Comments regarding Plant Delights Nursery

although the plants I ordered and the shipping cost struck me as expensive I was very happy with everything. the canna's were quite large, over a foot tall and looked healthy and luscious. I would definitly order again if I lived on that side of the country. This is my first year ordering plants online and I think I might just stick to nurseries closer to my state to cut back on shipping cost. The canna's (so far) seem worth the $20 a plant but the extra $3.25 each for shipping cost...it's a tough call. anyway, great overall!

My bro-in-law has been a happy customer for many years. (Nothing clever about their prices though). I placed my first order with them last week.
I was impressed to see that they had Iris "Roy Elliot", I sent them a letter explaining that he was my grampa and sent some info and they credited me in their catalogue, which was nice of them, I thought. And sort of fun too, look for me in there!

While Plant Delights is pricey, their redeeming factor is they offer seldom seen varieties of plants such as Musa sikkimensis, which i was only able to find in the United States in their catalog. They also had the not often seen Dahlia imperialis. I say if you're looking for rare plants, especially tropicals, they're a good company.

Their plants arrived to me in good condition, wrapped in newspaper (which in my opinion helped to keep the plants, which were rather tender and fragile from ending up thrashed. All of my plants have survived, and none developed problems. Their delivery was speedy and my check was cashed very promptly.

Last spring I ordered several plants from this company, one of which was Heuchera 'Amber Waves'. I planted it in an area of my garden that has several other Heucheras in it, all of which were growing -- and continued to grow -- well. By mid July the Amber Waves had entirely disappeared, so I emailed the company, asking if -- since the plant had not lasted two months, and since the site, water and soil requirements were obviously not at fault -- they would replace it. Their answer was that they do not take responsibility for plants once they've left their facility, since they have no control over their care after that. This is understandable, but I think that an exception could have been made under the specific circumstances, since the conditions under which it was grown were favorable to Heucheras, and therefore it was a good guess that the plant itself was at fault. They were adamant, however, and I received no replacement. This is the first and only time in my years of gardening that I have ever been refused a replacement, in the rare cases where something did not grow. Therefore, in spite of the fact that Plant Delights has unusual and interesting plants, I'll not be ordering from them again.

This is one of my favorite companies to order from. The arrival of their catalog signals the beginning of spring for me! PD is a particularly good place for me personaly as I am in zone 7b, the same as their nursery. I am a relatively inexperienced gardener, so keep that in mind while you consider my comments. I have been ordering from plant delights for a couple of years now. I have typically spent about $150 each year. The shipments have always arrived well packaged. Most of what I have ordered has done very well. A few things have not. I consider them to a be a little on the pricey side. I will continue to buy from them in the future.

PDN is one of my FAVORITES! I have ordered many times and have never had a bad experience. I live in the hot, humid Gulf Coast and am always looking for plants that can take the heat. Tony Avent has done a fantastic job on the catalog and the web site! All plants are true to the description and name. Packaging and shipping were above my expectations, arriving sooner than expected. I have spent a lot of $$$ here & have never been disappointed. This place is plant nerd heaven!!!

Plant Delights is one of my absolute favorite mailorder plant places. I absolutely adore them! Their catalog is fantastic, and I keep referring back to my well-thumbed and dogearmarked Spring and Fall copies frequently for plant information, which is very detailed in terms of how the plant has trialed in their NC climate. It's especially useful information for me, since my zone 7/8 Atlanta garden is quite close to their NC climate. Every order I've gotten has had outstanding plant quality and has been lovingly wrapped for shipment. Their customer service is also outstanding - didn't have any problems getting one of the $25 plants I had ordered replaced when it was somewhat damaged in shipping and didn't make it, and the one they sent as a replacement was even bigger/ better than the original.

I recently placed an order with Plant Delights Nursery so can't comment yet on the quality of the plants. However, I had e-mailed them with a couple of plant questions - a kind of ornamental grass for my zone and about "blue" perennials. I received a most helpful reply from the people there who were able to offer me some suggestions as to which plants to purchase. Of course, the plants they did tell me about were ones they sold, but I was very impressed that they took the time to send a lengthy e-mail back to me. If their plants are anywhere near as good as they were helpful, I'll be a happy camper!

