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On Oct 26, 2009, alhambrasam Port Saint Lucie, FL wrote:
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 !!!!
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 .
On Oct 22, 2009, femluc Elizabethton, TN (Zone 6b) wrote:
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.
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.
On Jun 26, 2009, flowerehj Saint Cloud, FL (Zone 9b) wrote:
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! :)
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.
On Jun 17, 2009, breezynosacek1 Kenbridge, VA wrote:
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!
On Jun 5, 2009, haworthialover Nevada, MO (Zone 5b) wrote:
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!
On May 10, 2009, Tinuviel98 Winston Salem, NC (Zone 7a) wrote:
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.
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 .... =)
This company sent me canna lilies that I had ordered, they took a little while to bloom but I had bought them in bulk and had a 75% success rate with them. I would rate them pretty high though, not as high as Easy to Grow, where I was really 100% pleased with their service and the fact that everything they sent bloomed beautifully. Still, 75% isn't bad right?
joy112854
Because this is a discount gardening center, I didn't expect much. I ordered 5 Hansen's Bush Cherries, and a fig tree. I was nervous that there was no moisture wrapping around the roots, but all of the cherry bushes are alive and were well-rooted, some of them had several 2-3 ft. branches as well. I'm not sure whether or not the fig tree is alive. It was only about a foot tall, and few roots. I dipped it in rooting hormone and will water it along with the cherry bushes and see what happens. I have kept the original shipping label should anything need to be replaced. In addition, I got my "free gifts," the flowering shamrock and exotica bulbs. My main complaint is that they taped the plant labels so tight around the branches that I couldn't remove some of them without damaging the branches. What can I say, great prices and if these plants actually grow, I will be quite pleased, despite all of the other negative reviews.
On Jun 17, 2008, kurtsgarden Minneapolis, MN wrote:
The prices of plants on this site are unbelievably low. I ordered 250 privet shrubs and shipped to me for about $185. Suprisingly the plants that I got were much larger than anticipated averaging over 2 ft tall. They were shipped bareroot and upon reciept I soaked them for 24 hrs in water before planting. Again, at a quantity that large I expected numerous dead plants, but instead was suprised with very quick budding growing plants. After only 5 days I am seeing visible growth on 99% of the plants. Not only did the quality and price suprise me on how great a deal this was, but the speed at which they were shipped and recieved. The site said it would take about 2 weeks to process and then mailed out, but I placed my order and recieved them in 9 days. I will be definately ordering from them again.
Here was what I ordered (about $150 total) in mid March and received all in time in April and planted within 2 days of receipt -
12 Indian Currant Coralberry - (Bare root) - Seems dead so far, I'm going to ask for replacements
8 Dwarf Burning Bush - Very small (less than 6 inches) but healthy and came packed with soil around it.
8 Forsythia - (Bare root) - Mostly healthy and most of them are greening up.
6 Pink Honeysuckle - (Bare root) - So far looks like its coming to life.
3 Variegated Weigela - (Bare root) - No greening yet but probably will pull through.
2 Mountain Laurel - Probably the best, came very well packed in a small pot.
6 Hardy Boxwood - DO NOT WASTE money on this, I received plants about 1-2 inches long with soil around them.
2 Royal Purple Smoke tree - (Bare root) - No greening yet.
10 Red Twig Dogwood - (Bare root) - Disappointing in size (thickness of stem is probably 1/6 of an inch) or less, no greening yet but probably will pull through mostly.
4 Pink Weigela - (Bare root) - No greening yet.
2 Pussy willow - (Bare root) - Looks like this will pull through.
2 Forsythia tree - (Bare root) - Greening already
2 Hydrangea tree - (Bare root) - Received one tree and 3 bushes. No greening yet.
2 Pink Mist Smoke tree - (Bare root) - No greening yet but looks like it will pull through.
4 Willow shrub dappled - (Bare root) - 2 of them growing nicely already, other 2 are yet to show growth.
2 Arkansas Amsonia - (Bare root) - Received it today and it looks like its dormant.
All in all based on other reviews here, I received better (plants that are surviving) plants. Mountain Laurel has been delivered in fabulous state which somebody also has mentioned before.
