Comments regarding Summerstone Nursery

I have to laugh with amusement when I read these reviews. Everyone received dead trees, entire orders.

The trees are dormant when you receive them, not dead. You have to put them in the ground water them and wait. And yes it takes time to get buds, and no not all trees live.

I ordered from Summerstone about 5 years ago. They were apple trees. Once I learned more about apple trees I replaced them with disease resistant trees with vigorous rootstock. But the trees did live.

I ordered two peach trees this year, an Encore and a Bonanza. I ordered the Encore because it is a later season variety and the Bonanza because it is a genetic dwarf/bush. Some trees for me to play with. The real surprise was the threes were all over 4 feet tall (I ordered the cheapest. 2 - 4 foot). My last order from Summerstone the trees were barely 2 ft with roots. So big improvement.

The root system on the Bonza was excellent, on the Encore was poor. The main root had been split and others cut short.

The order came about two weeks after I ordered them. Communication was poor (acknowledgement I ordered and another e-mail that my order was complete). No tracking number ....

The trees came wrapped in newspaper and were still wet. I soaked the trees in water, planted with a mix of manure and local soil.

Hopefully in 1 to 4 weeks I will have a tree with green ...

I would not make Summerstone my main Nursery. When they offer free shipping and trees 7 - 8 dollars a piece I'll bite for one or two trees.

First of all, I am an advocate for buying local. This does not mean your local Wallyworld. I could not pay the local nursery mark up. So finding a mail nursery 3 hours away was nice. Summerstone seemed like a really good bargain. I ordered $180 dollars’ worth of trees and plants. Probale not a gamble I should of took. I have ordered from starkies and Gurnies so I knew what to expect, sticks to water. Two weeks after I ordered they were sent. 8 days later they come in. The 3 hour tour took 8 days to arrive. That is 8 days of cooking at the post office. When they arrived, they were pretty cooked. I planted and hoped for the best. After 3 weeks about 10 percent of the grew. I read the internet review. What the hell did I do? So I decided a field trip was in order. I gathered up my dead sticks. Note: Strawberries dissolved into the ground.
Note: take more time, Lynchburg Jack Daniels is in the area.
I got that and found the internet reports were right. I was greeted the meanest by a sales person. She would not let me in. She said I had too many trees. She said I just needed to plant them.
Note: she was like 5 years old. And the best sales person there. Her grandpa the owner was taking her to the rodeo.
This is truly a family owned company The three order takers and a secretary. I told them the issue and they replaced the items with beautiful new sticks. They were friendly and highly knowledgeable. I inquired of them some of the internet responses and the frustration of shipping. It sound like it comes from an incompetent post office. I think issues are happening because of this. It looks like it is also a ratio. Only the angry complain. I am very happy with what I received. They are very friendly and helpful. They are not a big bureaucracy and don’t have a lot of technical devices and and gadgets to make them pretty. But if you want a company that cares, Summerstone is there. Their one thing they could do to improve is straighten out the shipping issue. Post office needs to quit proving the government does not work.

I have placed an order to Summerstone Nursery, who used to be Autumn Ridge. Their products look like sticks wrapped in newspaper. If you soak the sticks for a day or so in some water with fertilizer, and then plant it with mulch, and some soil such as miracle grow. They will grow. They do look dead, but all of my " sticks" grew, except for one. The one stick grew into a nice American Redbud tree, another one grew into a a crape myrtle, and so on. Now, I am buying more for a different residence. I can hardly wait, and the crape myrtle I ordered is white, and yes, I do believe it will grow provided I do what the instructions state, and although they will look dead, I bet they will grow. Products that are from mail order are just that...sometimes they look dead, but they usually look just fine after a couple of years. Their white crape myrtle is the hardiest myrtle I have ever seen. It grows in Richland, WA which is near Hermiston. The zone is 7a, but this is quite a hardy myrtle.

I placed an order with Summerstone back in April before finding this website. I was a bit nervous after reading the many Negative reviews that have been posted here. I didn't know what to expect, and was relieved that I only spent a small amount. I figured that if things didn't work out, I wasn't out much.

It was only a small order for a Halls Hardy Almond Tree.....and a Canadian Hemlock as my free gift.

