Comments regarding Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens

Original shipping label was returned on 4/21/07 in requesting 2 replacement items with notation that if other problems arose I would be sending a photocopy of the label. Today (6/29/07) my 6/12/07 request for additional items that died came back say they needed the original shipping label. Do they not have people who can read? I think they are just trying to rip people off because of 6 other nurseries I did business with this Spring none required a returned shipping label. And any problems were handled satisfactorily over the phone.

When will I learn to check this site first?!! I just ordered a rose from them this morning. Luckily it's just one item. I'll keep you posted.
Signed: "Feeling Stupid in Oregon"

It was NO consolation that I see so many others who were ripped off by Richard Owen Nursery. I ordered a dozen Jumbo Blue Spruce in the summer of 2006 for fall planting. They arrived suffocated in a "Full" sealed plastic bag which was then enclosed in the plastic shipping bag. They were all brown on arrival and the roots were dry due to NO compost materials to keep moisture in. In spite of my better judgement, I expended almost 13 hours carefully planting them according to their instructions. Within a week the needles had all fallen and that was that. I contacted them
( after many busy signals over several days) and was told that in order to recieve a refund I would have had to take action in 14 days. This was not enough time to verify my first thoughts on opening them.

With reluctance, I requested the replacement order for spring planting this year. Guess What ! They finally arrived and in the exact same condition as the previous year. No heed was paid to my contention that the way they package the tress causes them to die in transit.

Guess What ? I contacted them again today with a refund request. "NO SIR" was the reply. Please send in the shipping address label for a replacement of the order. ???????????? Ya Right !

I recently had a bad experience with Richard Owen Nursery, Inc AKA Exciting Gardens. I am very aware of dormant bare-root stock. If you don't know better, you would say the plants arrived dry and dead. This was not my issue with them. My order took almost 2 months to arrive. Half of my order were substitutes. These plants had been growing in their plastic bags for sometime and arrived a moldy mush. The other plants were fine. Three weeks with a good rainfall and every one pushed it's way through the soil. I sent back the dead plants with the OH, SO IMPORTANT LABEL! I have been waiting for my refund for a month with no telephone answers, nor e-mail replies. After reading many complaints from this web-site, I wondered if anyone contacted the Better Business Bureau. I sure did! It was easy on-line if you want to take the time. The company is located in Bloomington, IL so you contact that department. Try this link: [HYPERLINK@odr.bbb.org] Copy and paste if it does not work.

After ordering 60 Hybrid Willows from Exciting Gardener I was worried about the order after my wife told me that a co-worker who is into gardening read bad things on the Internet about Exciting Garden. I looked up on the Internet and found this blog with all the negative comments.

One month after the order, I received my package from Richard Owens Exciting Garden. The order was exactly as discribed. The Hybrid Willows were 2-4 foot and had well developed roots. After ordering trees from Arbor Day, I can say that Richard Owens has a better product then Arbor Day. I think most of the people who are complaining fail to realize how the mail order plant business works. These new plants need a lot of care and time. YOU CAN NOT LET THE ROOTS DRY OUT BEFORE PLANTING. Since planting my Hybrid Willows, they have grown 8 inches in a month. I am very satisfied with the product I received from Richard Owens Exciting Gardener and will do business in the future.

I ordered quite a few items from this company and their co-company Four Seasons - the items shipped were small and in bad shape. When they didn't live I requested they somehow correct the problem, they declined. They wanted a copy of the shipping label which they had irremovably glued to the packages when they were shipped without it they say the guarantee is void; however, they do have copies of my order and know it is a valid order and request.

I'm still waiting for an order I placed about 6 weeks ago. The plants I ordered are to be planted now or in the spring and were in stock. On the order form it said plants would be shipped within 2-3 weeks. I've contacted them 4 times and they continually tell me my order has been shipped. There is no way to verify this on their website. I will NEVER deal with this company again. I just hope when the plants arrive they are viable. If not, I'll contact my credit card company and get a refund.

I must confess that I panicked when I saw all of the negative posts toward Richard Owens Nursery on this site while awaiting my shipment of plants. Much to my relief, the plants arrived today, about a week later than I had hoped. I can live with that. If I had not been familiar with dormant, bare-root plants, I would have gone into shock becuase they look pitiful. However, I have had great success with them in the past when I have ordered from other vendors. Quite frankly, my new bare-root plants look as pitiful as those I received from other vendors and they are doing beautifully in year 2. (I think Richard Owens would benefit from better warning customers in advance as to what bare-root plants are like.)

