Comments regarding Forestfarm

Got my Oakleaf (little honey) Hydrangea i have been looking for ... arrived nicely along with the Pineapple Lilly.

Thumbs up.

This is my second time ordering through ForestFarm. I bought 5 small trees last fall and all five are sprouting. I had some concerns over 1 tree in particular. I emailed FF and they provided reassurance and advice on how to guarantee it to leaf out in the spring. The advice paid off! I'll be coming back if I can find more room!

Gorgeous plants arrived in the mail today from Forestfarm. They were well rooted, perfectly packed and arrived with all the soil in place and not too dry. Some of the best plants I've gotten in the mail to be sure!

I have been ordering plants from catalogs for over 30 years. I have never received such large and beautiful plants as I did from ForestFarm. The plants were packed so perfectly that they couldn't possibly have been injured in their journey across the country. They are extremely healthy, one already blooming, one still with it's winter berries, and two ready to burst with leaves. Specific planting instructions were included that I appreciated.
I am very pleased with ForestFarm and will be ordering from them again and again.

I have so far had a very good experience after having just received my first order from this company. When you check out, they ask if you have a desired delivery date and they wound up being one day early. It's nice to not have to go to any lengths to get a certain delivery date.

It has been a few years (3-4) since I ordered trees via the mail, but these were by far the best packaged ones I have ever received. I am on the other side of the country from them, so I'm always a little leery about plants being in shipment for very long. It was 8 days from the UPS pickup in Oregon until it was delivered to my doorstep in Georgia. But there were no dried or withered leaves and the soil was still very wet.

I ordered 5 trees and 1 perennial (sunflower). Of the 5 trees, 4 were size 1's and the other was a tube. The sunflower was a tube. I must say I am surprised at how tiny the sunflower is. It should do fine and maybe it will really explode, but I will probably get perennials elsewhere in the future.

One last thing I wanted to mention was in regards to their shipping. They advise you to buy 4 of the same size so that you can fill a box and save money on shipping. At one point while playing with my order, I had 3 size ones and 1 tube. I don't recall the specifics, but whatever the tube was, it also had a size one option. So you would think that if the size 1 was, say, $6 more than the tube, and that you save money on shipping if you fill the size 1 box, that it would be at most about $6 more to upgrade from the size one to the tube. But nope! It added about $15 to my order. I think it saves them more money than it saves the customer to fill a box!

Posted on March 12, 2012, updated March 19, 2012
Posted on March 6, 2012, updated March 12, 2012
I discovered ForestFarm through Dave's and placed an order for (18) trees/shrubs (all tube sized) on Thursday (3/1). I received notice of shipment on Monday (3/5). UPS is due to deliver tomorrow so you can't beat the quick turn-around! The shipping cost is very reasonable when purchasing in quantity - $21 for this order (about $1.16 per tube). Thank you, ForestFarm!

Posted on March 26, 2011, updated March 19, 2012
I ordered a Chilopsis last spring, and was contacted by the company and told that the ones they had in stock had been frost-damaged and weren't up to their standards. They offered me a choice between a refund and a discount. I chose the discount, and the specimen they sent was indeed a pitiful stick. The stick has more than quadrupled in size, and is growing like mad again this spring. Sturdy stock!

I appreciate a company that has enough pride in their product to set high standards for themselves and stick to them. I've bought a lot of plants through the mail and it wouldn't have been the first time a company had shipped a substandard product and waited to see if I would complain. Now I will always check them first when I'm looking to buy.

I ordered a little under $150 worth of plants from ForestFarm, and all of them arrived in wonderful condition, well packed, and already had vigorous growth. Patti even contacted me personally! I highly recommend them for any Pacific NW gardeners.

Forest Farm is one great mail order company to purchase plants from. I have ordered from them in the past and I have had great service. Came home today and found my box of woodland gems waiting for me on my front porch, right on schedule. All plants ordered were accounted for and packaged extremely well without peanuts and fillers used by others. Happiness found in a box of carefully packaged, great looking plants from Forest Farm!

Posted on April 15, 2010, updated March 16, 2012
Quick delivery and plants in nice condition--you'd never guess they were shipped the entire way across the country! Catalog is amazing. I will order from again.

Great plants. Fabulous selection. Fair prices. Wonderful service. Need I say more?

