I hope this is OK to post here! I promise that I have no connection to the company at all, and this is an honest review.

They come up high on Google every time I look for a tree, but a few people on here warned me away because the company doesn't have great reviews. I was in a position where I wanted to buy some Sweetbay Magnolia trees, though, and couldn't find them anywhere except for FGT! So I thought I'd give them a shot.

During the checkout process, I saw a banner that I could sign up for their newsletter and get $10 off. So I did, but didn't get a coupon code or anything. I went in to a chat session, which was pretty cool, and the rep there told me that they can take up to 48 hours to show up! I didn't want to wait, though, so she gave me a unique coupon code to use. So I can give a thumbs up to my customer service experience.

I placed the order on May 12 at 1:55pm for two Sweetbay Magnolias and one Japanese Maple Bloodgood. I added the Bloodgood because they had a deal with free shipping on orders over $150, and this took me over the minimum price so it was like getting the Bloodgood for about $20.

I also included the extra 1 year warranty, which was $25 to cover all three trees. Honestly, I figured that it would guarantee that the warehouse guys would pick the best trees for me :-)

The trees were delivered on May 14 by FedEx. Two day free delivery, I can give a thumbs up to that, too.

FedEx left the box standing up at my front door, though! I didn't take a picture, but the box DID clearly say "This Side Up" and had arrows everywhere showing that the box was supposed to be laying flat! That scared me, I thought the driver must have really done some damage.

But I opened the box:

What you see is a pot with a Magnolia on each end, and the Japanese Maple pot is in the cardboard section in the upper middle. They were all in there tight, and didn't budge even though one (maybe two) of the trees were standing upside down on my porch!

A lot of dirt had fallen out of one of the pots, but the plastic wrap was on there pretty tight so it didn't really go anywhere.

I pulled them out, and all three look perfectly healthy. One of the Magnolias has a bloom on it!

So I can give a thumbs up to the packaging and product quality, too.

A definite thumbs down to FedEx, but that's not really FGT's fault. I've had problems with FedEx before... one time, the guy literally drove through my yard because he didn't want to turn around!

But anyway. I planted the Magnolias today, but I'm still planning for the Bloodgood so it's standing in its pot in the area I plan to plant it.

All in all, my experience with FGT was great! No complaints other than FedEx, and they have a lot of trees that I otherwise wouldn't be able to get.