Comments regarding Nature Hills Nursery

I placed an order for Fairy Roses with Nature Hills Nursery on May 14, 2006. I received my roses within the delivery framework. They were packed beautifully, the plants were in excellent condition, much better than I've received from other mail or online nursersies. They have transplannted without any problems.

Thank you Nature Hills for great service and wonderful roses.

May, 2006 I ordered & received sumac and spirea plants. They were superbly packaged, maybe the best I've ever received from a mail order nursery!
The plants were healthy and large, and were in moist potting compound. I look forward to receiving my "Chuckles" roses which are currently on backorder, and when I do, I will post here as to their condition.

We recently shopped locally for weeping willow trees. Not only were they non-existent, but the cost of all the trees we found was way more than we could afford. I went to the Internet and found Nature Hills Nursery. They had weeping willow trees affordably priced, so we thought we would take a chance. The four trees arrived in less time than advertised and were also larger than advertised. They appeared to be in great shape, and we planted them immediately. All four trees are healthy and showing good growth already. I appreciate Nature Hills dedication to truthful advertising and great customer service. I will surely go there next time we need to buy nursery stock.

I have ordered twice from your internet site in the past year and wanted to let you know how happy I am with your product and service.
In the past year I have started a private nursery of about fifty trees and twenty shrubs in the far back corner of a five acre home site I live at. The trees have been purchased from three separate sources, yours, The Arbor Day Foundation, and one other nursery I will not name for their own good. It has been a pleasure to deal with your company in contrast to others on the internet. I have consistently received much better quality trees as well as larger and healthier trees from Nature Hills than from either of the other two suppliers.
Thanks to your company, I look forward to beautiful, healthy, flowering trees and shade trees with nearly as little care as an already established tree needs.

Sincerely, Ron Lyscas R.Ph.

The trees I received were shipped on time and in very good condition. They are off to a great start growing...
Will order more soon from Nature Hills.
Thanks,
Mike

I have ordered from several mail companies, but I received the healthist plants from this one. And, the service was very timely. I shall continue business with this company.

I ordered 12 Blaze rose bushes. They were shipped when they said they would ship them, they were beautiful speciman roses and all were budding and ready to bloom in a short time. They were well packed and very well potted. I was thrilled with the performance of Nature Hills and would order form them again at any time.

We ordered 4 fruit trees in Jan of 2005. This is the first year they put out and they have all turned out to be crab apple. We did not order crab apple!

I've not called yet but they have never responded to my email complaint. Next step will be a call but I'm not holding my breathe expecting any satisfaction.

My order for a cimmaron ash tree appears dying compared with the the other autumn purple ash tree in the same order. I reported it to them but it they instructed me to keep checking if it still has green bark. So I kept checking and reported again that it is not leafing at all. It was replaced the following fall with a much bigger plant at no additional costs. I also sent several emails regarding this tree and all of them were answered promptly to my satisfaction. I would not hesitate buying from them again.

Excellent quality of plants! I just received 2 mock orange bushes and 2 apple trees. They were packaged extremely well in 1 long box. The apple trees had thick trunks, are 4 ft. tall and are very healthy. All 4 plant root systems were beautifully intact. The 2 mock orange bushes are budding already!

I waited for approx. 1 month for my order to arrive...they said that they would ship the plants when chances of frost were pretty much past. An intstruction pamphlet was even included on how to best plant my trees. I am looking forward to ordering from Nature Hills again. It appears that they are attempting to provide better service...thanks for reporting previous negative responses.

Diana

I placed an order for a single tree for $4.00. With shipping the order came to $13. I could not find information on when it would ship, but I placed the order anyway. As soon as the order was confirmed, I was informed that it would ship much later than I needed it. The tree (needles) was actually being used in a recipe so I wasn't ordering it to plant. I immediately cancelled my order (within about 2 minutes of placing the order). I was notified the next day that they would cancel my order less a $10 fee. This is absurd on an order for a $4.00 plant. I then replied for them to send the tree. I'd rather have something than have nothing and lose $10. They replied that they had already cancelled the order and that was that. The email correspondence from them was very condescending and curt. They have no customer service at all. The fact that they are willing to lose a customer and future sales over a $10 fee speaks volumes to what kind of company they are. I do not recommend them to anyone. There are too many good vendors out there to waste your time or money on Nature Hills.

