FAQ

The website is open year-round. Place your order anytime — I’ll batch it with the next spring shipment.

Yes — address changes, added items, swapped varieties, all fine as long as I haven’t shipped yet. Just email me with your order number.

Yes. Email me and I’ll process the refund.

We ship across the U.S. (zones 3–11). Each shop section has a “by climate zone” filter so you can browse what’ll grow where you are. If a variety isn’t a good fit for your area, I’ll tell you straight.

Everything is shipped as a dormant bare-root plant in March or April based on your preferred shipping week that you’ll select at checkout. If you need a specific date or have flexibility, email me — I can adjust manually.

1. The boxes exceed the dimensions of “standard boxes” and USPS and UPS charge extra fees.
2. USPS and UPS have raised shipping rates significantly in recent years to offset rising fuel and labor costs.

2–5 days via UPS once it leaves here. You’ll get a tracking email automatically when the label is created.

Larger orders are often split into 2 or more boxes that may arrive on different days. Check tracking on every box. If only one shows up, the other is likely still in transit — give it a day or two before assuming anything is missing.

Free shipping kicks in over a certain order total — see the cart page for the current threshold. Out-of-state orders aren’t charged sales tax.

Sizes vary by variety and are listed in the description of each plant.

Fruit trees specifically are topped/pruned to roughly 5 ft including the roots (about 4–4.5 ft above ground). This serves two purposes:
1. Better transplant success — the disturbed roots aren’t having to feed a huge canopy of leaves before they’ve had time to establish themselves.
2. Reasonable shipping costs — the smaller dimensions keep the box from triggering oversize fees.

1. Bare-root plants are lighter and can be grouped together in a single box to reduce the shipping costs you see at checkout.
2. Bare-root plants ship while dormant and don’t experience the transplant shock of potted plants moved during the warmer parts of the year.
3. Shipping soil around the country spreads pests and diseases. Bare-root sidesteps that.

I’m not certified organic, but I don’t spray chemicals on the plants. If you’re concerned about residue from earlier nursery stages, you won’t be harvesting fruit from a bare-root for at least 1–2 years anyway, which is plenty of time for any of that to be a non-issue.

Depends on the species. Most apples, pears, plums, and blueberries do better with a pollinator partner. Honeyberries and most nut trees need a partner. Raspberries, blackberries, and figs are self-fertile.

Each product page lists pollination requirements. If you’re unsure, email me — I can usually pair you with a compatible partner from current stock.

Honest answer: it depends on the variety. Some come back every spring, some are limited to what we propagate that year. If something is sold out and you’d like to know when it returns, email me — I keep an informal notification list.

Probably not. Bare-root plants are supposed to look like sticks with roots. Two tests:

Scratch test: scratch the bark with your fingernail. Green underneath = alive.
Patience test: plant it, water consistently, wait 4–6 weeks. Pawpaws, persimmons, figs, and honeyberries often leaf out later than other species — sometimes much later.

That’s intentional — I include a free raspberry with every order as a thank-you. The tag says “free gift.”

Before emailing, check two things:
1. Unwrap all the roots. Smaller plants and their labels sometimes get wrapped inside the plastic with the larger root ball.
2. Are you waiting on more boxes? Larger orders ship in multiple packages on different days.

If you’ve checked both and something’s still missing, email me with your order number.

Send a photo and I’ll refund it. If I have the variety in stock, I can also send a replacement on the next outbound. Quick and easy — no need to argue your case.

Email me with your order number, what you got, and what you ordered. I’ll fix it.

If I’m out of an item you ordered, I’ll email you with two options: refund, or substitute with something of similar value. Your call.

Most often this is caused by Bitdefender or similar internet security software blocking part of the checkout. Try disabling it temporarily, using a different browser, or clearing your cache. If none of that works, email me with the items you wanted and I’ll process the order manually on my end.

Email me with your name and I’ll confirm. The site doesn’t store credit card numbers, so duplicate-charge issues are rare.

Email me the code and I’ll take a look — sometimes they expire or have a minimum order requirement that isn’t obvious.