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On Aug 1, 2009, ptooming Titusville, FL (Zone 9a) wrote:
I have recently found that the shipping costs have gone up dramaticly. It states that the more you order the less shipping you pay, Well sort of. Depending where you live. My first purchase of 1-8 plants shipping is $28.95 or an added cost of 3.62 per plant for shipping and handling. 9 plants and more is $25.00 PLUS 20% of the order for over 9 plants, I wanted to order 16 plants, my shipping costs came out to $3.32 shipping and handling per plant!!! Yes that is .30 savings per plant a savings of $4.80 when you consider 4 inch potted plants and your purchase goes from$140 to $193 thats a big jump. Thats over $50.00 in shipping for 2 medium size boxes. I have seen this as an issue brought up before with this company and now I see why. Yes I like the plants and have ordered from them, but I just can't do it any more.
On Mar 16, 2008, pixiesadelle San Diego, CA wrote:
After getting the Summer '08 catalog, I spent a good while picking out my top eight choices (to fit in the first tier of shipping prices--a hefty 14 bucks). Although a few of my choices included the statement, "Available in March," the others said nothing about availability. To make a long story short, it's March 15th, and only one of the eight I picked out is available. I couldn't believe it as I sat down to order and one after another came up unavailable for purchase.
The catalog describes itself as "plant porn," which is pretty accurate. It's a big tease.
On Feb 28, 2008, robcorreia San Diego, CA (Zone 10b) wrote:
I have ordered twice with them and want more! Love the way they describe the plants and I love to know those plants will all thrive here in CA.
On June 6th, 2008, robcorreia changed the rating from positive to neutral and added the following:
I have already ordered twice from Annie's. I do have to change my rating due to their bad customer service.
Upon my first order, I emailed them asking about the best location for two of the plants in my order. I received a response a month later or so, and of course it was too late and those two plants weren't doing good at all.
My most recent email was a few weeks ago, inquiring about their shipping fees ( I wanted to place a third order but one of the items I wanted wasn't available yet), and I never heard back from them. You know what, there are A LOT of mail order nurseries out there, and every single one made a point to respond to any inquires I have made in the past.
Too bad, their plants are nice but I must feel like a valued customer in order to STAY a customer.
On Nov 7, 2007, bmuller Albuquerque, NM (Zone 7a) wrote:
I love the website--and the fact that Annie's carries (some of the time) plants that are difficult to find elsewhere. I recently ordered (from them, online) a salvia saggitata that is thriving in a sunny window until I can transplant it outside when the weather is warm enough. It's a healthy plant; I hope I can keep it that way.
HOWEVER, the reason this response is a "neutral" rather than a "positive" is that when I ordered the saggitata, I also ordered a salvia semiatrata that had been listed as "available" but did NOT receive it in my shipment. It apparently was no longer available, but I was not told this until my shipment had arrived. (In fact, Annie's had sent me an email notifying me of the availability of both plants, and there was no indication when I ordered the plants that one of them was no longer available.) Considering the high shipping costs, I would not have ordered the sagittata, had I known the semiatrata wouldn't be included for that shipping cost.
I may order from them again--but not without first calling to insure that all the plants I'm ordering really are available.
The plants I ordered were listed online as available, and I expected their arrival a few days ago. However, I received a customer service answering machine message, saying that they were NOT available. Called back to discuss. Told the person who'd left the message that she'd called and I was returning the call. She responded, "I DID?" When I asked if a particular plant could be substituted, she answered, "Maybe they're available." Had to ask for her to check.
Long story short: No apology for having listed the plants as available when they were not, or for the delay in shipping. We'll see how the plants are when they arrive sometime next week. Hopefully, they'll wildly outperform the customer service and live up to the good reviews on this site :o)
On May 18th, 2007, CarpePacem added the following:
UPDATE: Plants arrived on the scheduled date (addressed to my surname and someone ELSE'S first name :o)
A few missing leaves, but otherwise nice, fat, healthy-looking plants. With tax and shipping, I paid about $12 something per plant, so hope they thrive spectacularly.
I have mixed feelings about Annie's Annuals. The biggest issue is that many plants they list are California natives and very poor doers elsewhere, but particularly on the east coast, with its slushy wet winters. Very little of the South African material will overwinter in my Zone 6b climate, as a cool wet Spring will "melt" everything. Annie and her staff appear clueless as to what does well in other areas. Not their fault necessarily, but those living in Eastern states need to take their advice with a grain of salt. The California Mediterranean climate is rather unique to the United States after all, and many of these plants are not used to the "muggs" ...steamy, humid days with highs in the 90's-100's, and will quickly rot away in such conditions. Lupinus albifrons is typical of that kind of plant. It's fine in a dry climate such as Denver, but a cold wet Eastern winter will quickly do it in. And valuable information like this is NOT available anywhere in the catalog. Annie's Annuals is in a prime growing area for most of the plants they list. Away from this location, they are often fussy and intractable.
