Comments regarding Autumn Ridge Nursery (aka autumnridgenursery.com)

Five years ago I received five trees from Autumn Ridge: Nectarine, Peach, Apple, and two varieties of plum.

Finally, today, after five years of tree nurturing we got our first fruit--apricots!?! AND, after further inspection this afternoon, the plum trees appear to be cherry trees. I suppose I wouldn't mind cherries, but the cherries are much to small to eat and very bitter.

Still questing the legitimacy of the apple tree. We'll see.

Sigh.

Posted on November 18, 2008, updated March 2, 2012
I ordered two orders totalling over $300.00 The first was Fall 2007. I noticed that the trees labelled apple were a stone pit friut like a peach or nectarine. I sent them back and go replacements. They were okay mailorder trees, but not the greatest. Some of the others died. I also noticed that many of the trees did not have the leaves of trees that I was familiar with of the same species. I quickly became aware that the trees ordered were incorrect. The company would replace some at no cost, but some I had to send back. The second order(I made before all this began) was roses, and only 50% bloomed correctly. None of my lillies or other flowerbed plants were correct. The seedless grapes actually bared a bunch and they were seeded concord grapes. I lost complete confidence in the company. They have sent me replacements, but they simply send whatever plants they want no matter what you order. Stay away unless you simply do not care what plants you receive.

Posted on March 3, 2011, updated July 5, 2011
Despite repeated warnings in the books I read and on the internet to use a reputable nursery, I used Autumn Ridge. Four years later I have a backyard orchard of crab-apples and junk trees. Its not the money, its the years I lost before I realized what I had done. I guess there is a reason that fruit trees cost so much.

I am so upset to see this! I ordered $60.00 of plants last year and NONE of them have bloomed. My most expensive purchase was for 6 Blue Lace Delphinium. I have never had them before and after they did not bloom this year, I have discovered they aren't Blue Lace Delphinium. They are large WEEDS! I also ordered Dianthus, Geranium and Phlox and NOTHING came back. I have NEVER had this happen with any plants I have ever purchased. I was looking for their information to call and complain and cannot believe I will not be able to resolve this now that they are out of business. Not like I'm surprised because they are nothing but phony's!

In early spring of 2010 I ordered Methley Plums and Bartlett Pears for a specific customer. The plants arrived but after potting them, not a single one of the 25 Plums or the 25 Pears came to life. I called the company and was assured they would replace them. They sent me a claim form that had Summerstone Nursery's name on it. I filled out the form and sent it in. They said they would ship replacements in May of 2011. It is May 31 and no plants have arrived. I called them and they told me that Autumn Ridge is bankrupt and they can't honor the guarantee. They said if I send them 25% of the cost of the original order they would send the trees next year. The representative that I talked to told me he had never seen the form that I received and was too busy to do anything for me. I am not going to send them any more money. They are not trustworthy. They give the State of Tennessee a bad name.

april 2010 i ordered 2 rosebushes from them. they came quick enough and looked ok so i planted them. i didn't know until they bloomed 2 months later that they sent me the wrong ones. i was expecting a red and white striped rose and it was just a plain yellow, which i had several of already and the other one was a plain red like i don't have enough of them! i emailed them several times and was ignored. i then got an email on 6/30 saying it was too late for the season and they would replace them spring '11. i never heard from them again. i emailed them this spring and have not heard from them and now it's about too late again for the year. i learned a $20 lesson. just glad it wasn't more. it's too bad you trust a company in good faith and they take your $. i wish i had known about the watchdog. i will check out any co. from now on.

Summerstone nursery--will send u dead trees, and will NOT return u money.
Watch out---there is no deals with them,its all fraud!!!!!!!
I ordered 12 trees, --all dead sticks.

very sad.

we purchased 10 hydrangea trees from them. The site stated they would be 3 to 4 feet tall. when they arrived they were lucky to be over 6 inches. we called and they stated it was a website error and that those were the best trees they had at the time. we planted them none of them took. we called again and they said to ship the dead trees back and they would send new ones. we paid to ship them back certified mail they never sent new ones. we then called them about refunding our money. They said they would but we never got it and we could never talk to the same person each time we called. then we got someone claiming to be an answering service stating that in the off season they were closed and we should be able to get our money when they reopened in the spring. we never did.

