Comments regarding Forestfarm

I just received an order containing viburnums, maples, serviceberries, and Japanese barberries from Forestfarm and I couldn't be happier with the quality of each and every plant. The packaging kept the plants safe in transit and delivery via UPS was swift (but not inexpensive.) I have ordered from this company before and am pleased that at least one business has kept up to its previously high standards. The selection is not to be beat and when a question came up regarding my order got a prompt phone call to help.

I know of no better source of woody plants. The small sizes make getting something unique affordable. Of course you will have to wait for them to grow. After nine years, my Sweet Shadow suger maple, Dawyck Purple beech are starting to make an impact. The plants I have receieved where always in good condition.

I've ordered twice now and both transactions have been quite pleasant. Plants arrived in excellent shape on the dates expected. Customer service was conscientious and diligent. I will order again with no reservations.

I just received an oak leaf hydrangea from Forest Farm and I was very pleased with it. The people at Forest Farm have always worked with me when something went wrong and I really appreciate it. Their packaging has to be the best there is even though their shipping costs are pricey. The oak leaf hydrangea was very healthy looking and I hope it does well. I have ordered from them for years and have always been pleased.

Forestfarm Nursery is stupendous, with an amazing selection of rare plants! I have ordered many plants from them. The tube sized plants sometimes are small (not always) but this is reflected in the price. Also, the tubes seem to give the plants a deeper root system, so they can grow well in the landscape compared to other plants of the same size. I love Forestfarm!

I have dealt with Forestfarm for years and have been perfectly satisfied with every order I've gotten, both when I lived in MS, and now here in GA. Their shipping is impeccable and their customer service is outstanding. They call if they have questions and keep you appraised on a shipment status by email. They sell plants for the both the NW and plants for everywhere else too, and as long as you know what your planting, and understand your climate and ecological requirements, your plants will thrive. But, if you try to grow plants intended for Oregon's mild summers and you have hot summers, you're going to be in trouble though. Know your plants before you order! Some of the trees I've ordered from Forestfarm are well over 15-20 feet high after only 3 years and we had a serious drought for 2 years in that period. Research what you order before you buy. These folks have some really hard-to-find stock, and you won't be disappointed.

My experience with this company spans a number of years, but only a single purchase. My initial order arrived promptly but had a couple of tiny, inferior plants (among a half dozen different plants), both of which died. After an extensive email exchange with Ray, Ray agreed to replace the dead plant and issue a credit for the other. We agreed to wait for the next year before the replacement was sent, which was OK with me.

The next year I was delighted to get a large, beautiful replacement plant, which survives and is doing well to this day. Two years after receiving the plant, it bloomed and set fruit. That is how I discovered that my replacement goumi was actually an autumn olive. While both species bloom in similar time frames, goumi fruits ripen in spring and early summer while autumn olive fruits ripen in the late fall.

I emailed Ray back again, initiating another email exchange. Ray basically said he would have to check his stock to verify what I said was correct, which I suppose is reasonable, but that frustrated me as it should be obvious to anybody working with these plants what the difference is and that there is a problem with the goumi stock. A nursery raising these plants should pick up on the fruiting time difference. Well, Ray emailed back confirming that his stock of goumi was actually autumn olive. He indicated that his seed supplier must have sent him the wrong seed. Here again, while similar in appearance, autumn olive seed are significantly smaller than goumi seed (about half the size or slightly less) so I felt that this error should have been caught at the beginning. At this point in time, I also realized that goumi started from seed usually does not supply the same quality as named lines started via cuttings, something I had not picked up on during my initial purchase.

Ray indicated that he would take care of the problem and I was expecting to see a goumi plant the following spring. However I have heard nothing from him nor received anything in the past two years.

I've debated making a comment here for some time, not sure what to do. After all, there was an effort made to fix the original problem, which I did greatly appreciate. However, shipping misidentified plants can be a big problem for all of us and I've been disappointed for a long time with my experience with Forest Farm. You can invest years and much effort in a plant to later find it is not what you wanted. I am disappointed that this problem was neglected and ignored but I also wonder how many others may have gotten an autumn olive instead of a goumi and did not realize the problem.

