Comments regarding Aloha Tropicals

I have ordered from Aloha Tropicals a few times and have always been please with the promptness of delivery and the quality of the plants.

With so Many fake online Nurseries preying on people, I always take a couple days to research reviews and contact the Nursery to really get a sense of if they are scamming or Legit... That said, Aloha Tropicals is legit.
I do want to say my original email and question was answered right away, but after I ordered and got confirmation, I did not receive any notice when it shipped and didn't get a response when I emailed and asked if my order shipped yet, But it did arrive within a week, and the plants were Extremely Well packed, and were some of the Healthiest(root system and stem) plants I have received from Any nursery!
I live in AZ, so most tropical or cooler weather plants I want to add to my collection, I have to mail order, so that's a Lot of mail orders. Some people Need to have that Confirmation of an item being shipped, and I understand why, to track an item for arrival and particularly with plants, to get them as Soon as possible out of the mail and into comfortable environment so they survive.
I think that part of customer service and tracking software could be improved on, but I do want to thank Andrew and Aloha Tropicals for providing some unique and harder to find tropicals, and for them being Extremely healthy and Vibrant! They have added to my garden and I do appreciate them for that.
If you were wondering, I ordered a couple of Brazilian Fern trees(Schizolobium Parahyba).

My experience was great. I have seen some negative reviews, but I received $2000 worth of plants multiple orders that looked great and healthy and shipped quickly. There have been plants that have not been in stock, but were fully refunded and another plant was given for free. The first order I was given a hedychium apricot ginger for free because another type of ginger I ordered was out of stock at time. This ended up making me order about 10 more hedychium gingers lol.

A plant was left out of my order since they were out of the particular plant.
I emailed and Andrew emailed back almost right away. He said he would take care of this and find me the plant.

Sure enough the medinilla arrived. So glad to leave a good review.
Noticed that Andrew took over for his father.

Thank you, Andrew

Posted on September 18, 2019, updated September 22, 2019
I bought a Costus Peruvian pineapple from them and paid $18.95 with a $10.95 shipping. The plant was so very small and puny looking. I should have learned my lesson when I bought from them in 2016 and got the same types of plants

This was my first purchase from Aloha. I made a request by email for no substitutions which was promptly acknowledged and accurately carried out in the final order. I thought the plant sizes were on par with what I've received from other specialty retail nurseries and everything is quite healthy. The packaging was very securely done and they shipped within just a few days. Very happy with my order and the service!

I have had nothing but amazing experiences with Aloha Tropicals. I used them for my wedding about 8 years ago and have been shopping with them ever since! I am from Maui and their products are amazing. I recommend them to all my family back home even. I just recently received my heliconia and banana plants and am very very happy with them! The service was impeccable and Andy is always so easy going and helpful when it comes down to giving me good recommendations on what to purchase to fit my needs (he is also the owner.) He’s very informative and knows everything and anything there is to know about tropicals and makes the entire shopping experience great. I definitely recommend his products to anyone shopping the market for tropicals or even looking to landscape their yard. Thank you again for the great service and product! Aloha!

I ordered 4 plants from Aloha Tropicals. I am very happy with all of them. The plants are just how I expected them to be. Delivery was quick, quality is great, and the company is very professional.

Aloha Tropicals has a great selection of tropical plants. Andy knows his stuff! Received my order 2 days ago. Everything was in perfect condition. Great service! Will be ordering again soon.

I received a plumeria from Aloha Trooicals and am absolutely in love! The shipping and packing was perfect and I received it quickly. They really helped me with picking out a plant that would be best suited for me, but also fit the guidelines of what I wanted. They obviously care about their customers and what they sell.

