Reviews of Frank Otte Nursery and Garden Center (Gardener)

Always Available Tree

The people at the customer service desk are lazy. Very poor service. Frank Otte is way over priced on everything. Lowe's is half the price they are. Save your money go to Lowe's , the quality is just as good.

Ricky George

Always a great place with a great selection. You might pay a little premium but great quality.

Danielle Cope

I have not personally gone to this nursery, but based upon the reviews, I don't think that will change anytime soon. Sounds like this place will be closed within the next year. I think I'll go to Walitschs instead and avoid any mishaps.

Dean Tomes

Decent Nursery overall for product availability, I started here but did more at another Garden that was local also and I have no regrets overall. I would come back as the experience for us was fine, the pricing might be a little higher than average, but you just have to shop and compare. Thank you.

Bill Kinney

We purchased a fountain from these people. Got it home and found that it ran itself out of water after about an hour of use. Called and were told by a guy named Kirk that they would send someone out today to adjust the fountain. This guy was rude and couldn't have cared less about us the customer. We paid $600 for his fountain. Guess what...they never called or came out to adjust the fountain. The management at this place are jerks. He told us the fountain was non returnable. Too bad!!! I looked on the invoice - nothing. The store signage - nothing. The tag on the fountain - nothing. They just seem to make up policy as they go along. Don't do business with these clowns. Once they have your money...you're crap.

Jason Lamb

Great place. Helpful staff. Awesome experience.

Valerie Baute

Very knowledgeable staff and you always know the plants are top notch, hearty plants great for the area.

Thomas Carroll

Extremely overpriced compared to the many greenhouses and shops around it. Products were very common place

ALAN JEFFREY

Older was very rude and kept cutting me off when I was speaking. It got so bad I left the product on the counter and left.

Shawn Torres

Whitehall is a perfect venue for a garden wedding. Settings for photos are gorgeous.

Georg E

The plants are OK. I have found most employees there helpful but as they say it only takes one bad apple. The older man working there who I believe is the manager- is consistently rude and just plain nasty if you have to deal with him. I take my business to Wallitsch Nursery and its solely because of the experiences I have had with this gentleman over several years as a customer.

Jenn F

I am a buy local kind of person and definitely a plant/gardening person. But I won't ever go back to Frank Otte. The plants aren't anything you won't find five minutes down the road at Lowes for less money and the main thing is that somewhere else you won't deal with an openly hostile manager. I have shopped here for many years and on any occasion where you need to deal with him, with an issue big or small, he is singularly unhelpful and really rude. Things that seem like a given or an easy fix are a problem with this man. Its a shame because his staff is great, but I don't know how they stand him. Avoid.

Martha VanCleave

I am still reeling! Ordered brown mulch to be delivered to my home today. Black mulch was delivered and I called to ask them to fix it and they refused. Said I was wrong - am so glad I had a workman here who agreed with me that the delivered mulch is black The people at Otte's were so rude. I have never been talked to in that way before. Martha Ruth Van Cleave

Daniel Clark

Trees all died, total waste of money.

Sabbatha Bastet

Healthy plants and great service always.

John Hora

Local Biz....Excellent products and very professional knowledgeable staff!

Linda Pack

Good products, wonderful customer service and beautiful environment.

Sara Campbell

I went to Frank Otte yesterday & asked lots of questions. Was met with friendly service and no hassle when I said I wasn't ready to purchase. Made the decision to purchase today. Paid for tree, delivery, and planting. WOW! It was delivered and planted in my yard an hour later, watered and mulched. The tree has a one year warranty and I was given thorough instructions on how to care for it.

