Comments regarding Kelly Nurseries

I wish that I'd known about this site before I did business with these people. I just received my order today March 31, 2007. I made the order back in Feb. they cashed my check on Feb. 20th it took a month and a half to get it here. Two of the 4 Yellow Ice plants are dead, the soil they were in was wringing wet. The other two, were in very bad shape I've got them in dry soil so we will see. Two of the four Butterfly Bushes, were dry but I think they'll be ok. The other two look to be dead, overwatered I'd say. If they are dead at the roots as I think I'll try to root the upper part which was leafing out at some point. The Tuberose bulbs looked ok and I've planted them, we'll see (I'll add to this post later) and the free daylilly, I don't know, they don't look so good but I'm planting them. I'll try sending back the ice plants. I guess I'll see how it goes and will write back here.

Kelly Nurseries in Dansville NY used to be my favorite place from which to order out of the garden catalog. The catalog looks the same and Kelly Nurseries in Faribault MN may have the same name, but it is not the same old company.
Like so many other people say, I received sticks that looked dead. I planted them all in pots, anyway. Lo and behold everyone one of them eventually sprouted, except the autumn clematis. The biggest problem is that they sprouted from the roots or just above the grafts, not from the terminal buds.
But hardest part of dealing this company is Plantron Direct Gardening's customer service and their poor warranty policy. After two months of trying they did replace the clematis with another lifeless plant that I could not nurse to life. Because THEY took 2 months, now they will not give me my money back. The warranty was only two weeks from the original shipment. They will give me a credit toward new plants. I am trying to decide if it is worth the bother. I think it isn't. There are other inexpensive catalog and online nurseries that deliver better product and stand behind their plants. I will just buy elsewhere from now on.

I ordered several plants from Kelly Nurseries / Direct Gardening, because their prices were so low. That should have been my first clue that "you get what you pay for".

EVERY SINGLE PLANT DIED, or was dead on arrival.

They ignored emails requesting replacements until my third attempt, after which I received a terse reply that I had to provide original packaging and the dead plant materials. I had already explained that I did not have the original packaging. (Because they used very poor-quality shipping materials, the box did not even survive the trip to the garden for planting).

I ordered from them because they are the only supplier I have ever seen for a Paulownia tree.

The Paulownia tree that arrived was a dead and hollow reed, about 6 inches long and in a plastic sandwich bag, which, when I took it out of the bag for planting, immediately seperated from a bundle of equally-dead roots. It was this that I tried, initially, to have replaced.

The dwarf fig was equally tiny, and in a sandwich bag, but had two green leaves. It did not survive the mild Maryland winter of 2004.

The iris corms looked dried out, but might have been alive. But there was no sign of life this spring.

The pampas grass, also in a sandwich bag, was a brown bundle of dried grass - but in the fall it would have looked like that in nature, I reasoned. But it, too, has never shown a sign of life.

Finally, the tree peony DID survive the winter, into the spring, and sent up new shoots in March. But then it died. It's located beside other peonies I picked up at Costco, at the same time, but they're doing fine, so it didn't die due to weather or soil conditions, or they'd be dead, too.

I ordered plants from Kelly Nursery in January. When the order did not arrive I tried to telephone them but found that the telephine was not connected. I finally got through to them via email in March. They told me most of the order would be shippped right away and the rest would arrive in April. That which arrived in March was either already dead or very nearly dead. I have been able to save the bare root rose. It is still very weak and just now beginning to leaf out. I ordered two Wisteria plants. That which arrived were just sticks, no roots. One is beginning to leaf out, the other is dead. In April I received three hydrangia plants. They were sickly and starting to rot when I received them. To date I have managed to get all three to survive but they are still very weak. What I got from my order was the worst nursery stock I have ever seen.

Last year I purchased $200 dollars worth of plants from Kelly. I requested the delivery date be after Mid May. Well of course they didn't follow my instructions. Almost everything arrived dead. I planted everything in hopes it would come around.

I sent back all of the packing material with a list of the 3 things that lived since that was much shorter. I called today three weeks later they have no record of my letter or return packing. They told me to call next week. This doesn't sound good.

