Terms of sale

1. Who you are dealing with

Blue Whale Trees, a nursery in the United States, reachable at captain@bluewhaletrees.com. [Owner to confirm: legal business name, state of organization and address.]

2. Orders and payment

Prices are in US dollars and shown on each product page. Adding an item to the cart does not reserve it; stock is reserved when you start checkout and released if payment is not completed. Payment is taken by card through Stripe at checkout. An order is accepted when we email a confirmation. If we cannot fill an order, because a plant did not make it through the winter or a seed crop failed, we will tell you and refund the affected items in full.

Sales tax: not currently charged. [Owner to confirm: where the nursery must collect sales tax.]

3. Availability and seasons

We grow from seed, so quantities are small and vary year to year. Live plants ship only when dormant, in February, March, April, May, October, November. An order placed outside those months is held and shipped in the next window; you can cancel a held order for a full refund any time before it ships [Owner to confirm]. Acorns, nuts and seed ship year-round. Plants without a price are not for sale online; ask and we will tell you what is ready.

4. Shipping, pickup and risk

Shipping is charged per package at the rates on the shipping page and shown before you pay. Local pickup is free where offered. Risk of loss passes to you when the carrier delivers the package or when you collect it. Please give an address where the box will be found the day it arrives; a box left in the sun for days is not a shipping problem we can fix.

5. Live plants

Plants are living, variable and sold as described on the product page, with heights and zones given as typical ranges, not promises. We inspect every plant before it leaves. If a plant arrives dead, badly damaged or not as described, email a photo the day it arrives and we will replace it, credit it or refund it, at our choice depending on what is available. [Owner to confirm: reporting window, and whether plants that fail after planting are covered; most nurseries do not guarantee survival because planting site and care are out of their control.]

Seed and acorns are perishable and sold with no guarantee of germination once they leave us, because storage and sowing conditions decide the result. We ship them fresh and tell you how to store them.

6. Your responsibilities

• Check that a species is suited to your zone and site before ordering; the product page, the tree finder and our email are there to help.
• Comply with any plant-import rules of your state. Some states restrict certain species or require inspection certificates. [Owner to confirm: states we exclude for this reason.]
• Unpack, water and plant promptly, and water through the first season.
• Give us accurate contact and address details and keep your account email current.

7. Cancellations and returns

Cancel any order for a full refund before it ships by emailing us. Because plants and seed are perishable, we do not accept returns of shipped items; problems on arrival are handled under section 5. Refunds go back to the card used and usually appear within a few business days. [Owner to confirm: cancellation and return terms.]

8. Accounts

Accounts use one-time sign-in links sent to your email address, so keep that inbox secure. You are responsible for orders placed through your account. We may close accounts used for fraud or abuse.

9. Content and tools

Articles, photographs, descriptions and the calculators on this site are for general information. The tools give estimates from stated rules of thumb and are not advice about any particular tree; decisions about hazardous trees should involve a qualified arborist. Site content is ours or used under the licenses noted on the credits page; you may quote it with attribution.

10. Limits on liability

To the extent the law allows, our liability for any order is limited to the amount you paid for it. We are not liable for indirect losses, such as a planting scheme that has to be redone, or for plants that fail because of weather, pests, site conditions or care after delivery. Nothing here limits rights that consumer law gives you and that cannot be waived.

11. Disputes and governing law

Talk to us first; nearly everything can be fixed by email. These terms are governed by the laws of [Owner to confirm: state], and any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be heard by the courts of that state.

12. Changes

We may update these terms; the version in force when you place an order is the one that applies to it. The date at the top shows when they last changed.