The plants arrived in early May. The Halls Hardy Almond tree was bare root and a "stick". The roots were wrapped in wet packing material and a gel. Basically, the same condition I received my other fruit trees from both Stark Nursery (apple(s) and cherry) and Gurneys (pear) earlier in the season. I immediately placed the roots of both plants in a bucket of water to soak for 24 hours. After that time, I planted the Halls Hardy Almond tree in a previously prepared site, and mulched the site to keep it from drying out. Not having a definite spot for the Canadian Hemlock, I simply potted it up.

I waited to write a review to see how both trees would do. I'm happy to say that this past week the Halls Hardy Almond tree has sent out new buds, and the Canadian Hemlock is doing fine in the pot.

If you are expecting trees that look like the pictures in the sales catalog, then go to your local nursery and buy directly form them. If you are buying via mail order (Summerstone, Stark, Gurneys, etc) you will receive a bareroot stick with roots wrapped in some sort of packing material. It's up to you to take the proper steps to get the plants growing. If you don't have the green thumb, then, like I said, go to your local nursery, spend 5x the amount, and buy a plant that is already potted and growing.

After reading the many negative reviews....am I just the "lucky one"? Who knows. But, I cannot fairly give them a bad review at this time. In fact, considering their prices, I will probably place another small order with them in the future as I continue to add to my garden and orchard..

Posted on April 9, 2012, updated May 9, 2012
Posted on March 22, 2012, updated April 9, 2012
I ordered two roses from them because I was looking for a specific type that I could not find at my normal on-line nurseries. After the order was placed I noticed they did not have any way to check your order for shipment. This worried me so I looked on-line for reviews and OMG!!! I just got the roses on Monday and soaked them for two days (they look dead). I planted them yesterday and now crossing my fingers. I ordered old fashioned shrub roses for a foundation planting. Now that I hear how most orders are not what they are supposed to be I am nervous because I wanted a specific rose. So if they are not I will have to dig them up and try to find something from another nursery. The places here in town only carry Knock out roses and I am so not interested in them. I wanted something that can withstand the heat and humitiy of Florida and not end up with a ton of fungus problems. Oh well I guess now is the waiting game.
Oh the stella de oro that came free looks good and is already sprouting leaves.

I read all the bad things about this company AFTER I had placed the order and waited in dread. I didn't wait long! I think this company is GREAT! I ordered on a Monday by phone. Within seconds I got an email order confirmation. On Wednesday I got an email saying the order had been shipped. On Saturday it was delivered by the USPS.

The trees were in wonderful condition.... Jung's have purple/black mulberries (same size) for $20.00 each -- about 12" high. I got two (and they actually sent 3) for less than what one would cost at Jung's garden center. That took care of the $6.50 postage! The persimmon is also comparable in size to the ones at Jung's Garden Center and was also much cheaper from Sunneystone. I got a "free" sugar maple. All of the trees were healthy, budded out, great root system, packed with a moist wrap around them and in gel.

I am going to place another small order yet this spring and will certainly order in the future. (If I have one MINOR complaint, it was that the young lady who took my order, incorrectly spelled the name of the town I live in. (She added an extral "L" to the end.) I emailed and asked them to change it and it wasn't changed....it didn't deter fast delivery! They probably are swamped with orders this time of year.)

Thanks Sunnystone for nice trees at a great price.

I almost didn't order from them because of all the negative reviews, but I'm very glad that I did!

I have a growing rose garden (60 different varieties and counting!) My garden is a large area and I can't afford to pay $20plus for a rose (unless its a very special type).

I found that this company has a large selection of unusal roses, plus they have a bargain price $6-$11. I ordered 5 bare-root roses and they gave me two free Rugosa roses. They came about two weeks after I ordered them. They were a little dry, but I soak all of my bare-root roses in a bucket of water for at least 24 hours. I soaked these for three days. The canes were all green and looked great after I soaked them. In fact, some of them are beginning to grow little tiny red buds. I planted them today and we'll see how they look in a couple of months.

Last year I ordered my bare-root roses from Burgess (another company that gets a bad rap). Those roses are thriving. I only lost one and that's because I forgot to plant it!

I can't tell the different between my discount catalog roses and the fancier nursery bought roses.

