SECRET GARDENS

I was calling from out of state. I wanted to surprise my daughter for her birthday. I thought a large palm for her apartment would be great. They charged me $400! Without approval! When they delivered it they did not leave instructions to have it sent to her door. It stayed in the lobby and was never delivered. The palm itself was ragged with dead branches and the pot was so small in comparison to the plant. The woman that dealt with me over the phone was so nice, that I trusted her. What a mistake!

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First of all their selection is FANTASTIC and the have the potential to be a GREAT nursery...... But they are not a great nursery. I went to look at Palm trees for my home and was greeted by an elderly lady who seemed VERY knowledgeable about palms and palm varieties. I told her what I was looking for and she tried hard to sell me a more expensive tree but I stood strong. We finally stood in front of the palms I was interested in purchasing and she showed me the price tags and explained how they were priced by size. they had 12'-16' Palms according to their tags on the trees. One was not tagged and so she had me measure from top of root ball to top of highest palm frond. We determined it was 15 feet......Yet it was shorter than the one measured and marked at 13 feet. I asked her how could that be and perhaps she was mistaken on the proper way to measure. She excused herself and walked away to make a private phone call to manager. She turned her back to me and whispered. When she hung up and came back she explained to me I should disregard all the prices because they were mismarked. If I pick another we will have to re-measure for new higher price. REALLY??? But she offered to sell me the shortest one as a 14 footer if I purchased today. I decided to accept the offer. I asked about a Warranty. Most every reputable tree nursery offers at least a 1 year warranty. NOPE! 6 months and only if you have a programmable sprinkler system. Not even a full season! Her reasoning is that if I don't water it and it dies then why should they have to replace it? Yes. I am here to spend 250.00 to bury a tree in my front yard and not take care of it, watch it die and rip you off! OK no warranty. How much is delivery? $50.00 plus $75.00 installation. $125.00. and quot;But you are not willing to warranty the tree so why should I pay you to plant it? I will plant it myself.and quot; Her response : and quot;We still charge $125.00.and quot; NO! This is a deal breaker. $50.00 delivery or I am walking! OK, $50.00.... We will call you when we schedule your delivery. A week later : and quot;Hello, Mister G? I made a terrible mistake in the delivery charge. It seems they need a special truck to offload your palm tree and delivery will be $75.00 more than I charged you.and quot; Response - and quot;H*** NO! Lets just cancel the sale!and quot; She responded and quot;well if it is going to be in your front yard we can roll it off the truck.and quot; I told her as long as the tree isn't damaged I don't care how you offload it! OK, I will get back to you on delivery..... A week later I CALLED THEM! WHERE IS MY TREE???? and quot;I will check on it sir. How is Thursday between 9am-10am? Fine.... Thurs, 9:50am.... and quot;Mr G? Your delivery is going to be a few hrs late. They had to unload a truck first. Sorry for the inconvenience... Are you really???? I have people waiting here who offered to help me plant this tree and your calling me 10 minutes before your delivery window ends to tell me you are going to be a few hrs late? I really should have read the early signs that were telling me to take my money elsewhere but their product and selection hypnotized my good senses. I will never buy from this nursery and will warn ALL OTHERS to do the same. Their customer service comes with a very high price and is determined by the amount of money they can bill you for. As an after note, the 2 gentlemen who delivered the palm offered to help me up-right the tree in the hole. I accepted their offer and tried to tip them 25.00 but to their credit they refused and apologized for the very late delivery. They were the only positive part of the service I received. It should not come down to the delivery guys to try and do the right thing.

I bought clumping fern-leaf bamboo for a hedge. Be sure to get a map from the main location and go to see the "other place" a couple of miles away. Massive stock of all sorts of things. They will deliver and plant what you buy with about a weeks notice to schedule things. I was in a hurry and sent our contractor out with a truck to pick up the bamboo, and we planted it ourselves.

They are very credible and knowledgeable, they knew what they were doing. It was a good experience, but it was expensive.