Comments regarding Plant Delights Nursery

Disappointed in my last (as in final) order from PD; very expensive shipping and new growth cut back hard for no good reason (plenty of room in the box).

Posted on June 19, 2016, updated August 16, 2020
Plants are small and very expensive. Recent marketing shenanigans have been a big deterrent from supporting company. Good educational resource that has taken a turn to the dark side.

"On Mar 9, 2021 5:38 PM, Plant Delights Nursery responded with:

Juniper Level Botanic Garden\'s 28-acre campus is filled with more than 30,000 taxa of plants, including native perennials, exotic plants, rare delights, and an array of incredible and unusual specimen trees and shrubs you won\'t see anywhere else in the world. As a research facility it has a number of programs including perennial breeding, plant taxonomy, propagation research, plant exploration, and ex-situ conservation.

This is only possible with the support of plant sales from Plant Delights Nursery.

We understand that shipping is costly, though it is the same price for up to 6 plants. As we allow people to select their preferred ship date, weather permitting, we often care for the plants for a lengthy period of time in an effort to accommodate all destinations. To learn more about our shipping please [HYPERLINK@www.plantdelights.com]

We do value our customers and the plants we grow in the Nursery. We are available Monday through Friday via email or phone; sales@plantdelights.com or 919-772-4794 to assist with any plant care question.

I've been debating ordering from this company for some time. Beautiful website full of some varieties that I've been wanting for a long time. I've had four items sitting in my cart for quite some time! The shipping charges are quite high but would be acceptable; however, I've read the latest reviews and became leery. Then I ran across a few reviews complaining about politics being interjected and I definitely decided that I (sadly and disappointingly) didn't want to order from a company who is overtly political. Don't want politics in my entertainment, sports, holidays or plant catalogues.

I have ordered from Plant Delights nearly every year since 1997. I've had mostly success, but do order one or two plants which are new to me, new to my zone (5b). Sometimes these fail. I accept that! In the past 2-3 years, however, I've had plants shipped which were clearly not ready to sell or plant in. Most notably a couple of pricey Epimediums which came in the standard 3.5" pot, but simply fell out into my hand when I went to plant them. The first time this happened, I took photos showing the meager root system, the planting medium which had no roots in it, and the plant label and pot. I didn't get any satisfaction, replacement or apology. When this happened again this year, I put the plant back into its pot and will nurse it along until it hopefully roots well down into the planting medium. It seems there is not much point in complaining.

Should I have turned out each pot the day I got my order to see if they were well rooted? Isn't this the job of the staff at the nursery?

For a nursery with such a huge reputation, this is unacceptable. The plants are priced a bit high and the shipping is a big percentage of the plant costs, but until this year I figured this was the cost of doing business - they truly do have an astounding selection of plants which they offer.

What a big disappointment this is at a time when so many of the best nurseries are now closing. Right now, I feel like it would be foolish to order again and add to my woes. I will update this comment if this year's teeny plant thrives or doesn't survive.

"On Aug 4, 2017 4:01 PM, Plant Delights Nursery responded with:

We try to reach out to anyone having an issue directly and hope you have received our message. At Plant Delights Nursery we strive to help everyone enjoy their plant purchase. As a small specialty nursery at Juniper Level Botanic Garden, we put lots of care into our plants before they leave our premises, ensuring the highest quality. When a plant leaves our premises we are unable to control its environment, so we offer a small window to replace the plants should something have occurred during the delivery process. We hope you understand and let us know if we can do anything to help make your garden a success. We are available Monday through Friday via email or phone; office@plantdelights.com or 919-772-4794."

I usually order a couple hundred dollars each year (last 3yrs) but upon receiving their most recent catalog i will not be a returning customer ...

It's really not smart to mix business and politics.
Seeing your un-American defamation of President Trump in your plant catalog is just really super dumb on your part.

Way to alienate 50% of your business.
I support and voted for Trump and proud of it.

Posted on May 29, 2006, updated May 16, 2015
This is not a cheap nursery but their plants really are top notch. I have ordered from them three times and will do so again. They will not ship you a plant that you will be disappointed with. As a bonus, the catalog cover art and plant descriptions are witty and humorous and we could all use a bit of humor in our lives. The only negative is that they will charge your credit card as soon as the order is put in the computer rather than when it ships. If a plant is not available at shipping, you will be given the choice of a refund or nursery credit. Keep in mind this is not a discount nursery. They obviously try to keep the emphasis on quality rather than price.

