Comments regarding Hirt's Gardens (formerly Hirt's Greenhouse & Flowers)

Fast shipping, well packaged healthy plants. I have ordered Truly Tiny Banana, Desert King Fig, Kale plants, Pine trees and Stevia. All are doing great and have added so much to our home. I ordered from them off of Jet.com and it was a great experience.

I've had mixed results from my orders from Hirt's. I just harvested Purple Majesty potatoes that were supposed to be purple all the way through as in their description/product photo and mine are purplish in the middle and white over that then a purple skin. These are not the variety I ordered. I also received a bunch of moldy Purple Passion Asparagus. Only a few of them survived.

Other items came in fine. Perhaps their suppliers are not very good or consistent.

With so many other wonderful suppliers online, I'm not sure I'll be buying from Hirt's again even though they had lower prices.

On Sunday 6/27 I ordered 4 X 4"plants. They arrived in Maine today, 7/1. It took only 4 days from ordering to receiving. Wow, I am impressed. The plants were in wonderful shape. They are healthy and raring to go. Very vigorous. Thank you, Hirt's garden

I ordered 4 plants from Hirt's Gardens (Night Blooming Jasmine plant, Bhut Jolokia Chile Pepper plant, Orange Mint plant, and Strawberry Mint plant). They arrived quickly, very well packaged and beautiful green and healthy looking. Three of the plants had details on/in their pots, except for one, which I am hoping is actually an Orange Mint Plant!

I am a Novice at gardening, so I will definitely update the progress in 10-14 days.

My initial impression of my purchase is definitely a good one!

I ordered twice from Hirts in June 2014 & i have to say that the total 44 arborvitaes i got from them one year later are all growing very nicely. I posted my plants' progress with pictures on gardenweb.com under "American pillar arborvitae" from arrival of the plants, just off the box, after 1 summer season on the ground then a year later. So happy that their prices are cheaper than most. Thats the main reason i ordered from them because i need 44 of this plant. I wouldnt have afford them if not for their low price. Shipping was also very good, i got my plants a week after i placed the order.

I ordered 16 plants. As I was pulling the shredded newspaper away I was excited to see green leaves appearing. Alas. 4 plants showing green - 12 plants soggy and rotten and smelly in their pots.
Never again!

Posted on March 12, 2015, updated May 11, 2015
Posted on March 9, 2015, updated March 12, 2015
Interesting, I had not thought to check their rating here on Dave's Garden before purchasing from Hirt's on Etsy. About two months ago, I placed a fairly small order (5 plants: spider plant, parlor palm, snake plant, fiddle leaf fig, and a pineberry) from their Etsy store. I not only received them quickly, but they were all beautiful plants! Since having them, they are all growing wonderfully. My only complaint is that there was one particular plant I have been searching for, but they refunded my order for it saying the plant was too small to ship. I did have correspondence with customer service, which explained why. I just recently placed another order with them last week on ebay and should be getting it today ("Bonnie" spider plant and a hoya). Will update when I check the plants.

Purchased a small decorated holly from them around 1-20-15. It arrived in perfect condition. They had even provided a warming packet to help keep the plant warm within the shipping box. I was impressed with their thoughtfulness and care for the plant. It looked nice and healthy and even had flowers and berries on it. I wished I had bought more of these! Very pleased with my purchase. As of this writing, the plant is still looking good.

I've bought from Hirt's on 4 ocassions, because I believe in second chances. After this last purchase though, never again.

First time, it was through their amazon webstore. All "bare root plants" arrived dry as a dessert. First off, received 9 instead of 10 and was sent a tansy in its the missing ones place. Of the nine, 2 seemed to have a bit of life in them, but died of crown rot. Meanwhile the ladybugs arrived half dead. Bad.

Second time I ordered some potted plants. All arrived In perfect condition, and have been thriving. My hopes were renewed.