I also question the value of many of the plants Annie lists. The variegated Money Plant has never been variegated for me, and pretty much resembles the normal plant. It is supposed to get variegated when it gets bigger, but mine is now quite big and absolutely no variegation. The many poppies listed are transient garden plants and poor garden subjects, due to an extremely brief blooming period, and coarse unattractive foliage.
Whoever writes the plant descriptions must have been injected with "I love the world" serum an hour before. Every plant is absolutely perfect, with stunning form, a long blooming period, excellent color, freedom from insects, blah blah blah. However, anyone that has gardened for awhile knows that any species has its particular foibles or limitations. I'd respect Annie's a whole lot more if they presented an honest, balanced picture of a particular species. Such statements as "difficult to grow away from habitat", "spindly and falls over unless staked", "blooms for a few days out of the year", "prone to aphid attacks" are needed in many cases. Annie's Annuals is still in a world where sugarplum fairies and Peter Pan fly around. I have no idea if that really is Annie on the cover, but she looks like something out of The Sound of Music. I half expected her to start singing "The hills are alive..." In any case, if you are diabetic, I don't recommend this catalog...you could succumb to terminal sweetness. I would prefer a more realistic approach to plant description, particularly as some of the species are little known as to hardiness, growability, etc.
One of the plants I ordered last year from a very remote genus came up and bloomed. Unfortunately, the plant was actually a common weed! The very nice woman on the phone admitted it was a common weed and sent me another member of the same genus. That plant was not a weed, but shrivelled and died in the next heat wave. Another plant apparently not prepared for the rigors of the East. (I unfortuantely cannot remember the genus!)
I think the plants are overpriced for what you get, and the packaging is unnecessarily heavy and bulky. I personally would take the plants out of their pots, scrape some of the soil off, and wrap the rest in aluminum foil, a la Siskiyou Nursery. The pots make the shipping box ridiculously oversized, and the resulting postage could be lessened considerably without them. Annie's apparenty pays people good money to pack plants, but I have received specimens in much better condition using more traditional methods that are not so labor intensive.
In short, if you live elsewhere than central California, please be aware that most of Annie's plants (even the true perennials) may be transient denizens in your garden. No amount of excellent care can overcome a plant being in a foreign habitat, and many western natives are extremely poor doers in the east, even for expert gardeners!
On February 24th, 2007, dave12122 added the following:
I was kidding about the sugarplumfairy and Peter Pan of course, but when I got my new Annie's Annual's catalog, there was Annie, on page two, dressed as a FAIRY PRINCESS!!! I'm not making this up, I swear it! Unlike the sentiments of another poster, the tone of a particular catalogue is extremely important, as it can give one clues on how difficult situations may be handled. The tone here is apparently fun, fun, fun. Frankly, I don't think it's all that fun to receive plants that are not appropriate for your climate which then just slowly die. In that vein, I am going to take the time to describe some plants from this new catalogue which have not been good performers in Connecticut. I suspect they would not be worth growing or at best very short lived in most states East of the Mississippi, but that's just a prediction.
1, Convolvulus tricolor - Royal Ensign
Has a short blooming period, and the blooms only last a few hours. The stems soon trail and flop around the garden unattractively. In addition, this variety is subject to just about every kind of chewing insect going. So, you would have to spray vigilantly to control the many "shot holes". Almost never looks at its best even in full bloom. Eminently forgettable!
2. Anagallis monellii-
My experience is exactly the opposite of what the catalogue says. Has a short blooming period (the heat and humidity turns the flowers off here), needs rich soil and constant watering to survive. (mine wilted at even a touch of drought) and has never reseeded, even into nearby gravel. Yes, the flowers are pretty, but a weak plant and a poor doer unless you live in Seattle or Vancouver.
3. Papaver "Lauren's Grape"
A colossal disappointment. The stem looks like a drawn out pencil and bears ONE flower at the very end that lasts one day. Moreover, the foliage is sparse and unattractive. I fail to see the blue tone as in the description. Yuck!!!
4.Primula viallii-
A fussy species, even for experts, cannot take summer heat and is best for zones 5-6 or high elevations of zone 7. Certainly not appropriate for zones 8-10, unless grown as a short lived annual. In any case, even under the best of conditions is usually short lived. The resting winter bud is easily frost heaved. and even in flower, this really isn't all that attractive, the actual bloom is smaller and more tapered than the photo would have you believe.
5. Verbascums- All the listed Verbascums are poor garden subjects. The basal foliage looks like a weed and is coarse and unattractive. As for the flower spikes, only a few flowers open at one time, so that as the spike elongates it gets uglier and uglier, with bare spots at the base. At the end, you will have a few flowers at the top of a long naked stem that look absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention that the verbascums combine poorly with other plants. They stick out in the garden like that proverbial sore thumb and are difficult to utilize effectively.
