Garden Goods Direct guarantees that all orders are carefully picked, packaged, and containerized in a manner that optimizes the safe delivery of the plant products to your location. Our orders are shipped via FedEx Ground and FedEx Express Saver.

CONDITION OF SALE

Orders with a shippable subtotal equal to or exceeding $130 after all coupons have been applied and before taxes, will not incur a ground shipping charge, with the following exceptions:

• Oversized items
• Orders to the Phytosanitary States
• Subtotal excludes non-shippable items; gift cards, shipping protection, and warranty

All orders under $130 are subject to FedEx carrier-calculated rate shipping charge. Once the checkout process is completed, your credit card is charged immediately and your order is taken from inventory and processed for shipping. All sales are final.

The customer agrees that their order will be delivered without requiring a signature. FedEx will leave the package(s) unsupervised unless other arrangements are made by the customer directly with FedEx. We do not ship to P.O. boxes.

SHIPPING PROTECTION

We now offer the purchase of shipping protection to protect your order in the case of lost or damaged packages! Consider adding shipping protection to your order to instill peace of mind in the unlikely event of issues during shipment.

SHIPPING SERVICE

All of our orders are shipped via FedEx Ground or FedEx Express Saver. FedEx Ground will typically deliver within 1 to 5 business days in most parts of the country. Orders with FedEx Express Saver guarantee 3 business day shipping. FedEx Express Saver orders are shipped Monday and Tuesday to ensure orders arrive timely as FedEx Express Saver does not ship on weekends. Due to the fragile nature of annuals/houseplants, we require all houseplant orders to ship 3-Day FedEx Express Saver. For customers who qualify for Free Ground Shipping and select 3-Day FedEx Express Saver, the difference between 3-Day FedEx Express Saver and FedEx Ground will be charged. Orders that contain both annuals/houseplants and outdoor plants will be split, having the annuals/houseplants ship 3-Day Express Saver and the remaining outdoor plants will ship according to the specified shipping method (Ground or 3-Day Express Saver). We strive to process your order on in-stock items within 3 to 5 business days.

However, we may opt to delay shipment on some plant orders placed on Thursday, Friday, or weekends until the following week to minimize the amount of time your products will be in a box and/or warehouse. The health and well-being of your plants is our first and foremost concern. You will be notified via email if we opt to delay the shipment of your order due to weather conditions or potential delays in transit.

REQUEST DELAY IN SHIPPING

If you would like to delay your shipment, please leave a note for our customer service team at the checkout. Requests must be received at the time of order placement.

SHIPPING DELAY DUE TO QUALITY

In the case of quality issues with our plant material which creates a backorder, you will be notified via email and offered possible substitutions. If no substitutes are acceptable, we will let you know the anticipated ship date of your items or offer you a refund of your back-ordered items.

PHYTOSANITARY SHIPMENTS

Garden Goods Direct is proud to be the very first online Garden Center in the state of Maryland to be granted a Phytosanitary Shipping Agreement with category 1 and 2 States. Many states have specific regulations and limitations regarding which species of plants they will receive across state borders. Due to Agricultural restrictions put in place, all plant material must be treated and inspected by our state Agricultural Inspectors prior to shipping.

Phytosanitary rules govern a nursery’s ability to ship plants into these states. The following states have declared themselves to be Phytosanitary which in laymen’s terms means that “all plant material entering the state must be certified free from pests and disease” including, Japanese Beetles, Burrowing and Reniform Nematodes, Imported Fire Ants and Lethal Yellowing of Palms. Our nursery is inspected by the Maryland Department of Agriculture for cleanliness and compliance with the requirements.

There is a $5 per order charge added to help offset the cost of the inspection, the certificate, and additional handling. This is issued regardless of any free shipping offers.

The following states have issued requirements and regulations regarding plant material:

• Alabama: No restricted Plant Material.
• Arizona: Fruit Trees, Citrus Plants, Dracaena, Ficus, Sago Palms.
• Arkansas: No Restricted Plant Material.
• California: All Fruit and Nut Producing Plants, All Outdoor Plants.
• Colorado: No restricted Plant Material.
• Kansas: No restricted Plant Material.
• Mississippi: No restricted Plant Material.
• Nevada: No restricted Plant Material.
• New Mexico: Nut Trees.
• Oklahoma: No restricted Plant Material.
• Oregon: Apple Trees, Blueberry Plants, Nut Trees, Elm Trees, Oak Trees, Hops Plants, Peach Trees, Plum Trees.
• South Dakota: No restricted Plant Material.
• Texas: Citrus Plants, Fishtail Palm, Coconut Palm, Pygmy Date Palm, Areca Palm, Lady Palm.
• Utah: No restricted Plant Material.
• Washington State: Apple Trees, Barberry, Mahonia, Blueberry Plants, Nut Trees, Hops Plants, Peach Trees.

Your shipment of plant material will be accompanied by a certificate issued by our state which will be inspected at the point of entry into your state. This will allow the expedited movement of your shipment through the inspection point for your state. The plant material will not be subject to quarantines which in the past has delayed or in some cases had the plant material rejected and destroyed.

California Phytosanitary Compliance requires Monday shipping to be able to check in the shipments on or before Friday.

SHIPPING RESTRICTIONS

Each state has special regulations regarding plants that cannot be shipped into the state. In most cases, these are mostly agricultural and food crops. In addition to the phytosanitary list above, the following list of the states have shipping restrictions:

• Idaho: Currently Not Shipping Plant Material to this State.
• Montana: Currently Not Shipping Plant Material to this State.

So, what does all this mean to you, our customer?

This means that you can rest assured that you are purchasing your plants from a certified nursery that is legally allowed to ship plants into your state. This should give you peace of mind that your plants have been inspected and have been deemed healthy and pest and disease-free. This has added many extra steps to everything we do to get your plants from our farm to your home. To us, it’s worth it.

You can review your state’s individual requirements for this process by visiting the National Plant Boards.

At Garden Goods Direct, we believe in these laws and everything they stand for. Under no circumstances will we break these rules. We have worked very hard to obtain this certification and will not jeopardize this.

Note: These regulations are subject to change at the discretion of the state in question. We also reserve the right to limit plants we ship to specific states for a variety of reasons. If your state is not currently listed on the above list any plants can be shipped at this time.

DAMAGE DURING SHIPMENT

Before being placed in the box for shipment, each and every plant is carefully inspected and packaged to ensure that your plant can survive standard transit. However, impairments during shipment do happen. After opening the box, if you have found your plant to have incurred some damage, immediately email customer service. Include your order number, photos of the plant, and packaging at the time of delivery. Customer service reserves the right to request further information and/or proof of damage.

Our customer service team will inspect the photos and decide whether the damage was due to improper packaging, or improper handling by the carrier. If the product was found to be improperly packaged, Garden Goods Direct will resend the product, assuming all related costs. If damages appear to be caused by the carrier (FedEx), our team will file a claim on your behalf. Garden Goods Direct is not liable for any damaged, lost, or stolen packages incurred during shipment.

3-DAY SHIPPING HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Due to the fragile nature of plants, we highly recommend that customers select the 3-day shipping option at checkout to ensure that plants will arrive in a reasonable amount of time. At this time, Garden Goods Direct cannot ensure the safe arrival of plant shipped FEDEX Ground and are not liable for the healthy arrival of plants that are not shipped using 3-day express.