Jim Whiting Nursery & Garden Center

We got landscaping through them last year. Some plants were good quality and some died within a few months. They came to replace the 2 that died. At that time they were supposed to give us an estimate for additional work on the gutters as well. We never received the estimate. Last week I went to their office and talked to the owner Jim. He promised he would send someone for an estimate for the gutters and some special mulch. It did not happen, so a week later I called his office and he was not there and they took a message and said he would call back and I have never heard anything back. The office seems a bit disorganized.

Their tree selection was the best in Rochester, especially for balled and burlap trees. I wanted a tree larger than a potted tree, so we were looking in the 2and quot; diameter range and we needed two of them. Since these were for the boulevard, we had worked with the city forester to determine our options. Whiting's did offer some suggestions that were also approved by the city. We brought the two trees home ourselves and planted them, but they did have a fairly reasonable charge for delivery and plant. However, I wanted to put the money into getting larger trees, rather than paying for that service. They did an excellent job of getting the trees into the back of the pick up truck (using their bobcat) and securing it for the ride home. It was a bit of a work to get them out of the truck and into the hole, but not too difficult.

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Went well, some trees died within a year and they replaced free of charge. THe landscaper was very easy to work with. It took a long time to get the project scheduled but once scheduled we were very happy with the end result.

I used the greenhouse to buy plants and pots. Employees were very helpful with answering my questions and getting my plants to the car.

This is probably one of the worst landscaping experiences I have ever had. We met with Chris Graves, who we were told was a landscape professional. He provided a plan for the front and one side of our home. We met with him initially and then had a followup visit to discuss the landscaping plan. The plan was designed using a computer program. We did have some reservations about this as we were used to having a paper design plan when we have worked with other nurseries. We were assured that we would be given a final plan. After spending time carefully agreeing on the plants we were interested in, we agreed to go with Whiting's for the project, which was estimated to be a little over $4500.00. The project was done, however, several plants that we had agreed on were replaced with others. Many of the plants that were placed were extremely small. We had requested a final plan so we would know what plants were planted and where. After requesting this twice, we were only sent the computerized image from the computer software. This was only a front view with simulated plants. After the plantings were done, I had a very difficult time getting Mr. Graves to call me back. After several phone calls and emails, we finally got everything done, but we had settled on several things that we did not originally agree on. After the winter, at least one third of the plants did not return. Several more contacts to get these replaced. Again, several of these were replaced with plants that were not there originally. I contacted them yet again, it took a couple attempts and a week or so, but Mr. Graves finally agreed to come to the house to meet with my husband and I. We discussed that we did not like some of the replacement choices and wanted them replaced with the original plants from the landscaping plan. In addition, there were 3 other plants that were not replaced at all that should have been. After another couple of weeks, some of the plants were replaced, but several were not. I have again contacted him by email and I have been waiting a week so far to hear back. It is over a year since our landscaping and I am still dealing with this mess. Still waiting to hear back from Mr. Graves about the other 3 plants. This whole experience has been a nightmare. I have wasted so much time and energy with this very unprofessional group. I would not recommend using this and quot;landscape expertand quot; or Whiting's Nursery for landscaping!

Considering the weather challenges in Rochester, MN this June, it went great. This is our first experience with getting a 5-inch in diameter tree planted. On the day we went to select the tree, there was a thunderstorm that rolled through while we were at the nursery. Our salesman provided umbrellas so we would stay dry. We weren't able to make a decision on the first trip and went back again. The same salesman was available and he remembered us and what we were looking for. He took us to the same part of the nursery and gave a detailed explanation as to why we should choose one tree over another. We took his advice. He said it would be 2-3 weeks before they could plant the tree for us due to backlog because of the unusually high amount of rain during May and June. This was on June 11th and the date for planting was estimated to be the first week of July. The planters arrived today with our tree, by my estimate about a week early. The two men who came to plant were courteous and very professional. They accomplished the job in a very timely manner with much care taken to avoid tearing up the lawn near where the tree was planted. They made sure any branches broken during transport were removed and no branches remained tangled.

We had a major job done four years ago that was $10,000. I will continue to use them. I don't necessarily see room for improvement with them.