Our plants are available as bare root stock (this is the best value, but they must be planted promptly), in 2 1/4" pots, gallons, or in our 3 1/2" pot. The 3 1/2" pot is the container we selected to provide a quality root system with foliage equivalent to a quart. The 3 1/2" pot saves on shipping costs while presenting full-size foliage. Those savings are passed on to you in the form of lower prices.

If you are receiving plants during hot summer months, we suggest you leave a note to alert UPS that you are receiving live plants, it can help assure receipt of your plants in the best possible condition.

When we ship

Your plants arrive in the best condition if they do not spend the weekend idle in transit. Therefore, (unless you request otherwise) we only ship on days where the shipment will generally reach you before the weekend (see table below).

Orders are shipped quickly. The following table details the normal shipping schedule (orders may ship sooner if we're having a slow day). If Monday is a holiday, the shipping day may slip one day. Please note that bare root Vinca minor is shipped by a partner, see the shipping schedule on the pages where bare root Vinca minor is described.

UPS does not deliver on Thanksgiving or the day after Thanksgiving. Thus, orders placed the week before Thanksgiving that would normally ship to a 2-day or 3-day zone on the Monday before Thanksgiving will instead be shipped the Thursday or Friday before Thanksgiving so there is no risk of them sitting somewhere over the four-day weekend. The weather is cool enough that the extra two days in transit over the weekend will not adversely affect the plants.

Please note that we will not hold orders unless you request it. If you do not want your order shipped as soon as possible, you must specify your desired shipping date when you checkout. [ more info ]

Transit time

The following table gives a good estimate of how long the shipment will take to reach you and when you can expect your order to be shipped. In rare instances the transit time is one more day than expected.

If you desire a precise indication of transit time, you can get a fairly precise expected transit time based on your zip code. Overnight or other expedited shipping is available if you pay the incremental freight cost (it's extremely expensive, generally doubling the cost of the order) - contact sales to inquire.

Our arrangement with UPS does not include weekend delivery. If you need delivery on a weekend, it can be arranged but it will be expensive.

Updates and cancellations

After 1:00 PM EDT the day before the order is to ship, it cannot be changed (but still may be able to be cancelled).
After 8:00 AM EDT the day the order is to ship, it cannot be cancelled.
Orders for the special packages of 1000 bare root plants cannot be changed or cancelled after the Friday before they are scheduled to ship (it takes a long time to dig up and package that many plants).

You are responsible for accepting delivery of your order

Please understand that you are responsible for accepting delivery of your order. Although we do not require a signature for delivery, UPS many not always leave the package if you are not available when they come - especially if the delivery is to a business (leaving a note on your door may help). After three unsuccessful delivery attempts the package would be returned to us. Due to the perishable nature of our plants (and the fact that approximately two weeks will have elapsed by the time a shipment is returned to us), no refunds can be given nor can replacement plants be reshipped. If the plants are in containers (not bare root), then they may survive that long and could be reshipped - but you would have to pay for the freight costs to reship. Note that we take Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Labor day, Thanksgiving and Christmas off and that no deliveries are made on days that UPS observes holidays.

Unpacking your order

It is important that you open your boxes immediately, remove the packing material from the tops of the plants, and check moisture. If your order includes any bare root plants and you will not be planting them immediately, stand them upright and keep them cool. Please understand that although we ship healthy plants they may suffer somewhat from shipping. No matter how carefully we pack, rough handling and temperature may cause one or more of the following: - Yellowing leaves (mostly on hostas and daylilies). It's best to cut tops back when planting and let them send up new foliage. Often they are cut before shipping. - Loss of leaves (mostly on the more vine type plants like parthenocisus and campsis when shipped bare root). Plant immediately and keep soil moist. - Dry roots. Moisten immediately and hold in cool area until ready to plant. - Bent or broken leaves/stems (mostly on the larger and more sensitive materials such as ferns, echinacea, sedums, etc.). Cut off any damage, these plants recuperate quickly with new fresh growth. Please understand that such cosmetic damage is temporary and that the mature plants and root systems will recover quickly and you will be rewarded with excellent plants at an excellent value.

Due to the perishable nature of our merchandise, we cannot accept any returns.

If you want an indication of the quality of our products, check comments from customers and the ratings and comments for us at Dave's Garden. We are a Watchdog 30 company at Dave's Garden, meaning we are rated one of the top 30 gardening vendors out of more than 7000 they track ratings for.