Moon Valley Nurseries — Attraction in Phoenix

My Purchase: $2700 for one Jacaranda tree and various shrubs.

Design Consultation: The designer came to the house promptly and was very polite. However, he couldn’t answer any of my questions about the water requirements of the various plants he suggested I purchase. I asked so I could determine if the proposed plants would fit into my current watering schedule. He assured me that the planters would be able to help explain the watering requirements, which wasn’t helpful as I wanted the information to determine what kinds of plants to buy. I informed the designer that I wanted plants/trees that would grow full and be green all year. He suggested a Jacaranda tree and I agreed, but he did not explain that Jacaranda trees lose their leaves once a year. I didn’t find this out until the tree was delivered with bare branches. The designer did not help me choose locations for the shrubs I purchased or put down flags as their website states should have been done. We did discuss the location for the Jacaranda. However, I found out later, though my own research, that Jacaranda’s grow to a size that is much too big for the location I chose.

Utility Staking: No one informed me that I would need my utilities marked. I understand the need and am glad it was done, but it would have been nice to know that people would be knocking on my door at all hours (one came before 7am) for a week.

Stump Grinding: I needed to get a stump ground so I could plant the new tree in the same spot. No one called me to schedule the grinding. I called once to let the office know I had not been contacted and was told I would get a call the following day. No one called. I called again later to schedule the grinding. The planting had to be pushed back because the grinding could not be done before the scheduled planting date. The stump grinding crew was great – very polite, knowledgeable, and honest.

Planting: The planters were timely. Since nothing had been flagged, we discussed plant placement. I gave them some leeway on exact locations, which I should not have done. They planted a large ornamental grass right behind my address marker (it’s a small metal column that shows my street address) which will eventually grow to cover the marker entirely. I asked if they could move it and was met with: “You want us to dig another hole and move the grass? Why not just trim it?” I agreed to keep it in the same spot against my better judgment. The planters could not answer any watering questions and assured me someone would call to explain the watering requirements for the plants. I asked the planter to put an extra note on the invoice that I wanted a call because I had experienced problems being contacted in the past.

The crew also severed one of my irrigation lines while planting and didn’t tell me. They were aware of the mistake because they left the severed line next to one of the bushes they had just planted. I called the planter to have them fix the line but no one answered my call.

Post-Planting: I was emailed a PDF and a photocopy page from a book that talks about watering, but I was not given any information necessary to identify how the plants I purchased should be watered. Different categories of plant/tree require different watering per the provided information, but I was not informed what category my new plants belong to. That email also said a call would follow, which did not happen. I requested a survey, but that request was also unanswered. I didn’t receive a follow-up email from customer service rep Taylor Parsons until I mentioned leaving negative reviews.

Warranty: The Jacaranda tree that was planted has about 35-40% dead branches, though the remainder of the tree is growing well. I contacted the nursery twice to see if this is normal or if the tree needs to be replaced. One employee asked that I text and then stopped responding and the other (Taylor Parsons, customer service rep) has not responded...

