Herons Bonsai Reviews 24

I am relatively new to bonsai and, like many people getting into the hobby, have watched a lot of Peter Chan's YouTube videos (and also read his books).

However, re-potting was something that I really lacked confidence in doing, especially with a couple of valuable and well established trees that I've bought in the last 6 months. These trees were desperate for re-potting.....and I didn't want to kill them!

I saw that Peter was running some re-potting workshops so I signed up for one. It wasn't expensive.

I could not have had a more enjoyable and worthwhile visit. Peter was generous with his time and knowledge, giving clear guidance and advice.

My trees look incredible following the re-pot.

There were only three other people on the course so there was plenty of one to one time with Peter. Also on the course was a lovely couple, who were complete newbies and upon hearing that Peter immediately took them out of the workshop to choose a small tree each so that he could make a bonsai from scratch with them.

He kindly did exactly the same for me too.

This workshop was worth every penny and I wholeheartedly recommend taking a class with Peter if you too, are new to the hobby.

While on site I had a good look around the nursery and picked a beautiful Japanese Hawthorn Bonsai to bring home.

Once I got home I went to the Heron's website to show my family what it will look like in leaf/flower/fruit and realised that I had paid full price for the tree when it should have been included in their end of season reductions.

A quick phone call the following day and the issue was quickly and efficiently resolved by Rebeca, who could not have been more understanding and helpful.

5 Stars - more like 10!

I ordered a mix of pots , soil, moss from herons and this was my first order with them. The contact from herons was fantastic including updates at every stage , everything was well packed and I was very happy with the purchase . I will definitely be ordering more and getting in touch soon for more items. Thanks Heron team .

Regards Mark Bate

Visited Herons nursery, great selection of very nice trees unfortunately most were not priced. The staff were very unhelpful and so left without making a purchase

Purchased 2 Azalea bonsai plants last August from Herons Bonsai Nursery. One has since failed & being in the area I decided to call in & ask their advice. I am well experienced in growing & caring for bonsai having over 40 years experience & countless bonsai of many varieties & sizes including RHS exhibits. The young lady at the desk was lovely. However Mr. Peter Chan arrived & immediately started shouting at us, continually shouting “I am Number One in the World Bonsai Grower”! At this point I only wanted to know what he thought had gone wrong! He was quite obnoxious & you could see other people/customers standing back quite shocked at his behaviour. Disgusting behaviour from Mr. Chan, a truly horrid little man.

The owner Peter, is one of the rudest and gready men I’ve come across.
I left 2 x 50 year old trees to look after and re pot during the covid lockdown. He charged me £59 a plastic pot, I’m still waiting for the return of my ceramic one. We agreed a price for looking after them for 3 years then changed his mind and wanted more, just dishonest. The trees were in such bad condition when returned, possibly just left and forgotten about. The Japanese juniper was damaged, branches cut off badly. This company is not to be trusted, he’s a greedy little man, stay well away! There’s more to the story but that’s enough to make a clear warning.

I ordered and received a book from Herons. The team was so concerned about my order.
I received the book with personal signature by the author- bonsai Master Peter Chan.
Overall awesome experience!
Great guys!

Order delivered quickly by DPD. Very well packaged. Arrived in perfect condition. All items competitively priced.
Order included 7 maple starters to make a forest but most of the trees were too interesting so I’ll be potting them on individually.
Will soon be back for more. Yes, I do need more bonsai.

After making several enquiries via websites over the past week with other Bonsai supplier websites, Herons was the only company to respond. They provided me with current pictures of the tree I was interested and were a pleasure to deal with. Delighted to give them my business. The Bonzai arrived within 48hrs beautifully packaged and in a healthy condition. Thank you Herons, excellent service!

Horrendous and bizarre customer service experience.

I ordered a tree as birthday gift and due to my availability, paid the additional £13 for Saturday delivery. After waiting in for the majority of the day on Saturday, I eventually called Herons Bonsai for an update (not recommended...)

I opened with, "I'm calling to get an update on my delivery" to which I was interupted and told, "Yes we've been trying to get in contact with you" - at this point, they didn't know my name/anything about my issue...?

After pointing this out to them, I was told to, "not be so rude" - an odd response, which caught me off guard, but I persevered in vain...

After listening to a perfectly reasonable explanation that DPD hadn't collected the orders the previous day, he then listed the names of the three people they had tried calling that morning to apologise to and asked "which one are you" - I wasn't on the list.

I told him my name and was told "we tried calling you but you didn't pick up" - a quick double check of my missed calls confirmed they hadn't tried to call me. I pointed this out and asked, "why didn't you instead email me to let me know... that's not great customer service" - at this point things took a strange turn.

His response was, "Do you know who I am?" - I didn't. "I am famous and respected and you should not talk to me like this"... "Have you seen my Youtube?"

As mental as this sounds to you reading, was even stranger to hear over the phone.

After around 5 or so minutes of back & forth, trying to establish my options, where I was accused of being "the rudest person he'd ever spoken to", I was left with two options:

- Have my fast delivery fee refunded, but with zero guarantee of a new delivery date (not great as it was a birthday gift)

- Cancel my order with a full refund

I opted for option two and asked if they could refund immediately if possible, as I'd need the money to purchase another tree elsewhere, his response was "you can wait", before hanging up.

