Comments regarding HarvesTime Nursery

Purchased 10 azaleas from this company via ebay; I was looking for a particular color that was unavailable locally.

There was a bit of confusion as they were switching from one shipping source to another (from FedEx to UPS) and I became concerned when the shipment went out later in the week as this meant it would sit in shipping over the weekend.

Shipment was received early the following week and planted the day it was received. The plants came in gallon pots with newspaper as padding; some branches had lost leaves but that was to be expected with the handling during shipment. No broken branches.

Unfortunately, out of the 10 plants received and planted, only three have survived. Several weeks after planting, the others slowly began to shrivel and die. They remain planted with the hopes (on my part) that there may still be some life in the root system with possible recovery (my partner doubts this).

Azaleas are easily available plants in Georgia and we've planted many from local nurseries. They are shallow rooted plants that do well when they are not planted deeply and they do well in partial shaded areas (which we have). They do well in acid soil (which is what our soil is).

I do not know if the stress from shipping did these in. I am giving a neutral (not negative) rating because perhaps it is not wise to purchase azaleas that need to be shipped.

"This customer did, in fact, purchase 10 azaleas from us on 8/6/04. They were shipped on 8/12/04, and she received them on 816/04. We were in the process of changing shippers, and we did notify each customer via email of the 1 to 2 day delay in shipping, prior to the orders being shipped...(confusion??) As for the azaleas in question; this customer NEVER has tried to contact us regarding any problems with these plants. During the initial plant purchase, we had contact with her via email several times; our phone number and address are also posted on our sites--she had to know how to get in touch with us. We also have a return policy posted on our sites---we stand firmly behind each and every plant that we sell. This customer seemed to be very concerned about her "dying" plants- but never once mentioned trying to do anything about it. Why didn't she contact us, or a local professional or nurseryman for advice?? Did she try to treat the plants with a fungicide, pesticide, etc? It is VERY doubtful that these plants died from "shipping shock" 5 to 6 weeks AFTER they were shipped. There are plenty of nurseries across the US that ship azaleas every day, including us. We have been growing azaleas for over 20 years; we have a website as well as listings on Ebay.In the last 6 months alone, we have received over 800 positive feedback comments on Ebay. Our record speaks for itself.We take pride in providing high-quality plants at affordable prices, and we strive to provide the best customer service possible. It is unfortunate that, no matter how you try, you just cannot please some people."