The plants are small but I'm fine with that since my intentions are for long term anyway, so I was specifically looking to spend less and get more. I have about 2500 sq ft of hill in my backyard where I already have about 15 trees and all of the above are for filling bare areas.
Well, I am one of those who've had a very positive experience with Direct Gardening. To be honest, I'm having a better experience with Direct Gardening than I did with Four Seasons Nursery.
You can read my review for FSN if you're interested, I'm not going over it here, because this is to comment on Direct Gardening.
Anyway, I know (knew) that DG doesn't have the best reputation around these parts, but since I had decent luck with FSN last year I was going to order from FSN again this year, but when I got their catalog they didn't have half of what I wanted listed. I even checked their website - alas they didn't have them there either - so I decided to place my order with FSNs parent company Direct Gardening who's website did have everything I wanted listed, and ordering everything from DG saved me on shipping. If not for DG I would have had to order from at least three different companies to get everything I wanted and would have had to pay multiple shipping costs. ;)
Anyway, I placed my order in early Feb and since not all of the order was plants it was divided into separate shipments - three to be exact. The first was for peat pots and those arrived before the end of the month. The second shipment (March 15, 2008) involved shrubs, bulbs, and four live plants.
On a side note, I'm sure I saw on their website that they didn't begin shipping live plants until April. Not that I'm complaining, not really, but three of those are starting to look very bad - I may have to test DGs replacement policy on these, though I haven't given up on them yet, because while they aren't looking healthy, they ain't dead yet.
(After they started looking less than healthy I decided to put Miracle Gro dirt and feed to the test. I'm not sure, like I say they aren't dead, but they don't seem to be recovering either - they may even be a bit worse.)
To be honest, I'm a bit stunned, because these looked best of everything when I got them. They were alive, moist, and in great condition. And for the life of me I don't know what has gone wrong here. I treated them exactly the same as I did the ones of the same that I got FSN last year (better in fact, because the three from FSN stayed in the green bag for several days - I removed the ones from DG right away), and while the ones I got from FSN were a bit slow to take off they never looked as bad as the ones from DG are looking at the moment, which is interesting because upon arrival the ones from DG looked better than the ones last year from FSN. So go figure.
The other live plant was a Houttuynia, which also arrived alive and moist. There were a few broken stems (not a big deal) but the plant itself was a bit wilted, and the pot it was shipped in was very very small. It seems to me that this plant would have benefited from being in a slightly larger container, because despite the small pot size at some point it is clear this thing was growing like a weed because one of the stems (not one of the broken ones) was actually growing outside the "pot" though a drainage hole.
Anyway, I left it in the small pot for several days (which was a mistake, but), because I thought it might be suffering from ship shock. I finally decided to put it in a bigger pot, and now it is healthy again and growing like a weed. The downside is - the roots stink very badly, and mine doesn't have any pink on the leaves (it was pictured with green and pink leaves) at the moment all the leaves are two-tone green with maybe just a touch of a pink outlining some of the leaves. It's not ugly, just not what I was expecting. Maybe they'll turn pink(ish) later. Who knows? I'm just happy it is healthy.
The five Red Twig Dogwood arrived bare root, obviously. But except for one runt they appeared very healthy and they were very well packed, actually even the runt looked okay. The roots were nice and damp.
Of course, the problem was that I wasn't sure what to do with them, because I usually wait until the last of April to plant anything, because we can have frosts and even freezes in April, and sure enough it appears that it is going to turn off cold again this week - there will probably be at least one night (if not more) of frost.
Anyway, a week after they arrived I decided to plant them - I knew if I waited they would end up dead. So, three of them ended up in pots because in those cases I didn't have the garden ready. Funny enough two of the three potted are starting to bloom already while the two in the ground don't look any better (or worse) than the day they arrived. Weird, because I was actually more worried about the ones that I was putting in pots. Still, as mentioned, I am a bit worried because now it is looking like it might frost, so I can only hope the ones already budding will survive it.
