CAMPBELL & FERRARA NURSERIES INC

I trust them and have used their services for 8-10 years.

If you are considering purchasing plants or garden services from Campbell & Ferrara nursery? Don’t. My advice is to look elsewhere first…perhaps Meadows Farms (who guarantee their trees for life) or Merrifield Garden Center. Two years ago we contracted with C & F to design and plant our entire front garden with a host of plants and matching dwarf magnolia trees. Several plants died within the first year and they begrudgingly replaced them after multiple phone calls. Recently the two dwarf magnolia trees also died in spite of adequate care on our part. I emailed photos of the dead trees to C & F and inquired as to any considerations they would provide. According to Donna Campbell, one of the owners: Nothing! Ms. Campbell’s statement was so shocking I grabbed a pen to note her words accurately. She stated: “Children die at birth.” My response: “Excuse me?” She repeated: “Some children die at birth.” I indicated that I provided adequate care to the trees and she attempted to qualify her remarks by stating: “More plants die from loving them than not caring at all.” Later that day I received a contract offer to replace the trees at a cost in excess of $1000. I should have taken my own advice originally and shopped anywhere other than Campbell and Ferrara. You should, too.

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I am writing this review in March 2016. Campbell and Ferrara did some landscaping for us in July 2014 - and we have given them ample opportunity since that time to rectify problems with the work. Mature trees that were planted, and a replacement boxwood, are very unhealthy. The shrubs placed in our front beds are dying. The landscaping in the front bed, in particular, looks far from professional. When C&F came out to look at some of these issues, only after going back and forth trying to drag responses out of them, they agreed and proposed additional work, at reduced cost, to rectify their original work. Suffice it to say, once the replacement work was agreed, I never heard from them again and have become weary of the poor customer service and poor communications over the last year and a half. I think every business deserves the opportunity to correct problems with their work prior to receiving negative reviews, but I give up. Customers should not have to chase service providers. Now we will have to spend yet more money to rectify their subpar work and specimens. I cannot recommend this company to other customers; in fact, I have never received such poor customer service. I am pleased to see in these reviews that others have not wasted money on their services.

We moved into an older home where the previous owner had not been an active gardener for the last several years, so the 15,000 sqft lot need attention and a make over. The plan provided from Campbell Ferrara was excellent. They listened to our ideas and provided great suggestions on planting to work best in our situation. The plan was beautiful, but it was beyond our budget at this point. So we have put the plan on the shelf, tackling only a few of the smaller items. When we are ready, we will reach out to C&F to make the dream come true.

Ultimately we went with another company to do the turf in our small backyard. In all the interactions we had with these folks, they just didn't seem that interested in our business. As we had several rounds of back and forth questions, the customer service got worse. After an initial estimate, we made a visit to the store to look at a few turf samples after letting the owner know we were going to drop by. The person at the store couldn't answer any of our basic questions about how the samples differed and when we asked them to follow up with some answers, we never heard from them again.

The whole process couldn't have gone better. Mr. Campbell came out, quickly put together an estimate that included pictures so I could see the problem areas and proposed solution. He gave an estimate that was less than my budget and other bids I'd received. He clearly got to the heart of the problem and his solution worked and solved my water problems. He proposed a schedule and stuck to it. On time, and on budget. Not sure what else I can say, but I wouldn't hesitate to use Campbell and Ferrara landscaping services again.

I was extremely impressed with the work performed by the Campbell and Ferrara team. Their care and workmanship was outstanding in all respects. In particular, I want to commend Chris, their landscape designer for her creativity and attention to detail. She helped guide me with excellent suggestions on both the types and placement of the plantings. All in all I am extremely pleased with my experience with Chris, her team and Campbell & Ferrara.

We worked with Chris Czech who is wonderful. She went out of her way to come to our home several times and adjust the initial design to meet our needs. We love her landscape design and the plants she selected are beautiful. She managed to work in the existing plants we wanted to keep for the front yard. Then she had the idea to transplant other plants to the backyard, which we very much appreciated because we feel bad throwing away plants that are perfectly fine but not ideal for the front yard. We wouldn't have thought of doing that and it was like a bonus because our backyard also ended up looking nicer. Chris' knowledge about plants is extensive and she is great at selecting the right plant for a certain location. We are very happy with how our yard looks.

I dealt with Jim Cambell initially who assigned me to Josh Franklin. Josh was terrific. Patiently answered all our questions about the artificial turf installation and brought us to see an installation in Georgetown. Just prior to the installation date, Josh left the company but promised that Jim Campbell would oversee the job. Prior to his leaving, Josh brought the foreman to our property to review the scope of the project. On installation day, the crew arrived on time, worked very carefully (challenge of underground wiring and irrigation) and cleaned up perfectly. We couldn't be more pleased with the job - planning, execution, customer service. Recently, we needed to contact Jim with a question about adjusting a corner of the turf to accommodate new stone work. We called Jim who was incredibly helpful on the phone and gave us all the information we needed for successful adjustment.

We had to manage the job ourselves in large part and still did not really get what we had signed up for in the beginning. We are trying to get them to replace a couple of trees that died (there is a warranty on plants), but they are charging an arm and a leg for the installation estimate.