It was honestly the worst/strangest experience I've had, so much so that this is my first Trust Pilot review!

As a keen bonsai grower myself, I had obviously heard of the great Peter Chan and his nursery Herons.
I purchase many plants that I turn into bonsai myself and I also purchase ready made bonsais from all manor of places, from nurseries to ebay.
I have been following Herons on YouTube for sometime and I thought it was time to purchase a bonsai.
The nursery itself is too far for me to travel so I purchased a Serissa from the website.
The tree did arrive very fast which was good HOWEVER! There are so many issues with the tree I wish I could post a photo.
First of all the bonsai was originally priced at £29 but they were on sale for £20. Not that this should make any difference as we are talking about Peter Chan The Man...
The entire trunk, branches (all 2 of them) and root system was covered in moss!
The tree was extremely root bound, so much so it was pushing itself out of the pot.
Now as a general rule in Bonsai you should only repot in spring..So why was this never done!!!
The moss was that thick it was taking all the moisture out of the tree and its root system.
I know that sometimes leave can fall off a tree when it is moved but it was getting worse!
The majority of the growth on the bonsai was in fact suckers which should have been pruned off months ago and not left to grow as tall as the tree itself.
Im not talking just one or 2 suckers here im talking at least 5 to 6!
I had no choice but to cut these off so the energy was put into the tree and not the suckers.
After removing all the suckers there is literaly only 2 small branches on the tree itself.
After taking away most of the moss I found that underneath was very root bound and the soil was very dry.
Im not new to bonsai, as previously stated I buy both bonsais and nursery stock to make my own bonsais and this by far is the worst experience ive ever had.
When you shop with a nursery that is owned by someone as competant as the Chan Man, you expect a particular higher standard from the local garden center.. this is not the case in my experience.
I have purchased much better and cheaper on ebay of all places.
Very disapointed, I feel the entire nursery is about profits and not high standards.
I have had no choice but to repot it in a bigger pot which will more then likely cause it to die due to it being the wrong time of year.
Upon repotting it I also found that the soil was infested.
After watching many of their youtube videos I also feel Mr Chan should spend more time watching over his stock and training staff instead of pushing his books.
I cant be anymore disappointed :(

Visited in August. The trees are nice if overpriced. Much better value at other nurseries visited. However when I arrived I saw Peter Chan he was very friendly and said take as much time as you like have a seat in the Japanese garden basically open house.
Once I’d had a good look round found a tree and soil etc the young guy at the tills asked to help carry the heavy bags to the car so decent service

Awful customer support experience, sent multiple emails regarding a young Buddhist pine. Enquiring about roots poking out the ground, was told it was normal. Then sent a follow-up email detailing a few branches and new growth were drying out and dying. Again told this is normal. After having to Google every little symptom because of the unhelpful customer service, I put it down to root disease. So I take a look because at this point the tree is basically dead, lo and behold I have never seen something so pot bound. This tree has wrapped itself around so many times there's more root than soil. How this left herons bonsai in this state without being checked is appauling. In my very first email I enquired about repotting which I was told would only be needed in a few years time! I don't expect a new very young plant to arrive in this state. Follow up customer support is just as awful with the company trying to shift blame onto the buyer and avoid taking ownership of the fact that it clearly wasn't checked before shipping.

I have purchased over 120 trees from various suppliers over the last 18 months and even though I have enjoyed watching Peters U Tube channel for many many hours, the Blaaws Juniper I purchased via their online store is the worse conditioned plant I have ever received, my pile of juniper cuttings on my compost heap from last year look more healthy, if buying from Herons go to the nursery and choose a plant in person would be my recommendation. They basically called me a liar too, they're to big to care about repeat custom I assume.

Customer service is dreadful. Don’t return your calls or reply to emails as promised. I purchased elsewhere.

Wonderful Bonsai's would highly recommend.
We bought a 30 year old Chinese Elm Bonsai and the tree is magnificent, we really love the tree. It is really good value for money for the size of the tree. The Bonsai's are really cared for and we couldn't be happier with our lovely tree.The staff were very helpful and friendly too. Peter is a Bonsai master!

This is actually the second Bonsai we have bought in the last few weeks. We bought another one from Bonsai Direct and their tree is not even in the same league as Herons Bonsai's. Heron's Bonsai's are stunning and are great value for money. If you are looking for Bonsai you should buy from here.

Fantastic experience. Ordered a small Chinese elm starter kit and arrived the next day in perfect condition. Wrapped incredibly well to protect tree but didn’t use unnecessary plastic in the process. The tree itself was also much better then expected, highly recommended.

Was very inspired by Peters fabulous online tutorials and great advice so ordered from Herons some starter trees, soil etc. All came within 2 days, very well packaged and good quality plants to start my bonsai journey.

ordered tree, came next day in excellent condition, will be buying again, tree was packed really well, first class service

First class service bought 3 outside Bosnia trees excellent notification system from processing to dispatch and delivery company time and date 3 days start to finish trees really healthy and attractive. Heron are the gold standard in customer interaction well done