You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
On Oct 3, 2009, artworksmetal Timberville, VA wrote:
I received an order this week from both Michigan Bulb and Gurney's. It's interesting to note that these are actually the same company.
The bulbs look fine, and I'm convinced that there the safest thing to buy mail order.
The plants are wimpy. A beebalm had only one leaf on it, another looked moldy. They were all rootbound. A raspberry looked OK, nothing to brag about.
So I have my doubts about these plants taking before winter and coming back in the Spring.
In the future, if I buy from them at all, it will be just bulbs.
I've had mixed results in the past with this company. Recently, after a heatwave, I contacted them for replacements on plants I've had for a few years.
Their Customer Service department was prompt, courteous, and very helpful. Less than a week later the credit vouchers for the plants they no longer carry were in my hand, and the replacement orders are on my account.
My replacements will be here in the fall, and spring...........year-round shipping and bigger plants would be a nice change, but I'm relatively happy.
On Aug 21, 2009, Michigan Bulb responded with:
"On Aug 24, 2009 2:19 PM, Michigan Bulb responded with:
Thank you for your kind words; we greatly appreciate you taking the time to post this. We strive for 100% Customer Satisfaction.
I apologize for the inconvenience, but unfortunately plants can't be shipped all year round - they would never withstand the intense heat in the trucks in the summer, or the freezing temperatures in the winter. We also ship plants at the proper planting times. (Just thought I would let you know why we can't ship year round).
Please know we are always here to answer any questions you may have or assist in any way we can. We look forward to serving you in the future. Happy Gardening!"
I've ordered from this company off and on for years. Most of the time everything worked out okay but this year wasn't so great. I ordered asters, red mini hollyhocks, and a Josee lilac. Only the asters arrived: one is healthy, one is iffy, and the third looks dead. All were extremely root-bound. Nevertheless, I planted the three and time will tell if they live. Shipping on the hollyhocks were pushed back to the end of September. :-( The packing slip says that the Josee lilac is out of stock but they made no mention of a refund, so I had to email. Last year I ordered peach double hollyhocks. They grew but didn't flower. This year, nothing, not even leaves.
I've found this company to be hit or miss, so I never spend a lot of money with them, although I'd like to.
On Jun 18, 2009, Michigan Bulb responded with:
"On Jun 19, 2009 10:26 AM, Michigan Bulb responded with:
We do offer a lifetime guarantee on all our products so if you have any problems with your plants let us know and we will be happy to reship."
I have ordered from Michigan Bulb on and off for 20+ years and the quality of their plants have been hit and miss.
BUT, they do stand behind their guarantee. I have requested a reimbursement for plants that died years after I ordered them and Michigan Bulb has always sent me replacements, or given me a credit or returned my money. No questions asked.
My advice, if you order from them, keep a copy of the Invoice.
On Jun 17, 2009, Michigan Bulb responded with:
"On Aug 6, 2009 2:34 PM, Michigan Bulb responded with:
Please know that we can always look up an order if you do not have your invoice. Our company is based on 100% Customer Service - we strive to keep our Customers happy. Please let us know if we can ever be of assistance to you."
I'm another person who consulted this page after placing an order for the first time on June 4. I'll update when I'm able to evaluate shipping and plant quality.
I'm indoor gardening in Chicago, so these plants will go into pots whenever they arrive and won't freeze outside. Still, when I order online, I do want "instant gratification" - I wait for these things to get here. I've just noticed that one of the plants I added to my cart is listed in its description as shipping only in the fall, yet my order predicts it will be shipped out in a few days. This leads me to wonder whether the online order status page bears a meaningful relationship to my actual order. I'm hoping all goes well. If this site delivers as promised, it will have given me a very nice deal for some specimens I can't easily find at local garden stores.
This year is the first time I've ordered from Michigan Bulb Company - and although I've checked off neutral -- that neutral is bordering on a negative at this point. The projected delivery dates seem to be readjusting each day. On my order, out of about 8 items 3/4 of them now show the latest shipping date as being after their company shipping policy's last spring shipping date. More worrying is that by mid/late June, it's getting too hot to ship plants into the Mid-South. Willing to wait and see what happens..but I'm getting awfully suspicious that they can't deliver, and if they do ..what arrives will be burnt to a crisp, or cooked like spinach....