Third order was wet and disgusting. The plants were half rotted (bblack and gooey), and just wretched. Thankfully, they issued a refund after emailing photos of the mess, but still, I was shocked. The order was terrible, but the refund made it a neutral experience.

So I took my latest gander at them. Ordered two concord grape vines "iin quart pots". Well after I placed my order the listing changed to "4 inch pots". I was miffed, but whatever. "Plants" arrived yesterday. They look like the peeling dried out twigs of the tree in my yard. I even pruned one of them a bit, to see if there was live, green tissue on the inside. Nope. It is 100% dry as a bone.

I'll be emailing pics of these twigs to them, and will hopefully be refunded. Needless to say, I will not be buying from Hirt's ever again

I purchased a Mother-of-Thousands plant, Kalancoe, that I had been searching for years. I was delighted to find it. The plant that arrived was much larger than I expected. It was in very good condition , well packaged. The company processed the order quickly and the post office was efficient, so I received it within 3 days! I was well pleased with this experience and will most likely purchase from them again.

I was hesitant to order from this company after reading some of the reviews, so I only placed a small order the first time. I ordered three Hydrangeas and a couple varieties of seeds. Shipping was fast so the plants spent very little time in the shipping box.

There was only very minimal damage to the plants and nothing they couldn't handle. I've ordered from several companies and I think it's reasonable to expect that there will ALWAYS be some sort of damage when plants are shipped through the mail. The shipping peanuts didn't seem to bother the plants at all. The seeds have already germinated and are currently growing in my windowsill.

I went ahead and immediately placed a second order and everything came as expected. The plants were a bit wilted but they had been delayed an extra day in transit because of the last winter storm. They seem to be fine so far though.

I'm very satisfied with the company so far and their prices are way better than most nurseries. I will probably be using them again soon.

Never really had to deal with any customer service issues. Their tomato and pepper plants are always well packed and awesome. Their dahlia tuners are awful, but they just distribute replaced imported ones. They all arrive broken with very little material attached to the stem, although all will probably grow.

I have just recently received my first order from Hirt's Gardens and I am more than pleased with my experience with them. My order came quickly and the amaryllis bulbs I ordered were large and in good condition--except for one. This one bulb had a gash above the basal plate about 1 1/2 inches long and 1/4 of an inch deep. After seeing the damage on the one bulb I contacted Hirt's to see about returning it, and they promptly e-mailed me back and refunded the money for the damaged bulb. I will certainly order from them again.

I wanted to give another try at the Santa Claus dahlia, and they had it. So I ordered it. The tuber clump was huge and healthy looking. It grew like a weed, a fantastically wonderful looking plant. But it wasn't Santa Claus. It was vaguely similar in that it was the same sized bloom and red/white bicolor, but not the same. So hence the neutral. I am very particular about what I want. Would I try them again? Sure, but one more miss and I will not again.

Posted on September 25, 2014, updated September 25, 2014










HIRTS & AMAZON DO NOT PUT THEIR COSTUMERS FIRST-

Neither Amazon or Hirts Nursery can figure out what their return/refund policy is on dead plants. I ordered and then received ten 4" Boston Ivy plants that where delivered over 2 wks. ago. Upon delivery I promptly opened the box and the potted 4" plants looked... weak. I planted and watered the plants the same day, there where no return instructions or planting instructions with the shipment. Four days later the plants where dead.
I called Amazon told them about my problem -Amazon said that they would contact Hirts and Hirts, would have 2 days to reply/respond to the problem (turns out Hirts did not). Almost 2 wks. later and 4 more phone calls (of which I was told 3 times there would be a replacement of product or refund) I discarded the shipping box and 10 planting pots.
AS OF TODAY Amazon changed their position- Amazon told me I HAD to now dig up the 10 dead plants and ship them back to Hirts- and see if I could get a refund from Hirts. When I checked Hirts web site (which is a Co. Amazon is representing ) Hirts has NO return policy posted under returns. See: http://www.hirts.com
After all the time and inconvenience this has cost me I would have been better off going to Home Depot Wal-Mart Sears etc. Where the employs can clearly speak to you, and tell you what the policy is. Where the costumer is treated with respect.