6. Alcea rugosa- Here, it does NOT bloom from Spring to Frost. Three weeks is more like it, in early June. The stems can easily get to six feet or more, and have to be staked (a daunting task with this species), otherwise they easily collapse in a windstorm or heavy rain, and once collapsed are unspeakably unwieldy and out and out dangerous to any plant they happen to be smothering. I almost lost two very choice Azaleas because I did not realize the Alcea rugosa stems were on top of them! The foliage is also prone to chewing insects. An enormous plant with takeover tendencies (seeds everywhere and each seedling needs to be painstakingly dug out!) Use it sparingly!
7. Lewisia cotyledon- "low maintenace??" They've got to be kidding! Needs absolutely perfect drainage, gravelly rich soil. Very prone to rotting in wet, humid weather unless perfectly sited. I grow mine in troughs which are put under a carport in winter. Lewisias in a wet winter climate will rot out unless a plastic cloche is put over them. They also cannot take hot, humid summers, and will develop a rust which disfigures the plant. Even under the absolute best of conditions, short lived in the east.
8. Gladiolus carneus- Yes more graceful than the modern hybrids, which are hideous. That said, a gladiolus is a gladiolus, which means:
a) stiff, unattractive fake looking foliage with combines poorly with other garden plants.
b) a flower scape which features only a few open flowers at one time . At the end you have the last blooms above many dying or dead ones, not a pretty sight. UNLESS you want to pull the dying flowers off every day. Doesn't sound like too much fun to me.
9. Cynoglossum amabile- Foliage is non-descript and prone to chewing insect damage. Airy flowers develop far above the foliage and flop all over the place, as the plant is very weak. Never looks right in the garden and it would be impossible to stake every stem. I would plant Myosotis instead, for a similar airy effect yet much better plant performance.
10. Oenothera pallida- An out and out thug in a hot summer climate, runs all over the place and is difficult to remove. Yes, the flowers are pretty, but at what cost?
If this saves some Easterner a disappointing experience, than I will be pleased. I might add that I have purchased these plants from other nurseries, not Annie's, and unless she sprinkles her plants with Fairy Princess dust, I assume their performance would be commensurate to those obtained from other sources.
I feel the need to respond to Annie's (owner) post and explanation of her shipping charges and other comments.
This is on her website: "If you have never before ordered plants by mail order, you may dismayed to find there is a handling charge. That is understandable. Please try to visualize how time consuming it is to process orders, respond to mail order questions and to find, gather, clean and pack plants correctly. We really appreciate the people who do it for us and of course they need to be paid. We charge a $2.00 handling fee per plant."
My response: That's just the cost of doing business. $2.00 per plant is totally out of line. I order plants from different mail order companies all the time and have never paid this much, if anything. Having sold literally hundreds of coffee plants and brugmansias on eBay myself, I never added a "handling fee" and I packed them myself. I still have 100% positive feedback and I never had even one plant arrive dead or dying. I gave a 100% money back guarantee or replacement for 30 days with no questions asked. I was asked to replaced 2 coffee plants and one brugmansia in 4 years, which I gladly did.
Stated on her website: "We guarantee our plants to be true to name and will replace or refund, at our option, any which prove to be misnamed. In no case shall we be liable for more than the purchase price of the plants. Though we can't guarantee the viability of our plants after they leave us, we'll do our utmost to ensure your satisfaction."
My response: You don't guarantee your plants once they leave your nursery. That means that if I receive a dead plant, you won't replace it and I'm stuck? Sounds like it. If the plant doesn't grow, you won't replace it? I think you should seriously read the guarantees from other companies on the internet. A reputable company, Park's for example, will either refund your money or replace the plant and will not charge you for reshipping. While on eBay, I gave a 100% money back guarantee or replacement for 30 days with no questions asked. I was asked to replaced 2 coffee plants and one brugmansia in 4 years, which I gladly did.
Her website states: When you place an order on our secure website, you�ll receive a confirmation email and tracking number. Your plants will be shipped within 7 days of your order date. We ship on Mondays and Tuesdays only. We ship plants UPS ground if you live in California. We ship UPS 2nd Day Air only for orders outside of California. Our pages automatically calculate the shipping charges.
My response: Possibly you should change your shipping methods to better serve your customers. USPS Priority Mail is just as fast if not faster, and much cheaper. They even provide absolutely free of charge and delivered to your business, boxes of all sizes, shipping labels, tape, and free Delivery Confirmation if you print the label online. They will also pick up your packages for free. My experience with them was: Out of 643 packages mailed in 2004, 2 damaged, 1 lost, 4 delayed beyond their 3 day stated delivery times. Excellent!
