Garden Goods Direct
Reviews and Complaints

I have called, emailed several times (over 10) and have never received response. I was charged over $30 each for plants that resemble basal shoots ( extremely puny and not robust). Spent around $200 and for that, what I received in plants from them would be laughable, except that I'm out the money.

Despite my first daily, now weekly, attempts to contact them i have not once heard a response. It's beyond disappointing...I never complain to businesses but this order was pathetic. If I could give them a negative star, I would.

Check Yelp, BBB, Houzz, etc.

Once you've placed an order and they have your money, that's the end of their interactions with you.

They claim you cancel an order if it's done within the day, but calls to their customer service line goes directly to voicemail. They tell you to 'email [protected]@gardengoodsdirect' for faster service, but they don't respond.

I placed an order and for the last six days, I've been emailing and calling to have the order cancelled. It's still not shipped but the order hasn't been refunded either.

I'll never order from them again.

I have purchased twice from Garden Goods Direct and couldn't be happier! Their product selection is fantastic, their prices quite reasonable and their packaging the best! *** totally ignored the directional arrows and the "Do not Drop" warning, delivering the pkgs on their sides AND dropping them none too gently on my porch. The plants, though exposed to extremely hot temperatures and, in the case of my 2nd shipment of ornamental grasses (3-gal size), exposure to freezing rain 2 days after planting, have all thrived beautifully! I'm quite confident, that come spring, I'll see new growth on well-established plants. I can't wait! I would highly recommend Garden Goods Direct!

We are in a new house. I ordered a number of shrubs for foundation planting, to start a screen, and to continue filling a large area between our garage and walkway. I was impressed by the size and health of the plants. I feel I received a great value for what I paid. The caryopteris took immediately and gave us a beautiful display of blue flowers. The azaleas, mountain laurel and hydrangeas all sprouted new growth, bushing out nicely. The spirea didn't grow much but looks healthy. The lilacs have developed plenty of leaf buds. Proof will be how they over-winter and bloom. We still have a lot more spots to fill and Garden Goods Direct will be the first place I look for plants.

Place is terrible - just use ShrubBucket. They fulfilled part of the order, late, and with plants that were not clearly identified and looked to clearly be a different species than others that came identified. When contacted to send the missing plants and ensure the unidentified varieties were accurate, they could not confirm what plants they had sent but said they would send the ones that were missing. They did not fulfill the remaining order despite being contacted 4 more times. The charge was then disputed with the credit card company. They provided the original shipping information for the incomplete order to have the dispute overturned to continue to drag out the process. Not only incompetent but are willing to be dishonest when something goes wrong. Just stay away.

Do not buy from them. I have been trying to get a refund from them for a few weeks now and they won't. They sent me two plants that died a few days later. They said to file a claim with Route, the shipping service but they only do claims for broken or lost items and it was outside the policy window anyway. The plants were not broken but they were definitely not healthy and they got all rotted and died. I tried everything I could to fix them but they didn't survive and now this company is not responding to me and I just lost $50. It's not a lot of money but to me it is, especially when you pay for something that doesn't "work". So disappointing. I wish I would've seen these reviews before I purchased anything from them. DON'T BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM. BEWARE! I PROVIDED EXPLANATIONS AND PHOTOS AND IT'S LIKE THEY DIDN'T EVEN READ MY EMAIL. THEY ARE SO UNHELPFUL! I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

My experience with Garden Goods Direct was great! I got an email notification a Cherokee Chief dogwood I wanted was back in stock. This notification is a good service, as I'd given up hope of getting one in time for fall planting. On 10/18 I ordered a 5 gal Cherokee Chief dogwood and a 2 gal Swamp Milkweed. I received both plants on 10/21 - pretty fast for shipping from MD to NH! The dogwood was good size, healthy, and beautifully shaped. The swamp milkweed had already started to go dormant, but the stems and roots looked vigorous. I feel the total price I paid, including shipping, was quite reasonable - especially considering I couldn't buy these locally. The company emailed me that they are working with a brand new team and have improved their standards. Only time will tell if they can perform consistently at this higher level. With the excellent experience I had, I'll be ordering more from them in the spring.