"On Aug 23, 2009 10:15 AM, Forestfarm responded with:

Four weeks have now passed since [name removed by customer request] posting, and we haven’t been able to get the information we need from him to “make things right”. So it’s time to post a rebuttal.

We’re guilty (sort of) as charged. Yes, [name removed by customer request] replacement Goumi did not get sent to him, although it was not forgotten. It just slipped through the cracks.

We wish that [name removed by customer request] would have come to us directly, of course, rather than post a negative rating. Although we try hard to please everyone, with thousands of customers, and only limited brain power to remember all the things that need to be done, omissions sometimes happen.

I D-mailed [name removed by customer request] immediately (on Sunday) after his post. After not receiving a response for several days, we went into our storage to pull out the papers from his last order, so I could contact him directly. It turns out the phone number he had then was no longer valid for him, but I was able to reach him via email. I’ll paste the exchanges below.

“I immediately replied to you through Dave's Garden, but apparently you haven't read my email.

We did not have your email in our computer any longer, but went into our storage area and found your last order, which gave me this email address. I hope it is current so that you will receive the message that I'm pasting below. Thank you, Ray

I certainly can't blame you for posting a negative rating about Forestfarm. You have been more than patient. Please know that you have my humble apology.

The funny thing is that the Goumi for you has popped into my mind over the past few years, and I wondered whether we had solved the problem. I even asked the office staff about it, but during the busy shipping season, no one had time to look. I guess I assumed that we had taken care of you, because it had been in my mind, and I had wanted to follow through. But I didn't have a way to check without having your name in front of me, and the old emails have been deleted by our tech consultant. I also assumed (and hoped!) that since I didn't hear from you again, we had fulfilled our obligation. Wrong, I guess, and I'm sorry.

We got rid of the batch of plants that turned out to be autumn olive, and got true Goumi again, particularly with you in mind. I can only apologize for not sending you one when we were supposed to. As to the seed question you raise, we tend to believe what our suppliers tell us, unless the plants turn out to be different, which may not be noticed until years later. It might be possible to note the difference in the seed size, as you mention, but it is not likely something that the staff would have noticed when planting those seeds. We might have wished that to be the case, but it's just not something that happened.

Ordinarily, if we need to ship a replacement plant to someone, which does happen occasionally (we're certainly not perfect, and although we try hard not to make mistakes, they happen), we will put an order in the computer for the next feasible time to do so. Unfortunately, with the Goumi, we had to wait two growing seasons for the new crop to be ready, and that's how your order slipped through the cracks. We had no way to put in an order for shipment that far in advance. So your paperwork got put into a file, and that's where it stayed.

The only thing we can do now, except apologize profusely, is to save one of the large 3-4') 1-gal. size Goumis to ship to you in fall, when the weather cools sufficiently to permit safe shipping. If it would please you, we actually could ship one to you now via Air, and absorb the extra $22 in Air shipping costs (whatever we can do to make you happy).

We are at your mercy. Please tell me what we can do to make amends, by replying directly to me at plants@forestfarm.com. Thanks, Ray”

[name removed by customer request] wrote:
Ray,

Thank you for your email. Frankly I did get your email on Dave's Garden and did not respond immediately because I just didn't know my own mind or how to answer your questions.

To answer a couple questions specifically:

1) I do not want you to ship air at this time. I think that would be unreasonable for me to expect you to do this.

2) I do not want you to ship a goumi for fall. I have pursued goumi's from other sources and lost a couple during spring leaf break. I think it important that they have the growing season to establish.

3) I would like to know, although none of my business, if you notified other recipients of the goumi that were autumn olive - I think I ran into someone on Dave's who had an AO but thought it was a goumi.

I need some time to think this through a bit. I was not expecting to hear from you, although I knew this was a possiblity.

Thanks

[name removed by customer request]


Thank you for responding. I am glad that you were able to read my response to you.

The most important thing to me is to make you happy, after the disappointment you've been through. If you think that a Goumi could establish before winter if we shipped it to you now, via Air, I would be willing to do so. I feel bad enough about you waiting this long that whatever it costs us to make amends is what I'm willing to do. Please don't see it as an unreasonable expectation.