And finally, your prices for a 4" pot are high. Simply stated, on common varieties, I can go to Lowe's, Home Depot, or Armstrong and get them for about 1/3rd your price before your "handling charge." Just a quick example: I see you have a Yellow Bleeding Hearts vine for $8 in a 4" pot. I bought one at Lowe's in a gallon container for $3.95. Asarina white you have listed at $6 in a 4" pot. Lowe's had a 3 foot one with many plants on a bamboo teepee in a one gallon container for $2.95. It has reseeded itself and produces thousands of easily germinating seeds. Should I go on? I'm not even adding on the additional $2 per plant, which would make a substantial difference. I guess Lowe's, Home Depot, Armstrong and the other places don't pay their employees and they work for free.
I'm not picking on you, well OK, I am, but it's because I was irritated by your remarks and your lack of a reasonable guarantee. With your current rating, maybe you should reconsider selling online. Sorry Annie, but that's my take on it. Or you can stay in the mail order business and I'll work for you if you give me $2 per plant to pack them up. I figure I'd be making at least $500 per day AND I'll even provide the packing materials.
On Jun 27, 2005, Indigoez Floresville, TX (Zone 9a) wrote:
A few months back I heard about Annie's and visited the website, and she does have a wonderful selection of plants, including many South African plants I've seen nowhere else and had to have. Anyway, I ended up with about $75 worth in my basket, but with the shipping and the extra $2 per plant it was over $130!!!!
I have shipped many large plants to many people and I know that it doesn't cost anywhere near that much to send a box of plants in 4 inch pots, even if they were sopping wet. Why not just raise the individual prices instead of deceiving people this way?
On Jun 27, 2005, Annie's Annuals and Perennials responded with:
"This letter is in response to Indigoz, and other Garden watchdoggers who have have a difficult time understanding the price of shipping our plants. Shipping (by UPS) costs are calculated at exactly the cost UPS charges us to ship the plants. Outside of California, we choose to only ship by 2nd day air, which may be more expensive, but the plants arrive in excellent shape, which makes everybody happy. Our handling charge is $2.00 per plant. We add this charge separately as handling charges are not taxed. If we just increased the price of the plant, there would be extra tax within California where most of our current mail order customers live.
Indigoz, in ordering your plants – I’m guessing you did not consider what the handling charge is for. As our wonderful shipping department are not volunteers, they look forward to being paid for their labor. I’m not trying to be funny.
Please do try to imagine the time and labor it takes to get our plants to your door:
· As each order comes in, it must be processed by our office staff. This includes invoice processing, checking for availability if someone has just bought all of a certain variety prior to the current order and checking with the Agricultural department for current restrictions for each state. Next comes many back and forth e-mails answering questions that gardeners have asked regarding plants they have ordered and redoing invoices for folks who want to change the plants they’ve ordered, change delivery date, or add onto their order at the last minute. This must be done quickly and efficiently as we ship our incoming orders out right away. Agriculture also requires us to send detailed record-keeping for our shipments on a monthly basis.
· Now we come to the nursery, where our mailorder employees must quickly find each plant in our nursery which is 2½ acres in size, and at any time there are probably 500-1,000 varieties out there. After gathering each order, they must carefully clean and pack each plant in moisture holding material. They then insert each plant carefully into a specially designed insert which holds each plant securely in place during shipping. Don’t forget that our boxes, packaging materials and inserts are not free. Invoices are then double checked against plants to make sure everything is correct . After that, packers meet with agricultural inspectors going over each order.
· Several days later, we answer more e-mails from our mailorder customers with questions regarding planting requirements etc.
We often receive e-mails from happy customers telling us that our packaging is the best they’ve ever seen and our plant arrive in perfect condition.
I’d also like you to know, we try hard to keep our beloved workers employed all year (unusual in the nursery industry), pay far more than minimum wage, offer health insurance, bonuses, and paid vacations. Most employees have been with us a long time and we hope to keep them forever . . . I hope all this helps to answer the questions regarding handling charges.
On May 7, 2005, 1darkshadow Brightwaters, NY wrote:
My experience was similar. I spent a lot of time on the website over the last few months. The plants look beautiful online, and they have an excellent selection. I decided to order ten plants at an avg cost of $4.50. I was shocked at checkout to see that my total was $100. I would love to be able to visit the nursery, but as far as buying online, the shipping and handling seems excessive.
I spent time this winter exploring Annie's website and makings lists of what I would like to order. It is a great website and a very interesting collection of plants. I was very much taken aback when I realized that I had to add $2 to the price of each plant that I ordered for handling. The prices on the website for specialty annuals seem comparable to what I can get locally, and I was willing to factor in shipping costs as well, but in my years of extensive mail order purchases, I have never seen such high handling costs. This may be a factor that other shoppers will want to be alerted to. I wish I could visit her retail establishment.