I am a repeat customer and very pleased what I bought. Garden Goods Direct offered the less-common varieties I wanted that were unavailable locally. Both orders arrived within two days. The plants were ingeniously packaged to avoid damage and arrived in great shape - even the two plants the FedEx driver left on their sides. They all took to their new homes, helped no doubt by the beneficial fungi that Joey recommended, and we're excited to watch how they develop over the years. Joey gave great advice both during the ordering process and after the sale. A help query re: one plant that I submitted online went nowhere, but a quick phone chat with Joey resolved my issues. I will definitely turn to Garden Goods Direct next time I'm in the market for a beautiful tree or shrub. I'm confident that I'll receive an excellent plant that is in better shape than a Lowe's purchase and less expensive than offered at any of the local nurseries.

On May 24 I ordered 10 Leyland Cypress Trees from this company for $167.65. I called and cancelled order once I realized it was a bad company to do business with. I was told an e-mail would be sent once they will be shipped. On June 4 I had received no email of shipment, so I contacted Joey at the company. He assured me that I would get a full refund and stop the order. I received the order, which has been on my front porch for 9 days now never touched because Joey said a truck would pick them up and it was their mistake, and the refund instead of 8-10 business days that it would appear on my Master Card by June 18. I left another email on the 18th and have not seen the refund or the trees picked up. At this time I have no product or refund. This is a bad company to do business with. If someone could please help get the word out because I have lost $167.65 with nothing to show for it and I paid extra for Route Shipping Insurance. Cindy H.

This is the second time I have ordered from Garden Goods, and again I am very satisfied. This time I ordered 12 Skip Cherry Laurel plants in 1 gal containers, which came in two separate boxes.. ALL of them arrived in excellent condition. I couldn't be happier. I planted these in early November, and now in mid December they all look fantastic. I am so happy to have these planted so the roots will grow over the winter. I will admit that it can be difficult to reach a real person in customer service, but I did receive a call back within a few days of leaving a message. Joey S. was able to answer my questions, and told me that Woodie would not ship a plant not suitable for his own house. And I can believe that statement. In the Spring I hope to order more from them - enough so I can also save on the shipping charges. :) Garden Goods has become my favorite online landscape company for all my needs, and their prices are very competitive. Kevin C., Dallas (Oak Cliff), Texas

order #155248 in June, when I placed this order online, it gave me the option of delaying the delivery and gave me a calendar for July. I clicked on the last week of July. I paid in full, $312.21 at that time. I received an email that said they were getting my 6 Thuja G Giant Arborvitae trees ready to send! I wrote and reminded them of their obligation to hold this order. this went on forever, emailing back and forth with Jaden in customer service, who said over and over it would be handled. I tried calling customer service several times and never got past their recording. well, yesterday the trees were delivered to our future address ! the building co. foreman went crazy because the house can't receive personal items until after the closing. I want this company held accountable and I want a full refund because they did not honor their promises. I have instructed them to contact Fedex to pick up the trees immediately but they never do anything that's asked of them.

I ordered 5 plants from them at a cost of $289. 4 of the plants were fine, but the 5th one was not. I ordered a 3 gal. Hydrangea and what I got was a plant that had been cut back almost to ground level. I am not sure it is even the kind of plant I ordered. I contacted customer service via email and explained the issue requesting a replacement of the plant. I received an email back from Veronica in customer service. She requested a picture of the plant in question. I sent a picture. It has been two weeks now since I sent the picture to Veronica. I have emailed her again 3 times, have called the company phone number and left 2 messages (one for Veronica and one for anyone in customer service) to respond to my issue. I have not had any response from anyone. I see from other reviews that this is a common practice from them. Guess I will have to chalk it up to lesson learned. I want to warn others to be very cautious if you are thinking of buying from these guys. When I pay that much for a plant, I expect to at the very least to get a response to my issue.

DO NOT ORDER/ READ THE RETURN POLICY FIRST - This business is a complete scam... they apparently have great reviews on their site and ads but I have no idea how. I ordered a Fiddle Leaf Fig that was $170 back in the fall and it showed up dead and had been shipped upside down. I emailed their customer service and they said that they do not do refunds, but they would issue me a credit to place a new order in the spring since the "cold temps during shipment killed the tree". So, come April , I placed a new order, using the credit, for a smaller Fiddle Leaf Fig and a Philodendron Monstera. These two plants showed up in HORRIBLE condition. The fiddle was completely wilting and brown - beyond saving. And the monstera was also dying and not healthy what so ever... I was able to propagate some of the stems and I am attempting to create new plants based on that, but when you buy a new plant you shouldn't have to do that right off the bat. I've emailed customer service multiple times with photos of the dead plants with NO RESPONSE, and they claim that they do not do any refunds of any kind and that it's stated in their "terms and conditions". Even after I payed EXTRA for shipping insurance for the second order. SO DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM unless you want to spend over $200 for dead plants... such a scam its crazy. Truly bummed.

