Frank Otte Nursery and Garden Center — Local services in Louisville

THIS GARDEN CENTER HAS AN "F" RATING AT THE BBB IN LOUISVILLE! READ BELOW TO UNDERSTAND JUST ONE REASON WHY. My wife and I are avid gardeners. Our yard is one of the most beautiful in the neighborhood, as we have spent a lot of time and money investing in perennial and annual flower gardening over the years. As we do every Spring, we spent over $200 at Frank Otte last week for the purchase of several trays and containers of annual flowers which appeared to be vigorous and healthy just 8 days ago. We knew bad weather was heading our way so we delayed planting until this weekend. We made sure all the plant stock was well watered and located in shade or sun, as appropriated by the individual needs of each plant.

Unfortunately when we were ready to plant the flowers this morning, we noticed nearly half of everything we purchased was wilted and dying. When we removed the flowers from their containers, it became obvious why: 1) webbing on the base of plants indicated a spider mite problem; 2)mold/mildew and darkened leaves on at least 10 of the plants which indicate botrytis blight - a common disease in greenhouses, resulting from poor irrigation and fertilization techniques; 3) pill bugs were found in the base of several plants; 4) root balls were very weak or non-existent in at least a dozen of the plants.

We tried to return the plants this afternoon, as it should have been obvious to any seasoned gardener that the stock we purchased was of very poor quality. But when the manager finally came out of his office, it was apparent he was not going to be fair or reasonable. First, he tried to blame the poor condition of the plants on the weather. When we told him we brought the plants inside during the cold nights/heavy rain - he then tried to blame it on not planting the flowers soon enough. He also had the audacity to say we should take the diseased/infested plants back and plant them anyway, stating that they would be fine once they were planted. As a gardener with 30 years experience, I can attest planting diseased/infested stock will not make them healthy. Why doesn't the manager of a garden center know this? Our guess is - he knew full well that these plants would never recover -- He simply refuses to take responsibility for selling poor...

We had a great experience shopping with very helpful sales people. My problem is with our delivery. We had bulk mulch delivered to our house. We spoke with Kurt at length about where we wanted it dumped, on which side of the driveway in the side yard between two trees. He said to just put a garbage can where we wanted it, right in the center, and the guys would move it and dump the load there. When I got home, the mulch was in the middle of our driveway, a car's length from the road, next to the garbage can. We can't even use our driveway. I called to complain and was told they always put it in the driveway, never on the grass. I said that's not what we talked about and they needed to come move it. The guy who answered the phone gave me to Kurt, and he said the same the same thing. I said we talked about it and said "yard" a bunch of times, and never ONCE did he say anything about the driveway. If he had told us it had to be in the driveway, I would have picked a different spot. He said, no that's what they always do, I said fine, but you didn't tell us that. He just made it seem like we misunderstood and it was our fault. I told him we did not misunderstand and he needs to be clearer when he discusses this with people. He again made it seem like our fault, said "sorry" and hung up. I don't want to do business with people who don't care if their customers are happy and blame them for...

I had a very disappointing trip to Frank Otte today. I went to a small, locally owned nursery thinking that the service would be friendly and knowledgeable. It's quite possible they are knowledgeable, but I'll never know because the service was so bad. I also went to Frank Otte because their website said they had the plant I was looking for.

To be fair, I arrived 20 minutes before closing time. I'm sure they wanted to get out on time. I only had one specific thing I was looking for, and wasn't going to keep them late.

Kurt was gruff when he came out from the office. When I asked about the plant I was looking for, he informed me they didn't have it, but had plenty of other plants on sale. I thanked him, and said I was looking for this specific plant. He repeated again twice that they had plenty of other nice plants on sale. I asked if they had the ability to order this plant. His response to this was that he would call in the back and see if they had what I was looking for--after telling me they didn't have it already. At this point, I didn't feel like repeating my request to order the plant. I'll just find another local nursery that can...