Nearly everything in my order from last May either died, didn't come up or grew and did not bloom. I had always relied on them for quality bulbs and usually got questionable results from other plants. However, they did replace all items in the order when I called them. (No 800- number). I ordered a few more items and really hope these replacements will do better.
On Mar 6, 2009, moradventurous Dallas, TX (Zone 8a) wrote:
I have ordered twice from Michigan bulb and had mixed feelings. I ordered two rose bushes, one grew and one did not. I ordered a variety of bulbs. Some grew (glads) and some (most) did not. I can't complain too much, because I've been issued a refund for the plants that did not grow, but next time I'll try somewhere else to avoid the inconvenience.
I placed an order with Michigan Bulb on 9/27/08 for :
LILY CHECKERED
FRITILLARIA DWARF PURPLE
FERNLEAF BLEEDING HEART
TULIP GREEN MYSTERY FAVORITE
ORANGE CANDLEFLOWER
SEDUM CREEPING RED
LILY TROUT
TULIP VARIEGATED FIRESPRAY
WINTER ACONITE
LILY LOLLIPOP
BLEEDING HEART COLLECTION
I ordered by phone because I wanted to make sure the things I was ordering were in stock. I was using some of them for a themed swap box. I was told that everything was in stock, and that they could put a rush on the order so I would receive them in time to ship my swap box out by the due date. By the end of the weekend, I noticed my order kept being pushed back further and further. I called and was told that everything would ship out within two days except the bleeding heart collection, which was on back order. I was fine with that, since the collection was for me and not part of my box. I received the order as promised and was very excited :) Then disappointed to find that the lollipop lily bulbs were NOT in the box. That was to be my "candy plant" for my swap partner. Called to notify them and the young woman was a little snarky, but said they would ship replacements out quickly. While we were on the phone, I noticed that the bare root fern leaf bleeding heart only had one in the package as opposed to the three it should have had, and that one was extremely dry and brittle. So that was added to my reship as well.
Hopefully I will receive the reship today or tomorrow. The Bleeding Heart collection keeps getting pushed back further and further.
All that said, aside from the fern leaf bleeding heart being very dry and brittle looking, everything else looked good. We'll see in the spring when I should see growth, so I'm reserving full judgment and leaving my rating as Neutral until I see what happens in the spring.
Really a shame that so many have had really bad problems with this company, I remember my Dad and I ordering from them when I was younger with no problems, and they usually added a bonus.
Although I have had some unfortunate experiences with plants not blooming, I was very pleased by the company's quick and gracious acknowledgment that replacements would be sent.
My luck has been better with their bulbs than with small perennials, such as daisies, balloon flowers and coneflowers--which might be because they ship them in the Fall and perhaps they are not ready to survive winter.
They might do a better job of indicating which bulbs are subject to squirrel and rodent attacks--not just tulip bulbs, but lily bulbs and some others did not produce, I hope because of animals rather than bulb defects.
I ordered a bunch of oriental lilies because the ones that I had ordered from Breck's in the fall didn't all come up and I was hoping to fill in some of the gaps. I also ordered a few hydrangea's and some toad lilies. Well, none of the lilies came up, and I thought that maybe they were just young bulbs, but I called them (because they have a guarantee) and asked. They gentleman told me that if they weren't up, they were probably dead and they are re-shipping them in the spring. They are also reshipping the toad lilies, as they didn't make it. I kind of thought that they might not live when I recieved them, they didn't look very well. I ordered 6 hydrangea's of a few varieties and only one did not make it. They were very small, so I wasn't really surprised to have one die. They are sending the toad lilies now, which has me a little puzzled because they just don't strike me as a plant that you would want to plant right before a northern Michigan winter, but I could be wrong...that's what the guarantee is for, I suppose. I guess you could say that I am not really ecstatic about the product that I have received to date, but they have been really nice about sending out replacements! Hopefully next year I will have a ton of lilies :)
Well, I bought about 25$ from Michigan Bulb and I have mixed feelings. My gladiolus are outstanding but many of the other things didn't even come up. The prices are alright but once you add on the shipping your not getting that great of a deal. I wouldn't reccomend ordering from them. Blooming Bulb seems like a good replacement. I was verrrry happy about there Iris.