The consultant arrived over an hour after scheduled appointment time (said time got away from her). I gave her a plat of the property and photos of the area of the yard both before and after the old tree was removed and explained what I was looking for (walkway and tree/shrub advice, not a full-scale design). She took no measurements of her own but after 45 minutes said she had what she needed. We exchanged several emails. One full month later I had an appointment to go see a powerpoint presentation and the rough sketch. When I arrived at Campbell and Ferrara, the designer was not there. The office located her and she arrived 20-30 minutes later. She said I came on Tuesday instead of Thursday but I have a standing appointment on Thursday and wouldn't have scheduled anything else on that day. After all that, what the designer proposed was worthless: --I wanted stone pavers from the driveway to the front walk. The designer handled this issue well. --I wanted advice as to whether I could safely plant a tree where the huge oak had been removed. (I had previously been advised the ground would sink too much and a new tree might not survive.) She never addressed that question, just offered tree selections to put in the spot. --the driveway was in the wrong place on her drawing, so the shrubs she proposed were misplaced --the area where the shrubs would be was about 4.5-5' wide and 22' long, but she recommended a small ornamental tree and 3 shrubs that would grow 8-12' wide. The tree would work but I questioned the width of the shrubs, particularly since she had misplaced the driveway. So we walked among the shrubs at the nursery and found two cedars that looked narrow enough to work. But when I got home and researched them I found they would be way too small even at adult size-- two shrubs 4-5' wide to fill 22-foot strip? So...I emailed the designer my concerns right away. That was three weeks ago and I have had no response whatsoever, just a big void. The designer's lack of professionalism has been quite stunning. The landscape portion of the company is separate from the nursery, so I cannot attest to the quality of the plants but I would never, ever recommend this company for landscape design.

I had to wait quite a while for some help, but when the shrub person was finally available he was incredibly helpful. He was very knowledgable and recommended plants for my growing conditions. His name might have been Gary Williams. He did not rush me, answered all my questions and gave good advice. Plant Prices are expensive, but the help is invaluable.

They collected payment for the two laurel trees which was about double the other bids but my neighbor had selected them. I paid them for the trees and asked for an estimate on some hardscaping, landscaping, and backyard planting for our yard. The rep was very friendly, came out and looked at the yard but wouldn't commit to giving us a bid on the hardscape... said it was something their company didn't do much of and recommended I call a company that specializes in hard-scaping. I was fine with that but ask that she could bid the planting and other yard features. She said sure. I called an left two messages but never received an estimate or a return phone call. It was almost as if our yard was too small of a job for this nursery.

The estimate alone was $100! I live in a townhouse, so the job would not have been that large. I was only looking to spend around $1000 total. The are not willing to come out unless you are looking to spend at least $3000. The man on the phone was friendly, but I will not be going with this company.

I paid them$100 to come to my house for a consultation on putting in two new planting beds and planting some trees and plants. I told the designer that, while I wanted to buy some plants for the beds, I wanted to leave space for additional planting that I would do myself next year. When I went to see the plan and recommendations for plants, I was shocked at the price of over $6000--about 3 times what I expected, and a very large number of plants included. I told the designer that I doubted that all those plants would fit the space, and it certainly didn't leave any room for me to add things later. I asked to have a copy of the plan, which i thought I had paid for. She said, no I only paid for the consultation, and that the plan was NOT to scale anyway! After some argument from me, she agreed to let me have the plan. I then consulted with a couple of other companies and got significantly lower quotes. I called the Campbell-Ferrara designer back and said their quote was way over my budget and that she had far too many plants in the plan. She took issue with that, and said she would come back and look at it again. However, I was so irritated with her by then, that I told her to forgot the whole thing. I then called and asked for a refund since I didn't feel that the services were competently rendered. They referred me to Mr Campbell, who was out of town, but took a message for him to call me when he returned. He didn't, so i called again, and spoke with him. He said he cuoldn't believe that the designer had done what I said, since she was one of his best. He said he would go look at my house and get back in touch. After a couple of weeks I hadn't heard anything, so I again called them, and he did eventually call back after I left a very testy voice mail. He then agreed to refund my money, and a check arrived a few days later.

Jim worked with me to come up with a design that was spectacular. He put a few flat faced boulders in the dry stack retaining wall to break up the line of the smaller stone. The backyard two tiered patio and firepit with the plantings are amazing. Jim had good ideas to give me what I was looking for while trying to maintain a strict budget. Campbell and Ferrara's people are considerate, professional and will work with you if issues arise. It was a big project so it took a few weeks (weather delays as well) and the price seemed fair at first, then, I saw how much skilled labor it took to build the walls and patio....you get what you pay for....and I came out ahead! To sum up....great product, good design and very accommodating. Will go back to Cand F for my next project.

They did a superb job on the backyard. I was impressed with their work. It was fabulous. They talked to us and listened to us. They came up with a design that met our requirements. They finished the job in a short time and were very professional. They showed up exactly as they advertise. I will use them soon on our front yard.

In my opinion, the 2 new assistant managers do not seem to be as knowledgeable and courteous as necessary. They can be unpleasant sometimes. Their prices are competitive, and their landscaping people are great. The manager is very nice as well.

A Campbell and Ferrara designer came to my home, evaluated our drainage issues, soil conditions and structural concerns. During a second meeting held at their office, they provided me with a bid/proposal for solving our drainage issues. I was so impressed with our designer, they knew exactly how to solve our problem by proposing the installation of a French Drain. At the end of our meeting, I signed the contract, paid a deposit of 1/2 the total contract, then was given an approximate time of when the work would begin. The morning the job began, our designer arrived with their crew and mapped out exactly how the job would be executed. The crew was polite and diligently worked to install our drain. By the time it was all said and done, we had a walk through with our designer and the crew had left our yard clean and DRY! Since our French Drain was installed, we have held multiple parties in the backyard without fear of the ground being to wet to be used. I most definitely will use Campbell and Ferrara again when it's time to install some landscaping.

The work was done promptly and well.