Hartwell's Nursery‎

The contract indicated that Hartwell's would prepare and amend the soils as well as plant the purchased plants. We have now had to replace 95% of their work because there was no preparation (breaking up or tilling of the shrub beds) now was there any soil amendment. Most plants were simply dropped in a shallow hole without the root ball even being broken up. And today we discovered that one of the ornamental shrubs never even had the root ball unwrapped. Terrible workmanship. If you buy shrubs from Hartwell's, you do not want to have them install them.

Do not ever have Mr. Hartwell and crew do anything but plants for you. Even that now has fallen in workmanship. But the big issue for us is they took seven months to lay concrete for a small patio and build a small waterfall. The waterfall was never completed and its falling apart exposing the liner. The waterfall was built a few months ago but had a leak in it where it was losing over two inches of water a day. We checked with other reputable Koi pond and waterfall builders and it was obvious it had a leak. They tried for months to find and fix the leak, obviously acknowledging there was a leak and were unsuccessful. They rebuilt part of it, no luck. They patched and glued and glued and patched rocks to where the patching was all over. Once again to no avail. Finally after having zero luck at finding and fixing the leak, the builder came to me and said it was normal, he checked with current customers and experts. They are going to close the ticket (something we never signed to agree to it's completion). One mistake we did make is a few months earlier when they were wrapping up the build, we went ahead and paid the the other 50% we owed. And let me add, they never were there when they said they would be, they always put new clients ahead of finishing our job. Allowing them seven months showed we were extremely patient with them. So anyway, still not satisfied with them closing the ticket, I called the owner and told him the situation, obviously he knew about it and just kept sending the same people expecting different results. Mr. Hartwell did agree to and did come out to see it for the first time. He poured a bit of blue dye (actually algae cleaner) and let it run into the reservoir and said "no leak" He stated it was probably a combination of the wind, splash and evaporation that taking water away so quickly. They did cut back on the strength of the waterfall via valves, but zero water was saved. We still are losing over two inches a day, and that was in the winter when it started. I emailed Mr. Hartwell and told him I checked with other companies and it is definitely leaking, over two inches a day would be over a foot of water in a small waterfall pond in a week. That is not normal. As far as falling apart, the rocks in the reservoir, they are falling off the sides and exposing lining to where it looks extremely "handyman" built. Mr. Hartwell with the exception of his visit has been very unprofessional about this and will not respond to any emails nor will his employees. They got their money and have moved on. This has been extremely frustrating for my wife and I so we emailed Mr. Hartwell telling him to either come and finish the waterfall, pay the bill for a third party to complete his work, or give us a refund. His only reply was "I will not pay a third party". We haven't heard a word since. We unfortunately let them know we are in the process of suing them for the unfinished business since they left it incomplete. We will also be contacting the BBB to lodge a complaint and any other agency we can. We paid hard earned money to have something nice in our back yard that works properly and doesn't fall apart in less than a year.

Great

What a great company...we went back to hartwell's after last years great experience.  Again, Scott took care of us as if we were the only customer there.  We had brought a few pictures of our island and the measurements so he would get an idea of how much we might need.  I specifically told him we needed drout resistant plants.He walked with us around the nursery pointing out plants that he thought might work well.  I wanted color and he accomodated me with day Lilies which I adore. I also selected English lavendar, Phlox, and we got a beautiful Blue Agave Cactus.  The amazing part was after we selected the type and the number of plants we wanted...the team came out and planted everything and it is beautiful.  I am so happy with their work...I will now go back for more...we are having foundation work and I know I will need new shrubs and decorative planting...Scott and Hartwell's Landscaping is my choice!

We found Hartwells on Angie’s list and checked the website for information.  We liked what we saw and planned a visit.  When we got there, we were treated like we were the only ones there and actually had the owner, Scott Hartwell, help us with our search for a tree for our front yard.  He was very helpful and explained what we might need.  We ended up purchasing a 10 year old Live Oak.  Because he was so great, we ended up also purchasing several small ground cover plants and 3 small tree crepe myrtles.  We decided on a date for installation, they came on time, did the work and left me with a set of watering instructions.  One year later everything is still growing beautifully.

I felt their pricing was fair.  I would definitely recommend them.  Their head designer is named Thomas and he gave great customer service.  They were responsive to any questions I had.  It was a very detailed design and I had plenty of choices and options.  They’ve just been very helpful.  They’re also great at follow-up.

We went to Hartwell's nursery and were helped by a very knowlegable man who guided through buying an oak tree, three crepe myrtles and some monkey grass for a small landscaping project. We scheduled the installation for a Friday morning. The crew showed up on time with the plants, mulch and edging. The installation was completed promptly and the lead man gave us instructions on how and how often to water the plants. We were completely satisfied.

I visited Hartwell's because unlike the big box stores, I though they would be able to offer knowledgable help when I selected two shade trees for my property. Boy, was I right. They've been around since 1964 and still operated by the same family. I talked to Scott Hartwell, who spent about 40 minutes with me looking at trees, talking about my yard, the slope, sun exposure, why I wanted the trees, etc. I didn't want a tiny sapling, so I was looking at some of the bigger trees, but he didn't try to sell me the biggest, most expensive ones he had. He told me about some research done by Texas A&M University about which trees add value to the property. He also told me in depth about how to water the tree properly once it was planted. This was new information for me, which is probably why my last one died. My 10-year-old neighborhood has lots of ornamental pears in the yards, which he told me would be dead in 7 or 8 years (they don't live very long). I wanted a tree with great shade, good fall color, and minimal litter on the lawn. In the end I opted for a Shumard Oak in the front, and did a smaller ornamental in the back. The installation had to be rescheduled because the landscape designer (who does the installations, by the way), had to take his little girl to the doctor. But on the rescheduled day, he showed up with help. I was supposed to have the dead tree removed, but I couldn't get it out. It broke off about two feet from the ground. The ground was incredibly hard, with tons of construction debris under the sod. Those two guys worked in the 96-degree heat, pulling up big chunks of concrete that had been covered over by the builder, until they had a good hole for each tree. They brought a mixture of mulch and soil with them, too, so I didn't have to run out and buy mulch when the trees were planted. They removed the dead tree from the front, plus all that debris and dirt they'd dug out, so that when they were done, all I had was pretty new trees, and no mess. They even watered both trees and went over the watering instructions with us. I had also bought some monkey grass to plant on a shady and very narrow side of the house. I told him what I had planned to do, and Tom Holt, the landscape designer, spent a few minutes with me on that side of the house making recommendations about how to plant it so that it wouldn't just look like I forgot to mow. He recommended some shade-loving and drought-tolerant plants to accent it with, too. I told him we'd like to get the house ready to sell since we just adopted three preschool-age kids and we now need a bigger house. He said he could design and install landscaping for the front, sides and back for $1,000, including the plants, so that our curb appeal would skyrocket. I plan to follow up with him and get that done. These guys are real people, not hourly sales clerks, and they know their business. I've known people with lots of money who tried to skimp on landscaping and ended up pulling up or replacing stuff because it wasn't installed correctly, or it wouldn't thrive where they wanted it. That won't happen with Hartwell's. Their expertise, service and real value (vs. cheap prices) are why they will survive no matter how many Wal-Marts, Home Depots and Lowe's stores move in around them. Hartwell's seems to live by the saying, "Buy quality and cry only once."

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