Buggy Crazy/Garden Watchdog Question

So keep reviewing and keep buying, if you can, from those businesses that you love so we can help keep them around.

If it summer it must be time to get my narcissus order and my lily order into Buggycrazy! She is one of the only sources for a great natural looking hyacinth called Hyacinthus orientalis var. albulus which I keep ordering so someday I will have an army of them. Besides lilies, she has great narcissus. I have more than 30 of her narcissus. This was part of last summers orders. I can't wait until they bloom. Then come her lilies, which are always fabulous and big. A soft yellow one called 'July Mint' a real fav. Patti

Red Devon
Seagull
Sir Winston Churchill
Spellbinder
Tripartite
Twin Sisters
Rainbow
Quail
Fragrant Breeze
Martinette
Amore
Cheerfulness
Felindre
Mint Julep

Patti, your list is awesome. The daffs are another treasure she has over there, you are so right about that. I keep finding all sorts of treasures over there. And the lilies...the list of beauties is neverending. The pink camass is a real treat too, for spring.

I don't know how I missed Buggy's column in the Watchdog 30. I wonder how long it has been there?

Yay Buggy!! Way to go!!

The best grower there is! Go Lisa!

LOVE PINK CREAM!

Yayyy!!! I'm so glad to hear this news- Lisa is awesome!

I hadn't seen this thread before, but it reminded me of a rating left for Forest Farm a few years ago. I love FF and ordered from them because of their good rating. Anyhow, the negative poster said they had never ordered from FF and left the negative feedback because they thought the shipping and handling fees were too high. That never seemed quite fair to me. Especially considering how cheap I am, and having figured in the price of S&H into the cost of plants, was still getting better deals on those particular plants than I could find anywhere else.

'Pink Cream' is one special, special lily.

It is nice to see some "littler guys" , like Buggy that grow their own product on the list of Watchdog Top 30. It is a long time coming and so well deserved. It really made my day to see it, can you tell? Lol ;)

Its a real thrill for me too, to finally see smaller specialty growers recognized. I know Lisa's had more than her share of challenges with the farm, I sure hope this is a boost for her.

I am sooo glad to hear of Buggy's making the WD 30! An honor she deserves!

Patti we have some similar tastes in narcissi. Sir Winston Churchill has to be probably one of my very favorite daffodils! I have them all over the place and planted even more last fall - and will add more next year as well. Thanks for pointing out that Lisa sells those as well - may have to try something from her besides lilies.

Here are some SWC from last year.

I need 'Pink Cream" and more daffs I guess. ^_^

Steve, I got one from her that she is not sure of its true id. I called it Buggycrazy Popcorn for my journal. I am just happy to have it no matter it's name. Patti

Patti, I got some of those from her a few years ago. Last year the buds all blasted on them, not sure what's up with that? How long have you had those?

I planted them in 2006. I hope that doesn't happen this year to mine. I know the doubles seem more prone to Bud Blast and also to bulbs that have been planted late. I have read that sudden temperature changes at a certain point in the flowers life can cause Bud Blasting too. I have read there are some virus causes, but I doubt that is common. I didn't order "Gold Ducat" for the reason that some wrote in the plant files that it blasts and that it seems to fall over. I can have a blast and fall over too. Patti

Lol!

I've done that, but it usually involves tequila.

Moby...We have something else in common...^_^

hee hee!

Here's the list of vendors who specialize in lilies, sorted by their rating: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/advanced.php?search_text=&cat[158]=16&cat[157]=&state=xx&country=XX&sorter=rating&submit=Search

That's very pretty, Patti - what a nice double :-) I grew 'Tahiti" at my old place and really like that one. Some of the large doubles do tend to blast here as well and I always attributed it to the heat - though maybe it was due to a sudden temperature spike and not the heat itself.

Oh Terry...Thank you...But that was not a very nice list to provide for those of us who have repeatedly fallen off the "Do NOT Buy any MORE" wagon...heavy sigh...Woe is me..It's a lost cause...^-^

I've already bookmarked it...

That's the nice list. *This* is the too-tempting list: http://davesgarden.com/products/ps/search.php?search_text=Lilium&submit=Search

Terry, I adore lists! Thanks for that one.

