Gurney's Seed & Nursery is one of the oldest names in American mail-order gardening. It sells vegetable and flower seeds, fruit trees, berry plants, perennials, bulbs and garden supplies through its catalog and website, and it suits home gardeners in the lower 48 states who want a wide selection and don't mind planting on a nursery's shipping calendar.

We reviewed Gurney's shipping, guarantee and help pages, its BBB and Trustpilot profiles, and gardener forum discussions. Short answer: yes, Gurney's is a legitimate, long-established retailer, but its guarantee pays out in replacements or store credit rather than cash, and tiered shipping fees can add a third or more to a small order.

Gurney's at a glance

Founded1866, according to the company
HeadquartersLawrenceburg, Indiana (mailing address)
Owner/parentGardens Alive!, Inc., which bought Gurney's in 2001
What it sellsSeeds, fruit trees, berries, perennials, bulbs, shrubs, vegetable plants and garden supplies
Shipping (US)Charged by order total, from $6.99 (up to $20) to $34.99 (over $180); 48 contiguous states only; plants ship at planting time for your zone
ReturnsOne-year No-Risk Guarantee on plants, seeds and merchandise; the remedy is a replacement or merchandise credit
Customer service(513) 354-1492, [email protected] or live chat
BBB (as of November 2026)B rating; accredited since 2018; 40 complaints in three years, 17 in the last 12 months
Trustpilot (as of November 2026)3.9/5 from about 970 reviews

Who is Gurney's?

Gurney's says it has served gardeners since 1866. Wikipedia's history credits Charles W. Gurney, a Civil War officer, with starting the original nursery in Iowa. He moved it to Yankton, South Dakota, in 1897, and in 1906 he, his sons and a nephew incorporated the business as Gurney Seed and Nursery Company. By 1924 it ranked among the largest seed houses in the world.

Today's Gurney's belongs to a larger catalog group. In 2001, Gardens Alive!, a mail-order garden company founded in Indiana in 1984 by Niles Kinerk, paid $10.75 million for a set of brands from bankrupt direct marketer Foster & Gallagher, among them Gurney's, Henry Field's, Spring Hill Nurseries, Breck's and Michigan Bulb. The Gurney's website footer names the seller as Gardens Alive, Inc. doing business as Gurney's Seed and Nursery Co., and the BBB lists Niles Kinerk as president.

The two brands have since merged their storefronts. By November 2024 the Gardens Alive! website redirected to Gurney's, which is now the exclusive supplier of Gardens Alive! fertilizers and related products. Gurney's also says it works with universities and plant breeders on new varieties, and it has signed the Safe Seed Pledge, a promise not to knowingly sell genetically engineered seeds or plants.

What Gurney's sells and how prices compare

The range is broad for a single catalog: vegetable, herb and flower seeds; vegetable starts, onions, garlic and potatoes; fruit trees, citrus, blueberries and strawberries; perennials, bulbs, roses, hedges and shrubs; houseplants; and supplies such as beneficial nematodes and Gardens Alive! fertilizers. Collections like Plants Under $25 and Plants Shipping Now help narrow it down.

Gurney's leans on promotions, and a fall sale was running when we checked in November 2026. In a GrowingFruit.org forum thread with posts from 2018 to 2021, several experienced growers said they buy from Gurney's mainly during sales or with coupons, and one called the regular prices inflated.

Shipping is where costs climb. Gurney's charges by order total: $6.99 up to $20, $10.99 from $20.01 to $50, $16.99 from $50.01 to $80, $22.99 from $80.01 to $120, $28.99 from $120.01 to $180, and $34.99 above $180, plus extra charges for overweight items. There's no published free-shipping threshold, so a $55 order pays $16.99 to ship, about 31 percent on top.

If something you ordered is unavailable, Gurney's may send a similar item of equal or greater value and note the swap on the packing slip or in a substitution note. If you don't want the substitute, contact customer service.

Shipping and delivery

Gurney's sends orders by the U.S. Postal Service or FedEx, choosing whichever is faster for the shipment. It delivers only within the 48 contiguous states, so there's no shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, APO/FPO addresses or anywhere else outside the lower 48. Some products can't go to P.O. boxes, so give a street address, and larger orders may arrive in several boxes.

Gurney's doesn't promise delivery within a set number of days. Plants ship in windows set by USDA zone and product type, and weather at your address or at the nursery can move a ship date earlier or later. Seeds ship year-round.

How Gurney's seasonal shipping windows work

Ordering a plant from Gurney's reserves it for a shipping window tied to your USDA hardiness zone; it doesn't mean the plant leaves the warehouse this week. Gurney's publishes the full schedule, with a last order date for each window. Examples from the current table:

  • Fall 2026, most plants: Dormant bareroot and potted perennials, shrubs, trees, blueberries, fruits and vegetable starts shipped from August 31 to October 23 in zones 3 through 6 (last order October 19). In zones 7A to 10B they ship from September 21 to November 20, with a last order date of November 16.
  • Spring 2027 fruit trees: Shipping runs February 1 to May 7 in zones 7B to 10B. In the coldest zones, 3A to 5A, it runs March 22 to June 4.
  • Spring 2027 dormant trees and hedges: Shipments start as early as February 1 in zones 10A and 10B and as late as April 26 in zones 3A to 4B.
  • Spring 2027 vegetable plants: Annual vegetable plants begin shipping April 5 in zones 7B to 10B and in May for zones 3A to 6B.