Posted on April 19, 2011, updated February 29, 2012
Took the plunge and ordered 17 plants my first time ordering. Plants arrived on the exact day I requested them, and shipping was very reasonable since I purchased all 17 plants as tubes. Plants were well wrapped and wet, and those that were not dormant were much larger than I would have expected from a tube. It has been 5 weeks since delivery, and all 17 plants are healthy and have exploded with new growth. I highly recommend this nursery and I will be ordering again in the fall.

Amazing! Amazing plants, Amazing quality, Amazing shipping, Amazing prices. Just Amazing. Thanks ForestFarm, I'm so very happy I have finally found YOU!

I am an avid plant hobbyist who has been mail-ordering plants for thirty years. As a long-term customer, I am always exceptionally satisfied placing and receiving orders from forestfarm.com. Time and time again, I'm impressed by their listing of traditional as well as rare and hard-to-find plants, such as Viburnums, Pittosporums, Osmanthus, Ilex, Elaeagnus, Photinias, Arbutus, Bay Laurels, Ligustrums, Vacciniums, and Magnolias. These are but a few of their extensive offerings which are well described. I continually visit Forestfarm.com since many of their plants are hard to find in my area, eastern coast of the US. Whenever I unpack a Forestfarm shipment, I am left breathless with the size, health, beauty, and elegance of the rooted tube plants and gallon plants. At Forestfarm.com, I receive excellent personable and friendly customer service. All of the plants that I order have full healthy growth, strong roots, and are meticulously packaged to arrive in perfect condition. I highly recommend Forestfarm.com to beginning and highly experienced gardeners alike. And to those hard-to-impress seasoned gardeners, I must say that Forestfarm.com is truly a new adventure in gardening.

I have used this company for 15 years.I have had consistantly good experiences.This time they out did themselves.I ordered three conifers I couldn't find elsewhere.All three beautiful, large and healthy but Blue Shag was huge!This is a great company.

I cannot say enough positive things about this company. I have been ordering from them off and on for over 20 years and have consistently received excellent service and nice, healthy plants. It's a shame that so many people feel compelled only to mention their bad experiences here while only a few give the praise that many companies deserve. Admittedly, I was one of them. But, Forestfarm truly deserves a word of praise for so many years of operation providing reliable, great service and consistently healthy plants. My hat is off to them and I will be ordering from them again this year with anticipation. Thanks Forestfarm for being one of the few reliable "rocks" in the industry. May God continue to bless you and your business.

My first order with Forestfarm and it was positive in every way. The unusual berry plants I ordered (Medlar, Japanese Raisin Tree, PawPaw, & Wintergreen) were very reasonably priced, including shipping. Online ordering was a snap and my healthy, well-packed & labeled plants actually arrived a few days ahead of my expectations. Great service worthy of repeat business.

An INCREDIBLE gardening resource, if FF doesn't carry it it's probably not worth having. The packaging is a force to be reckoned with, I wouldn't want them wrapping my Christmas presents, it would take half a day to open them.
And finally, there is nothing like getting the package open and seeing their label for the first time, your name "in lights" with the plant info on the tag - awesome!

FF, you rock.
FR in Pt. Bob

Beautiful plants, beautifully shipped. This place is a goldmine for the plant collector. I love it.

We have ordered from Forestfarm for the past several years and been very happy with their plants and service. The tube-sized plants were a revelation after struggling to dig holes in our hard clay soil for 1 gallon and larger nursery plants. Now I order tubes whenever they're available. Guess what? Within a few years, they are the same size as the plants that started in 1 gallons. Our most recent order (10/11) of drought tolerant perennials, a boulevard cypress, and weigela, came in 3 ft tall boxes that looked like dioramas of the Empire State building. At the bottom of each box was a pull tab, which was a nice idea in theory but not so much in practice. You pull the tab, which "cuts" the box at, say, the 10th floor, so you can flip the other 90+ floors open and get to your tube plants which sit on the first floor. Except what happened was the pull tab broke halfway. So I had to deconstruct the boxes anyway, which is no small task. Forestfarm packs their plants to withstand a 8.0 earthquake. I tried not to hurt the plants as I hacked through the cardboard, reinforced packing tape, and wads of newspaper. The tube-sized plants come in either plastic pots or waxed cardboard sleeves. The ones in cardboard sleeves were also slipped in plastic bags. Each plant was identified with a yellow printed band. Newsprint doubled as packing material and insulation to keep moisture in the soil. And most important, all plants were beautiful and healthy. Forestfarm's website has also improved in the last year - their "cookie" for the shopping cart now has a longer shelf life so that your cart doesn't get erased after 20 minutes. What a pain that used to be, cuz you know it takes longer than 20 minutes to ponder, research, compare prices, and just shop around. Now they need to add a search bar, so that we can look up a plant without having to page through "plant search" and "botanical name" before being able to type in the plant of interest.

