Maples For All Seasons

I had the pleasure of meeting Barry and Sue at Art on the Avenue in Burlingame. I was drawn to their booth of lovely Japanese Maples and found that Barry and Sue are Arborists and specialize in pruning these magnificent trees. Two weeks later they were expertly at work on pruning the heart of our home and very old Japanese Maple. This team is exceptional in their work ethic and have true passion and love for their trade. Wow...the end result is just spectacular and we are very happy to have found Maples For All Seasons. They will return soon to prune our Magnolia tulip trees. I highly recommend this down to earth couple to take care of your precious trees. A bonus....their prices are quite reasonable too.

I called during business hours to see if I can get an appointment to check out their selection. I didn't reach a human but I got a voicemail of Barry's saying to email or text.

Almost instantly, I received a text message from the same number I called asking if I needed help. I texted back within seconds. I never received any follow-up or response. I waited 24 hours before moving on. Poor customer service!

I think that they are out of business. I have attempted to contact them via calls, email, and texting and never got a response.

I was looking for Maple trees for my landscaping project when I came across MFAS. Barry answered the phone and was very informative on everything I would ever want to know about Maples. We weren't sure as to the exposure or placement so Barry asked for some photos which I sent him. He was able to tell me that my maple of choice (Fireglow) would work perfect.

I ordered a matching set of 6 foot trees which Barry delivered to the house. They looked very healthy with nice thick trunks and perfectly trimmed. He said he would have to come back the following day as he wanted to make sure they were planted correctly and also treat them with SuperThrive which helps the roots take hold quickly and strong.

Sure enough the next day he returned with his wife who is also a maple expert and we had a great conversation. He checked the trees, did the treatment for the roots and was very nice and helpful. I am going to be planting maples next year on a hill and will definitely be calling Barry again.

Once my trees are leafed out, I will upload some photos. I am sure they will be stunning. If you have any questions about Maples, you need not search any further. Thanks MFAS!

We contacted "Maples for All Seasons" about two years ago to put in a maple tree in our backyard. My wife suggested just going to Home Depot or Lowes to pick up a maple tree but I thought things would go more smoothly if we worked with a "professional". Anyway, we went over to talk to Barry of Maples for All Seasons. He seemed very knowledgeable and friendly and helped select a tree which was supposed to be just right for the sunny area of the backyard where we wanted a tree. Everything seemed to be going well, and I was quite satisfied at that time.

After the tree was planted, however, things started to go wrong. Leaves started soon "burning" to a crisp in the hot and sunny Pleasanton summer. I contacted Barry, and he suggested making sure that the roots were well watered and that we use a certain chemical supplement to help prevent leaf burning. Well, we did that but - again - for a 2nd summer the leaves quickly burned and turned to a crisp. I have no desire to spend a 3rd summer looking at a poor maple tree with leaves burned to a crisp, so I'll be cutting down and pulling out the tree myself, and going to Home Depot or Lowes to get another type of tree.

I am bit a disappointed with Maples for All Seasons. I was happy to pay a little bit of a premium in order to work with a professional who would ensure a successful planting. Well, I did indeed pay a premium as opposed to just getting a tree from Home Depot or Lowes, but I don't think that the results were any better than I could have done on my own. From now on, I'll be either planting my own trees or be working with professionals from some other nursery.

We needed 5 Japanese maples pruned after our gardener just cut off the top branches. Barry & his wife pruned all 5 trees and told us how to get a young maple that had been topped to grow taller. They were extremely professional & courteous. I would recommend them to anyone who needs help with their maples.

We have not purchased trees from MfAS but the one star rating is why. We went to the 2013 Sunset event and were looking for more information on Japanese Maples, amongst other plants that our landscape designer had put on the back yard plans.

After browsing the front of their booth and looking through the leaflets, we still had questions. The problem was the staff was inside out of the sun and ignoring us. We even made eye contact with one of the badged people having the "private" conversation inside, but were still ignored. We left.

I later wrote a quick email to the company telling them of the inattentive service and their reply was I had the wrong booth and was wrong, they always have great service. So unless I was suffering from heat stroke (you know how hot the Sunset event gets) and somehow managed to grab another companies Japanese Maple flier, the only one wrong here is Maples for All Seasons.

Regardless whether this small company thinks they provide great service and individual attention to all interested browsers and customers, their failure to acknowledge an unhappy visitor of their booth makes me think that if I were to work with them, I would get the same holier than thou attitude. In a service world where I am paying as much for the expertise and customer rapport as the physical product, I expect better.

We will find another Japanese Maple nursery to do business with. I'd suggest you save yourself the headache and do the same.

Barry is a very knowledgeable and great guy. He gives you the impression that he has outstanding customer service. However, when it comes to actually delivering he does not answer email and voice mails. He's one of those guys who you think you can depend on, but can't. I really don't understand why he completely ignores his loyal customers as he seems to have a habit given his ratings. I'm sorry, but I can't recommend doing business with him.

This little secret gem is the best place in the Bay Area to purchase Japanese maples. The quality of their product is worth 3 times the price, as you will see shopping at retail nurseries for "specimen" grade pre-pruned and shaped Japanese maples.

This nursery does not sell to retail nurseries so you will only find them selling wholesale direct to the public, a real find!

And, they will properly place, plant and prune your maples as an add-value service that makes it easy to have gorgeous maples. I tell all my clients looking for the best trees about this resource.

Barry and his wife Sue were down here in the south bay on Thursday to take care of my out of control green Japanese maple. They started working on it last year and all they did was make it mad and it grew another four feet. So we are going to let it stretch its wings and allow some of the branches to grow thicker. We will keep the sides down and allow the height to increase. It look beautiful.
Barry and Sue also put in a nine foot red maple to take the place of a fruitless mulberry that I removed in the front yard. I was lucky. I found Barry and Sue by going to one of the garden roadshows last year. It is a shame that people in the south bay cannot do a search for help with their Japanese maples and have Maples for All Seasons come up.
They have excellent prices and you can do very well at the shows when Barry has "show" prices.

Barry at Maples for all Seasons (MFAS) is a great person, gregarious to talk to & personable, good at making the sale (I ended up buying 3 maples).

When I tried to make contact for following up with the trouble my expensive maple was having (not leafing out this year & proactive measures I could take) I hear nothing back. Complete silence.

* No response to emails sent (with pictures), (1+ month back)
* No call back on messages left. (1 + week back)

I believe the Acer. Fireglow maple enthusiastically recommended, for that semi-sunny location is unfortunately now dead (although I'm still holding out hope).

My other two maples are alive & I'm grateful for that.

This is in stark contrast to the response I got, when I called asking after buying one. (returned calls within 30 minutes).

Since MFAS operates out of their home, there is little recourse if they choose not to respond back to a you, unlike a store where you can ask after issues face to face.

I am disappointed, since Barry came across as very customer service oriented.