Comments regarding De Groot, Inc.

The concise version: Degroot’s products are too variable (and often of poor quality). I will not be purchasing wholesale orders from them again.

I am operating a small backyard nursery in Alaska and have been ordering from Degroot for at least the past five years. However, this will be my last year. Before I give my review, I need to make a couple of caveats. First, I live in Alaska, so my items are shipped at the very end of the season (late April). That may be one of the reasons I’ve historically received low-quality stock. Perhaps the plants have been in the cooler too long, or I am simply shipped the stuff at “the bottom of the barrel.” Also, because I am getting my order shipped so late in the season, they cannot replace bad stock. I’m not sure if they can/will replace items if they are shipped earlier.
The good: The ladies in the sales office are lovely. They’re always friendly and helpful. They’re happy to work with me to coordinate the shipping/shipper of my choice and are quick with purchase orders and invoices. The nursery catalog is robust. Prices are very reasonable.

The bad: Every year I’ve ordered from Degroot I’ve been disappointed. Their products are incredibly variable. One year they’ll send me good strawberries, but the bleeding heart are rotten. Some years (like this one), I get great lilacs with good root systems, and some years I get tiny plants with hardly any roots. Two years ago, all the bleeding hearts were infected with fungus and dead; last year all the yellow raspberries were dead on arrival. This year 80% of the 500 strawberries I ordered were dead and molding, many of the raspberries/blackberries had little to no roots, and the blueberries and haskaps I ordered were haphazardly thrown into a plastic bag at the bottom of the box. I get that some mortality is inevitable, but as someone trying to grow my little nursery operation (and pre-selling a number of plants), it’s discouraging and embarrassing to sell such low-quality stock. I will be sourcing my plants elsewhere next year, even if it means having to raise my prices.