I personally like working with bare-root and dormant plants because they are inexpensive and tiny -- I've especially pleased when I'm digging smaller rather than bigger holes. :-)

I HAVE SAVED MY ORIGINAL PACKING LABEL. The enclosures clearly state that I must have this in order to invoke the one-year guarantee if I have issues.

I hope that my experience continues to be positive. If not, I will follow the process clearly outlined in my packing materials. I feel confident that the vendor will honor its commitment as outline in written materials. If not, I will file appropriate complaints and take my business elsewhere. Otherwise, I will be a repeat and loyal customer.

I have ordered from Owens Nursery two years and was completely satisfied with products,prices and customer service.The three times I ordered from two other big companies were a nightmare.The plants were overpriced,looked sickly,took forever to get (some I never did)and talking to customer service over and over never resolved anything.I should have stuck with Owens and now I will.

I ordered from Exciting Gardens and it took over a month to receive the 'plants'. All of the ascelepias butterfly plants that I ordered were substituted. The shipping order even states the correct plant, but the label on the subs reads "sub for" and the plant number. I also ordered two butterfly bushes. One is currently alive, and both are in bags about 1x2 inches. The remainder of the plants ordered ended up being bare root, and one was rotten/moldy upon receipt. I could not find this listed as the method of them sending your plants. At this point, I can return them but after you take out the shipping, it's not worth the effort.

Only 3 of 12 fairy roses, 23 of 36 lavender and none of the 4 butterfly bushes bought from this nursery survived the winter.
The place and conditions in which I planted these are good as demonstrated by the survival of all roses and lavender bought from different nurseries and planted in the same place.
I did send for replacement plants as they guarateed, however it seems a waste of time and effort to replants when so few survive. Do stay away from this nursery. It turns out it is more expensive than many when you look at the few barely living plants you end up with.

I am not believing that this company can still even exist. I received 2 of the item I had ordered out of a pretty large order and one of them I couldn't even find the fern. It did not exist it was so small. The other plant was a one inch dried up dead stick of nothing. I sent it all back AT MY EXPENSE with the original shipping label and have instructed this sorry excuse of a company to NOT ship me anything further and to IMMEDIATELY refund my account my total amount. These people need to be reported to the BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OF THE UNITED STATES AND SHUT DOWN IMMEDIATELY. They are what we in TEXAS call BIG TIME CROOKS. I have told these people that I will REFUSE anything else sent to me from them and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. UNLESS YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE DEAD PRODUCTS OR DUST AND THROW AWAY YOUR MONEY, THEN USE THEM BY ALL MEANS

I placed order 31403403 on 2/21/05 consisting of grasses and a tree peony totalling 32.44. I expected them to arrive in May, figuring being based in IL they know when to ship to MI. They arrived in April while the ground was still frozen. I potted them to try to keep them til planting time. NOT ONE OF THE ITEMS LIVED! Could not find the required "shipping label" to return the defective merchandise. Unfortunately I did find the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL at the end of May 2006, but my year to get satisfaction was past. They obviously have all the order info in their computer system. The requirement of the "original shipping label" is an obvious ploy to keep from repaying people for the substandard plants they ship. Never again will I order from them and quit sending me your catalogs and save a tree.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY....I ordered almost $200.00 dollars worth of plants. The first shipment was half dead the other half was 3 inches tall & weak. I called the company, returned the order and canceled any add'l plants. Long story short, I followed ALL their rules, timeframes, and have spent over 6 months calling, sending certified letters and can't get any one to speak to except Cust. Svc who claims that's not their job. Only a so-called Mrs. Avery, who can't be contacted by phone and who also ignored my certified letter, is able to rectify the problem. This is a SCAM nursery, full of CROOKS and THIEVES, SORRY EXCUSE FOR A COMPANY....BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE!!! Plant your money...it will have a better chance of producing foliage! ....Save yourself!

"

This customer placed an order for $125 on 3/27/06. The order was sent in 2 packages.

Our guarantee states
"For a REFUND of the purchase price, RETURN THE ITEM AND THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL, with the correct postage affixed, within 14 days or receipt."

The customer did return the first package we sent and it was promptly refunded. In her note with the package she requested that the remainder of the order be canceled, however it had already shipped.

Unfortunately, she did NOT follow our guarantee on her second package. She claimed that she refused this package (although tracing through the US post office does not support this as the package shows delivered.) We have repeatedly explained to the customer that we have not received the second package back which is why the refund for this package has not been issued."