FIrst of all, I contacted Garden Goods, inquiring on the size of a forsythia bush. I was told that they're "at present two to three feet tall." So I ordered a forsythia, along with a burning bush and two mountain laurel shrubs. My order was more than $170 for four shrubs. When I received the order, I found the forsythia was only 17" tall. The mountain laurel were in good condition, but the burning bush was dry and shriveled with several broken branches. I contacted GGD and let them know about the issues and the only thing they said was that the burning bush would "bounce back" (or wording to that effect) and to contact them if the shrub didn't improve after planting. It hasn't. It's struggling right now and has absolutely no new growth. I feel they are misleading in their information on their products. The mountain laurel bushes both have stunted leaves that look burned and I'm not sure if they're going to make it either. Garden Goods Direct also sneak in almost $10 in shipping insurance in their final bill, which is not listed anywhere, at least not where I noticed. I've called and emailed them to no avail; this company is NOT worth dealing with, considering what you pay for and what you ultimately end up with. I doubt I'll be ordering anything from them again because you get no satisfaction at all with attempts in communication.

TLDR - Order from 'Fast Growing Trees' or 'The Tree Center'. Avoid this place at all costs. 1) Before my order, I asked several questions, I never got an answer. That should have been my sign. 2) After my order I realized some of the information their website was wrong and they confirmed it was incorrect and cancelled part of my order and promised to issue a refund. 3) The goods after shipping took over a week to get to me and many were near death and several were missing. I contacted them., 4) I went to plant the plants and a whole group of them had a massive ant infestation. So much so I had to spray tons of ant killer on them and place them in an isolated part of yard and set out terro traps overnight and it still only sort of fixed the problem. 5) The arborvitae they sent were not trained be a single leader (most good nurseries do this) and we soooooo root-bound we had to soak them in water to even begin breaking up the roots. 6) I STILL (6 weeks after order, 1.5 weeks after deliver) have not recieved my refund for my cancelled plants or any action on the dead or missing plants. I have opened up one Paypal investigation and may have to open another. The same day I order from these guys I order a bunch from Fast Growing Trees and The Tree Center and received great service and plants. Don't waste your time here. Go to those guys.

I ordered two wedding gown hydrangeas and another smaller bush on April 16th, totaling almost $200 . I received notification that the smaller bush was shipped a few days later. This companies website states shipping takes 5-7 business days. Within that time frame the hydrangeas never shipped. The small bush arrived and it was mediocre at best. I started to email the company of why the other two bushes never shipped. I allowed for 72 hour window for a reasonable response which I never received. I went to facebook and asked when will they be shipping. I was responded that a plant I did not even purchase was shipping next week. They had my order wrong with someone else. I received a phone call from one of their customer service representatives that lacked every aspect of doing his job. He continued to give me lame excuses of why the order had not shipped yet. Claimed he was going to try and get it on the truck that day to be shipped out. That never happened. I did not even get offered any remorse. 5 days later, the bushes arrived horribly packaged, branches completely broken and a box that was completely water logged. This is an embarrassment of a company. I had over $1000 in my cart to purchase more from this company and I will do everything in my power to let everyone know never order from this joke of a nursery. Buy somewhere local. It will save you a huge headache.

