Delayed Ship Date Email

When we scheduled your shipment to ship this week of the 14th, our forecast showed temperatures that would let your plants travel safely. We prayed all week that would be the case.

Unfortunately, that forecast has changed. We're now experiencing highs near 100°F once again this week, and plants that spend a day or more in a truck or a hot distribution hub in that kind of heat don't arrive in the condition you deserve — some don't arrive at all. We're not willing to ship you something we already know won't survive the trip, so we've moved your order to next week.

Temperatures next week show the best signs of a cool downs that we have seen and are expected to ease to below 90 degrees all week — that kind of drop in temperature provides us the ability to ship and for your plants the ability to arrive healthy.

We know that's not the news you wanted. You've been waiting, you planned around this week, and a delay right now is genuinely frustrating — we feel that too, more than you probably realize. This has been one of the hardest growing and shipping seasons we've had in 20 years of shipping plants online. The heat this year hasn't just cost us a week of shipping; it has disrupted our schedules, strained our crews, and made it exhausting to run this business the way we want to run it and has cost us customers and sales. We're not telling you this to ask for sympathy — we're telling you because you deserve to know that when we say this year has been difficult, we mean it, and that the choices we're making are about protecting what you're paying for, not about convenience on our end.

We're sorry...sorry for the wait, sorry for the uncertainty, and sorry that we can't control the weather that's driving this. What we can control is not sending you a box of plants that won't make it, and that's the promise we're keeping.

Your order is confirmed to ship next week, and we'll send tracking as soon as it's on its way. If you have any concerns in the meantime, reply to this email directly — we are happy to answer your questions and help any way we can. 

Please know you are the livelihood of our business. Selling plants is what keeps the doors open and our employees families fed. As important as our business is to us, we know people in this world are experiencing much bigger problems. I personally must keep perspective on that, or I lose focus on what’s really important!

Marsha and I thank you for your patience and for continuing to trust us with your garden. We don't take that trust lightly, especially in a year like this one.

With sincere apologies and gratitude for your business,

Brian and Marsha Chojnacki

Owners at Sooner Plant Farm