I’ve bought some plants from Kelly Nurseries catalog ( http://www.kellynurseries.com ) in early Spring 2004. To my dismay I received many of the plants totally dead, with no signs of life whatsoever. I wrote many emails to them, which were never answered. I called them and they said I had to send the label on the package in order for them to consider replacing it. I no longer had the package, but had the dead plants as a proof. They said that I could send my Credit Card statement as a proof of purchase, and that’s what I did. After months of having ignored my letters, statement and emails they sent another replacement. They replaced them in July, months later. Still I received a totally dead plant (a Mock Orange) – no sign of life, nada, and zilch! Then I called them again and they told me to send the Credit Card statement again. When they answer the call they mention that “your call is being recorded for quality purposes” but it wasn’t a recorded message, they answer the call like this every time, which sounded more like … “Anything you say may be used against you”. I told them I had already sent the credit card statement. I was talking to a female voice, which sounded young and very mechanic. She said there was nothing they could do. Then I asked to talk to the manager or whoever was responsible for the Customer Services. I told her I knew she wasn’t a machine and she could talk as a human being. After insisting a lot to speak to the Manager, she said I could write a letter to Grace Avory, but said she doesn’t receive phone calls. Very weird… A customer service manager that doesn’t answer phone calls. Well, I made a note and decided to call again. Next time a man answered with the same message. He said that he was going to talk to his manager/ supervisor, whatever… I waited and he came with the message that he wouldn’t replace the plant without the label from the package. I said to him I bought the plants and they sent me them dead. It means they were the same as garbage. Then he told me to send the credit card statement again and I told him AGAIN that I had already sent it. Then he said they were NOT going to replace it. I got so mad! I told them I was going to call the Better Business Bureau in Illinois, Office of the Illinois Attorney General and CBS Show “Shame on You”. He said I was threatening them. I just read a book called “Life’s Little Instructions", by H.Jackson Brown, Jr. It says that at least once a year we should write a letter complaining about some kind of injustice. I’m sure we all have experienced something like this and end up doing nothing about it. It’s our loss. This time I was ready to confront them, no matter what. It wasn’t a matter of money, it was a matter of being mislead. That’s why I am writing this letter. Kelly Nurseries always sends various catalogs with different names:
Four Seasons Nursery
Farmer Seed & Nursery
Burgess
House of Wesley
Interstate Nurseries, etc
They are exactly from the same company, which is also called Direct Gardening (www.directgardening.com). If you go to this site and order their catalog, you will see that they say they have many catalog suppliers, which are exactly the same company. They hide behind all those other catalog names, but they are from the same address in Bloomington, Illinois. I’m going to go ahead and do everything I can to have my plant replaced this time, even if it takes me a lot of trouble. Let me know if this similar situation has happened to you. Maybe this way we can show how this company makes business to their only advantage. Next time don’t bother to buy from them. All they will send you is a dead stick in a plastic bag. This was the way my “plants” arrived. It proofs how misleading they are.
"This is not a threat in any way, but my rights as a consumer I’m defending and I will pursue it."

On February 4, I ordered from Kelly Nurseries via the Internet. It was clearly a huge mistake that I ever ordered from this company. This company is like the Greek Medusa with at least three head companies: Kelly Nurseries, Richard Owen, and Four Seasons (there may be more than this).

The products each company sells are nearly identical by item and price, just the name of the company is different. Moreover a common customer service answers for all three nurseries (from Bloomington-IL). I received 3 orders, the first was so bad that I immediately sent most of it back because the shipment was badly packaged and in poor condition. The third package with the bulk of the perennials I ordered had items omitted, others in a dried up condition and was a screwed up confusing mess of jumbled up items . Once this company had my money, getting any type of redress from them is a matter of anger and exasperation. If you want to return something you have 14 days to get your money back, and if you want a replacement plant(s), you are required to send the exact shipping label from that exact shipment, no photocopies are accepted. It is obvious why this is done. This company counts on the natural sloppy way of customers who just throw away the package after they get them. Customers who go thrugh this frustrating attempt at redress will often give up and say to heck with this procedure. And this is how this company makes its money. When I talked with their Customer Service, they would not honor any replacment request unless I had the exact package number. Also I might add they are very good at losing correspondence. My May 6 letter has never turned up in their data base (more than a month has elaspsed) so they have done nothing about my replacement, nor reacted to my numerous telephone calls. My advice to any potential gardener considering buying from this nursery combine is:

