DirectGardeningReviews 399

I have ordered twice from this firm. It seems they may deal in dormant frozen plants? Most plants received do nothing but rot and die. I follow the warranty instructions and they are very good at replacing items. Trouble is, the second shipment is not much better than the first. Plants do not come to life. Since I am a mature adult. I don't have a year or two to waste getting something started that I may not live long enough to enjoy. (lol) Buy locally and get bigger, healthier plants.

I put 2 orders last fall and one came broken and dead. I contacted them. I was told to plant it to see if it would come back this spring. It didn't and so were the other two. I had written emails to them back and forward for 5 months. According to the value and available stock, Finally I received 5 peonies with the colors that most hated, that's yellow and red. Two are roots with sign of life, the other three are roots with stems but they look dry and dead. Anyway I planted them all to see if they will grow. This company just made the return or replacement so difficult. I had to pay the postage to send the dead plants back to them. Also I sent a letter with new order including a check of shipping fee by registered mail just in case. This is a hell of experience. Anyone who read my review should think twice before you order anything from them!

Ordered 4 hardy hibiscus patio plants in April, did not receive them till the end of June. When they arrived they were just seedlings. 2 did not survive. So they are guaranteed for full replacement, 6 weeks later they are replaced with a tropical hardiness zone and twice the size of the original ones I ordered! Not even close, I live in Michigan and these would never survive our winters. So I was put on a waiting list for the ones I originally ordered that are sold out. But wait, it gets even worse. The 2 original plants that survived are now blooming and guess what, they are not even close to the color I ordered.
Customer service is a joke, they do not answer the phone or there is a constant busy signal. But now they are not even answering my emails. SCAM

DO NOT ORDER FROM THESE PEOPLE! Order was placed in April. After 6 weeks, I reached out to customer service to inquire. They said that they were still harvesting. Then, 2 weeks after that, I wrote back, and they stated that the order was being processed to ship. 2 weeks later, no order. So, I disputed the charge. 2 weeks after that, mostly dead plants arrived and a very rude letter. Seriously? Waste of time and money. Avoid, avoid, avoid! Worst online experience ever. I want to give them 0 stars.

You people should be embarrassed and ashamed of what you are doing as a business! I am a trained arborist and not an uneducated and gullible customer. I ordered five bare root lombardy poplar trees from your company. Usually nurseries and business that sell trees, shrubs, and other plants are very honest, caring, good people. They care about the plants and their customers. After I had ordered and paid for my trees, I did check the online reviews of your business. Too late did I find that what you did to me, you had numerous extremely negative reviews from other customers. I was hoping against hope that they weren't true and that my order would be different. Not true. The trees were delivered to my local post office this morning and I immediately noticed that the trees were not shipped in a protective box, just in a plastic bag with holes punched in it. The roots were not packed with soil around them or in a separate bag. The buds were brittle and dried out. The bark and inside of the stem were totally dead and dried out. The roots were almost none existant and what few threads were also brittle and totally dead. The base of the twigs where the roots started were cracked and split. Please don't insult my intelligence and tell me that is because they are dormant and will come out of it if I soak them in water and plant them and give them a year. These trees are DEAD and will never come out of it! I don't want replacements, I want a full refund to my credit card immediately. I have shipped these dead trees right back to you straight from the post office. I have photos of everything for proof and my postmaster will back me up. I am also reporting you to the Better Business Bureau and any other legal avenues to make sure you don't do this to anyone else. You probably should look at the customer reviews online because you shouldn't be in business.
Denise Roberts

I ordered about 50 dollars worth of plants. Had them take 3 months to ship them to me, and i've spent over a month after that trying to dispute why it's acceptable to ship plants in a plastic bag so that they are smashed when they arrive. They have asked me for my credit card statement which is super scammy, and have told me various untrue things i have to do on my end for a refund, like shipping the shipping label back to them. Which they refused. I have tried everything, am disputing it with my credit card company, and am reporting them to better business bureau. Terrible customer service. I told them i will make one bad review a day until they refund me. They have refused after writing to them for over a month with documentation that the order was smashed upon arrival and have said that since it's over a month they are not giving me a refund. Well that's not right, been dealing with them for a month, since receiving it. Don't buy from them.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. This company engages in a pattern of corrupt activities. Virtually every plant I received was dead on arrival. Their plants are literally thrown into a bag with no packaging materials for the plants. Then they ship via regular USPS so there is no telling how long they've been in transport. I order a lot of plants online and these people are by far the worst. They have what in my experience is a burdensome return policy. But I complied with it thoroughly, have everything documented, and they still refuse to honor their return policy. They don't even have an excuse as to why they are refusing to honor it. They think they are above the law. They are about to find out that they are not.

