The scoop on 'Direct Gardening'

Company Profile   Direct Gardening Mailing Address: 1704 Morrissey Drive Bloomington, Illinois 61704 (United States) Phone: (309) 662-7943 » E-Mail them » Visit their website Recent reviews: Past month Past 6 Months Past 12 Months Positive 0 8 10 Neutral 0 2 6 Negative 0 21 29 This company is affiliated with Burgess Seed This company specializes in: Bulbs: Spring-blooming Plants: Perennial Flowers

Feedback History and Summary   75 positives 31 neutrals 237 negatives

Comments:

Rating Author Content Positive alhambrasam Port Saint Lucie, FL (1 review) October 26, 2009 This is the third order I have placed with Direct Gardening, I must say the first time more due to my fault some of the plants did not survive. It does take some getting use to bare root planting the plants do look half dead or dead, but with a little now how and care they grow beautifully. I live in southern/central florida and now have lilacs,hydrangea, delphiniums,and others that where put in by bare root and have suprisingly thrived....in climate they are not expected too grow. Please look at shipping schedule for your area before ordering as my first order was placed to late for that seasons shipping so I had to wait. The next orders where shipped within 2-3 weeks of placing the order. Also if purchasing bare root trees I soak for a little bit then plant in old containers or pots for a while until established before transplanting to yard.......to eliminate the threat of weed wackers and lawn mowing !!!! Positive annex54 Melville, NY (1 review) October 25, 2009 I just order 2 plant - the Blueberry Top hat last October 13 , 2009 i shop around for the cheapest price and I found Direct Gardening. My pleasant surprise is that it come one week after after I order them online . I did not expect it too soon.It came in perfect condition. I have tried several site. Some are terrible and the quality is bad and I did not even bother to ask for replacement and the nerve of some to ask for a fee to ship them back and some are great but you pay a hefty price but Direct Gardenig send me healthy plant. i plant them on a pot and enjoying the weather before it gets too cold . Just like one previous review - new plants are very fragile . They need a lot of TLC. I am going to take photo of these plant like a baby and chronicle their growth .I am really sorry for those who had bad experience but these things happened even to the most reputable firm. the difference is 5-10 dollars in addition to s/h . They came in a box while my purchase from Direct gardening came by Fed Ex in plastic envelope. You get what you pay sometimes but i don't mind it . Positive femluc Elizabethton, TN (Zone 6b) (3 reviews) October 22, 2009 In the spring of 2009, I placed an order for Angel Trumpets by regular USPS mail with a money order for payment. When I did not receive them within what I thought was a reasonable amount of time, I sent an email with a request to check the status of my order and was told it was being shipped. Lo and behold I did receive them the very next day. Happily, they were not puny sized plants by any means. I was a bit concerned about the shape they were in upon their arrival, however. They were a bit mushy and I had to trim some of the stalk. I placed them in water for a couple of weeks and they bounced right back and rooted. They are now happy and healthy plants and have bloomed beautifully. Negative kingarthurs Greenwich, CT (2 reviews) October 22, 2009 I placed order on 8/21/09 totaling $90.76. I printed out the receipt from their website indicating that order will ship by September. They charged my credit card on 8/25. By 10/10 I had not received any items. Contacted company to cancel. They refused. Many e-mails ensued. I told them that if they wanted to ship the plants that I could no longer plant due to the date that I would ship them right back, but that they should pay for the return. They are rude, they refused, and fortunately my credit card company reversed the charges. The "plants" arrived 10/21. They were in terrible shape. I am sending them back tomorrow. I contacted the BBB, but based upon the reviews for all of the affiliate companies it seems pointless. I'm sorry that I wasn't aware of this website before I became involved with Richard B. Owen and his terrible company. Negative monniemon Lansdale, PA (4 reviews) October 20, 2009 Last year growing season(2008)I order from direct gardening, only part of the order was filled. I had to call them to receive the other rose that was missing (rockin robin rose). They sent me some time in the fall (2008) a new propagated rose,I freaked. I didn't know how to care for it, it was very small, with the amount of money i payed for it, (i payed for a bareroot hybrid tea) i could have gotten exactly what i wanted from Edmunds, or Garden Valley!! Anyways, i took care of it. It was able to be grounded this season(2009).But when my rose began to grow i noticed it is a climber, not a hybrid tea, which is what i payed for! I have 6 climbers in my backyard, i have no room for another. I dont even know what type of rose it is because its just climbing no blooms this year. Seems i will have to wait til next year to see if it is a rockin robin climber!!! I didnt bother to call the company cause I have no paper work to backup my complaint. This company has no idea what they are doing. Not only did i have