Blue J Iris website is up........

It's time to start making those long winter wish lists of orders...... Blue J is taking orders begiining January 1.

http://www.bluejiris.com/

Thanks neil, gonna check it out for sure. Will be adding to my wish list!

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I'm impatiently waiting on you Weegy.

Blue J has stopped shipping International TG. Would not want any one to be taken as badly as they did me in 2006. If you have a problem with them handle it carefully as they get their back up real fast, and don't take negative feed back VERY WELL.
I ordered 14 iris and by spring I don't expect to have even half alive .they were pathetic as my picture shows

I have just printed out an order, but I am rethinking sending it to this vendor. The picture posted by oltmanns is very very sad. I would be in a rage if I got those plants. I read your report in watchdog and then I looked to see if you had any pictures of your BC garden posted, so I would have a better sense of your garden savvy. What a pleasure it was to see your efforts. I wonder if they took the time to see that they were dealing with someone who has not only great design skills but is a fastidious gardener. And the location is to die for. Happy new year ! Patti

Oltmanns, sorry you had trouble with Blue J. But Patti, I'd say to go ahead and order. I've bought well over three hundred from them the past two years and am very happy with them. I had two misfills, and I've found their customer service to be exceptional (it does take a few days to get responses to emails). They helped identify what I had and sent replacements. Their rhizomes are smaller than those coming from California and the West Coast, but that works great for me in Tennessee. The West Coast rhizomes always have a hard time acclimating here and take several years to harden up and I have to watch for rot. The Blue J ones settle right in and start growing when the weather gets decent in the Fall.

I'd say place a small order the first year to any company you haven't dealt with before and see how they do.

Neil

I concur with NeilTR start with a very small order. Blue J offered me a reasonable refund,I asked to have irises replaced, but sent 5 e-mails and they did not respond. Their customer service is the absolute pits if you have a problem, and I was left with the impression that I should apologize, for daring to complain.

Excuse my bad manners. I wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year and the best gardening season ever.
Thanks to Patti for your lovely comments.
Lynn

Neil, a picture is worth a thousand words! Here is a typical order that I recieved last summer from one of several Iris vendors that I bought from last summer. I will sit on the fence until I see more feed back this summer before I order from B-Jay. I did like their selections and site and certainly the price. I had a complaint about some plants last year (first time I said that!) from a vendor. The owner refunded the entire order, not just the plants that I was unhappy about, and then sent me a 50.00 gift certificate plus a whole bunch of seeds. That is customer service, especially since he read my post in garden watchdog and contacted me directly about my complaint. The power of Dave's Garden is good. Happy new year all. Patti

I would kill, to have had mine look half that good.

Lynn

I have had nothing but good service and good rhizomes from Blue J. Everyone is doing extremely well in my garden. I just looked at them today, all solid.

Here's a picture of what I received.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2615675

Every single iris was of that quality.

I placed my order already this morning.

I ordered 18 cvs from Blue J in 2005, and of the 6 that bloomed in 2006, one was incorrectly identified. Although Blue J wasn't able to identify the mislabeled plant and wasn't able to replace it with what it was supposed to be, they did allow me to choose two other cvs to replace it. I was satisfied with that resolution.

Their rzs are rather small, but that's not an undesireable condition for me. Like Neil, I tend to have a lot more problems with the huge West Coast rzs that take so long to shrink down and acclimate to my severe climate. Even Blue J's rzs are larger than I can generally grow them in my garden.

Lynn, the rzs in your photo look fine and healthy to me, but the foliage does look well-aged. I wonder if the problem lies not with Blue J but with the length of time your package may have been held up at the Canadian border before being delivered to you. Of course that doesn't explain or excuse the poor customer service you have reported.

Laurie

Laurie, you sent me great iris too, but the picture was of ones I got from Stoney Creek. They were more money (4.00), thus bigger, so I think your thoughts about the iris being held up in customs may be correct. But, as you also said, it doesn't mean that it was Lynn's fault. Pollyk shipment looks great. I may send them a small order as they do have a some that I would love. Obviously they have some loyal customers and I want to support local nurseries. Patti

The iris were definately not healthy. There was quite a few moldy and mushy ones
If they had not been so small I might have been able to cut off the bad area.