Ordered dragonflower, liriope, hydrangea, veronica, tall phlox & caryopteris August 8, 2007. Invoice date is September 28. Plants arrived end of September & set in prepared garden bed to overwinter. Only things that came up this Spring were dragonflower & veronica. No sign of caryopteris, liriope, hydrangea, or phlox. Prices aren't cheap when the plants die. The liriope & hydrangea were replacement plants for previous order that were DOA. Giving a neutral rating because MB appears to be responsive to customer concerns, stands behind guarantee & does replace the plants. However, it's aggravating to spend time & effort planting & expecting things to grow, then having to pull dead twigs from the ground six months later. Much better quality plants, outstanding customer service & faster shipping from Bluestone Perennials. Will not order from Michigan Bulb again.
On May 15, 2008, Melissa_D Pittsburgh, PA (Zone 6a) wrote:
I ordered three toad lilies, that were supposed to come in pots. The plants shipped in good time, but when they arrived, there was a note in the box saying they ran out of potted plants, so they sent me three bare roots instead. I was skeptical, b/c one of the roots was so small I almost couldn't find it. But it's now been about a month since I planted them, and all three roots have sprouted into happy little plants. Considering I only paid $7.99 for the them, I'm satisfied.
I have ordered from Michigan Bulb and hope i have finally learned my lesson. "you get what you pay for". On a positive note they are responsive and will resend or refund plants that die. Unfortunately, that is most of the plants they send. They also replace plants that are out of stock with whatever they choose. They send plants WAY too early for my zone. I complained about it this year as I got my plants the beginning of April and I can't safely plant them till the end of April or even mid May. The customer service person said they would resend them at the end of April but i received another e-mail that said that I should try to nurse them along till I could plant them outside. I don't THINK so.
On June 26th, 2008, maureen1952 changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:
The people from this company read my review and have been very responsive and accomadating. They have changed the delivery date at my request and will resend all the plants that died. So I'll see next Spring what happens.
On Mar 28, 2008, childofthecorn Shelbyville, IN wrote:
-They have sent me the wrong tulip bulbs before, and they were ugly and nothing like I had ordered.
-They replaced all of those tulip bulbs, but not all have come up.
-Fish emulsion seemed to work the best on my tulip bulbs in the fall. They are thriving this year... or at least what has come up is.
-Ordered "mixed" crocus and only their yellow ones have bloomed.
(which I will be writing them about after my tulips bloom)
-Their customer service people can really tick you off, but they are just following their company policy to protect their job. For those who complain about using the $20 coupon... read the terms and conditions found right on the coupon. It states that the ORDER must be of a certain value. Shipping is not part of an order....
-But overall, they have always replaced bad bulbs for me... I just don't know if they replaced them with the right ones yet. *sigh*
-Sometimes it seems like it takes forever to receive an order. This is because they only ship them at the appropriate time for planting in your zone. If I order tulips in January, I won't receive them till fall because that's when it's best for bulbs to be planted where I live.
-I would not recommend this company to someone who wants to just throw some plants in the ground and walk away. Their plants love lots of fertilization after planting and throughout the first year.
-However, if they hadn't replaced the incorrect order of over 100 bulbs that they had sent, this would be a negative, not neutral.
I think Michigan Bulb is for 2nd or 3rd year gardeners who can baby very small plants and ensure they make it though the first year. If you are a seasoned gardener and have the time, I think it is a great place to get inexpensive plants.
I find the plants come dormant but well packaged. I always give them a good soaking and I plant them in a bed rich in organic material and compost. They always make it.
Years ago, I just stuck them in the ground and they were slow to grow and 50/50 on long-term survival.
The few times I have called they were always prompt and polite.
One last thing, I would not pay retail. They always have coupons just look for them.
