I had a bad experience with Sandy's Plants from start to finish. They do have a wide selection of perennials, so if there's a rare item they have that you're looking for, maybe give them a shot. But if you're not looking for that one specific item, go elsewhere. I recommend Sneed's, or the Great Big Greenhouse. Cross Creek Nursery and Colesville Nursery also have wide selections, but seemed a bit more pricey. Or there are many other places.
Sandy's is on a huge, two-acre lot. The plants are spread out all over the place, and you literally have to use one of their golf carts to get around and load the plants on it. There is no way around it. The way the plants are laid out is not at all convenient and does not seem to have any kind of rational plan or design. So expect a lot of getting on the golf cart, advancing 100 ft, getting off again to look at the next batch of plants, and on and on and on. Do not plan on an easy, leisurely stroll on foot through a nursery or greenhouse, like you'd find elsewhere.
We went there because their Facebook page advertised 'buy one get one free' on perennials. I didn't read the fine print. My fault. It said 'quart-size perennials'. I don't know what a quart-sized perennial is, really. We went all over the place on golf carts and every single plant was in the same sized pot. We loaded up the cart with about $150 worth of plants thinking that 1/2 of them were going to be free. No. The 'quart sized' ones represented perhaps 2 or 3 different varieties of flowers in one small section at the front of the store. My fault for not clarifying, but still frustrating, and to my mind, misleading.
This was frustrating, but after spending all morning (in the pouring rain) driving around picking these plants out, we went ahead and bought them all anyway. Which is when the employee started making comments about our having brought our dog. Well, when we pulled up, we asked two different employees if dogs were allowed, and they said 'Yes'. Because of this, and because every other nursery in town allows dogs, we brought our dog in. If you don't allow dogs, put it on your website or at the entrance. Don't lecture me about it after the fact.
Then I asked if they had a guarantee on their plants. Home Depot and Lowe's guarantee perennials for a year. So do most of the local nurseries like Sneed's, Great Big Greenhouse, Cross Creek, Ed's, etc. Her response: "They're guaranteed until the end of the driveway."
Anyway, between the: (1) misleading sale advertisement; (2) contradictory dog policy; (3) rude employees; (4) sprawling and difficult-to-navigate store; and (5) lack of guarantee, I will never go here again and suggest that you do the same.
But, it gets worse. Almost everything we bought here is either dead or dying. Two Euphorbia (Spurge) plants began their decline almost immediately after we planted them and were dead as doornails within a couple weeks. An Agastache seemed to start strong, but is now wilting and looks on its way out. A yarrow never thrived and looks to be rotting somehow from the inside out, as does one of the sedums (the second sedum seems ok so far). Anyway, every single thing we've bought elsewhere is thriving. Almost everything we bought from Sandy's is dying or dead. It might be coincidence. I don't know. But with no guarantee, we're out the money we spent, which is very frustrating.
So, all in all, one star seems fairly generous. read more