I ordered two trees, a mimosa and a bur oak, which were to be delivered in mid-November. I only received them last week. I received no advance notification that my trees would be late arriving, nor did I recieve any explanation when they arrived as to why they were late.

Other than the fact the delivery was over one month late, the trees arrived in good condition, packed well and with everything I ordered in one box. I guess only time will tell as to whether or not they will grow.

Unfortunately for me, I did not discover Dave's Garden until after I had made the purchase from Nature Hills. Needless to say after I read the postings, I was a bit anxious as to when my trees would arrive. In future, I wil be certain to check here for feedback before ordering again.

I had a lot of trepidation about dealing with this co. based on the other comments here. But they had the only tangerine potentilla I could find and as long as I was getting that, I also ordered a flowering almond. Both arrived today, potted in 4" pots and maybe 18" tall. Haven't planted them yet but I'll keep you posted.

Carrie

I ordered five trees and four plants from this company in the late spring. Only two out of the trees survived. Talking about the trees they shipped, I feel shamed to call them trees, they are actually sticks, very thin sticks. Those are bare-root trees but still much worse than I thought. The plants I received were potted plants and they were so tiny. There is no comparison between the plants I purchased from Nature Hills and the ones that you can buy from local store. Both from price stand point and health/size of the plants, the ones that you can buy from local store are much much better. As far as the refunds for the dead trees, they only refund you the store credits. I had to buy another two potted plants and some garden suppliers just to get over with it.

It was not just a bad experience for me to purchase from Nature Hills, it was totally a joke. Even now, when my friends come over, they still laught at me for making such a stupid mistake. Well, I just consider this as paying a tuition to learn something. I hope you won't make the same mistake after reading this.

On 06/14/05 and 08/17/05, respectively, I emailed Nature Hills; both messages referenced my order and customer numbers and the latter was flagged High Priority. I told them that although the three Heavenly Bamboo I'd purchased last fall were planted simultaneously and in identical conditions, only one had survived. I asked them to send me replacements whenever convenient, and offered to provide my credit card information again if they needed it for shipping charges. To date, I have had no response whatsoever.

Conversely, Spring Hill Nursey immediately replied to my email, saying they'd send me replacement plants this fall.
And in the past, both Wayside Gardens and White Flower Farm have provided replacements for plants I lost; moreover, they did so graciously and in a timely way.

In my view, the only thing poorer than the quality of Nature Hills' plants is their (apparently non-existent) customer service.

about 80% of the tiny plants i ordered from naturehills was either DOA or died within days of planting. naturehills advertised well established plants, so i was not at all pleased with the very small plants i received knowing that i paid close to $20 for each of them. the reason why i'm giving them a neutral is because the customer rep i talked to was very polite about sending replacements, & the replacement plants i received were more satisfactory the second time around.

Ordered trees in the spring of 2004. They said they would be sent in late fall. Little did I know late fall meant spring of 2005.

When the trees arrived they were DEAD. They had started to bud out, but the buds were dead and brown.

I sent an email to which there was no response. I called customer service and was told new trees would be sent next spring.

Here is the real kicker: you pay for the trees immediately. So, I paid for trees in May of 2004 that I may or may not receive in the Spring of 2006.

I will never order from this place again. I have never ordered any product where they charge you immediately. Some of my order was sent in the fall of 2004, the rest in the spring of 2005. And, of course, I was promised replacement trees in the spring of 2006.

Very bad experience.......wish I knew then what I know now. I should have run far, far away.

I recently purchased Blue Salvia plants. The plants were shipped in a long box, all plants were secured in the box. I live in Michigan and all plants were in excellent condition. They were not the spindly type of plants that I normally receive from other companies. I was very impressed with the ordering process, shipping process, and plants. I would not hesitate to order again.