I bought 36 robin hood rose plants, all but 9 sprouted. On reordering the 9, two have started leafing out and 7 are not. Guess I will have to live with this since the warranty is for one shipping only. But believe after reading all the negative comments will just go to local nurseries from now on.

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We do have a free replacement guarantee. The customer need only to return the original shipping label within one year and let us know how many of which item is dead for a replacement.

We do have a free replacement guarantee. The customer need only to return the original shipping label within one year and let us know how many of which item is dead for a replacement.

In addition, a dmail was sent to this customer on 10/9/06. We have not yet had a response."

I have purchased from several of the Owen's outlets in Bloomington over the past several years. The plants that I received were decent quality and had good survivability. The plants were comparable to those received from Arbor Foundation. Bare root stock received early in the season was the healthiest. Stock received later in the season, such as mid-late summer was poor, as was the case with stock received late season from Arbor Foundation. REcommendation: Order bare root stock mid-winter at the latest and request early spring delivery. Expect to be disappointed with bare root stock ordered from any vendor late in the season. These plants were alive at one time, but they do deteriorate as the season progresses. Many of the better nurseries have a date beyond which they will not ship. Perhaps that is the greatest sin of Owens. Perhaps ordering too late in the season is the biggest mistake of naive purchasers. We should be smarter than that.

I ordered a mailbox garden and 48 creeping phlox last August, for about $40. When they arrived they appeared to be mouldy, and after a month they seemed to be dead. I wrote to Owen's Nursery and they told me to wait until spring.

I just contacted them again, as all but one of the phlox are dead. I included the original order, their confirmation, and our previous correspondence in my email. They are refusing to replace the plants until I snail mail the original shipping label. Given the amount of negative feedback I see on your website for this company, I wish I had known about it before I wasted my money.

I will definately notify everyone I know who orders plants via mail order, not to use this company, and to check your website before making a purchase.

Thank you!

"

Our warranty as stated in our catalogs and on the home page of our website is as follows:

Richard Owen Nursery - ONE YEAR GUARANTEE
If any item you purchased from us does not live, for a FREE REPLACEMENT just RETURN THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL along with your written request within 1 year of receipt. If you are dissatisfied with any merchandise, return it together with the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL within 1 year of receipt for a FREE REPLACEMENT. Replacement guarantee is VOID unless the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL is returned. For a REFUND of the purchase price, RETURN THE ITEM AND THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL, with the correct postage affixed, within 14 days or receipt.

We are sorry to hear that the customer had problems with his order. We do stand behind our warranty. A dmail was sent to this customer on 8/10/06, offering replacements. We have not yet had a response.
"

I ordered 24 Robin Hood Roses #5252 June of 2005. They finally arrived in August 2005 and we planted them immediately. This spring 2006 We only had 4 that were growning so we sent for replacements. They replaced 21 of them that we received on June 17,2006 and we also planted them immediately . There was mold and black on some of them but there was still some green so we still planted them. Now we still have only a total of 6 plants that are doing anything and they are not all the same plants. They are double pink and a red color. The package ID is 100472923 I have put many hours into these shipments and am VERY DISGUSTED. So I am still with out any #5252 Robin Hood bushes apparently and after planting a total of 43 roots I have 6 plants. If this isn't corrected soon I will be contacting the better business bureau.
Dawn McNeal
Osakis, MN 56360
This is a copy of a letter I sent to them.

"

The customer returned the original shipping label as per our guarantee in September and an adjustment was made on the items that were a problem."

Although my order was not huge, everything I received was in good shape and leafed out almost immediately - unlike some of my purchases with other nurseries. Maybe I was just lucky - but I am willing to use them again.

In 2003, I ordered a butterfly bush and about 50 Naturalizing Tiger Lily bulbs. The butterfly bush bloomed right away and was really pretty, tho it died throught the winter. That was my fault I didn't notice the wrong zone on that variety. The tiger lilies are just fourishing. They have been blooming every summer since I planted them. After reading these other comments, I don't think I'd order anything else tho.

I placed an order for dahlia's in Apr. 06 and my check has been cashed in the amount of $408.45 which show on my bank statement. I have e-mailed them with no response and have called constantly with their phone always busy. Guess I'd better call the Better Business Bureau. The check was cashed on Apr. 11 th it is now May 8th

"

A d-mail was sent to this customer on 5/8 offering assistance, but we have not yet had a response. Our phones have been very busy, but we do respond to every email usually the following business day."

