The alleged golden rain tree that Arbor Day Foundation sent to me this spring is actually a tree rose of Sharon. A friend got the same thing, and hers is also a tree rose of Sharon... oops. I had posted over on the plant ID thingy, but it is easier to post here.
The golden rain trees that we got didn't grow. There were four of them. I gave two to the neighbors and theirs didn't grow either. The only tree that they sent that grew was a crape myrtle. Rose of Sharon trees are pretty. There are two or three in the yard at the top of the hill. dooley
I would get in touch with the suppliers and let them know the problems you've had with them. Take photographs of the tree that they sent you so that they can see for themselves that it isn't what you ordered. You should get a full refund and maybe even a replacement for the tree that you're not happy with. Let us know how you get on.
Nightowl. I have heard lot of people getting wrong trees. Doesn't matter where you order them from. I was lucky use to plant tree for Amana -part time job. Got my tree from them. And guy lived down the road.
Well, I have ordered trees from the Arbor Day Foundation for a long time, and I honestly cannot say that any of them have lived, except this one. I did write them earlier this year and mentioned that all of the trees they have ever sent me were dead or dying when I got them. They promised to mail me some new trees this month when the weather is better for planting. I have a number of friends who have all had problems with their trees being too small, and dead/dying when they got them. I am glad they encourage people to plant more trees, but I will not be buying any more trees from them. [the semi annual membership thing they send out, for the $10 donation, you get 10 trees, etc.] I already have thousands of tree rose of sharon seedlings around my many shrubs. I give away and transplant all that I can, and the rest usually get mowed. Another friend mentioned to me recently that she SELLS her young tree seedlings to the state nursery here, so I am going to look into that. I have gotten good trees from them a few times, and most of those thrive. My pine trees from a friend named Fred are around 25 to 30 ft tall as best as I can tell... and I have two bald cypress, and two tulip poplars from them also doing well. I hate killing trees, and try to avoid it. The mimosa trees always have thousands of little seedlings that I pull up each year too...
The Arbor Day Foundation is notorious for sending twigs, mis-labeled treelets, and varieties that are totally inappropriate to the zone/region. For example, they offer us dogwoods (an acid soil understory tree) for our alkaline soils. I don't want to donate $10 and get a bunch of sticks. If you have a friend who has seedlings to share, or a good nursery nearby, you'll do better than with a "Foundation".
I and a lot of friends here have quit donating anything to them because of those issues. I need my $10 more than they do. I have lots of gardening friends that I trade plants and starts with, and I know of much better nurseries.
This was many years ago. Planted me and another gal. 32,000 ash and walnuts tree for Amana in their timbers.-by hand. Makes my back sore just thinking about it.
Sorry to hear about that, Owl-- I guess that you will like the Sharon tree, but if you expected the Golden Rain...I'd look into a refund or tree replacement.
I quit buying from them too....I would rather purchase something larger, I am too impatient to have it grow from a twig. Of course we did get a row of lilacs and some were white, light purple and the dark. Somewhere they were labeled wrong and my favorite, the dark were really lighter. I have added a few dark since but it is disappointing.
