Did anyone here order Siberian Iris from Ensata's two dollar

Sale earlier this year? I was trying to get an idea of the success you have had with the Siberian Iris from the two dollar sale. Four of us put in a rather large order and many of them, the majority of them have died, and I have not been able to get a reply from Ensata.

Thanks for any information.
JanetS

Same here, unfortunately. Maybe they were too small. Even some of the $8 ones (full price) were tiny and died too. Feel very sad about it and really glad they were only $2 ea. I potted them up and gave them (as I thought) TLC but..........

Really don't understand it because they were well packed and still good and damp when unpacked.

Some people reported all died, some had a 10% living rate.

I've ordered from them often before (mainly JIs) and never had a problem.

Waiting for Laurie and her gang to weigh in here, as Lauarie also did a group order.

Think we should have stuck with Dee's $3 pots of sibs that SP was selling off. Next time we will know better.

inanda aka Ginny

I just think this is deplorable. We are quite a large group here and you would think they would be concerned about all of the negative "word of mouth" they can recieve from such a large community.

I do not understand this at all. I wonder what our next course of "action" could be, one that may truly get their attention.

Perhaps is we all banded together and put the true NUMBERS and DOLLAR amounts in one place it would get their attention.

Anyone have any ideas? I am sure we have folks here that know how to handle this type of thing.

Hi Janet,
Shirley & I bought 13 each & shared 1-2 each with each other, I do think they sent to small of plants, as I only have 3-4 still alive out of my 13 & even less out of what Shirley sent me from her order, I potted them & kept them well (not over) watered & planted about 2 weeks ago, I am seeing no improvements with them, Yes, this was a very disappointing sale:(Anita

Well, Sibs can be difficult to get started. If planted during hot weather, they can sit and rot rather than rooting in. If overwatered during hot weather when not adequately rooted, they can rot. If underwatered, they can shrivel up and die. If fertilized before rooted, they can rot and die. If planted in alkaline soil or if limed, they can die. If not adequately mulched to retain soil moisture and keep their roots cool, they can die. In other words, Sibs can be touchy before they are well established in a new garden. Their care in the first few months is critical, and sometimes they don't offer much room for gardener error.

When I received my order from Ensata this year, the divisions were average commercial size - 3-5 fans each. I potted them up in an acid potting mix and placed the pots in full sun. That was a mistake. I lost a few when the pots overheated. I then moved the others to an area that only receives maybe 2-3 hrs of direct sunlight a day. I didn't want them overheating again while trying to reestablish their roots. Those pots are doing fine.

Ensata sent me healthy divisions of adequate size, and I have done the best with them that I know how. I win some, I lose some. Such is the nature of gardening.

BTW, I never would have expected Sibs to do well in a GA climate. I assume GA gets very hot in the summer and not terribly cold in the winter. But then, I've never been in GA, so I could be way off in that assumption.

Laurie

Well, Laurie, I am in North Georgia and I do have three different ones that do beautifully here and my neighbor across the street has several nice stands as well. I only odered them because of the success of the ones I have now. I try to give things a year or so and see how well they do before investing much in new ones.

Having said that. The other orders went to different states. Several different states, and I would think New York would be good....but then I have not had as much experience with them as some of you.

You need to bear in mind that just because one or two or three Sibs (or any other type of plant, for that matter) does well for you, that doesn't necessarily mean that all plants of that type will do equally as well. For instance, I am currently growing about 100 different tall bearded irises. However, I have attempted to grow at least 8 times that many over the last decade. So in my experience, only 1 in 8 TBs is tough enough to handle my climate and growing conditions over the longer term.

Also, the longer Sibs are out of the ground, the more stressed they are, and the more likely they will fail once planted. If you placed a group order, had the entire order sent to you, then repackaged and sent them off to other states, they were out of the ground and in transit under who-knows-what sort of shipping conditions and temperatures for considerably longer than they would have been if they'd been shipped from Ensata directly to each person.

Just a few more aspects to consider.

Laurie

Point taken. So are you trying to nicely say to us that we should just cut our losses and not expect Ensata to do anything for us at all...kinda the "buyer beware" clause?

No, I'm not saying buyer beware. I'm saying that the Sibs I received from Ensata were fine. I'm also saying that Ensata shouldn't be held responsible for circumstances beyond their control once plants leave their gardens.

I, of course, have no way of knowing how you or anyone else handled the plants you received, the conditions of those plants when you received them, or the conditions under which you attempted to grow them.

Laurie

Thank you Laurie, for your input. I appreciate your candor and the experience you bring to this problem.

Were you involved in a group purchase as well or was Inanda/Ginny speaking of someone else? If you were the one in the group purchase, how did the rest of the group do with theirs?

I did put together a group purchase, but all of the buyers were local and received their irises within 24 hrs of my receiving them from Ensata. I have only spoken with two of the buyers since the Sibs were received. One of them lost several, but he also went on vacation for two weeks immediately after planting them and had no one there to keep them watered in his absence. The other buyer reported that all of hers were doing great when I spoke with her several weeks ago.

Laurie

Thanks.

I certainly would never take any 'course of action' re Ensata. I've known them for years and years and totally trust them and their product. As Laurie said, Ensata has no control about how their product is treated after it leaves them.

I did go travelling a couple of weeks after they arrived and maybe my waterer under-watered them.

In any event thats the way I feel.

inanda aka Ginny

Ginny, the only "course of action" I am talking about is someway to get them to address my concerns. I sent and email when I realized the ones I had "appeared small and were getting brown" and they asked me to "watch them and let us know" so that is what I did. but I can NOT get anyone to answer the emails now. I would just appreciate common courtesy.