I have been ordering from this company for a couple of years now, and cannot recommend them enough. Product quality is excellent, as is customer service (they are the nicest people). I sent in a question once about upcoming conifer availability and got a thorough response within twenty four hours. I am so glad this company exists as they are the only means of obtaining certain trees for folks in my neck of the country. Only negative might be that you need a crowbar to get your trees out of the packaging, but that is the small price of having total confidence that your tree is going to arrive in great shape. Their catalogue is great too; I keep a copy in each bathroom;-)

Posted on September 19, 2011, updated September 19, 2011
First, shame on you for growing alianthus, tree of heaven.

I am in southern Ohio.
I just received my large order of 14 plants, crabs (Adams, brandywine, snowdrift,) all large five footers except the snowdrift. Also, 2 magnolia janes, 2 mop head hydrangeas, 2 oak leaf hydrangeas, and cotinus obovatus.
All my plants were perfect out of the box, shipped very well with great care, the best I have seen from a shipping nursery. I couldnt be more happy with my purchase. Great stock. Shipped wonderfully.
People on the east coast should know how expensive it is to have these large orders. My order shipped at 215 lbs! It's coming from oregon people, so don't complain on your shipping costs. If u cant afford it go and search your local nurseries for these plants.
Tree of heaven is like a blight here. It rarley reaches 50 years of age and seeds huge areas prolifically. Not a single person should ever ever plant this terribly invasive semi native garbage tree

Thank you all at forest farm! You are the best I have seen

Posted on September 10, 2007, updated August 9, 2011
Based on the many positive reviews for Forest Farm, I took the plunge tonight and browsed their web site at length, intending to place an order. What a futile, frustrating experience it was.

1) Their web site is (to put it kindly) sub-standard, with a query engine that’s not even set up for returning a list of “shrubs” but will give you “basket-making” (?!) – and not even the ability to choose your Zone. The plant descriptions and photos are among the poorest I’ve ever run across, and I’ve probably been to 1,000 online nurseries over the years. Google was getting a workout during this time, filling in all the blanks that Forest Farm was neglecting.

2) Shipping costs: I should have paid attention to those of you who complained on this subject. The first gallon on my order would cost $12 to ship by ground; the second gallon I added took the shipping cost up by $16 (!), for a total cost of $28 to ship two plants to me. That’s purely nuts. I removed one of the plants from my order and plowed ahead with the processing……only to find out on the next page that between June 1 and Oct. 1, Forest Farm will only AIR ship to my zip code – to the tune of I don’t remember how much, but it was a lot more than the $28 I’d refused to pay. I cancelled my order. There’s something very wrong with that picture, and I’m not buying it.

I do a lot of shopping online for everything from towels to tulips. This summer alone, I’ve spent several hundred $$ online on landscaping shrubs – coming from all over the U.S. and yes, from Oregon to Chicago, too (none of which, by the way, ever took more than 4 days in ground transit – USPS, UPS, or Fed Ex). There’s quite a bit of variation in shipping costs between different nurseries, but Forest Farm has shot way over the top.

I should have avoided the headache and gotten out of the Forest Farm web site as soon as I saw The Sign: They are actually offering for sale, the tree of heaven/stink tree (Ailanthus), the pestilence that’s changing the face of the U.S. Now that’s unconscionable!

We live in Northern Ohio and love trees and plants.
I began looking for Columnar Swedish Aspens and
had significant difficulty finding them.
Even on-line I found it difficult to find anyone who would
consider shipping a reasonably sized tree.

Then I stumbled on Forest Farms. They had the Aspens.
Their price was reasonable. I read their reviews at this site
which were overwhelmingly positive. But being a careful shopper
I emailed Forest Farm several questions after placing the order.