DON'T BUY FROM KELLY NURSERIES; THIS IS MY ADVISE TO ANY POTENTIAL CUSTOMER. This company is a terrible excuse for a nursery with inferior plant materials, sloppy packaging, and a terrible return policy that is designed to ripoff the customer.
George Kretschma

Like others, I wish I would have seen this site before ordering from Kelly's. I sent them an email complaining about their shipment a few minutes ago, before I came upon all your experiences. I have dealt with many mail-order nurseries before but have never encountered a place that shipped way too early for Northern Vermont and slimy dead miniscule plants to boot. ALL my 16 perennials were DOA and of the 80 red ozier dogwoods, they only shipped 77 and I don't see any sign of life from those almost rootless twigs that I planted 3 weeks ago. I should not have deluded myself into believeing that I could have a dogwood hedge for $55. I have invested alot more money into this hedge with all the soil amendments, mulch etc not including the time it took to dig 80 holes. So this is a major disappointment. I hope that enough twigs survive for me to have something that resembles a hedge...

I ordered from the catalog last year 2003. Several of the plants did not look good but I planted and water them as the others. I have never ordered from Kelly's before. I have a one year guarantee and as suspected several plants did not come back this year. I have sent e-mails and called several times. There is always a busy signal and they have not responded to my e-mails. I spent over $100.00 and got only a few plants that are still living. I am most unhappy with this unprofessional company. I HAVE SAVED ALL MY RECIEPTS. I would like compensation for the dead plants. END RESULT: DO NOT ORDER FROM PLACES YOU DO NOT KNOW.

Last May I placed an order with this company specifying
delivery details and dates. Never received acknowledgement
or plants.
To date, and in spite of repeated e-mails all I have received is "a run around". Customer Service cannot help because they do not handle problems (!!!) The "Order Status"
department does not even address the problem.
Meanwhile, they cashed my check last June, I am out of the monies paid, which, apparently they do not intend to pay back, and I have lost a landscape customer whose garden is now unfinished for the season since, at this point, I cannot obtain those plants from other suppliers.
Kelly Nurseries has each and every detail on this transaction, PLUS MY MONIES.
I can only hope that others read this BEFORE they order from them.

Well, lets just say that I am not suprised at everyones comments. I have had NOTHING but trouble in dealing with these lovely people. First of all, I had problems in receiving all my merchandise. I still haven't receieved five plants that I ordered. Then, when you call to complain, they tell you just to mail in your shipping label and try to get you off the phone. Second of all, some things were in ok condtion when they were received. But by far, most were in poor condtion, and most of the things I received from them have died (and let me tell you, my husband and I worked for weeks preparing the soil before these plants were to come--I am a big "Jerry Baker" fan). Then, they were emailing me telling me they were shipping me my order (a second time) and I was concerned they were going to charge me again for it--when they already had. NO ONE must be reading these emails, because it took SEVERAL before anyone even responed back to me as if they had even read my emails!! Then, on the 5 plant I never received, I wrote them, but did not send them "the origingal shipping label" as they are so famous for requesting BECAUSE I WAS NOT RETURNING A PLANT FOR REFUND--I HAD NOT EVEN RECEIVED THEM!!! So, to me, why would I send the label, when I had ordered other plants, and there was a good chance they would die (due to their poor condition), and then I wouldn't get replacements for those plants. Well, I wrote them, and sent them a copy of my original shipping label. A MONTH later they sent me a letter saying to send them the original shipping label. Well, needless to say, I was not happy, and I dug up all my dead plants and sent them to them with all the shipping labels. It has been a month an a half, and just last week I received two of the over twenty plants (not including the five I have never received) that died--no other letter, no other plants, NOTHING. I am assuming that I will not be receiving anything else from them, or even a letter. OBVIOUSLY I will never order from them again--I just can't believe they can run a buisness like this. I made a huge mistake by ordering from them--and I am so glad there is this website--I will be checking here first from now on!!