HomeOn Derange

Have shopped here three times now. Find the quality of the plants to be average. The friendliness of the staff leaves much to be desired. Every time I have had the feeling that I would rather not bother any of them with questions. Consistently, they will walk right past you without a smile or a glance in your direction. Also, most recently, I bought a vine to add to ones I already had. It had a few brown spots on the leaves. I asked if that was a problem "no, a little water will fix that" the older gentleman from the office said. Now all the vines have the same brown spots, although the others had been previously healthy. I will not trust Frank Otte again and will now take my business elsewhere.

sam c

The rating reflects the customer service. The plants are fine- but nothing that cannot be found at other top nurseries. Simply put, if you have asthma, any sort of breathing issues or just don't like breathing gas fumes and you value your hearing, don't plan a visit to this store in their last couple of hours open... or anytime on a slow day for that matter. Many times I've visited under those circumstances only to have to leave without being able to shop because the staff will be using a LOUD gas blower to clean the semi enclosed greenhouse. Not only can you not hear anything someone with you might say even if they were to yell- you cannot breathe. The employee doing the blowing has ear protection on- customers just have to bear it and the fumes or leave. Being asthmatic- I leave- no choice. Its incredibly rude- they have done it as long as I have been shopping there. Asking them to stop out of the consideration of the customers does no good. THINK OF YOUR CUSTOMERS. We don't want to have our eardrums blown out or have to gasp for breath because the manager on duty wants to roll out as soon as the doors close. JUST PLAIN RUDE. Its a shame.

Tom Jones

Very disappointed in the size of bucket they use to load the mulch . Thought I was getting a good deal, turns out I was paying twice the amount compare to where I was buying my mulch.

Louisville Jesters

Owned by a con artist.

Sam Clemons

Place is owned by a slum lord and bigot. Horrible and slow customer service.

Alan Kaeser

Great selection of outdoor plants and other great products. Good prices.

Esta Coyle

Reliable, nice, good service and good price.

Gary Kleier

Good selection. Prices about average.

Judy Schroeder

Fantastic collection of plants!

Carole Solomon

I wont go back. I was quoted the wrong price over the phone before going there. It is nice place with friendly staff and quality product however they charge more than other places in the area for what I purchased. Had I known I would be paying more not less (like I'd been told) I wouldn't have gone there... MAKE SURE what you're buying is the price you were told when checking out!! I didn't realize I'd paid more until I got home and looked over my receipt. I called the store and they did apologized for their mistake. However, I felt they should have offered to refund the differance I paid also. That didn't happen so I won't be going back. Respectable establishments honor what they say.

James Dennis

My company does alot of business with otte and we love them. They are always so helpful and full of knowledge and provide great customer satisfaction

Scott Schuman

Really good Nursery for a local neighborhood location

Suzanne Marcy

We stopped by the nursery last weekend after a recommendation from a friend. We are new to the area. We were so impressed with the nursery and the variety of everything it has. There was a huge selection of plants and trees. We had a hard time deciding. A very helpful employee gave us a lot of great information about trees we needed for a certain area in our yard. So, in addition to the fantastic selection of plants we were also very impressed with their customer service.

ashley alexander hadley

excellent choices, high quality plants! My only gripe is if you order mulch to be delivered. Cut the amount they tell you in half. They say 1 scoop covers so many square feet. once you measure and do the math cut the number of scoops in half otherwise you will have a ton left over...like me :/

Ann Shrader

My husband and I went to their big sale this weekend. Every single person we encountered was very nice and knowledgeable. Walked away a very satisfied customer.

Jim Smith

Best selection of landscape rocks/pebbles and trees/bushes in Kentuckiana.

Leslie Walker

We had about 15 evergreen trees installed. By the next summer 5 of the 15 did not survive. The design team replaced the 5 dead trees because they were under the 1 year warranty. The problem began when one of the replacement trees did not survive. The company said the warranty began when the original trees were installed, not when the replacement tree was installed. Therefore, if the replacement tree died, it would not be covered under the warranty because it was outside of the year. The company wanted to charge full price to replace the “replacement tree”. Completely ridiculous!

Mike Sullivan

The plants were horrible once planted. Alll died within a week. We have gardened for over 80 years counting my wife and I. My mother was a gardener for over 40 years. We have never lost almost anything once planted. The plants were not climitized to this area from their supplier. They were watered and well cared for. All of the other plants we put in the same days are thriving well. When I called to express what happened I was yelled at over the phone and told I watered them too much or to little. Every thing else was doing fine. I asked for replacements or a refund and yelled out again to just try through my credit card company. We own a small business for many years and would never treat a unhappy customer this way.. Stay away if you want to have plants that grow past a week.No wonder everyone ends up at Wallitchs. Also the so called owner told me he did not have anymore time for us on the phone and hung up.