The owner Ray personally answered my email within a day or two.
He addressed my concerns, even sent me two photos of the
trees he was sending. He explained how he was shipping them
and that this was being done in an economical manner that
did not jeopardize the trees.

The trees arrived when Forest Farm said they would. They
were packed by individuals that truly cared about the condition
that their plants and trees arrived in. I followed Ray's instructions
to allow the trees to readjust to the sun by leaving them in the
shade of a large oak tree for several days while I prepared their
new home.

Ray then emailed me to see how they have arrived and are
settling in.

This guy and his nursery are terrific. It is like shopping down
the street. He could teach Amazon some things. My two
Swedish Columnar Aspens are settling in just fine, they stand
about 5 feet tall. From Oregon! Now in Ohio. Imagine that...

2 Green Thumbs up for Forest Farms!

Sincerely yours,

Joe Bush
Berea, OH

I ordered several heucheras and heucherellas from Forestfarm.com and it was definitely a good experience! Ray quickly resolved a shipping problem for me and sent me 5 tubes of healthy plants. They were a good size for the price and arrived in hurricane-proof packaging...not a particle of soil out of place.

Look forward to doing business with them again.

Thanks, Ray and company!!

I am a fan. I am just a home gardener. I kept amending and changing my order. Then my credit card failed because of a fraud somewhere else. They were proactive and courteous about organizing my order, answering questions, and getting it to me on time. The plants are incredible--amazing variety, value, and vibrantly healthy plants. Even the tubes, although tiny, are leaping with health. They clearly love their misson and their plants.

We LOVE Forestfarm. Have been ordering for a few years now and have consistently been happy with quality, service and knowledge. Highly recommend this company.

Good companies get your order right. Great companies provide top-rate service when something goes wrong.

I ordered Parthenocissus tricuspidata but received P. quinquefolia by mistake. Easy enough mistake (same genus) and I ordered early in the season so they shipped before buds formed when the plants are indistinguishable. Within days of receiving the plants they starting putting out the characteristic 5 leaves of P. quinquefolia. Oops!

Forestfarm VERY graciously recognized the error from the photo I sent and replaced the plants. All the plants received are carefully packaged for shipment and quite healthy.

I will not hesitate to order from Forestfarm in the future. Ray and Forestfarm are awesome. VERY happy to give a positive review.

Dave Eichler - Round Rock, Texas

My second dealing with them in as many years. I ordered tube plants from them last year and got exactly what I would have expected, and was very pleased given the cost and professionalism. This year I went ahead and sprung for larger sized trees all Japanese Maples. I was immediately contacted via email to discuss my plans. These are future bonsai projects and my requests were specific and well handled. Every tree I ordered was larger than the expected 1 gallon pot size and 2 -3 feet tall... Three of the five trees I ordered are well over 4 feet with strong branching. Outstanding communication, very personal and personable and I feel like they went out of their way to get me what I want. He was also kind enough to snap a few pictures of some other species he had in at the time that would also fit my hobby. I look forward to future business with them.

just received my first order - one 'northstar' pie cherry tree, which i couldn't find elsewhere. i had high expectations (or hopes, anyway!) given the abundance of great reviews here, but you really have to SEE the quality of stock and their unique packing method to fully appreciate how 'above and beyond' they are! this tree is simply outstanding - i had gotten 2 'montmorency' pie cherries from my local nursery earlier this spring, which is also no slouch when it comes to great stock, but seriously the forestfarm tree is clearly superior even after just spending a full day in a shipping box. as expected, it came in a 5-gallon pot, and i was thrilled to see that the leader branch had NOT been pruned at all, and more lower branches had been left intact compared to the local nursery trees - if you have your own ideas about how you want to go about pruning and shaping, you'll have a great deal more to work with here. meanwhile, it has a simply lovely and graceful shape to it, fully leafed-out and lush - it doesn't just look like it was raised by people who REALLY know what they're doing, it also looks...loved. just a VERY healthy and happy-looking tree, and i couldn't be more pleased!

forestfarm's website covers a vast inventory, but is fairly easy and intuitive to navigate if you're just exploring, and the search results are quick and accurate if you're looking for something in particular. i also noted over many visits that it's kept quite up-to-date as to current stock.

i received an email confirmation with tracking number when my order was ready to go, and the 'expected arrival' date was accurate. the shipping cost is seriously pricey - 35.00 for a 29.00 tree! - but absolutely worth it. this beautiful tree is as far from the usual mail-order bare-root stick as you can get, and i won't hesitate in the least to order from them again.