I wanted to try this nursery out so I only ordered one plant from them. Along with the plant I ordered they sent me two Spirea bare root plants for free. The one I ordered got a few leaves on it then it croaked. It never came back the second year. The spirea didn't grow at all.

My complaint is concerned primarily with how this company's customer service and accounting departments are operated. I am new to gardening and have ordered several plants from various mail order companies as well as some local nurseries this year, but my experience so far with Kelly Nurseries has been negative compared to all the other companies I've done business with. The problem is that I happened to want to cancel an early April order I placed with Kelly shortly after I had mailed it to them (the order total being about $35). I had found out through research that one of the plants I had ordered from them was actully quite invasive so I changed my mind about wanting it. I tried to cancel the order over the phone about a week after I'd mailed it and was told that there was no record on file that Kelly had received it. I was told to call back in another couple of weeks. I thought it a bit odd that they needed two weeks for an order to come in the mail and become processed. Through surfing the internet I came upon this site and then found out about the negative feedback concerning this company. I then decided to stop payment on my check and wrote an e-mail to them that I wanted to cancel my order. They did respond by e-mail telling me to write a letter stating that I wanted to cancel; I did so that day and mailed it soon thereafter. The date on the letter was in mid-April. I thought that everything was then resolved and that the cancellation went through. Well, a couple of days ago, much to my suprise, I received a few sad plants that had been part of what I had originally ordered. I thought to myself how odd that these were sent! So I tried calling Kelly to find out why these plants were sent to me in late May when I had cancelled my order back in mid-April. The customer service operator told me that I needed to send the plants back and gave me a phone number to reach the proper accounting office to speak with someone who could find the record of my cancellation. I have tried several times to call; the line is always busy. I don't think that it is my responsibility to send these sorry plants back at my expense when I had followed the proper procedures for cancelling my order that this company requires. I am very disappointed with how they have handlled this whole affair.

Never received all the plants I ordered. 1/2 of the plants were dead. The rest were poor quality. Threw out most of them.

This is the worst garbage I have ever received !!! Our Troops should take this guy & turn him over to saddam hussain! I have been getting Plants from mail order for 45 years, This company & all it's affiliates need to be prosecuted!!

Placed an order on 2/2/03. 12 hrs. later, I cancelled the order. I was sent confirmation of that cancellation yet on 2/7/03 my credit card was charged. Visa has since disputed the charges but Kelly is fighting it. And unbelievably, on 3/30/03 they actually sent me the plants (DEAD). Told me I have to pay the return shipping. They are still sitting - bagged - in my garage. I will not return without a prepaid slip from Kelly. Place should be closed down !!

My credit card was charged weeks before my order shipped then half the plants died or never came out of dormancy. Although they guarantee replacements or refunds if plants die within the first year, they require "original" shipping labels. I had sent my labels (via certified mail return receipt)with a letter stating exactly which plants had died and requesting a refund on those items only to have them mail it back with a note "what was the problem with...". What part of DIED and BULBS NEVER CAME UP don't they understand? Obviously they are backing out of their guarantee - they couldn't claim that they didn't receive my "original" labels since I had mailed certified and concluded that I wouldn't pay more in postage than I was entitled to in refund to keep mailing that way. I have no doubt that if I were to mail via regular first class (no receipt) that they would claim they never received my request.

half of order arrived molded while the other half was dried out. time stated for expected delivery was 7-10 days and actually arrived in about 2 months

Boy, I wish I found this board BEFORE I placed an order with Kelly Nursery!!! I too, had a dismal experience with this company and would NEVER do business with them again. I ordered a shade garden package in March 2002. The plants did not arrive until June. I called them twice to inquire about my order (I found a number hidden in the catalog and apparently the # is for the shipping warehouse) and was told they would arrive shortly. I planted the plants according to the directions and NONE of them appear to be alive (10 days later) DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY!

