Company Profile   Hirt's Greenhouse & Flowers Mailing Address: 13867 Pearl Rd Strongsville, Ohio 44136 (United States) Phone: 1-800-860-4478 Fax: 1-440-238-4384 » E-Mail them » Visit their website Recent reviews: Past month Past 6 Months Past 12 Months Positive 1 4 10 Neutral 0 1 4 Negative 0 8 17 This company offers a variety of plants and seeds.

Feedback History and Summary   78 positives 21 neutrals 75 negatives

Comments:

Rating Author Content Positive anne1 Malvern, PA (6 reviews) November 01, 2009 I ordered 25 Giant Shirley Foxgoves for $34.99 at an end of season sale. Then I read the feedback at Dave's Garden and was a bit concerned with some of the negative feedback. No worries. The plants arrived just a few days after I placed my order on October 23. They were large, albeit somewhat rootbound but healthy otherwise. I wasted no time in planting them and they seem to be doing well. The only minor complaint I have is the packing: 10,000 peanuts are not necessary; crumpled up newspaper would have done the job nicely. I will definitely order from Hirt's again. Negative msimonel Ridgefield, CT (1 review) October 17, 2009 I am an experienced gardener. Ordered 100 saffron crocus bulbs. Received in fall 2008. Planted. Assured excellent drainage, etc. This year 2009, no bloom! I have other types of bulbs all over the property and in raised boxes, behind fences to keep pests away etc. These are all winners year after year. Crocus - nothing. Positive oneuniquelady Ocala, FL (1 review) October 12, 2009 I placed an order with Hirt's on Tuesday October 6th 2009 and I received my order on Friday October 9th 2009 in excellent condition. The plants I ordered were 2 Bhut Jolokia {Ghost Chili Peppers} I received 2 plants in 1, what a sweet deal I received 3 total for the price of 2. Thank you Hirt's, we will be doing business again! Donna, Ocala Florida Negative xenabui Baton Rouge, LA (1 review) September 24, 2009 I had ordered a few GHOST PEPPER PLANTS online from HIRT'S. Paid with my credit card and got the plants. I had put a lot of time and effort in growing these pepper plants. A few months had gone by, my plants are starting to have peppers. But the bad thing is that I realize they were not as hot as I thought it should have been. Then I do some research and realize it was not ghost pepper they had sent me. I had called and the lady told me to send the pictures and my information straight to the owners email. Which I did. The owner respond to my email, stating that i need to send the plants back and my proof of purchase. So I reply to the email stating that i have no problem sending them there plants back but i don't have my proof of purchase because it have been at least 3-6 months long. I mean how was I suppose to know that they ship me the wrong plants and therefore I need to keep my receipt for 3 to 6 months. So i asked them if they keep there records for that long, if they think I should still have mine. In that case they should check their record for my purchase. They reply to me saying that they will not issue a refund if i don't have proof of purchase. These people are very bad business. DON'T BUY FROM THEM!!!!!!! Negative tulatulip (1 review) September 07, 2009 what is with the horrible service? when you ask a question, you are lucky to get an answer, and when you do, it is a short rude response. matt hirt should consider being a little more professional since he is representing his company with his succint and gruff replies! Negative RebloominRose Holbrook, AZ (1 review) August 25, 2009 I bought six OSO easy roses from Hirt's. Two arrived dead--dried up!--and the others looked pretty roughed up. I contacted them and they said that I needed to take pictures. Well, I am behind the times and don't have a camera, particularly a digital one. They would not refund or make any other suggestions without pictures. I feel that their customer service really is awful. Basically they called me a liar. Never will I buy from them again! Negative habanero500 Spring Valley, CA (1 review) August 13, 2009 I have many friends who like to grow chiles. This past growing season I have had 4 people contact me to identify their plants. All of the plants were not the species they were supposed to be. All of them were purchased from Hirts through E Bay. I already got the wrong plants from them myself this year. They sold me 4 Bonda Ma Jaques habanero plants that were not Bonda Ma Jaques. I did get a refund. But now I fear my 12 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia plants are not what they are. I still have to wait to see pepper pods. My friend on the east Coast bought the same plants and they are all another species. I talked with a woman from