Have ordered three times now ( Each time ordered 4 x Size 1 - which can be a tall plant in some cases ) and all plants are doing very well. Plants are shipped in original growing pots and are all very healthy. The plants cost a bit more and the shipping is of course higher but it is definitely worth it. The plants travel better and I still have the option of washing off soil and trimming roots if needed, and can order more months out of the year as the plants can acclimate much better than bare roots ( which require more exact timing for the weather, as well as for the planting ). I recommend this nursery especially if you are ordering a group of plants as the shipping is more reasonable that way.

Excellent stock. Best job of packing plant material I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot.

Beautiful, healthy plants at great value. Shipping is expensive but plants are packaged to survive a nuclear blast ;-) Have never received a damaged one.

Posted on April 8, 2009, updated April 2, 2011
Have placed several orders with Forestfarm, and each time have been impressed with the size and vigor of the plants and the care in packaging! I have ordered various plants/shrubs/trees, including several types of skimmia (that I adore), parthenocissus, hellebores, and a Japanese maple. Many were plants that I couldn't find anywhere else! Their selection is amazing, and even if their older website format was a bit difficult to navigate I always ended up with more than I was looking for. Customer service is also excellent - no problems with order adjustments like some companies I've dealt with, and their care instructions are usually great.

Nothing but good from this nursery.
A great selection, everything's in pots (gotta love their "tubes"), they arrive on time & in good condition, the plants items take off & grow.
FF is in Oregon, I'm in Michigan, and I can attest their Zone and culture notes are accurate.
I have have several more shrubs coming from them this Spring:
Hamamelis Christmas Cheer, A white and a pink Abelliophylum, Chaenomeles Orange Storm, Sambucus pyrimidalis, and a Chamaecyp.
I would like to get a selection of their perennials; sometime in Early Summer.
Moosie

Today I received my Hydrangea Arborescens Radiata 'Samantha'. ( A plant Ive been trying to get for years) I was quite pleased. Ray was very helpful and informative on questions I had regarding a Fagus sylyatica ‘Purpurea Pendula'. I wanted to grow as a Bonsai. I did in fact get a Japanese Maple instead. He went beyond the duties of custumer service.

The Hydrangea I received was packaged so well and was so large... The size of something purchased at a nursery. Also I received a catalog which has great descriptions and also printed on Recycled paper which shows they care about the environment. I have already started browsing through it highlighting plants for my next order!

I also want to add that I see some people complaining about shipping charges... It is well worth it for the huge plants they sell and with their awesome selection of rarer plants and a good priced plant to start with... IT WAS WELL WORTH IT. Yeah you may pay less for shipping somewhere else, but those plants will take a few years to get close to the size Forest Farms ships.

Great customer service, great communication and willingness to hold material for me until it sizes up.

I have been dealing with them for several years and have always recieved excellent customer service and am always impressed with their huge selection of hard to find plants.

Forestfarm is AMAZING! This was my first time ordering from them, but I don't think I will ever be ordering from anywhere else again based on this experience! I ordered three species of olive trees, and they were shipped out immediately. Within a day I had received an email from UPS containing a tracking number and estimated delivery date with the note, "at the request of Forestfarm." several more of these emails were sent "at the request of Forestfarm". I never wondered where my trees were or when they would arrive.

I've ordered stock from numerous online nurseries, and have never been this pleasantly surprised when I saw the size of just the box in my kitchen. I opened the box and found 3 beautiful olive trees packed safely and comfortably away inside. While plants I have received from other nurseries have often been without leaves, wilting, or died soon after due to stress, these trees are obviously in perfect health and absolutely beautiful in comparison.

I appreciated that Forestfarm had them all tied to bamboo stakes to prevent them breaking, something other nurseries haven't bothered with. I also appreciated that each plant was labeled, and that the soil/roots had been packed in such a way that they were still very damp when the trees arrived, more things that most nurseries don't bother with. Due to mother nature and the neglect of shipping companies/buyers, is there the occasional plant that has a problem and needs to be replaced? Probably, but I imagine with this kind of care Forestfarm has very few of those experiences. I am extremely satisfied, very happy, and now a lifelong customer.

Once my orchard is up and ready to go, there's no place else I would go to buy stock.