I highly recommend going with this company (and Burgess) for bare-root roses. Take a chance! Start with a small order and see how it goes. I'll be ordering from this place again.

I live in MN and the reason I gave this bad-famed company a positive rating is that I experienced 4 positive and 3 negative issues with them, and considering that I only paid less than $9 for goods+S&H, i think they are doing a ok job. Maybe they learned their lesson from the lawsuits and are behaving better now? anyway, I would use caution when buying large orders from them still, but for smaller orders they are my nursery to pick.

4 positive things: a good email response apparently written by real person; a protective case with an apparently strong free plant and two sachets of seeds I ordered; case labelled with the packing persons' names; CHEAP.

3 bad things: ordered in early Sep, requested to ship on early Oct, they played a trick on the confirmation page so even I get a screen display saying the system received my shipping date request, the confirmation email they sent later does not say so, and luckily I had the screenshot of the correct date so they responded and admitted their mistake; emailed me saying delivered in late Nov, actually delivered on Dec 12; the strong roots of the free plant have some tear and wound, and the paid seeds are intended for sowing latest by Dec 2011, but at the website they claimed the seed to be fresh and ok for 2012 sowing.

so, overall, they have still a bad and dishonest image in me, but i would still use them to put a few small, not urgent, and cheap orders. After all, you can't find a foot-tall dormant blackberry plant and 800+ wild flower seeds at your local store for $9.

My guess of how this company makes money is that they buy weak plants at dirt price from other good name nurseries, and sell them to you at a low but final price, and only ships when the stock accumulates to a large volume that they can find a carrier to do so at discounted price.

My advice: buy cheap, popular and plants, and learn to do some first-aid for plants, so that you have a good chance of spending 10% of the money you would spend in a good name nursery and get a plant that s 30% as good as the more expensive counterparts.

Prices enticed me into giving this place a try. I ordered 10 apple trees, 5 burning bushes, and 6 red weigela. I was surprised to receive the dormant plants in February, as I expected to get them nearer to a later planting date here in Wyoming. However, I kept the plants covered with a towel in a dark cold place and dampened them about once a week. In March, the ground thawed enough to plant and water them. We had a cold late spring, but when it finally warmed up, all 21 plants produced green buds and started growing. Now it is mid-August and every plant looks healthy and promising, making allowances for rabbits chewing on the burning bushes.

Though a bit concerned when I ran across the negative comments online, I now think this was a good deal. I have mail-ordered plants from "big name" nurseries several times in the past, with mixed results. So, (for me) Summerstone provided acceptable service.

my favorite nursery!

Ordered some fruit trees and with that they also added in some ornamentals. All arrived in about a week and were shipped dormant (i.e. they looked like sticks) Followed directions and kept them watered and in about 2-3 weeks all had 'woke-up' with green buds and clear signs of life. I was only really worried about the peach as it was the last to bud but it too eventually came out of its shell although I will need to prune off quite a bit that looks to be well and truly dead at the ends but overall I am pleased with the results and impressed with the prices.

I ordered about 20 various fruit trees in the 2-4ft. range (bare root) at the end of April. The plants arrived in a prompt manner (I did spend the extra $7.50 for express shipping) and they looked to be in good shape. I was missing a couple of the ordered items though so I called them and talked to a very nice customer service rep. This was over the weekend and I just received a notification that the missing trees had been shipped (Monday morning).

One thing to note is that all bare root trees look like dead sticks but they will most likely start growing after a couple weeks of sitting in moist soil. So, beware all the negative reviews... They had a great selection of fruit trees that are well suited to growing in Colorado and I am very satisfied with the entire transaction (especially given the price).

I ordered 2 big orders from Summerstone Nursery in February, I guess I was carried away with the prices they have and variety. It did take long for them to ship and I got concerned. However, when I called, I always got someone to answer and Nicole was very nice and helpful and answered all my questions. Then I decided to check this nursery out online and ran across these negative reviews. To be honest I really freaked out reading them because my orders were big. Finally, when they arrived, I found all the plants in good shape except for a few that were small and kind of dry. But since I ordered so many and many of them came freeas a bonus, I didnt not worry much. I wanted to plant and see how they would do and all the plants are doing just great, all broke dormancy in the next few days after planting and look very healthy and happy now growing leaves and blooming. I ordered roses, fruit trees, burning bushes, red weigela, they all came big and healthy and they are all doing well. I would not recommend ordering azalea, globe arbovitae, they came really small and dry. Other than that I am very happy with the order and would order again.