This my second order to this nursery this season. The first arrived "on time" but the tree was already in leaf and had a very small trunk diameter. It broke in two while being removed from the shipping box. Fortununately I was able to clip off the top section and other buds are now taking over. There was a 10%-off offer for subsequent orders this season and I ordered two plants. It has been over a month and I have not received the plants or anything to indicate if or when they are to be sent. My receipt says "early spring". As indicated previously e-mails are not answered and I am going to intitiate a merchand dispute with my credit card.

Wow. I wish I had found your site before ordering from Nature Hills!

I placed an order nearly TWO MONTHS AGO and have yet to receive it.

Since the order, I have emailed Nature Hills four times, each time getting an automatic response indicating I would receive a reply within 24 hours. I've also left three voicemail messages.

I'm now going to contact the Better Business Bureau and my credit card company.

Nature Hills is the worst online experience I've ever had. Spread the word!

Nearly two months have passed from the time I placed my order with this company and I have no plants. The plants were to populate a conspicuous area in the garden in my front yard so their absence is an eyesore.

I've tried contacting the customer support center of this company by phone several times. I never get a person; just a voice message telling me to leave my name & number and they will return my call. I have left information twice and never received a follow-up call.

About 3 weeks ago, I tried to contact them by e-mail. A 24-hour response is guaranteed. I got no response after 3 days, so I sent another e-mail. By then their website said the plants I'd ordered were unavailable. I noted this in my inquiry and asked would I get my plants and when. After 3 more days I got a polite form e-mail saying something about everyone being "anxious for their plants now that planting season is here" and that orders are "first come first served". None of my specific questions were addressed despite the fact my e-mail provided all the details of my order. This same form e-mail brightly advIsed me expect an e-mail "soon" telling me my order was on its way. I suppose their "soon" is as prompt as their 3-day delay in answering an e-mail guaranteed a 24 hour response.

It is at least 3 weeks past optimum planting season in my area; anything sent now is most likely to burn to a crisp. Of course, when I tried to cancel my order this afternoon, all I got was voice mail. And, of course, my credit card was charged for the full amount the day of my order, again, nearly 2 months ago.

This company does not know the meaning of effective customer service. I would certainly never order with them again, and would strongly advise that other consumers beware.

I have had a good experience with this company. I ordered two 3' plum trees several months ago. Both were very well packed (the packing of this company compared to others I have dealt with is quite superior). The one began growing the minute I got it in the ground and has flourished like my current bumper crop of weeds.

The other did nothing. I was sure it was dead but waited, as advised, for a month. A hesitant little shoot did finally poke its head out of the ground and is now growing happily. I thought that for the price I paid I ought to get a partial refund, since one of them is starting from scratch, so to speak, and is not 3' (+ ). They offered to give me a whole new tree. I turned that down because it did not seem appropriate, since the two I bought are now growing well.

At all times I was treated very well and found the customer service very good. I have been quite surprised to read that others have not always had a good experience.

The short story: Horrendous, rude, and inappropriate customer service. I purchase a plant as a Mother's Day present and when she called to report it was damaged, she spoke to several people. The third (and last so far) customer service person she spoke to yelled at her and called her a liar.

The longer story: I ordered a mangnolia bush for my mother for Mother's Day. I was excited to have found an online nursery that I could so easily purchase and ship plants.

The plant arrived a week later at my mom's house. It was larger than we had expected (about 22" when they had said to expect 18"). But half of the bush was obviously in poor health. Nature Hills had warnings in the package that said that shipped plants will sometimes have dead leaves or look sickly and to plant it and wait to see if it recovers.

So that's exactly what my mom did. When the magnolia's condition continued to worsen, they examined it closely and discovered that half of the main stem was cracked, which was causing that half of the plant to die.

She called customer service. After a great to-do, the second customer service person agreed to ship a new plant. A few hours later, the head of customer service called my mom and she had to start over explaining what was going on. By the end of the conversation, the man had yelled repeatedly at my mother, called her a liar, and acted in a completely inappropriate way toward a customer. My mother called me afterward to explain what had happened. She was incredibly upset, and understandably so.