I thought my experience was unique. Thanks to the internet, I find it is not.

I don't have very much luck ordering plants online, but my experience with Hirt's Gardens has been one of the worst. I ordered through Amazon, thinking I had their backing if all went bad.

Well, it went bad straight off the bat. I ordered 14 - yes, stupidly, 14 - Hibiscus and when the plants were delivered in June, they were sad looking indeed. No, they were NOT cheap, and for their size, should have been 1/4 of the price. I immediately sent a note to the seller, saying they did not look good and doubted they would make it through the winter. I should have at that time sent them back and gotten a refund. Big mistake. Hirt's Gardens said nothing about a refund and said they would make it through the winter.

Well, here is it is, 5 months later, and the plants have not grown one iota. They barely flowered, and are stunted. No, of course they will not make it through the winter. I again contacted the seller and was told to file a claim through Amazon. Amazon denied my claim and told me to send back the plants.

So, let me see, I paid a great deal of money for 14 sick plants, and now I am being told to send them back (Amazon offered to comp me the shipping) and wait for a refund from a disreputable seller, who may very well deny my refund.

I decided to thank Amazon, even if they let me down this time, put up a horrid rating on their site, and let Hirt know what I think of his company. THEN, I find out there are others who have been duped by this disreputable seller.

Thank you for the moral support. Doesn't help with the money lost or the poor 14 dying plants, but misery does love company!

Moral of the story: DO NOT BUY FROM HIRT'S GARDENS!!!

Oh god, me and hirtsgarden go way back to my aquarium days. I feel old just thinking about it. I've probably made at least a dozen individual orders over the years. I've ordered in heat waves in summer and cold chills in winter. Individual plants I have bought from them that I recall, I bought 2 budded medinilla magnifica. These are soo delicate I don't blame them that they arrived in imperfect condition. Both times the buds didn't make it. The first time also there was leaf die back. The second plant went wonderful. Leaves lush and rebudded the next week anyway. I also remember buying a papaya, nepenthes, and hoya. Papaya is a 9-month seed to fruit, the ppl complaining of size just dont know what they are talking about. Mine was starter in a 4 inch pot, smallish in size but in 6 weeks I was forced to repot already. Hoya was fine. Good size good root good price. Nepenthes, how the he'll do you ship those cups safe??? Individually wrapped and cushioned, but still no cups made it. The plant still was fine, new growth made new cups, the old leaves were fine photosynthesis without cups. I'm not picky. Cheap price cheap goods. If it's green and not blatantly a lie I'm good. I prefer to buy from companies that don't offer free shipping, customer service, and returns. That's when you know you get the good bottom line price. Plus its incentives for me to try to solve everything on my own.

Bought 4 fig trees from Hirt's Gardens and one of them was not doing that well and starting losing leaves within 2 weeks and finally died within a month. After contacting Hirt's Gardens to see if they can replace the tree and their answer was and I quote: "Problems must be reported within 14 days" and that's it. Sent them a couple of more emails and I got totally ignored. Will NEVER buy from such seller. And wouldn't recommend them to anybody.

I should have read reviews prior to purchasing, but it's too late now. There are lots of bad reviews about them on the net and lot of people complained after lack of and rude customer service after sales.

I order two "Little Spire" Russian Sage plants in 4" pots on August 13 for $7.99 each plus shipping. They shipped out August 14, and I received them on the 16th. Both plants looked very nice upon receipt, healthy and full. They arrived packed together in a box that was roomy enough for both, and the dirt was taped over to keep it in the pots. I planted them in the ground two days later and they are doing super, have been flowering and filling out noticeably. Very good experience, thanks Hirt's!

