Arbor Day Foundation Reviews 

We received bare root oak seedlings and they appeared dead on arrival. We contacted Arbor Day and were assured that they were dormant and to plant. We proceeded to plant 50 seedlings and after two months saw no growth or signs of life. We called again and were told that we had not given them enough time and to allow them to grow through the fall. Once we reached out again, the 6 month refund/replacement window had passed and we were informed that there was nothing that could be done to remedy the situation.

After following their instructions to wait and give them time, and having ZERO TREES SURVIVE, this is the response we received: " We are sorry to hear that some of your trees did not survive, and we understand how disappointing that can be.

Our Health Guarantee provides a one-time replacement or refund when trees do not arrive in a healthy condition or do not successfully grow within 6 months while they are being properly cared for. Unfortunately, because your trees were delivered during our Spring shipping season, they are no longer eligible to be replaced or refunded.

We appreciate your interest in planting trees, and apologize that we cannot provide a replacement."

After responding with additional information including email correspondence from previous attempts to remedy the issue, we received the same cut and paste response a second time. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY PURCHASING FROM ARBOR DAY!

Sent me five Dead trees, will not respond to multiple emails. Horrible organization.

I bought ten bare root redbud trees. They arrived late April and I planted them the day after arrival. Not a single one ever showed any signs of life. I contacted Arbor Day Foundation twice by email. Both times I received an automated response saying that someone would be in contact soon. Never happened. Clearly, the requested refund did not happen either.

I ordered 25 each of cuttings of forsythia and peach in April. I received only the forsythia, and only one of the 25 was viable. Never received the peach. I wrote to them three times explaining this and never received a response, no refund, nothing, even though they say they stand by their products.

I have purchased multiple trees over multiple years, from both bare root to potted, and all are growing beautifully. ArborDay Foundation will.always be my go to.

Ordered tree sticks for fall planting. Tree sticks arrived December 5 to northern NH when everything is frozen solid. They told me to pre-dig holes and keep some warm topsoil ready for winter planting with the ground frozen solid. Most actually survived surprisingly with the exception of Star Magnolia and Crepe Myrtle. Getting a refund has been a song and dance. Forget it. I won't do this again.

I ordered 3 Red Maple trees lats year Order W21455678
Sunday, March 30, 2025. They seemed t be working so all was well until this year, when two of the 3 trees stopped blooming. I sent 3 emails along with photos to ArborDay and got no replies. Called today and waited far too long to speak to anyone there but was told the will not refund or replace as they only give a 6 month warranty. Seems odd as the trees this year (15 months later) are not working.
I think ArborDay needs to rethink customer relationships, as there are now other suppliers.

This after over a 30 year membership. What can I say, but I am sorry to say HGOOD BYE and stop sening me emails and mail.
Ron

My order of 10 white dogwoods was delivered in April. I did everything right (unpacked them, soaked them, planted them carefully, kept them watered). Not one leaf appeared on any of them even 2 months later. I think they were dead when packed and shipped to me. Very sad! Can I have a refund?

It’s been over a year since my order. They sent me trees in the middle of winter after waiting 7 months for my order to arrive. It’s not a surprise that everything died as I had to plant them with snow on the ground. I hope they would survive, but they did not and they promised me months ago to replace my order and today I find out they can’t send them to me until the fall which means they’re gonna send them to me in the dead of winter if I get them at all. Whoever runs this place needs to resign. You’re not helping the planet by ordering trees from them. This place is a scam. Run run run

I wish I had checked Trustpilot before ordering trees from arborday.org. I honestly thought I would help plant more trees by becoming a member and also order some trees for my own yard. I don't think they ship out anything living. All I received were some rather expensive and dead saplings. I cancelled my membership! Being screwed over once is enough for me!