Kevin Adams

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 quality stock.

David Phelps

Great place

Marye Dillon

I went to buy some small rocks, pebbles and a planter for succulents I was repotting. Really this was a small order but you would have thought I was spending a lot of money! Excellent service and quite a large selection of planters. They also have a good selection of succulents as well. Who knew?

travis stroud

Overpriced and bad customer service

Mimi Andme

this is a gem of a business ! helpful well stocked , good prices! worth the trip !

mom an bean

Beautiful selection of healthy happy plants

louky650

Ripped off at Labor Day sale 2015. Bought shrubs that were labeled $159 and 50% off on a printed tag. After leaving the store we noticed that we were charged $179 with 50% off. We went back to the store and spoke to the manager who refused to make this right. He said it "wasn't his problem" but a problem "with the grower", and that the scanned price was the "real price" and not the dollar amount shown on the tag. He then pointed to a sign on the cash register about the problem. As a manager he should 1) have refunded the difference 2) have clerks notify customers of the discrepancy prior to ringing up the sale, 3) Changed the tags, at least marking through the dollar amounts of the plants that were improperly labeled. No one looking at plants can read the scanner and this was the 2nd day of the sale, so he has an ongoing problem which he knows will benefit the store to the detriment of the customer. Poor management at the very least. May not rise to the level of fraud, but it would be interesting to know whether any of the discrepancies benefited the customer.

Deb Reese

Long-time gardener who recently moved to the Highlands. This has become my go-to garden center: great selection, good prices and knowledgeable, friendly staff. They really know their stuff and happy to give advice. I had a soil mix delivered for my new raised beds this spring and the stuff was fantastic- I've never had vegetables grow so well!

Jill Guthrie

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 his mistakes.

Betty Fowler

Bought a beautiful 6-foot dogwood spur of the moment on 3-17-16. Asked if any discounts (AARP, AAA, online, etc.) were available and was told NO. I ended up paying double ($369.98) to have the tree planted the same day (excellent service). However, I went online the next day and found a 10 percent off coupon. Called the Nursery and told to speak to Kurt. Kurt absolutely refused to honor the coupon after the fact "company policy." This still bothers me. I feel I deserve the 10 percent off. Send me a check for the $17.99 that you owe me. Product and planting service deserves 4 stars. Management and customer satisfaction really gets zero stars.

Amanda Biven

After spending over $800 on 3 bushes/trees and having 2 die within 60 days when every plant around them is flourishing and beautiful. I called and was told that after 30 days that they will only replace them for half price. So they want me to pay another $300 to replace trees that I already paid $600 for 60 days prior. If all my plants had died I would think it was something that I had done wrong but I bought ones that were perfect for the environment and sun exposure they were going in and I water them between 6:30 and 7:30 every morning, long before the sun is on them. I will never buy from this nursery again being that they don’t stand by their products!

Julie Mccarty

Great place and friendly staff

Lacey Willow

The plants aren't bad, although you could find the same quality at Lowe's or even Meijer's, yet for half the price. The employees were friendly and knowledgable, but the management was incredibly poor. They are not customer service oriented by any means, and have blunt and derisive remarks despite asking harmless or reasonable questions. If you are looking for better quality and service, I'd recommend Wallitsch Gardening Center. I was very disappointed with the few experiences I've had here, and I doubt I'll ever return.

jodie tingle-willis

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 help me out. :(

Bill Jordan

Great selection, knowledgeable staff, smart layout, reasonable prices.

Anthony Schneider

Bought two plants today, quality was great, price comparable, etc. However, when I brought two back because they wouldn’t fit where I wanted them to in the garden, the guy processing the refund was beyond rude, tossed my car across the counter at me, and ruined the experience. I will definitely never be back.

Catherine Sutton

Good variety of plants. Limited parking. The staff is friendly. A bit on the expensive side!

Chris Cherry

****Bunches of stars for product. One for manners. I am so disappointed when a cashier says “no problem” at the end of the transaction after I say thank you. Better manners matter.