Terrible customer service and half dead plants. I purchased two arabica coffee plants on January 1. I was a little surprised by the cost and shipping total but decided to buy the plants anyway, one as a gift and one for myself. They shipped on January 5 which made me hopeful considering I had read many reviews that stated their items never shipped. The plants arrived on January 12 in pretty rough shape. I had hoped it was shipping shock but the plants have continued to deteriorate. I contacted customer service on January 13 and did not hear back from them until January 15. I was contacted by Robin B. I did not initially contact customer service to receive a refund, I contacted them so that they could give me some pointers on reviving these sad plants. I included pictures of the plants straight out of the box. Customer service offered no solution other than " If you are not satisfied with your new arrival, contact us within 5 days of purchase so we can try to make it right". After four useless emails from Robin B. and still no closer to a solution I became fed up and asked for a refund. Robin B.'s response, "We have conducted a QA on our era inventory and all of our Arabica Coffee Bean are viable. Our horticulturist has discerned that your shrubs did not thrive because the area where they are planted may have retained too much water. We are unable to issue a refund or replacements at this time." The plants have not been planted anywhere, they came out of the box looking like this. It sounds to me that they don't want to offer solutions or actually make anything right with their customers. I had planned on purchasing more plants from this company but after this experience I can say I will never purchase from them again nor will I recommend them to anyone. What a rip off.

If I could give this company a Zero I would. If anyone sees this, do not buy from this company! My husband ordered me a new hoya plant from them for valentines day. He paid for 3 day shipping but the plant was over 2 weeks late even though he paid extra. They sent me a dying / already dead plant. I own other hoya plants and know how they are suppose to look and feel. They are supposed to be very firm, waxy plump leaves with strong vines. The colors are very vibrant in bright emerald green with pinks, and cream color mixed in. The plant they sent me is weak, limp, leaves falling off, and a pale vomit green color. When I hold a leave between my fingers and press lightly I feel very mushy soft leaves. With this plant you can bend the leaves in half with no breakage because of how mushy soft they are, with other hoya plants if you do this you could snap the leaf and break it. They shouldn't feel like this at all. I contacted the company to let them know the state of this plant and try and get a refund. They requested pictures so I provided many pictures including ones with it next to my healthy hoya plants so they could see the drastic difference. I received an other reply asking for only pictures of the dead plant. I replied stating that is the plant! How could any think that is a healthy living plant! I went the extra step and even made a video showing the state of this poor plant and compared it to one of its same species plants to show the difference and how they sent me a dead plant. The reply I received next was the same automated message from the start of my first one requesting I send them pictures to better assist me. I didn't get any comment on my pictures or video showing the plant they mailed me. You can't even go to their website to write a review there because they don't allow it. I checked yelp which shows a true review list of poor service to other customers and I believe some of the reviews here are fake so I'm sharing my experience with them. I'm going to look into filing a complaint about this company because clearly they are making people very unhappy with poor customer service and poor quality in their products.

I ordered three plants from them, two of them were OK, albeit haphazardly packaged. But the third was packaged and shipped to me upside down (I checked, it wasn't the courier's fault). Consequently, all the leaves were torn and the pot was also half empty. Despite my best efforts in changing the pot and putting the plant where it get sufficient bright indirect light, the plant died within a week. I have bought plants online from many different vendors and their packaging is the most unprofessional I've encountered. I did contact customer support last week and they initially responded to me asking for pictures. Since I provided the pictures, I have not heard back. This was 4/28. I followed up earlier and still did not hear back.

I had purchased 2 1 gallon pots of fire alarm heuchera plants from garden Goods Direct. They arrived very small and looked unhealthy. After no success of bringing these plants back to life I reached out via email to Garden Goods Direct a week ago. I previously bought two 1 gallon pots of obsidian heuchera plants that are in wonderful shape , and then it dawned on me that the previous one gallon pots that I received was not the same as the one gallon pots of my unhealthy fire alarms. So I reached out to them again via email one day after my initial email. I have not received a response yet! After spending over $400 with this company I am very disappointed. I would like to receive what I paid for which was 2 1 gallon pots of fire alarm heucheras.

I am sad that I neglected to do my research on this company before placing an order with them. CAVEAT EMPTOR with this company. I ordered (4) 'Show Off *** Dwarf Forsythia'. Order ***, placed on April The plants arrived STACKED on top of one another. 2 gallon plants. The bottom plants were clearly crushed, and I have no idea how anyone would expect these to survive transit. I sent pictures and the feedback from the company's customer service was they would give me a 25% discount- obviously a ploy to spend more $$ with them, and likely receive further damaged goods in a never ending cycle. I also purchased a warranty which is also now not available to apply to this damage. They may be alive, but for $50 per plant, I would expect them to be properly packaged for transit.