We ordered this spring from several mail order nurseries. We ordered over $100.00 worth of plants. The shipping and handling charges were high. We thought they would be sent UPS; no they came in the mail. They were in plastic bags and were cooked when we got them. We ordered in march and finally got the last order in June. Very few things have lived. I called the company and was told that if I shipped the dead plants back they would refund my money. If I wanted replacements write a letter and send the invoice back. I did send the invoice back and they returned it to me telling me to give the plants a chance they were dormant. They weren't dormant they were dead. We will never order from this company again. I am still waiting for my replacement order.

It has been over two months since I placed an order with Kelly's, and nothing has arrived. I'm sorry I didn't find this site before I ordered.

I canceled and order from Kelly Nurseries that was never sent and have not received credit from them either. Customer service gives me the run around and e-mails return the same. I am contacting the Postmaster in their area to see if something can be done on their end.

A friend bought me a potted, bagged Queen Elizabeth as a gift from Kelly Nurseries (through a local nursery). At first glance, it seemed healthy (3 fat green canes, a few buds). However, when I unwrapped and removed it from the peat pot to soak before planting, there were no discernable roots on it whatsoever, only a few little white "feeders"! The big roots had been chopped completely off. I've planted it, anyway (in deference to my friend) but there is no way this rose will survive without a root system and if by the grace of God it does, I'm not looking forward to the process. Worse, the rose was $14.95! Comparable to what a good rose from a good place would've cost! It's my opinion these roses are "throw-aways" (machine thrashed plants) from big rose farms. This company then buys them for pennies and covers them up with a pot and bag to sell to the unsuspecting public. Buyer beware!

I ordered plants from Kelly Nurseries, Division of Plantron, Inc. The shipment was missing 3 plants and I'm having a difficult time getting them to complete my order or give me a refund. They definitely earned a place on my "never order from here" list.

I ordered a Japanese Maple. When it came the growth on the top of the little "four inch twig" was totally slimy and nasty. It was immediately obvious to me that the plant won't live. The other trees I ordered had roots as dry as dust and the flowering plants were tiny and just barely alive. I've been ordering plants for years and this place is a complete disgrace. DON'T ORDER FROM THEM!!!

I did business with Kelly's Nursery and got dead plants, and no satisfaction from the company. I was told to send back the dead plants write down the catalog number and the amount of the plant. I did do all that I did receive a refund check but that is next to worthless since they will not honor there own check. I wrote them a nasty letter but never got an answer. I do business with a lot of mail order nurseries and never had the problems I am having with this nursery. They took my money and will not refund it back I will look twice at nurseries before I order from them and stick to the ones I know are good business people.

I have just gotten a computer and found this site Wish I had seen it last year. We purchased $145.00 worth of plants. A group of mountain laurel arrived dead, was returned and a refund was finally received after several calls to both the Illinois and Minnesota offices. I told them to cancel the remainder of the order. They said I would have to put it in writing, which I did. This was almost a year ago and I have received no refund and have been unable to get through by phone. I am going to write them again and the BBB in Bloomington. If no refund is forthcoming I am going to contact the person at the local TV station who helps consumers resolve problems. If everyone will do this maybe enough bad publicity will keep a lot of fellow gardeners from losing their money.

My order was terrible-plants never even tried to grow!

I have bought from various Plantron affiliates and have been uniformly disappointed. It saddens me to see that Kelly Bros has joined them, since I expect this to mean that their quality will plummet. My bad experiences with Plantron affiliates include: catalogues do not accurately list climate zones; quality of merchandise is poor--50% of honeysuckle seedlings I bought failed to put out leaves and I have bought these from two Plantron companies; other orders have had a similar rate of failure.

I ordered $300 of Siberian Elms from Kelly's. They were dry as a bone when I received them. We planted them. A few of them came up. I called the company. The company said I had to write a letter for a certificate for more merchandise ONLY.... no refunds. You can use the certificate one time only, and it has to be for the total amount. So I wrote the letter, and they sent it back, and they told me I didn't write the letter properly, although I did mention how much I spent, exactly what I purchased, who to send it to, all the details of name, address, phone number, etc. And I had to call them again. And talk to the Kelly's associate, who told me specific words to say in the second letter I was to write. So I wrote it, and addressed it specifically as I was instructed by the Kelly's associate... and finally after several months I received the voucher so I could purchase more merchandise. This was an extremely bad experience and I will NEVER purchase anything from this discombobulated company again.

