Direct Gardening
Reviews and Complaints

I purchased 0ver $500 worth of Creeping Thyme last Fall from this company. When I received them I took pictures, they were dead and black and dry feeling. I emailed the pictures and was told they were dormant and wait until the Spring before filing a claim and they will replace them. Now, I sent an email with all the previous emails and pictured from them to have them send me more Creeping thyme to replant. I was informed I had to give them the original label. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHY didn't they tell me to save the label for return? I have a copy of the label and it is perfect but they say they won't accept that. I will be going to the Better Business and will be getting a lawyer to sue them for false advertising and as a scam if they don't make this right. It's not like I want my money back. I just want healthy plants I paid for. I would give a minus 10 right now if I could.

If I could give a MINUS 5 STAR REVIEW, I would.

I ordered over $140 worth of plants my first order. They arrived in horrible to "dead" state. They offer to replace but you have to send in original label (which I did) each time. Then they replace with more horrible plants. You also have to send everything snail mail so I always sent certified so they had to reply. I've lost money with them because you finally get so beat down from dealing with then you just give up!the last time I sent back the "fix" plants that were in poor condition I did not send certified... big mistake they never responded and I just threw in the towel! Never do business with this company!

I have now received 3 replacement orders for the 3 dead replacements they have sent. Customer service is rude and insulting, and make it next to impossible to prove they are in the wrong. This is really a bad scam company. Save your time and money, and work with an HONEST company

Dont EVER buy from this place! I ordered 6 blue spruce trees, got them, soaked the roots, planted them. Four of 6 died. Contacted them, they wanted packing slip. I didnt have it, they said send proof you bought them via usps. I did, they returned all papers, they wanted the dead trees. I had already replaced them, , threw the dead ones away. Now they wont return calls or emails. They stand behind nothing, their products are usually in bad shape when you get them
People are getting ripped off!

I did a order on May 25, 2018 ref#EYNRXUVCJ the company processed my credit card the next week. Weeks went by on June 18, 2018 I called customer service and they told me they would ship on June 25, 2018. Today is July 2, 2018 still no product, called customer service again and was told I would have to write a e-mail to cancel the order and they could not tell me how long it would be before my money would be returned.
VERY VERY BAD COMPANY I WILL REPORT THEM TO BBB IN THE AREA.

I ordered 24 Indian Current Coralberries, 2 Pink flowering almonds, and 24 burning bush from Direct Gardening. I soaked the roots in water and planted all of these as directed in July of 2017. I watered all of these plants every other day. I waited until May of 2018 to see any sign of life. I sent a registered letter to Direct Gardening on May 9th, 2018, first delivery attempt was refused, finally on May 17th, 2018 they accepted the letter requesting replacements for all of the above mentioned plants but 7 burning bushes. With the exception of the 8 bushes, all others did not show any sign of life in 2017 or in 2018. I have emailed them 3 times now to get a follow up on the request for replacements, no response. I have tired to call them 20 times since May 17th, 2018 and receive a busy signal. I have been gardening for 25 years and have experience with growing bare root plants. I am very surprised of the amount of plants that survived. 14% (7 of 50) plants showed any sign of life in 2017 and came back in 2018. This is a very low percentage of survival. I would not recommend Direct Gardening at this point, even if you are an experienced gardener.

From: Tamela A Jones [mailto:[protected]@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2018 1:35 PM
To: 'Direct'
Subject: RE: Order confirmation

It has been three weeks since I placed my order and I have not been notified that the order has shipped. However, I see Direct Gardening charged my credit card two weeks ago and I have been bombarded with additional solicitation emails from your company.
This is my first order with your company and Direct Gardening has certainly earned the title of my "least favorite" online gardening supplier. I ordered based on a reasonable delivery for appropriate planting time for my region. I am very disappointed, because I am a very experienced gardener… Plant or transplant after the temperatures are 90 plus degrees results in unsuccessful planting and money wasted.
I would like a specific date my order will be shipped or I will be asking for a refund of my monies.
Respectfully,
Tamela Jones

From: Direct [mailto:[protected]@directgardening.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2018 2:40 PM
To: Tamela A Jones
Subject: Re: Order confirmation

Thank you for your email. Your order is currently in processing, which typically takes 2-3 weeks. Upon completion your order will be scheduled to ship based upon plant availability and weather.