Illinois who tried twice to get Scotch Bonnet and both times got the wrong plants. Another man from Ohio purchased Bhut Jolokia that is not Bhut Jolokia and my friend from LA also now has discovered she has the wrong plants. So far I am the only one that got a refund. Hirts refuses to give a refund to these others. They swear they have the correct seed. But what kind of nursery makes this many errors!!! I truly believe they do not have the correct chile pepper seed and know it. They count on the E Bay transaction being too old, because it will take awhile before your chile plants bear fruit. So if my 12 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia plants turn out to be something else I will sue them. I sell rare chiles for high dollar so I have the right to sue them for wasting my time. So if you are mad here is another thing you can do. Most states require Agricultural paperwork to ship live plants. Find out if this applies to your state. If so report them. The fines they will pay will be far more than the money they make by not making a refund!!! Positive obliqua Pittsburgh, PA (13 reviews) July 01, 2009 I have had a number of plants ordered from Hirt's. Tomato and pepper plants, a tree peony,and two oriental poppies. All arrived quickly, in great condition. The prices were great and the plants are growing and thriving. Positive MagdaOR Hillsboro, OR (1 review) June 22, 2009 I was late on starting my tomatoes this year, so I decided to try to order starts online. Was looking for a particular heirloom tomato that was my favorite of last summer, and I found it online at Hirt's at a pretty good price. I ordered 8 different varieties of heirloom tomato starts from Hirt's through their Amazon store. I paid for standard shipping, but I received my package via USPS in 2 days! While some of the varieties were maybe only 2 inches tall, others were 4-5", so it balanced out. (Might have been disappointed if I'd only received one or two varieties and they'd all been on the small side, but as it is, I can't complain). Planted them out in larger pots the day I got them and out of the 36 plants that I received, only one did not make it. Not bad at all, and overall I'm very satisfied. Great prices and a great selection of heirloom varieties. Negative midrashist Philadelphia, PA (3 reviews) June 07, 2009 I ordered roughly three hundred dollars of plants this spring thru ebay. They were shipped immediately. Most of the plants arrived looking o.k. The packing IS deplorable. The bottom of one box nearly fell through when I first moved it. But for a price usually less then two dollars a plant, I didn't expect much more (and besides by then I'd read the reviews here.) The meconopsis however looked awful. (I don't think they have anything to improve drainage in their medium, so if they soak plants and it's hot, the plants can rot.) I e-mailed them and four replacements were sent out immediately. And arrived much healthier. Of my whole order so far I have only lost two of the replacement meconopsis. So the plants, though sometimes small, can grow. However, they rarely reply to e-mails. Obviously from stories here, and obviously from their pretending to write a customer review here they can get quite over-sensitive and defensive. Their replacement practice and policy can be rather random. Another plant which I had ordered 25 of arrived in the wrong color. I have had one response to many, many e-mails about these plants. I suspect a company which has grown wildly; a mom and pop outfit which has been unable to keep up with normal customer service, and hasn't even realized it should be either positive and consistent. I don't think they intend to cheat people, they just can't manage their business. They think their good ratings on e-bay and amazon will be enough, and had never heard of dave's garden before this spring. Negative jvhagerman Banning, CA (1 review) June 03, 2009 I have purchased from Hirt's Gardens on ebay prior to attempting to purchase again now. The plants I received before were mostly good and did well. However now he and his company won't even bother to reply to my before purchase questions. Evidently they don't need business as customer service is terrible. After reading all the comments especially the negative ones it's enough to make any one not purchase anything from this place. Hirt's and all of your others names you'd better do something fast or you will be out of business soon No customer service ===== no customers!!! Negative SKNBR (1 review) June 03, 2009 This company stinks. My plants arrived, just about DOA. The roots were so matted, I can't imagine how long they've been sitting in the pots they arrived in. I also ordered seeds from them