Returns, Refunds & Our Plant Guarantee

Please read carefully before placing an order!

Questions about an order? Email office@tfcnursery.com with your order number. Email is the best way to reach our customer service team. We generally respond within two business days.

For live plants and other perishable items, unpack promptly and report concerns within 48 hours of delivery. For nonperishable items, report order problems within five business days.

Our Plant Guarantee

We guarantee that plants arrive alive, in good condition, and true to name. Dormant bare-root plants are also covered for first-spring leaf-out as described below.

This is not a long-term survival guarantee. Coverage depends on timely reporting, appropriate care, and the claim requirements below.

Plant Appearance & Cosmetic Differences

Plants naturally vary in shape, branching, fullness, and appearance. Product photographs are representative unless a listing specifically identifies the exact plant being purchased.

Cosmetic differences and shipping stress that do not materially affect plant health are not covered. Examples include minor leaf damage, temporary yellowing or leaf drop, superficial marks, and preferences concerning branch placement, symmetry, or fullness.

A healthy plant that meets its listed specifications is not considered defective solely because its appearance or branching differs from a photograph or the customer’s preference.

This exclusion does not excuse an incorrect variety or a plant that fails to meet an expressly stated size, grade, or other product specification.

Arrival & Pickup Condition

Unpack shipped plants promptly upon delivery and provide appropriate care immediately.

Email all arrival-condition concerns within 48 hours of delivery. For eligible pickup purchases, report concerns within 48 hours of pickup. This includes questionable condition, dead or damaged plants, missing items, and incorrect items.

The 48-hour reporting window is not a recommendation to leave plants boxed for two days. Delayed unpacking, dried-out roots, improper storage, or failure to provide appropriate care can damage plants and are not covered.

Dormant plants may arrive without leaves. Seasonal dieback, minor leaf damage, or some yellowing does not necessarily mean a plant is dead.

Photograph Shipping Damage

If the outside of the box appears damaged, photograph it before opening.

For a shipping-damage claim, retain the packaging and provide clear photographs of:

• All six sides of the box, including the shipping label.
• Any crushed, torn, wet, or otherwise damaged areas.
• The packing materials and arrangement inside the box.
• Each affected item and its damage.

If damage becomes apparent only after opening, photograph the contents and packaging immediately. Missing documentation may prevent us from completing a carrier claim.

Dormant Bare-Root Leaf-Out

We guarantee that properly stored, planted, and cared-for dormant bare-root plants will begin growth during their first spring following delivery or eligible pickup.

This guarantee covers initial leaf-out only. Once a plant has leafed out, subsequent decline or death is not covered by the leaf-out guarantee.

Arrival-condition concerns must still be reported within 48 hours. Claims for failure to leaf out must be emailed no later than June 30 of that first spring. There are no extensions to this deadline.

Provide photographs, planting and care information, and scratch-test photographs for woody plants. Scratch tests do not apply to strawberries, asparagus, bulbs, soft crowns, or other nonwoody roots.

True-to-Name Coverage

Plant identity is covered for three years from delivery or eligible pickup.

Report a suspected labeling error promptly and within that three-year period. Retain the original label and proof of purchase. Photographs of leaves, flowers, fruit, or other identifying features may be required.

True-to-name coverage concerns the identity of the purchased plant. It does not cover installation costs, labor, lost time, lost harvests, replacement of surrounding plantings, or other resulting expenses or losses, except where required by law.

How to Make a Claim

Email office@tfcnursery.com within the applicable deadline. Include:

• Your order number and the affected items.
• A clear description of the concern.
• Photographs of the plants, labels, and relevant packaging.
• How the plants have been stored, watered, planted, and cared for.
• Scratch-test photographs for woody bare-root claims.

Continue appropriate care throughout the investigation. Keep the plants, labels, and packaging until we provide instructions. Do not discard, return, or otherwise dispose of them without our authorization.

We may require additional photographs, observation, inspection, or an authorized return before resolving a claim. Unauthorized disposal may make a claim ineligible if it prevents the required evaluation or return.

A timely email preserves your claim while we investigate. It does not remove your responsibility to continue caring for the plants.

Store Credit, Replacements & Refunds

Our standard remedy for approved arrival-condition, damage, shortage, fulfillment-error, and bare-root leaf-out claims is store credit for the affected item’s actual purchase price after discounts. Store credit never expires.

When available, customers may choose a replacement instead. Customers pay replacement shipping. Replacements depend on inventory, suitable weather, and the applicable shipping season. Bare-root replacements must fall within our bare-root shipping window.

If a replacement is unavailable, store credit remains available. Refunds are issued at our discretion unless otherwise required by law. Original shipping charges are generally not included.

