Prairie Nursery

***UPDATE: the company quickly followed up after this review and offered a refund check, sounds like emails were not received*** Ordered a Painted Trillium in 2020. Plants arrived smaller than I had hoped (I’ve ordered a lot of plants from online/mail order nurseries). The trillium didn’t bloom for several years and when it did it was evident that instead of sending me a more coveted Painted Trillium I was instead sent Trillium grandiflora which is much more commonplace and much less exciting. I notified the company and sent a photo. No response. I followed up with them again and still no response (sent May of this year).

Two years ago we bought a new home in Maryland. I was heart broken to realize that, other than the old growth trees, almost every plant in our new yard was non-native, and in most cases, invasive. For the past two years I have been buying native plants from Prairie Nursery to replace the invasive plants I am digging up. The plants from Prairie Nursery always arrive when requested and are in excellent condition. And you can’t beat their prices! In addition, Prairie Nursery’s native plant selection is vast (they offer far more plants than any of our local nurseries) and the filters on the website make it exceptionally easy to find exactly the plants I want by allowing me to select by state, growing zone, sun/shade needs, soil type, plant type (ground covers, grasses and sedges, shrubs, trees), and more. Each plant listed is also accompanied by detailed information about the plant itself, spacing when planting, soils needs, wildlife benefits, etc. Last but not least, their customer service is friendly! I have called them on two or three occasions to ask questions, and they are always happy to help. They are my absolute go to for all my plant needs.

I ordered a few plants for my front garden a few years ago, was happy with how those turned out and then last year ordered the 96 plant pre-planned Songbird garden for our side yard. I've been very happy with both of those orders. The songbird garden seems well planned (to a super-gardening-novice), it had something yellow and something purple in bloom this year from May onward - it's October in SE WI and the asters are still in bloom. Birds seemed to like it this summer. Only problem I've had with growth is bunnies eating the baby seedlings, since they're so small when shipped the plants can't seem to fight back. For the 2nd shipment we put up chicken wire for the initial season and while that was a lot of work for a big area, it helped. Bunnies still got the phlox this year but everything else was able to out-compete them now after a year's protected growth. Just ordered in the fall for the first time for another plant bed, plants look good on arrival & hopefully they take well this winter.

I’m trying fall planting this year. The catalog was very helpful in dividing natives by soil and moisture preference. Everything arrived in great condition and I’m doing my best to give them a good home. All the plants were nicely labeled and a reminder of soil preference.

What was advertised and purchased compared to what was received. Customer service kept saying they "try to educate their customers that it is not important what is above the soil" basically telling me I was not intelligent or experienced enough to know what I am looking at. They also kept saying that "we want plants to be rootbound!" And most were, extremely rootbound, which is likely why they were in such a poor state when I received them. Some of the plants had almost no roots at all. The company president even admits it looks like a bait and switch and they look like a bunch of dead sticks... "I can completely understand your feelings regarding what appears to be a misrepresentation of the plants’ quality.  Smacks of bait and switch, and no one likes that." Neil Diboll, President Prairie Nursery " Yeah, they look like a bunch of dead sticks" Neil Diboll, President Prairie Nursery