Ordered 2 pears and 2 plums, dwarf variety, last spring, got here in reasonable time, OK packaging. Planted 1st week of May. Pears and Stanley plum leafed out within 4 weeks. Shiro plum never did. Contacted Autumnridge, 1st time they said wait a while longer, 2nd time they said will substitute. Contacted them again in July. They were not shipping anymore, would send new plant "in the fall". I thought this might happen in September. Nothing. Talked to someone who was a new employee (so he said). Rude. Said they would ship in October. Come October, nada. Finally, an e-mail on Nov.12, "we have shipped your order". Package arrived on Nov 20 (in Michigan!). Beautifully boxed, bare roots packed in wet newspaper covered with plastic. BUT: main root ( the larger of only 2) had been bent up sharply against the trunk, then wrapped and tied that way. This broke the treelet in half at the root-trunk fork, you could see the center of the trunk. No way could this have been an accident. Whoever did the packaging did it deliberately. Two employees glued "your roots were packed by" stickers to the outside carton: Tasha and Mary, and to contact their supervisor, Evan, in case of problem. Neither of the phone #s given picks up.
It would appear the company is now out of business. Question: in view of several comments above: how do I tell that the trees that live are what I meant to buy: 1 Moonglow and 1 Bartlett pear and 1 Stanley plum, all dwarf? I have a small garden and full sized trees would be too large and would have been planted too close.

Posted on October 8, 2010, updated October 9, 2010
I canceled an order that they said was "too late to be delivered" but never received a refund from this company. Their website is down and through davesgarden.com I found out that Autumn Ridge filed bankruptcy.
Their phone number (931-474-3386) still works, but every time I talk to them about my refund they give me a different excuse.
Luckily, nobody else will be ripped off by this lousy company. I don't expect to see my money back but I have filed two complaints against them, one through the BBB and one at this website: //tn.gov/consumer/complaint.shtml
I encourage you all to do the same.
I don't think I'll ever order plants online again. I've done that quite a few times and only Michigan Bulb gave me good results, but that was 5-6 years ago, who knows how they are doing now. Local businesses in my area have been selling big and healthy fruit trees at affordable prices, no need to by bare root miniature trees online anymore.

I guess these people got their just desserts. I ordered a Rainier cherry tree that had hardly any roots upon arrival. When it leafed out, I knew the tree wasn't a cherry. Turned out it was an apple--don't know which variety but it doesn't matter because the tree died.

Fortunatley, this company appears to have gone out of business. Not soon enough. For those who gave this company a positive rating, just wait and see. I ordered 3 apple trees and 3 peach trees from autumn ridge in 2005 and 2 more apple trees in 2006. Two out of three of the peach trees died, one from the rough shipment, the other from my bad planting. The "apple" trees finally bloomed this year after my long wait. What did I get? Instead of 2 golden delicious, 2 Jonathan and 1 red delicious I got 3 crab apple trees and 2 pear trees. I guess I should be happy they are alive considering this company's track record. If you want fruit trees, go with Stark brothers for apple trees or St Lawrence nursery. So far, my best peach tree has come from Gurneys.

Good luck.

This nursery claims they have named varieties of fruit at low prices but it is a scam. I ordered what I believed were Rainier and Lapins cherries and they turned out to be Pin cherries the wild species. I also ordered 2 pear trees that were supposed to be Chanticleer the plants had almost no roots on them and died within a few weeks. I will never order from this company again and would never reccomend them

Several years ago, I ordered 2 Moonglow dwarf pears and 2 Asian Dwarf pears from this company. I paid extra to get the dwarf trees. They were planted in prime locations in my yard, watered regularly, pruned, pampered and babied like no other trees in the universe. They are beautiful trees! This spring they bloomed beautifully and put on a bumper crop of tiny 1/4" round, B-R-A-D-F-O-R-D pears. I will not order again from them or any of their affiliates.