In ordered near one hundred trees. The only trees that were worth two dead flies were the white pine seedlings which shipped in a plastic bag. Now the rest of the order, had their jello on the cut and destroyed roots. This may have been OK with the exception of these trees were in the mail for 2+ weeks. 16 of the trees I can say now after having them in the ground for a couple of weeks are dead dead dead. How pitiful and what a waste of my money and time. Arbor day needs to learn their job and how to do it.

If I could give 0 stars I would. They shipped me barefoot trees in the dead of winter when it was below freezing. I figure they are the tree experts, but I guess they really aren’t. I planted everything that weekend and crossed my fingers until spring. 90% of the plants never budded, not even their free 10 trees. Crunchy and dead. I planted dozens of other trees, a whole fruit tree orchard since my orders with Arbor Day, every tree is not only alive, they are thriving. I contacted customer service and went around and around. Sent photos only to be told I had ordered them in August and it had been too long, even though they shipped them in December and since I’d received them it hadn’t been 6 months. After threatening a preorder chargeback they offered to reship what was in stock and refund what wasn’t in stock. I agreed if they were reshipping NOW. They said no they wouldn’t reshipping until DECEMBER, 18 months after my original order. She said they could just refund everything now. I said just refund now because I don't want to wait 8 months for more dead frozen trees. They never refunded. They stopped answering emails, completely ghosted. Beyond unprofessional. I will never order again and discourage everyone I know from ordering. They ship dead trees and then won’t honor their own plant guarantee. Now I’m off to file a preorder chargeback with my credit card for fraud by Arbor Day Foundation.

If I could give less than one star I would. They sent me dead stock in the middle of winter. Of course they all did not survive. My refund does not include shipping. I will never waste my money here again and you shouldn’t either.

They arrived in a bag which is not very safe for them to be going through the mail in but luckily only the tip of one was broken, they should be shipped in a box to make sure they don't get destroyed. Mine were moldy when they came do I don't know if that's gonna affect them or not. They've been planted for over a week and still no signs of life. They have no branches, they're just dry, brittle twigs with roots so I'm not very confident they'll do anything.

Buyer beware:
Bought a Chicago fig and sent to my granddaughter in Michigan as an house warming gift. Unfortunately, the tree didn’t make it through the winter. Of course It took till April to figure that out that the tree did not make it, however, since it was planted in October, the 6 month guarantee ran out before we know the tree died.

I asked for the tree to be replaced, the response was no it’s out of it six months guarantee. I think that a tree that you pay $100 for should have at least a year guarantee with the purchase.
Very disappointed.

I love the thing they are doing and the tree seedlings that showed up planted very well and they are thriving.

I donated to Arbor Day Foundation. I'm disabled and low income earner.
The deal was to donate and I would receive 5 flowering dogwood trees, 5 flowering Eastern Redbud trees, still don't get that cause I'm in the west. And as a bonus 2 free crapmyrtles along with the planting guide. I donated $50 dollars. Planted as per instructions.

Three of the trees made it and still waiting for the crapmyrtles. As a forester, gardener, and lover of trees, I am sorely disappointed. Three out of 12 plants survived. I want my money back. Because I am unable to get this resolved I just won't ever donate again.
Respectfully
Cynthia Houser

Ordered $200 worth of trees that either arrived dead or died days later

I filled out the tree survey and received 12 very small seedlings. They arrived safely and we planted them at the appropriate times 7 years ago. All of them did well. I have been happy so far until I realized that the 3 labeled as white flowering dogwoods are actually Bradford Pears! I would NEVER have planted Bradford Pears in my yard. They have been growing consistently but really took off in the last two years. One of them is about 15’ tall now. I was suspicious last year but they have the distinct foul smell this year. I went back and looked at the info the Arbor Day Foundation sent and absolutely everything said I would received 3 white flowering dogwoods. Nothing in their communication even mentions Bradford Pear. I even tried to search their website and they have nothing on the Bradford Pear. What a scam! Now we have to deal with removing them. We live on the SC coast. Bradford Pears are dangerous in Hurricane prone areas.

The trees I received were not red maple and not redbud but some unknown variety of trees.