and I don't have high hopes of germination. It's $30 of my life I'll never get back again. Buyer beware. This company is horrible and should be ashamed of the products they sell. Neutral fayesmom Haltom City, TX (1 review) June 03, 2009 my god, well it looks like i have a 50-50 chance,huh....well it seems as though most of you have ordered plants or bulbs...i have ordered pumpkin seeds of different varieties what should i do if none of them ever grow? this is my first time ordering online..............im a little worried.bummer. Negative perenniallyme Jamaica Plain, MA (Zone 6a) (9 reviews) May 24, 2009 Last fall I bought several packets of seed from Hirts through Amazon, because I had gift certificates there, and they had some unusual varieties. One packet they sent me was not what I ordered, but I didn't complain. However, most of the 8 or so not inexpensive packets contained no viable seed at all. Of course it took me through the winter and into the spring to determine that they were not viable, so I doubt I can do anything to get my wasted money back. Negative lkinnj Hoboken, NJ (1 review) May 19, 2009 Recently bought 4 tomato plants from this place. They came in a box. When I took the plants out of the box, they were all twisted and one had broken at the stem. The leaves have diseased spots all over. I worked with the merchant to get a refund. After sending pics, the merchant said they looked fine. Well they don't look fine comparing to tomato plants I have seen at local nurseries! Buyers beware. I will never order from this place again Neutral fluffysquirrel Sicklerville, NJ (4 reviews) May 15, 2009 I've ordered a couple of times from this company, as I was attracted to the low price on Ebay. It took awhile to get here, but the plants were generous and healthy. Thing is, their customer service leaves alot to be desired. I called, and the woman who answered seemed moody and had no knowledge of the plant I had inquired about. "I dunno. *sigh* Hoooold on..." I was on hold for awhile, but she finally got back on the line and said they had one more of a particular plant. I saw they relisted it on Ebay for 17.99 rather than the original 7.99. Also, they don't answer their emails or Ebay correspondence. This can't be good for business. I won't be doing business with them anymore. Negative eileentibet Center Barnstead, NH (Zone 5a) (2 reviews) May 14, 2009 This winter I won item(s) on ebay that had been posted by Hirts. Yes, Hirts uses ebay to sell plants! I couldn't read or see my winnings on ebay from Hirts Garden even though I was the winner. Numerous times I contacted them and it was always Ccathy, from Hirts, that kept claiming she couldn't see it either (?) I continued asking when my winnings would be shipped by them. My queries were being responded to by Ccathy who kept claiming she couldn't "see" my winnings either. Then out of no where Ccathy claimed it must have been "my cart must have been emptied out and so I never paid for my order, thus there is nothing to ship. (?) Finally she asked was it something I bought through Amazon, herself, or Hirts. Again, I told her Hirts. Back and forth the emails went. Me, constantly trying to find out when my ebay/Hirts winnings would be shipped. Ccathy was completely ignoring my emails by then so I sent a email with ALL of Ccathy's emails attached - to a email I addressed to "Supervisor" of Customer Care Hirts. No response. This morning I received a email from Ccathy that my monies for my ebay/Hirts winnings, $26.12 Hosta's , have been refunded to my Pay Pal.account. Rather than shipping my ebay/Hirts winnings. All of a sudden Ccathy can "see" my winnings on ebay/Hirts from Hirts , know exactly how much I had bid on my ebay/Hirts order, managed to refund my order instead of shipping my plants.(?) This IS Hirts on Ebay . Apparently Ccathy IS the Supervisor at Hirts Customer Care, and their spokesperson for Hirts/Ebay.. That is my take on it. This IS Hirts on Ebay. NEVER bid on anything out there by Hirts. Never. Eileen Wilson. Negative Tex68 Long Branch, NJ (Zone 7a) (5 reviews) May 12, 2009 I ordered 8 echinaceas and 4 globe thistles through eBay. I was aware they were STARTER PLANTS grown in 2x3" containers. Shipping was timely and the starter plants were shipped with tape all over to protect the dirt on the tiny pots. The plants looked healthy but obviously they were soo tiny as if they just sprouted from seeds. So tiny that 20 days later despite TLC, out of the 8 echinaceas, only 2 are growing new leaves, 3 are holding their breaths, and the other 3 looks like they're gonners. This is not really a big deal but what I don't like about Hirt's is their return/refund policy which is not worth the hassle. First