We could not be sure which plants were for certain A.O. and which might have been Goumi, as the plants from several seed batches had been mixed. When we heard from someone that they may have gotten an A.O., we replaced it without question.

Sent on Aug. 2: “I haven't heard from you after my last email to you, so please tell me if you will be around this week to receive a Goumi, and which address we should ship it to. We will send one via Air to arrive toward the end of the week. Please understand that your posting on the Garden Watchdog stings, and I need to do whatever I can to make things right for you. Thanks, Ray”

Sent on Aug. 8: “We would really like to be able to send the goumi to you this week, but haven't heard from you as to which address we can send it to. Please let me know so that we can close this chapter. Thanks, Ray”

We have not heard from [name removed by customer request] again. We don’t know to what address we could ship the plant. The only thing we can do now is give him a refund for the plant, which we have done. Ray"

I gather from the reviews their plants are good but their shipping charges are outrageous. They want $17.95 to ship 3 tubes worth $19. I am very familiar with UPS shipping charges since I do most of my shopping online. 3 tubes should ship for no more than $3 or $4. Needless to say I didn't proceed with the order. Very frustrating to go through the whole process only to find out they are trying to increase their profits with ridiculous shipping charges.

"On Dec 27, 2009 4:57 PM, Forestfarm responded with:

It has taken awhile for us to have contact with this poster, in the hopes of convincing her that what she’s said is erroneous and should be retracted. Apparently that is not going to happen, so we will try to set the record straight.

We don’t know where she came up with $17.95 as shipping cost. There is no such number in our shipping chart. In fact, the cost in the UPS table of $14.50 for this size shipment is not even covered by our charge of $12.85! While we hate to lose money on shipping, we’re definitely not profiteering. And while we can’t know this poster’s motive for wanting to leave her negative rating, we at least wanted to set the record straight. "

I just came back in from the garden, where the Seckel pear I ordered last spring is developing beautiful small fruit. I'll be ordering from ForestFarm again for sure.

I have ordered at least 50, if not more, trees from this company and I have nothing but great things to say. The customer service is exceptional, the plants themselves are the best quality I have received from any company, and the packing is excellent and I have never had to call about damaged plants. I really love this company and have no regrets whatsoever in doing business with them. I would much rather pay more in shipping (the plants come from Oregan to Oklahoma) than shop anywhere else, even my local garden center. They have the best selection of any mail order company, and none of my trees I have received have died. They are all doing very well. I wish every company did business Forest Farm's way!

I am living in the USA right now and very much missing England and it's native plants. Some very common British plants are nearly impossible to find in the USA. I spotted something similar to (but not exactly) what I was looking for on the planting list at show garden in the Philadelphia area, listing Forest Farm as the source. I contacted them, told them what I had seen, etc and asked whether it was possible to get the plant I was seeking. Ray responded by email and told me they don't normally sell it but that they use it as root stock for other varieties. He checked and found that they had two plants on which the "fancier" grafted variety had died back and offered me the two rootstock plants- not normally for sale- at a very good price. I really appreciated him going out of his way to find what I wanted and emailing me several times to make special arrangements. The woman with whom I spoke on the phone (Sorry I forget her name! Linda maybe?) was extremely pleasant and professional -- and now I have two May Blossom (Hawthorns) just like back home in England.

The only negative- which is no fault of Forest Farm - is the cost of shipping (esp by air) to the East Coast. If shipping were to cost less I wouldn't hesitate to buy much more.

I cannot say enough good about this company, based upon my experience! I ordered 1 Heptacodium miconioides, the Chinese Seven-Son-Flower plant from them after reading LarryR's article. The tube size was all they had available; I specified that I wanted it sent after Memorial Day. I received an email notifying me the plant was being shipped on May 28th with a tracking number. I also received a postcard from them reminding me to be watching for the delivery. I received the plant on June 1st. The plant was very well packed and so much larger than I expected! Thanks, Forestfarm, I will be back!

