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On Jun 12, 2009, kkirschbaum Yonkers, NY (Zone 6b) wrote:
I placed an order because they had a Malva 'Blue Fountain' listed as available in 3-inch pots on their website. It is next to impossible to find this cultivar in pots. It's rare to find it to begin with, is usually only offered bare root. In fact, I bought this as bare root in 2008, and it failed to come up. That experience pretty much put me completely off buying bare root plants.
When I received the package from Roots & Rhizomes, it turned out that they sent me bare root plants despite offering it online in pots. It was incredibly upsetting -- and disappointing. I had scoured the internet for a particular plant available in a particular form, thought to have found it, only to be let down in the end. I complained immediately. I must commend them in that their customer service rep responded within hours on the same day and immediately refunded the cost of the plants.
The customer service person said they had run out of plants, could only fulfill orders with bare roots, and had forgotten to update their website. On the plus side, their customer service is responsive. On the minus side, they either can't be relied upon to accurately describe their merchandise or to update their website. Some geraniums I'd ordered at the same time but which shipped later also came bare root despite being offered on the website in pots. As of today, both the malva and the geranium are still listed on their website as available in pots.
I am giving this company a neutral rating, since they were very responsive and gave me a full refund.
Three years ago I succumbed to a beautiful picture in the R&R catalog -- daylily Spacecoast Starburst. It was SOOO expensive, way more than I ever pay for a plant but I HAD to have it. It arrived, extremely tiny and stressed and I planted it with trepidation. It grew in spite of it all, and I was pleased that it even put out a flower stalk that year, but what a disappointment when it opened. The flower was NOTHING like the picture.
Needless to say, I was rather upset, so I contacted them and even sent them a picture of the lily that bloomed. Obviously it was nothing like the catalog photo and I assumed that they had mixed up varieties. They kindly sent me a replacement, which I also planted. It also bloomed, the following year. It also was nothing like the picture.
The two lilies are now three years old. They are still not like the picture in the catalog, they are not fragrant, they do not rebloom.
Even though R&R were helpful and polite, I will not order from them again. I am still wondering what kind of lily I have, it certainly is not Spacecoast Starburst, at least not the one they have pictured in their catalog. This experience has made me very leery of them.
I ordered from this company because I received a gift certificate. The daylilies were all single fans and come in a plastic bag with holes and wood shavings and some peat moss. They looked pathetic so rather than putting them directly into the garden I potted them up. Three out of 12 did not make it. I think being in plastic and if it is hot when they ship it causes condensation and rot. One actually had a mushy crown directly out of the bag. Contacted the company and they promptly sent out replacements. Also one of the ones I ordered was no longer available and they promptly sent a refund check.
Received a great catalog from Roots & Rhizomes (had never received one before). I ordered two Delphiniums. Had the holes already dug, anxiously awaiting, and I get a tiny box in the mail with two small plastic bags inside. Each bag contained a 1 - 1/2-in long root ball x about 1/4 in across. Paid 33.00 for this experience! I did plant them in pots and then tried to send an e-mail, but somehow the e-mail just wouldn't go through (surprise). I then sent a letter of complaint to the company and, to their credit, I did get a full refund from Jung seed (?). However, I will not order from this company again.
As for the two microscopic specimens I planted in pots - they never made it out of the soil.
Potted plants from R&R were very good. The free daylily was great. But I think they are a conglomerate of 5 different companies and the $15.00 Delphiniums were tiny and in the plastic bags. 5-6 plants in plastic and none were more than tiny rooted cuttings, too small to be called plants. None lived. But, I think these plants came from one of their other companies, as the same plants were listed by another co. in the same town. I won't order anything that isn't in a pot anymore. I hope the one's I've ordered this year (all potted) are nice healthy plants.
I ordered plants in spring of '06, and when they came they were all healthy, (except for 1 daylily), albeit a little on the small side. Did not like packaging, which used plastic bags, which promotes moisture (which is OK-but may cause rotting). Since this was first time ordering plants through mail did not know if this was standard practice with other companies. Daylily was called in and re-ordered. Person who answered phone said it was too late in spring and couldn't replace. Did get replacement late summer and was OK. Checked growth at end of season and everything made it. Not sure if would order from them again. Jancee in NH
On Jan 25, 2006, dirtyharry Aurora, CO (Zone 5a) wrote:
I would recommend that anyone thinking of purchasing daylilies from this company, think again. Buy daylilies from growers who specialize in daylilies. Go to the American Hemerocallis Society website http://www.daylilies.org/ and click on Daylily Sources.
ordered daylily Siloam Jim Cooper and hosta on 10/7/02. Hosta is doing well... Daylily has still not bloomed. I have high hopes that this summer may be the one... ??