Like the majority of everyone else on this page - ordered (3) rose bushes, followed the directions, three months later, nothing. Called the company and was told, "be patient, takes 3-4 weeks". It's been three months. Asked for replacement or refund and haven't heard a peep. Sent EMAILs and get no response. Filed dispute with DISCOVER.

I found this fly-by-night outfit on the internet while looking for businesses that sell semi-dwarf cherry trees. The webpage looked nice and professional and have ordered from other companies with no problems. I should have been suspicious when it took way too long to receive my trees. When they finally arrived, I opened the box and the roots were not even wrapped and only a little loose dirt in the bottom of the box. The trees were DOA, but I thought I'd give them a chance and planted them that very day with good potting soil and miracle grow. After several weeks with no sign of life, I called their number and talked to a "Sam" who said that had never happened in his 33 yrs of working there, but I could send the trees back and they would be replaced. I paid to have them sent back and have sent numerous emails inquiring about my trees with no response.

Posted on June 22, 2010, updated July 8, 2010
A few months ago I ordered rose bushes and go one free plant. I followed the directions in planting and see no signs of life from any of the plants. I emailed the company a few days ago and I called today. I will wait for a responce and hopefully I will get one. I run a small business and my reputation is everything. Hopefully this company does the right thing.........................................................................I will keep you informed

MY PURCHASE FROM AUTUMN NURSERY WAS A NIGHTMARE TO SAY THE VERY LEAST, MY FIRST ORDER WAS SENT TO WRONG ADDRESS THEN ANOTHER ORDER CAME A MONTH LATER WITH ALL THE PLUM TRESS DEAD ON ARRIVAL, REPLACEMENT ORDER CAME ABOUT ANOTHER MONTH AND YOU GUESSED IT ALL DEAD PLUM TRESS AGAIN THEY SAY THEY DON'T GIVE REFUNDS BUT WOULD BE VERY HAPPY TO SEND ME MORE DEAD TRESS, WOW WHAT A COMPANY. NEVER AGAIN WILL THEY GET MY MONEY !THS CARL IN LOUISIANA

In February 2009 I ordered 2 plum trees. Both arrived as mostly-dead sticks. One survived. It's an apple tree!

I ordered apple, cherry, pear, and peach trees on 06/07/2010 and received dead sticks and twigs on 06/15/2010. Tried several times to contact them and when I did reach them they were rude and said the trees could take a month to bloom and call back then if they didn't. I have tried to contact them through e-mail, fax, and phone in the last week with no response. I should have known that the price for the trees was to good to be true!

I had ordered 10 fruit/flowering trees begining of May. Two weeks later I received 10 very deteriored seedlings size 'sticks' that were obviously dead as the bark was peeling off some and others had branches snapped off in the shipment they were so dry. It was my observation the trees had been dead for some time before shipment. Wish I had known about this feedback site before I placed the order. I have returned the trees to the Nursery but after reading the other comments its apparant that chances for suitable replacements is wishful thinking. Will join with you other good people out here in contacting the Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs.

After many, many months I had forgotten about my horrible experience with Autumn Ridge Nursery. Rotten flowers, mildewed roses that smelled so badly I had to take them to the dump, etc. I had also forgotten that I contacted the BBB, and just today I got a letter from the State of Tennessee regarding a lawsuit filed against them. I don't expect to see any compensation, but I do hope they are put out of business. Do NOT order from this company.
Take a look at http://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/cases/autumnridge/autumnri...
They have also filed for bankrupcy, but the web site is still up and doing business.

placed order and they said it shipped. never showed up. sent 2 e-mail's and called getting no answer has been over 30 days. they need to be reported for theft.

I ordered 1 dwarf fuji apple tree. It arrived with a free plant and 2 free plum trees. My wife planted the plant and I the apple and 1 of the plum trees the very same day they arrived. The other plum tree was planted by myneighbor who is a landscaper. None of the three trees lived, the fre plant did live. With in 2 weeks of planting the trees, the bark was brown and peeling off. I called Autumn Ridge and informed them, I was instructed to return them and they would replace them. I paid the return shipping. Have since sent emails without receiving even 1 respnse, and have called more times than I can count and there has not yet been an answer. I wish I had seen this forum before I purchased from Autumn Ridge, then I would not have ever ordered.