Three weeks later, they have yet to ship a replacement tree and the magnolia tree, despite my mom's considerable efforts to save it, is not doing well.

"

I have read your email and I want to apologize for the entire staff at Nature Hills Nursery. One of our goals is to never receive an email such as yours. Please contact me directly and I will see that a replacement is sent right away. I truly hope you will allow us to amend the prior actions by accepting a Gift Certificate from us. We strive for excellent service and it appears we failed in this event.
888-846-7663 x 101"

I ordered 6 "Minuet" weigelas on April 16. On May 10, I called the nursery to enquire about my plants. I was told, as was another reviewer, to be patient with mother nature, the plants would ship within two weeks. My plants were shipped on May 13, received on May 18. I am furious. These plants are seedlings, not what you would expect for $17 each! The diagram on their website indicates that they supply much larger plants than other companies. I wouldn't mind more established plants that have been pruned for shipment, but these plants are tiny, fragile things. The plants consist of 2-3 tiny stems, with only one plant having older growth. The leaves are curled and one stem is broken.

For the price of these weigelas, I truly believed these plants would be more established. I have called the customer service department three times today, and was told each time that a supervisor would call me back but I have not heard from anyone. Very discouraged. I will not order from this company again.

"

I apologize for the lack of communication. We truly do strive to answer all questions, comments and concerns within 24 hours. Pease contact me at 888.864.7663 x 101 or send me an email and I will personally discuss your concerns. I’m sorry we failed to meet you expectations. Please be assured our goal is to make sure you are happy with your purchase. "

The negative:
I'm new at gardening,so I placed 2 perrenial orders within 5 days of each other (3/22, 3/27). Each order had, among other things, one russian sage. I got most of the first order promptly, packaged well. Including the Russian Sage. Some seeds were backordered and no one told me until I inquired. But I had most of my first order by mid-late April.

No sign of the second order, and the days kept scrolling by. I made two e-mail inquiries and got basically form e-mails saying "your order is in the system, plants ship from different locations, please be patient with mother nature." What about my second Russian Sage? I'd already had the first one for some time!

Finally the second order came in (weeks later, when it was placed only 5 days after my first one), but with no Russian Sage. At this point I could now buy all the plants locally.

Shipping notification -- I got only one notification of shipping e-mail for one of the boxes. The orders came in several (at least 4) different deliveries. At one point I was getting concerned as to whether or not I could go on vacation due to the timing of plants possibly hitting my doorstep.

Cancellation -- Finally, last week (second week of May) I sent a frustrated e-mail asking to cancel the missing-in-action russian sage. At this point, I had already bought one from the local nursery that was more well developed and healthy, at a fraction of the cost.

Teresa wrote right back and agreed that a cancellation and refund would be best. Whatever credit card problems a previous negative reviewer had, I did not, because apparently their policy is to simply send refund checks, which she did promply.

The biggest negative/neutral for me is that I spent at least $150 more for their plants than I needed to (yikes), and I'm hard pressed to see the advantage of their site for commonly available plants, even though their plants are bigger than a lot of online places. Everything I ordered was soon available at my local nursery (Washington, DC, Zone 7), and even though a few plants arrived from Nature Hills before I would have been able to get them here, the fact is that by the time I WAS able to get them here the local plants are already better developed than the stuff I had previously ordered online and already planted. I was shocked to find out that almost all of the plants I paid $17 for are now available from my local nursery for $4.99. Maybe $8.99 in some cases. They are either as well-developed or better-developed than the mail order ones. My Nature Hills order is blooming no faster, nor is it showing increased growth compared to what I have now planted from my local nursery. I see no advantage to paying so much money for mail order, when the shipping schedule is sporadic and the growth rate/bloom rate ends up being no better than what's available locally.

Positive:
The e-mail responses and the refund were prompt.

Packaging is good, as others have mentioned.

