Guarantee Policy
I guarantee that I will select and install only healthy plant material that is hardy to our zone. I hand pick all my plants myself at the nursery. I do not call or email in my orders.
Under normal circumstances and under proper care by you, your new plant materials should thrive. Woody plant materials (shrubs and trees) should all make it through the first winter. If you have a rabbit problem you will need to set up wire cages around your woody plants over winter. Perennials, on the other hand, are likely to have some casualties during the first year. Some don’t make it due to rabbits, to dog damage, to bugs or disease, an open winter, or due to a lack of adequate watering. You can expect that some of your new perennials will not make it through the first winter. This is normal. It simply offers an empty spot for something else the next spring.
Most garden centers and landscape companies offer a “guarantee” of a year or more for their plant materials. Think of it more as an insurance policy. They charge a premium price to the customer for each plant purchased and offer to replace any plants for up to a year under certain circumstances. The guarantee is usually void if your dog tore the plant out, or a rabbit ate it, or you forgot to water it for the entire summer. To lessen the odds that customers will collect on that guarantee, many landscape companies limit their plant selections to super bomb-proof (some might say boring) plants.
To cover the cost of replacements, a landscape company has to charge enough for the initial plant to pay for the replacement plant and the labor hours it will take to go buy the new plant and get it in the ground, dispose of the dead plant, etc. In other words, a guarantee costs the client more money up front.
I do not build a replacement cost into what I charge my clients for plant materials. I like to keep my costs as close to retail as possible. However, if you want a year guarantee, I will increase my plant costs to cover that guarantee.