to wait 6months for a rose they forget send with my order, when i finally get the rose it was not what i ordered. I will never order from them again!!!! Beware!!! Negative tultul Austin, MN (2 reviews) October 05, 2009 sent in an order mid may now its october and my order has not arrived but they cashed the money order right away i emailed them several times only got one reply saying that on october 1 my order would arrive which it did not as far and i am concerned they were rude and they owe me every last dollar and cent back including the cost of stamp and ink and envelope and money order and my wasted time so many other websites to order from and all better than direct gardening Negative WORSTCOMPANY Newnan, GA (1 review) September 21, 2009 This is the worst company I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with which includes the evasive & non-existent so called customer service. I ordered a variety of plants/shrubs totalling $273.92 in July of 2008. They billed my credit card in July of 2008 but didn't send my order until October. I was out of town on business the month of October, so the order sat outside my gate for almost 5wks. Unable to plant in the month of November & skeptical of their advice, I did what they suggested & stored the plants in a dark place until spring. Then in the spring, I spent hours digging & planting. Then I waited & waited & waited for results. The resutls were nothing but a bunch of WEEDS. I called customer service which I documented over 12+ times. They told me I needed to contact Grace Avery but Grace Avery doesn't take phone calls. They also do not accept faxes. They want you to write a letter with proof of purchase....which I did- then a MONTH later, Carol Tarbox from customer service wrote me back a very nasty letter stating "we do not believe we have any further obligation to you." When I tried to contact Carol Tarbox, I was told she did not accept phone calls. What a surprise. Do yourself a favor & do not get involved with this company unless you like headaches & losing money. I can't imagine anyone having a positive review-they must have been paid by the company to write it. Negative siobhan_d Frisco, TX (1 review) September 18, 2009 I tried ordering about 60 dollars worth of plants from them twice. The first time they emailed me a week after I ordered saying that it had been canceled but didn't give a reason. I called them that day and re ordered the plants. I called back the next week and my order was fine. I called the week after that and talked to Gina, hoping to find out when I would be receiving the plants. My order had been canceled and I hadn't been notified. Gina was not particularly helpful and told me that my order had been canceled because of my card and I needed to call the bank. I proceeded to call the bank. The bank had not received any charges from direct gardening and therefore could not deny any of them. I called them back the next day, determined to try to place it again. Their computers were down. I don't remember who I talked to but they were rather snarky. I finally decided that if they couldn't be helpful and considerate when I was trying to give them money, how would they be if one or all of the plants died during the warranty period? I have quite the idea by reading all of these other posts. :( Negative lavernedevillez Evanston, IN (Zone 6b) (2 reviews) August 31, 2009 I ordered $46.70 for plants that arrived in pitifully poor condition. Ordered 6 hostas and received 3 of which 2 were barely alive with one lifeless and yes they all are now deceased. Yes, i know that mail order plants need TLC, but there was nothing there to give such care. I have been gardening for 40 years and have ordered from Park Seeds and Shrubs with beautiful plants that thrive. When i emailed them to let them know that 3 items were missing I was told to ship them back within 14 days. You can not ship back what was never received. NEVER AGAIN..... You got me once, but not a second time...... Negative kaob Midlothian, VA (2 reviews) August 11, 2009 So far the worst online company I had to deal with. Make sure you don't buy from them because you are wasting your money. Their warranty doesn't exist. They send bad, bad products in plastic bags without any soil or moisture of any type. I have always bought from Michigan Bulbs, Spring Hill and Brecks and I am very satisfied with them. Direct Gardening just take your money without any warranty. Customer service is rude and aggressive. i spent $46 dollars worth of plants that never made it. I had to send 3 letters and nothing! I received as replacements the same garbage they sent in first place. I returned the bags with the 3rd letter and they denied getting it. I could keep going on all day long. I truly regret placing the order. I wish I would never had the idea of trying another online gardening place. I will make sure that I tell everybody about this unpleasant experience. Negative Jazznart New York City, NY (Zone 7b) (2 reviews) August 10, 2009 How I wish I had read these reviews before placing my order with this company. DO NOT DEAL WITH THESE PEOPLE. I ordered a total of $36.48 plants (including $9.49 shipping charge). Never received them. I understand things can get lost in the mails but the way they responded makes my blood boil. I e-mailed them with all details (my name, address, their purchase order number, merchandise ordered, date