My order arrived late and I couldn't get the Astilbe nor the 2 free plants to live.Then the pale pink rose I ordered bloomed ordinary red. Called them, NO Answer. e-mailed and received a reply that they were through shipping until after the frost. the other plants haven't bloomed yet but I don't guess it really matters from the results I've received.

I had ordered 5 roses from them. I was shocked to see that not only were they dried out, but dead to the point where the bud unions flaked and cracked after going without water too long. I had expected to see some growth buds on them. Well, the buds were dead along with the rest of the plants. I am so disappointed. I had tried to contact them but so far no progress. I am tempted to take legal action on them. I have never seen such incompetence in packaging and shipping of the plants. Did it ever occur to them that they needed to be packed in sawdust at least to protect the roots?! Instead, they put some nasty gelatin like substance on the roots with wet newspapers! All that did was encourage mold to grow on the roots. It was a disgrace, and I actually mourned the deaths of these roses. My advice, stay clear away from them and only deal with them if you want your money back which unfortunately I am in the process of doing now.

My story is the same as so many others here: almost everything in my order was dead on arrival or dead soon after planting. Stay far away from Autumn Ridge Nursery. A better name would be Autumn Ridge Mortuary.

My bad for failing to check the Watchdog before trying a company for the first time. Never again.

I purchased an Ingrid Bergman rose back in March. Plant arrived in 6 days, not 72 hours. Fast forward 3 months, my PINK roses bloomed today instead of the beautiful red I was expecting. I was shipped the wrong plant. I called and cust. rep. said they would replace if I shipped other plant back. Well, I don't have the heart to rip a healthy plant out, so I will leave her where she is and look to a more "careful" nursery to purchase the plant I actually wanted. It was the "free plant" with purchase that suckered me in, which was dead on arrival anyway. What a bummer.

Posted on May 15, 2008, updated June 1, 2010
Well, so far so good. I placed an order with this company on 4/25. After a few days I decided I should have done a bit of research. Imagine my surprise when I read the posts here. I got an e-mail for them on 5/2 saying that my order had shipped. I had asked for their 72 hour shipping, that didn't happen. My plants got here on 5/13. After my plants had been in the mail for 11 days I didn't have a good feeling. My cherry tree got here nice and wet, some new growth already started. My 2 blueberries came in with good sized root balls in bags. They were green and are still looking good. My other berries looked like wet twigs with a little bit of root on the bottom. As of today, 2 days after planting, my blackberry is starting to open a few buds as is my boisenberry. The two raspberries I ordered, I know raspberries in Florida don't make sense, have yet to do anything.

I placed an order with the company on May 26, 2009, I called the company on June 1, 2009 saying that my credit card had been charged and I had not received and email saying that my order was shipped. The representative told me that my order was shipped on Saturday May 30. I called again June 5, the rep told me that my order was shipped on Monday June 1, and that I should be receiving the order soon. When I did receive the items they were the same as your dead I called the company and told them that. I think I was sent the items/order because I called and said that my credit card was charged, and it appears that it was charged before the items were actually shipped and the company just sent me whatever plants they had laying around. I emailed the company several time telling them that the items was not doing anything the company told me that they would send me replacement plants in the falls when they open back up for fall shipping. I called the company in September and was told then that they did not start shipping orders until November 2, the rep told me to keep emailing the person I had been emailing and that they would handle my order. November came and I did not hear from them and did not receive any plants, but the company did change their telephone number.
After months of corresponding back and forward with the Tennessee division of consumer affairs and the company stating that they did not have my address and saying I did not reply back to the one email they sent me. The company final refunded my payment in 2010. I emailed the company several time giving them my email address and it is/was attached to the email heading (all of which was provided to consumer affairs). My address should and was on the company file and they never ask for the address. This company has nothing but excuses, the November shipping date came and went and I did not hear from the company this is the type of company not to do business with and I will never do business with this company again.