they only give you 15 days to return the plants (in most cases it takes more than two weeks to know for sure if your plant is growing or not). Second, they require to fill up their return form and actually ship the dead plants back to them at your expense. The money you pay for shipping some dead starter plants is not worth it. The globe thistles are showing signs of life nevertheless. I would have leaned more towards a NEUTRAL rating, but because of all the hassle you have to go through for refunds/exchange and only 15 days allotment for starter tiny plants, I'll give them a negative rating. Positive robertf562 Arlington Heights, IL (1 review) May 08, 2009 This was my first time ordering by mail and I did not know what to expect. The price could not be beat. My order of 16 heirloom tomato plants arrived in 5 days. I was surprised that they were crammed into an 8" by 8" inch box. The dirt was taped down and the plants were surrounded by styrofoam peanuts. The plants were big and appeared to be healthy enough to survive the shipping. A little water and a day of sun was all they needed. Neutral balberth Sunnyvale, CA (Zone 9a) (18 reviews) May 03, 2009 I ordered a single carnivorous plant from Hirt's using E-bay - a drosera, or sundew. It arrived quickly, but the packing left something to be desired. These plants are usually grown sitting a tray of water, and Hirt's used masking tape to secure the soil in the container - which doesn't work so well on a wet pot. The plant ended up kind of bare-rooted by the mailing process. I washed off and re-potted the plant when received, and it seems to be getting better - it was a fairly large specimen, which in this case means a couple inches across. It did also develop an infestation of thrips shortly after it was received - my guess is the insects came with the plant, and were allowed to prosper due to the stress resulting from its shipping mishap. I think part of the problem here is that carnivorous plants are quite specialized things, and Hirt's is not a specialized nursery as such... but I probably won't be ordering and drosera from them again, at the very least. Positive rmlawless Garner, NC (Zone 7b) (3 reviews) April 30, 2009 I ordered from Hirt's on eBay. My plant was shipped within hours of the auction closing and arrived in three days. My plant was well packed, wrapped in newspaper and protected by styrofoam peanuts. I'm not a huge fan of those, and would suggest that Hirt's switch to the biodegradable kind. Other than that a fantastic experience. Positive satsop Starkville, MS (1 review) April 30, 2009 I ordered online from Hirt's and got my merchandise in less than a week. My plants were in very good condition (butterfly weed) in little square pots, taped up so the soil and plants could not fall out. I was really amazed with the rapid service since I had read negative comments about the company. Positive boobooblue Fort Lauderdale, FL (1 review) April 24, 2009 I've ordered just about everything from this company....thru ebay and amazon. All orders arrived with tape and peanuts as described in many reviews, and yes, that's annoying...but all of the seeds, plants etc. have grown and look beautiful AND I received within days of ordering. I will say, that there were a few times when 1 or 2 plants looked like it wouldn't make it because of damage in shipping, but I baby everything in my garden, and all eventually took off with a little more tender loving care. Simply put...I will continue to order from Hirt's! Positive grangertownship Strongsville, OH (1 review) April 23, 2009 I have purchased from Hirt's for years and they are great. On April 23rd, 2009, grangertownship added the following: They have been in business since 1915. fantastic On April 23rd, 2009, grangertownship added the following: I love how the competition sends negative feedback. Hirt's are #1 on Amazon and Ebay! Note from the Garden Watchdog editors... It is the policy of the Watchdog that companies cannot pose as customers to leave feedback for themselves. The rating associated with this comment has been changed from positive to neutral so that it would not affect the overall rating given by customers. On June 18th, 2009, grangertownship changed the rating from neutral to positive and added the following: Negative maryamd Chicago, IL (1 review) April 23, 2009 I will never buy anything from them. BEWARE if you are buying from them!!! I spent $44 and I can't believe what they have sent to me. feel cheated and disappointed. People don't expect lies from gardeners. Neutral magnaastra Charleston, IL (18 reviews) March 27, 2009 Ordered "Plum Lemon" tomato plants, and received "Yellow Plum" instead. Sent an e-mail to customer service, who