take advantage of a "order $50/save$20" offer, I also ordered Poker Primrose (potted plants) and some Lily bulbs. I placed the order in Dec, emailed in Feb to check on status. They emailed me back within 24 hours to say they would ship in a couple weeks. It was actually closer to 4 weeks (okay by me for my climate). They sent me an email with advance notice of shipping and it all arrived in good shape a week later. Plants are small, but seem healthy and were packed in these awesome plastic sleeves that kept them from bumping around. The Lilies and Holly appear okay, but will have to plant them to find out. All in all, as good as any other mail order company I have worked with. I prefer to buy from a local nursery where I can actually see the plant I am buying, but if Gurney's were the only source I could find, I would buy from them again.

Shipment arrived today--on time and in excellent condition.

I ordered several seed packets as well as 25 strawberry plants from Gurneys. The shipping wasn't fast but the seeds arrived in a reasonable period of time. The strawberries arrived and after counting and planting the crowns, I realized that I had received 23, not 25. I called the company and they shipped out an additional 25 plants to me within 48 hours for free.

I am impressed with the company's company service and after seeing so many negative comments on this site, I had to post my experience.

I ordered 50 bare-root strawberries, some shallots, some horseradish, a mint collection and some seeds. Everything arrived yesterday (within a week of their estimated delivery), and was in good shape (it's all in the ground now).

I used Gurney's to buy a few apple trees that I lost this year in my orchard. There customer service was awesome, and the trees were delivered earlier than expected. They tree were the size they were suppose to be but I would like larger ones, I have a hard time waiting for fruit production. I would use Gurney's again for 2ft apple trees and would recommend them.

I have shopped with Gurney's several time over the last 20 years, but this is the first time in a couple of years. I ordered seeds on Dec, 28 2008 and had the seeds by Jan. 8, 2009. Everything is as ordered. My only complaint is the shipping price is somewhat high. (6.95) for seeds.

I have been a customer of this company and many of their affiliates for years now. I have Many wonderful fruit trees and grapes vines, not to mention all of the perrenials that surround my home. I have a brand new home so I did mostly my entire landscape with their products. I have not had a single complaint yet. I have had things that did not survive but that was because of my lazines of not watering on time, and still they have replaced it. I realize that every company has problems with orders no matter who they are. With the amount that they sell I am curious to know what the ratio of orders to complaints they actually have. It is easy to say that they have more complaints but do they also have twice the amounts of customers? I will continue to do business with these companies even if I have difficulties at times. that is life, humans make mistakes and sometimes no matter what the company does to fix then is never good enough. Unfortunately we are living in a world that is quick to judge and quick to sue when we think we have been wronged.

I ordered several items from Gurney's in 2008 - I started in spring with a 4-in-1 apple tree which leafed out so nicely that I went back and ordered another 4-in-1, a pear tree, a peach tree, a grapevine, a carmine jewel dwarf cherry, blueberries, and some raspberries. Everything but the cherry was delivered promptly and sprouted/grew quite nicely.

The cherry order was moved to autumn because they ran out of stock. I inquired about it on the form on their website, and received a prompt, helpful, polite response from a customer service rep (Sandra, I do believe). The cherry was just lovely when it arrived, and I consider it worth the wait.

After receiving the cherry tree I went back and ordered some seeds - cold set tomato, and forono beet -- and some other supplies, such as peat pellets and floating row covers, and they arrived promptly and all in the same shipment.

With Gurney's as with many other businesses, there is a trade-off: lower prices (coupons) are available at the cost of convenience. I'm in no hurry to receive my plants as long as I can save a few dollars; I'm young and have the rest of my life to perfect my garden.

I ordered some vegetable seed tapes from them because I haven't been able to find them here in UT and I used to use them in WI. Am glad to have found a source and will probably order again next spring.

I had emailed this review to Gurney's privately about a week ago, but received no response, so I am posting it here.

I had high hopes for Gurney's. I placed an order in May for a bundle of 25 Sparkle Supreme strawberries, and a Deluxe Standard Contender peach tree. I was told that the order would arrive in 2-3 weeks. The strawberries came about a week and a half after I placed the order. The estimated delivery date of the peach tree kept getting pushed back first from early June, to early July, to late July. Now I look on the estimated delivery time, and it says that my peach tree order has been canceled, which they gave me no notice of. I am really rather displeased that the peach tree order was pushed back and back and back and then canceled without notice. It is too late now to order this tree from anywhere else. And I will have to wait until next year to try again. An extra year of waiting is quite a long time since the tree already takes 4-5 years to bear fruit. They still have this tree listed for sale on their website. In addition, they had it listed for sale on an insert that came with the strawberries. I'm out of a peach tree, which I had hoped to have in the ground this year being that they take so long to mature.