Ordered perennials in April, plants arrived July 22 NOT dormant, DEAD or ROTTED from over watering due to a pathetic attempt to keep plants alive. I have contacted company via email repeatedly. At first they denied receiving my order... I emailed them my receipt. They are refusing to refund. I am out just over $100, zero plants to plant, my client has a lovely 100 ft row of dirt in her front yard. She is so not happy. Seriously, shop elsewhere. Clearly this a fly by night website, designed to cash in & then screw.

Because of the stay-at-home order, I bought plants and seeds by mail. I should have read the reviews, if you are here before placing an order, you are in luck! The plants that I ordered were ok, one was however a variety that I did not order of the same plant. The elephant ear bulbs were fine, all other bulbs and dormant fern root stocks, were ancient and sadly demised, they have joined the choir invisible... they are dead but pushing up no daisies... Their "Guarantee" is replacement only, they are hoping that you'll just cut your losses, who wants the same crap one year later?

This company will take your $ and you will receive rotten products if they ever even actually get sent out. They do not have a working phone # you cannot get them on the phone, I have tried for months. Customer service through email is a runaround, over and over and over. They are criminal in my opinion at this point. I have already jumped through hoops trying to get my $100 refunded with still no luck. I even mailed them back the products along with the original labels etc etc that they ask for. They claim UPS must have lost the package, that they never received it, although UPS gives confirmation of delivery. They are the most corrupt company I have ever had to deal with and I reallllly wish instead of trusting a midwest gardening center, I would have researched and found all of these bad reviews and saved myself from being scammed. I hope this helps prevent others from being scammed as well...

I have been ordering from Direct Gardening for almost 20 years and everything has grown well. If you have a problem with your purchase, they will make it right. Just send the dead plant back and they will replace it. It's sad reading everyone's reviews. Perhaps you were not patient enough. My last purchase included a clematis. When it arrived it was just a nub with roots. I wondered if it would live but I planted it and it is growing well.

Before you order from this scam house, please consider taking the money you would spend, dig a hole in your backyard and plant those bills. You have more of a chance to grow a money tree than you will getting anything out of Direct Gardening! 0 stars on everything they do. Dead plants, horrible customer service, and a return policy specifically designed to make sure you get nothing back. Hard to believe that this company can operate so freely in the United States. Plant your money! Do not send it to Direct Gardening!

I ordered 5 trees with a cost totaling $91.95. When the trees arrived 4 out of 5 appeared to be dead. The instructions said that even if the trees appeared to be dead go ahead and plant them and be patient. They will come alive eventually. I went ahead and planted all 5 trees in a large 6 foot diameter hole dug at least 2 feet deep, mixed in a generous amount of soil additives and put mulch on top. The trees were watered on a regular basis. Well 4 of the 5 trees remained dead months after the planting. When I asked for replacements, they said I needed to mail them (via snail mail) the original packing slip that came with the shipment. Even though I provided a PDF copy of my order acknowledgment, they refuse to do anything. Obviously, they set those rules up to thwart anyone wanting replacements because most people throw away the packing slips when the shipment arrives. Many of the other items we ordered on the same order are also doing very poorly. This company is horrible! Stay AWAY!

Dealing with Direct Gardening has been a horrible experience. On April 21st 2020 I placed an order for 5 different items. After 2 1/2 months of back and forth emails, wondering if I've been scammed and filing disputes with my bank for the charges, I finally received 3 out of 5 items I had ordered. To make things even worse when I opened the package there were flies and worms in the onion sets and I had to thro them away. After the terrible experience of trying to get my ordered delivered I figured it was not worth even bothering to return them. I continued to wait for the other two items which are seed potatoes and was told by customer service that they were shipped with the package I already received. After some more back and forth emails and wasting my time I am chalking it up as a $44 loss Save yourself the time, money and aggravation of doing business with Direct gardening. There is some other information circulating the web that they do business under other names so be careful and do your research of you you're doing business with.

They waited until July to send my March order. It takes a week or more to get an email response from them and they don't list a phone number. I asked for a refund or for them to actually ship my order countless times between April and May. Of course no refund and I'm never given shipping information. I had already given up on them and disputed the charge by the time plants arrived dried up and dead. Worthless and a waste of time.

This is the worst experience ever.
I ordered three fucsia plants and some iris bulbs. It took 13 weeks to arrive, and then it was sent regular mail, and took 2 weeks. So obviously the plants were DEAD and the bulbs were just brown skins filled with air. I took photos, and sent a request for a refund. Their insane policy is that you must send back the dead plants at your expense to get a refund. They also demand the shipping label. I did send the label, but they sent it back with no explanation, no refund, no replacement.
I then emailed and asked for a replacement of the DEAD PLANTS. So that email was June 17. Today is JULY 16... one month later, I get an email from them telling me to send the shipping label... the one I already sent and they returned.
I'll just keep getting the runaround until I get too exasperated. Meanwhile, DEAD PLANTS, and no refund or replacements.
DO NOT SHOP HERE. IT IS TERRIBLE. There are plenty of good online plant places. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM