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Posted on October 10, 2009, updated November 09, 2009
I ordered 3 plants from this company at the end of the spring shipping period. They had not been secured in the box, and arrived with many of the branches broken off. They offered to replace them in the fall, but I said I’d see what I could do. The roots were in good shape, and the plants recovered (one later died but it was while I was on vacation so I count that as my fault).
I decided to give them another try. I ordered 11 plants and some bulbs for fall shipping. The bulbs look good (shipped separately at appropriate planting times with no extra shipping charges). The plants were well-secured in the box. Of the plants, 6 look good, 2 look healthy but poor form (long branches with foliage just near the ends), 1 looks wilted and hasn’t recovered in 48 hours, and 2 look terrible (pale, wilted, tips of leaves dried out, no roots seen at the edges when carefully taken out of the pot) – I’m not hopeful that the last 3 will survive, but I’ll do what I can for them.
When I buy plants I want healthy plants. I don’t want 3 out of 11 to look like they'll probably require replacement/refund - even if that process is easy, and I don’t want plants that will probably recover if I give them extra care, (or that I’m embarrassed to have in my garden because they look so unhealthy). Their selection is wonderful, but I don't think I'll order plants from High Country Gardens again.
On November 9th, 2009, socal24 added the following:
Of the three plants that I thought might not survive, only one died. One put out nice new growth, and one is just sitting - hopefully it will put out new growth in the spring.
I've purchased three items from High Country gardens. I always bulk at the price of their items, but they have drought tolerant plants that I can't find elsewhere. The plants I've received haven't done that great, but they haven't died yet either. They only big complaint I have is the purchase of a water sprinkler. I ordered it from High Country Gardens because I thought they probably had high quality products due to the price they charge. It cost me about $50.00 with the shipping and turned out to be rather worthless. A month later I saw the exact same sprinkler at Home Depot for $12.00. I'd buy from them again if they had something I really wanted and couldn't find it anywhere else, but if given the opportunity to purchase it elsewhere, I would shy away from this company.
On Jul 6, 2009, flowerdervish Walnut Creek, CA wrote:
I love their catalog and their whole emphasis on xeriscaping and drought-tolerant products -- but in reality, the plants from this supplier have not performed well for me.
Most of them have quickly turned spindly, and just this weekend, I ripped out several dying or dead plants, all of which I'd received from this supplier.
Granted, this could be due to something I did wrong and/or to me still getting the feel for the microclimate I'm in now (moved from San Francisco to Contra Costa County, in the eastern inland Bay Area) -- but meanwhile, most of my plants from other sources have done well in my two-plus years in my new home, whether they were plants that I bought after moving or ones I brought with me from my old residence.
I live in zone 3 in the mountains outside of Las Vegas. I ordered about 20 perreniel flowering plants which arrived in excellent condition. They were supposed to be cold tolerant and bunny and deer resistant. They started out well and seemed to be taking to their new home until the bunnies discovered them, and bunny resistant or not, they are now twigs or eaten to the ground!! Yikes!! Anybody have any suggestions?
I ordered two pre-planned gardens as well as several oriental poppies. The plants that came in the premium pots were fine, but those that were in the standard pots are amazingly small. I paid my local nursery and High Country Gardens the same for elfin pink penstemons. Those from the local nursery were in four-inch pots and were blooming. Those from HCG were in standard pots and maybe stand two inches tall. I doubt that any of the plants from HCG (penstemons or any of the others) will bloom this year, and will be surprised if they're old enough to bloom next year.
Because HCG carries species of xeric plants that are difficult to find locally, I'll probably order from them again. But, I will not order any of the pre-planned gardens or anything that comes in a standard pot.
I will also add that shipping was as scheduled and the plants were well packaged.
On Mar 20, 2009, cerridwenn Farmington, NM (Zone 5a) wrote:
plants are desert adapted, which if you don't live in the desert you don't understand how desperately important this is. they are generally shipped live and are seedlings of reasonable size, but unfortunately have to be planted very quickly after that. also for the same price, you could probably get larger and/or better established seedlings from a local nursery unless it is a unique plant.
they do offer pre-planned gardens, which are nice and supposedly grow into their own space within a few years. i ordered one last year and the plants looked good and i believe survived the winter but they definitely did not spread so i am hoping for some better spreading this year or i will be very disappointed. this year i ordered a sampler of lavenders, which contains 8 varieties. they did allow me to specify when i want delivery, which i appreciate because the part of new mexico i live in is about a month later than the rest of the state for last hard frost.
my main negative on this company is that they are INEXCUSABLY expensive. shipping is hugely expensive, even within new mexico. i can't even imagine what it costs for out of state. the plants are also expensive enough that one expects them to be quite a lot bigger (if i bought an $8 perennial pot at the nursury, i would expect it to be in a gallon size pot with a pretty big plant in it, even if there was only one actual plant). however they are healthy, so i guess i'm supposed to not complain.
the cost of buying here, rather than from plants of the southwest or some other southwestern fairly local dealer, is probably going to prevent me from buying from them any more despite the fact that their plants themselves are good quality and they have a wide variety of things i really want and so far have not found elsewhere.
On Mar 12, 2009, BlueDesert Palm Springs, CA wrote:
I love the HCG catalog. It's beautiful and informative for many difficult to find plants. Their packing of the plants is good (but not as good as Annies Annuals packing ).
The plants I have received are less than good. Very small (tiny you might say) seedling plants which will take a long time before I can plant them out. The HCG prices are EXTREMELY high for such tiny weak plants.
The plants are so small I have trouble establishing them in my garden. ( I have been and avid gardener for 40 years and know what I'm doing). They really need to be 'grown on' in the nursery for several more months before they are shipped out to customers.
This year I experimented with High Country and another nursery (Digging Dog). I ordered exactly the same varieties (agastaches and heliantheum) from both nurseries. The plants from HCG were small.weak and delicate and will need weeks of coddling before they can be planted out. The same
varieties from DD were strong robust SECOND YEAR (not seedlings) plants. Each had multiple strong stems and are already thriving in my garden 2 weeks after being planted.
The prices from DD were $2-4 CHEAPER - PER PLANT .
Lesson learned. Use the catalog from High Counrty for inspiration and photos. As I am sure we all know the photos are all established plants that may well have been growning 5 years to look that good.They are NO REPRESENTATION of what you will receive.
If you do your homework you will find many nurseries that carry the same plants at far cheaper prices and possibly bigger, better stock.
I give HCG a POSITIVE for the catalog. A Negative for the tiny little plants....which averages out to a NEUTRAL
On Jan 15, 2009, MartBright Centre Hall, PA wrote:
I bought two preplanned gardens for my new property, which receives full sun and a LOT of wind. Probably a quarter of the plants arrived in poor condition, but I only asked for a few replacements--I guess I didn't feel right about asking for replacements for as many as were in poor shape; I thought I could coax them along as I am a very experienced gardener. All of the lemon thyme plants died, and thyme is not that hard to grow! Many of the other plants remained rather stunted (they were small anyway to begin with, which was rather disappointing) but some of them really took off--the yarrows and the catmints and the roses were doing super-well in the summer and fall (now they're under snow). The roses are tiny plants but they're own root and they take off. Beware of witches brooms though on rosa eglanteria; I've had two I had to destroy in previous years. I did order one again though because I like them, foolish as it sounds.
Overall the customer service was good and the plants middling--I would not order again unless there was something I could not find locally that I really really wanted. It's just too risky--not just with this company but with almost any mail order company, except for Select Seeds Antique Flowers, which is the best company on the planet!!
Catalog received 12/8 Monday; order (#8120602) placed same day - spoke to “Beth”. Was told 2 conifers would ship 12/15 and arrive no later than 12/18. Charge $64.97 was put on my cc.
e-mail received from Christopher Hunter - Office Assistant
High Country Gardens on 12/9 saying trees could not be shipped until the week of February 16, 2009 because of “the temps”. I had already been told by Beth that the plants are actually in Arizona - day temps of 70 and night temps of 50. I am in Georgia and those temps are identical to ours currently. When I received the e-mail I called and spoke to “Amber”, yes they had charged my account even though THEY made the decision to hold the order until Feb. Amber felt that Beth has misled me since she was an “overflow employee” and not completely knowledgeable. Then Amber admitted that the “plants are not ready now” and said she would credit my account. Silly me, I thought that would mean the full amount they had charged me !!!! No, they decided they were entitled to keep $14.99.
Now, what has HCG gained by this cheap tactic---a negative rating on the Garden Workshop, an unhappy customer and the fact that my cc company will charge them and credit me for this fee they felt was theirs.
They do NOT belong on the Garden Workshop list of reputable vendors. Buyers beware when your cc’s are charged and the amounts charged. You may be very surprised.
On January 15th, 2009, mtnqueen changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:
HCG did eventually refund the full amount so all is well. I was told the difference was caused by a glitch in their system. My final comment is that the whole thing shouldn't have happened in the first place.
I ordered a pretty good size order from HCG ~$75 (total of 6 plants) and was really very disappointed. All the plants arrived in very poor condition - one was DOA and two others were near dead. The other 3 plants did not look great either but were a shade better. I gave them a day to recover before planting them and all 3 weaker ones were dead the next day. I called the company to complain and was impressed by their customer service. They were responsive and sent me replacement plants for the 3 that died. However I was really disappointed because the 3 replacements were in fairly poor condition when the arrived. The agastache was okay but the other 2 were in poor condition. I planted the replacements and they seem to have recovered.
Given the poor condition of plants shipped I probably will not order from this company again. I would have given them a negative but for their customer service.
My garden club friends highly recommended High Country Gardens to me and I've been receiving their catalogs for a few months now. I placed my first order in mid-May. I received my nine standard pot plants (3 each of 3 different plants) when expected and in lovely shape and packaging. Very ingenious I thought. I immediately put the 9 containers outdoors in a shallow baking pan full of water as I couldn't get to planting for two full days after receipt. It's been a month now and 8 of the 9 plants are flourishing. The one that is completely dead used to be a Thymus serpyllum. All 3 are planted together and in the same manner. Why 1 would die and 2 flourish is a mystery to me unless it wasn't healthy to begin with. I'd like to know if others have had this problem.
On May 28, 2008, angele Elephant Butte, NM (Zone 7b) wrote:
I am rating High Country Gardens with a positive but with a reservation.
Most importantly, the plants arrived in wonderful health. Second, the packing was outstanding. Only one plant, Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Longwood Blue', had minor breakage. Third, some of the plants I ordered are only available at HCG and I am thrilled to have them. I will be ordering again in the fall.
My main reservation is with one plant I received, Pelargonium Endlicherianum - Turkish Pelargonium. They are advertised in the catalog and on the web site as being "two year old blooming plants." While all the other plants I ordered had, wonderful roots that I had to 'rough up' before planting the roots on the Pelargonium Endlicherianum are almost non-existent. There are a very few very white, new looking roots and no older looking roots at all. The plants are also extremely small. I received this order 5/23/08 and sent an email to HCG 5/24/08. I didn’t expect an answer right away because of it being a holiday and a weekend though I did receive an almost immediate response; in part, it said: “I am sorry to hear that the Pelargonium Endlicherianum were so small and that the root systems were not well developed. I will need to investigate to see if the plants you were sent were from a group that were not ready rather than the group that should have been shipped.
I, or someone else from Customer Service will get back to you either Monday or Tuesday.”
It is now Wednesday and I have yet to hear back. I’m guessing HCG is still catching up from the holiday. If I hear from them, I will update my comments.
On May 28th, 2008, angele added the following:
**
I've heard back from HCG. I emailed a picture of the roots to them and they think they look fine but have put a note in my file regarding my concerns. I'm satisfied with their response. I am going to add some photos of the plants I received to my DG Journal or Diary so if you are interested you can see. I do expect these plants to survive but am not planting them in the ground. I'm putting them into larger pots and hope to plant them in the fall.On September 19th, 2008, angele changed the rating from positive to neutral and added the following:
I'm changing my rating from positive to neutral is because I have received an order from ANOTHER company. This second order is FAR superior especially in the developement of the plant roots. Out of the entire HCG order only 1 plant has performed outstandingly - Agastache Ava. Several plants have done okay but more importantly several have done absolutely nothing. They are smaller than when I planted them in the Spring. It is my strong opinion that the Pelargonium Endlicherianum were not two year old plants as advertised. This really bothers me the most. I lost one and the other two are barely hanging on. The packing from HCG was outstanding but the plants, in my opinion, did not live up to the advertising.
The order I received from the different company has taken off like gangbusters. The roots were amazing. The plants showed almost no transplant shock and started growing within days. Several are already blooming. I am taking into consideration that I planted the order from HCG in mid-spring and this second order in late-summer. Both orders were of perennials.
If you were to ask me in person I would tell you that I probably will not order from them again. The Pelargonium Endlicherianum really left me with a bad feeling about HCG.
Placed my first order with them this spring and am very satisifed. Plants arrived the week I requested and were not dried out despite my East Coast location. Except one, everything arrived in good size and healthy. One Salvia that they shipped was packed with too much water, and sustained significant root damage, so they are reshipping it. I'm not sure how well some of these Western plants will grow here, but if they fail, it won't be the fault of HCG.
On June 2nd, 2008, mwieder changed the rating from positive to neutral and added the following:
The replacement they sent showed up worse off then the original; upon inspecition it looks like they just took a cutting from another plant, put it in soil and shipped it over. They made the same mistake they did last time, waterlogging the soil, which is very bad for a salvia and kills the roots. I told them explicitly this was the problem the first time and they repeated it again. You'd think for a company that expresses expertise in xeric plants, they would know not to ship them in water logged soil.
The plants I received were tiny. They are now resting in the garden, but I can barely see them. One of the agastaches arrived dead. Love the catalog, but not too pleased with the plants.
HCG has a great selection of plants. I've made several orders in the last two years. The plants arrive pretty much as expected - which is to say quite small - but I think the small root systems have a better chance of transplanting successfully in my marginal-soil desert garden. I do have a couple of negative experiences though. I made one transaction that included a small discount (I think it was $5) but the discount wasn't applied when I completed the online order. I sent email about it and the response said I should call if I found the order was placed without the discount. By that time, with the charge already put through to my VISA, I pretty much blew it off. With the last order I placed this year, Jan 29, all three of the lavendars, all four of the alyssum and three of the four verbena have died. (Jasmine, nolina, fallugia, buddleia and one verbena from the order doing OK.) I filled out the online replacement form when the first alyssum died within a few days of planting but never got a response. In the meantime, the others have died, but because gardening in my area is so difficult I usually just write off the loss to the environment, and my inexperience with desert gardening, and don't seek reimbursement. To wrap it up, my only beef with HCG is their failure to follow through with online service. For me, making phone calls is a lot more inconvenient than handling transactions by email.
I like their selection, but I agreed with Joe777. I ordered Veronica X Blue Reflections around the same time with Joe777. It was dead. I did not have any problem with other two type of plants. It seems that there was some troubles with that particular plant..... If so, they should not sell. I am not sure if I order anything from them. What's the chance to receive troubled plants?
On May 25, 2007, trachecache Colorado Springs, CO wrote:
I am not quite sure how to rate HCG. I love their products, website, newsletters and customer service. I have ordered three times from them. The first time, stems of several of the items were broken at the base of the plant and were scattered throughout the box. Customer service replaced them immediately with plants that were not as large as the first damaged set. They lived and may even thrive this year. The second time (ordered in Dec 06 for delivery in May 07), the packaging did not include the nifty foam sheets and rubber bands. The dirt was missing from most of the pots. Since it was not hot when it was shipped and delivered, all but one survived. The one broken and dirtless plant was planted with the rest and is still alive only, while the others are thriving. I did not contact customer service because I considered damaged plants part of the package deal. Today's shipment, (ordered just last week for shipment this week) was very well wrapped with the foam sheets and rubber bands and arrived in excellent order. However, my order of 8 Baptisia Australis was swapped for 8 Aster X frikartii "Monch," not at all alike! Once again, customer service was extremely responsive. However, the delays due to the reorders do put a crimp in my family's planting schedule.
So, great products, fantastic customer service, extraordinary website, but significant problems in shipping.
On Mar 28, 2007, marieortiz Tolleson, AZ (Zone 9a) wrote:
I have ordered from this company twice. The first time was in the fall of 2005. Nothing I ordered survived but I chalked it up to my in experience with what I ordered. I placed a second order the begining of this year. Everything looked ok except the gladiolus segetum.
I went to plant it and there was almost no root sytem and this tine bulb
smaller than the size of a pea. I immediately e-mailed them:
I received my plant order Thursday Feb 15th. I planted my items yesterday on the 16th my Gladiolus segetum was of a little concern. The bulb of it was not even the size of a pea. it had ver little in the way of roots. Is the normal?
Thank you,
The reponse was :
Thank you for contacting High Country Gardens.
The Gladiolus are dormant. The root tuber is very small but if you follow the instructions for dormant plants in Davids Helpful Hints they should be fine. If there is no progress by late March please contact us.
>Sincerely,
I did contact them by e-mail again yesterday and I received a call this morning now telling me I may not see even one leaf until late fall. I was also asked if I had received a letter regarding this plant. I said no and had it faxed to me.
It basically says these are seed grown and while small they are well rooted (mine hardly had any roots) . I will change this rating once I see if this puts out a few grassy leaves this year.
On March 30th, 2007, marieortiz changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:
I am changing my rating to nuetral because I was personally contacted by Dave with some more information regarding this plant. It was much appreciated that he took the time out to contct me.On Mar 28, 2007, High Country Gardens responded with:
"
On Mar 29, 2007 7:09 PM, High Country Gardens added:
Dear Marieortiz,
Gladiolus segetum is new wildflower species for us. As is often the case when growing new, unfamiliar plants, there is no instruction manual. This little gem has turned out to be a much slower grower than the vigorous, more familiar South African wildflower Gladiolus oppositiflorus v. salmoneus we have been growing for a few years.
After the first two weeks of shipping this spring, we noticed that the potted bulbs were very slow to wake up. By early March the plants in the greenhouse had started to push a few leaves and the roots were pushing nicely to the bottom of their pots.
I spoke to another grower of this rare plant and questioned him at length so I put together a cultural instruction sheet detailing what to expect about the behavior and growth characteristics of this species. This sheet was included with all subsequent shipments of the plants. We also added this information to our website and included photos of what the plants looked like in early March so our customers could see what they would be receiving. http://www.highcountrygardens.com/catalog/product/54603/
Please be patient and mark where you planted your Gladiolus segetum. And of course, your plant is guaranteed if it fails to grow for you.
Sometimes being on the cutting edge of horticulture throws us some curve balls.
Thank you,
David Salman,
President/Chief Horticulturist HCG
"
Most of the plants I received from HCG this spring were incredibly root bound, to the point of cutting the pot apart to get them out without damaging the roots. Loosening the roots enough to get them planted was a real challenge! The plants are growing and healthy, but given the relatively high price I was disappointed in their quality. They do have a unique selection of xeriscape plants and their shipping is impeccable, but I would only order from them in the future if I couldn't find what I wanted elsewhere.
I received a number of plants from HCG this spring. Almost all of them were so potbound that I removed one of the Echinacea from the pot, took a picture of it and sent it to HCG with a complaint. The reply I got was rather condescending, telling me that what I was seeing was just a well-developed root system, as if most experienced gardeners don't know the difference. I had to do real violence to those roots to free them up a little before planting them, and, while they have survived, they have been slow to take off (unlike the fantastically vigorous poppies I got from them in the fall). And, no, this is not just because I am gardening in the east in clay soil; similar plants from other sources are doing just fine.
We ordered from this catalog for the first time this year. The catalog is beautiful and they have an awesome selection. However, we also felt that our plants were small and not well-rooted and I think this is the reason that a couple did not survive and the others are slow to become established.
On May 26, 2005, littlekitty Farmington, AR wrote:
I recently ordered some agastache, artemisia and prairie dropseed from HCG excited that I could not find the exact plants I was looking for from any other source. I loved the idea that their catalog descriptions were very informative and the plants were ideal for xeriscaping and deer and critter resistant. The plants arrived quickly, well packed and I was informed the day they were shipped.
But I cannot say I would order from this company again. The plants were not only small but very very tiny. I have heard others remark that the plants were small but had well developed root systems. This was not true in the plants I received. Also, one of the artemisia was brown and crunchy, but it did have a little green showing, so I planted it anyway. Time will tell if it survives.
I have given HCG a neutral rating for the tiny plants, undeveloped root systems, and the HIGH prices in comparison to other companies that I have ordered from.
On August 12th, 2005, littlekitty added the following:
The artemisia I ordered in May is still alive but is all of one inch tall and not growing at all. The other 2 artemisia I ordered at the same time are thriving as well as the agastache and prairie dropseed.My rating remains the same although I do find myself drawn to their website and waterwise plants.
This company specializes in xeriscape plants, and I was interested in using some of them just as container plants. Their catalog is beautifully photographed and full of interesting advice about designing with and growing these plants. However, the plants I was shipped were much smaller and weaker than the other companies I ordered from; everything is still living, but just barely. Maybe these plants just need a climate I can't provide. Unless they offer some irresistible unique item no one else has, I probably won't bother with them again.
I ordered quite a bit from this company, I was surprised to see these plants soooo small, I mean like a seedling sprout! I think if they are going to send plants that small they shouldn't be having prices that HIGH. They do however have good packaging. I was a little shocked to come home to this small box of all my 25 plants in this little box, then come to open it and they are these seedlings. Just be prepared and know you are going to get small plants if you order from them.