I just received my plants, heliconia rhizomes,ginger plants and protea everything was in perfect condition especially this time of year where it's cool here in San Diego. I love these guys as they have the best selection in one stop shopping. I ordered the plants and received at my address in 7 days. I would highly reccommend this company for there selection,service and quality. pakati

Aloha! We have served and provided over 10,000 customers plant material since 1993, We try our very best to give you the exact product you ordered and will choose another that is very similar or of higher value with your permission if not in stock. Negative comments come from negative people, we do try to accommodate our customers but some just want to take advantage, by telling us months later there plant died, dispute the transaction without returning the product as required, wanting the plant material for free. Of the 1000's of customers over the years we have provided quality plant material and very happy customers. We just wanted to show that a few rotten apples does not have to spoil the bunch. Sincerly Aloha Tropicals/ Next Generation

Posted on February 7, 2012, updated February 9, 2012
STAY FAR AWAY!! Andy Zook is a Crook! If you order common plants, he might have what you want and you MAY get it. But if he does not, he will substitute cheaper plants and pocket the money or not send anything at all and just keep you hanging. Just read all the negatives here.. this is how he does business. He doesn't respond to emails or phone messages and he has a D- Rating with his local BBB. It may be F in a couple weeks because I just filed a complaint, too. I ordered Impatiens Hians and received I. Niamniamesis. I also ordered Caladium Thai Beauty and got 2 tiny pea-sized pieces of a bulb. Save your money and aggravation. Go to Eldon Tropicals or Kartuz Nursery, or ANYONE else. Aloha Tropicals only provides heartache. He should be ashamed for taking advantage of good people's good nature. This is not the honorable way to earn money or more business, Andy. It's nothing less than stealing! Except I'm going to get mine back from my credit card company...!

Aloha Tropicals is awesome!!!!! I've collected some real exotic beauties (many from Thailand). I had one rare white torch ginger flower (Thai Queen) that I drowned and caused it to rot. Andy "Zook" (owner) replaced it for me! Anything that I have asked for, Aloha Tropicals has provided to me at my convenience to pick up. Some exotics that I've purchased this season are the Black Beauty heliconia, Splash heliconia, Thai Giant elephant ear, Indo. Wax ginger, Thai Beauty caladium, Australian tree fern, and the Thai Queen white torch ginger. I am very pleased with the with the specimens and customer relations/service....I would share this quality find with confidence.

I read the reviews about Aloha Tropicals a little hesitant but they had what I was looking for so I took the chance... Wow I could not have been happier. I sent an email and asked what size they were. I was told the right size and was told one of my plants was not ready. I called Andy and he said it was small but available so I said send it.
I received my plants right away and they looked great. Potted them up and within three days they are already growing without even a hiccup. Even the extremely temperamental Coco tree looks great.
I guess when you have been ordering plants by mail for over 34 years. you look at it differently .. I am a gardener and if I can espalier a fruit tree.... I can grow anything. Some plants just need a little more care when you get them.
As for the coco,I can put it with my order now and grow it myself or I can wait and pay for shipping again later. Not really cost effective ...as for over all price. I cannot complain what I wanted is hard to find.
Two other places had what I wanted but for some unknown reason not all were available at the same time and good for me because I found Aloha Tropicals.I received the plants I wanted for 1/3 the price the others wanted and they come potted, not bare root. Great experience and will do it again.. ...Michael

I am really shocked and a bit blown away by the negative feedback on this company. I live in AZ and I recommend this company to people all the time. There are several plants that Aloha tropicals carry that do extremely well in our desert climate and of the dozens of people that I know that have ordered from them ALL of them were thrilled with the companies service and the quality of the plants. I especially enjoy the feedback from those who have bought the crown flower plant as I grew up in Hawaii it is a fun plant to have in the desert to make leis with. I have ordered guava, bay leave, jacaranda, bird of paradise and more from these wonderful people and have always had a positive experience. I would highly recommend Aloha tropicals to everyone.

i did place my order with the company and also as someone else mentioned emailed the company with a question. i rec'd an immediate response. i also emailed them again and once again rec'd an immediate and professional response.
i must admit i was a bit leary with the feedback i had seen here, because i was ordering also a blue jade vine......

the order arrived, packed very well. the plants were vibrant and showed signs of excellent growth.

now...of course the jade hasn't bloomed, however, i'm quite certain since i have owned one before that this is the correct plant. i do have a variety of cultivars of Thungbergia as well, and the plant i rec'd at this point certainly does not have the same form or resemblance of a Thungbergia i hope i hope...but at this point, once again i will not know until it blooms...so, it's hard to tell.

all i can say is communication was excellent, packing of the plants excellent and arrived promtly, and the plants themselves arrived in perfect condition.

I sent the company an e-mail before I ordered as I had a few questions and the response was very prompt. I got my order right away and packed good. I would order again from them.