As for the bulbs - two I ordered the rest were freebies, and I think at least two (eight bulbs) of the freebies won't do very well in Zone 6, because from what I've been able to tell with my google-foo they are tropical plants, but hey they were free, and I have had some tropical plants do pretty well here, just have to remember to bring them in for the winter.
Anyway, it may be sheer luck that those arrived in great (good) looking shape. Granted they were in separate plastic bags inside a larger plastic bag inside the large moist green bag, so being in separate bags probably helped. ;) Still I admit when I saw how moist everything was I feared that the bulbs would be wet, dead, and useless. To my surprise when I unpacked them I discovered all of them (except the ones I ordered strangely enough - I've fixed them up, and hope to plant them soon) were dry, firm, and seemingly in great shape, even four that had spilled out into the slightly larger plastic bag (not the green one) were dry and firm, despite the fact that there was a bit of moisture in that slightly larger clear bag.
Some of those freebie bulbs are small, but for all I know they aren't supposed to be large, because the two I actually ordered are the size they're supposed to be. But hey even if they're supposed to be larger I can't complain cause the small bulbs were the freebies.
Finally, last week I got the rest of my order, and I was surprised. There were two items, one was a 3-in-1 Citrus Tree... It wasn't exactly large, but was a bit larger than I was expecting. There were (of course) a couple broken twigs - the box should have been marked with which side was supposed to be up, because I opened it upside down, and there's no telling how many times it ended up upside down during shipping. However, the dirt had stayed in the pot (both of them), and DG had even braced the stems with a plastic stick, which no doubt kept it from being even more damaged.
(Don't know how it will continue to do, but right now it looks healthy and happy.)
The big surprise (for me) was the Black Magic plant - I was expecting a bulb, and so I admit I was a bit confused about why it didn't come in the second shipment. Well, now I know, they shipped a live plant, which was a nice surprise. It arrived with two good leaves (one completely black, one green with some black), and one dying black leaf. Honestly, I don't believe the leaf was damaged in shipping, I think it was just naturally dying. Of course, it was in a very small pot - the smallest pot I've ever seen a company ship in to be honest, but that doesn't seem to have hurt it. Because I've had it less than a week (repotted it the same day I received it) and in that short time a new leaf has come in. Of course, the leaf come in green, but I'm starting to suspect they come in green and then turn black later.
So right now I'm pleased with DG, even if I do have to end up getting replacements for the Festuca Grass, and three of the RedTwig Dogwood - the ones that haven't yet broken dormancy, they still could, so I'm playing a wait and see game for the near future. And, obviously, while the two I just received seem good at the moment I have seen seemingly great looking plants just up and die - hopefully that won't happen but you can never be sure.
I ordered six angel trumpets a couple of months ago. When they arrived they were in great shape. They were carefully packaged. All six were green. This is the first time I've ordered from this company. I was very aprehensive due to the negative feedback I've read on this site. However, my experience has been nothing but positive. I have repotted all six plants, they are under grow lights and doing very well. I am very pleased with this company and am placing my second order.
Last year I was looking to buy a dwarf lemon tree. Every place was so expensive until I found the Direct Gardening website. For less than it would have cost just to get the lemon tree at other nurseries, I got their 4 citrus collection. It came with Orange, Lime, Lemon &Tangerine trees!! I potted them and put them all out on our deck. Unfortunately I lost one tree due to my negligence but the others are thriving. Now in less than a year I have small fruits setting on already! The clematis I also ordered did very well with an abundance of blooms.
Their prices are unbeatable!
I have used direct gardening for the last three years and had good results each time. I just received my third order and was very happy with the looks of everything. The hemlock trees were green and healthy, but small, Everything else was much larger than they have ever sent before. I order a lot from mail order companies, and as long as my experiences are good, will continue to order from direct gardening. Granted the plants are not as large or as rare as from the nurseries in DG' s top thirty, but mine have quickly caught up.
I mailed in an order for 3 varieties of black raspberry plants on March 2nd. I sent an email to their customer service on the 13th, asking if they had recieved my check and when to expect the plants..
They said "We are not yet showing an order placed under the name and address provided. If you did just mail the order on March 2 we have not yet had enough time to receive and process the order. Please allow a little more time for this to occur."