Posted on August 18, 2014, updated August 18, 2014
Posted on August 17, 2014, updated August 18, 2014
Posted on August 13, 2014, updated August 17, 2014
I'll preface my comments by saying that I have been a longtime customer of PDN and that I admire Tony Avent's accomplishments and goals.

My problem is with quality control. In the past I've always been impressed with the size and quality of plants I have received. Unfortunately, this spring was an exception. I ordered three plants of the same species and received them jostled out of their pots, dry, and slightly wilted. The reason for this was that the plants were barely three inches tall (mature plants are 18") with a very small root system. I would have expected this from Michigan Bulb Company, but not from Plant Delights. They were potted in 3.5" pots that were much too large. Had the plants been larger and had the root system filled much of the pot, there would have been no problem. These plants should never have left the greenhouse. I was charged the full price of $14 each.

I note that a similar problem has been mentioned before in these reviews.

Like several other reviewers, I also received no response to my emails, so I called instead. The lady I spoke to was very accommodating and happy to make things right. I questioned her about the reason I hadn't had a response to my emails. She said that they have been having computer problems. That would make this the second year that that reason has been given for lack of response. I would like to urge PDN to get its electronic systems in order ASAP. The bad PR that this situation generates could endanger their customer base.

"On Aug 13, 2014 5:06 PM, Plant Delights Nursery responded with:

Hello Larry,

We thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention, although I must admit I am surprised that you would go to this forum AFTER speaking with someone in person today, who you've stated was happy to work with you to make things right. This particular Euphorbia is not happy growing in a small nursery container and will typically send roots straight to the bottom of the pot, but not fill in the pot. It is a tricky plant to ship successfully and is much happier if in the ground where it fills out quite vigorously.

While email is now the preferred method for most folks to communicate, email is not perfect. Email addresses can be typed incorrectly and spam & junk filters can capture all manner of correspondence, based on a particular word or phrase or attachment. Technology is great when it works, but a real pain when it does not.

As you are a long time customer, I assume you are getting our newsletters and are aware of the myriad of computer issues we've run up against this year. Our new software which was supposed to make things better has actually had a detrimental effect on our ability to service our customers at the high standards we've had for years. Please know that we are working diligently to fix these issues because we know that this has a negative effect on our customer relationships.

I hope that you will take our many years of positive interactions into consideration when making future perennial selections. Going forward, I would implore you to give us a phone call if you do not get a response by email in 48 business hours . We can't fix a problem if we don't know that a problem exists, so I thank you again for letting us know about your Euphorbia. Please let me know if you should have any additional questions or concerns.

Kind regards,
Virginia Meehan
Manager of Customer Service & Shipping
Plant Delights Nursery, Inc.


"

I am giving Plant Delights a neutral rating for the following reasons:

4 of the Clematis plants that I ordered in 2011 (two did not have much of a root system and did not survive the first year) the other two are tiny. I really think that they should make sure that these plants have good root systems before they sell them, the prices on these are not cheap and this company usually has good healthy plants, I don't know what happened here. I did not contact this company regarding these two clems, but I still might since it is obvious they never did come back.

However, the Peppermint Arundo grass is wonderful and is doing great, it was a good size and was healthy. I also noticed that their packing has gone downhill a little, since my orders when I lived in California.

Antoinette Hague

Quality of plants received was ok, but their packing is a combination of plastic peanuts and shredded paper--difficult to separate and not environmentally friendly.

Very expensive but they have plants that no one else does and they do ship very large plants

This spring I ordered some hostas from Plant Delights. Their shipping is high and most of their plants are higher priced. However when I received my hostas they were huge. You are getting full sized mature plants from them! I would recommend them to anyone who is looking for unusual hostas!

"

To our DGW readers,

We always regret to discover that efforts to resolve customer disappointment remains unresolved.

I respectfully remind our customer that as stated in our July 23rd email, a replacement Lilium was approved.

