TN Nursery Reviews: What Customers Actually Say
Since 1938‚ TN Nursery has operated in Altamont‚ Tennessee․ From reviews on Trustpilot‚ Yelp‚ Reddit‚ and popular gardening forums‚ it appears TN Nursery sends out the plants in a healthy condition‚ but some customers were stressed by long shipping times and inventory errors․ Will you be the exception to the rule? If you're about to place an order‚ check out our honest reviews and what customers say you can expect:
What Reviewers Consistently Praise
If you browse the Trustpilot reviews of tnnursery․net you will see a pattern emerging‚ with mentions of the size upon arrival and that the perennials and shrubs were larger than other competitors for a similar price․ Unlike the sad‚ circling roots you sometimes get from big-box stores‚ bare-root trees and shrubs have more compact root systems that are mostly intact․
It's a far more complicated picture than a wall of five star ratings might suggest‚ with plenty of people posting to the Reddit thread (all the real-life pictures‚ 1000+ views) in r/gardening that they've successfully ordered ferns and native perennials that have thrived in Zone 6b and 7a gardens․ A few customers have noted longer wait times for orders during peak spring shipping weeks (late April through May)․
Yelp reviews of the Altamont location focus on visiting the nursery in person rather than online ordering‚ and reviewers compliment employees for their knowledge of Tennessee plants and their ability to help customers choose plants that will succeed in the area's clay soil without amendment․
What Actually Ships and When
This is where a lot of review sites gloss over specifics‚ so let's get into the details․ TN Nursery ships either bare-root or potted plants based on the type of plant․ Bare-root perennials and shrubs (coneflower‚ black-eyed Susan‚ daylilies‚ etc․) are packaged dormant or semi-dormant․ It may look like something is wrong‚ but this is how they should arrive․ In fact‚ you will have a much better chance of transplanting them successfully‚ since the plant will not be dealing with the double whammy of root shock and moisture loss via leaf transpiration․
Most shipping windows follow the growing season; orders placed in March are typically shipped in late March through April‚ after frost risk is over in most of the Southeast․ Planting during the shipping months of September through November is best for most trees and shrubs‚ as roots are growing most actively during the cooler months and are not put under heat stress․
They will ship balled-and-burlapped or containerized‚ depending on size and variety․ Larger trees (generally anything larger than 4-5 feet) just take longer to process because of the logistics of getting them out of the ground and into shipping crates․ If you order a shade tree, it will take 7-10 business days‚ and for smaller perennials, 3-5 business days to ship․
Addressing the Complaints Honestly
However‚ no nursery‚ TN Nursery included‚ gets 100% positive reviews․ On Trustpilot and in the Facebook gardening groups, there are some recurring complaints about communication with the company being slow during busy periods and in some cases substitutions being made when the Nursery runs out of a particular plant․
On substitutions: this doesn't just happen here․ When you order 25 daylily bulbs‚ and a cultivar is sold out‚ most nurseries will substitute something similar as opposed to canceling the order or holding the order until next year․ That said‚ read the fine print on any nursery's substitution policy before you order‚ particularly if you want a design plan that requires an exact match․
On communication: spring is brutal for every mail-order nursery․ The sheer number of orders in April is five and six times what it is in January․ If you're making an order during the busiest part of the shipping season‚ a few days of patience in asking about a shipment goes a long way․
What the Competitor Review Pages Miss
One thing Yelp and Trustpilot don't talk much about is how to tell if plants are alive when they show up (bare root stock looks pretty gnarly)․ A dormant bare root shrub without leaves isn't dead․ Look for firm‚ pliable stems․ If you can slice through the skin and the green cambium layer is beneath the bark‚ the plant's alive․ Roots should be moist and flexible‚ not dry or mushy․ If ordering ferns‚ fronds will often arrive cut back when the plant is shipped․ This is normal and allows the fern to focus on new spring growth rather than transport damage․
Another gap is that none of the third-party review sites talk about where a plant might be suitable․ I think that matters more than star ratings․ Most of TN Nursery's stock is suited to Zones 6-8 and to the humidity‚ clay soil‚ and temperature fluctuations of Tennessee and the Southeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States․ If you are in Zone 3‚ or your soil is bone dry or alkaline‚ you should be aware that even a healthy plant from TN Nursery may not thrive in your yard․ That's a match the plant to your conditions issue that gets lost in generic review threads․
Our Take
The consensus of the reviews is similar to our recommendation: bare-root and potted perennials‚ native shrubs‚ and shade trees will do well for shipping and establishing in your yard provided they're newly planted within two or three days of their arrival and watered regularly for a few weeks․ Order early in the season for the largest selection․ Don't leave boxes sitting․ If in doubt about a substitution or cultivar before an order‚ consult customer service‚ particularly if flower and shrub components are part of a landscaping‚ and it particularly matters that a certain floral or shrub is or is not included․
The most useful reviews are the ones that come six months or a year later․ You see threads pop up on Reddit or in Facebook garden groups where people post pictures of coneflowers or dogwood trees they purchased from online nurseries a whole growing season later․ It is often more convincing than just a picture of a box of product․
The secret to TN Nursery's reputation since 1938 has been its plants and its expertise in the Southeast‚ not splashy advertisements‚ and that's what independent reviewers on these sites are seeing as well․
"
