Comments regarding Brushwood Nursery

I purchased a clematis this spring. It arrived with virtually no roots, just a bag of loose soil, and one or two tiny leaves. Although extremely disappointed, I planted this seedling and have cared for it daily. It is now less than an inch high after two months and shows no sign of taking off. With mailing costs, my payment to Brushwood was $29. This week I saw a beautiful clematis for sale at my local hardware store for $21 and it was in bloom, about 18" high and vining. I contacted company but got no where with them. They wanted me to dig it up to show them the non-existent root ball. I would never order from Brushwood again. I feel I have been had for nearly $30.

"On Jun 25, 2019 2:00 PM, Brushwood Nursery responded with:

I'm sorry you're unhappy with your plant. Sometimes the root system does get jostled in transit. Luckily, clematis roots are very tolerant of such things. Some experts even advocate the removal of all soil at planting time. We are known for sending high quality, well rooted plants as our other feedback will show. Some plants have naturally more extensive root systems than others.
Yes, it's true we do cut them back hard for shipping. This eases stress in transit and while establishing in your garden. Right, clematis are not like annuals. They will need time to really get going (but they can live for decades!). There's an old expression: First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap. Most can go faster than that but I don't know which one you bought or what care you're giving.
Yes, the typical price of a plant is $29 but we ship for free and we will spend up to $12 on postage to send a single plant order and that doesn't include the labor or shipping supplies.
I answer all emails for Brushwood and certainly never would have advocated digging a plant up just to take a photograph. If we've misunderstood each other, I'm sorry about that."

I purchased 5 climbing roses from this nursery in September and planted them as instructed. Two of them did not take at all, and died to the ground. I waited to see if there would be any signs of life with the spring, but there were none. I contacted the company by e mail, and after reading some other reviews here with customers with failed plants. I see I received what now seems to be the standard response blaming "winter damage". I sent a return e mail saying that I live in the south in TN, (our winter was mostly very mild) but never got a response. I have dozens of established roses on my property, and planted 10 new roses this fall. All are doing lovely. Except for those two. Four feet away, against the same fence, with the same exposure, another climbing rose planted at the same time is thriving. Thirty dollars is a lot of money to waste on a company that has an "easy out" line. If you have the months of November, December, January and February on your calendar your money would be better spent elsewhere.

"On Apr 26, 2016 4:14 PM, Brushwood Nursery responded with:

All of our plants are guaranteed to arrive healthy and to be true to name. We cannot accept responsibility for the loss of plants in your garden. There are just too many things that can happen that have nothing to do with the quality of the plants as shipped or your best efforts as a gardener. Proper selection, planting and establishment care should result in years of satisfaction from our plants.
We do wish this customer had contacted us promptly if there were issues; not 8 months later. "

Very disappointed in this company. We ordered 8 climbing roses from them. We did everything as per their directions. We also made sure to water them appropriately the first season we got them. 2 of the plants did not ever make it through the first 2 months and 2 more died before a full 9 months had past. We called the company in hopes they stand behind their plants. They do not. So we will not ever order from them again as we feel the company should compensate if their plants do not make it in the very first season. We do not recommend this company at all!

"On May 31, 2015 9:34 AM, Brushwood Nursery responded with:

We're sorry you are not happy with your experience. I have looked up your orders and our email exchanges. 7 plants were ordered in early April of 2013 and we received no message from you until more than a year later; late April 2014. At that time you said "5 of the plants took off and grew fine, but 2 of them were very slow in growing". Please note that all varieties are different in their time to establish and performance in various locations and climates. Later in that email, you also said those two seemed to perform poorly all that season and did not appear to have survived the winter. I understand that this can be disappointing and wish we had heard from you sooner so we could have helped to diagnose the problem. Our guarantee does not cover this because there are too many things that can happen to a plant that have nothing to do with their healthy condition upon arrival or even your best efforts as a gardener. This is clearly written in our Terms and Conditions and was in effect at the time you ordered.
I'm a bit disappointed that you would leave a negative review about our guarantee when it was in place when you ordered. If you didn't like the terms, you didn't have to make the purchases.
I am deeply disappointed that you would tell a different story here than you told us last year to try to "beef up" your negative review and sincerely hope you will revise it to tell the truth."