I sent a check for $94.20 for some fruit trees on March 29,2006 and as of this date (May 4, 2006), I have not received anything.
I plan to call and see if I can get a refund. PS, I wish that I had known about them before I ordered.....

"

A d-mail was sent to this customer on 5/4 offering assistance. We have not yet received a response to our d-mail."

I bought from Richard Owen Nursery too and spent $35.33, received NOTHING, I thought they went out of Business so I google them and found this site, I’m going to try and get a refund. wish me luck

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We have been in contact with this customer via D-mail. We were able to stop her order to cancel it, but she decided she wanted us to ship the order instead, so we have."

They're still at it.
Boy, I wish I had seen this site's ratings before I ordered!
Got this really nice catalog in the mail, with terrific plants and great prices. If only it had been lost in the mail.
This place should have a slogan "If you think our prices are low, wait until you see our quality."
They have absolutely no clue how to run a business. I ordered a bunch of things at their website, and it said a week or more to process the order. Fine, no problem.
After three weeks, I tried calling them, but got nothing but a busy signal for two days straight. Finally, I emailed them asking for status. Next day I got a response, asking me to send the details again. Apparently, my name and order number were meaningless to them, and they could only look it up by my zip code.
I replied, and after another day, they responded by saying "we have received your order and it is currently in processing, which can take 3 weeks. Once it has completed processing, it will be scheduled for shipping based on plant availability and order date."

Needless to say, I told them to cancel the order and give me a refund (they had charged my credit card right away, long before they had any intention of ever shipping me anything).

I've hesitated to add my name to the list of suckers who have had experiences with this company, but I could hold out no longer. I received part of the plants I ordered from them [I was greedy and the prices were unbeatable, so once again I fell prey to their allure], all of which were nothing but trash. They were either very old dried up plants without root systems or slimey messes of I don't know what. Two extremes, hardly from the same time period or supplier, but dead none the less. I have reviewed numerous companies this fall, but nothing compares to the package I got from this one. Since then, I have e-mailed numerous times, called and talked to my charge company. Richard Owens customer service must be trained at avoidance, because that is the only real response I have gotten from them. I too have the name of the person who signed for my return, copies of the original packing label, my email, and pictures of the dead partial order. If nothing is credited to my account, the charge company will take care of it. You have 30 days from when you return the merchandise to file for reimbursement, they only have 14 days from getting it back to refund you money. It's no skin off my nose if that's the way they want to play, but you can bet everyone I talk to, and we do business with at least hundreds of people yearly, we hear about their game.
NEVER,NEVER ORDER FROM THESE PEOPLE---DON'T BE A SUCKER LIKE ME [I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER!!]

Purchased over $362 worth of bare root trees directly from Owen Nursery aka Exciting Gardens aka Inter-State Nurseries aka Burgess Seed & Plant Co. on March 19, 2005. Took my prized plants home and read through all the documentation on how to plant, water, etc. Planted 36 Colorado Blue Spruce, 32 Thuja Green Giant, 72 Douglas Fir Hedge, 2 Chinese Chestnut, 2 Red Haven Peach, 2 Granny Smith Apples, 2 flowering almond and miscellaneous small bushes. Watered, nursed and watched over as all, not some, but all of my plants and trees died.
Finally gave up and dug up all the dead plants and returned to Owen Nursery in July 2005.
Re-planted everything and watered even more as the heat of the summer was in full progress. Watched again as everything but 2 thujas and 4 douglas fir lost their needles or simply never even tried to bud a leaf. Knowing that my guarantee only lasted to September 1, 2005, I waited until today to contact Owen Nursery and ask what my options are to replace the dead plants. According to the first person whom I talked to, Owen Nursery only replaces plants once according to their posted warranty. Asked for a manager and was handed to [an employee] who informed me that their policy is to replace only once as clearly posted in their lobby. I was at the lobby twice and never recalled seeing any 4 foot high poster stating this. [The employee] then offered a credit for my purchase good until next spring. I asked what my guarantee would be for trees and plants picked up next year and [the employee] stated that my warranty period expires September 2005 regardless of when I exercise my store credit. I advised [the employee] that I would not seek a store credit, but instead wanted my full money back to which he replied we only offer store credit and replacements are only available one time. To end this story, I am now shopping at local nurseries for live 2-3 gallon spruce or fir trees. It may take me me longer to grow my wind break, but at least it will be growing and not simply rotting in the ground if I continued this charade with Owen Nursery aka Exciting Gardens aka Inter-State Nurseries aka Burgess Seed & Plant Co.