I have ordered from Hirt's a couple of times, mainly for really hard to find shrubs. My experiences have been positive. They ship quickly and the plants I have received have be very much alive. In some cases, their plants were in better condition than those from some of the "big name" mail order nurseries. Their prices are VERY reasonable. I just ordered two Calycanthus 'Venus" and they were on sale for less than $10. The next best price I found was $39. So they don't ship replacements, at these low prices I would be happy for a refund if it arrived dead.

A month back I ordered a Buddleia x 'Miss Molly' Butterfly Bush - Sangria Red -Proven Winners- 4" pot through Amazon and so far it's been great. It looks exactly like the one shown on the site. Two branches have grown with 6 flower clusters, I pinched out two, for better growth.

I have been a customer of Hirt's gardens for a long time, I have been satisfied each time my orders arrived until this May. I ordered 4 Let's Dance Blue Jangles Hydrangeas. Within two days of planting them in my garden, they browned and wilted and looked as if they were going to die. I sent a message along with pictures with my concerns. They replied give it fertilizer and water so I did exactly that. Five weeks later, only three made it (they are still very small in size but alive). I sent a message with pictures and asked that they replace the one that died. They gave me a refund so that they didn't have to spend money shipping another one out to me. This is not how they should treat good customers. I have ordered 4 or 5 times from their eBay store this year but I guess they are not interested in keeping their return customers.

I ORDERED AND PAID FOR TWO CADILLACS. THEY SENT ME CORVAIRS.

Did they honestly think that we wouldn't notice if they sent the plainer and cheaper 'wild species' of dogwood instead of the more coveted, attractive, and EXPENSIVE cultivar that we paid for?

To add insult, I had to pay nearly $10 out of my own pocket to return them to Hirt's just to get a refund on the price of the plants (they declined my offer of them paying for the return shipping costs). Fortunately, the purchase was through Amazon's website. Upon alerting them, Amazon refunded me the return shipping charges I incurred, as a gesture of good will.

NEVER AGAIN!

Earlier this spring I ordered a selection of plants from Hirt's. While the plants were all alive upon arrival, they were battered and broken from the packaging method used. The plants were masking taped into their respective pots, then crammed (yes, crammed) into one box, surrounded by packing peanuts.

I opened the box in the yard on a breezy day and spent most of the afternoon retrieving packing peanuts from the grass. After unpacking the plants, I was dismayed at the amount of damage the plants suffered in transit. Several leaves of one day lily were taped to the pot; the stem on a Ligularia was bent almost double. The peony is still alive, but is still bedraggled and bent and completely unhappy looking.

I don't believe I'll be ordering from Hirt's again. Other sellers have far better packaging methods which provide protection for the plants. I'd rather not risk demolishing through transit in the future.

Posted on June 6, 2014, updated June 6, 2014
Ordered several overpriced plants from Hirts on ebay in 4" pots. Two of them six plant were possibly worthy of the 4" pots they were in. The others could have been placed comfortably in 1" pots, being nothing more than seedlings. One plant was dead and dried out, showing signs of previous spider mites. It appeared that it had been shipped that way. That kind of damage could not have happened during two days of shipping. They refunded that plant, but another "plant" that was shredded from the masking tape they used to "secure" it in the pot, they claimed wasn't from them. I asked for replacements because two different varieties are necessary for pollination and fruiting, but they gave refunds, which does me no good since the plants that remain will bear no fruit without the pollinators. I will not be ordering from them again.

Not bad. They have a wide selection and they ship pretty fast so no complaints here. They even have some informative videos on youtube.

I ordered 2 stevia plants from Hirt's several months ago. One of the plants arrived with the top half broken off. I planted it in the ground anyway. I planted the unbroken one in a larger pot. The one that was broken is doing better than the unbroken one! As they say, "prune to encourage growth." Anyway, don't fret if your stevia plant arrives broken. Be patient with it, and you may be pleasantly surprised.