I have dealt with Plant's Delight for a few years now and have not been disappointed. They have great selection, good quality and fair prices. Their catalogs are well laid out, informative and witty. Two thumbs up!
Bob Gale

I haven't ordered from this Nursery, so can't give any good or bad advice. I just want you to be aware of the high shipping costs that is charged. I picked out 4 plants for a total of $50.00 and it was going to cost $26 more to ship them to me. I won't be ordering from them.
Donna

As others have noted, prices are high--and sometimes the plants aren't that rare, just pricey. High shipping costs are an additional negative. But I have found quality to be good, and it is a genuine delight to read their catalog.

My experience with Plant Delights (by mail order and in person) has been generally good. It's definitely a place to check out the latest introductions. I have found most of the varieties offered justify the catalog praise. Packing and health of shipped plants are average to above average. The only real downside is that plant prices are on the high side, particularly for varieties that have been on the general market awhile (you can probably get a much better deal at your local nursery than the $11 Plant Delights charges for Coreopsis 'Limerock Ruby' or the $15 they ask for Canna 'Bengal Tiger', for example).

Fabulous plants and very kind service! Plant Delights is a true delight and I plan on ordering from them in the future. After many years of browsing and admiring their catalog, I placed my first order with them early Spring 2002. The order consisted of a variegated Hedychium 'Dr. Moy', Asarum speciousum 'Woodlander's Select', and Zingiber mioga 'Dancing Crane'. The Hedychium was a very hefty CLUMP! and the Asarum was fully rooted into its quart nursery container. The Zingiber looked sorta iffy (even though they noted that it was still dormant) and I decided to call. This was a $18.00 plant in a quart container with a mushy rhizome! I was instructed to wait for two weeks and wait for signs of life and if nothing emerged, I would call back. Two weeks and an obviously rotted Zingiber did nothing. A replacement was suggested, but they were honest enough to say that they have been slow to come up and not in the best condition at that time. So, in return for the original plant, they let me select another plant at the same price; therefore, I selected the dramatic Canna 'Australia'. In a few days, I received another CLUMP! which I was able to divide and share with friends! One word....AWESOME!

After reading several earlier postings with mostly great reviews I requested a catalog from the Tarheel company. It was beautiful and well written with a dry, typically North Carolinian sense of humor. I ordered 5 selections for my zone 8 garden (two verbenas, hummingbird plant, baptisia, coreopsis). All were rated for zone 8 to 9 and hardy to zone 5. They were in lovely condition when they arrived. They were well packed and the hummingbird plant was blooming. I admit that I planted a little later in the season than was optimal but I did give them a few days of slowly increased exposure to the heat and humidity and they seemed fine. The results later in the season, however, were less than I had hoped. The verbenas gave mixed results - one bloomed sparsely and one not at all. The baptisia died almost immediately and the hummingbird plant, although it grew and seemed to be happy, didn't bloom the rest of the season (it was listed as a all-summer bloomer). I will be interested to see how they perform this spring and will hopefully update my comments if the plants greatly surprise or disappoint me. I did place my order via the phone and my service rep was pleasant and knolwedgeable.

I ordered some different plants from them and have been very impressed so far. For Fall planting I put in a Flowering Maple and it's doing great. I also ordered a couple of different butterfly bushes and they too are going like ganbusters right through the first couple of frosts. The Hostas both have come up with some nice initial growth and the Coreopsis "Limerock Ruby" had a good season also. Overall I like them so far and plan on ordering a few things for the Spring.

What a great nursery! They have a wonderful (as well as entertaining) full-color catalog full of unusual and hard-to-find plants, a well-done website with even more photos plus additional articles and other information--a great horticultural reference in its own right--and the plants I ordered arrived exactly when I asked them to, were well-packed, healthy, well-rooted, and good-sized. One fern in the order never emerged from dormancy (it looked dead when I received it) but given the quality of the other plants, it was a minor annoyance. I will definitely order from this company again!

It's too bad their customer service isn't as good as their plants (which are top-notch!). I placed an order and was surprised when it showed up in two very large boxes. After hauling them to the garden and opening both, I found that one box was my order -- the other contained someone else's order (including their credit card info -- yikes!). I called PDN and notified them of the error. They asked me to repackage everything and take it back to my office for a UPS pickup. I did, but UPS didn't come. I called PDN a couple more times and for one reason or another, no pickup. To make a long story short, I was hauling this box back and forth between my office and our firm's reception area for nearly two weeks (before it was finally picked up by UPS). Of course, the box was getting lighter and lighter each day as the plants became more dessicated. I even called PDN to see if I could buy some of the dying plants at a discount, but was told that it was against PDN policy to discount the price of their plants. (As if baby-sitting a heavy box of their plants for two weeks was part of my policy!) I've never had to jump through so many hoops to right a nursery's error. And they offered nothing except an explanation of their policies.