I'm not sure whether this company is just not geared towards checks, or if the order was lost in the mail, or something else.
I asked for shipment ASAP, as roses and brambles are already leafing out here. I'll update when I learn more. They should have received my order/payment in 3-4 days...but who knows??? This could become a problem or it may not be a big deal...wish me luck!
On March 25th, 2008, dekalb06 added the following:
Three weeks now-
"We do not show an order on file, under the name and address provided. We would like to request some additional information, which could help us in locating your order... "
They want me to call my bank to see if they've cashed my check yet. It's looking like mail-in orders are not handled very effeciently by this operation. On April 9th, 2008, dekalb06 added the following:
They finally found my order. March 26- "We do show that this order has just entered into processing, which can take 1-2 weeks to complete. Once it has completed processing, it will be scheduled for shipping based on plant availability and order date."
Now it's been another two weeks- still no order number or estimated ship date. On April 14th, 2008, dekalb06 changed the rating from neutral to positive and added the following:
My order arrived today, all alive and all but two plants have good root systems. They were packed a bit oddly- two varieties were sealed in plastic bags, and the plants of the third variety were loose in the big plastic bag that they were all shipped in. No moistening material used at all.
I guess that mold would be a problem if shipping took very long, or the weather was hot, but these seem to be fine.
I have been buying plants and trees from Direct Gardening for several years after finding out about them from Burgess and am very happy with my purchases. (I now know they are affiliates.)
I have ordered plants from many different companies whose products were more expensive and the shipments did not look better than those I received from Direct Gardening. I had a problem with one of my Direct Gardening purchases and the customer service person I spoke to was very nice and the replacements sent were in good condition and in a timely manner for my location. After getting burned by a more known company I won't mention, for much more money, I am a satisfied customer of Direct Gardening and will continue to purchase from them in the future. I even intend to place another order next month because my experiences have been good for several years (10 orders) and most of the stuff growing in my yard has come from them.
I read the reviews on this site after placing my order, and they made me nervous! I ordered a large quantity of bulbs, privet, maples and ground cover about a week and a half ago.
Well, my order arrived today and everything looks great. The two items that were supposed to arrive bare root are, of course, bare root and look as expected. The bulbs look great - no mold, no mush. Everything that is supposed to have live growth does, and looks very healthy.
Since I haven't planted these things yet and won't know until next spring how well they do, I'll come back and edit my review as needed - but overall, I'm pretty happy with the experience so far. My order came quickly, everything is accounted for, and the plants are a good size for the price.
This spring, my wife and I purchased land and looking to put in some shelterbelts and cover from the road at the lowest price possible. We ordered 60 Hybrid Willows and 30 Norway Spruce from directgardening.com. From the comments I read on sites like this I was really nervous about the quality of product or if we would even receive anything at all! Well, we ended up having a great experience. After 2 months in the ground the willows are 90% leafing and the Norway Spruce are all alive with new growth! One complaint was that I did not receive the free gifts. But at this point, we don't have much use for them anyway.
Recieved my order just last week. I ordered trees and my wife ordered flowers. Everything looks to be doing well so far. I can't say whether or not the bolbs will live because we just planted them over the weekend. Specifically I wanted to comment on the Walnut trees I ordered. They were strong and are already showing signs of budding. Everything arrived healthy looking except one lilac, and it looks like it got broken in shipping. Not DG's fault. Overall I am happy with Direct gardening.
I received several plants from Direct Gardening within the last 3 weeks, all in a dormant state, as promised. Four of them were trees (small ones), which I soaked overnight and put in pots until I could plant them outside. All four have broken dormancy & leafed out. They are healthy, small plants and should do well.
Everything I ordered was delivered as expected. The bareroot trees and bushes were small (as advertised) but are all growing well. Bulbs and seeds have sprouted in respectable percentages. I plan to order from them again soon.
Last year I purchased 250 privet hedges from Direct Gardening via their website. It is clearly stated that plants will be shipped when it is appropriate for planting in your zone.