I have ordered from Forest Farm for the past few years now. The plants that I recently received were extremely healthy and packed perfectly. I have ordered from other online nurseries and Forest Farm is at the top of the list. I highly recommend them to all future purchasers without reservation. Thanks for all of the wonderful plants over the years!

very nice mail-order company i had no problems with them. i was kept inform on my order as far shipping. the packaging was good. the plants were the best i have ever received through mail- order. the planting and care information for the plants was also very helpful. best of all i was not insulted or called any names.

By far, THE best online source for plants I have ever used, and I've used many over the years. Forest Farm's selection is amazing, the quality is the highest, and their customer service is excellent. Packing is superior and all plants arrive in terrific condition. This nursery is my go-to source for just about anything I'm interested in ordering. I highly recommend this business and their products.

I'm in the middle of Michigan and it's been hard to find Lenten Roses locally (even though they grow quite well in our 4+ Zone). Two Helleborus Ivory Prince were ordered and arrived two days earlier than they'd predicted. The packaging was amazing (and enormous box with the box containing the plant material fastened to one end, each plant taped within, lots of shredded paper -- very impressive!) -- and both plants appear very healthy with good leaves and a strong root system. Of course it is too late for them to bloom (and they're too young!) but I anticipate healthy and strong blooms and plants next spring.

I'm very pleased.

I thought this was an alright nursery. I had bought from them before and was pleased. But then I ordered again, and got my shippment just a few minutes ago. Their packing methods could stand a great more experience. I had two ferns and 2 evergreen shrubs. The evergreens appear to be OK although they are a bit on the raggy side. One of the ferns, a Red Painted fern, looks as though it has never seen water and the soil is hard as rock, the fern itself is dried up and shriveled. The other one is OK. But what really irritated me was, there was tape on the fern leaves making it very difficult to remove without ripping off the leaves.
Don't think I will buy any more, from them.

Ordered and recieved 4 sugar maples. Very healthy plants. Good value.

I recieved plants in the best condition I have ever seen through mail order. The wild indigo was in full bloom, the passion flower was beautiful. They were packaged very nicely. Their customer sevice was very helpful. I am very impressed with them.

I ordered a few blueberry plants. They arrived healthy, and are flourishing. Ray and Peg were very communicative when emailed regarding the order, and I knew they were concerned about the plants as well as about me, the customer, and the order.

They have the best plants, the best customer service and the shipping times by far. They have gone the extra mile to make sure I was happy with order.

I am so glad I ordered from Forestfarm. I was worried as the plants would be over a week in boxes during shipping, but decided to take the risk as they were the only place that supplied the plants I wanted.

The plants, shrubs and the tree were extremely well packed in plastic pots, or strong plastic overwrap with plastic bags over them, so that the roots did not dry out. The hawthorne tree had had the thin leader gently bent over, not chopped off as many places do, so it is much taller than expected.

Unsurprisingly after 8 or 9 days in a box some leaves were yellow, but all the plants are recovering nicely. Forestfarm shipped to meet my planting deadline and sent a postcard letting me know the plants were on their way so I could prepare the plant sites for them.

One of the plants I ordered was not in stock, but Diane from Forestfarm contacted me to let me know, so that I could take up the empty space in the shipping box with another plant. She was very helpful and pleasant to deal with.

I liked the way the website was arranged as I could look up items by their latin names which I much prefer for accuracy.

Plants arrived in great shape and on-time for Spring planting. The Pagoda Dogwood is fantastic! Too bad we didn't have a chance to stop by and say hello! Keep up the good work.

I places a large order with them -- both in number of plants and price. The shocker for me was that 1/3 of the final cost was shipping! Once the plants arrived, though, I was not as miffed since they were expertly packaged, easy to get at (unpack), and were in PERFECT condition despite a cross-country trip that probably took a little more than a week.

Plants arrived very quickly and were lush and healthy. Forestfarm staff were polite and courteous when I contacted them, and they responded in a timely manner. It bothers mentioning that their prices are reasonable. They have my highest recommendation and I will be buying more from them very soon.