of order confirmation). They replied that they couldn't deal with me until I gave them all the details. I repeated those details. They told me I could expect delivery in 1-2 weeks. Never got anything. E-mailed them again with all details. They replied that I needed to give them the details. I replied by hollering at them (in writing). They replied by telling me to expect delivery in 1-2 weeks. This was repeated over and over again for two months straight. It was clear they were prepared to stall me forever. I had my my credit card company reverse the charge and issue a credit to me for the purchase. Never did get the plants. Never did hear anything from the company. They will never hear anything from me again. Neutral rustyooo Sacramento, CA (1 review) July 28, 2009 I was not entirely pleased with Direct Gardening, but after reading all the other comments here, I guess I should feel lucky that my experience was not nearly as bad as these poor folks. I placed my order in early Feb., hoping that I get an early start in temperate California. The order consisted of lots of hybrid willows, forsythia, mock orange, Hall's honeysuckle, hydrangea trees, firethorn, wintercreeper, and candy tuft. I got an email confirmation of my order, and that was that. Nothing was said about shipping date. When I inquired a couple of weeks later, I was told it would take several more weeks. I finally received the green bag in mid March. My experience is that most of the bigger plants survived the tortuous shipping and some are doing reasonably well and some are alive but not really growing, while most of the tiny ones like the candy tufts were DOA and the ones that survived are still looking puny bad after 4 months. I requested for replacements for the dead ones, and after 4 weeks, I again had to inquire about shipping for the replacement plants. I got the replacement plants 3 weeks later, and they too were DOA. I doubt I will request for more dead plants. My inquiries were always answered promptly by email, but I was bothered by the fact that I have to make inquiries at all. Last week, I bought quite a few of gallon potted plants at Walmart for $1 each on clearance!! These are beautifully lush good sized plants that are making an immediate visual impact in my yard already, unlike the sticks that I got from Direct Gardening. I doubt I will ever buy plants through mail order again. What I will do is to keep an eye out for sales at the local nurseries. In summary, I may pay a little more, but I get so much more back in return. As for the plants I bought at Walmart. they turned out to be cheaper than the ones I got from DG. Negative JamesBrown Del Mar, CA (1 review) July 27, 2009 Holy Cow - Don't deal with this outfit. After ordering in late April and having my credit card charged the next day - so far (August) no order. Not only that - they charged my account TWICE When you call Direct to complain they say they are "only billing agents" and "you must write a letter to complain". Of course they are a division of House of Wesley (Burgess Seed) and simply want to give me the run around. If you order from them you have no one but yourself (literally) to complain to. Negative delano Collinsville, VA (1 review) July 22, 2009 Ordered thornless blackberries about may 2007. planted same day all lived except one.Sent label one replaced. Later all turned out to be with thorns direct gardening refused to send right plants. Almost same problem with blueberries-ordered 6. Planted same day 3 died in 2 weeks one was just a green 6 inch stem black on top. kept thinking all would be fixed. Last order arrived with yellow plants all dead. I have finally given up on the managers of this company. Still waiting on replacements for blueberries and for them to correct the blackberries i ordered. The free seeds with order were good. Have no hope for either. Positive Shucks Conway, SC (1 review) July 21, 2009 I visited the Direct Gardending website 7/10/09 for the first time. I placed an order around 12:30 PM and had my order confirmation within an hour via email. After reading the notes regarding the plants being shipped to specific areas during the planting season, I really didn't expect to receive them all at once, or so quickly. My plants arrived this past Saturday, July 18th, just after noon via FedEx. I was shocked...and pleasantly surprised. I inspected the plants, and immediately began reading the Plant Care Guide included FREE in my shipment. I received just what I expected.....barerooted plants, and all seem to be doing OK. I followed the instructions and I also placed my shipping label away for the future, if necessary. Sorry so many of you had trouble, but plants are like babies....they need lots of TLC, they can overcome a few bumps and scratches, but they cannot grow on their own. As for one, I am very happy with my purchase, and will continure ordering from Direct Gardening until "they" loose my business. Negative Jilleen Edgerton, WI (1 review) July 20, 2009 I ordered over $30.00 + the $9.49 for shipping from Direct Gardening. What a mistake. I ordered 10 of the Hybrid Willow Trees (more like little sticks) and all of them died. I asked for a refund and of course I had to do that within 14 days. Then I could have gotten more of these with the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL. Who's gonna save that from the bag that these were shipped in. This