Comments regarding Wellspring Gardens

I ordered staghorn ferns here. They were so well packaged, I was extremely impressed. I'm only using Wellspring for my little staghorn fern business from now on.

Donovan is so nice! I ordered on 12/26/12 , my plants arrived today, the delay is only because Donovan was so courteous as to wait until we had a warmup, (we had been in the 20's and below, today, we had a high of 46). I ordered a small order, just to be sure, I ordered, 2 coffee plants, 2 vanilla orchids, one bay laurel tree, and a truly tiny banana, they all arrived unharmed, and very healthy. I will definitely be making a very large order from them this spring. 100% Reccomended.

I usually don't write reviews but I was so impressed by them that I had to make an exception.
I ordered three carnivorous plants from Wellsprings and received them this Friday. The plants arrived without any damage and are very healthy. They have the best customer service out of any online nurseries I've ordered from and I was surprised at how quickly my order was delivered. I will definately be using them for all my future orders!

This is my first time posting a review on this site after using it for some time. My search for a plant (not seeds) of Strelitzia reginae "Mandela's Gold" led me to a listing on eBay by Wellspring Gardens after being unable to find one anywhere else. After reading the post I realized the plants would be on the smaller side but for the price it just seemed too good to be true. I bought my plant on August 20th and it shipped on the 24th. So far so good. It arrived today, the 27th. I cannot begin to tell you how absolutely impressed I am. This plant was very high quality! Beautiful green, insect-free leaves. Yes they are on the small side but I can easily overlook that considering the great price. In my opinion Wellsprings prices are an absolute steal! Then I gently pulled the plant out of its small pot to bare root and repot into my homemade potting mix. The root system was incredibly healthy with thick white roots. This plant was clearly cared for in a professional matter. I am very happy to have found Wellspring Gardens and I am sure I will be buying from them again in the future.

Posted on June 29, 2012, updated July 31, 2012
Hi everyone out there :)
I have been checking out the Garden Watchdog for years and was always too lazy to join the membership. But, I finally did so to give a honest and true opinion of the few companies I deal with mail order. Anyways, I have been dealing with Donovan at Wellsprings for a couple of years now and am here to tell everyone out there that they truly work hard to keep you happy and satisfied. They are great people with excellent customer service skills and will go out of their way to offer you the best of the best. This comment is NOT about one particular order, but over 20 or so orders. They dont argue you with about any issues you may have and often will ALWAYS send free plants if something goes wrong. Things are taken care of promptly, usually within minutes. Emails are usually returned almost as fast as I can type it and send it to them. They do not make and break promises or give you the run around like many of the other online nurseries. I only deal with a few others out there, like Four Winds Growers (citrus trees), Florida Hill Nursery, Wellsprings Gardens (other different tropical plants) because of many other bad experiences with other mail order nurseries. I wont name any of them, as it is not fair to them because I would never order from any of them again and it has been a long time since I did order, and hopefully they have fixed things for future customers. But, once is enough for me!!!! It is nice to have them as a reliable and easy to deal with mail order nursery. As a matter of fact, I dont even deal with any other company for many of their plants. They are always large, healthy and almost always thrive. But, as far as good points about Wellspring Gardens Nursery and his company, this is what you can HONESTLY expect:

*Great prices

*Cheap shipping (I see the shipping labels and the costs of them, and I usually order 15 to 40 different plants and I wonder how he even makes any money.

*Fast shipping (usually within 2 to 3 days at the very most, and many times within 24 hours)

*Friendly customer service

*Quick response times on any email or phone call (usually within minutes)

*Most importantly, big, healthy and disease free plants

But, I am not going to keep on going on and on, and I just felt it necessary to share my experience with them so maybe they can gain even more satisfied customers, of which he deserves. Give him a try, and rest assured you will be happy and hopefully add another good review for him. Take care everyone out there and happy gardening!!!!

Sherry D.

Quality plants at dirt cheap prices is always a good combination. This is a great company. I've ordered mostly Nepenthes from them, along with a few other things. If you are suspicious because the Nepenthes prices seem too low, be assured that you will receive great plants.

Here is a picture of the Nepenthes from my first order:

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My only "complaint" is that they don't seem to update their system to indicate that orders have shipped. The first sign that I've gotten that the order has shipped is when I receive it.

Posted on May 3, 2012, updated July 8, 2012
My first order with Wellspring and I am thrilled.
Careful packing,fast shipping,moist plants in individual small pots.
I will definatly order again.
The owner is easy to work with too. I like the tracking and being able to give a ship date and change my mind when the weathyer isnt cooperating.

