I purchased 26 potted, 5 to 6', Swedish Aspen and paid to have them planted
in the spring. It was raining when they were planted, and it rained for
several days after. Even during the rain, the trees were beginning to drop
their leaves and die. Several months later, around half a dozen trees are
growing - only one is somewhat healthy.

The trees had yellow leaves when they were planted and they were BARE ROOT
(not potted as per my order). The trees were also chloritic when planted
(yellow leaves) because it was late in the season, and they had been keeping
them in cold/dark storage to keep them from pushing out their leaves.

The nursery has agreed to provide replacement trees for free (there is a 5
year guarantee on them), but they want me to pay the fees to plant them
again. I am upset that I am going to have to pay a second planting fee for
the following reasons:

1) I believe potted plants are more hardy than bare root plants, and if they
had delivered and planted what I ordered, there is a good chance most of
them would be alive. The lady at the nursery completely disagrees with this
statement. She has indicated that their potted trees are just bare root
trees that they stick in a pot that same spring. In my case, they simply
ran out of time to pot them. This sounds a bit odd to me because I thought
nursuries typically charge more money for potted plants and I was under the
assumption this was because the plants were rooted better and more likely to
establish themselves when transplanted.
2) The trees were dead & dieing within days of being planted. I suspect
they knew that a lot of the trees were not going to make it when they
planted them.

I am not a gardener. If my expectations of the nursery are too high because
of my ignorance, please set me straight. I got a little carried away when I
spoke to the owner of the nursery, and I may owe them an apology........

Thank you,
Chris