Also, just as a reminder, once you receive your order be sure to hold onto the original shipping label from the outside of the package for your one year replacement guarantee.

Thank You and Happy Gardening!
Thank you,

Customer Care
On 4/30/2018 11:25 AM, Tamela A Jones wrote:
When can I expect this order to ship?

From: Direct Gardening [mailto:[protected]@directgardening.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2018 2:18 PM
To: Tamela Jones
Subject: Order confirmation

Error! Filename not specified.

Hi Tamela Jones,
Thank you for shopping with direct gardening!

order details
Order: EQIXUONWL Placed on 04/26/2018 14:18:03

Payment: Credit Card Carrier: Standard Shipping

Item # Product Unit Price Order Quantity Package Quantity Total Quantity Total Price

6825
Giant Hardy Hibiscus
$7.49
1
10
10
$7.49

FG3838
3 Hardy Gladiolus
$0.00
1
1
1
$0.00

6873
Fern-Leaf Bleeding Heart
$7.00
1
5
5
$7.00

5638
Red Painted Daisy
$3.79
1
3
3
$3.79

6159
Black-Eyed Susan
$6.99
1
3
3
$6.99

6814
Creeping Phlox
$4.59
1
12
12
$4.59

FG7466
3 Balloon Flowers
$0.00
1
1
1
$0.00

7739
Oriental Lily Mixture
$7.99
1
7
7
$7.99

6458
Stargazer Lily
$6.49
1
6
6
$6.49

FG7467
3 Strawberries
$0.00
1
1
1
$0.00

5002
Royal Red Daylily
$3.89
1
2
2
$3.89

6231
Mixed Russell Lupine
$5.99
1
3
3
$5.99

FG2067
1 Stella D'Oro Daylily
$0.00
1
1
1
$0.00

3478
Changing Hydrangea Tree
$2.99
1
2
2
$2.99

5693
Red Carpet Border Lily
$7.99
1
8
8
$7.99

6806
Oriental Poppy
$3.99
1
3
3
$3.99

6826
Orange Glory Butterfly Plant
$6.99
1
3
3
$6.99

6213
Blazing Stars Liatris
$3.79
2
40
80
$7.58

6248
President Canna
$5.99
1
2
2
$5.99

6201
Mixed Butterfly Bush
$3.88
1
2
2
$3.88

7306
Hummingbird Vine
$4.99
1
4
4
$4.99

6631
Hall's Honeysuckle
$5.79
1
6
6
$5.79

7266
Chameleon Tri-Color Houttuynia
$4.69
1
3
3
$4.69

5217
Mixed Monarda
$11.49
1
4
4
$11.49

7734
Daring Deception Daylily
$4.00
1
1
1
$4.00

7723
Strawberry Candy Daylily
$4.00
1
1
1
$4.00

5296
White Daylily
$1.99
1
1
1
$1.99

4965
Fragrant Lavender
$5.69
1
3
3
$5.69

4282
Pink Daylily
$1.99
1
1
1
$1.99

7273
Green & White Hosta
$2.29
1
1
1
$2.29

7770
White Feather Hosta
$7.99
1
1
1
$7.99

8633
Free Giant Double Peony
$0.00
1
1
1
$0.00

Free Giant Double Peony with Newsletter Signup
$0.00

Free 3 Balloon Flower Mix with an order of $35 or more
$0.00

Free 1 Stella D'oro Daylily with an order of $70 or more
$0.00

Free 3 Strawberries with an order of $50 or more
$0.00

Free 3 Hardy Gladiolus with every order
$0.00

Products:
$148.54

Shipping:
$9.99

Tax:
$0.00

Total:
$158.53

shipping address
Tamela Jones
519 N. Sunset Blvd
Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63701
United States
[protected]
billing address
Tamela Jones
519 N. Sunset Blvd
Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63701
United States
[protected]

You can review your order and download your invoice from the "Order history" section of your customer account by clicking "My account" on our website.

