We ship Mon-Thurs in Spring and Fall, and are closed for most of the Summer and Winter
NO SHIPPING FEES
All shipping fees are already included in all published prices of our evergreen trees. The height and size of trees varies widely from year to year, and the amount of moisture in plug seedlings means their weight varies significantly as well. Shipping calculators and other features are therefore not accurate and so we do not use them. If you are comparison shopping, please be sure to keep our “out the door prices” in mind.
Shipping Schedule and Transit Times
If the map below indicates that your order will get there by Friday [UPS] or Sat [USPS], we’ll ship immediately if:
[1] it is available
[2] if we are open and shipping that day
[3] if your trees are not outside and frozen solid
[4] if our shipping schedule still has wiggle room
Transit times have changed for UPS ground shipments and are no longer as predictable as we once thought, so although the map below is still a decent guide, it is not as accurate as it used to be 🧐 [here is the real but far messier UPS shipping transit time map]
We use UPS and Priority Mail
If your evergreen tree order is $200 or more, it will ship via UPS Ground unless you specifically request Priority Mail or only provide a PO Box. If your order is less than $200, it will ship via either UPS or USPS Priority Mail depending on shipping rates and transit times. If you need a specific shipper, please let us know. You will get a tracking number via email towards the end of the day your order ships. If you don’t, please check your email filters or let us know and I’ll “dig it up” for you.
We never ship on Fridays because that means your trees are guaranteed to sit in the box all weekend in a truck or on a loading dock, potentially baking in the sun.
If you order by 9:00am EST and the tree species and size is listed as available now, we try very hard to ship your trees that same day if they are in stock and will arrive by Friday [click on the UPS Ground shipping chart shown above right for specifics]. If you order a bit too late in the week such that your trees won’t arrive before the weekend, we’ll schedule them to ship the following week so that your box of trees does not sit on a truck or loading dock all weekend, possibly baking in the sun. Please also note that in the slow summer and winter seasons we only ship Mondays through Wednesdays, and we never ship on Fridays no matter what time of year it is. If you request a specific arrival date for your trees, we actually aim for one day prior to that to give UPS/USPS an extra day of wiggle room just in case they run into a problem.
Postponed Shipping
If you would like to order now to reserve trees in your name but postpone shipping due to time of year, weather, a wedding or other special need, please indicate your preferred ship date in the comments area of your order, on our contact page, or in a follow up email after placing your order. If you do not, we’ll assume you want your trees shipped ASAP.
Expedited Shipping
If you need fast shipping, we can arrange for a deposit on the additional shipping costs. Please refer to our expedited shipping page.
Alaska: Yes, But With Caveats
We do ship to Alaska, but because UPS ground is prohibitively expensive, we tend to default to USPS Priority Mail or even USPS Ground Advantage for shipments to Alaska. If an order is large enough that it must go UPS ground, or if you request UPS Ground, we will ask to split the shipping costs 50/50 with you. Final cost are always dependent upon the size of the box and the weight, so we can only make rough guesses until your order is actually packed up and ready to go.
March, April and May are always CRAZY BUSY!!
During the busy Spring season, we often schedule short distance orders [yellow and orange colors on the map above] to ship later in the week so they’ll arrive just in time for weekend planting projects. This also allows us to pack and ship more long distance orders earlier in the week. However, if you have a tight schedule and want to ensure that your order ships on a specific date, just let us know either in the comments area of your order or in a follow up email after placing your order [see also Expedited Shipping].
No Surprise Shipping And Handling Charges
We publish an “out-the-door-price” on all trees, meaning there are no surprise shipping charges at checkout. We get commercial rate pricing from UPS, which is significantly less than what you’d pay if we just sold you the trees and then had the shipping fees tacked onto your bill during checkout. For example, I shipped a box to my retired parents down in FL and discovered that the commercial rate for that box to that destination was $28, but the retail walk-up rate at the UPS Store was over $50.
PLUS IT IS EASIER! Our “shipping included” policy greatly simplifies the shipping calculations because trees vary in size and weight from year to year, and the weight of plug seedlings and plug transplants varies even more. Calculating shipping costs on a per-customer and per-order basis would be complicated to say the least, because we don’t know what size box to use until we begin picking your order and we won’t know the exact weight until your order is fill and the box is closed up. Per-order shipping costs just sounds like a nightmare, even if you <3 logistics 🙂
By the way, don’t feel like a second class green thumb if your order ships via Priority Mail, because it has a couple of advantages over UPS Ground. First off, UPS Ground [click on map above] shows that for some states it will take 3, 4 or even 5 days for your trees to arrive, but Priority Mail often meets or even beats UPS Ground to your door by a day or sometimes even two! Secondly, packages shipped Priority Mail can be delivered on Saturdays at no additional charge, which UPS Ground does not match.
Serving The United States Only
Our trees have passed all Michigan Department of Agriculture pest and disease inspections, which allows us to ship some but not all species/sizes to nearly all states. However, due to high costs and/or quarantine restrictions, we do not or cannot ship to Idaho and Hawaii, nor to Canada or Mexico. If you are located outside the 48 states, we suggest that you find a local grower.
Monday Arrivals Definitely Not Recommended
Our goal is to prevent your box of trees from sitting on a truck loading dock somewhere all weekend, potentially baking in the sun. We therefore do not ship on Fridays, which means we do not offer Monday as an arrival date [although we ship a lot of trees on Monday]. If you need your order to arrive early in the week but our UPS shipping chart shows it will take too long to get to you [click chart to enlarge], please see “Expedited Shipping” below.
Questions Not Answered?
If you have any questions about shipping, please contact Rick