Home Depot Plant Return Policy and the 1-Year Plant Guarantee
The Home Depot plant return policy gives most plants 90 days, and perennials, trees, roses and shrubs a 1-year guarantee.
After day 90, a guaranteed plant comes back as store credit rather than a refund.
Cut flowers and floral arrangements aren’t covered at all. Plants delivered dead or damaged need a report within 3 days.
What the 1-Year Guarantee Covers
Home Depot calls it the Everyday Guarantee. The official return policy names four kinds of plants for the full year: perennials, trees, roses and shrubs.
That covers most of the expensive purchases in a garden center. A hydrangea, a Japanese maple or a row of boxwoods all qualify, while flats of petunias don’t.
The guarantee isn’t new. Back in 2017, a Home Depot spokesperson confirmed the one-year window for perennials, trees and shrubs to TODAY.
Houseplants Are the Gray Area
The 2017 version of the in-store policy, as TODAY quoted it, guaranteed tropical, house and landscape plants that are perennials, trees or shrubs, and it named ficus, orchids and snake plants.
The current wording doesn’t mention houseplants at all. A long-lived houseplant may still count as a perennial, but that’s the store’s call, so keep the receipt and ask.
Plants With a 90-Day Window
Everything outside the guarantee falls under the standard rule: most plants are returnable within 90 days. That’s where annual bedding plants and vegetable starts land. Plants received as gifts follow the general gift rule, coming back as store credit.
A spring annual bought in April that dies in August is past its window. That’s the trade-off for paying a few dollars a pot.
Refund or Store Credit
The day count decides what you get back, and it runs from the purchase date.
| When you return it | Perennials, trees, roses, shrubs | Other plants |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 90 | Refund | Refund |
| Days 91 to 365 | Store credit | Not returnable |
| After a year | Not returnable | Not returnable |
A refund follows the usual return rules, going back to the card you paid with when you have the receipt. Store credit after day 90 can be spent on anything in the store, not just another plant.
Day 91 is the date to note when you plant something expensive. The refund option disappears that day, even though the guarantee keeps running.
Popular guides blur this line. Family Handyman’s list of Home Depot tips calls it a full refund, which only holds inside the first 90 days.
Paying with a Home Depot credit card muddies this slightly. Card purchases get 365 days for a full refund, and the policy puts the plant guarantee in the same paragraph without saying which wins.
If you bought a tree on the Home Depot card, it’s fair to ask for a refund to the card rather than store credit after day 90. Expect the answer to depend on the store.
Timing the Guarantee Around the Seasons
A full year matters most for plants you can’t judge right away. A perennial bought in May that fails to come back the next spring is still inside its year, and so is a tree that leafs out poorly after its first winter.
Fall planting works the same way. A shrub bought in October is covered through the following October, a whole growing season later.
The refund window is the catch. Worked out from the 90-day rule, a shrub bought on Oct 24, 2026, can be refunded through about Jan 22, 2027, while it’s still dormant. A spring return almost always comes back as store credit.
Check the plant tag before you buy. It usually says whether the plant is an annual or a perennial, which decides whether you get 90 days or a year, and it lists the hardiness zones where the plant is expected to survive winter.
Checking Whether a Tree or Shrub Is Dead
A shrub that looks dead in March may only be dormant. LSU AgCenter, Louisiana State University’s extension service, suggests three checks before you dig it up.
- Scratch a little bark off a twig with a fingernail or pocketknife. Green, moist tissue is alive, and dry, brown tissue may be dead.
- Start near the base, since the lower trunk and roots can survive when the top doesn’t.
- Bend a small twig. Live wood bends, and dead wood snaps cleanly.
LSU would give a struggling plant until midsummer. Check the receipt date first, because a shrub bought last summer can run out of guarantee before then.
Plants Ordered Online
Live goods bought on homedepot.com have a much tighter rule for damage in transit. If houseplants, perennials, trees, holiday trees, wreaths or garlands arrive damaged or dead, contact Home Depot within 3 days of delivery for a refund.
- Text “Support” to 38698, any time of day
- Or call 1-800-430-3376, 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern
Photograph the plant and the box the day it arrives, and keep the order confirmation email, since it’s your proof of purchase for anything shipped. That three-day clock covers the holiday tree and wreath season too, when a lot of live goods ship.
Bringing a Plant Back
Bring the plant, even if it’s clearly dead, along with the receipt. Without one, card purchases can usually be looked up for 90 days, and Home Depot card purchases for a year, as explained in returns without a receipt.
Snap a photo of the plant tag and the receipt the day you buy anything expensive. Tags fade in the sun and receipts disappear by fall, and the photo answers the two questions the return desk will ask: what it is and when you bought it.
Store credit from a plant return works like any other store credit, so registering a larger credit may call for photo ID.
The general policy still applies to the guarantee. Home Depot can decline a return when the damage came from the customer rather than a defect, so a shrub left in its pot all summer is a weaker case than one that was planted and watered.
Home Depot vs Lowe’s Plant Returns
Lowe’s splits plants the same way, with different numbers. Its returns policy gives trees, shrubs and perennials a year and puts every other plant on a 30-day clock.
| Plant type | Home Depot | Lowe’s |
|---|---|---|
| Trees, shrubs, perennials | 1 year, store credit after day 90 | 1 year, refund or replacement with a receipt |
| Annuals and other plants | 90 days | 30 days |
| Houseplants | 90 days, unless the store counts it as a perennial | 30 days |
Lowe’s lists annuals, house and patio plants and Bonnie Plants, the vegetable and herb brand, among its 30-day items. A tomato start bought in May that fails in July can still go back to Home Depot, but not to Lowe’s.
The big purchases flip the other way. A $150 tree that dies after day 90 comes back as $150 in Home Depot store credit, while Lowe’s offers a refund or a replacement, as long as you kept the receipt. The two chains’ other return rules are lined up in Home Depot vs Lowe’s.
Making the Guarantee Pay Off
Either store makes trees and big shrubs a low-risk buy, and those are the plants that cost the most and take a full season to show whether they’ve rooted.
For annuals and cheap perennials, I wouldn’t shop on the guarantee at all. Buy where the plants look healthiest, since a cheap pot rarely justifies a trip back. The full return windows for everything else are in the Home Depot return policy guide.
