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On Apr 2, 2008, hopflower Santa Rosa, CA (Zone 9a) wrote:
Sorry, but no matter how wonderful their bulbs might be, I have not had nor will I have the chance to find out. I looked forward to some Gloriosa lilies, dahlias, and some other bulbs, but will not have time to plant them now and have them come up. It is April and my dahlias should have been planted here in CA at least a month ago. I will not order from people too lazy to to even say what their company hours are on the telephone, either. Instead, they tell you to check their website.
I am cancelling my order.
On April 3rd, 2008, hopflower added the following:
I finally got a reply from McClure & Zimmerman stating that I needed to check out their shipping times. I did this when I ordered and even called to find out my order number. Last month I finally recieved an order number and comfirmation through the mail. I had to call them after I sent my payment in to see that they got it as I had heard nothing. This morning I was told by email that the bulbs were shipped yesterday.
It seems that the company is rather late in getting pertinent mail out to people, which leaves us hanging. I did not know the status of my order or when it was being shipped, other than a vague period of three months, for months until I called. This is too late for my area; the nurseries are clear of bulbs now and have been for weeks. I have not had this problem with other companies at all. I am sure they have lovely bulbs, but I do not care for the service here and will not order again. Everyone else has shipped to me by now; and everyone else is back East as well.
Also, what if a person does not have a computer? Operating hours and shipping dates should be an option by telephone. I will plant the bulbs and hope they come up for next year's garden.On April 3rd, 2008, hopflower changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:
We are sorry you are dissatisfied with our services. Our phone number and hours are on page 3 of our catalog and under the customer service tab of the website.
Our shipping schedule information is located on the back of the order form and also under the customer service tab on the website. We can not ship bulbs or plant material when the temperatures are freezing, therefore our shipping can not start before mid-March, weather permitting. This year weather conditions in WI were extremely harsh, making shipping difficult.
If you would contact me with your name and zip code I will cancel your order, or call us at 1-800-883-6998 between the hours of 8:00 am to 4:30 pm CST or email us at info@mzbulb.com. Which ever is the most convenient for you."
I ordered a few bulbs from McClure and Zimmerman last year, since they had such a nice selection of fall blooming crocuses and some other things that are hard to find. Admit I was cautious and a bit skeptical, since I've had poor experiences with their sister company, Jung's, lately. But the bulbs were all VERY large (including some of the biggest daffodil bulbs I've seen in a long time) and healthy, and everything did quite nicely this spring. They even sent some nice little species tulips as an unexpected bonus. This company seems a little pricier than John Scheepers, which is my favorite bulb company, but a very good experience overall.
On May 13th, 2005, AS added the following:
The spring planted bulbs I ordered this year were respectable but less impressive than the fall bulbs from a couple of years ago. The rain lilies, in particular, varied from fat, healthy-looking bulbs (white) to very small bulbs (pink). I would have thought this was just a difference in the variety, except that I later bought mixed rain lilies from Home Depot that were *all* much larger than the pink variety from McClure and Zimmerman. On July 26th, 2007, AS added the following:
My continuing impression is that their fall-planted bulbs are always wonderful, but the spring-planted bulbs can be hit or miss. My mother raved about the tulip bulbs I sent her last fall - huge bulbs and spectacular flowers. Of the summer-bloomers I planted last year, most were fine but the Spring Valley eremerus ranged from miniscule to acceptable (all much, much smaller than the eremerus I've planted from John Scheepers or White Flower Farm, and rather rubbery and dry.) The smallest, most shrivelled roots failed to come up at all, and none bloomed this year, though they probably will next year (again, Scheepers' eremerus have always bloomed first year for me). Their customer service was very responsive, and replaced the ones that didn't come up. On March 26th, 2008, AS added the following:
Last year was NOT a good year for them. Besides the sorry little eremerus, I also had two duds of begonias. One was a good-sized tuber that grew nicely and eventually bloomed - but it was some sort of upright begonia with horrible, coarse-looking, bright orange-red blooms, not the Champagne begonia I'd ordered. They sent me a refund after I contacted them. (That was probably the one and old begonia I've actually thrown out, it was so ugly.) The other begonia was a tiny little bulb, and still hadn't bloomed by the end of the summer, so I have no idea whether it was the right plant or not.
On the other hand, the bulbs I bought from them last fall are coming up beautifully. The earliest bulbs are starting to bloom - so far, they're gorgeous and true to name.On April 4th, 2009, AS changed the rating from positive to neutral and added the following:
Fall 2007 bulb order was, for the first time ever, a mixed bag. Most of the bulbs were nice and bloomed well, but I had some real duds of tulips - bulbs were small to start with, and too many came up with only a single leaf, instead of a flower and a couple of healthy leaves. Also one rather expensive lily was pretty pathetic. I can't continue to rate them positive. (btw, typo in last update - "...one and ONLY begonia I've thrown out." )