I cannot say enough good things about this company. For the home gardener looking for plants that are unavailable in local nurseries, this is the place to go. Donovan Baltich shipped me the finest plants I have purchased online: healthy, well-rooted and perfectly packaged. Within 48 hour of being shipped from Florida they arrived to my doorstep here in Pittsburgh. I ordered first off of ebay then directly from their website. Everything has transplanted exquisitely and is growing better than anything else in my garden. I know this sounds like hyperbole but it is so true, I am so happy with this seller. For fifty dollars, including shipping, I received two varieties of gardenia, a dragon fruit plant, three types of jasmine, a loquat, a plumbargo, a kiwi vine, muscadine, african lily, rosemary and coffee plant. Shipping is 9.99 regardless of quantity, I couldn't help but notice they took a dollar loss with the priority box used at 10.99. I sent an email out around midnight inquiring as to when it would ship. That morning I received a reply by 9am directly from Donovan courteously answering and explaining what was occurring. These people must really care about what they do, I can't see how they make much profit at it. They have my business for sure.

Posted on May 9, 2012, updated May 20, 2012
Posted on May 5, 2012, updated May 9, 2012
I have mixed feelings about this store. First, the positives; The plants are very inexpensive and the shipping is quite reasonable. Most of the plants arrived very healthy. They are small, but given the price, that is to be expected. Donovan answered my email within a few hours of my having sent it and was very polite and offered to refund a sickly plant. The negatives are a small infestation of spider mites on one plant, heavy wilt on a Barbados Cherry, and what looks like a misidentified dragonfruit. Donovan assured me that dragon fruit often look different when they are young. The cactus I received has five ribs rather than the three my other dragonfruit plant (Hylocereus undatus) has and looks very much like a columnar cactus (like the 'San Pedro cactus'). All the pictures of dragonfruit seedlings I can find are three lobed. Has anyone else ordered dragonfruit seedlings from Wellspring? Did yours have more than three ribs? Did they turn out to really be dragonfruit? Has anyone seen a dragon fruit start out with, or just have, more than three ribs?

Posted on January 26, 2012, updated May 4, 2012
I placed an order today with Wellspring. I had a question about the date of shipping and contacted Wellspring, and had an answer from Donovan within minutes.

They have some fantastic prices and good selections on tropicals, especially the colocasia and alocasia I was interested in. With spring coming, anyone looking for tropicals for pots might be interested in this website.

I will update when I receive the plants, but customer service sure is good!

Polly @ Siberian Iris Gardens.

I was reading the fig forum when someone mentioned Wellspring. I checked them out and their prices were 75% cheaper than other nurseries. For orders over $20, they took $5 off so I addede a clumping bamboo (basically free). They also included a rosemary herb plant for a penny. The plants arrived, smaller-as expected, but all are healthy and growing. Very happy with the plants.

Heathly plants, good prices, communicated well and shipped quickly.

Found this company on DG and ordered for the first time. Healthy, well-rooted, well packaged starter plants arrived at my door. I have issues with Paypal so I'm pleased the seller accepts other forms of payment, including checks. Good communication, great variety, I will order from them again.

Posted on March 22, 2012, updated April 3, 2012
I have never waited more than a week for them to ship. Great deals. Healthy plants.

Posted on June 13, 2011, updated March 20, 2012
I received well packaged, nice little plants at a good price and quickly too. Will definitely order from them again.

I ordered 4 banana plants from Wellspring Gardens about a month ago. Delivery was quick (3-4 days). I was expecting them to be small, so it didn't bother me that they were 3" tall. They were very healthy and seemed to be packaged well. I planted them in my greenhouse when they arrived, and they have doubled in size over the last month. I would buy from them again.

there isnt enough space here to commend wellspring gardens at ebay for their customer service and honest company policies.. i got sick a few years back due to stress of my account getting broken into there at ebay, and they worked with me, didnt get mad*at least not to my face* and they sent me wonderful plants time and time again!! i cannot wait to do business with them again!

I ordered and received several plants nearly a year ago, including some hard to find dwarf papayas, bananas, and a few other things. They were all very small when received and I had my doubts, but all have done very well. Use the great prices as an estimate of the size of plants you'll receive. If you are patient and willing to grow small plants into big ones, you can't beat the prices. The plants shipped and arrived quickly in great shape. I would definitely order from this seller again.

Excellent company to deal with. Over my years of gardening I have used mail order fairly often. Usually I am disappointed in “live” plants. They may grow well but they were just not what I was expecting. The “live” plants I purchased from Wellspring Gardens were fantastic. Larger than I expected, in great condition and packed extremely well. I would use these folks again in a second and highly recommend them.

My order arrived *very* quickly, and the plants look healthy. They're small, but for the price (which is *very* reasonable), they're fine. At first, I thought that none of the plants had labels, because their pots were put inside little paper bags, and there was nothing on the paper bags. But each pot had a tiny label under the paper bag (though sometimes hidden by the packing material and tape used to keep the soil in the pot).

I recently made two purchases from this company. Shipping was fast, plants were very well packed and appeared healthy.

Posted on August 22, 2011, updated September 11, 2011
Posted on November 8, 2010, updated August 22, 2011
I have now ordered twice from them. Both experiences were awesome. All the plants came very healthy and were packaged with care. Talked a few times on email. Responded fast and answered my questions nicely. Lookin' forward to watching all of these plants grow. Thanks wellspring!