Just got the lingonberries I ordered and they really look NICE. The were well packed and good-sized. I would certainly order from Forestfarm again

This company is awesome! Yes, the shipping is a bit pricey but they did call me asking if I wanted to purchase another plant to fill the box without any extra shipping. To me, that was wonderful. I was going to purchase another plant anyway but hesitated due to more shipping. So...for a company to comfirm your order over the phone AND ask if you'd like another plant minus the shipping does not seem to be "trying to get you to buy more plants". To me that is great customer service! Thanks again and I am eagerly awaiting my forsythia and hydrangea.

For some reason businesses just don't offer good customer service anymore. I can't find it anywhere so again, this was wonderful.

Nicely packed for shipping and healthy plants (Kalmia latifolia Minuet & Weigela Eyecatcher). The mountain laurel is tiny but ready bloom.

I thought I would try this company because of all the positive comments it has received. I purchased a Brunnera Macrophylla Jack Frost and a Sparkling Burgundy Heuchera. They came today. The heuchera looks fine, but the Jack Frost looks yellowed, leggy, and just totally overgrown. The soil was moist, but the quality of the plant could be better, especially with the prices on this particular one!
I will plant them both and reserve any more judgements for now. I'll see how it goes.
I don't really like either how there is no way to track your order. However, as long as they come in fine shape and relatively when expected I don't have a problem. But, we'll see...

My second year in this house and second year ordering from Forestfarm.
Everything in my order this year arrived ancored down to the box. No spillage and box was sturdy,
No leakage no breakage.
Plants have only been in 2 days but no wiltage either.
Last year I ordered Buddliah It was large and got larger, has put down a good root system.
I will plan future orders, definatly

Ordered 4 Mellow Yellow spirea, which all arrived on the day they were expected to arrive and are healthy plants currently thriving in my garden.

I received my Sambucus, autumn fern, double queen hellebore, and Skimmia this past week all were healthy, packaged well and arrived in the time frame on their post card which was sent well in advance of the shipment. Some of these negatives on this site for this company are ridiculous. As mentioned in other reviews, you people should just go to a nursery in your area and purchase what they have instead of ordering online-relying on photos and maybe hire someone to remove the tape since it appears that you don't have the patience yourself. Get real. I myself am thrilled with my plants and shrubs, all were moist and well packaged. the Tape came off with some patience and small scissors. I will be ordering from them in the future.

OK. I got a call today from ForestFarms in regard to my order that I placed regarding the shipping. I wanted my plant quickly so I didnt really mind paying for the air shipping. They called me and told me the plant would arrive at the same time if they shipped ground and it would save me about $9. I know thats not really a big deal but I was impressed with the fact that they called to give me an option and save some money. I will update when I receive my plant.

I ordered in March 2009 and plants arrived pronto. I order from several nurseries on line and although I don't always voice my displeasure, if I order once and am disatisfied, I simply do not order from them again and try elsewhere. However, with NatureHills I was amazed at the packaging. They were packaged so securely, I had to use tools to get them released from the carton. Additionally, the plants were very healthy and I'm glad that I could order in the gallon size. I was looking for a specific few plants I could not find elsewhere and was extra pleased that I could purchase the the one I was looking for in a gallon size container. Due to the shipping constraints/price break, I did revise my order and ended up ordering more than I originally tended - but I always do that. Granted the shipping is a little higher than other nurseries you can order from, but considering the size of the containers and the packaing of the plants, I was pleased overall and will no doubt order from them again. THUMBS UP FROM ME.

Plants arrived well packaged and in excellent condition with clear instructions on planting and care. A very positive experience.

First, I'm somewhere between neutral to negative, with a definite negative lean.

Ordered from Forestfarm mainly because they had all of what I was looking for in one place, even though shipping cost is excessive compared to others for similar size plants/containers. All ordered plants arrived, however one of the rarest most difficult to find plants arrived with approximately 2+ feet cut off the top. To be fair the plant is taller than advertised, but in no way does that justify cutting off so much of the plant. I realize it would have taken a bigger box to ship it, but the weight difference would have been negligible, and IMHO the cost of cardboard would have been covered by the high shipping cost. I would have rather had a smaller un-hacked plant, over a larger plant that I will have to shape back to a single leader. Add to this, the lack of communication, with the exception of to basically ask for more to be added to the order. There was NO confirmation of order until I called and asked. There was NO email with tracking number of the shipping company. Normal practices of online merchants. The website IMHO is illogically organized, that is not at all "user friendly". You don't even have "flowering trees" as an options for category. How many look for those? I would bet it's more than one or two.

