Nature Hills Nursery: Decent Plants at a Good Price, Poor Follow-Through
Written: Sep 28 '06 (Updated May 06 '07)
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The stupidest thing that came out of our move to New Hampshire and building homes is that there was a condition placed on our approval that we replace trees on our property. In the end, I think they said I had to replant five trees. I live in the middle of the forest, so left alone the forest would naturally reclaim areas cleared for construction which weren’t going to be continually used, but it’s just one of those things.
I knew what I wanted as I’d had a weeping cherry tree in front of our old house in New York and absolutely loved it. For planting along the back property line to create a buffer for the neighbor there, I needed something with deep roots not surface roots, as it would be near our septic system. I chose walnut trees since I’d had good luck with them around our sidewalk in New York for the same reason.
Last spring I went on a quest locally for these trees. The walnut trees were nowhere to be found. Weeping cherry trees were readily available, but at a cost of more than $50 each. I wasn’t willing to spend that sort of money on trees for my property.
I wasn’t too keen on ordering online, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. I searched the web for the trees I wanted and landed on the website for Nature Hills Nursery. The site is laid out nicely and is easy to navigate. The search engine works great. Finding exactly what I was looking for was no trouble at all.
What really attracted me to the site was the wide variety of plants, trees, shrubs, and bulbs available at Nature Hills Nursery. The selection is outstanding. Shopping was easy and I found what I wanted with no trouble. For less than half what five weeping cherry trees would have cost me locally, I purchased six weeping cherry trees and five walnut trees.
There’s a lot more than just trees available at Nature Hills Nursery, though. The selection of shrubs and hedges is excellent. The descriptions are wonderful and really let me know whether or not the plants are suitable. In this respect when I am browsing, I can look by the various categories of plant, sun exposure, plant color and hardiness zone. The hardiness zone information is very important for all gardeners, and I was especially pleased with being able to tell easily if the trees were suitable for our northern mountain climate. Don’t know what zone you’re in? Simply enter your zip code and the site will tell you.
The pictures of the plants are excellent and really help with choosing just what’s right for your garden. I also liked how the different sizes are depicted with an illustration of the size of the plant or the container it comes in.
The prices are excellent and Nature Hills Nursery often offers a discount for higher quantity purchases. This is one of the reasons I purchased more trees than I was required to plant.
Shipping charges are fairly reasonable, although I would rather pay a bit more and have faster shipping on my plant products. Nature Hills Nursery ships via UPS. The current charge schedule is as follows:
Amount of your order ……. Shipping & Handling
$0.01-$4.95 .………………... $3.95
$4.96-$9.95 ………………… $6.95
$9.96-$19.95 ……………….. $8.95
$19.96-$29.95 …………….. $11.95
$29.96-$49.95 ……………… $14.95
$49.96-$89.95 ……………… $18.95
$89.96-$149.95 …………….. $21.95
$149.96-$249.95 …………… $27.95
$249.96+ ………………….... 17% of order
Ordering was easy. Once the items were in my cart it was a matter of entering my credit card information (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover are accepted) and personal information. I created an account so I could track my order, and I waited.
It didn’t take terribly long for my trees to arrive, but I was concerned when I first unpacked them. The instructions did state that the plants would arrive in a dormant state, do I went ahead and planted them immediately and waited to see what happened.
All of the walnut tress were fine. They developed leaves and were healthy throughout the summer. Had problems with the weeping cherry trees, however. Three of them failed to come back from their dormant state. I even scraped the bark a bit to check and it wasn’t the least bit green underneath.
I first called Nature Hills Nursery to discuss the problem about three weeks after the trees had arrived. I told them three of the trees looked dead while the rest were fine. I even mentioned scraping the bark. I know plants pretty well, and I was sure these were dead. I was told it can take up to six weeks for them to come out of the dormant phase and to sit tight.
I waited until six weeks had passed and the trees were still dead. I called again but couldn’t get a human, so I left a message. No one returned my call. After a week I called a second time and again left a message. Still there was no return phone call. Finally I called several more times, always finding the phone answered by a machine instead of a human. Since I already had left two messages which hadn’t been returned, I didn’t bother leaving any more. Eventually, I just quit calling.
Am I happy? Yes and no. I still got a great price on the trees, even taking into account the three that died. Yes, they are still dead. However, I think their customer service leaves much to be desired. There is no follow-up on problems and not being able to get a human for several weeks while I tried to call didn’t make me happy.
If I ordered from them again - and I would consider it just because of the value - I would make sure to over-order and not count on getting replacements for any plants which don’t make it. It’s a shame because I thought the place had great promise.
Other gardening & yard related reviews:
Classy Groundcovers ~ Gardens Alive! Online Store ~ Gardener’s Supply Online Store ~ Michigan Bulb Online Store ~ Safer Insecticidal Soap ~ Step-2 Yard About ~ Vermont Garden Cart
© 2006 Patti Aliventi
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: Patti Aliventi
Location: Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
Reviews written: 2074
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