My privets arrived in a semi-dormant state and were nothing more than 1-2 foot long sticks. I planted all of them and some of the smaller ones were combined to make one (Iwas getting tired of digging). Throughout the summer all of the privets leafed out very nice. They grew quite fast but I kept pruning them back to about 1' to encourage a fuller bush. I watered them regularly and sprinkled a 3 month time release fertilizer around them after planting.
I spent less than $.50 a piece for them and feel that I more than got my moneys worth. You definitely do not get full grown plants as you would from a local nursery but then you are not paying those prices either.
I am a landscaper at a golf course and if the need arises again for a mass planting of any kind, I will definitely order from them again. Sometimes a lot of patience is easier to come by then a lot of money.
With this place, you get what you pay for -- small, dormant plants in root or rhizome form that need a bit of attention. If you're not comfortable with this, you won't get far. I've had good luck with bulbs, liatris, roses, and many of their products. Haven't had to deal with the customer service, so no comment there. I'm a bit suprised at a negative below from someone who didn't even order from them, just posted a negative because of the comments here? Not fair!
I will defend Direct Gardening it is one of the best places for bulbs trees and shrubs there is. The daylillies I bought two years ago have overgrown the bounds of their beds. The paper bark birches are tall, 7' in one year,sure some dead but wal mart flowers die just as much. The lilacs I ordered are growing huge and blooming profously. Just grow up you stinkin babies and learn the plants just need more of that so called "babying" you should provide them with.
I have purchased $100's of Dollars of merchindise from Direct Gardening and there affiliates, 4 seasons, burgess etc.
I have been extremely pleased with all the trees I have purchased (except and order the US postal service trashed) And even then the order was replaced when I sent in my shipping lable with order.
The bulbs and roots stock items I have not had 100% sucess with as some come molded or to dry to save.
So I have decied to buy the magority of my flowers, bulbs and plants grown locally from a nursery. Seed, well I have never had much luck there anyway.
THE TREES ARE WONDERFUL. almost every tree I have ordered has lived. The one I am most proud of is a pink smoke tree. When i recieved it, the little thing was more of a stick then a tree. But faithfully I planted it, water and loved it through the first season. The next season to my suprise a tree grew it is almost 4 1/2 feet high and stronger every day. The popular and the hybrid willows for fast growing have also arrived a bit shell shocked from shipping but with a little love (and love from me is stuck in the ground and watered) they have grown suprisingly well. But one great Tree is the rose of sharon, it takes off like a weed. i guess it depends on your view of gardening, not everything you buy on line or locally is going to live
I recently ordered several items, including strawberry plants, honeysuckle vines, trumpet vines, among a few other things. This was the first time i have ordered online or mailorder for that matter, so i was a little disappointed when my order arrived and the items were so sickly looking. But i planted them just as they indicated. Today is 2 weeks since they arrived and were put in the ground. I was anticipating the long wait for them to come out of dormancy, but to my surprise, everything is looking GREAT! The vines are all getting leaves on them, the strawberry plants are growing like crazy! I am happy with the service and product, especially for the prices they offer. I emailed them prior to the arrival of my order to find out an estimated date of shipping and they responded curteously and quickly. Thank you very much.
On 5/10 I ordered 2 miniature hollyhocks, 20 hardy gladiolus, 10 hardy gladiolus, and 25 periwinkle from DG. As free bonuses I also got 5 exotica (peacock orchids?), 4 flowering shamrocks, and (thanks to a coupon from one of their affiliates' online catalog) an asiatic lily.
The miniature hollyhocks arrived on 5/30 - faster than I expected since, at that time, they said to allow 3 weeks to process the order before shipping. These were small, growing in seed-starting cells, but they were alive. They also had good root systems, but were not rootbound. I took a picture of them after unpacking them: http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g18/Thomas521/2006_miniatu...
As you can see, they didn't exactly look like something I would have gotten from a local nursery, but then again, a local nursery would probably charge at least 5 times as much for these plants - if they sold them, that is.
The rest of my order arrived on 6/14. Most of the bulbs were showing signs of sprouting, a sure sign of life. The free asiatic lily had sprouted enough that it could be considered a drawback (since you need to plant it shallowly at first, then replant it deeper after it goes dormant). The periwinkle plants were bareroot. They were bone dry, and their leaves had died back partway. They were alive, however. A bigger problem is that they only sent 15.