This Spring (2001) I ordered 10 asparagus seedlings, two filbert trees and two Paw Paw trees. The asparagus is ok, but the "trees" arrived as dead switches with no fine roots at all, just nubby stubs. They were planted with care, watered faithfully amid a wide range of thriving vegetables, fruits and nut trees. As of today their "trees" are dead, dry switches. I cannot raise them on line and sent the original shipping label back as they demanded by snail mail. I wish I had read this thread before I ever ordered any thing from them! Next stop? Better Business Bureau if not satisfied.

I ordered several plants from Kelly Nursery in late April. I was told it would be six weeks to process the order. I thought at the time this was a long time to fill an order. The order arrived in June. All the plants were either black slimy, completely dead, or of the worst quality I have ever seen. Total order was $43.90. I feel that this money was just stolen. No real nursery would send that quality of plants.

Last year I ordered two Harry Lauder Walking sticks from this company. And to make a long story short, both died. I asked for replacements and after much ado received them. Both of them also died. The plants were dry and brittle when they arrived. I soaked them in water before planting and since the reshipment was late, I planted one in a pot and kept it indoors for the winter. Nothing ever sprouted. Pieces of the stems were laying in the bag when I opened it. I keep a file of plant catalogues and Kelly's is recycled as soon as it arrives. I don't keep something that I will never order from. Please don't waste your time with this company. By the way, I am a Master Gardener and thus I know how to care for plant material. I have been gardening for at least 40 years now. It's sad that some companies just are not reputable.

I, too, am a sucker who placed an order with Kelly Nurseries. After waiting months for an item I was told was on back order, then finally having received it, I couldn't believe my eyes. What was supposed to be a tree was a small, green thing about 2 and 1/2 inches long. And that's not all. The end of it was rotten! It was totally unrecognizable! No leaves, no nothing! Just a short, rotted stem! It could be a weed for all I know! They should be ashamed!! I can't believe they treat their customers this way. How do they remain in business? I have learned never to place another order with this company.

I placed an order for 40 Canadian Hemlock trees from Kelly Nurseries. When I did not receive my order I tried contacting them at the number on my order confirmation. The line has been busy for days. I was looking for their web site when I ran into this site. After reading your stories I am horrified. I hope I didn't get scammed.

Have tried for weeks to get a response to questions about my order - why it was never received, why my check was cashed, why the phone is always busy or no one ever answers. No answers to any of these questions. I don't intend to order from them ever again.

I purchased 200 strawberry plants last spring; they arrived moldy. I planted them hoping for a miracle. When it did not happen I sent in the shipping label and requested another 200 plants. The entire summer went by before I received the next shipment; needless to say they were also moldy. ALL BUYERS BEWARE! DO NOT BUY! Nothing Kelly sends is any good.

I had a terrible experience with Kelly's last year - I ordered a clematis, some hostas, periwinkle and lavender. Because I placed an order over a certain price, I was promised some sort of free bonus gift. Well, when the plants arrived, only the periwinkle and a couple of hostas appeared to be even remotely viable. Since the planting information indicated that this was normal, I dutifully planted everything (except the free gift, which will remain a mystery because it was unlabelled and rotting and I couldn't remember what it was supposed to be). By the end of the summer, about 3/4s of the periwinkle was alive, and all the hostas came up. But neither the lavender nor the clematis ever came up. I didn't even bother following up with the company because I had waited so long to see if anything would happen with the plants and because I hadn't spent that much. However, I will NEVER EVER order from Kelly's again!

I ordered several items from Kelly Nurseries and am very disappointed. I ordered the blue moon roses. 3 for 15.95. Two lived and the other died or was never alive when I got it. The rose just bloomed yesterday, and it is not blue. It is pink. All the other plants I ordered were rotten when I got them and none lived. This is false advertising.