Park Seed Company (aka Park's Gardens)

Last night on Park seed there was a 10 for 10 special on select seeds. Web special 5 it was called. The totals did not change in the shopping cart to reflect to special. I called the Customer Care support which sounded like it was in India. The man was rude. He denied the special even after I gave me this web site information. Then when he finally admitted that the site was advertising the special he said it was my fault the cart was wrong. I disagreed because I only had items from the special in my cart and there was well over ten. He put me on hold several times and each time it took longer for me to come back. Finally I could tell he was just waiting for me to go away because he said it was a IT department issue. I cleared my cart. The special was taken off the site a few hours later though the page says 10 for 10. All of the items that where on the page are now missing. I work for two retail stores. We honor the prices posted. We would not post prices, blame the customer and then sneak off and change the prices rather then honor them.

The main problem with Park Seed is that they're refund window (for plant failure) is extremely short for perennials/shrubs. I'd recommend either: - NOT ordering any perennials/shrubs from Park Seed; or - requesting a refund for plant failure for anything that looks even remotely off, within 90 days of receiving the plant. There's no way to take a "wait and see" approach. The perennials and shrubs I've received from Park Seed have always looked rather sickly, and if the plant doesn't do well, you're pretty much stuck with it.

I ordered vegetable and ornamental seeds from Park Seed in January 2021 and was very happy with what I received. The foil packets that each seed came in were just large enough for the amount inside. I appreciate that their website clearly lists how many seeds each packet will hold; this helps me plan my garden for the year. No matter how small the seeds were, I never received fewer than were promised. Their seeds are not the cheapest on the market, but honestly the amount of detailed instruction on how to start each and every packet of them was worth the extra dollar or so. Park Seed is also not the most expensive online seed company by far. I would 100% recommend Park Seed to other gardeners.

Placed an order for three items (14th). All of which should have shipped together. I received the order in 2 days which was great, but missing one item (which was not backordered or delayed due to zone-shipping). Sent an email that day (16th). Did not hear back until the 22nd and they confirmed the missing item would be shipped within the week. By the 5th (2 weeks later), I had not heard anything. Spent three days on hold on the phone. Called each day and waited 2 hours before hanging up. Tried once in the morning and the late afternoon. On the 7th I was finally able to reach someone in about 30 minutes. She confirmed that the item was both in stock and had been shipping to my zone since my order. She was unable to provide me with an estimate on when the item would ship out, or connect me to someone else who could give me any more information. While the customer service rep was nice, the entire experience has been lackluster and made me wary of ordering through this company when many others have the same products. Side note: the other two items I ordered were seeds which have a poor germination rate. Asked a friend who runs a large YouTube gardening channel, and he's confirmed that this company is one he hears many complaints from.

I am a Certified Texas Master Gardener specializing in propagation, our Association's newsletter editor, and contribute research articles, too. I am cognizant that the majority of reviews are negative, which is why I was concerned about ordering from Park Seed. I was pleasantly surprised. Their seed packaging is among the best I've experienced. Their ordering and shipping processes were clear and transparent. Seeds arrived promptly. I sent two inquiries on how to best start seed and grow plants from their Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit' seed offering. I got helpful, concise responses from a knowledgeable horticulturist. In my experience, their sales and customer service are well above average, and I would order from Park Seed again.

Posted on July 6, 2020, updated July 30, 2020 In all fairness I have ordered periodically from Park Seed for many, many years and have been happy with their products. My problem this time is that I never received my Campsis Summer Jazz Fire vine which cost $36.95. I ordered some seeds along with the vine. The seeds arrived. When I checked my order status in May, the site said the rest of my order would be shipped later per the appropriate planting time. I checked again in June but this time it said the second part of the order had been shipped. I had never received the vine so I emailed the company asking if there was any recourse and no one replied to my email. I live in a rural area surrounded by farmland so there are no "porch pilots" around. Perhaps my order was delivered to the wrong address? As a long-standing customer, I have never before claimed not to have received an item. Now I am afraid to order again for fear that I will be left "holding the bag" having paid for merchandise not received.