place is a rip off and I recommend that NO ONE buy from them. Go to a greenhouse in your area instead of throwing your money away on this company. I always have to learn the hard way I guess. Negative Rainbowchaser51 Columbus, GA (1 review) July 16, 2009 I bought 6 lilies that were supposed to be "Electric Orange" lilies, and 6 lillies that were supposed to be "Lollipop"-dark pink & white, along with "Blue Light" clematis & 1 bougainvillea. The clematis withered & died but I continued on good faith. When the lillies bloomed, I have all WHITE lillies, not a sign of orange anything or dark pink. When I emailed the company about this discrepancy, they informed me they would do nothing unless I returned the ORINGINAL SHIPPING LABEL-worded just like that. Since several months have passed, I couldn't find it, but I did have my confirmation email, shipping statement with the list. This isn't good enough. Each time I contact them, they become more snide & downright rude. Negative yallwish Woodville, MS (1 review) July 01, 2009 my first order from direct gardening contained dead walk-on-me thyme so brown and moldy i would have done better to hunt for something dead in the woods. trying to be cooperative, i gave directgardening the benefit of the doubt and against my better judgment did not return the "plants". i planted the dead junk, cared for the withered, tangled, crumbly whatever it was and of course nothing close to an actual plant developed, they just disappeared completely. still not expecting a transaction this atrocious again or that this insult would actually be repeated by direct gardening, i ordered again. this time they rewarded me with molded irish moss, dead blue light clematis, and dead pink salvia (as labeled on the bags, i could not even tell by looking at the brown things what they were supposed to be). i mailed a detailed letter explaining why i am entitled to return shipping. their policy does NOT say "if we send dead plants the return is the customer's cost" or anything to that effect. i spoke to several customer service reps trying to get my return shipping cost ($1.75) refunded, most recently on 07/01/09. while they didn't uphold their representation to not sell dead plants, they did consistently uphold their policy that return shipping is the customer's cost. the bottom line is that their policy causes customers to lose money for them not fulfilling an order as implied. i asked them if their policy was to send dead plants, they said no. i told them i have pictures and asked why they didn't uphold that statement, yet upheld the return shipping policy. the response i got was that its only a dollar and some change. this has been the most horrible customer service experience i have ever had. how can they think they should be allowed to do business this way? Negative Almostagardener Wiggins, CO (6 reviews) June 27, 2009 I made the mistake of ordering from this company and like many received dead plants. The shipping time took over 2 weeks, they were shipped in a plastic bag and were broken, slimey, moldy and looked like someone had gone in their backyard and picked up dead twigs to send . The time from placing the order to mailing was over 3 weeks. I returned the labels (total of 4) and here I am 4 weeks after returning them, still being advised they have no record of receivng the labels back. The people on the phone have been nice and polite, but the plants and the shipping department are another story all together. I will not order from again. Positive flowerehj Saint Cloud, FL (Zone 9b) (2 reviews) June 26, 2009 On March 18, 2009, I put in an order for $68. The items arrived slowly, and in 2 seperate shipments on April 11 and 20th. Some items arrived very small, others all tangled (to the point where you had to destroy the stems to pull them apart), and some looked completely dead. I did receive the free items and I got a free hosta using a coupon. I did exactly what they said: I planted everything, even the dead looking stuff, and to be fair, some of the dead looking stuff did come up. The prices are super cheap, so I figured I should give it the best shot. I emailed them with some questions and they responded promptly with a personalized email. June 6th I decided to write them a letter asking for replacements of all the things that didn't live to this point. Here is a summary of the items: NAME #plants that lived/ total 5102 Butterfly Bush Bi-color 0/2 6826 Butterfly Plant Orange Glory 1/3 5728 Blue Festuca 0/3 6811 Periwinkle 0/50 7753 Sedum, Improved Golden 10/24 5103 Walk on me Plant 0/18 5799 Amaryllis Miniature 9/10 6837 Torch Lily 3/3 6992 Grass, Japanese Blood 1/1 I did not list the free gifts, and they also don't replace those. Today, June 26, I received a bag with all the replacements I asked for, in fact, they sent more than I asked for, replacing ALL of any particular plant that had some not live. The replacements all look better than the original shipments, bigger plants with more green, therefore more alive looking. Just beware that when you order from them, SAVE the packing slips on the packages you receive! Very important! You also must be willing to take the time to snail mail them the packing slips with the request to replace. I find this company to be reliable although their packing skills are less than stellar. So, for the price, I would order from them again. Just know what to expect! :) Negative