Of those 15 periwinkle, 8 survived. The others might have survived if I had babied them more. Some of the survivors appeared to die, but then put out new foliage. The majority of the bulbs were indeed viable; only 3 hardy glads, 1 orchid glad, and 1 flowering shamrock failed to grow. (This is a much better success rate than I had with the summer bulbs I got from Wal-Mart!)
Both miniature hollyhocks bloomed this year. Unfortunately, they were purple with a white eye, not pink as described. While this particular incident is not a big problem to me, it makes me wonder whether anything they sell as a certain variety is really that variety. One of each type of gladiolus bloomed this year, as well as all of the flowering shamrocks that grew. None of the exotica bloomed. The asiatic lily produced 2 flowers.
On 8/4, I sent back the original shipping label and a list of what didn't live (or never arrived), requesting 2 Purple D'oro daylilies and a packet of White Beauty tomato seeds as replacements; these have a similar value to the items that didn't live. On 8/28, I received the daylilies. One package that was supposed to contain a bareroot daylily contained 3 tiny sections of daylily roots; I don't think any of these have survived. However, the other package had 2 decent-sized root systems with some green showing, and these are doing fine. They also sent me another freebie: a packet of ground cherry seeds. I received my packet of tomato seeds on 9/5. The seeds were sent in an unpadded envelope, which is fine for tomato seeds, but I hope they don't send pumpkin seeds and other easily crushed seeds that way.
Overall, I'd say my experience is positive so far. They do stand behind their guarantee as long as you follow their instructions, the plants have a pretty good survival rate, their prices are great (with a few exceptions), and they send freebies with every order. The only things that remain to be seen are whether their seeds grow, and whether their daylilies and tomatoes are the right variety. It is these things that will determine whether my experience remains positive in the end, and whether I will order from them again.
I ordered some houseplants and wisteria full knowing that I would receive little more than rooted cuttings.
Most of the houseplants arrived crunchy and dry. I blame the Phoenix heat. After returning the shipping label, I was promptly sent replacements that arrived in better shape (except 1). I have not contacted them for a replacement yet.
I am happy with what I received, knowing what to expect.
Some of the wisteria didn't make it and they were replaced as well, without incident.
I am very happy with the service and plants I have received, but I would caution anyone thinking about placing an order:
If you want more than a rooted cutting, you will be disappointed. (What would you really expect for such low prices?)
It seems my experience is somewhat different from most on this site. My wife and I ordered approximately $300 worth of plants from directgardinging.com prior to finding this site to begin filling the flower beds at our new home. I'm sure no one will argue that the prices are second to none, and for what we purchased would have easily cost us more than triple any where else.
We received our full order (4 separate shipments) in about 3 weeks, both in the green bags for bare root products and cardboard boxes for the others. Within two weeks, nearly everything is green and growing well, especially the rose or sharon hedges and astilbe. The only things that arrived looking bad were two mosquito shoo geraniums, which we planted anyway in some better quality potting soil, and they have revived and look great now in under a month.
For the price, I would say they are worth the try and we have definitely gotten our money's worth.
Thus far, our strongest growers (in about one month) are the astilbe, purple d'oro & chicago royal robe daylilies, hybrid lilies, rose of sharon hedge, dwarf burning bushs, houttuynia, patriot hosta, and dwarf citrus trees. The others are a bit slower, but still look healthy (especially for the price!)
I've ordered more than once from them, or from Burgess.
Yes, the plants I received were small bareroot trees packed in plastic bags: two apricots, 7 cherries, two apples. I planted them all carefully, and so far, after almost two months I have buds on all but the apples and one apricot. As far as i can tell, though, the trees are still alive, so I will give them some time before contacting the company to send out replacements.
I have not dealt with customer service, so am not able to comment. But so far, I am not displeased with the service. I don't expect to get larger, established plants for the prices they charge.
On May 22, 2006, oakleaf60 Marshfield Hills, MA wrote:
My order was for various ground cover, hedge plants and trees.
I received my plants about four weeks after placing the order (April 2006).