The people over on the Northeast Gardening forum are posting about our Favorite mail order companies. My list is ridiculous long, but it is very interesting to see who we all like to order from, especially since we see each other gardens daily. Many great vendors out there, some on the Top 30 and some, I never heard of until today. Worth a look. Please post your thoughts as the Northeast group considers that everyone is Northeast of somewhere. Patti

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/958717/

Thanks for pointing me in the direction--I made my appeal ;o)

Terry...love that list. Thank you for taking the time to look over all of the comments and give them some weight. Buggy Crazy sets the standard for quality and many of the others that follow on that list are on my favorites lists as well. I bookmarked it too and am hoping I forget all about it ;) But since I have clicked on the first 8 links, I'm thinking I'm not gonna do too well with the refraining option.

Seriously, thanks for all you guys do to make it great around here.

Thanks for the kind words, but we can't take any credit for the rankings. That's entirely up to you, the consumers. When you let the world know who's the best (in your humble opinion ;o) and who needs to improve, you make sure that the good companies are given the spotlight they deserve.

Okay....so Buggy Crazy is not a top 30 as of right now, how often does the listing change? That was only a few days ago. Is it by number of positive feedbacks over a certain number of days? Now I am confused. Top 30 or not, Buggy still rocks ^_^

The Top 30 is in a constant state of movement. (You only see the movement among the bottom few as they move in-and-out, but the entire list is recalculated each time feedback is added.)

Here's the list of all U.S. companies, ranked by their ratings: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/advanced.php?search_text=&cat[158]=&cat[157]=&state=xx&country=US&sorter=rating&submit=Search

That doesn't take non-U.S. companies into consideration, but you get a pretty good idea of how the top 30 shapes up, and you can see the differences between #30 and #31 (or thereabouts; a few Canadian and UK companies also factor into this list.)

We're currently working hard on some cleanup work within the Watchdog categories, so we can then do some fun things to highlight the "top" companies in each category, without the "generalist" companies dwarfing the true specialists. That's why I linked to the list of Lily vendors ;o)

Okay, I get it now. It's actually nice to see that movement in there. And you know, I never noticed that you had all that categorizing option stuff there. Neat. I'll have to remember that. Thanks for setting me straight.

We're always happy to explain things and show our members how to get the most out of any feature ;o)

Terry would there be anyway to post a list of your top reviewers (most reviews summited) of that groups top pick of their favorite vendors? I would love if you did this, that it would be limited to reviews by actual subscribers. You could post it somewhere else so as to avoid confusion and maybe just as a special once a year feature.

It would be like taking all the great restaurant reviewers in the country and posting a collective list of their top 30, as opposed to a big group or random diners of their favorite top 30 restaurants. Both list would be valuable, but vastly different.

It would not be as democratic, but it might be more valuable at times for some and it would be certainly fun to see the difference. I think I would learn about some tiny gems.

I would love to see those speciality lists too. That is a great idea.

My biggest issue is that many single posters make a mess of the ratings by posting silly or personal attacks on a vendor that have nothing to do with plants, price, service, and shipping. I know it should work out in the wash over time, but how many people open up a review of a vendor who got a bad posting and see a red negative rating and never read further to see that the poster said they had never actually ordered from the vendor, but just didn't like something about the site. This happened to Buggycrazy and I read another one recently that thought that because the vendor was out of something they were a doing a bait and switch. Not helpful, nor fair.

I am overly sensitive to the power of a single review, as I have seen what a single silly, and vindictive review could do to a writer in the book industry. I can't tell you how many people would never consider reading a book after it received, but one bad review even thought it got 20 other glowing ones.

Regardless the Watchdog is a useful tool for me.

Sad to see Buggycrazy got demoted for the time being. It is unfortunate that the timing is off for her business cycle. We need those speciality lists for sure. Patti

patti, I'm not sure how feasible it is...(using myself as an example, *I* have no idea who those members are ;o)

As to single reviews:

- Negative reviews are unfortunate. Coming from a "one-and-done" tends to negate their complaint, because it's nearly impossible to judge whether they had reasonable expectations or not. It is accepted as long as it pertains to an actual experience with the company as a customer/would-be customer: if their review indicates they are a disgruntled employee, former employee, vendor who is owed money, neighbor, spouse, ex-spouse, etc. let us know. Those don't belong in the GWD.)