I ordered a tree on 5/25 (Order #***) which arrived sick & defective. See the attached email to GG customer service concerning the full problem and requested a full refund of product cost and shipping. In all I sent 3 emails and received no response from the company. The order value was $102.91.The situation is very disappointing as I had other options for the purchase of the tree, but selected Garden Goods due to their website appearance. The only acceptable solution from a reputable and quality vendor is a full and prompt refund and apology for not addressing or responding to the issue I made clear to them on three occasions. Problems happen, but what separates the good companies from the bad is how they handle problems. I will wait to see if this issue is resolved before I pass judgement and write unfavorable reviews here, on social media sites and then file a Maryland Consumer Protection Agency claim.

I ordered 19 Ornamental Grass plants. Order # ***. I chose to order from Garden Direct specifically because they had 1 gallon pots , and I assumed the plants were bigger than what I had previously purchased from other nurseries that sold in 1 qt pots. The pots that arrived are all dirt, with small roots. They charge for 1 gallon size and plant smaller plants in the container. I am unhappy with all the plants, 6 of them are especially bad, with a few blades sticking out. I contacted the company and was told they are dormant. These plants are not dormant, they are green. I ordered ornamental grasses from other companies in the spring and they were green and full, in 1 qt pots and the plants were bigger than these. I order and plant more grasses every spring, so I am not new to them. I would accept a replacement for 12 plants if they were fuller/ larger plants or a refund for 12. There were only 7 plants (Dwarf Fountain Grass) that are marginally acceptable

The company sent me the wrong color petunias and then claimed it was my fault that they werent what I expected. I showed them proof that the color doesnt match the *** version of the petunias I already have, nor does it match the pictures on their website. I expected the same color as shown on their website for violet petunias. They are distinctly a pink color and not the color on the website or the color of my other violet petunias. The petunias came COVERED in spider mites, thankfully I mitigated them effectively and the plants are turning green again. The company offered no money off for their mistake and blamed me entirely. I want to warn others to never buy from them.In the photos, I'm holding the violet petunias that were received that are actually pink with white centers. The violet petunias I grew from seed have dark centers, exactly like the the screenshot off the website of the flowers I ordered and did not receive. The ones I received are pink with white centers.

Order#***. I order several plants online from this company. 4 out of the 5 grasses are dying and not viable. Order was made in March . Warranty according to their website is for 1 year they will replace item. After several emails and predictable responses from company they refuse to honor the warranty. They offer predictable suggestions such as place in full sun. Which the plants are in full sun. I have supplied them with different pictures through the day showing these. They seem to think that if they can run the course of the year out they will be off the hook of their warranty. The one plant is thriving and is located in the same area as the dying ones. I did notice when I did plant them that the root balls where not very established and were brittle but I gave them a shot. Now they will not stand behind their warranty. After doing my research I learned many customers have had similar issues. I want a full refund now do to my distrust of this company and poor customer servic

- 5/15 I ordered a climbing hydrangea from this business, payment was taken and confirmation emails were received -5/17-Received an email stating product was back in stock and would ship the week of 5/25 -5/31-Emailed to check on status of order, as no one will answer the phone or return messages in the customer service department -6/1- Received email stating the product was on back order due to supplier issue, I asked that the order be canceled in a follow-up email 6/3-Received an email stating that the order was canceled, refund would post in 5-10 business days 6/18-Sent an email to check on the status of the refund, as it had not posted by this date 6/18-Received an email stating my issue had been forwarded to the support staff for resolution and would be sending an update in 48-72 hours 7/6-As of this date, I have not received my product, a refund nor an update about the status of the refund. I attempted to make contact again, but could not get anyone to pick up the phone.

On June 9th, I ordered two plants from their web site, which said they were in stock. On June 10th they posted the entire amount to my credit card. Since they posted the amount the next day, I expected to receive my plants in a day or so. I live in Damascus, MD and they are located in Bowie, MD. I didn't receive any communication from them for a week, after which I made 3 phone calls and an e-mail by me requesting my plants. After my e-mail and a week and a half later, I receive an e-mail that says they are out of stock and are on back order. For almost two weeks they had my money and then, they inform me they don't have my plants. I immediately cancel the order. Their response is to credit my card in 5 to 10 business days. The only positive was a woman in customer service, named Victoria B. She was outstanding. Bottom line, they advertised on their web site they had the plants, they immediately post my payment to my credit card and then sat on the order a good week and a half with out any communication to me. I went to another company in minutes, ordered the same plants for less and received my plants in three days. Buyer Beware.