replied that the varieties are "one and the same." These ARE two different varieties, and there ARE two different listings on Hirt's website, so something's wrong somewhere... Also: it won't be planting tomato planting time in my area for another five or six weeks, and I get these plants on March 27? On April 1st, 2009, magnaastra changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following: To be fair, the plants I received WERE healthy and well-packed. Just wish they were more clear about varieties. Negative knpeterson Waynesville, MO (4 reviews) March 27, 2009 AKA "Seed Mart". I purchase many seeds on Ebay from this company. I was attracted to the low shipping cost. These are the things I found wrong: *About half of the seeds I received were packaged to sell at places like Walmart with a price stamped on the package. I paid a WAY higher price than what was printed on the package. Several of the packages had permenant marker blacking out the price...guess they missed a few. I should have went to Walmart! *Usually when you order seeds a company throws in a few extra to account for any damaged seeds. Not this company, the seeds that are packaged by them have exactly the amount of seeds listed...which is fine if all of the seeds are good. Many of my seeds are damaged or broken. Also, not all of those packages have the correct amount of seeds. I was shorted on several. I guess they think people won't bother to count the really tiny seeds. I did and I don't appreciate being taken advantage of. *Last but not least...the germination rate is not even half!! I planted their tomato seeds on one half of a flat, and tomatoes seeds I bought from another supplier on the other half and all of the seeds sprouted from the other supplier and maybe half from Seed Mart! This is going to throw some kinks into my garden plans for the year. DO NOT BUY HERE!! YOU WILL WASTE YOUR MONEY AND BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY!! THEY HAVE A DECENT RATING ON EBAY ONLY BECAUSE THEY DEAL IN SUCH VOLUME THAT 200 NEGATIVE FEEDBACKS CANNOT REALLY AFFECT THEM MUCH. BEWARE!!!!! Negative LarryR South Amana, IA (Zone 5a) (2 reviews) March 09, 2009 I recently received an email from Hirt's, stating that I had purchased a packet of very expensive seeds (Meconopsis poppy). I had visited the Amazon.com site of this seller while doing some research on an article I was writing. At no time did I place an order nor did I supply my credit card number or my address. Interestingly, those two items ARE stored on the Amazon.com web site. I sent an email to Hirt's immediately, advising them of the error and asking that the bogus order be canceled. They responded the same day saying that my order had already shipped. At that point I did some research on this company. I was not surprised to find it has received negative reviews. Suspecting that I would get nowhere with Hirt's (they had advised in their email to contact them directly, not Amazon), I tried to contact Amazon.com via an email from the Amazon web site. An order number was required in order to send comments. The order number from Hirt's was not accepted ("please enter a valid order number"). I tried three times, just to be sure I was entering the number correctly. After much searching, I found a way to contact Amazon by phone. The person who answered was pleasant and cooperative. I reported my experience with Hirt's, and she immediately removed the charge from my credit card. I will not deal with Hirt's in the future. Negative frenchy87128 Muncie, IN (2 reviews) February 11, 2009 These guys couldnt grow weeds if they had to! I've bought seeds from them which when sprouted ended up being MISLABELED! There's a big difference between a temperate and tropical plant! I order a Nepenthes from these guy and when i got the package everything was frozen, one little heat pack was inserted and almost no packaging. The plant was literally thrown in a box and covered with peanuts! I got a Sarracenia at the same time ( mid - January) and it wasnt dormant! It was not a seedling or young plant but at least a 2 ft plant when I put it in a CORRECT environment. Needless to say I will NEVER buy from them again and I suggest you look elsewhere unless you want something incorrect! Positive kwhitney Los Alamos, NM (8 reviews) February 09, 2009 The passionflowers I ordered arrived in a beat up old box but were in great condition. One pure species, which had like four buds on it, one hybrid that wasn't even considering blooming at the time. HUGE plants, much bigger than I had expected. One (the species one) suffered from a little shipping shock, but it bounced back after a month or two of TLC. The other (the hybrid) started blooming