I enjoy their catalog and love their plants, but maybe they should replace the section on "How to be a good customer' with a commitment to good customer service.

I've had very good experiences with Plant Delights. The plant variety is exciting, the plants arrive in good shape and the staff is very helpful. I usually receive email replies to my questions within 24 hours. The few plants with which I have had failures were replaced very quickly. Finally, the web site and catalogs are fun.

This place sure has a selection of things you might never find in any other place, no doubt about it. They have cultivars with wonderful leaf colors, or special fragrances, or they search out especially vigorous growers. They also know their plants, and try hard to provide correct information. Moreover, they provide wonderful free information through their Web site. You can read up on Hostas, or find out what you might want to know about palm hardiness. They have lots of online articles, so its sort of like having another gardening book for free.

I've ordered from them twice and both times got mostly large plants as well as one or two puny things that were not recognizable, these little guys looked like a few bean sprouts. The company responded to my email complaint by issuing a credit to my credit card; so they seem responsive in that regard. But, I always ask myself, "Why did it happen, who is in charge of quality control"?

The downside is that Plant Delights is expensive. I don't think they are way out of line, and I don't think they are gouging. But, they are mostly out of my price range and seem to charge in the upper ranges of what will carry. Maybe they need to charge extra for the usually large plants they send, or for the competent advice they try to provide.

If they have something I want I'll buy from them again, but I do find that sometimes its better to wait and connect with hobbyists in order to get some specialty items at better prices. Also, I have found that some of the bulb or native plant nurseries have some of the same plants as PDN but at better prices or with a discout offer.

I've had very good experiences with this company. They offer some plants I don't see at my local stores and all the
plants I ordered from them arrived healthy. A good source
for me.

I have been very pleased with everything that I have ordered from this company.

I was very disappointed. 3 of the 4 plants I ordered were bare-rooted and rolled up in newspaper and had lost pigmentation from being deprived of light. All the lower foliage was dead. I called Customer Service and was told to give them some time to recover and to call back in a month. I have had to pamper them since planting, have had to cut off all the old foliage and finally they have started to grow back from the roots. I've never received plants by mail order that were packed in this fashion or arrived in such poor condition or took so long to show signs of thriving.Two of the 4 are still not looking good.

I phoned Plant Delights on a Monday to tell them that Coriopsis Sweet Dreams planted in the spring was in fact another plant. Also that another plant I ordered failed to grow. Both were cheerfully replaced in 2 days - and both with good sized plants. The coriopsis was even full of flowers!

Great selection. Fast delivery. Healthy plants. A bit overpriced...but unique. Overall a very positive experience.

This is not a supplier of everything. They do have out-of-the-ordinary plants for us 'must-have' gardeners. The fun begins when their catalogue arrives in the winter.

"

Dear golddog,

For the record, all of our plants are grown in "cold frame" greenhouses, we do not have "cold storage" facilities. As a mail order nursery specializing in unusual perennials, our plants are not kept in a hothouse environment to force blooming or cold storage to keep plants in an indefinite period of dormancy. Our plant material is grown with exposure to natural light and weather conditions. During the winter months, all hardy tropicals are kept in greenhouses that are climate-controlled by furnaces. This would include our canna crop.

If you have experienced plant death due to shipping/packing problems, please let us know so we can assist you appropriately. We also have professional horticulture staff that are here to assist you in discovering any cultural problems that may be affecting the health of your plants.

Regards,

Dianne Austin
Customer Service Manager"

The plants I have received from this company have been fine except for one that promptly died after I got it. I e-mailed the company and after my e-mail bounced around to about 3 different people, I was finally offered a credit on my account. That's fine except you have to place a $30 order to use the credit! I couldn't find enough plants to place an order this year and asked if I could just get a refund instead. No go. In fact, I never received a response after sending 2 different e-mails. I think the company has a great plant selection but on the negative side, they are overpriced and their customer support is very bad.

