Ordering by Mail
Plant guarantees: read the fine print first
Every catalog promises satisfaction; the differences hide in the notice windows, the exclusions and the definition of dead. Read the guarantee before you order, because it is the contract.
A plant guarantee is the most generous and the most misread document in gardening. Nurseries sell live products they never see delivered, shipped weeks after payment, planted by hands they cannot watch, and they still promise most of them back. The generous part is real; so are the notice windows and exclusions that decide whether a dead plant earns a refund. Read the guarantee as part of the catalog, not after the failure, and it will rarely be needed.
The common skeleton
Most mail order guarantees share a shape. An arrival window, typically a few days to a week, in which damage or death on arrival earns replacement or refund with almost no questions. A growing window, often sixty days to a full season, during which a plant that fails under normal care is replaced under more defined terms. And exclusions, which are where the reading pays: buyer’s growing conditions, winter kill in marginally hardy plantings, plants grown out of their recommended zone, delays the carrier caused, and sometimes acts of weather in the weeks after planting. Perennials and woody plants carry different terms than annuals, because their failures show on different clocks, and a guarantee written in seasons for a plant that dies in weeks is promising nothing at all.
The terms, side by side
Exact windows vary by nursery, but the structure below covers most policies you will meet in the specialty trade, and the last column is where the fine print earns its keep.
| Policy type | Typical window | Remedy | Read before ordering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arrival guarantee | days to a week after delivery | refund or replacement, few questions | the notice deadline, in writing |
| Growing guarantee | 60 days to one full season | replacement or nursery credit | what counts as normal care |
| Extended woody plant cover | one to two seasons | credit toward a future order | registration or proof of planting date |
| No written guarantee | none stated | goodwill only | that the catalog is a reseller’s |
What voids a claim honestly
Nurseries decline claims for reasons that sound cold and are mostly fair. A bare root tree left soaking for two weeks drowned; a plant rated to zone 6 planted in zone 4 died of the zone, not the stock; a photo shows a plant still in its shipping box on a hot porch five days after delivery. The guarantee covers the plant’s trip and its establishment under ordinary care; it cannot cover the season’s weather or the bed’s neglect. This is why the arrival routine, photographed and prompt, is also the strongest claim you could ever need to make.
Making a claim that gets answered
Good claims are short and documented, and specialist nurseries answer them quickly because their trade lives on reputation rather than volume; the rare slow answer is a reason to order elsewhere next season, and telling them so is fair. The claim that gets answered carries:
- The order number and the delivery date, in the first line.
- One or two photographs taken the day the problem showed, not staged later.
- One sentence on how the plant was handled since arrival.
- The remedy the policy names, requested plainly: refund, credit or replacement.
- A polite note that you expect an answer within the season, not the decade.
Choosing between a refund and a replacement
When the choice is offered, think in seasons rather than dollars. A credit or replacement suits a variety you wanted anyway and a nursery whose stock looked sound; a refund suits a shipping season that has already run out, since a July replacement of a bare root tree merely schedules a second disappointment. Take the season into account in the other direction too: a claim filed in the spring ship window leaves every remedy open, while a claim filed in November may be choosing for the nursery. Whatever you choose, log it with the planting note for the plant that replaces the failure, and the ledger, like the garden, stays honest.
Mistakes to avoid
Guarantee mistakes cluster around time. Waiting a month to report an arrival that was damaged in week one, past every notice window. Discarding the plant before the nursery has asked for evidence, which some policies require. Demanding a refund where the policy names credit, and reading the reply as an insult rather than the contract. Making the claim by telephone, where none of the dates and photographs survive the conversation. And treating the guarantee as care insurance, planting a sun plant into shade and expecting the nursery to fund the move.