Order was shipped 7 days after receipt. Received entire order within 8 days after shipping(we're in a rural area)...everything in good shape. The 4-5' Keiffer pear was 5' -very strong stock. Everything had gel and newspaper wrap and was still VERY wet. Rose was very green, roots looked healthy. One red Hydrangea looks dead on top, but bottom is bright green and looks like good stock. Will cut and try. Very pleased, read the reviews after ordering and was really leery. Yeehaw...I'm happy. Will order from them again...prices are great!

I am new at planting trees, but must say that I took all into consideration from the posts, and even read a court document regarding complaints. Since I had already ordered the plants, I felt pretty good about it since, I bought 8 trees and plants plus shipping for 52.00. Very Inexpensive compared to other online sites. I figured it was worth the gamble. Especially since they were very clear about no refunds, but would offer replacements under a myriad of circumstances, that seem to be very natural risks of planting plants of trees from anywhere, anytime.
My trees arrived within four days. They were packaged and wrapped in plastic with news paper. I waited two days to plant so that I could have time to plant them on Saturday. I left the plants in the box outside in the garage in the cooler temperature. They had instructions in the box, which I read because I am new at this. I also read up on terms like "dormancy". When I unwrapped the plants, the roots had some type of gel on them and they were cold from refrigeration. I put the roots in water while I dug the holes. I purchased potting soil and mulch to help with planting.
I planted all 8 plants/trees. The flowering peach tree, willow tree, and the bonanza peach tree broke dormancy immediately. They "woke up", upon planting them. They had small blooms and leaves on them that began to perk up. On day 3, they have more blooms and leaves. The red bud, mimosa and forsythia haven't had any movement, but have green in the bark telling me that they are alive, and may need more time. The fountain grass is changing and getting stronger. I am only on day 3 and I am new at this. However, recognize that these are young trees and their little lives are fragile. One other point from a new person, Summerstone does not always tell the zones for these plants, so you want to research a little to make sure you are properly zoned for the plants you buy. It is a little time consuming, but worth it to me, to save a little money. Not to mention, I learned a lot about the trees I was buying. Hope to learn more in Dave's Garden.

I have ordered several times from this company. I find their shipping to be slow-10 days to get items from Nashville area to 50 miles west of Bristol? I could have walked them here faster. But they blame the post office.

Items on all occassion arrived in decent well packed shape. I have ordered rose bushes which were unique and beautiful, fruit trees and nuts, tubular begonnias which were spectacular. If anything died during its first year, I notified the company and they sent replacements that fall or the next spring.

Plants will be on the smaller side of their advertised height and plenty of patience is required, along with water and fertilizer to get decent growth, but in a few years you have good trees. I order from them every year, because they are here in TN and I have been satisfied with the quality of their plants and their follow thru on replacements.
Janice-Rogersville TN

I have had problems with Autumn Ridge Nursery but I just received 4 trees from Sumerstone Nursery (which is affiliated with Autumn Ridge Nursery) and they were packed well and in great condition. Hopefully they grow up to be what I ordered!!!