I made my first order from Hirt's a couple weeks ago. It included 9 carnivorous plants which are very delicate. My order was shipped quickly and received in good condition. One of 2 sundews immediately declined while the second quickly recovered from the shipping trauma. I contacted Hirt's via email and received an email within hours, stating that they would credit my charge card for the plant, and I could re-order if I wanted. I soon received a confirmation email stating that not only the price of the item, but also shipping charges were being refunded.

Outstanding customer service.. I will certainly be placing more orders with this company very soon.

Posted on March 12, 2014, updated May 4, 2014
My gorgeous, healthy pepper seedlings were beautifully packed and sent via USPS Priority Mail with a heat pack! The dahlia tubers I ordered are huge, too! I love it all.

They were super-quick to process my order... fastest I've ever experienced. I'm so happy that I'm going to their online catalog, again, tonight to see if there's anything else I might want. Thank you so much, Hirt's Gardens!

Posted on April 25, 2014, updated April 26, 2014
In the past I really loved this company as no other until recently. I have ordered some plants in October for fall planting. They were dormant as usually is the case. Now it is spring time and they show no signs of life in my garden. I contacted Hirt's and they refused to send me a replacement as it is past their warranty. Very disappointing.

I ordered from eBay & had no issues, plant arrived very quickly & exactly as listed...

I actually feel more negative than neutral towards this company. The only reason I am leaving a neutral is because my experience was not a bad or expensive as others. I ordered 2 double mockoranges from them. They shipped them the next day Priority Mail. Great. One of the plants I received was the one I ordered. The other one was not even labeled and the open flowers on it were clearly single instead of double. I contacted the company asking them to sent me the right plant. I got an email from Matt Hirt stating that he issued a refund. I did not want a refund, I wanted a plant. I had a place where I was going to plant it! Any other reputable company I have ever dealt with would have sent a replacement but this company must be too cheap to pay shipping.

Usually I check here for reviews before trying a new online seller, but I was in a hurry and only ordering a few seeds off of amazon so I didn't bother. The seeds arrived much faster than I expected and were packaged well with (generic) planting instructions. I searched the internet for more specific instructions, followed them, and the seeds sprouted quite nicely!

A week later I was looking to buy some grafted tomatoes, but the big name sellers were already out of stock for shipping to my zone in all the varieties I was interested in. A search on ebay led me back to Hirt's Gardens, and I figured, they were relatively cheap so I wouldn't be out too much money if it didn't turn out well.

Once again, shipping was faster than I expected. Now, have I seen better packaging jobs? Yes, but from places like Parkseed where I paid well for it. Considering the price, I think Hirts did a great job. The plants were healthy transplant-size (not scrawny seedlings) and came with instructions on how to harden them off. They are still in the process of hardening off, so I don't know how well they will do once in the garden, but so far I'm pleased.

I had been a repeat online customer of these guys. Placed an order via their website. They DO NOT PROCESS THEIR OWN PAYMENTS. Amazon does. During the checkout process the cart came up with an error stating that the item could not be shipped to my address. Offered to let me put in a different address or select from the previous address. Nothing worked so I called Hirts -the person i spoke to suggested that it was amazons problem and gave me the number for them. I called, i was bounced around before a manager in the payments division said all we do is process the card any restrictions placed on shipping was done by hirts. From there i called back hirts. The person i spoke too this time said the person i needed to talk to was in a meeting and could call me back. They Did....he did not want to hear about it. When I told him this was pissing me off he got a case of HurtFelioma and hung up on me.

$360 + Order. 100+items Return Customer hours spent shopping for products 2+ hours over 2 days dealing with various support people and they are so wealthy can hang up on you for getting their feelings hurt cause i said i was getting pissed.

Theses guys don't deserve any more business if that is how they are going to handle customer service. Its too bad i had been happy with my previous purchases but now i am going to crusade to share this tale of woe....