In general, I have been satisfied with this company but only for their fleshy-rooted material. Last year I ordered several Siberian Iris. Two of them have come up this spring with 5 or more fans. All survived. My experience with these, and with daylilies, has been completely satisfactory. The neutral rating is based on my extremely disappointing experience with their bareroot hardy geraniums. None survived. I would never trust them with anything except the above-named varieties.
On Feb 26, 2004, WUVIE Hulbert, OK (Zone 7a) wrote:
Thank you all for your posts.
Today I cancelled an order I'd placed with them for
not one, but two daylily collections.
While there may be a lucky few who get a good order,
the price I was about to pay for "I hope I'm one of the few" was not worth it to me.
Though this saddens me to see, I am rather surprised
as well. Such wonderful presentation, such wonderful
pictures and catalog. I was charged $20.00 for a book
which with shipping only came to $10.40, so will have
to await proof of a refund before making a comment about
that.
So very sad. However, I must say it taught me to
get my little behind in here to check the Garden
Watchdog. Thank you so much, everyone.
You've saved me a couple hundred dollars!
I too have had a neutral experience with this company. I had ordered 3 potted hostas and a siberian iris all have grown vigorously. The siberian iris was a large clump (the largest that I have ever received via a catalog). However the remaining items (3) that I received as bare roots failed to grow. Customer service was quick to give me credit on a future order, which I will make for potted plants or iris.
Have ordered from Roots & Rhizomes this year and last. The daylilies have been okay, and my mail order experience has been limited. In 2002 I ordered the miniature package and found them to be puny; however, most of them did survive. The daylilies ordered separately were larger and all have survived, looking good this year. I also ordered Siberian iris and found most of them looked very good. However, they did not survive -- why I have no idea. I did not follow up with the company, in part because their order sat for a period of time before I put them in.
This year I ordered daylilies, Siberian iris, and a few perennials. Their packing seemed fine to me. The daylilies varied greatly. I got an excellent clump of Canadian Border Patrol, but the least expensive daylily I got was very marginal and has not survived. The most expensive daylily was medium sized but reasonable, and it has done okay. (Hopefully it has done well enough to survive our cold winter.)
The Siberian iris this time have done very well. Am very pleased. The clumps are quite generous. Oddly, they sent me as my free perennial one of the same Siberian iris that I had ordered.
Two of the perennials I ordered came in little pots and are fine. The bare-root perennials, however, were a different story. I received: One little stick of a penstemon, very DOA; something that I hadn't ordered, which actually is doing fine (a small bleeding heart) -- the only bare root item that is doing fine -- a heuchera that was very small (maybe it will come up next year? probably not), and a hellebore that was also marginal, seemed to hang in there for a month or so and now has disappeared (slug damage? am hoping it will pop up next year). Faced with that shipment again, I might do as someone else had suggested and try growing them on in pots or at least a dedicated spot in my garden.
Again, I've not contacted the company, although I probably will regarding the daylily that died, the wrong plant, and the stick.
I will probably order again, especially daylilies and Siberian iris, but I'm also going to think about going with someone else if I have a choice, and for perennials they will be my last resort. (But hey, if you got to have it, and it's nowhere else, what are you going to do?)
Ouch! I wish I had read the Watchdog before I ordered. Granted, my order is under $50 but still....! Guess I'll wait and see. If I get burned, then I suppose I can consider myself lucky that it hasn't happened until now.
I purchased 18 hostas, some in small pots, others bare-root.
All but one variety grew quite large, larger than locally purchased ones in half-gallon pots.
Pulmonarias also in pots and bare-root, grew well.
I ordered 6 bare-root grasses, none of which grew. I asked for replacements this spring, so can't comment further.
I love the large selection in the catalog.
This company ships in a timely manner and has wonderful varieties of plants that are hard to obtain elsewhere..but the plants (at least the dozen or so I bought) are small and have a tough time competing in the garden, even here in the Pacific Northwest, an area is known for its fine climate for perennial plants. If I buy from them again I would grow the plants on in pots a year to get garden sized plants.
Nice catalog, good descriptions, excellent daylilies. However, I found that the tags came off the plant packs very easily and I was left to guess about a couple of the lily's IDs. I ordered a few perennials along with my daylilies and I would not do that again. The perennial plants were very small and half of them did not survive (I'm a gardener of 30 years experience and have a greenhouse to shelter new plants). I believe they should stick to their specialty and leave the miscellaneous perennials alone.