For a confirmed true-to-name error, we may offer store credit, a correct replacement with replacement shipping covered by us, or a refund at our discretion.

A maximum of one replacement is offered per affected item. Replacement plants do not receive additional coverage under our voluntary plant guarantee and are not eligible for further replacements, credits, or refunds under that guarantee. This does not limit remedies required by law.

Credits and refunds use the amount actually paid for the affected item after discounts, with applicable tax adjustments. The cost of a replacement plant is not also issued as a credit or refund.

What Our Plant Guarantee Does Not Cover

We do not guarantee continued survival after initial leaf-out or establishment, a particular growth rate, flowering, fruit production, or yield.

Losses caused by improper storage, delayed unpacking, unsuitable planting conditions, incorrect watering, animal damage, or weather after delivery are not covered.

Please contact us early if a plant is struggling. We may be able to help identify a care issue before it becomes more serious.

Returns & Nonperishable Items

Live plants and other perishable planting material are nonreturnable unless we specifically authorize or request a return as part of resolving a claim. This includes bare roots, bulbs, tubers, garlic, and onion sets. Nonreturnable status does not prevent an eligible guarantee claim.

For problems with nonperishable items, email office@tfcnursery.com within five business days of receipt, including your order number, description, and relevant photographs.

Change-of-mind returns are considered individually and are not guaranteed. Request written authorization within five business days of receipt. Authorized returns may be accepted within 14 calendar days of receipt and must be unused, unopened where applicable, and in their original, saleable condition.

Approved change-of-mind returns are subject to a 35% restocking fee. Customers pay return shipping. Original shipping charges are not refunded.

Do not return anything without written authorization. Returned items that are used, damaged, incomplete, or otherwise not in the required condition may be refused.

Damaged, defective, missing, or incorrect goods are reviewed separately from change-of-mind returns. The 35% restocking fee does not apply to an approved claim for defective or incorrectly supplied goods.

Order Changes & Cancellations

Email office@tfcnursery.com with your order number and requested change or cancellation. Requests must be submitted in writing; a phone call alone does not establish a request.

Spring preorders — before March 1: Changes and cancellations may incur a fee of up to 10% of the affected merchandise value, at our discretion.

Spring preorders — March 1 or later: Changes and cancellations cannot be guaranteed. If approved, order changes may incur a fee of up to 20%, and cancellations may incur a fee of up to 30% of the affected merchandise value. Fees reflect preparation already completed and costs incurred.

For orders placed on or after March 1, and other immediately shippable orders, submit requests within 24 hours of ordering. This reporting window does not guarantee that an order can be changed or canceled before preparation or shipment.

We cannot cancel an order after shipment. Changes may affect pricing, availability, shipping charges, and fulfillment timing.

These fees do not apply to items we cannot fulfill or to cancellations for which a fee-free refund is required by law. If we cannot fulfill an item, we will refund that item to your original payment method.

Local Pickup

Wait for your pickup-ready notification before coming to collect your order.

Pick up perishable items within seven calendar days of that notification. Once prepared, plants are moved into a pickup area where they do not receive the same ongoing care as plants in our growing areas.

If you anticipate a pickup complication, contact us before your order is prepared whenever possible. Otherwise, notify us within 24 hours of receiving your pickup notification. Extended holding requires our advance agreement.

Our plant-condition, bare-root leaf-out, and true-to-name guarantees apply to eligible pickup purchases collected within the seven-day window. Perishable items collected after that window are not covered by our voluntary plant guarantee unless we agreed otherwise in writing before the deadline.

For timely pickup orders, inspect your items promptly and email any condition concerns within 48 hours of pickup. The separate leaf-out and identity deadlines above still apply.

Substitutions & Unavailable Items

We may substitute a closely comparable item when an exact item is unavailable. For substitutions that are not a close match, we will contact you for approval before proceeding.

If we cannot fulfill an item and do not make an appropriate substitution, we will refund the unfulfilled item to your original payment method.

Limits of Coverage & Liability

Our voluntary guarantee provides only the remedies expressly described on this page. It does not promise long-term survival, a particular growth rate, flowering, fruiting date, harvest, or yield.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability arising from any plant or product, including a true-to-name error, is limited to the actual purchase price paid for the affected item after discounts.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude liability for installation, planting, removal, replanting, labor, maintenance, lost time, lost income or profits, lost harvests, damage to other plants or property, and other incidental, indirect, special, or consequential losses.

Applicable tax adjustments and shipping expressly covered under an approved remedy are handled as described above. Nothing in this policy excludes liability or limits rights or remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.