Trees and shrubs stay in the nursery rows until they are fully dormant, so many arrive bareroot and leafless, which can look underwhelming next to catalog photos. If you're ordering now in a cold zone, most dormant stock will ship in spring 2027, while gardeners in zones 7A to 10B have until November 16, 2026, to order most fall plants.

Returns, refunds and warranty

Gurney's handles problems through its No-Risk Guarantee, which covers nursery stock, trees, plants, seeds and merchandise for one full year. If a purchase disappoints, Gurney's says it will replace it or give merchandise credit for the full purchase price. The guarantee page doesn't mention cash refunds, refunds of shipping charges, or claim steps such as photos.

To start a return or claim, the returns page says to call, email [email protected] or use live chat. The same page says plants, trees and bulbs are guaranteed to be true to name. Credit can come as a replacement certificate, and the site has a lookup page for checking gift and replacement certificate balances.

That credit-first approach causes the most friction. Answering an October 2026 BBB complaint, Gurney's explained that its guarantee provides a replacement or merchandise credit rather than a monetary refund. Even so, several 2026 BBB complaints about dead plants ended with refunds after customers pushed back, and the company's replies typically quoted 7 to 10 business days for processing.

What customers say

On Trustpilot, Gurney's has a 3.9/5 TrustScore from about 970 reviews (as of November 2026). About half are five stars and about a quarter are one star. Most were posted in the past 12 months; Gurney's claimed the profile in August 2026 and invites customers to leave reviews. Positive reviewers mention easy ordering, wide selection, helpful phone staff and plants that arrived in good condition. Negative ones cite high shipping costs, sold-out items, delays, discount codes that didn't apply and unanswered messages. Gurney's had replied to 3% of negative reviews.

The BBB picture is rougher. Gurney's holds a B rating and has been accredited since September 2018, but it drew 40 complaints in three years, 17 of them in the past 12 months (as of November 2026). Of the 10 complaints displayed, all filed between May and October 2026, most describe plants that died or never grew, followed by disputes over store credit versus cash, slow refunds, and shipments that slipped or never arrived. Eight of the 10 were marked resolved, most often once a refund came through.

Plant size and vigor draw mixed reports from experienced growers. In the GrowingFruit.org thread, members described Gurney's as hit or miss: some received small or very thin bareroot trees, and one compared a tree to a twig with roots. Others had better luck, including a bareroot cherry one member called among the biggest they'd received and strawberries that all leafed out after eight days in transit.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Long history dating to 1866 and a stable owner, Gardens Alive!, since 2001
  • One-year No-Risk Guarantee covering plants, seeds and merchandise
  • Broad catalog of seeds, fruit trees, berries, perennials, bulbs and supplies in one place
  • Detailed zone-by-zone shipping schedule with clear last order dates
  • BBB accreditation since 2018, plus support by phone, email and live chat

Cons

  • The guarantee remedy is a replacement or merchandise credit, not a cash refund
  • Shipping runs $6.99 to $34.99 by order size, with surcharges for heavy items and no published free-shipping threshold
  • No delivery to Alaska, Hawaii or APO/FPO addresses
  • 2026 BBB complaints center on dead plants and refund disputes
  • Mixed reports on the size of bareroot trees and small starts
  • Sold-out items may be replaced with a substitute

Tips before you order from Gurney's

  1. Look up your USDA zone on the shipping schedule before buying, and note the last order date for your window. In zones 7A to 10B, most fall plants must be ordered by November 16, 2026.
  2. Combine purchases into one order. Two $40 orders cost $21.98 to ship, while a single $80 order costs $16.99.
  3. Watch the bracket lines. A $51 cart pays $16.99 in shipping, but trimming it to $50 drops the charge to $10.99.
  4. Compare Gurney's sale prices, not list prices, with other nurseries before you check out.
  5. Open plant boxes as soon as they arrive, photograph anything that looks dead or damaged, and contact Gurney's promptly with your order number.
  6. If a tree or perennial fails to leaf out the following spring, file your guarantee claim before the one-year window closes, and ask whether a refund is possible if you don't want store credit.

Is Gurney's legit? Our verdict

Gurney's is a real, established retailer with 160 years behind the name and the same owner for 25 years. It's a reasonable choice for gardeners in the lower 48 who want a big catalog in one place, can plan around seasonal shipping windows, and are comfortable accepting a replacement or credit if a plant fails.

Look elsewhere if you want a cash-refund guarantee, live outside the contiguous states, or are placing a small order where shipping would take a big bite. For fruit trees, Stark Bro's is worth comparing, and Johnny's Selected Seeds is an alternative for vegetable seeds.

Visit Gurney's

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