If there is any promise or service we have not lived up to, please let us know so we have an opportunity to resolve those as well.

Regards,

Dianne Austin
Customer Service Manager
Plant Delights Nursery, Inc."

I came to check out Brent and Becky's Bulb's ratings, as I've ordered from them for the first time and was moderately surprised to see Plant Delights Nursery (PDN) in the "Watchdog 30". Based on my experience with PDN, I would deem them highly overrated.

To put it concisely: arrogant, condescending, and overpriced.

PDN is definitely not much of a value, particularly if you live in the West. It amazes me that someone can have such seeming contempt for his customers, charge them high end prices for avarage quality, yet have them adore him all the more.

There are half a dozen nurseries that have lower ratings here that I would happily recommend over PDN, including Big Dipper Farm, Digging Dog and Kartuz. All have provided me with better quality plants at more reasonable prices. They send orders without an attitude and don’t try to impose their politics on their customers via their catalog.

My best advice is to spend 10 minutes on a search engine to a) make sure that nobody else has the plant you want and b) compare prices, especially if you're going to be induced into buying several more spendy plants to justify the big minimum shipping fee.

In some cases, you'll be truely shocked. For instance, last month I was able to get Crinum amoenum for less than $3.00 per two inch bulb. PDN? $25!

"

Dear dubhloaich,

We have carefully checked our customer database and to the best of our knowledge, we have never sold a Crinum (for any amount) to a customer residing in Scappoose, OR. If we are in error, we would love to know what service or promise we have not lived up to that would prompt such a scathing note about our owner, our catalog, plants or service. If you receive our catalog, please let us know who you are so we can remove you from our mailing list.

If you have not had first-hand experience with our company, we view this post as an abuse of this forum and an intentional act to do us harm. This forum is a place where gardener's can post about their first-hand purchasing experiences (good or bad), not a place to launch a smear campaign. Posting unfounded negative or neutral posts about a company unjustly damages ratings and compromises the value and integrity of this forum.

In closing, we would like to say that we welcome all forum comments from our customers' who can describe their experiences with our nursery. If you have an "axe to grind" with us regarding our catalog, costs or other general non-purchase related topics, please feel free to email us at office@plantdelights.com.

Respectfully,

Dianne Austin
Customer Service & Shipping Manager
Plant Delights Nursery, Inc.
http://www.plantdelights.com

We are uncertain why any customer who had a bad experience 5 years ago would suddenly find the need to disparage us this long after the fact, especially since we have none of the same shipping and customer service staff that was here five years ago when this alleged problem occurred.
During the last five years, we have continued to improve in both plant quality and customer service, which has allowed our business to continue to grow, based solely on the word of mouth of our customers.

I applaud that you have been able to find a plant cheaper than we offer it, which may often be the case when dealing with nurseries which for various reasons don't need to or know how to be profitable. Sadly, if more nurseries understood the basics of business economics, we wouldn't have lost so many wonderful (non-profitable) nurseries over the last few years. Sadly, there are people such as you, who try to make nurseries feel ashamed for covering their costs and charging what they must to stay in business. As a result, many owners simply choose to close their doors and consequently the availability of interesting plants continues to diminish.

Judging by the high number of equally acerbic posts by you on various other sites, you seem to have anger and victimization issues with which we are not medically qualified to address, but we sincerely hope you will get the help needed to enable you to better enjoy the rest of your life.

--
Tony Avent
Plant Delights Nursery @
Juniper Level Botanic Garden
9241 Sauls Road
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA
Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F
Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F
USDA Hardiness Zone 7b
email tony@plantdelights.com
website http://www.plantdelights.com
phone 919 772-4794
fax 919 772-4752
"I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent"

I have ordered from Plant Delights for the last 5 years or so because of the unusual plants they offer. However, I have been disappointed several times because of plants that arrive looking OK but then fail not long after the short notification period during which they will replace the item. (However, when it happens within the notification period, they are good about replacing.) The latest time this happened was about 3 weeks ago with a dwarf dark elephant ears that arrived with 3 weak but seemingly alright stems. After planting (during which I noticed that it had a very meagre root system) and adequate watering, it failed, again just outside the notification period. This has happened to me about 10 times in the last 5 years and always makes me feel robbed. I've noticed that frequently the more unusual the plant, the weaker the root system. I think PD needs to grow some of its stock longer before offering it for sale.

