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| Vanveen Bulbs International  Vanveen Bulbs International has 100 products listed in PlantScout.
Mailing Address:
423 Modrow Road
Kalama, Washington 98625 (United States) Phone: 1-888-289-2852
Fax: (360) 673-3756
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| Recent reviews:
| Past month | Past 6 Months | Past 12 Months |  Positive | 0 | 0 | 0 |  Neutral | 0 | 0 | 0 |  Negative | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| This company offers a variety of bulbs and plants.Other helpful information: |
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| Company Comment, posted on January 19, 2003: |
We are a retail and wholesale supplier specializing in lilies, calla lilies, liatris, crocosmia, aconitum, toad lilies, gloriosa rothchildsiana, pineapple lilies, scilla peruviana, amaryllis belladonna, iris, hyacinths, tulips, gladiolus, allium, daffodils, paperwhites and many other bulbs.
We sell off of the internet and at garden shows along the west coast as well as the Beaverton, Portland and Hillsdale farmers markets. Owner Yolanda Vanveen is a sustainable garden writer and speaks at garden shows and garden clubs. You can find her garden blog, show schedule and speaking information at
vanveenbulbs.com.
Please note: Vanveen Bulbs International is not related to Van Veen Nursery
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| Feedback History and Summary |
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Comments:
| Rating | Author | Content |
| Positive | Shuksan
Bellingham, WA
(1 review)
October 28, 2008 | I ordered from Vanveen because of the wonderful reviews I read here and that they were located in my state and had a similar climate. I spent a number of hours looking through their website (which is quite attractive). I read details about the company and their shipping policies. They even put in details about if and when the bulbs are available with the product description. I decided on some lovely giant calla lily, gladiolus, and stargazer lily because they were all listed as currently available or to be shipped September 2008. After placing my online order, I promptly received an email response showing my order and that my credit card had been charged on 9/28/2008. I wasn't sure how long my order would take to arrive because this was my first time for online plants, and there was nothing in my 1st email about when my order would be shipped. I sent an email 10/06/2008 to inquire about my order & received a response only a few hours later. One of the owners told me she planned to ship out the bulbs that week, except for the stargazer lilies which she offered to cancel or ship in the spring. I emailed back and gave the okay for the stargazers, but asked if she could send the rest of my order before or after the weekend (I was going to be out of town). I received no response back, so I assumed that she would ship the portion of my order that was available. Finally on 10/27/2008 I sent another email asking about my order and requesting again that she ship whatever she had in stock of my order. This time I received a prompt response:
..."the gladiolus and calla would probably not make it if planted in the fall in your area-They need a good set of roots to make it over the winter and I will not have the stargazers until spring, I had placed your order in my preorder file for shipping this spring. Either way, they wouldn't bloom until next summer. I will go ahead and cancel the order. Let me know if you would like me to ship in the spring."
I was upset for a few reasons:
1. the miscommunication between the owner and myself.
2. I am sure that this is a busy time of year for her business, but I didn't like that my credit card was promptly charged, but there was not prompt attention to delivering the product to me.
3. I wonder why it was okay to ship these bulbs to me earlier in the month, but now suddenly they wouldn't make it over the winter and that she was waiting to ship until Spring. I felt that this is untrue & was upset, so I decided to request my order to be completely canceled. I will be checking my credit card statement to insure that there will be follow through on my refund.
In all of my correspondence with the company I was careful to be polite and concise. In describing my experience here, I made every effort to be as fair and complete as possible. I tried to see it from Vanveen's perspective, but I am honestly still upset about it all.
On April 7th, 2009, Shuksan changed the rating from negative to positive and added the following:
I received an unexpected shipment of gorgeous bulbs this evening! I would highly recommend this company for quality at a reasonable price. Just be patient and flexible and it all works out for the best.
Company representative comment on October 29, 2008:
On Oct 29, 2008 6:33 PM, Vanveen Bulbs International added:Please note this negative is not because the flower bulbs were not satisfactory, it is because we did not ship gladiolus and callas to a very cold climate in the fall.
As a flower bulb business owner, my goal is for all of our customers to be happy with our flower bulbs. We have a policy of not charging until we have the bulbs available to ship and not to ship warm climate bulbs to cold climates in the fall..
In the past when I have shipped glads and callas to cold climates in the fall, they have froze out and then the customers have asked for me to replace them in the spring. I thought I was doing all of us a favor. Either way they will bloom next summer.
I have no record of charging your credit card. If you have a copy of a statement that shows the charge, please forward and I will credit you back.
I didn't realize shipping in the spring would be a problem.
Thanks for discussing this with me and looking at my point of view.
Respectfully,
Yolanda Wilson
vanveenbulbs.com
On Oct 29, 2008 7:00 PM, Vanveen Bulbs International added:Just to clarify-
1. Unlike most companies that charge at order time, we charge at shipment. The confirmation e-mail confirmed the order, not the charge.
2. Because I had received an e-mail asking to hold the order because the customer was going out of town, I placed the uncharged order to the back of our order file. It took a little while to get to it. I did not take a close look at it.
3. When I realized it was ordered in Bellingham, Washington and the stargazers were not going to be shipped until the spring, I wanted to save the customer money by shipping all of them in the spring and I did not want to replace the glads and the callas .
4. In the future I will give customers the opportunity to purchase warm climate bulbs in the fall without a guarantee
so that I will not have to replace them when they do not come up in the spring.
Thanks for understanding!