J_R_S Carrabelle, FL (2 reviews) June 21, 2009 Like other suckers, I ordered before checking this website. I ordered in early spring to ensure good selection, good quality plants and good weather to get them in the ground. My $76.00 order was for a wide variety of plants -- this seems to be what many people spend with them. All of the specials and "double your order for a penny" offers encourage you to keep adding more and more to your shopping cart because "it's all so cheap". Well, guess what? The order was slow to arrive (3 weeks) and came in 2 packages a week apart. They do NOT really "package" the plants ! They just wrap the bare roots in plastic, stick them all in a big green plastic bag with no bubble-wrap or other padding and ship it United Parcel or via the Post Office (I got one package from each carrier). Naturally, the plants arrived all broken and twisted. Not that it mattered, as more then half of them were obviously dead... dried up and brittle with nothing like "roots"... *before* they were put in the bag to begin with. I immediately planted the 40% that looked like they might still be alive... about half of them were, but only a few are anything like healthy and growing well after 6 weeks. So, I ended up with only 1 out of every 4 plants that I ordered. So much for "cheap" -- I could have done better at the local nurseries or mail-ordering from one of the top-rated websites on this website. Lesson learned. Oh yeah, sure, I did call them and complain and and sent back my shipping label and they say they will send me replacements, if they still have what I ordered and if not they will get back to me next year. Great. They will replace the dead plants they sent me with more dead plants. I can hardly wait. Positive nobluefood Portsmouth, OH (3 reviews) June 21, 2009 I ordered a row of mockorange shrubs. and a pair of Manchurian apricots. the order came quickly. of the ten mockorange, four did not leaf out. the manchurian apricots were dead on arrival. I contacted first by email to ask could they reship just the apricots, so I could hold onto my "original shipping label" to see how the mockorange fared. I was told they could not do it that way unless I returned the dead apricot trees. I had not saved those. so I waited another couple weeks to see if any growth would appear (it didn't), and mailed the shipping label and my request for replacements. I worried that they might not have received my request, and emailed them, but later that same day the replacements arrived. they are all leafing out nicely. for the price, I cannot complain about anything in my transaction, and will order again from this company (or any of the many affiliated companies). my neighbors giggle at bit at my "sticks" but after decades of gardening I really do prefer to avoid the transplant shock of larger specimens at the box stores. my little "sticks" take off by their second year, and I am in no rush. Negative kspraker Lancaster, VA (1 review) June 19, 2009 An order was placed in mid March. My credit card was billed 3/31 and no merchandise was received for nearly a month, I ordered knock out roses and Canadian hemlock trees. The roses arrived with black spot so I returned them along with the original invoice as required. The hemlock trees died shortly after planting so I emailed to ask what to do. They told me to send a copy of the invoice with a note about why it wasn't the original along with the dead trees. I did that and they returned what I sent minus the dead hemlock with a note that I had not sent the original invoice, and dead sticks were returned with no explanation. I sent everything back to them again, explaining what had happened. Today I received another letter from them with a copy of the invoice saying that they do not know what I want credit for. Bottom line is that their abysmal customer service makes their low prices not worth the trouble. The email chain regarding this order is 30 pages long. I intend to file a complaint with the BBB. On June 19th, 2009, kspraker changed the rating from positive to negative and added the following: Positive breezynosacek1 Kenbridge, VA (1 review) June 17, 2009 I ordered: dwarf fig, dwarf pear, dwarf apricot, dwarf cherry, sweet cherry bush, hazelnut, indian currants, grape vines and siberian elms. This is June and I recieved my order in a timely manner. They gave me nice healthy bareroot plants. I will be ordering again this coming month. I am totally completely 100% happy! Negative teb Ashburn, VA (2 reviews) June 16, 2009 I ordered 6 iris' that were supposed to be shipped as live plants. They all arrived in containers with the dirt completely spilled out. I quickly repotted them, but it looks like only 3 are going to survive and they all are less than 1 inch tall. Very disappointed in the packing of these items and will not order from this company again. I also ordered 2 butterfly bushes a few months ago and they arrived in poor shape as well. I think they are going to survive, but they could have done a much better job packing them. Negative TXGardenerUSA Granbury, TX (1 review) June 15, 2009 One month ago my husband and I placed two separate orders with Direct Gardening. My order was filled in 3 weeks with plants that are struggling to survive in my plant shed ICU, not chance of them seeing the ground this year. The other order was not filled at all. After a month I called the company and was told they could not find the order. I gave them my order number, date, name, address, amount and everything on the order as it was printed on the email they sent to confirm the order, but they still could not find the order. What is the point of an order number if they cannot use it to find an order? I have asked to cancel the order but they told me I'd have to mail them a copy of my credit card statement and a letter to prove they charged me in the first place! What a terrible mess this company seems to be! I'm so sorry I wasted my time and money on this company. I wish I had read this website first. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!!! Negative Chrisscamsus Bristol, PA (2 reviews) June 15, 2009 I ordered one rose bush climbing blue moon from them.When I received it was obviously dead.It was diseased because it was completely black roots and all.It also had fungus growing on it which is ridiculous.Still have the shipping label but it seems rather worthless to ask for a replacement when I will only receive the same crappy diseased plant again.This company is a joke and the packaging is just plan stupid.Use a box not a bag you stupid retarded idiots.I do not even feel like dealing with the bullshit customer service. Negative eyfng San Gabriel, CA (8 reviews) June 08, 2009 I placed an order of about $75 with Direct Gardening last fall. I have seen enough negative feedbacks about this nursery from Dave's Garden, I wish that I know this website before I placed my order with DG. I just don't understand why DG can still in business with the following bad issues. poor packing poor customer service: unhelpful, never address to your questions poor quality of products: small, half dead, never grow complicated replacement procedure unable to cancel items of an pending order $2.5 extra charge for adding items to an pending order In my inital shipment, only one iris is growing and have produced flowers. In my first replacements, only 2 crokscrew vines and 3 Elodie asiatic lilies are growing. Of course, the lilies are so mini. All other replacements are dead or not growing well. I recently requested for second time replacements. I do not want to plant the dead items anymore because I had already planted them twice, so I asked for some new items with 2 pennies over the total amount of dead items. The company sent me back my letter together with the original replacement labels and asked me to pay additional shipping charge of $9.49 plus 2 pennies. I then called the customer service and talked to supervisor to find out that the total amout of replacements can't exceed even a penny of the total amount of dead items. So, I changed the replacements by losing some money. I resented my letter with the shipping labels again. I wish God bless me that I will get nice growing plants this time. I really don't want to deal with this place anymore. It's more than enough! You get what you pay. Never never do business with Direct Gardening. Positive haworthialover Nevada, MO (Zone 5b) (5 reviews) June 05, 2009 So far, I am satisfied with our Direct Gardening experience. I ordered 3 fruiting trees and some bulbs. The trees arrived with several leaves and looking good. And the bulbs arrived looking fresh. I have saved my shipping labels just incase. We all know some plants don't like to be shipped. But they look good now! Negative nanalintx El Paso, TX (1 review) June 04, 2009 Do not order from this company! It took a full 35 days and several phone calls to receive 2 dead eucalyptus trees and various plants that were yellowing and/or had dead leaves. I am still "babying" these, but the outcome is doubtful. Even though I explained that receiving the order so late in the season in our desert climate would end in disaster, the people I spoke to assured me that there would be no problem. I have no desire for any further contact with the service department, so I will just write this off to experience. Neutral StellysPapa Dothan, AL (Zone 8a) (26 reviews) June 02, 2009 I have bought from them in the past without any problems. But, I just recently bought 8 Pardon Me daylilies and received them today. They were each in a separate plastic bag, with no soil. Each one had mold and mildew on them. Most of them do have some sign of life but a few do not. I will plant them and see what happens, and report back with an update. Negative tthsc Fort Mill, SC (1 review) May 21, 2009 I had a very bad experience with this company recently. After 3 weeks of not seeing my order, I called on 5 different occasions speaking to a different representative who told me that my order had processed but had not shipped yet, and they could not tell me why!!! One rep. even said that the items in my order were all in stock, so she couldn't understand why it had not shipped. When I asked about cancelling the order, I was told that I could not cancel because it had already processed; yet, my order was just out there in limbo somewhere! I was told I had to mail a letter requesting a refund, and if it reached their office before the order shipped, it would be cancelled. When I asked if there was another method of sending it I was told "no". When I spoke to the 4th customer rep. however, I was told I could email my request. So I did, and when I called to verify that the email had been received to cancel the order, I was told that the department that handled that only