On Feb 16, 2008, floridagardner7 New Port Richey, FL wrote:
OMG! I am so nervous now... I placed an order with MB about 3 weeks ago and is due to ship mid Feb to the end of Feb. As I live in Fla. you would think that there are so many things to choose from for the garden. Well, I have in the front of my home the main garden area in complete shade. I spent 2 months researching a evergreen shrub that can handle that. And as there are so scarce available low growing evergreens that can handle complete shade, I was happy when I came accross the pachysandra and thought I got it! Well after reading all the info on the negative experiences fellow gardeners have had with MB, I am afraid of what I receive. I have been desperate to find the right plants to put in, as it is the front of my home and live in a very nice community where everyone has their manicured landscapes and I have been having such a hard time with this area, I have changed this bed around 3 times in the past 10 years and I have just about given up and if you knew me that is normally never in my vocabulary as far as gardening goes. So I truely hope that MB doesn't disappoint me as I have read from so many other DG members here. I guess I'll find out soon enough.
I placed an order with MB before I learned about this website. After reading the bad reviews, I had second thoughts and wished to cancel my order. I sent them an email stating that I'd like to cancel, which is what their website says to do. I got an automated reply saying someone would respond within 48 hours. No response. I sent another one, and still have gotten NO response. Absolutely ridiculous. I am having my husband call and deal with them tomorrow.
On January 29th, 2008, Maryweather1 changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:
I did finally get my order cancelled with them- after I posted this.
On Jan 6, 2008, rancherhicks East Syracuse, NY wrote:
I'm not quite sure what can be expected when prices are so cheap. I ordered an hydrangea years ago and it did ok but needed protection in Z-5. I don't order plants I can start by seed, ex. hollyhocks, foxgloves. These are easy to start from seed. As for bulbs, you can't expect top quality for the cheap prices this company sells for. If you must order, order as early in the season as possible, this goes for any company. You have to use wisdom. Finally if more people go to the BBB or the Atty Gen. in their state this may help.
I just tried calling Michigan Bulb, but both the phone order and customer service numbers are apparently disconnected. Does anyone know what's going on?
On Oct 15, 2007, misspurse Graham, WA (Zone 8a) wrote:
I have to say I'm afraid to see what gets delivered? OMG Because I ordered about 2 weeks ago before reading the scary reviews! Does anyone know the time frame for shipping?
On Aug 31, 2007, mariaerosselle College Park, MD wrote:
Last year I decided to get into gardening and I went to Michigan Bulb because my husband got a $20 off of $40 or more. Here is what I purchased 3 Purple Stella Daylily, 24 Grape Hyacinth, 5 Quail Daffodils, 12 Anemone Windflowers, Rainbow Tulip Collection - 40 bulbs, and Red Storm Border Lilies 7 bulbs.
Out of that, I got not one bit of growth out of the daylilies or the lilies. My Tulips grew but were stunted there stems were too short and the leaves were misshapen. I saw a few grape hyacinths no quails, and maybe 1 or 2 of the Anemone.
This year I decided I'm going to get bulbs from three different places to see which grow the best and whom is the best to order from (Michigan Bulb, DirectGardening.com, and Home Depot. I also contacted Michigan Bulb about last years order and they replaced three of the things immediately, but could not replace the anemone, the quail daffodils, and there is no word on the grape hyacinths. Either way after this season I will know for sure if it was my fault (poor drainage, insects, or something). But the garden has been here longer than me and my husband says it was here before him and for the past 9 years everything was blooming perfectly (except for the hybrid tea roses). So, for now neutral but time will tell.
I ordered some hanging fushia plants that are doing very well and are growing quite nicely, however I ordered some gladiolus bulbs that were extremely subpar. The bulbs were incredibly small, they were about the size of the tip of my pinky finger, and there were a large amount of rotton bulbs.
I expected more from this company that had sold me such beautiful hanging fushia's. I will use MB for some things but not for ANY bulbs.
I have never bought any plants from this MB. But I was going to place an order from them. Now that i have seen this site, i am wondering if any one bought their Flowering Maple which is "Buy one get another free" sale and if yes, what is your experience?