Posted on June 16, 2014, updated March 19, 2015
I am waiting to see how well the two clematis do.

The two plants I got seemed kind of "puny" and frail. I hope they grow well.

They were planted per instructions and have constant care. Will see if they grow and how well they do.

I plan on updating my rating by the end of this growing season -- or next year, to find out if they made it through the winter and how well they are growing and if they flower.

I have to admit I am a bit concerned due to how small the plants are.

"On Mar 19, 2015 7:19 PM, Brushwood Nursery responded with:

We're always sad to hear when customers don't have a positive experience with our plants from the very start. In this case, I think the plants had probably been cut back (as we do several times each spring on most crops) recently so they may have appeared "small" on arrival. The true measure of a clematis for planting is the condition of the root system and I think the reader can see from other comments below that we strive to send well developed plants all the time. Unfortunately, when someone sets out with the notion that a plant is frail, it can easily become a self-fulfilling prediction.
I would also suggest that Mid-March is far too early to assess their condition in zone 5. The tops may have died back in this terrible winter but we grow all of our plants with buds below the soil line for just this sort of scenario. Sue, please give them a chance.
"

Posted on May 6, 2010, updated May 6, 2010
Yes, there return policy is stated on the page. But, the plants are very WEAK. I ordered 4 rosebushes ( not all the same type) last year. One came damaged, I called they said it would be ok, it was just a small limb that was broken. I TOOK THEIR WORD FOR IT.
Not, only did that one die they all DIED. different locations, and gardens. When I contacted them again, I was told the neighbor or my husband may have done it. I HAVE NO NEIGHBORS, AND MY HUSBAND STAYS AWAY FROM ALL OF MY FLOWERS. NO ON ALSO DID NOT GO TO THE OTHER GARDENS AND KILL THOSE. There is other providers with much stronger plants that last, and if they don't they stand behind them.

"On May 6, 2010 11:28 AM, Brushwood Nursery responded with:

When a customer contacts us immediately with concerns about the condition of a plant or plants in their order, we assess each one carefully to determine if a replacement should be sent right away. In the case of one branch breaking, we usually ask the customer to see how it goes and get back in touch if it doesn't thrive. In the case of this customer, we didn't hear back about anything until this spring, so the assumption was that the plant in question was fine.
Their comment regarding a husband or neighbor damaging the plants was only a small part of the explanation of how many possible problems can occur over time that we can't possibly control and have no relationship to the quality of the plants we send or even their best efforts as a gardener. "

Out of all the orders I placed with this company they did not replace the one plant that died over winter. I even offered to pay for shipping, but in the end I am not happy with no replacement policy and everybody should be aware that buying from this company means possible disappointment. I believe in the end that the consumer must be kept happy at all costs. It is to that end companies need to be aware that there are websites like this that the consumer has the means of allowing comment and warning.

DO NOT PURCHASE FROM THIS COMPANY

"On Jun 1, 2009 12:30 PM, Brushwood Nursery responded with:

I had several recent emails back and forth with deseret regarding this issue in which I explained our policies again. He claims that he now "disagrees" with them 9 months after his purchase. These terms and conditions are printed clearly on the web site and are not unusual in the mail order nursery business. It's not a "no replacement" policy but it doesn't cover winter losses. There are just too many things that can happen to a plant in the garden that have nothing to do with the quality of the plants we ship (floods, ice, drought, deer, voles, neighbor dogs, spouses "weeding" your garden...).

Brushwood Nursery grows and ships high quality plants. Customer satisfaction is very important to us and we will honor our terms and conditions in full to all customers."