I keep debating whether to rate this experience negative or neutral. The strawberries did arrive in a timely manner and are doing well, however it was primarily for the peach tree that I placed the order to begin with, as strawberries are available through many catalogs. I had so been looking forward to having the Contender peach tree, with its resistance to late spring frosts and good flavor. And I thought that by ordering the deluxe, I would perhaps get better service. I certainly didn't expect to have it canceled without even a notice. If I had known that they were not going to send the peach tree, I probably wouldn't have placed the order with them to begin with. Prior to placing my order with them, I had also had a copy of their catalog sent to my neighbor, which now I'm thinking I probably shouldn't have.

I am willing to change my rating to positive should there be a good resolution to this situation.

I was worried about my order, because I found this site after I had placed it. I must say, that my experience has been a positive one. I ordered 6 raspberries, 6 blackberries, 20 asparagus and 50 strawberries. One raspberry and 1 blackberry did not come up and they are replacing them. The strawberries and asparagus were 100%, and I ended up with 62 strawberries and 23 asparagus, so it was a nice little bonus. The raspberries and blackberries shipped within a week, but the strawberries and asparagus took a month. The delayed shipping would be my only complaint, but it was worth it for the good value and quality plants. They often send bare root stock, so it isn’t always pretty, but take care of it and have some patience. Customer service was also very friendly about replacing my two plants that did not grow.

Though my order caused me a LOT of frustration I have to honestly give them a positive because in the end - the problems weren't their fault and the plants they sent look healthy and were packed nicely.

I do, however, wish they would stop shipping things via UPS's "Basic" service.

The first time my order was shipped it got to within 30 minuts of my house and mysteriously dissappeared somewhere between the local UPS and my Post Office.

Gurney's replaced what they could (they were out of the asparagus I orderred) and I had to wait another two weeks to get the blueberry bushes and brugmansia. However, they both look healthy with only a couple of brown spots on the blueberries (due to shipping time). Everything was carefully packed in cardboard supports and plenty of shipping peanuts.

Thank you.

One thing about this company I have always had good customer service when I have called there. I have not always been happy with email responses, but customer service is excellent.

I have ordered from them several times and yesterday I received 2 reliance peach trees that arrived in excellent shape very thick and at least 4 to 5' tall. One tree looked like the roots were damaged, but I am hoping it will still survive. Over all it was a good experiece. I have ordered from other copanies and all I got was sticks!

I ordered a Jackmanii clematis, dwarf pomegranate, and a smokebush from Gurney's.

-I received all three in one order.
-The smokebush was shipped bareroot and basically looked like a stick, however after following their planting instructions, it's now happily growing leaves in my backyard
- the clematis and pomegranate were small, in 2-4 inch containers, but I believe this was made clear in their product descriptions
-the clematis sat and did nothing for a couple weeks, but is growing slowly now
-the pomegranate is doing great.

If you have the patience to nurture the plants that come in small pots, this is a great mail order website.

I placed an order in March for 3 items, I received 2 of the 3 items in the middle of April reasonably close to when they originally stated they would arrive. They were small plants but respectably packed and reasonably healthy looking,I wasn't expecting anything that large for the price and they have grown since being planted. The third item they claimed they were out of stock and could not supply it. They however never notified me of this fact but at least nothing else was substituted and I was not charged for it and they didn't charge my credit card until the plants were shipped. Overall I would say my experience with Gurneys was OK, not probably good enough to order with them again but certainly not as bad as other on-line companies.

I ordered a Tree wisteria and 5 live Maximillian Sunflowers. I was surprised at the packing of the Maximillian Sunflowers, wet disintegrating newspaper on barerroots - but they all came up and are doing fine. The tree wisteria was very slow to leaf out - but has now come on strong. I will order from them again.

This has been my second year ordering from Gurney's and I have had great service. Last year I ordered english aster and bee balm. This year I ordered 30 canadian hemlock, 10 japanese yew, 10 caragana, hostas, lilies, and various vegetable seeds. My first order this year I asked the shipment to be shipped in May and it arrived May 5th. The second order I asked to be shipped as soon as possible and it arrived a week before the shipping date on the confirmation. Very impressed. Everything I have ordered has been healthy and grown nicely. Although, you are receiving plants at a pretty cheap cost (compared to local nurseries) that have been packaged and shipped to you. It takes a little work to get them to five star quality. I live in zone 4 and find most of the plants I've ordered to be pretty hardy. Don't order from a mail order company and expect to get what you see in the high buck local nurseries/stores without a little green thumb magic first.

I ordered from Gurney an American Elm, diesease resistant, as well as other seeds. I am happy with all. The tree had a great root system, and is now 3 weeks later, leafing out. The seeds have not all been planted, but so far so good. I am very pleased

I ordered some strawberries that are supposed to be as big as peaches...I was slightly sad that I couldn't order them in smaller amounts, but I could find room for fifty,so I ordered. The order was sent out on a Thursday...well, first off that is dumb, send my plants out right before the weekend so that they can sit in a post office for a couple extra days! I might add that I placed this order on monday or tuesday morning i believe. Well anyways, the package literally sat in Sharonville, OH in the post office until the next monday, before it even started on its journey, I know this because of the tracking number I was provided. So every day I just kep thinking, they will be dead. And nine days after beginning their journey, the strawberries are here. They are a bit worse for the wear, but they are healthy, and have great root systems, and I planted them immediately. I'm sure that for the most part they will be ok. I'm looking forward to some big strawberries! I would be scared to spend a lot of money here, because I have seen the bad reviews on these companies, but they are worth a try. My experience was good, after I got the package and realized that the plants were safe and sound!