I ordered several packets of seeds from Park this season. Most of the packets germinated fairly well and produced decent plants, although they were inferior to the products of other companies. The packet of butterfly bush seed germinated way below 10% and the Mother of Thyme produced grass. Nothing faintly resembling any thyme, ever. Healthy, broad-leaved grass. I emailed Park and did get swift customer service, along with a refund of the few dollars I had spent on the seeds. But my loss of time and effort, along with my disappointment, will keep me from being a repeat customer.

No customer service. Ive tried to contact them twice about some seeds I had ordered that seem to be lost in transit or something. The package has been sitting 30 minutes away from my house for 16 days now and i'm not sure how much time will be left in the season if and when the seed arrive. I understand a delay at this time, but not being able to contact someone when there is an issue is a big problem. I was hoping to have found a solid seed company that I could trust, but that isn't possible if there isn't customer service. I get the feeling that once you pay, the really don't care too much. :(

I have ordered seeds from many vendors over the years and my experience with Parks seeds has always been good. The seed packaging in foil makes it easy to keep the seeds in once opened and the germination rated are always top notch. One example is the coneflowers I purchased where I had 100% germination which is very unusual for those plants in my experience. I will continue to use parks for my hard to find/germinate seeds!

I have ordered from Park for year. Most recent order was in March 2020. Slightly slower than i liked; however, they did indicate they were behind on shipping on their website. Order was shipped piecemeal which was better than waiting two extra weeks for all items. This season I have had reasonable germination rates with their seeds.

Posted on June 18, 2019, updated April 25, 2020 Posted on January 10, 2019, updated June 18, 2019 Posted on June 19, 2018, updated January 10, 2019 Park Seed is . . . fine. The seeds germinate fine, the plants are fine. The shipping costs are fine. The prices are fine. But . . . it is a big huge company. I received the catalog. I saw the pictures of the Park Seed heir posing in them. Not to get too into it but . . . not sure who they think they are fooling with that nonsense. :x So I buy the seeds but they don't make me feel great. The company seems very soulless. And their are other minor complaints. The packaging is horrendous. Black on dark gold foil- very hard to read, often printed smudged so totally illegible. Hard to discern from one another. Small size is easier to lose in cracks. They don't fit easily with rest of seed collection. Also, everything in the supplies category on the website seems really, really overpriced. A twenty-five dollar hand seeder that resembles something parents use to clean out babies' noses? Hoo-boy. I know some of this isn't the same as other people's complaints. But it is the real reason I will only be ordering occasionally, such as during a sale. There are just other places that make me feel better about what I'm purchasing, regardless of the price. Not everything about gardening is about practicality for everyone.

I have purchased from this company in the past with good results. Unfortunately this year they went from positive to negative. This is on reference to order#WEBPS4544692. When I placed the order on 03/10/2020. I didn't receive an order number, shipping date or anything. I sent an email on 03/23/2020 and received a response on 03/26/2020 stating that my order was shipped on 03/11/2020 and if I haven't received it by 03/31/2020 to contact them. Fourteen business days to receive something sent from South Carolina to Tennessee seemed a bit long but okay. So I didn't receive my order on 03/31/2020. I then contacted Parkseed on 04/02/2020 and they stated they would issue a credit. Unfortunately some of the things I ordered were out of stock. The Zinnia seeds were integral to my garden design and they were out of stock. I was very upset. I called Park seed and spoke to a very rude customer service representative. The CSR told me I could use the credit to purchase the part of my order that wasn't out of stock and they would refund the rest. When I attempted to do that I realized that I was never issued the refund as the company said they would. So I sent another email on 04/17/2020. So far I have not received a response My son has covid19. While he's not sick enough to be hospitalized, he is sick. I can't sit on the phone waiting a very long time to try to speak to someone from customer service. I reordered the seeds with my own money because I didn't want anything else to be out of stock. I have a garden plan and I really need the seeds. I can't wait for them to respond and something else is out of stock. So now I'm out about$75 which is a lot for me because I'm not working. Hopefully I will hear from them soon. I hate to give the company a negative but I feel I did everything I was supposed to do and the company fell short. If this isn't taken care of in a timely manner, then I'll redesign my garden with annual seeds that I can get from another company.