Any nursery that goes by more than one name, address, and telephone number should be suspect.

BUYER BEWARE!! IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT! AFTER NUMEROUS CALLS AND EMAILS AS TO THE WHEREABOUTS OF MY PLANTS, WAS TOLD THEY WERE DELIVERED. NEVER RECEIVED! RICHARD OWENS "TRACE" ON THE ORDER SAYS IT WAS DELIVERED, BUT NO ONE REMEMBERS DELIVERING THE 5 FOOT TREES. "CARRIER LEAVE IF NO RESPONSE" COVERS RICHARD OWEN'S THOUGH!! RECEIVED THEIR TRACE LETTER WITHIN 2 DAYS THOUGH , NO PROBLEM.
PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ORDERING FROM THEM. I ONLY WISH I HAD SEEN GARDEN WATCHDOG BEFORE I ORDERED. AFTER PRINTING OUT 16 PAGES OF COMPLAINTS, I THINK IT'S TIME TO NOTIFY CONSUMER AFFAIRS.

BAD NEWs! I wish that I had seen your site to begin with. Though mostly nice to me throughout, I am stopping payment through the credit card and paying to make sure they receive all of this back. Plants were very small and nearly dead ...... took almost a month to process.

I will also try to post some of this info on other well known sites like Bizrate.com but do YOUR best to get the word out.

I ordered plants this year from this outfit half of which arrived doa. That's dead on arrival. The other half were miniscule. I planted them, (they were hedges) but even if they survive, I feel cheated since they were barely seedlings and for the price I was charged, I would expect that they would at least be plants. Sorry I didn't read the comments of others here before I ordered them.

Owen Nursery (aka Plantron Inc), bilked me out of $155 this last summer!! I ordered plants and they arrived at the post office in a ripped open bag, which was ripped because the cheap little plastic containers that the plants were in, busted enroute. I declined to accept the package. I was still debited in my bank account by electronic funds transfer, not only for the purchase price, but they used the same check number and debited my account an additional $25!! I have gone through BBB and it has not been resolved. I am starting a class action suit against this company, so if anyone here would like to be in it, let me know.
dizzywolf@yahoo.com
SPREAD THE WORD.............WE WILL NOT BE RIPPED OFF!!

I ordered $54 worth of bushes from this company in February of 2004. After not receiving my stock by April, I sent several emails and made several calls to these people trying to find out what was the problem. I got three different explainations and no service. They missed deadline after deadline. I finally asked for a refund. Again, after several calls and excuses, I sent a registered letter, at their request, requesting a refund. After the alotted time and not hearing from them, I called the post office in Bloomington, Il who told me when the letter arrived and who picked it up! I called the company and got another crazy story about them not getting the letter yet. I mentioned the name of the person who picked up the letter according to the post office and got a, "Wait and let me check." The guy came back and said they found my letter and would get my refund check right out. And finally......they did! It was only $54 but I finally got satisfaction. However I didn't get my Winterberry bush for this season.

on the 14 th of july i ordered 2 smoke trees,,, i have my canceled check , but no trees,, and not a word from the company,, i wrote twice, with no reply ,
i will be happy to update this when i receive my trees, but i'm not holding my breath, i started to call the company, but i already gave them $15.20 cant see spending a long distance call on them too,!
barbara todd
heidelberg ky 41333

I also placed an order with Richard Owens Nurseries for a number of different plants. Not one of the plants I ordered survived. Not a single one. And I am not exactly new at this either. Daylilies shouldn't all die, especially when you order a whole collection (16, I think) of them.
I happen to be enough of a pack rat that I happened to keep the original shipping label. They did send me new plants within about two weeks, which is pretty good, but the new plants don't appear to be much better than the old ones.
I will definitely not be wasting my time ordering from this company again.

Out of 108 bareroot rosa rugosa rose hedge plants, I had 107 grow beautifully. Only 1 plant did not live. I was very impressed with this average. All of the plants looked dead when I recieved them. I immediatelly soaked them in a water /rooting hormone solution for about two hrs. They were planted that same day and within a week or two began to grow. Now four months later I am very happy with them.