Posted on February 12, 2014, updated February 12, 2014
The first two weeks after my order arrived, I thought this place was great, too.

Then the plants started dying, one by one. Sixty dollars gone.

I tried calling the company, several times a day, for several days. The phone rang and rang. I finally found an e-mail address and was told by Matt Hirt to send a picture of the crispy corpses. I told him I didn't have a camera (I like my low-tech existence). I was told to send back the evidence. (I will insert here that in 20 years of ordering plants from Dutch Gardens, Michigan Bulb, Springhill, etc., I have NEVER ONCE been asked to return dead plants. I simply call the company and get a replacement. Done. Professional.)

This all happened last summer. Still no replacements, and no refund. Since then, I have called the company, and sent nearly 40 e-mails. Every time, I get the same old runaround from both Matt and Al. They both pretend they've never heard of me or my problem: "We get several e-mails a day. Can you remind me of what your problem is?" It's shockingly stupid because the history is right there in that same e-mail, but Beavis and Butthead think it's hilarious to screw with people.

I e-mail every few days and tell them I want my flowers replaced or a refund. And every e-mail is ignored. Around the 8th or 9th one they will respond with the "Huh?" reply and then continue to ignore me. So, I've told them I'm sharing my story all over the Web until they do something.

Now, those of you who haven't had a problem... Good for you. Keep your fingers crossed that you don't need anything in the future. I'm from Ohio and I was really glad to support a local business, but these sad excuses for business people are just con artists and scheisters.

Posted on February 7, 2014, updated February 9, 2014
I am confused by the negative comments regarding communication. I placed my first order with them and had a few questions regarding winter plant care and shipping. These questions were answered promptly and thoroughly over the course of several emails.

I purchased a Vietnamese Gardenia from Hirt's on Ebay. Being kind of rushed the day I received the plant I did not fully inspect the plant and placed it with my other tropical plants. Upon close inspection the following day I found the plant to be infested with aphids. Additionally, there were several brown holes in the leaves. It is not a plant that you would choose to buy if you saw it for sale. I had to spray all of my plants with both insecticide soap and neem oil as a precaution. My first, and last, plant from Hirt's. Lesson learned. Oh, I wrote to them and heard nothing back. My advice, avoid Hirt's Gardens.

Purchased their 'Chesnok' Red Garlic Bulb - FIERY - Jumbo Bulb on eBay. The following is the exchange of emails regarding this item. This listing is still active.

I wrote;

Received jumbo bulbs today and was disappointed by the size of the bulbs. These (my opinion) are not jumbo and suggest that you consider revising the description and title of this item. I look forward to you response and will hold my feedback until Thursday evening.

They responded;

That they checked with the Holland grower and they are correctly graded as jumbo.

I provided Hirts with the following;

MSU Extension Bulletin E-2722 provides the following information on grading and size.

Garlic is graded on the basis of appearance and size. Poor-looking bulbs with missing or diseased cloves or split or badly stained skins are graded out. Bulbs with good appearance are graded into size categories based on diameters of large (>2.5 inches), medium (2.0 to 2.5 inches) and small (<2.0 inches). Another category, Jumbo (>3.0 inches), can be added if enough bulbs reach that size.

The garlic that I received was not in the stated category of Jumbo. I look forward to a timely response.

Hirts responded;

the garlic is grown in Holland is graded by Holland. They do not use the MSU Extension Bulletin.

I responded with;

Thank you for the response and I will tell you that assuming on this transaction has resulted in garlic that is smaller than I wanted and garlic that was exported rather than grown in Ohio. I hope you will reconsider your wording on this auction. Please note that I have not asked for resolution as it's always buyer beware and I accept my role in this transaction.

In closing this is a prime example of never assume and ask before buying.

I ordered ghost chili plants and received red savanna habenaros . What a disappointment. Will never order from again