communicated by email, so I couldn't speak with them, and the rep. said that she had no knowledge as to whether or not they received it, but I should hear from someone by email within 24 hrs. Ridiculous!!! I received the email telling me that my request was being forwarded to the department that handles those requests. This was the same department that I was told over the phone by the rep. that would be processing my request! After receiving other ridiculous vague correspondences basically saying nothing, I told them I was no longer going to deal with this, but report them to my bank, and I did. I hope that people will do their research on this company, apparently under many names, before they order from them. I'm surprised they have not been shut down by now. They really shouldn't be allowed to stay in operation. I don't usually like to do this, but I had to let others know. People work too hard, and times are too difficult to be taken by these frauds. Negative coyotehollow Weldona, CO (3 reviews) May 14, 2009 One year I ordered 3 grapes from this company, and found them to be nice plants that grew and continue to grow in my yard. The next four years tell the tale: DO NOT BUY HERE UNLESS YOU ARE DONATING TO THEIR CAUSE. I have purchased 300 dollars worth of plants from them (100 was on a gift certificate I got for a birthday) and have been getting replacements now for 3 years on that same order. Year after year I send in the green plastic bag with the label, and year after year I have gotten what everyone else has said they have gotten: dead, moldy, rotten slimy excuses of garbage. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH. In the other business that I am in we are paid to be "nice people" when it comes to dealing with folks, but there is something terribly wrong with a company that is this ignorant and/or deceptive when they offer plants such as they offer at the prices they do, and then send what amounts to stuff for the compost heap. I called yesterday to see where my order for this year was and they said it was sent out on April 30--it arrived today, two weeks later. How does this happen? Because they use the cheapest method possible to mail your items and keep the remainder of the shipping and handling money instead of shipping it Priority Mail or otherwise. This year I received what amounted to rotten plants that looked and smelled even toxic/caustic. What a joke--I am not even going to bother asking for replacements again, nor am I going to ever accept a gift certificate from such a company. Neutral wulfpak Nebraska City, NE (3 reviews) May 13, 2009 The prices were really low, so I gave them a try before reading their reviews. My merchandise arrived promptly but was not in great shape. A couple asparagus roots were rotten, but the others were fine. The douglas fir trees were brown and dry, but, after a week, it appears they will recover. The strawberry plants were small, but seem to be doing ok. I've received better quality plants from other companies, so I'm not planning on being a return customer to Direct Gardening. Negative utguy44 Williamsburg, VA (1 review) May 12, 2009 I bought almost $50 worth of various trees; Sarvistree, River Birch, Red Maple, White Birch, Pink Dogwood, which I planted in October. Not a single one budded this spring (2009; Williamsburg, VA). All I received were dormant sticks, and they just stayed that way. I live in an area with plenty of sun and good soil (all my other transplanted trees are doing fine, unlike the plain, dormant sticks from Direct Gardening). Now if I can just find that orginal shipping label ... Positive Tinuviel98 Winston Salem, NC (Zone 7a) (1 review) May 10, 2009 I was really surprised to see so many negative comments on here, so I thought I would add my experiences with this company. I placed two orders with Direct Gardening last spring and received them within two weeks. All the plants (Hydrangeas, Rhododendron, and Hibiscus) lived and have come back beautifully this year. The Rhododendron was broken when I received it and so I requested a replacement using my shipping label and got a new one within a week. I placed another large order this spring (Roses, Delphinium, Hollyhock and another dark colored Rhododendron). The order took about a month this time but the plants arrived in plenty of time for the season. This key to ordering from this company is to carefully read the instructions about how and when to order, saving the shipping label, not letting the plants sit in your mailbox upon delivery, ect. It is possible that I just got lucky with my three orders, but as long as I keep getting good plants I will keep buying from them. Positive mariefortman Leo, IN (1 review) May 06, 2009 I ordered over 100 items from this company...not thinking it was a scam. After reading all of the negative comments I thought I would never get my order.... I thought I'd get real crappy rotton bulbs and dead starts..... I thought I'd get the wrong items or not enough or too much of one item. But guess what???? I got everything right at the beginning of May just like the order said! I got every bulb right down to the exact count. And everything was alive and well. I am glad to say I received everything. Especially after reading all the terrible reviews..... So there is hope for this company after all .... =) Happy planting! Marie from Hoosier Land. Negative terrahappy Redmond, OR (2 reviews) April 28, 2009 I was overjoyed to find a company that was affiliated with so many different nurseries. Boy was I in for a shock. I placed three seperate orders . one order totaling $150.73 on 3/13/09 from Exciting Gardens, One order totaling $53.69 3/22/09 from Four Seasons Nursery, and one order totaling $48.65 3/22/09 From Honeycreek Nurseries. My orders were accepted and my credit card charged emmediately. I recieved my first of two packages from Exciting Gardens in a timly manner and all of the items arrived in good condition, 15 blackerry bushes, 18 raspberry bushes, twenty Rhubarb roots, fourty asparagus roots sixteen mixed oriental lilies and three red painted daisies. So I figured this company was reputable. The second half of my order arrived today. three weeks after the first part of the order arrived.. I have six Angel Trumpets here that are nothing but mush. I cannot plant mush and expect it to grow. very dissapointing. Honeycreek Nurseries order arrived last week. three weeks in the mail and I have six broken trees from their overstock selection (trees that are not legal to import to my state) and a yucca plant that is muchy on top and dry dead on bottom. Not plantable....not to mention that the rest of the order was all yellow and of the smallest most inferior stock I have seen to be sold by a mail order company.. Four Seasons order was supposedly mailed on April 3rd of 2009 and today is the 28th and still nothing in the mail. I have called the company several times and have gotten absolutely nothing in the way of assurance. I know when the order arrives that it will be a box or bag full of dead plants. I have tried to cancel the order and can do nothing until 30 days has passed from the supposed shipping date. I asked 3 different customer sevice personel people about shipping and why they only have one shipping option? I would be more than happy to pay extra shipping to recieve strong healthy plants via mail. I was told that they dont have any other options. Finally I was able to speak to a supervisor . Not that it was of any help. but I did finally get an answer to the shipping question. You have to request upgraded shipping at a cost of $12.00 extra. Why on earth do they not give you the option when you are placing an order via the internet or when ordering from the magazines. Boy what a no brainer that would be. Needless to say this company and its affiliates has lost my business. Now I am an avid gardener that would make Martha Stuart proud and have many other gardning friends. I belong to the local Master Gardeners association and my displeasure will not be lost on the many many friends and other people that I deal with. I am astounded that from reading this forum that there is not a class action lawsuit against this company yet. All that I can say is Buyer Beware. I wish you all Happy Gardening. Neutral mom24cuties Silverdale, WA (1 review) April 28, 2009 I placed my order in Dec. and received the first of 2 shipments in March. I ordered 3 dwarf trees ( Apple, Plum, Peach ) , 25 Strawberry plants and 2 Butterfly bushes. The strawberry plants were a somewhat rotten, the butterfly bushes were completely dried out and the trees, err sticks looked pretty dead too. Did the scratch test and they were still green. Bagged them in 50% compost 50% topsoil and set them out in the sun. After about 2 weeks the apple tree started leaving. I decided to plant them and now the apple tree has plenty of leaves. It is only about 2 feet, nothing more than a stick with leaves but it is alive and a dwarf so hopefully it will become a tree one day. The plum is a little bigger with a few branches ( all dried out ) but is showing new buds, here's hoping. The peach stick is just that , a dried stick with no sign of life. Of the 25 strawberry plants 15 have survived and started growing. I will try to return the peach and butterfly and see what happens. I guess for the price I can't complain too much. Second package contained 1 Lemon and 1 Orange dwarf tree. Came about 10" tall with bright green leaves. The soil had spilled out of the little container but the roots were undamaged. Pot planted them the next day ( about 2 weeks ago) and they are doing good. The orange tree has several new leaves and the Lemon is starting a few. OTOH my neighbor ordered several plants just about a month ago and received them last week. Much better looking stuff than what I got. Perhaps the time of year when you place your order has something to do with it? Since I only need a few items I would again order from them knowing that it is a 50/50 thing and for the price I'm willing to take that chance. However the customer service is not very good and can be frustrating. Negative sawhett New Bern, NC (1 review) April 27, 2009 This company is the world's worst. Placed my original order in January. They took payment immediately, but did not ship until April. I had underestimated my project and needed a few more plants. (if I could find the species elsewhere I would never have ordered from them again). Again they took my money immediatly; that was almost 3 weeks ago. I called again this morning...still hasn't shipped. Got a runaround with the girl on the other end about refunding my money. If my plants aren't here Friday I contact the attorney general. People like this should be put out of business!

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