I called the company before I ordered as I had a few questions. Many times the phone was not manned, but I persisted. I ordered 2 tropicals from them, one gardenia and one orchid. Plants arrived in good condition although very small in size.

The orchid ended up giving me x2 baby orchids plants and the gardenia at the moment have many buds, though still small in size. I ordered the same gardenia species from a different vendor, much bigger plant, but it is producing much less flower buds.

If there is something I want that they have, yes I would order from them again.

In summary, this experience with Aloha, my first, was a very positive one all around. I ordered a Langsat (Lanzones) tree, a rare tropical fruit tree that I had become somewhat obsessed with after recently seeing them, eating their fruit, and attending a festival in their honor in the Philippines. (I had been searching for literally months online for a source since coming back, until finding Aloha). I also ordered a Costus speciosus ginger. I placed my order on April 2nd, 2009 and it arrived on the 15th via USPS Priority Mail. Plants were very well-packed and in own soil in 3" (trade size) square pots. The pots were wrapped in plastic bags and had shredded moist newspaper topdressing to retain the soil and moisture. I'm very happy they were not barerooted. Both arrived in good condition, the Lanzones tree about 4" tall with two character leaves and the Costus with a couple canes already growing (I was very happy it was not dormant because I was eager to get it planted and hoped that I wouldn't have to force it to break dormancy first).
The Lanzones tree will eventually be planted at my Florida (zone 10) residence when large enough, and the Costus will be planted in NJ, as they are reputedly root hardy to 0F (I've had multi-year success with Alpinia zerumbet, Philodendron bipinnatifidum, and many other supposedly "not for my zone" tropical plants grown as dieback perennials here). While some may say that larger plants can be obtained on Ebay, my experience with buying plants on the latter has generally been unsatisfactory, so I do not patronize it. I would definitely order from Aloha again (and I'm planning to, since they have a number of other unusual exotics I've been drooling over.)

i have made about 4 purchases from aloha tropicals over the past three years and i will continue to order from them - my last order was a rangoon creeper which i just planted this weeked. i have a beautiful thunbergia vine which has been growing for 2 years which is a show stopper in my yard now - there is not one single person who comes to the door who does not comment on it and ask what it is - it has been in constant bloom since this past november - yes, sometimes the plants take a bit of time to arrive due to availablity - but the waits have been worth it - obtaining plants i have not been able to get elsewhere

This is second time I have ordered from them in about 2 years. Received 7 big beautiful healthy plants again. The only negative thing I could say about them is communication. If you don't contact them after ordering you don't hear back from them for what ever reason.

Received my order today and wanted to post a VERY positive feedback about this vendor - I was apprehensive due to prior feedback - but, they had what I was looking for - received order confirmation immediately after ordering, order arrived in 9 days - I contacted them about delivery time because I will be out of town - received an immediate reply advising the order was already on its way! The plants look great, healthy and I will DEFINITELY order from them again with no hesitation!

I got my order right away and packed good. A little pricey for the size, but I figured that. It's worth the price, as there are no nurseries in this area that have any of the plants I ordered anyway. I'd order again from them.

I really like these guys! Yes the stock is somewhat small, but they've yet to send me any plants, and I've ordered large quantities of material from them, that was anything but viable and healthy.

I ordered a white sapote about a month ago. Well, it's relatively cheap and labeled "yellow sapote". I did communicate with them as to variety and to my pleasant surprise they told me "Suebelle". My only concern is after 4 weeks and not getting a confirmation or the order itself I had to email them. They assured me it would be sent out next week! Well, I finally got the item in about 5 weeks. Sapling is healthy enough and about a foot tall.

I recommend but be prepared to wait a bit.

I'm suprised at the negative ratings because I was very pleased with my recent order.
I ordered a Traveller's palm, Cyperus Papyrus plant and a Strobilanthes and was very happy with how healthy they looked (the Strobilanthes is gorgeous, even being so young) and they were also packaged very well with no shipping damage to the plants.

The plants arrived quickly and in perfect condition. It was clear that much care had been taken in packing and shipping. I will definitely order from this company again.