One plant arrived broken (the UPS box had bent and snapped the main growth stem). Nature Hills didn't hesitate to send a replacement (although I haven't seen it yet).

Conclusion:
It was an overall neutral experience because for the most part I got what I (naively) chose to pay for. But due to the very high prices, the slow delivery with no clear communication on ship dates, and the ready availability of similar-to-better plants at my local nursery (much cheaper), I would hesitate to order again except for rare or uncommon plants.

If you need uncommon plants, live in an area where the local nurseries don't offer well-developed perrenials, or if you simply don't mind spending quite a bit, then your experience will probably be positive like other reviewers.

I ordered several annuals and perennials from Nauture
Hills. The packaging was WONDERFUL! The plants
look very healthy. I will definately order from them again.

C&NN

I ordered a tree from Nature Hills and when it arrived the main trunk was broken in two pieces. I called Cindy at Nature Hills and she explained the process for getting a replacement tree to me as quickly as possible. Cindy then had me work with Theresa on finalizing the process and within two-weeks I had a replacement tree. The experience was pleasant and they made me feel like I was their only customer. Nature Hills is now the only company that I do business with when it comes to flowers, plants and trees. I sent the following email to show my appreciation.

Thank you both for your efforts and wonderful customer service. I realize that this was not your doing and again, want to thank you for caring about my situation. That is unusual in this day to find a company that does care. Because of that I am most certainly going to do business with you again and tell everyone that buys plants and flowers to use your organization.

LAST SPRING I REC'D 6 FLOWERING ALMONDS & 4 EASTERN REDBUDS FROM NATURE HILLS. UNFORTUNATELY, THOUGH, NORTHEAST OHIO MISSED OUT ON SPRING AGAIN, AND LEFT US WITH NO SURVIVORS. NOTHING GREW EXCEPT A BUMPER CROP OF PRICKER WEEDS. WHEN I CONTACTED NATURE HILLS W/ MY TALE OF WOE, TERRY CALLED US BACK FOR SEVERAL DAYS IN A ROW TRYING (BUT FAILING) TO REACH US. WHEN I CALLED BACK, SHE WAS EXTREMELY HELPFUL AND HANDLED MY LANDSCAPE TRAGEDY PROMPTLY & WITH SYMPATHY. I DIDN'T NEED TO LOCATE THE SAD, LITTLE DEAD STICKS TO RETURN, I WASN'T INTERROGATED AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, WE WERE BOTH LAUGHING OVER THE SITUATION BY THE CONCLUSION OF OUR CONVERSATION. I NOW LOOK FORWARD TO SUNNIER DAYS THIS YEAR.
I DID HAVE TO PAY $22.95 FOR THEM TO RE-SHIP, UNLIKE THE OTHER TWO MAIL ORDER NURSERIES I HAD ORDERED FROM, BUT, HEY! I'M GETTING MY PRODUCTS WITHOUT ANY MORE UNDUE STRESS! I GIVE THEM 2 ENTHUSIASTIC THUMBS UP!

I got my order of 2 tree lilacs and a redbud yesterday. Plants were just as described on the website and very well packed. The prices were much less than I could find locally on these particular plants. Roots were packed in moss, nice and moist. Planting instructions and a nice pamphlet were included, as well as a coupon for further orders. Trees are nicely dormant but I can see that the buds are green and ready to go. I am very pleased with my order and I will definitly order again. Thank you Nature Hills!

Trees arrived in a timely manner and appear very healthy. Superior packaging - someone over there is obsessed with protecting their shipments - took me about 10 minutes to unpack! No loose dirt, no dry roots, no broken stems - really great!!

I received my plants today and am very impressed with the way they were packaged. Each plant came in its own plastic bag, and was taped to the box to prevent it from being flip-flopped around and losing half its soil. There wasn't even any dirt in the box! Great job!

I recently placed my first order with Nature Hills. As a small home gardener I value good products and service. I could not be more pleased from the order placing to the customer support to the delivery. After a trip of some 1200 miles, I was so pleased to see such healthy plants: they were in a condition that one might expect from a local nursery. Their condition and packaging spoke volumes to me about this company.