On Apr 13, 2007, Raggedyann Lawrenceville, GA (Zone 7b) wrote:
I have asked them for replacements of some plants that I ordered in 3/05. The hydrangeas that I ordered were supposed to be tri-color. I have never heard of one shrub with more than one color bloom. These never got taller than about 5 inches and only had 2 or 3 leaves. I fertilized them and don't expect them to ever do anything.
Another plant was the fern leaf bleeding heart. When they came up in the past, they looked like miniatures and only got about 3 inches tall. Last year only one came up (I had 3). I have had more luck with plants that I grew from seed!
The lady ferns from this same order have really done well also the hardy lillies and bittersweet.
I am hoping for some kind of replacement and think from now on I will deal with local growers and nurseries.
I read all the negative posts about michigan bulb before making my purchases, but did so anyway with the thought that the price was so low - well what could it hurt.
After the coupon- i ended up paying about .50 cents each plant.
My plants took a very long time to arrive- 12 days from the time they were shipped - although most arrived in ok condition- my order was delivered in early april where it was'nt to hot - but i would see this as a problem if it were mid-summer. I called mb and asked wondering where the plants were and they said their standard shipping is 10-14 days !! Imagine your seedlings trapt in shipping for that long on 90 degree days.
i think alot of the reason these mail order growers get a bad rep is because people are expecting to receive plants like they would buy at the local nursery. Maybe they should make people more aware of what they are buying.
I got what i expected. And overall for the price - it was worth it from what i see- thats the msin reason they still get a positive from me.
alot of the plants are just a little small, but most of the plants have decent root systems and great potential to flourish over the summer.
If it helps anyone with a future purchase- i will give a run down of my order and opinion: keep in mind im taking price into big consideration. And dont buy from them without a big coupon savings!!
-6 carnations- great roots, good size and lots of green.A+
-4 butterfly bushes-great condition,great roots ,kinda small.still A.
-6 sweet william-No green- could barely find the roots!.but these plants are usually easy growers so they may surprise me. not a recommendation.
-6 everbearing strawberries- No green at all, but good roots, may loose a couple but they have potential. dont bother walmart has better.
-6 scarlet bee balm & 6 dwarf columbine-small plants,both are small root systems but starting to sprout already. worth the money.
-a few bulbs that were not of great size but worth what i paid. they should produce .
I will have to post in a couple of months to either rave or complain. I would hope a few other buyers will to!
This web-site is a great help.
On July 21st, 2007, mbhoakct76 added the following:
its now mid july and surprisingly most of the plants are in great shape and to a great size about that of what would be bought at a nursury. i did loose a few and mb did replace them- but it took them about month to ship. there shipping is terrble and i noticed ya never know what your gonna get - some large- some small, but still worth the money.On April 29th, 2008, mbhoakct76 changed the rating from positive to neutral and added the following:
Another update- i received another order- and again some are in great shape while others are just sticks (very depressing to look at) ...but i will keep in mind they are dormant. On the other hand almost everything i planted from them last year has already returned and is doing good. but not 1 strawberry came back..while ALL of my local strawberrys are healthy.
I ordered 3 Royal Paulownia Tree a few years ago, 2 died and 1 lived and it is about 20 feet high now and beautiful, so I just ordered one more and about 42.00 dollars worth of plants again, if most of my order dies like the last time, I'm asking for a refund this time, last time I didn't get one due to my own fault. I will keep you posted.
On Mar 26, 2007, chef_tish Alexander, AR (Zone 7b) wrote:
This is the first time I ordered from MBC. I ordered two collections, some strawberries, and a blueberry plant on Feb. 19th. The first collection (everlasting garden) arrived in the mail just short of 3 weeks after I placed the order. Some of the very tender bare root flowers looked very dry. I'd say about 4 out 6 of the painted daisies, sweet williams, carnations and hollyhocks made it. The rest seem to be holding their own - not a lot of new growth, but still green. All of the bulbs are now showing healthy growth.The second part of my order came today (3/26). All but the blueberry plant came. All of the plants in the package today look very well taken care of. They are obviously dormant, but still with great root systems. The only comment I have is I received several substitutions for my second garden (butterfly and hummingbird garden). However, I will say that since they substituted items - they seemed to overcompensate for the lack of my original items. Also, the estimated ship date keeps changing. It's not a true indicator of when your items will actually ship. I wish they would change their shipping method, too. The days between my email shipping confirmation and actually arriving at my door was at least six. Very hard on plants. I know they don't charge a lot for shipping, but I for one would pay a little extra to get the plants sooner. Still waiting for my blueberry plant ... hope it arrives before it's too late to plant.