I am very pleased with Aloha Tropicals. My first order was for several plants. 2 rooted Plumerias, 2 Gingers, 1 Pakalana Vine, 1 Sego Palm & 1 Pikaki plant. ALL are doing very very well currently indoors. I have all plants potted in pots and they get 5- 6 hours of afternoon west sunlight in my living-room window area. I have had the plants about 5 weeks and all are flouishing. Plumerias have many new shoots, Pikaki bloomed already, Gingers have new shoots and are already 4 feet high. The Pakalana Vine has new shoots and may produce flowers in a month or so. I must say the Sego Palm is a bit iffy but I believe only due to not enough light. I am moving it outdoors to my west facing deck. I have experience with Plumerias, as I have grown 3 from cuttings that I brought from Hawaii, which bloom every 2 years, so am aware of their needs. This is my first experience with all the other plants. But so far all is well.
All plants arrived within 2 weeks as stated on website and packed in damp newspaper with roots in plastic bags to preserve moisture.
Due to my excellent experience, I will continue to recommend and purchase from Aloha Tropicals.

I just received my order from them. The plants I got were very well packaged every thing was taped up and packed in newpaper and they were the size I expected. The palm tree was about 14" high and the banana plant was about 8" high. They appear health and I just repotted them. The delevery took 2 weeks which was what they said it would take. I would buy from them again.

I had searched high and low for jade vine, and Aloha Tropicals had it for sale on their website. I took a chance and went for it. My confirmation email stated delivery would occur within 2-3 weeks, and it did. The baby jade vine they sent is small but healthy and has a decent root system, too. It'll do nicely. All in all I'm very pleased with my order from this company.

I ordered 3 tropical vines and 3 passifloras. All 6 arrived in good shape (larger than I expected...but I didn't really know what to expect) 2-3 weeks later. One of the passifloras was the wrong one so I emailed them and a week later received the correct one. Pretty easy to deal with!

I live about 1 1/2 hours from Aloha Tropicals and decided to drive down to save on shipping. Andy runs a nice, clean operation and has several greenhouses full of tropicals. I purchased several gingers which were in great condition and transplanted well.

Upon getting home I worked my way through Aloha's catalogue which Andy had given me. I then found two more plants that I decided I wanted. I ordered them on-line and received them a short time later. The plants, both tropicals, arrived in excellent condition.

Order placed July 11, order arrived August 2. They were not the fastest, but absolutely not the slowest in shipping my plants. The plants were healthy, well packed, and they did not bill me until they actually shipped (a practice that makes me very happy with a nursery!)

I ordered a pepino plant, a grand nain banana, and a miracle fruit from Aloha Tropicals. I must say they did come small, but they all took OFF! The pepino is atleast 2 feet high and full of purple flowers! Very good service too!

Talk about helpful! I had written them several times prior to placing my order and they responded as if I were their only customer. Because of a small glitch in their site, I could not access the "more info" links under each plant, so I wrote and asked for guidance. The response was overnight and they gave me a great list of recommendations for my NYC terrace and indoor plants.

I placed an order for 10 plants today. If their plants are as great as their service, I will be thrilled. Will add to this when the plants arrive.

About four months ago I ordered a Triple Pikake Jasmine, A White Hibiscus, and an Awapuhi (Shampoo) Ginger from Aloha Tropicals. All of the plants I ordered arrived exactly when Andy had told me they would. My order was complicated by the fact that I had to have them delivered to my workplace and wouldn't be able to use a normal address or shipping method. My specific needs were no problem for them.
All of the plants, with the exception of the Ginger, were in excellent condition and were actually quite lush and healthy. The Ginger looked a little weak, and didn't appear to have been very healthy to begin with. But lo and behold, inside the wrapping around the rootbal were bits of extra rhizomes. The original stem didn't make it, but started new growth on it's own. The other rhizomes they packed with it produced two new plants. I was a little concerned when I saw the condition of the Ginger (but was still very pleased with the service that Andy had provided), but quickly realized that they had made sure that success was assured. I'm actually happier with the outcome, since now I get to nourish the little guys from the start.
Andy and the folks there are very personable, easy to work with, and you can tell he is proud of his work. Since I prefer tropicals (they remind me of home) to most others, I'm sure that I'll be doing just about all of my business with Aloha Tropicals.

I placed my order Sept.13.I have e mailed them tree times in regard to my order,and have yet to recieve a reply.

I bought alot of plants from them and they are so beautiful and bigger than I thought they would be, they grew alot and I'am very pleased with this Company