That said, what you might judge as unfair or unreasonable (because you've had positive dealings with the vendor) doesn't mean they're wrong, or not entitled to their opinion. It is possible that someone has a bad experience with an otherwise great vendor. Haven't you ever been disappointed in the service or food at a restaurant that everyone raved about? It happens, and it doesn't make those reviewers wrong or unreasonable.

- Single positive reviews can also be viewed skeptically. If a vendor has a flurry of activity, all positive, all from people who signed up just to post that one review...that should be a warning flag for us (and readers). Even when the activity is determined to be legitimate, a slew of similar reviews within a very short time frame can leave a big--and permanent--question mark on a vendor's reputation.

Moral of the story? The GWD is for your opinions. We hope that most people are fair, reasonable and honest in giving their opinions, but we encourage readers to consider each review in context and decide for themselves how much weight to give it.

Terry, I thought you could do a sort of paid subscribers who have submitted comments to the GWD and then take the top group, of, say the top 20 or any number that reflects a large number of comments submitted, and make a list of the companies that they have submitted comments about. Then compile a composite list of those companies that they mutually agree are their "go to" mail order sites. It would be a sort of a best of the best by the most active subscribing members in submitting comments to the GWD.

I see you have done 295 and that I can then go to your list and read all your comments. You are so good. But I don't have the ability to see at a glance who is making the biggest effort to summit comments to GWD, or do I?

Dave could send a d-mail to the GWD's most submitters and ask them for their personal favorites and then post a composite list of those once a year. I would just love to know at a glance who are the most popular mail order nurseries from a list of our most active garden posters to the GWD. It actually might encourage many to start submitting more comments to the GWD.

This list would eliminate, as you so rightly call them "one and done" people, who may, and mostly do, have totally logical, thoughtful, valid and fair comments. And I don't certainly want to alter or eliminate the current top 30 in any way or remove any one's rights to comment ever. Except I still think one should have actually submitted and order to make a comment. I just would love another way to peek at those most active in posting comments to the GWD as to who they like the most. The Oscars of of the GWD.

Winter has been too long, too many idle thoughts. But I have been keeping a list of things I would love to see happen in the Journal and Blog features. But as requested by you, a "Nudge" won't follow until the "Dog days of Summer" Patti

Patti, I really like that idea. It's a neat one.

To be clear, I have not made purchases from 295 mail order companies. (My husband probably thinks I have, though ;o)

Most of my comments are actually editor comments about companies that appear to have closed ;o)

Your idea is an interesting one...but we also have to weigh the risk that some misguided souls might see it as an opportunity to stake their claim on some notoriety, and sacrifice quality for sheer quantity. Then we'd have a mess to sort out, and try to determine which reviews are legit, and which ones are spurious.

Terry, You have got a point there as I imagine there might be someone who would desperately want to be in that rarefied list of top reviews of GWD and go wild with bogus comments. If it wasn't a regular feature, but just a random bonus for us to enjoy that might eliminate the problem. It could be a feature for one the Daily Articles in Jan to get our juices going. You could put it together and write & drool about all the companies that you would like to order from too.

Off to plant seeds. I found some Buggycrazy lily seeds that I never planted. Hope I can get them to grow. Patti

I stumbled across this topic and remember having been irked after reading the negative rating for being out of seasonal items. I'm glad that the members here who actually understand the seasonality of lily or any other bulb or plant offerings weren't influenced by the review. I've not had the opportunity to purchase from Lisa yet (soon to be rectified) but I know that she is very well respected for her amazing offerings.

Hi Guys,
I just found this (there is SNOW here-again) and want to thank all of you for your support. Do not be bummed that I do not stay at the top 30, feedback is a fickle thing and while nice, it doesn't pay the bills. As I am sure you all know it is much more common to give negative feedback than positive. Yes feedback is useful when deciding who to by from, and I do use it for that. Actually that negative was actually nice, due to all the supportive email I got from my loyal customers!
The best feedback is a customer coming back!

I don't think not returning is in my future. I am a "Be Back" for sure! Patti

You leave me no choice but to come back, over and over. Cheers to the very best!