Used the "free" coupon and was ready to post clever comments about "you get what you pay for." After all the negative comments on this site, I was shocked. Ordered 25 Ft. Laramie strawberries, received 34. All 34 are doing fantastically (2 or 3 took a little coaxing, but hey...) 136% success - not too shabby! We ordered lettuce seeds and they sprouted 3 days post-planting and it sure looks like most of them germinated. We have okra seeds, too (the expensive variety) but it'll be a while before I've got any feedback on them, way too early.
One of the best mail-order experiences ever :-)

I placed an order with this Co. and have had nothing but great results. My order was shipped in three shippments , seeds, then the plants. I used the online coupon and cannot say enough good things about this Co. My strawberry plants look great, the bulbs are big and healthy and my hydranga start is green and lively. I wil order from this Co again in the future. I encourage all online shoppers to remember that we live in an instant age, with high speed everything. But some things still require a human element, and we are all subject to mistakes. HAPPY PLANTING !

For all the negative reviews, I felt obligated to share my recent experience with Gurney's. I bought several fruit trees from them last spring. I nurtured them the best I could yet they died. Thought I would wait and see if they might come back this spring, but unfortunately they did not. I e-mailed them of my predicament. I didn't hear back from them real soon. So I dug up my receipt, ready to make copies, and to take pictures of my dead "sticks" expecting a hassle. But then I was e-mailed back and told my refund was credited back. I called my credit card company and sure enough they had refunded my money--no questions asked. I certainly appreciate the way they refunded me. They seemed to be fair to me. But for the record, I don't think bare root trees are the best way to go as the shock seems to be too much for them. I will try to buy container plants if possible, but I still plan on buying more trees from Gurney's too.

I too, used the 25.00 off coupon. I ordered:

two orange butterfly plants -these were bareroot, but not exactly what I expected. I'm hoping they'll do fine.

one empire blue butterfly bush- this looks really wonderful and I can't wait to plant it.

a josee lilac- this is a little wimpy seeing as it was 19.99 but it looks to be in decent health, already leafed out.

a packet of the royal flush sunflowers- I'm going to direct sow these in a few weeks

two saskatoon blueberries (order one and get two)- these were bigger than expected, still dormant.

a lb of the shade champ grass seed-I've put this in the appropriate area, now waiting for growth.

It came in three seperate orders, but I was made aware of this when I made the order. My final part of the order came a smidgen earlier than I would have liked, but all in all I'm satisfied with the products I've ordered and the service I've been given.
I will update with any pertinent information.

Gave them a try this spring with coupon. I am up in the air as of now. While the plants that I got do seem healthy, they were VERY small, even for mail order plants. Their shipping was very quick and I did get everything that I ordered, I will just have to wait and see how these grow in before I will know if it was worth it.

Several months ago, I was very encouraged, after a long failure search with other companies, that Gurney's had Goldrush lil big apple trees they could ship to me.

I explained by area's need of a late winter shipment date and requested a not later than the last week in Feb for them to arrive.

To my great surprise, the almost 3 foot dwarf apple tree arrived in the third week of February; at a perfect time for me to plant and be assured that with a heavy layer of mulch this tree I planted should have all the time it's bare roots needed to acclimate in preparation to adequately support it's upcoming spring leaf out flush.

I was also surprised to see that they included with this dwarf apple tree a planting kit which included a white spiral tree Guard, a Peletized Calcium packet, Garden Solutions All Natural Fruit Tree Sarter 2-0-2 Food packet along with good instruction on when and how to apply these items.

What further pleased me was how many fine feeder roots were attached to the main bareroots and how healthy both they and the buds on the prepruned branchless tree appeared.

After planting the tree, I could see that there was still one surprise in the package. It was a Tree-Mate-o which could be reused as often as needed until the tree's trunk reaches 2 inches thick, along with my own "T" stakes to support this new young apple tree.

This was my first time to order from Gurney's and I have never been more please with the products they sent, the price I paid, and the customer service I received.

I ordered two fruit trees from Gurney. The communication was good, and the trees arrived timely and in excellent health. I will definitely order from them again. Very satisfied.

In my area, we don't have great variety when it comes to garden centers. I have ordered seeds and plants from Gurneys and have always been happy. I am the only one around that I know of that grows pumpkins in my area. I have tried other seeds from local shops and have not been nearly as satisfied.

Ordered seeds and garden supplies. Package arrived in less than seven days (1 day after email saying items were shipped). I have used this company for over 25 years without a problem.

I ordered strawberries over 7 years ago and they are still producing berries even though they are in a flower pot on my patio. I barely water them or feed them and they are as happy as can be. I live in Cali so maybe that's why I've always had great luck with their seeds and plants. Their plants do much better than other companies plants. I now only order through them and couldn't be happier.