If you have a guest account, you can follow your order via the "Guest Tracking" section on our shop.
Our one year guarantee
If any item you purchased from us does not live, for a free replacement just return the original shipping label along with your written request within 1 year of receipt. If you are dissatisfied with any merchandise, return it together with the original shipping label within 1 year of receipt for a free replacement. Replacement guarantee is void unless the original shipping label is returned. For a REFUND of the purchase price, return the item and the original shipping label, with the correct postage affixed, within 14 days of receipt.
Our shipping policy
Orders of nursery stock and plants placed after October 31, 2017 will be shipped in 2018.
The winter months are a great time to plan your garden and reserve your plants for next spring. We continue to take orders through the winter and will ship according to proper planting time and availability of the stock. We will continue to ship hard goods throughout the winter. Expect nursery stock to arrive next spring.
As a general rule, we begin shipping nursery stock in early March to the southern states and warmest climates first. As weather and climatic conditions permit, we begin shipping to other locations. We wait to ship sensitive houseplants and other greenhouse plants until after April 1 or when weather permits.
Cancellation policy
We can only guarantee cancellation of an order if it is requested the same day the order is placed. All other cancellation requests must come to us in writing. Once we have begun shipping for the season, it is difficult to cancel an order. We appreciate your understanding.

Direct Gardening designed and hosted by © CTB, Inc. All rights reserved.

For my first order (OZWIWDUCO-6/3/17), I ordered and received (6/9/17) 24 plastic containers of what should have been Snow on the Mountain ground cover. These are live plants and not bare root. Some of the containers only had dirt and others had a single stem rotting at the soil line. Other plants arrived healthy. I ran short of plants and ordered another 24 and these also arrived in a mixed state . As per their instructions, I requested replacements for 7 of the plants from the first order. Request was mailed June 28, 2017 with original shipping label. Called July 12, 2017 and no record of my request and was advised to wait a week. On July 14, 2017, I received my original letter, documentation and a standard note stating that I complained that my plants appear dead and much of their nursery stock shipped is dormant. This is not the case. No one really took the time to read my letter and provide a response to my complaint. Instead, I received a standard response to a non-applicable problem.
I called again on July 14, 2017 and was told I need to wait 6 weeks for my dormant plants to come to life and if they do not grow to resubmit my request specifying the quantity, type of plant with appropriate documentation. I asked why did they not keep my correspondence and contact me. This is not how they do complaints. As I see it, this is nothing more than a delaying tactic in replacing live plants that should never have been shipped in the first place. Poor quality control. Even worse, representatives are not properly trained to deal with customer requests/complaints. I do not remember a 6 week waiting period to replace live plants. Now some of the plants from the second order have failed to live and I have to go through this again. Ugh!
At $4 a plant, I expect better. I would NOT recommend Direct Gardening as a source of plants.
I would like my original request for 7 Snow-on-the-Mountain plants to be replaced as quickly as possible.

This place is a sham and customer service is a nightmare. I bought poplars from them and they arrived bone dry. I've bought poplar saplings before via the Internet so I know how healthy saplings should arrive. These were complete dead. I contacted them. They asked that I please plant them and give them six weeks. I did as I was asked. When they remained dead, I contacted them again and they said I should have returned them within 14days.
Then I looked them up and now realize this is their scheme.
This place is a joke.
DONT BUY FROM THEM!

I want to share my experience with other people, because it might be useful. I bought 5 plants from the company Direct Gardening. I placed the order in April and have received the plants only 4 months later. The company didn’t reply to my emails within all these months and when I got the plants, they didn’t look very good. After I have planted them, it took 2 months and they didn’t survive. I have placed negative feedback, but they company again hasn’t reacted.

I placed an order with this company on 8/26/15 and received my order 2 weeks later. Part of my order was missing although the label indicated that the items were included. The items I did receive were of very poor quality and one item that was actually still living was completely smashed. I called the company and explained the situation and was advised that I would be required to cut the label off of the packaging and send it to the company with my complaint and them my items might be sent out.
Why is it that the customer has to do the work to fix this mess up? I did my part by placing my order and paying for it and waiting for it to arrive. I expect any reputable company to take responsibility for their mistake apologize and send the missing items out by express mail and offer to return at least part of the original shipping costs for my inconvenience. With that being said it proves to me that this is a company that cares very little about quality and reputation. I have ordered from several gardening companies over the years and have never been this disappointed and disgusted by a company and their polices and attitude as I am with this company. I will never place another order with this company.

