Give The Gift of Succulents: Lula’s Garden Delivery Review

Among the many plant delivery services out there, Lula’s Garden is one of the few that specializes in succulents or more specifically miniature eco-friendly succulent gardens. I recently ordered several of Lula’s best-selling products to see if they’re really as lovely as the photos make them look. Here’s an honest review of my experience purchasing plants from this Lula’s Garden and everything you’ll want to know before placing your very first order with Lula’s. 

My Experience Ordering Plants from Lula’s Garden:

Style & Design:	Modern, chic, minimalist. The plants I received strongly resembled the ones pictured online.
Quality & Freshness:	Very healthy and vibrant succulent arrangements that are still thriving several days later.
Packaging:	Eco-friendly and smart packaging that doubles as an out-of-the-box planter.
On-Time Delivery:	Arrived within the specified delivery window.
Ease of Ordering:	An intuitive website that made ordering fast and easy.
Value For Money:	On the expensive side (since succulents can be found nearly anywhere), but by purchasing through Lula’s you’re supporting their local farmers as well as their philanthropic work.
Overall Score:	4 out of 5.

About Lula’s Garden

Who is Lula’s Garden?

Lula’s Garden is a small plant company based in southern California within Los Angeles County. The company offers small, out-of-the-box ready succulent gardens that are typically purchased as personal or corporate gifts. Since all of their plants are locally grown by small family-owned farms and nurseries, every purchase you make with the company is also supporting that mission. 

Beyond bolstering local California businesses, the company also donates a portion of its profits to Water.org—which, to date, has provided safe water or sanitation to over 51 million people. 

What is Lula’s Garden known for?

Lula’s Garden is primarily known for its wide selection of locally grown single and multi-plant succulent arrangements. All arrangements come in a minimalist off-white ready-to-display planter box (in lieu of a pot) with secured white or black pebbles surrounding each plant. 

The overall look is very sleek and modern, making it something you can imagine displaying in a workspace—which is fitting in the context of being given as a corporate gift (one of the company’s main target markets). 

Because of the way the plants are packaged, there is minimal waste involved in ordering plants online with this company. And since the plants can live indefinitely in their planter box (made from high-quality cardboard and a plastic insert), there’s no need to purchase a pot separately or repot your plant immediately upon arrival. 

All of which makes sense, considering the company specializes in selling its succulent gardens as gifts, so the low-barrier out-of-the-box ready display makes this prospect a lot more appealing; in other words, you can even send these succulent gardens to your friend who claims to have a black thumb. 

Where is Lula’s Garden available?

The company can ship its succulent gift gardens anywhere within the continental US and even offers hand deliveries in selected  Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica zip codes. 

Lula’s does not currently ship to Alaska, Hawaii, or any APO/FPO address. Regarding delivery times, the company processes most orders within 1-2 business days and offers 1-3 business day shipping, as well as same-day (for orders placed before 11 am PST) or next-day hand delivery. 

What does Lula’s Garden offer?

As previously mentioned, Lula’s Garden specializes in small arrangements of indoor plants—specifically succulents, which come in their very own eco-friendly xeriscape-designed planters. So what exactly makes these plants “eco-friendly”? Three things. First, the company works with local farms to source their plants, and second, the planters are the very same boxes the plants are shipped in, which cuts down on additional waste. Finally, the company is also donating a portion of its profits to Water.org to help bring clean water and sanitation to millions of people around the globe. 

Far from being one of the larger plant manufacturers selling every and all plants under the sun, Lula’s Garden is focused on selling a limited selection of small succulent arrangements varying from single plants to three or more clustered together. All of their offerings also seem to come in a similar size: Small succulents and cacti no more than a few inches tall. Because of this, all of their plants have similar light and water requirements. 

Besides the plants themselves, Lula’s also offers some customization on their packaging, allowing customers to pick from various messages like “get well soon,” “thank you,” or “love you,” etc. to adorn the lid of the planter at no additional cost. This is a nice touch, especially if you’re sending one of these arrangements as a gift and don’t want to bother with a card. 

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My Lula’s Garden Experience 

My overall experience with Lula’s Garden was a good one, although, given the 4/5 score, it could have been better. Here are some specifics on what I did (and didn’t) like about ordering plants from Lula’s.  

The plants I ordered

I ordered three arrangements from Lula’s: The Jewel Garden ($44), the Cacti Garden ($30), and the Ray Garden ($36). All plants arrived in good condition, looking healthy and ready to adorn any tabletop or desk space. 