I have ordered from Michigan Bulb Co. before, a few years ago. About half of the plants and bulbs were in good condition and grew great. The other half were dead or rotted upon delivery. I called MBC and they promptly replaced the plants and bulbs.
I have a friend who ordered the Royal Paulownia Tree from MBC, twice. The first one grew great, but never bloomed, he called about the problem and they informed him that to bloom the tree needs to grow with only one trunk. The first one has multiple trunks. The second tree ordered about 2 years ago is now about 12-15 feet high and expected to bloom this year.
I will be ordering 2 of the Royal Paulownia Trees this spring, plus other plants as well.
With the customer service I and friends have had w/MBC I will recommend others purchase from them.
On Dec 29, 2006, JenniferLuther Grove City, PA (Zone 5b) wrote:
Have not received anything from this company except refund check. Ordered Black Magic Elephant Ears this past spring. When nothing arrived by July called customer service. The woman said, she has wanted those for years, they've never had those. Yet they were still listed on website for sale and as one of their top 10 sellers? Go figure?
On Sep 18, 2006, talee Rochester, NY (Zone 5b) wrote:
I ordered from this company because of an online discount offer before I saw all the negative comments on this website. I am waiting for my order to be shipped this fall and hope that I will have a positive experience. So far the shipping dates have been changed several times.
I received a catalogue from Michigan Bulb today and looked it over b/c of all the negative comments here. I am surprised. They used to be very cheap & you didn't expect much but I see that their Oriental Lily Super Bag is 19.99 for 12 and they are only 10-12 cm bulbs. You can buy almost as cheaply from Van Engelen which has an excellent reputation and get much larger bulbs (16-18 cm).
On Jul 11, 2006, UziMike Reynoldsburg, OH (Zone 6a) wrote:
I ordered the mailbox garden from MB this year. To their credit, the Clematis came looking well as did the three lavender plants. Everything else was dead really in a plastic bag. Still I gave it a go and two of the three lavender plants are growing and the clematis is doing pretty well. Everything else is just dead and adding to the integrity of the soil, I suppose. So I called them today and was offered replacement or refund. I just went for the refund. I will be happy with the clematis and the two lavender plants. I live in Ohio and my plants were shipped from Ohio to me. No reason in the world they should have showed up dead – and I understand the diff. between dormant and dead. These were pretty much DOA.
And scratch goes Michigan Bulb off my list of mail order companies, I think. We will see if getting the refund is a hassle. If it is, this neutral rating will go right to a negative.