OK.
inanda

for what it matters, none of mine from Ensata survived

I wonder how long the Sibs that were shipped to Canada might have gotten hung up at the border. How long did it take for you Canadian folks to receive your Sibs after the date of shipment?

I didn't order but to me it sure sounds like a lot of excuses for a bad product and bad customer service with the responses.

I just feel a response would the right thing to do. They can tell me I am an idiot and have no idea how to grow Siberian Iris..they can tell me we didn't do whatever magic it takes to keep them alive...they could just tell me something! If that is the case, I find myself in pretty good company. Too many of us purchased small divisions that died. It is just that simple to me.

In my opinion, any company that is reputable will answer their customers concerns. Whatever they may be.

Our order didn't get hung up at all at the border because I have a US address too. I went and got them the same day or next day after they arrived. Until I sorted and shipped them they were in water so they were well looked after. Think I shipped the following Monday as didn't want them to be in a truck cooking away, overthe weekend.

inanda

I agree that Ensata should be better about answering customer queries. I assume they're still busy replanting their fields and are probably unavailable during daylight hours. Your best bet for making contact is probably calling them one evening after dark.

I will try that, I did send another email asking that they please contact me. So I will try calling them. I am sure it is a busy time of year for them too.

I went in with Inanda's group and was throughly disappointed, I'll never order from Ensata again.

Sharon

This message was edited Sep 24, 2007 3:19 PM

This message was edited Sep 24, 2007 3:20 PM

I think it is very important here to thank Ginny (Inanda) from our Canadian group .. she went out of her way and spent her time to put this order in for us with Ensata . it is too bad that for some of us it didn't work out .. but certainly not Ginny's fault
judy

By all means Judy, I do not "blame" Ginny with our Ensata group order, Ginny and I talk on a regular basis and she knows very well how I feel.

maybe I'll just stick with my tried and true unnamed sib which is all over my gardens ... I put hundreds in my compost every year because I don't have enough peole to give them away to
Judy

Sibs should do just fine for Janet. Northern Georgia has a good climate for Sibs. I would recommend that, Janet, if you're ordering some another time, to order them for fall.

As Laurie said, sibs can be hard to get going. I suspect coming from a cold climate like Michigan, where Ensata Gardens is, into the heat of Georgia contributed to the problem. Fall, when it's cooling down should be much better, and Michigan has hot summers, so they would be going into a temperature more similar in the fall.

I ordered from the sale, and as I mentioned to Janet previously, all mine are still OK. I potted them in a professional bark mix, and put them in the shade, and kept them well watered.

I do think the divisions were a little smaller than their normal divisions, and was a little concerned when I received them. However they were a size that should have been adequate to establish the plants. They were the same size that many vendors send out.

I don't understand the lack of communication. I have always found Ensata to be a professional company to deal with, and am quite surprised by this. I'm sure they are very busy now, and would take a few days to answer emails, but you would expect some response by now. They did answer your email the first time, so hopefully they will respond to the current emails, or a phone call, shortly. I would expect Ensata would want to know what was going on with the irises people received from the sale, and to have a chance to address the problem.

Judy, the one you have is absolutely beautiful! I love the tried and true for sure! I am hopeful that they will email me as well. I had not thought about the time of year being very busy for them. I certainly haven't given up hope.

I bought 20 plants of 4 different varieties. I only have 4 plants left. They looked great when they arrived but began to die off within two weeks. They were in filtered light in well draining potting mix. I have had similar experiences with one other sib grower and have had my own divisions die quickly. I think Siberian iris reputation for toughness is overrated and probably applies to only a few of the older varieties like Ceasar's Brother.

However, if Ensata offered the same deal next spring I would buy again. At $2.00 each it is a cheap experiment to see if a different approach would yield better results.

I guess we all have to use PollyK's system. It certainly worked for her.
inanda

frahnzone5

Once established I think most all siberian iris are very easy to grow. Some of the newer tetraploids actually mulitply faster than Caesar's Brother.

Ginny, that system has worked for me for many years. I won't plant them out in the spring, to go thru the heat of the summer. If I purchase them in the fall they go right into the garden. And a bark based mix like Metro Mix 510 keeps the moisture in. You really need a heavier mix, not just potting soil, or garden dirt.

I received my irises from Ensata in May, and participated in the co-op for siberian iris in June, both are doing well. I was wondering if there was anyone that participated in the co-op and purchased from Ensata both? If they had success with the co-op ones, and not with the Ensata ones, maybe the Ensata shipments were too early?

I hate to have a bad light shining on Ensata, as I think they are a wonderful company. Has there been any response yet?

No response yet. Thanks for the great information PollyK. Yes, I did participate in the Co-op in June. The ones I received from that one were much large and had lots of white thick roots. Because of the problems I had with the earlier ones I put these on my front porch in planters, and I am going to plant them into the Garden in a couple of weeks. We are still having Summer heat here. It is supposed to begin staying cooler in a couple of weeks.

I am not familiar with the soil you are talking about, the Metro Mix 510. Is that a brand of some sort. Would simply mixing compost with good Miracle grow type soil do the same thing, or fine bark?

Metro Mix is a professional grade potting mix, used for shrubs, and perennials that like heavier soil. It can be purchased in a lot of garden centers around here. It is a brand name. Compost and fine bark sounds good. I wouldn't use the Miracle Gro type soil, although that is excellent for other things.