The Online Ordering Experience at Lula’s Garden 

Given the limited selection offered at Lula’s, the online ordering process is relatively straightforward. You can easily navigate their Collections page, and from there, all of their succulent and cacti arrangements are clearly laid out with prices and a detailed product description, so you know exactly what you’re getting. 

Delivery

The order arrived on time, and the packaging was very practical and minimal, which is what I like to see in companies selling plants. All three plants arrived in one medium-sized box clearly labeled as “fragile,” with individual boxes wrapped in bubble wrap and arranged securely inside. 

The plants were very healthy and seemed happy nested in their tissue paper and solid planter boxes. There was also a water dropper inside each box, which may have been keeping the plants hydrated during their journey or might just be for futuring waterings—this was unclear to me as I opened it since the dropper wasn’t sticking in the planters and appeared to be dry. Either way, lots of thought and effort were put into how these plants were packaged, something I really appreciated. 

Another smart thing about the design of this packaging was in how the instructions were included: As an outer wrapping paper for the planter boxes themselves. At first, upon opening these planters, I was concerned I’d be ruining the plants since the boxes seemed to lack any directional labels (as in, keep this side up, etc.). But my fears were quickly put to rest when I found that each plant was solidly secured in its planter by way of a plastic insert filled with glued rocks. This is a very practical approach to minimizing packaging while also creating an out-of-the-box experience, but I do wonder what the repotting will be like, given how firmly planted each succulent is. 

Setting Up My Lula’s Garden Plants at Home 

As mentioned before, plants from Lula’s Garden come already arranged in planters and are ready to go right out of the box. The one caveat here, and one of the main reasons I didn’t give Lula’s a perfect rating, is that the boxes aren’t all that aesthetically pleasing. 

While I appreciate the concept of saving on materials and packaging etc. the planters themselves aren’t really nice enough for me to want to keep the plants in them. I think this concept could have been even better by, say, allowing customers to customize their planter (with a design or even in different colors), but the all-white cardboard planter (however quality it may be) just isn’t cutting it for me. 

Something worth considering is that you might mind the planter significantly less if it lived on your desk at work, but since so many of us work from home these days—it seems like it would be in the company’s best interest to offer planters that will actually look good in a home environment. 

The other strike against Lula’s is that I’m not exactly sure how to repot these plants without killing them. As I mentioned earlier, the plants are firmly glued into each arrangement (as in, you could pull a Dairy Queen move and completely hold them upside down without anything budging)—something that’s great for shipping but probably less great for repotting. 

Fun fact: I failed to read the instructions on the packaging and at first assumed I should remove the plants from their white planter box. I attempted this task first by hand (no luck) and then again with a butter knife, which also didn’t work. In other words, these plants are very firmly in place, and while I’d like to repot them, I don’t have an answer as to how to go about it. 

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Lula’s Garden Review – The Verdict 

What impressed me

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by my shipment from Lula’s Garden. The packaging was minimal (which falls in line with the company’s eco-friendly ethic) and smartly designed. The boxes were cute, and modern, with colorful plant care cards wrapped around the outside of each planter. They also strongly resembled the plants as they appeared in photos on the company’s website, which I liked.

The plants themselves were very healthy and fresh and appeared not to have suffered at all from their wintry journey across half the country, despite there being only one small “fragile” sticker on the outer packaging. Even several days later, the plants appear to be healthy and thriving. One of the great benefits of succulent plants is how easy they are to care for. As such, these would make a great gift for someone who doesn’t have heaps of time to tend to plants at home.

What could have been better

While I appreciate the minimalist concept Lula’s is going for, I think the execution (i.e. the appearance of the planters) could be better. I also have real concerns about the long-term health of these plants, considering they appear to be glued in their planters. 

Another pain point with Lula’s is the price. I live in a pretty remote part of the country with limited options for plant shopping, and yet I still feel certain I could find similar succulent arrangements at a fraction of the price. 

What occasions might someone consider ordering from Lula’s Garden?

Because of the high price point and out-of-the-box-ready functionality, these plants feel like they’d be best purchased as gifts to be given in some sort of formal or professional capacity. Since the planters feel a bit out of place in a home, I can better imagine them adorning an office space. 

Lula’s Garden Alternatives 

Lively Root – Offers a wide variety of healthy houseplants with gift customization options. 

Plants.com – Known for an exotic array of houseplants that can be ordered and delivered anywhere in the contiguous US. 

For more, see our in-depth guide to the best plant delivery services in the USA.