Hi I want to share what a fabulous experience my husband and I had working with moon valley nurseries every step of the way. So We just moved to Phoenix from the Midwest and are enamored by the landscape here! We bought our house as we fell in love with views as it faces the mountain preserve. But even though we have the beauty of the desert and mountain outside the fence - inside the fence needed some serious help! It was overgrown with dying cactus, scrub brush, and messy trees. While we love seeing the cactus on the mountain we prefer the relaxing oasis feel of palm trees. (And they don’t hurt as much!) We were lucky enough to drive by moon valley nursery and wow we were in Palm tree heaven! Of course only ever seeing Palm trees on vacation we had no idea where to start. And just as the universe guided us to moon valley it also blessed us with meeting Carrie! She greeted us immediately and asked what brought us in. The reality is we were just looking for a pot .. but said how mesmerized we were with all the palm trees! She’s like well let take a look! I told her my backyard was filled with a lot of sad looking cactus and i really wanted to make my back yard happy but had no idea where to start! She then offered to come to our house to check it out with a complementary consultation! And sure enough that weekend she showed up and even brought another expert Tyler with her. Both professionals in understanding the best plants to get and design it was a fun collaboration!! But that was just the beginning of the excitement! They came back with a great plan and we worked together to mold it into a transformational solution for the backyard .. within the right budget … remember, we were only there originally to get a pot!! Since we had to clear out the old to make room for the new, there was a ton of coordination from plant and tree removal to stump removal, utility line marking, planting and crane operating! I’ve never experienced such efficient project management and communication! The operations team sent email and texts all along the way and the crew called on time every day they were scheduled. I’ve dealt with a lot of projects and contractors since moving here and this is the only experience where they came through on all their promises… with no delays.. every time!! Speaking of the crews - they were all the best. From the crew leader always doing an intro and calling us by our names, to asking before using our electoral and water to complete site cleanup every time. They are top notch! Planting day finally arrived and sure enough Carrie was there bright and early with the crew to watch our design come to life! Once again, all the moving pieces came together like clock work … first the crew came to dig the big holes, just in time for the crane to arrive and expertly lift the palm trees OVER the house! This was a show in itself and all we could say was wowwww as the big palm fit perfectly in the hole like a glove!!! The crew lead Javi was amazing and did such a good job explaining to us how to care for our palms. He went above and beyond making this a great experience and I could tell he was well respected by his crew And when everyone left after cleaning up the worksite… what exudes is happiness!!! We love our backyard oasis now complete with a better view of the mountain with a strategically designed landscape! I would recommend moon valley nurseries to anyone looking to transform their yard .. or even get a few plants or even just a pot! They have quality products but more importantly quality people! Thank you moon valley!!! I’m definitely drinking the...

Do not hire moon valley for tree service. I didn't even hire them, a neighbor did, but I've been subjected to their nonsense regardless.

When they first started working on the tree at my neighbor's home which overhangs onto my property, I noticed a miriad of issues ammounting to poor training, poor supervision, and carelessness of the crew. They were not properly utilizing their PPE, saw safety was abismal, and they were carelessly dropping limbs over the wall with zero care for what was beneath them on my side of the wall.

I politely pointed out the issue of them dropping limbs onto the items on my side of my wall and asked to speak with the supervisor on site. The supervisor, Emiliano, was immediately defensive and dismissive walking away. A young man claiming the name peter on their crew decided to jump in once his supervisor walked away. He could have just chosen to be polite, professional, and stated they'd be more careful to not damage my property. That wasn't the route he took. He tried to gaslight me while joking in spanish with the other members of his crew how entitled/high strung I was. Both were HUGE mistakes. I'm a bilingual and a forestry maintenance crew supervisor with USFS. While others may accept their pseudo science explaination why they were disregarding proper safety, tree health, and security of the property around them, they can't pull that over on someone who trains and supervises employees in their exact position on a grand scale. It was extremely unprofessional, insulting, and straight up fraudulent gaslighting me to my face while making jokes in spanish they didn't expect me to understand as a white individual.

It was at this time I walked away. What do I care if an obstinate laborer gets hurt as a result of his own cockiness? I also didn't care about them damaging the health of the tree as it's not my tree? I dont.. Those aren't my problems... So I left them be...

Within the next 20 minutes, they crushed the screen on my fire pit, broke 2 landscape lights in my yard, broke a trellis supporting one of my plants, and broke a glass orb that was decorating my garden. Now, it is my problem. The supervisor on site wouldn't engage with me, so it was back to Peter being defensive, beligerant, and making statements he shouldn't have. Teach your employees not to speak out of place and give untrue explainations and excuses. It would have been better for him to say nothing, because none of the words out of his mouth were truthful or leading towards a solution.

Their crew cleaned up and left without taking a real report and leaving my neighbor's tree a poorly managed mess. I called the office to make a formal complaint and report. The girl answering the phone was nice and seemed understanding. She promised a call back from management to address the issue and take a full report. That call back has yet to come.

In the meantime, I am making a formal complaint with Arizona Registrar of contractors against the company's qualifying party for their license, Sal Bracale. I'll also be following up with OSHA and ISA complaints. If the company won't address the clear issues from within, I'm happy to force their hand and make doing business difficult. Good luck. I hope you take it as a learning experience and properly train your crews so future customers and their neighbors aren't inconvenienced. Also, so none of your crew get hurt. Today, it was some meaningless yard decorations. The same carelessness could easily severely harm someone. Get it together or get out of the industry. What I saw today was abismal and an embarassment to...