I ordered from this business in good faith. At the front end of my shopping experience, I was promised a replacement or refund of my purchase if there was a problem with my order. I also paid an additional fee for insurance so the plants could be replaced. In addition, my order qualified for free shipping based on the dollar amount spent, I was charged shipping despite the site indicating it would be removed. I ordered several plants one arrived dead and in a second shipment, another arrived sick with bacterial blight. I have reached out to the company via email several times. I have left phone messages requesting that the seller contact me, no one answers the phone or returns e-mail messages. The company says they review and process all claims within 3-5 business days. I have followed all of the directions to receive my refund or replacement and it has been over 14 days. After my frustration trying to contact this company I began looking for a way to review them and found they have an F from the ComplaintsBoard.com and 1.5 stars on other sites, obviously they have customer service issues. I also feel the company falsely advertises. They claim to be "America's #1 garden center," I think it's pretty clear that statement is blatantly false.

In April I ordered 3 Maple Trees, of the 1 of these trees was smaller and did not have leaves when I received them. I called Garden Goods Direct then and I was told to allow the plant to adapt and sure enough some leave developed but never really took like the other 2. Because of the poor communication with GGD when I initially called I waited and this spring the tree never developed leaves like the others and I called to get a replacement. After several attempts to reach GGD I finally just ordered another one and PAID for a larger tree to match the other 2 that had grown. I contacted customer service and was told I would receive a discount and a refund of the $19.95 shipping fee which after a week was given in the form of a credit for future purchases. I have tried to call several dozen times and you can never get anyone on the phone and a recording asks you to leave a message. I have responded to emails from GGD customer service department but they always sight the websites policy and procedures and reaching them on social media yields the same result ... or lack of. adter 2 weeks I have NOT RECEIVED my order and GGD will not provide me with tracking numbers to figure out when I will get the items ordered so I can move on. This company represents all that is bad about ordering online and is a shining example of poor customer service.

On 4/19 I placed an order for 2 Maple Trees and 3 Hydrangeas. My order number is #***. The total order was over $300 - I also paid for delivery insurance. The order shipped a week later on 4/26 with *** and initially had a delivery date of 4/28. Starting on 4/29 I tried to reach Garden Goods Direct by phone, through email, and through their website review each day. I left numerous messages and was continuously told I'd be contacted back. Finally on 5/2 I reached a rep via phone. First she said I need to contact ***, and I explained to her that she is ***'s customer, and although I had tried, that responsibility is hers. She then assured me she'd be reaching out to *** and contacting me back. She never did. It's important to explain that the reason I was focused on the shipping time is because the order was for plants, and I'm unaware of how long plants can survive in boxes. On 5/5, I called and got Joey on the phone. He also said he'd reach out to ***, and that *** would call me to help arrange delivery. He also assured me that Garden Goods Direct would re-send any damaged/unsatisfactory plants. We began communication via text message. On 5/7, I finally received the two trees that were in poor condition, and Joey informed me that the hydrangea order was turned around. He said a new complete order would reship no later than Monday (which I took as 5/11). I took pictures of the trees and sent them to him so GGD could file a claim with ***. 5/12 I reached out to Joey for new tracking - no response. 5/13 I reached out - he gave me an incorrect tracking number and then said he'd get the right one, but still has not. 5/14 I reached out again - no response. I'm honestly not upset there was a shipping issue. *** was at fault for that. But the lack of communication and a timely response is very telling about the lack of integrity of this company.

Ordered a 3 gallon "Red Crepe Myrtle" tree (4-5 feet) from an online nursery on July 2 as I could not find the specific flower color locally. My initial email on July 6, included photos showing insect activity and the smaller size received (1 gallon). After the tree bloomed with white instead of red flowers, I emailed them on August 26th. They sent a replacement, but it was also 1 gallon. It died over winter in NC. Despite their 1-year guarantee, Garden Goods Direct refused a refund, offering only a 50% off coupon. I declined further purchases and was denied a refund despite their policy not requiring warranty insurance at purchase time.