I live in france but Gardening direct only deliver to the UK, so I arranged for some plants to be sent to my mother's house in UK to coincide with my vist there. The plants were ordered on the 14th march, I visited from the 16th to the 30th march but the plants did not arrive during that period. they arrived on the 31st march, 3 days longer than the 14 days specified. my mother who is 97, blind and housebound had to arrange for someone to post them on to me, a stressful experience for her and at a cost of £6. When the box arrived at my house (7th April!) part of the order was missing. I had previously sent an email asking where the plants were but I never recieved a reply. I phone to complain and was told that the £6 was not refundable even though the late arrival was their fault. I learnt that the rest of the order had not been sent yet and despite being exceedingly late it could not be sent direct to France. I asked to speak to the manager but apparently it is forbidden for customers to do this and was told "someone" would call me back in 2 days.

This is hardly an example of good business practice and customer relations! I will certainly never buy anything from gardening direct again and I advise other people to not to use them. In a nutshell, they are a crap company.

Go to davesgardening and read..280 complaints and growing copy paste address...
http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/231/
My Complaint.. NO manager contact...read domain gardening.com owner of website name and call him
Posted on November 8, 2010, updated November 8, 2010
I placed two orders in 2008...38 out of 46 trees were DEAD upon arrival...out of 46...4 YES 4 trees lived through year one...of those 2 survived to 2010... Now in replacement order...88% of trees were dead...or 12% WERE ALIVE ON ARRIVAL.. alive...
You cannot get a manager...you cannot get real person...only get rhetoric...send your original invoice...we will send replacements..WHAT AN IDEA...YOU WILL SEND ME MORE DEAD TREES FOR THE PREVIOUS DEAD TREES...I did find one reference...so please mail and call this guy...I will find corporate ownership papers next...this is guy that owns the website name directgardening.com so call him and complain..and mail him ...since they hide and you cannot get a real person.. I told them I am going to post your dead trees on ebay...I don't want more dead trees and third growing season...I want a refund.. I emailed them this is your last warning I am going to drive there to complain..to only address I can find.. or have lawyer sue you..refund my money, give me a real person...no reply except get call from Bloomington police dept...here is website owner...call and ask for Rusty repeatedly...and mail him postal mail.. I will find corporate owner information and post that...
DON'T BUY FROM THEM...THEY ARE A RIPOFF..
CALL RUSTY / MAIL RUSTY AND COMPLAIN HE OWNS WEBSITE NAME...
Bledsoe, Rusty**
[protected]@COMETOBUY.COM
3006 Gill Street
Suite E
BLOOMINGTON, IL [protected]
US
Phone: [protected]
Fax: [protected]
On November 8th, 2010, digosrick added the following:

Update: According to Whitepages.com

Rusty Bledsoe...is owner of Directgardening.com website
domain name..so he is registered owner of the site...
so according to whitepages.com here is his Information..
Negative unhappy customers ...please start mailing and calling him..
He has our address and phone number so instead of hiding and ripping customers off ..it is only fair..Dear Mr. Bledsoe I wish you no harm but " I WANT A REFUND.."

Rusty Bledsoe Is this you? Edit

19 Hodgehaven Cir
Bloomington, IL [protected]

[protected]
Household: Terri J Bledsoe, Glenn E Blesoe,

Warning, you may be very disapointed as I was with the quality, timliness and lack of customer service.
An order was placed over their website after reviewing their catalog that was mailed. I paid with credit card and they charged immediately the full amount. The shippment took 5 weeks and the bare root trees were dry, dead with few roots and no materials to keep them moist in shippment. I returned the them immediately and requested a refund. 15 days later nothing. I have called 3 times and emailed 3 and they just say give it another week to process. Have a look at the photo...looks like $75?

DO NOT BUY FROM THEM. Last year's order was fraught with problems but my daughter was told to plant and wait. So, when it was clear several plants were not viable, she asked for a refund. But she needed labels and dead plants sent back so she accepted a voucher which could not be used until this year since it gets far too hot to use mail service in summer. She used the voucher this spring and when she complained about the quality of some of these new plants, she learned that since the voucher was for last year's plants and since the guarantee is only for a year, this year's plants bought with last year's voucher are not guaranteed. Since one of those was a gift of a Mr. Lincoln Rose for me as a mother, I am really dismayed. I have pictures of the pitiful plant with its tag and asked for a replacement. Request denied! Two years of disappointment and lost money. It's truly the strangest thing I have ever encountered. Imagine that it's the age of the money, not the viability of the plants, that is guaranteed. The company has no reason to send quality plants. The company insists its policy is clear but they cannot or will not explain why the guarantee does not belong to the current plant. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM.