What a great experience! I’ve been buying plants online for over 20 years and I cant think of a better overall experience. Super varieties, unbeatable prices, very careful packing, excellent plant health and vigor, and utter professionalism at every point. Companies like Hartmann’s make me wish I were a better farmer and nurseryman so I could buy more and more from them!
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They are on my “do not buy from” list. After two large orders I’m done with them. Maybe decades ago they were a good source. As an Internet seller they’ve expanded into plants they know nothing about and are consequently misadvertised and mislabeled, rootings of twigs sold as trees, TCs not labeled as such.
Man, that is hard to believe considering the order I just unpacked!
I got 150 blueberries of 15 different varieties and 50 hardy kiwi of 5 different varieties. They were packed into 8 large boxes and each box I opened I was more impressed. Every plant was labelled and, while I can’t tell you that they were certainly the varieties advertised, I can definitely tell you they were the same varieties. In other words, every Rubel blueberry looked almost identical in stem color, dormant leaf color, structure, age, etc while every Jersey looked identical in their own regard, and so on throughout all 20 total varieties. A couple varieties had flower buds that were swollen and nearly ready to open, and every single one of those varieties had swelling flower buds. Some had purple leaves still clinging on through winter, and every single one of that variety had clinging purple leaves. One variety had green leaves as if it were August, and every one of that variety had the same green leaves. Some had red stems, some had green stems, some were more upright, some more prostrate, etc. But even without labels you could group the vast majority into the proper group based on their obviously different traits. Not only that but every single plant was nearly perfect. Only 5 or 6 plants out of 200 had even the smallest broken twig. None were rootbound and all had well over 50% of the soil ball held by roots (they even shipped in soil and some in pots, not bareroot!), very little loose soil or broken rootballs. Most of the plants were much bigger than I expected (I paid about $2-$3 per plant), and some were HUGE, like I could sell them for $15 each right out of the box. Like I said, I have scarcely been more impressed with a plant order in my whole life. I ordered a few thousand dollars worth of somewhat rare deciduous trees and shrubs from Heritage Seedlings and Liners a few years ago and was blown away by the quality and careful packaging but my experience with Hartmann’s is at least as satisfying. They have great descriptions of the varieties on their website too. And the fact that you can buy as few as 10 plants and get essentially a wholesale discount is crazy! Their customer service is attentive, professional, and responsive; upon email request they added an item to my order after I placed it, shipped the order with the added item, and invoiced me for the item, all with basically a one sentence email request.
I took some pictures while unpacking the plants because I was so impressed by the value I was receiving; I still feel like I stole all these plants from them! I’ll upload some pics if anyone is curious.
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@AfterEdenAgroEcology
Several of us here own and operate fully licensed for-profit nurseries, or did so in prior decades. Assume you are conversing with one. We know the wholesale suppliers that provide plant material to retailers like Hartmann’s, and we know the costs. We also know what we are looking at when orders arrive - regardless of how well it is packed. I will not be taken advantage of by Hartmann’s again. There are far better retail suppliers in the U.S.
Considering that this is my first time buying from them, is there something in particular I should look for within my order to try to discern whether or not I have been taken advantage of? At this point I can only discern that I have about 230 or 240 very healthy plants of many obviously different varieties (I forgot to mention that they sent me between 1 and four extra plants of most varieties, so instead of 10 of each I got 11-14 of most). I’m genuinely curious to know why there appears to be such a profound difference in our experiences. I will take some close up pics to show what I’m seeing, in addition to these couple.
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Please excuse my obnoxiously short shorts; it’s 70 in January here in 7b/8a and I work much more efficiently in short shorts, it’s because of the aerodynamics but it’s super scientific so I won’t go into it right now… Also, my mom helped me unpack, and repack for transport. As you can tell, she was not super concerned about the aerodynamics of her work attire.
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Well what I understood was that you or others have received varieties which were either mislabeled or falsely advertised. What I’m asking is how can I tell at this point? What is plainly obvious is that this company grows very healthy plants and painstakingly separates obviously different varieties of blueberries. It would seem to be an elaborate hoax for them to maintain an inventory of dozens of different obviously unique varieties and to either systematically mislabel them or haphazardly and imcompetently do so. I mean, what should I be able to tell from my order so far besides it’s exceptional health, superb organization, and careful packaging? I believe any ordinary Joe can tell there are obviously many distinct varieties here, how can I rest assured they are as advertised? Are you suggesting I should assume they are counterfeit or incompetently organized?
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Or perhaps you’re saying that Hartmann’s knowingly aquires falsely advertised material and resells it?
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I’ve gotten some excellent HONEYBERRY plants from Hartmann’s…best/most bang for buck of any I ever bought.
But, 4" blueberries…had losses greater than expected from the small plants.
Having said that, I’ve never gotten a plant I’ve been happy to get from Nourse or from Indiana Berry (the exception being their great strawberrries).
I’ve been tickled by Jung’s and Burnt Ridge and TOA. Mixed satisfaction from Raintree, from Fedco, from Cummins, from Musser Forests, from Gurney’s, from Stark Bros, and numerous others over number of years.
So…somebody chime in their experiences that contradict mine! Have at it. Crap happens sometimes.
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