I thought that most mail order (website) Nurseries were pretty much up and up, until I dealt with these clowns. Sure, their prices are low, but "buyer beware"! You pay low, you get low, and I do mean LOW! The plants I recieved were nothing more than dried up sticks; I'm used to seeing dormant plants for shipping, but these were 99% dead! Still, being the optimist most gardeners are, I planted them, and the only thing that grew was the moss and weeds on the ground around them. When I tried to get some re-shipped, their instructions were to send the "original shipping label" back to them, and they would re-ship. I did. A month later, no plants. I called. "No record of your request yet - call back in two weeks". I did. "Should be arriving in a week." They did. Out of three replacement plants, only one had any leaves; the other two were small black plastic containers of dirt and green mush!
How this place (places) gets away with these practices is beyond me. I will NEVER do business with any of these Bloomington Illinois nurseries again. I have learned my lesson. I guess they don't have a Better Business Bureau in that city. If one is ever formed, their first order of business should be to close these clowns down permanently.

Last year on three different occassions, I place orders with this company.
for butterfly garden, I will like to know where 3 quarters of "this garden" went because it has not come up as of yet.
Hummingbird garden ordered same situation as above.
6 Giant Hibiscus same as above not even one came up.
1 violet tree wisteria, it arrived broken in half and dried up, had it replaced by them, replacement also arrived dead
1 weeping cherry tree bought at the end of summer season last year that also arrived dead, had it replaced, Replacement never came up this year even though is was protected and mulched agains frost and winter.
6 mixed russel lupines( arrived as mush)
3 purple cone flowers (one survived the other 2 where so scranny that it was pittiful still planted them, and of course never grew. Same situation with 3 Black Eye Susans
IAM SO ANGRY WITH THIS COMPANY I NO LONGER WANT TO HEAR FROM THEM OR ANY OF THEIR MANY NAMES. I have taken all of this at a loss since their replacements also leave a lot to be desired. Please do not purchase from them If you want beautiful plants, spend the money at your local nursery, where you can see what you are buying.
There should be a giant lawsuit made againts this people.

Over $ 130.00 wasted. Rotted material, immature dessicated material all lumped into a green plastic sack, with no packaging material. Don't order!!!! Very enticing catalog with oh-so-reasonable prices for absolute garbage received by the hoodwinked consumer.

Spent 3-4 hours planting for nothing. Gave them the benefit of the doubt that tghis material would return to life, sprout, something...Then wrote to them, and they told me no refund after 14 days. received a credit slip for 70 bucks, so I could re-live my misery. Caveat emptor, I am such a darned fool. What a scam.

Then I read in the comments above a reply marked as neutral from an employee saying they receive 2,000 orders a day. Of course. More fools like me. Hoodwinked by an attractive mass mailed catalog with what seems like fantastic pricing.

It's not my problem they get so many orders, just please send live merchandise. Or don't mass-mail your stupid, lying catalog in the first place. This man and his family are getting rich at the misfortune and woe of their customers. They are surely the Enron of the plant mail-order industry. Oh, SHAME, Mr. Richard Owen. Certainly you are on the bad book! Hope sincerely what comes around will go around. I don't hate easily. but this disreputable outfit inspired me!!

Someone gave a website to Illinois agriculture that doesn't work. I'd LOVE to invest equal time putting this horrible enterprise out of business. We all dislike being so blatently taken!!

I had the misfortune of buying from the Plantron, Inc under both the "Richard Owen Nursery" and "Four Seasons Nursery". In both cases, I had less than a 20% growth rate on the plants -
and I'm pretty good at this gardening thing :)

The plants arrived moldy, dried out, with little to no packing material! Especially bad was the "Four Seasons" order, which arrived in a SEALED PLASTIC BAG!!!!! I've pulled stuff out of the composter that looked more lively! The mock oranges were mere sticks taped together; the lilies were bags of mush; the sage was powder; the black eyed susan was...well, you get the idea. The Richard Owen Butterfly garden was a disaster - of the entire thing, only 1 butterfly plant and 2 stella de oros are even recognizable as plantlife so far. What should have been the "centerpiece" - the butterfly bush - is a dried out twig in the center of a patch of dirt.

The day lilies look good so far as do the astilbe. Fortunately, they were able to tough it out!!!

Complaining does not help! There are no refunds - well, there supposedly is, but I had to "return the plants in the original packing". Even if I had kept the smelly plastic bags, I've already wated too much money to ship mold and dust at my own expense. I cannot believe that this company has not been shut down!!!

The items we ordered arrived in a sealed plastic bag and were for the most part rotten, the one exception being a fruit tree which resembled a twig from some desert region. The roots were dry and had been for some time, all the water in Nebraska couldn't possibly encourage it to bud. After reading the comments posted here I decided I have better things to do than fight a loseing battle. Another lesson learned about buying without checking it out first.