I shall order from them again. Thank you for treating my order with such care and expertise.

I ordered from them early Feb 8 trees that were lombardy poplars. They arrived the day their email said they would packaged nicely and we got them in the ground the next day.

I am very happy Now if the trees live and do what we hope they will I will be even happier. They are bare rooted and straight and exactly the height we were promised all 8 of them. Beverly

I'm giving them a nuetral SO Far! I ordered a Lilac and two trees late last summer, a Black Gum and a Bald Cyprus. I received a very small lilac promptly and it didn't make it through the winter even though it was mulched and sheltered. I called about the trees when the lilac arrived and was informed that they were bare root and could not be shipped until spring, even though my credit card was billed VERY PROMPTLY. I asked why that wasn't made clear when I ordered because I have had much better luck with fall planted trees here due to our very dry July and August months and ordered them with fall planting in mind, not waiting 6 months all the while having paid when the order was processed. So far, poor communication and I sure hope the trees are better than the lilac. I wasn't given any reason, although I did receive and apology from a supervisor when I asked to speak to someone other than the person I got on the phone. Stay tuned, comment will be forthcoming if and when the trees arrive.

"Thank you for posting your comments. I apologize for the poor communication you have received to date. All of our plant are guaranteed and we want to make sure your receive a replacement this spring. Please email me your contact information so I can contact you in regards to the replacement plant and an explanation of why the trees did not ship last fall. Again, thank you for bringing your situation to our attention. "

Last year while searching the web for an alternative to buying trees I found Nature Hills Nursery's website. I went through the website and starting picking out trees for a house we had just bought. 25 acres and all the trees on the perimeters. After selecting 45 fruit trees, 20 oak trees, 3 willows, 10 flowering trees, several pounds of wild flower seed and other various bushes I decided I should give a call and just make sure the company was legit. I was more than impressed with the customer service folks. They answered ever question I had. They didn't just answer my questions, they answered them with authority and knowledge. When I got the trees I was more than happy with them. I was not familiar with the bare root deal before working with Nature Hills and as a result of my experience with Narure Hills I think bare root is the way to go and Nature Hills is the place to get them. This year I was glad to see the Perrenial and Annual additions. I just bought a bunch of perrenials, annuals and more trees. And I did have two trees out of over 80 that did not make it from last year and Nature Hills said let us know what they are and we will replace them at no cost. For all I know the trees probably failed because I did soemthing wrong and still they are replacing them. A terrific company with fantastic customer service. I'll buy again next year too.

I have ordered 155 trees from Nature Hills Thus far my service has been a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. I've had a very difficult schedule of delivery and the company has done everything in its power to please me. When I order again Nature Hills will definitely get my business.

DC WALLACE

Cindy was wonderful! I sent her a picture of the garden I wanted to plant, and she advised me what would look the best. The plants arrived on time, and in great condition. My husband and I planted them in December, and look forward to seeing them bloom in the spring. I would rate them 100%.

This past year I purchased 2 Red Maple trees from Nature Hills. 1 was an Autumn Blaze and another was an October Glory. The Autumn Blaze took off well the October Glory seemed to do the same but after 3 months went south and died. I contacted Nature Hills and was told when fall came I would get another tree. Fall arrived and the tree came but UPS had bent the box snapping the tree. Nature Hills sent out another 2 trees over a 2-month period because each time UPS had damaged the package. Finally I received a tree by Fed Ex and the tree was in great condition. In fact Nature Hills refunded my money for that one tree and still gave me a free tree for all the problems that I had. The problems were not caused by Nature Hills but to make sure I was happy and taken care of they did the right thing. I would and will buy from the again, thanks.

I recently ordered 225 bare root lombardy poplar trees from Nature Hills. The trees plus the associated planting aids were received in two separate shipments on time and when promised. All of the trees were in good condition. The roots were damp and covered in moss. The personnel at Nature Hills were very courteous and helpful with good advice on the proper handling and planting of the trees. It was a pleasure doing business with Nature Hills Nursery.