The packaging was minimal, consisting only of plastic bags, but it was delivered by DHL and everything was in perfect condition.
Everything was received as ordered and every plant is budding, leafing and doing well.
I will order from Direct Gardening again.
I placed an order with Direct Gardening in March, actually I placed 2 orders in March, both orders arrived in April.
I ordered a total of 48 douglas fir trees which are browning, but still alive! 6 Hummingbird vines that are doing great, 2 weeping willows also doing great, 50 Liatris bulbs already coming up.
The only things that didnt look good on arrival was my Royal Empress Tree which has since died and my 2 red clematis also dead.
I sent out my packaging label and a written request for replacements today and I have confidence I will get great replacements in return! My only concern is if something else dies I dont know how I would get a replacement since I have sent them my original shipping label already. But that I will deal with at a later day if I have to.
On June 6th, 2006, whiskeracres added the following:
I have recieved and planted the replacements I recieved.
The new Royal Empress Tree looks so much better than the last one! The Clematis, still not looking good,
But I will see what happens. Im not worried about it.
Overall my experience was a positive one. My replacements came faster than I expected, I will order from direct gardening again, just not Clematis.
My Liatris are huge, willows doing great, hummingbird vines starting to bloom. I am very pleased. And the d-mail I recieved regarding my replacements were very curtious and professional.
On May 9, 2006, Rhinodogg Flat Rock, IN (Zone 5b) wrote:
I ordered 6 empress trees and 2 weeping willows. I planted all 8 trees the day they arrived (late March or early April). All are growing and doing great. I would definitely buy from Direct Gardening again.
I got my order today that I placed more than a month ago and everything seemed fine. My freebee (stargazer lily) was moldy but that seemed to be the only problem. All the bulbs seemed healthy and my Oriental Poppy roots were big and healthy. So far so good...I hope everything comes up well!
I placed a large order with Direct Gardening via their website. I added a few plants to my order via phone the following day. Then I found this site and I was extremely nervous after reading the reviews, but I was willing to take a wait and see approach.
It did take a while to receive my plants, but 'Express Shipping' was not an option and for $8.95 shipping, I wasn't expecting it. It took 3 weeks to the day for my order to be processed and another 3 weeks exactly to receive 3 out of 4 of my packages.
My 'Herb Collection' was shipping on the 12th of April and has yet to be received. I was told that if I do not received it by the 12th of May, they can trace it per USPS policy. That is fair in my oinion.
I received the other 3 packages yesterday:
One box had 2 small containers with the Passion Flower vines I had ordered. One of them had 2 vines in the same contaner so I got 3 for the price of 2.
The first green bag we opened contained all of our vegetables and free gifts. We won't know how the bulbs fair for a while. The 9 Walk-on-Me Thyme are all healthy & beautiful. The 10 asparagus were all healthy with HUGE roots systems. Only one of the 50 Stuttgarder onions was bad. The garlic sets were healthy. I ordered 15 blue potato (seed). I received 18 of them. They are all tiny and none had any eyes. Not like any seed potate I have ever used before. I planted 11 yesterday. If they grow, I will be happy. If not, I am only out $4 and I won't get potatoes from them again. Overall, I am satisfied with the contents from this package.
The largest green bag had all of our shrubs, trees & bushes. I was concerned because there was a small hole in the bag where one of the shrubs was sticking out, but they were all the height stated on the website and look healthy. We had ordered 36 Purple Leaf Plum Hedges. All of them appear to be healthy. One fo these is missing all but one root. We are currently babying it and hoping it will survive and can join all the others , but the odds are against it. The 2 Hansen Cherry bushes, 3 Mock Orange, 1 Dwarf Granny Smith Apple, 2 Manchurian Apricot, 1 Sugar Sweet Cherry, 1 Black Tartarian Standard, 1 Dwarf Pear (5 on 1), and 1 Dwarf Nectarine all have a healthy root system. We had ordered 6 grape vines, 2 Catawba, 2 Niagra and 2 Concord. We received only 1 Catawba, but we got 3 Niagras. Since we got 6 overall and they all looked healthy, we aren't that bothered by it.