Their prices are a little high but not too bad. I ordered 2 species of orchid (both Bletilla) and one came in very nice, the other was very puny, I'll be lucky if it blooms next year. I won't be rushing back.

After hearing from many sources the high quality and standards of this company, I called to place my first order. The phone rep was able to answer my detailed questions personally for the most part, but when I asked a couple of others that she wasn't sure about, she contacted the head grower for that plant type and got and transmitted back to me the answer.

She gave me the shipping date for the order, and was highly competent. A big difference to many other mail order places, who seem to just hire "phone minders" for their lines. Am waiting with baited breath my plants, due in 2 weeks.

My first order with this company. I received my order today and the plants I ordered are just about the biggest things I've ever ordered. I was expecting dormant, puny size, weak plants, like from those 'other guys', but instead the plants were much bigger than expected. I thought I was going to use a hand trowel, but now I see, I'll be using a shovel for these monsters. What a treat it is to get quality products. Ordering from this place just might become a regular thing for me. FORGET the rest, this place IS THE ANSWER.

Being fortunate enough to live in the Raleigh area, I have been to PDN several times to pick up orders. I hope to go to one of their open houses this year. Having concluded, through orders from other online suppliers, that online orders are risky because the plants are usually small and survival rates low, I was happy to see that PDN's offerings have a much higher success rate. I hope my current order, which I am NOT picking up personally, will be as good as previous orders.

I have ordered from this company several times. FINALLY a nursery with a sense of humor...just read through their catalog! My plants have arrived safe and sound. What I really appreciate is their help AFTER the sale! They answer their emails promptly with the needed information.

I have ordered from Plants Delight for 5 years - I have NEVER been disappointed and have been surprised, with every order, how roust and large the specimens were. I have visited the nursery in N.C. twice during their open house and have been delighted with the service and selection. Not just a Hosta company!

I have ordered from Plant Delights for over 4 years. Their pricing is a little above the norm but I have never been disappointed with anything received from them. Their plants have always been top quality top to bottom. Every year I seem to expand my garden. Most of it comes from this nursery.

I love strange plants and Plant Delights has them. When I read the description of LIGULARIA TUSSILAGINEA 'RYUTO' (Dragon's Head Leopard Plant). I knew I had to have one.

The description was "Second to amorphophallus, Ligularia 'Ryuto' gets the next most comments..."It's the ugliest plant I've ever seen!" I can only say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We are, therefore, saving these for our visually impaired customers... just kidding. This Japanese selection of leopard plant has foliage that looks like you peeled the top off a shiny road-kill bullfrog. In fact, each plant produces dozens of these leaves... attractively arranged of course. The clumps are topped in fall with spikes of bright yellow daisies that will make you forget all about the ugly leaves... not. If you like curiosities, want to get your plant-hating spouse something for their birthday, or just want to grow something stranger than yourself, this is your plant!"

Of course, I bought other plants, too. All arrived healthy and very well packaged. And they arrived quickly.

All my questions were answered within 24 hours. The staff and Tony Avent, the owner, are as unique as their plants. The company is very ecology minded, and clone many of their plants, in the hope of ensuring that plants are preserved.

Working with PDN make you remember the Age of Aquarius, though Tony assured me that they don't smoke their products... Only I would ask.

I've ordered a couple of times from these folks... good quality...great selection , & customer service was prompt & pleasant , even when I was a bone-head...I found them a real pleasure to deal with. . .

I always wait with anticipation for the catalogs to come out from this nursery,they always have something new and different coming out with each issue.I have ordered tropical type plants and was always pleased with the size and quality of what I ordered.They are tops on my list for new introductions.

Perhaps the most unique nursery anywhere. Read the catalog, visit their site, vist the nursery, the average gardener will find he learned someting about plants. Looking for something unique, difficult to locate, check here. I liked the quality I received; did not buy common plants and felt the price was fair. If you visit in person be prepared for a beautiful setting. A tour of the growing and potting area gives you contact with staff that is friendly, want to help customers and it is easy for them to do that since they know what they ae talking about.

I've ordered lots from them, and while the prices are high, they often carry things not available anywhere else. Plants are a good size, usually at least in a 4" pot. Packaging is perfect. Beware the dormant plants... several hibiscus didn't come up for me, but they politely credited my card.

Just wanted to add my voice to the praise for Plants Delight. Unlike many mail order companies their plants are well grown & of excellent quality. I've ordered several times and been very pleased.