like crazy after about two weeks. I think it's underpotted now b/c it grew like crazy too, so it's not as happy as it was. I'll have to ASAP if I want it to do any better. Good quality passionflowers, but that's about all the experience I have with Hirt's so I guess I don't have much more to say. I guess from all the negative reviews that this is a hit-or-miss company. Some things are good and some aren't. My experience has been all good though. Negative plantgnome Coram, NY (26 reviews) February 04, 2009 This is the last time I order from these people. None of the seed germinated-i mean none, bears breeches, peony, primrose etc. The jasmine plant i got was about 1 inch tall and is still 1 inch tall after 8 months, I should be lucky its not dead yet. I gave them one last try with irises, bare root may I add-(the site said pots. So I got bare roots in a pot :( ). I ordered them, the site says begins shipping in February, I figured shipping for the really hot zones would start in February-I am zone 6B-7, there is 6 inches of snow over frozen ground. The handwritten note in the package says plant immediately???????? Most nurseries send plants when it is safe (or possible) to plant (I need a jackhammer to plant anything right now. what type of nursery is this? Never again. On February 4th, 2009, plantgnome added the following: Oh-just to be fair-the amaryllis bulbs did bloom very nicely. So I guess bulbs are okay with this company. I give bulbs a positive and the rest, just read above. Positive Thornns Genoa, NY (3 reviews) October 08, 2008 so far - I'm completely impressed by their customer service person, Pam. Congenial, informative, honest...and very concerned that my order reach me properly! Thank you. On October 10th, 2008, Thornns added the following: and....my items arrived today with record-breaking speed, in good condition. Negative Rubicant Woodbridge, VA (1 review) September 16, 2008 Ordered Pansy Chalons from them, my first and last dealing with this company. Pansys are very easy to grow, this is the first time I ever received a generous quantity of pansy seeds from anywhere and saw all of them fail to germinate after 7 weeks. I used my traditional seed starting methods and 4 different pots with sterilized soil, good light, moisture and air, to no avail. Unfortunately this company covers themselves against refunds from the beginning, and I failed to notice that: http://marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/storefrontprofi... "Claims must be made within 15 days of shipment." Small loss, live and learn. But beware, they are on ebay as well as "seedmart" "bulbmart" and "hirtsgardens". They state this on their homepage. They have great ratings of course, because people get their shipment and leave feedback, if there's a problem with plants, it's usually too late to leave negative feedback on ebay. Positive phoutz Clear Lake, MN (1 review) August 30, 2008 I ordered a sugar and cream hoya plant online through Amazon and received my plant(s) three days later. Although I ordered only one plant, there were three individual plants in the pot. The plants where thriving and were well-packed with sufficiently adequate soil and moisture content. Negative tweetybird123 Patchogue, NY (1 review) August 19, 2008 After ordering 50 seedlings of New Mexican Anahiem Chili Plants...I recieved my delivery only a week late. The packing was OK for the most part as they use alot of tape to keep the soil from falling out. They were healthy and hearty. With that said, what was suppose to be Anahiems weren't them at all. All through the early summer months, we couldn't understand why they weren't growing. To make a long story short......THEY ARE TOBASCO CHILIS!. After being dissapointed and unable to eat or make salsas out of them (unless you want to numb your tongue) I called them 3 times and was put on HOLD. I sent 5 E-mails requesting an explanation or at very least some type of compensation. N O T H I N G!!!! I Heard N O T H I N G!!!!!!!!. Not only is it rude, but it is unprofessional. So, anyone who is willing or interested in ordering from them. ( I went through AMAZON). All I can say is BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!. Now they have my money and I have hundreds of chilis that will blow your socks off. Oh well, I learned a lesson about buying seedlings online. SHAME ON HIRTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!. PS....Does anyone wanna buy any Tobasco Chilis at a bargain???? ha ha! Negative mcollum83 Hay Springs, NE (6 reviews) July 31, 2008 At first everything was fine. I bought a hindu rope plant from the company. There was a lot of pink and green in the plant, and I was impressed. Though it did look