I ordered quite a few carnivorous plants from this company, and am pleased to say that they arrived happy and healthy. Their packaging was very safe and efficient, and the postage was very fast and well priced. From my own growing experience, I could tell that they've been growing the somewhat fickle pitcher plants in the correct manner- much better than what you see at most non-specialty nurseries. Once I get more room, I will be returning to this site to look at their other plants. Highly recommended!

I've placed 2 orders on Ebay from this grower and have been very happy with my purchases. Plants are healthy, and packed very well for shipping.

I have ordered twice from this company with 100% of the plants still alive. The first order was 5 varities of bananas, they were small when they arrived but within months I've had to repot them twice (currently 4 are in 5 gal. buckets). I am thinking of ordering again as soon as the weather is warm enough I don't have to worry about shipping temperatures. With my next order I may have every fruit and most of the varieties he offers.
Dan

Absolutely beautiful plants...This was my first order and won't be the last...They were packaged with care and only took 2 days to get from FL to WA...Amazing...Thanks so much for a wonderful online purchase experience.

I purchased some herb plants from them on Ebay.
The plants arrived well packed and healthy.
They are small, but the prices were too.
Very pleased and will shop with them again.

I have ordered several plants from these guys and they never fail to impress me. Donovan even went above and beyond helping me germinate some seeds that I harvested from the plants I purchased from them. If I am buying a plant online I always look to see if they sell it before considering any other source.

We received some natal plums from Wellspring during the hottest part of the year. The plants arrived in great condition & are doing great. We're very satisfied.

I bought 6 different plants from here. Except for one, they all arrived very healthy, very quickly and are growing well. The one exception, a night blooming jasmine arrived with leaf loss. He refunded my cost immediately.

I ordered several types of elephant ears from Wellspring this spring. The prices were reasonable, as was the shipping. They communicated very well. I placed an order on Saturday, and had my plants by Wednesday. The packaging of the plants was amazing! They couldn't have moved in that box if you had dropped it! I would recommend and I will order from them in the future!

Very good to deal with. Recieved my order in a timely manner but just wish they would have sent email that it was on the way, as I was wondering when it would come.

Nice web site BUT the site has no way to send them email nor is a phone number listed. I ordered Two plants sent a mail order check on 6-17-08 it's now July 1st and no plants and no way to contact them! I wonder why they would not list a email address or phone number?????? and if you are reading this comment and you are the owners of Wellspring Gardens please send me a email @ hsjoe513@msn.com
Thanks

I bought 6 Crazy Pink Echinaceas off Ebay and I have to say these were some of the best looking plants, I have received on-line. They were packed superbly and shipped promptly. They were excellent starter plants already blooming and extremely healthy. These plants were also hard to come by as my order for them was cancelled from 3 other nurseries. If there is anything you like at Wellspring buy with confidence

I got four Alo/Colocasias from them on eBay. The "starter" plants looked very healthy and vigorous to me. This impression has been confirmed by their rocketlike growth.

My first order, I went all in, I figured I would take a chance, and the whole community wanted bananas...so I fronted the money and hoped for the best. The best is what I got. 40 bananas in great shape (all dwarf cavendish). Each had a slightly damaged leaf, because of a dowel in the pot to keep box from coming down on the plant. But I realize that the dowel saved them from getting smushed by the "nice" post office! But each one came in great (and two days from florida to nebraska as well), no shipping shock of any kind, well packaged, all trying to put on new leaves, and all of the size stated! They are fantastic. I placed another order for four different bananas, and one did come in damaged (snapped in half, looks like the PO was playing football with my plants), and Donovan immediately offered a replacement (but I just cut it down, because I knew it would come back!) So now, I have gone back, and ordered almost 20 more bananas, and some bird of paradise, and some pampas grass....all kinds of stuff (because he's got all kinds of great stuff), and I know they will come in great. The seller is very good at communication, always kept me up to date when we were waiting for a good shipping date (as I am in zone 4 and decided in January that I wanted a banana!)! Donovan is very fast to get out the invoice when there are several orders! And the shipping! It can't be beat, how he discounts for extra plants. He's awesome! If you need exotic tropical plants, you must visit this online store, or check it out on ebay. I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH BEAUTIFUL PLANTS!

I ordered 10 "Black Magic", Elephant Ears from this company through E-Bay. I was Shocked to say the least, when my package arrived. I have never seen So Much Care put into packaging, as these were. They were starter plants and growing well, with gorgeous leaves. They also communicated great concerning my shipment. From my learning experiences with mail order companies (mostly bad), I don't think you can go wrong ordering from Wellsprings. I will definitely order from them again and again.

I ordered three plants (two seperate orders) and two bags of fertilizer via Ebay..
A Tiger Fern which is most interesting..fronds are green and yellow. I also got a Basjoo Banana which was nice size and very reasonable in cost..
The owner kept an eye on the Weather Channel until our temps exceeded 25-30F.
Plants and fertilizers were well-packaged...Wellsprings kept me updated about shipping so I wouldn't think my package was somewhere in Timbuktu ....Toni

I ordered four banana plants from Wellspring through E-bay. They arrived today in great condition, nicely packaged, and green.