This spring I ordered 4 forty niner tea rose bushes, around 49 snow in summer ground cover plants, hardy fuschia and many different gladiola and lilies. In addition, I also ordered 2 Japanese Green Maple Trees, some lily of the valley and columbine plants. My frustration comes from the poor shipping. It seems it takes so long for the orders to arrive that the plant looks terrible by the time it's here. The first set of rose bushes they sent died, I did everything to try and revive them but nothing worked. They promptly replaced them but now that they have just now started to bloom, they are the wrong rose bush which frustrates me beyond belief. Upon their arrival, they were horribly dry and I wasn't sure they had much of a chance. I'm grateful they have bloomed but feel they should have checked the order more carefully to ensure I received the correct item. I called to let the sales rep know and they said to call back around the rose shipping time to have them replaced. I have a general issue when ordering bulbs especially that are "Mixed." When I see the word mixed I expect to get mixed colored bulbs. Out of all my lilies I believe out of the ones that bloomed this year they were all white except one real pale yellow one. When I garden, I match up my flower choices based on what I believe to be coming to me which this year doesn't seem to be the case. I specifically ordered some white plants(dragonflower) because I wanted to break up all the color I thought I was getting, now to my frustration, most of my bulb colored flowers are white. I know that Michigan Bulb will replace the items but to be honest it's a lot of hastle. In addition I received my hardy fuschia, I babied this thing to make sure it wouldn't die like the first one and it just didn't grow, it died within a few weeks....I don't understand. My snow in summer ground cover is equally as frustrating as my rose bush experience. I planted around 45 +of these plants which is tedious planting because they are so small and knotted like when they arrive. Now that they are planted, they haven't grown much and they are supposed to be what they call a moderate to fast grower. In addition, we are hot and humid here in Texas and they just don't want to grow. I've lost over 5 or more of these plants and just seem to keep losing more. The other frustrating thing to me is their Customer Service. From time to time they don't put enough information about their plants on their website, so to ensure I am getting the best possible plant for my area, some times I need to call and find out. Well this early spring we were going to get hit with a bad frost, I wasn't sure how the plants would survive so I asked the customer service rep - they didn't know any additional information than what I found online. They sent my inquiry to their local gardener who didn't respond well after the frost had happened. While my plants are doing ok, you'd think they'd have faster responses. Some times I've called and the agent doesn't know anything. When I asked for replacement roses the agent who apparently put the order through had done it incorrectly and another agent had to fix it when I called back. That agent is the one who sent the wrong rose bushes to me. I feel that their whole thought process is it's ok if we don't send the right thing or the plants look like crap when they get there. If the customer isn't satisfied they can always call us and we can send them another plant since they guarantee all the plants. I have to be honest, the only reason I keep going back for a beating some times is because their prices are pretty good, they guarantee their product so if at any time I'm not completely satisfied, they will go ahead and reship another item or provide a refund or credit. Other than that, if Breck's wasn't so much more pricey, I'd probably shop from them.
On Jun 17, 2006, CT_Gardener West Haven, CT wrote:
Last year, I ordered several climbing roses. They arrived bareroot and took awhile to establish themselves, but are doing very well. They all have buds right now.
This year, I ordered some Moerheim Helinium and Black Eyed Susans. This is where my disappointment begins!
They sent me five bare root astilbe with a note saying they were out of the Helinium and that the astilbe was a reasonable replacement.
To me, these two plants look nothing alike. I simply accepted that this happened and planted the astilbe. Although I ammended the soil and watered them in well, only two of the astilbe are growing.
Yesterday, they called and left a message that they are out of black eyed susans.
If you REALLY want a particular plant, son't count on this company.
I ordered astillbe, coneflowers, tuberose, and fringed daisies late April. The coneflowers still have not arrived; what did come, though, was very dry and very small (the astillbe has been in the ground for a month now and is still difficult to find) - I don't think these plants are going to be large enough or healthy enough to come back next year. I know you get what you pay for, and I should have known better. Wish I'd known about this service before I ordered.
On Jun 15, 2006, ignote Saint Cloud, MN (Zone 4a) wrote:
I placed an order with Michigan Bulb about a month ago. The ship dates on my "online status" kept changing, and the majority of my order arrived much later than the regional ship chart suggested. (End of May.) When I contacted them with my concerns, the customer service was brief and offered no explanation, and only noted that they were preparing my order for shipping. Some of the plants still have not arrived, and are scheduled to arrive at the end of June!
A note regarding the items I have recieved - the bare roots arrived in good condition, however the plants did not. They send out three-packs of 3" plants, and most of the "growth" was yellow, or even black by the time it got to me. One plant was dead and rotted and soggy, and had fallen completely out of its container. I am hoping that the other plants will perk up a bit, once they are exposed to sun, air and water. I wouldn't recommend ordering the plants, but you might have a chance with bare roots.
I will choose another retailer next time. Even with a big sale, I don't think it's worth the risk.
I have placed several orders from this company. Most of the items I rec'd in fine condition, but several arrived dead or nearly dead, and some bulbs that did not come up. I contacted the company, rec'd an email confirming my concerns, but no action was taken to refund my money, give me a credit, or reship. It has been several weeks. Since the first problem, I have had several other plants arrive in poor or dead condition. I have sent a request for action on the part of these plants and await their reply.