like plugs were just carelessly thrown in the pot, the dirt was real loose, it was potted right before it was sent...but hey, everybody does their own thing. Then shortly thereafter my mother calls me and tells me to take a good look at the plant, because I had gotten her one too! And, it seems that my plant and hers as well, came with buddies! Mealy bugs everywhere! And yes, they came from these plants, this is my ONLY house plant, and it has never been outside (not that there are mealy bugs out there either). I understand that things like this happen, but I want the company to acknowledge it. I emailed the company, and over a month, and no response. So, I guess they just must not care about what their customers think! Heck, there are lots of other suckers out there that they can sell to! If you are prepared for bugs, and can isolate and treat immediately...then take your chances. But if not, then don't even think about buying from here. And I never suggest buying from somebody that you can not get in contact with...that just spells trouble. I would stay clear. Negative jleigh Ballston Lake, NY (Zone 5a) (3 reviews) July 06, 2008 Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me... This month marked the third order I have placed with this company. After the first two I was a bit reluctant, but the seeds I ordered are quite difficult to find elsewhere and were on sale. Shipping and Handling was close to five dollars for a $0.20 bubble mailer and not even $1 first class postage. The quantity of seed offered is not worth the price they are charging. (But once again, there aren't a lot of sellers offering some of the peppers and perennials I have ordered.) In some cases I have received commercial packets of seed from Hirt's, where the MSRP was quite a bit lower than what I paid. Not to mention the relatively low germination rate on some of the vegetable seed. I did receive my order in full and haven't had to contact customer service for any reason. However my second order was shipped nearly two weeks after they emailed me to tell me it was coming. When I finally got it I found that they had included a note asking for "POSITIVE seller feedback". An entire packet of irish moss seeds didn't even germinate, but I'm letting it go because it would be more of a nightmare to talk to a representative than it would be to buy the seeds elsewhere. All in all, I would only purchase seeds from this company if I couldn't find these seeds elsewhere. It may take longer to search for the items, but in the long run you'll have less of a headache. Positive lezurk Toledo, IL (8 reviews) June 24, 2008 Like the reviewer below, I was amazed when I got my two Viking Aronia plants in very good condition and with very quick delivery. I would risk maybe risk another order if I see this trend continuing. Maybe the bad reports are causing a change in business practices? We could hope so! Positive dave12122 East Haddam, CT (39 reviews) June 22, 2008 Either I was just lucky or lead a charmed life, but I had a GREAT experience with Hirt's. Package was shipped EXTREMELY fast, packing material was appropriate, and the plant, Meconopsis betonicifolia, seems healthy. I particularly liked the care sheet on Meconopsis, which was full of useful information. So, I would order again, based on this one experience. Negative njoh786 Cincinnati, OH (1 review) June 18, 2008 I ordered at least 25 tomato and pepper plants from Hirt's because my normal supplier was out for the season. When the shipping package arrived,the box hadn't been taped or packed properly.The bottom of the box was falling apart due to improper taping.The plants and styrofoam began falling out of the bottom of the box as soon as I accepted the delivery. Once I opened th box,I realized that there were hundreds of styrofoam peanuts lying on top of the plants that were all jumbled-up. The plants were all tangled up and in a mess.Once I got the plants out of the box,I soon discovered that one plant was broken,one plant was diseased,most were in poor condition and some were very wilted.I called and complained about the shipment and asked to speak to the owner.The person who answered the phone was the incompetent individual who packed the order in the first place. She was defensive about my complaint.I asked to speak to the owner and she took the message. One day later I hadn't heard from the owner,so I called them back. The same incompetent person answered the phone,got defensive again,but then put the owner on. The owner was defensive and argumentative. The owner tried to avoid the customer service issue and ultimately hung-up on me.Don't order anything from these people!!!

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