I know that the general con-census here is that summerstone does bad business but i'm gonna have to strongly disagree. Last week i placed an order with summerstone for 25 trees and was given 6 free for a total of 31. The day after, I stumbled onto this site and noticed the overwhelming negative rep and reviews. I gotta say that it was getting in my head and i was very nervous that i got ripped off.
Here's my experience.
I placed the order on a Friday night, after 11:00 pm, and almost immediately got a order conformation and receipt of purchase. On Monday morning, first thing, I got a shipping conformation.
72 hrs. later, on Thurs. i came home from work to find a shipping box on my doorstep. Upon opening the box, I became very excited because i could clearly see that all the trees were in great shape and clearly alive and well. i took off the wrapping from around the roots to find them all very moist and wet, with good root structure on all of them. I soaked the roots for a while and planted all of them in pots, as i will be using them for Bonsai stock. When i got to the center of the root mass, i noticed that the white pine's had some needle die-back and looked a little worse for ware. This is OK though because i only ordered 2 and they sent me 5. They also gave me some extras here and there on some of the tree varieties i ordered. All and all, i couldn't be happier with my experience with summerstone and I'm sure i will order from them again in the future. Did i get lucky? Possibly. But i made sure i selected priority shipping so they didn't spend too much time in a box drying out. I'm sorry for everyone who had a bad experience with them, but for me, that's not the case.
Two very enthusiastic thumbs up Summerstone.
If anyone is pondering whether or not to place an order i offer this advice. Make sure you call and ask a lot of questions, and make it clear that your concerned about the health of the trees being shipped bare-root. I called and talked to them twice before i placed the order online.
That reminds me. I don't know why so many people have such a hard time getting in touch with them. Every time i called, either before hand or after i placed the order, they answered the phone. At least 4 times out of 4.

I had a great experience with ordering from this company. I ordered four trees and was also sent a free fith tree. It is true that the trees do come as bare root trees, but if properly planted as soon as possible after delivery they do very well. I have had my trees for six months now and they are doing wonderful. I live in a region where apple trees dont usually tend to thrive but with these trees from summerstone, I have had a truly positive experience. I sure do hope to continue to do business with them.

I decided I wanted a yellow climbing rose bush. Decided I did not want the most common "Golden Showers" for a couple of reasons and researched until I found what I thought I would like: "Royal Gold". Local nurseries didn't seem to have this one so I looked for a seller on the web. Landed quickly on Summerstone and decided to order two of them. They were shipped within 24 hours, had them within a week, and are now both exceptionally healthy, wonderful looking climbers. Wanted to post my positive experience earlier but thought I'd wait to be sure it is truly the right rose. Neither of them have had blooms but I have only had them a month, both have buds, and one is close enough to opening that I can see it will be that beautiful yellow I'm much awaiting for. So I wanted to go ahead and get my positive feedback out here.

I'm not generally an all-around lucky person. Perhaps people are more inclined to report bad experiences while many who have positive experiences are more inclined to relish in their happiness and stay quiet.

All of this to say, I'm sorry so many have been dissatisified as reported. My experience could not have been more positive by any measure.

Shipping was quick, bushes looked great. I e mailed a question on when to water and it was answered quickly. It was a great purchase.

I can only speak on my experience here. I was pleased, I even messed up ordering and got charged twice (which was my fault), they called and let me know and then got my card number and monitired it and when the second charge went through (which took a couple days) they refunded me. Shipped in 72 hours also. My order looked good, the free pecan was sad looking, but it was free so I wasn't worried about it. Good service, will probably shop here again.

I placed two orders with Summerstone Nursery.
Then I found "Dave's Garden" and all the bad reviews.
All but one of the trees that I ordered are growing great.
The one tree that has not made it yet was munched on by gophers.
All trees showed new growth inside 7 days.

Sorry folks, but I am impressed with the items I just got from Summerstone. i bought 7 grape varities, raspberries, gooseberries, boysenberries, and black berries. All have EXTENSIVE root systems and came wrapped in wet newspaper with a gelaton to help retain moisture, then wrapped in a good layer of plastic. I was VERY nervouse last night after reading all your negative posts but was very happy when I opened the package today. Total time from order to delivery was just over 2 weeks and I DID NOT request the 72 hour schedule so many of you have had problems with. Maybe I just got lucky, but I give a big POSITIVE

GRIZZ

My order arrived in just 6 days! I expected the plants to be dormant since that is the ideal way to plant in the spring. On two items they sent more than I ordered - an extra wineberry and instead of 1 dewberry they sent me 4! The blueberry plants, while small, have wonderful root systems.
I am already busy placing another order.

I ordered Sparkle and Surecrop strawberry plants from Summerstone nursery....
I just set them out today...They are the best looking strawberry plants I have ever seen...They are ALIVE and have big, healthy root systems (which was a surprise to me, after receiving some strawberry plants earlier from another nursery that were dried out and brown with a scrawny root system...I wound up losing over half of them)
If I lose any of these magnificent plants, it will be my fault....
If you want good, healthy strawberry plants, I recommend Summerstone nursery....