All in all, not the great experience that so many have raved about. Could have been much worse, but I doubt I will order from them in the future, and won't recommend them. Only say that they have some not so common plants listed. There are better online plant merchants IMHO.

"On Mar 8, 2009 6:21 PM, Forestfarm responded with:

We’ve written to NWArk, explaining the situation. Since he hasn’t responded to us or amended his posting, we’ll post our defense here.

First, we do love plants, and would never wantonly mistreat them. The 1-gallon Cotinus obovatus, often a shrubby plant in any case, that NWArk received was trimmed because the top had died back (although it was still larger than we promised it to be, as he has noted). All Cotinus do that to some extent when they are young plants. Until they are older, the current season’s growth doesn’t seem to harden quickly enough before frost in fall. We could have shipped the whole plant to him, but then he probably would not have liked receiving one with a dead tip, either. We have grown Cotinus for many years, and they always sprout from the stem below the dead part. Sometimes one leader will emerge, sometimes several. It will only take a minute of his time to rub off any sprouts that aren’t wanted, and to encourage a new leader. It’s really not that big an issue. Loss of a leader happens in nature all the time, with various species. Pruning of the leader is a common practice with one of the largest tree-growing wholesale nurseries in the country. Without the pruning, there can be 3-5’ of unbranched “whip” growth, leading to an ungainly tree. Proper pruning encourages formation of a more balanced and esthetically-pleasing head on a tree. Although one should always think ahead when pruning, especially when pruning a “leader”, we do not make a blanket statement saying “never prune a leader”, because it isn’t true.

On to some of the other issues that NWArk raised. Our website does send an automatic acknowledgement when an order is placed. However, spam-blocker software can intercept the message; perhaps that’s why he didn’t receive it. Although we gladly do it if so requested, our website does not yet have the capability to email tracking numbers. We do expect that to happen within a few weeks, however, when our new website is finished. We’re professional nursery people, not techies, so we ask for your tolerance in that our online presence may not be as good as that of some of the large merchandisers, who just sell other folks’ products, and have lots of money to throw at online features.

Our packing, for the security of the plants, means that we use a box that holds four 1-gal. pots. UPS charges us the same, whether the box is full or not. As a courtesy, we try to contact customers to tell them that they can make the best use of their shipping dollars by filling the box (the phone number he gave us on his order form was disconnected, though). We do this as a service to customers, not to coerce them into buying more. It is always the customer’s choice.

We did offer to give him a refund for the price of this plant, although we know it will grow out fine. Ray & Peg at Forestfarm "

Customer service is excellent. Plants arrived in great shape and they were very large for the price. I will order from them again.

I bought several plants last year - we decided to buy many small plants rather than a few large ones as we didn't know what would grow in this area and thought we'd limit our potential losses. Also, we already have several large plants so don't need an instant garden. One arrived sickly and eventually died, despite TLC at this end and clear instructions from Forestfarm.
This year we bought some more - as before, they were interesting plants (not available anywhere round here), well packed and arrived promptly. They had offered me a replacement plant for the one which died; unfortunately they were out of stock this time, so they just credited me back.
However, I'm pleased with the ones I've got and last year's little flock are all doing well. Overall, I'm really happy with this company - and the catalogue is an excellent read in the bath!

I just received my order from Forestfarms and I have to say I am astounded at the magnificent job these people do. Questions about your order? No problem. Special requests? Yup. Shipping and packaging? The best. The order actually arrived a day before the card they send out to tell you to watch for your order!! In my own job, I feel I give the best I can be to my employer, my crew, and the customers. I tend to recognize that in the places I do business and reward them with my hard earned money and repeat visits. This was my second order and I will be back! These people know their stuff.