I just got their catalog and will prob. be ordering from them sometime this year. However, I must agree that the artwork and commentary is a bit over the top and offensive (my boss particularily did not like the Gardening Jihad title on it - he is Jewish and basically banned me from having it in the store he hated it that much!) The redneck (at least I think that is what it was supposed to be) commentary at the end was just plain stupid and ignorant - and I'm a Redneck! I don't think politcal stuff should be in a gardening magazine but ... it is free speech and as long as the quality is good and the prices reasonable for what I get in return I will shop there. I just think they need to rethink their humor before they get in to real trouble.

I've purchased plants from PDs for years. Their plant display gardens are stunning. The plants are very healthy and the selection is superb. I've been very happy with the plants purchased there. Their free catalog is very informative. However -- the artwork and commentary in the catalog ranges from distracting to annoying to deeply offensive and their prices are very high. As much as I appreciate their expertise and terrific plant selection, I avoid them due to these factors. Too bad!

The good:

Great website, quality, selection, delivery and packaging

The not-so-good:

Value. Plants are on the small side. Make sure to verify the size of the plants you are ordering, and weigh that against the price and shipping costs.

Bottom line:

Good if you can't find the item elsewhere.

On a nearly $200 order (before shipping cost), I listed acceptable subs and with one substitution they charged me for the original total although the sub was cheaper. They sent a FORM asking me how I wanted to handle a credit for the difference between the plant ordered and the substitute. Why did they not just charge the lower amount in the first place instead of wasting their time and mine on a futzy form (that even asked for my customer number which required more futzing around to find)? The sadder part is that they also made a very incompetent phone call two weeks earlier telling me that none of my 4 listed subs matched the exact price of the one plant out of eight that was not available! There's more but I'm tired. Their plant selection and quality are great (this is my second order) but it's a bit much to put up with their prices and shipping charges and their offensive catalog humor and their "How to be a good customer" nonsense just to be confronted with time wasting incompetence.

I spent a lot of money for ten hellebores which arrived fine. Within a month, they started looking bad. I emailed and sent digital photos. The reply said it looked like I'd let the plants dry out (the plants never dried out) and they should be fine. A few days later with the plants continuing to fail, I dug up and took one plant to the county extension service - they told me to ask for my money back or for replacements, the plants were not healty (no specific diagnosis.) I emailed more photos, showing the plants all but dead, and asked for additional advice or a more educated guess on the problem. I haven't heard a word since - guess they were afraid I WOULD ask for satisfaction. I took myself off Plant Delights' mailing list.

I admit, this company's selection is really good, their catalog and website are even better. I ordered three plants from them in April, and received them exactly on the date I requested. So why am I rating them 'neutral?' Because:

1. Their prices are quite high (for plants that are available from other nurseries)
2. The size of my plants were small. The reviewers here say that the plants they received were of 'good size.' Well, not mine.
3. Although I had no problems with my order, the company does seem a bit arrogant in their condescending sarcasm toward the customer. Just read their catalog/website and enclosed instructions. It's full of 'don'ts.' Come on, we ARE your customers, your source of income... give us some credit here!
4. Their shipping rates were above average, too.

Other than the above 4 criticisms, I received my plants promptly, but my expectations were a tad higher. So call me picky...

The only reason I ordered from this company was because of the high ratings it has received in the Garden Watchdog, but also because of the wonderful catalog they mailed me. Well, let me be one to rate NEGATIVE on customer service, because there is none. I placed my order for $117 on May 14th expecting immediate delivery. I received a confirmation via e-mail. The confirmation lists no delivery date. Since then? I've sent 4 e-mails requesting a delivery window. One 9 days after ordering, another 16 days after ordering, another 2 days after that and another one today, 3 days later. Am I not a GOOD CUSTOMER? All I asked was 'when can I expect delivery?' That's it! I want to make sure someone is here (since I travel frequently) to receive and take care of the plants! Have I received 1 answer to any of my e-mails? NO. No harassing e-mails on my part, just a request. What is up with this company? And of course,....my credit card has been charged. NO MORE!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.