I have received orders from Riverview in 10 days and they all arrive in great shape very clean dry and real healthy looking.

I potted 8 out of the 14 iris and brought them in side for the winter, so far 3 are dead. ROTTED AWAY.

Check out maineroses negative comments. She got the same reception that I did.
Lynn

If rzs are not properly dried, they can definitely mold and/or rot in transit, esp. if they are delayed at an international border for several days. I have received moldy rzs, and it's not fun! Unfortunately, I also sent rzs that arrived moldy when I first started trading irises online about 10 yrs ago. I learned that lesson VERY QUICKLY and am now maniacal about making sure I mail out DRY rzs, properly packaged in well ventilated boxes.

Laurie

I placed an order with them that I haven't paid for yet because I've been waiting for them to send me an invoice to pay with PayPal. I debated withdrawing it after seeing Oltmanns' photo (a picture really is worth a thousand words!). Those are the most pathetic looking irises I've ever seen. My husband thinks I should go ahead and do the order and ask for a refund when I get them if I'm not satisfied. Well, I'm probably going to give it a try and cross my fingers for good luck since their prices are so reasonable.

Cathy

Cathy-

I think you will be pleased with your order. I always have been.

Neil

I have had experience with dried rhizomes, moldy ones, small and large. I find the larger roots do not do well when popped into an Iowa summer drought garden. They take along time to adjust. the smaller iris have adjusted better for me.

On the other hand, I once got an order from ebay where the TB iris were all smaller than my little finger. It took 4 years for them to bloom.

Wait a second--aren't those daylily roots???

I hope I have good luck on my order. After drooling over the prices and varieties, I ordered 30. JUst couldnt help myself. Now the big question is where to put them. BTW , I have had good luck over the years even with finger sized rzs. This past August I ran across an rz of Fluted lime and had to have it since I won queen of the show with it 30 years ago. When I first planted it , it was finger sized and dried up. It got worse after planting , so I dug it up and moved it. It began to grow and looks like it will do fine though I doubt that it will bloom next year. Now the only question is where am I going to put 30 more roses.
John

Good catch, Wanda! Those are most definitely daylily roots in bbrookrd's photo.

So busy admiring the nice green, I never noticed

I wonder also if the holdup at the border wasn't the cause of your problems, Lynn. I can see them getting moldy, if held over for awhile. How long were they in transit?

I see Blue J is not taking any international orders, due to problems they had last year.

I'm so sorry you had such a problem, but mine were so exceptional, especially for the price that I would still strongly recommend them. The iris I received were comparable, or better than, any of the other sources, I received them from, and I got some really good iris elsewhere last year.

Packages can get stalled in customs at the Canadian border for over a month. The plants either arrive all dried up or moldy. Not any fun for the sender or the receiver.

Hi Polly. The inspection sheet was the only thing that had a date on it. It was dated for some time in the first of July. I disposed of all the paper work last month when I cleaned up for Christmas.
There were no dates on the parcel,that I could read. If the irises had been a decent size as yours were, I could have cut out mushy ends and treated. mainroses, from Maine got the same treatment as I did. I would not have made such a stink if the customer service had been decent, but it was more pathetic than their iris. I sent them 5-mail and they didnot respond to one.

Lynn,

If it was dated the first part of July, and you posted pictures 8/25, is it possible it was held up at the border that long? That would be ridiculous.

I hope you get some out of them. Your pictures of your gardens are so beautiful. Are irises very expensive for you to buy in Canada, or is there just such a limited assortment?

This message was edited Jan 5, 2007 2:15 PM

Iris orders from Riverview have taken 10 days. Private order from Tex. took 12 days.

Iris from Canada are far more expensive and have no where near the selection that is available in the US. 2 year intros may be around $30.