I purchased 4 3'-4' Black Gum trees from Autumn Ridge Nursery in March/2010. They arrived about 3 weeks later all with mildewed roots and completely DEAD. I too wish I had seen this forum before placing my order. I will NEVER do business with this company again. They do not deserve to stay in business and they are a discredit to the mail order nursery industry.

I ordered 16 items and 7 of the items I am sure are wrong and I won't know about the rest until they bear fruit. When I called and complained they said I would have to send the wrong items back then they would replace them. I spent $116.00 and now they want me to pay shipping again to correct their mistake.

I ordered several fruiting trees in 2005... Pear, plum, apple. NONE of them ended up being fruiting trees. The pears ended up being flowering bradfords (the stinky kind), the apple is a wimpy crabapple and the plums--- who knows (one of the 'plum' trees has never grown beyond 2 feet high and is still basically a straggly stick that makes Charlie Brown's Christmas tree look lush). I tried to get them to replace them, but they never responded. Never use this company... THEY ARE CROOKED.

My husband received from Nature Hills Nursery an Autumn blooming cherry. It was sent as gift from his co workers to plant in our garden in memory of his father. This tree arrived bare root with no leaves in July 2009.(As a gardener of many years that struck me as odd) We planted it and it immediately died. I called the company to ask for a replacement. They said there policy was a could order another tree at half price and if it didn't grow they would not replace it. I have been dealing with mail order companies for many years and have always had things replaced if they failed to grow. Since the first tree was in such bad condition I was not going to send this company any more money. I feel bad that the people at my husband's company tried to do a nice thing and got swindled by Nature Hills Nursery.

In WI, no easy solution in small claims court. I have an unresolved small claims action now - againt a contractor who essentially stole $1200, kept lying about having ordered windows that were never ordered, etc., before he totally cut off contact - turns out he owes a long list of creditors (including the Dept of Revenue). In WI, there are a lot of fees and red tape for the plaintiff, and little enforcement mechanism to demand satisfaction of the judgment, even after you get a judgment in your favor.

Placed a order with Autumn Ridge Nursery on 4/7/10 with 72 hour shipping. My order was charged to my visa on 4/12. I emailed questioning the status of my order on 4/16 and did not receive responce until 4/25. I canceled my order on 4/20 with Amanda stating would have credit on my account within 72 hours and received a email later that day that order was shipped. Spoke with Carol on 4/23, 4/28 and 4/29 who promised credit to my account within 72 hours. She also said to return shippment when received. Refused shipment from USPS on 4/26. Still no credit on my Visa. Reported to BBB on 5/4. If I had known what kind of business this was I would have never placed a order in the first place! What a learning experience!!! Will look into the FTC next.

I wish I'd have read this site before ordering anything from these devious people. I find it fascinating that many of the "Positive" postings use identical syntax and grammer, indicating that someone may be playing games with this website for fun or profit. Also, note that Autumn Ridge only adds footnotes and replies to positive comments, and ignores both neutral comments and a massive preponderance of negative ones.

Hm-m-m-m. Live and learn, eh? They don't answer emails either, regarding orders that haven't arrived, etc.

Suggestion: Deal with a more reputable company. The BBB lists this as one of Tennessee's worst businesses. The bright side? -- the FTC, or Federal Trade Commission, will soon close them down if enough customers, such as myself, start to complain loudly and often enough. Look up the FTC site on the internet to file a complaint.

Posted on December 12, 2009, updated March 23, 2010
Posted on June 09, 2009, updated December 12, 2009
I purchased 6 Boysenberry plants from this company. They were a little slow in arriving but the plants finally came. I was worried about some of them because they looked more dead then dormant. I planted them with some reservation. However, 3 of them came out and are doing just fine. I contact the company about the ones that did not make it and also advised them that I have found similar plants for less money. They promise that they are the lowest price vendor on the internet. They offered to replace the plants that died and send them in the fall and also offered me a refund or credit for additional purchases regarding the lower priced items I found. They were very helpful and the plants did as well as many others I have ordered from discount mail order nursery's in the past.

I ordered from them last year and got sticks that were supposed to be trees. None lived. None even put out a leaf. Do yourself a favor and avoid them!