On Oct 29, 2008 7:32 PM, Vanveen Bulbs International added:We are sorry you are upset because we do not recommend or can not guarantee planting glads and callas in the fall in Bellingham, Washington. We want you to love our bulbs as much as we do so we will ship out the bulbs this spring at no charge to you so you can see for yourself how beautiful they are to grow-Thanks! vanveenbulbs.com | | Positive | lakesidecallas
Dandridge, TN
(Zone 6a)
(15 reviews)
June 08, 2008 | I order a few bulbs once a year from VanVeen, but this winter I placed a larger order.
Unfortunately I typed in my credit card number wrong, and Yolanda Wilson (owner) called me and corrected the mistake- then we chatted about bulbs for a half an hour!
She really impressed me with her knowledge and passion, what a nice lady.
I was so happy when I received my bulbs- they were huge, and Yolanda threw in a few extras- which gave me new plants to try.
I'll use her more often in the future- their prices are really good, almost cheap! And bulbs are really nice.
It's also nice to have the personal touch of a small business, you know you're more than just a number to them! Big businesses may be able to give you fancy websites and discounts, but a small business owner that actually grows the bulbs she sells is a treasure! A DG type of business. | | Positive | lolamina
Verona, NJ
(1 review)
September 12, 2007 | As an Essex County (NJ) Master Gardener, and a passionate Naturalist...I rely on Dave's Garden website, and my peers who also use this site, for info, advice and purchasing. Yesterday, in desperate need of large quantity of Stargazer and Casablanca bulbs for a wedding in three weeks, I contacted Vanveen's based on the positive reviews here. I had already exausted all of my 'tried and true' resources with no luck.
Not only am I going to receive exactly what I need within the week...but the owner called me personally to expedite and assure! I have dealt with over 20 different mail-order plant/bulb sites in the past...for huge Spring/Fall Bulb school fundraisers, large commercial plantings, public gardens, etc. Vanveen's pricing, service and availability out-shine even the best that I have purchased from in the past.
Thank you to Dave's Garden, and most of all thank you to my fellow gardeners for taking the time to post your experiences. And thank you Yolanda Vanveen for reassuring the Gardening Community that there ARE wholesome, honest suppliers in an electronic market, when just about anyone can 'claim' to do the same! We've all had to 'kiss' quite a few 'frogs' before finding a 'Prince'...(or Princess in this case!)
-Deborah MacEvoy Jacobsen
On September 12th, 2007, lolamina added the following:
Ooops..I meant to thank Yolanda WILSON, owner of VANVEENS! You can visit the website to see what an amazing plant and garden advocate she is too. | | Positive | boru
Altoona, WI
(8 reviews)
May 07, 2006 | First time to order from them was this spring. I had also ordered from a couple of "Top Thirty" suppliers. Though their selection is somewhat limited, their prices are far better than the other two companies. More importantly, the size and quality of the bulbs in the shipment I received were markedly better than from the other two venders. I have not used the names of the two because I feel that their quality is exceptional also and I don't feel that this should be a who's best forum. I will continue to order from the others in the future. For price and quality (bang for the buck with extra bang , as it were), I will certainly check the offerings at Vanveen's in the future. If they stock it, I'll probably go there first. I simply could not believe the size of the Amarcrinum they sent...twice as big as from the other company. | | Positive | pbtxlady
Garland, TX
(Zone 8a)
(10 reviews)
July 09, 2005 | I ordered very late gladiolus and toad lilies. When my order arrived, they had sent about 3 times as many glads as I ordered, as well as several extra toad lilies. All the bulbs were very healthy and well-packed. None have had time to come up yet, so I can't speak for the color or anything, but I was very pleased that Van Veen sent so many extras. Will definitely order from them in the future.
On June 6th, 2006, pbtxlady added the following:
Last year's toad lilies were so successful (planted late; came up and bloomed anyway; survived the winter and look great this year), that I ordered more again this year. Again, they sent more than I ordered, and the order was timely. Looking forward to more lovely fall displays. | | Positive | tyke
Little Falls, MN
(Zone 4a)
(1 review)
July 06, 2005 | Wonderful company. I ordered 10 ismene calathina, yellow peruvian daffodil's. Their offer was 5/$10, 12/$20 etc. Well I ordered 2 offerings of the 5/$10 which of course was $20 and didn't pay any attention to the 12/$20 (very silly on my part). When I received the bulbs I was short 4 bulbs and only received 6....I immediately e-mailed the problem and they promptly answered with an apology...and wondered why I hadn't ordered the 12 or $20 instead of the 10 for $20...which then made me realize my mistake...to make a long story short...they sent me 8 more bulbs for a total of 14...and a personal phone call from the person who filled my order apologizing for his mistake. The bulbs were huge and very healthy. They're blooming right now and gorgeous... Will put them on my list of future purchases! | | Positive | Zuzu
Sebastopol, CA
(Zone 9a)
(36 reviews)
May 21, 2005 | Superb bulbs, and at the lowest prices I've run into yet: 12 red picotee lace begonias for $10, for example. This nursery definitely will be added to my permanent list of suppliers.
| | Positive | vegascruiser
(1 review)
January 31, 2004 | My experience with Vanveen Bulbs was absolutely delightful.
I spoke with them on the phone, and they were so nice and helpfull it was almost like talking to an old friend.
I needed 100 bulbs in a hurry as a last minute Christmas present and they had them sent out that same day (and I didn't talk to them until the afternoon). They even offered them to me at a better price than was listed, since I was buying 100. They offered to make me a deal on some additional bulbs, which I declined, but I did order a few bulbs for myself which they told me they would send to me at the proper planting time for spring. I just received those bulbs and will be planting them tomorrow. Vanveen is 1st rate in my book. |
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