Rich’s Foxwillow Pines Nursery

Great place for ideas and conifer lovers, that’s the reason for 2 stars, other wise would give it zero.
After traveling 2 hours to buy a specimen tree and paying $$$$$ for delivery & planting, it died.
Not right away, and not from lack of nursing. It languished and despite all attempts we finally thru in the towel and ‘pulled’ it out — not dug it out. Why? Because it was ‘planted’ by the crew in an unbroken root ball of CLAY and the roots never implanted. The entire pit was clay, while our surrounding garden soil was black dirt. The crew either didn’t know what they were doing, didn’t care or both. Passing the guarantee threshold while trying to nurse it, we lost quite a bit of money.
Meanwhile, found another specimen at a local garden center, planted it ourselves and it is thriving.

So the other reviewers are right … it’s pricey. Can’t deny that.
But when it comes to something that will hopefully be part of your yard for many, many years — you get what you pay for. Over the past 10 years, I’ve bought about 5 pine trees from Rich’s for two different houses, including 3 this past fall. Each tree is incredibly healthy and since they do the planting, they guarantee the health of the tree.
Selection wise, you can’t find trees at Home Depot or Menard’s like they have here — really unique stuff that is well cared for and healthy. The people who work here are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about what they sell.
It’s a haul for me to drive up to Woodstock (I’m in the near Western Burbs), but it’s worth the time and $$ investment to go to Rich’s.

Amazing nursery! They have something for everyone and every planting need. The staff was very knowledgeable, and available. Everyone needs to visit this place at least once.

A truly unique place! They carry virutally every variety of conifer which will grow in northern Illinois plus some specialty broadleaf trees. The grounds are beautiful and they have full grown specimens of all of the trees they sell so you can see what they will look like and how much space they’ll need when they grow up. The reason I don’t give it five stars is the prices. They definitely cater to wealthy North Shore folks with lots of money. If you buy from them, make sure you choose a tree or shrub not available from other garden centers to make it worth the high cost — most three gallon size containers go for over $ 100.
If I win the lottery and want to start an evergreen garden I’d buy a lot from here.