I've ordered over $1000 worth of plants and seeds for the 2019/2020. Most online. Only once did I not receive something as promised from Burpee. I decided to try Park Seed company and I also placed 3 other orders for other companies online at the same time on Jan. 6th. Of the 3 companies, this was the last order to arrive. When it did arrive, 1 seed packet was not included. This must be a mistake and I recounted and reviewed all the see packets. Yes, one was missed and also one was to be shipped at a later time. I called the company first thing the next morning and reported my findings. Lady asked me to review it another time as it was shipped. I had to stand my ground and say it wasn't shipped. There definitely was one item missing. Thankfully after confidently standing behind my findings, she entered it to be shipped again. Hopefully I receive that packet soon.

Two dead petunias (and third is nothing to write home about), two miserable-looking bare-root roses (one should make it, not sure on second one), rec'd an email that the peony I ordered is not available, and no response to the emails sent to info@parkseed.com (the only email contact info I could find on parkseed.com) 20 days ago (and within the stipulated 48 hours after delivery of dead/damaged plants) that included photos of the petunias shipment. The end-of-season prices were great - too bad the plants weren't. Stuff happens, but I guess what will make me never order from any of the Park Seed companies again is the non-response to my emails.

I tried to order a product and once I ordered the product it would disappear and not allow me to print off the invoice and no invoice was ever emailed to me. I called the company and tried talking with a very rude supervisor, Grace Nelson, who would rather argue with me about my order than fix my problem. She continued to argue with me about my order and how I never ordered anything. I finally ended the phone call because she refused to stop arguing with me about my order. I received a double order. My purchasing department accepted the orders and I was not able to return them but I guarantee I will never do business with this company again.

In March I ordered $160 worth of plants. In April, Park Seed shipped part of my order--five rosemary plants--and two withered and died a day after they arrived. Park Seed gave me a credit for those two dead plants. By the end of April, I was still waiting for the other eight plants in my order to be shipped. They kept moving the expected ship date later and later, so I called to find out when I could expect my plants. During the first call, they said that the didn't ship on the Friday expected ship date because they did not want them to sit in the post office overnight. Monday came, however, and the plants still did not ship. I called the next week, and they said the plants needed more time to mature, but that they would for sure ship by the next Monday. That Monday has come and gone, and still my plants haven't shipped. I tried to contact them by Live Chat this morning, and I received an email message that their customer service staff was busy and that I could expect a reply in a few days. It is getting hot where I live, and I fear my plants will not have enough time to establish. I feel as if the people at Park Seed lied to me each time I called just to get me off of the phone. So far, I have spent $160 and only have three tiny rosemary plants to show for it.

Burpee seeds was getting a little expensive so I decided to give these guys a try. The variety of seeds available was decent and I liked the prices. 1. They gave me a reasonable shipping estimate which would have had the seeds delivered well before the following weekend so I canceled my other plans that weekend since spring was around the corner. THE SEEDS DID NOT ARRIVE. 2. I tried to look up the shipping status of my order on their website. You can't just see your orders, you have to know your order number and enter it, so more cumbersome than most websites. NO ORDER STATUS INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THEIR WEBSITE. 3. I called. NO ORDER STATUS INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THEIR AUTOMATED PHONE SYSTEM. 4. The phone automatically transferred me to the next available representative. I was pleasantly surprised that they had somebody answering the phones in the evening. IT RANG AND RANG AND NOBODY EVER ANSWERED. Nor was there ever any indication given that they were closed. 5. In the morning I tried their website chat option. it kept saying somebody would be answering in 5 minutes. I let it run just to see how long it would take somebody to actually reply. IT TOOK 3 HOURS FOR THEIR CHAT PERSON TO REPLY. He waited five minutes before disconnecting. 6. I called again. The rep said that the entire order had been delayed because one of the seeds was backordered. HE PROMISED THAT EVERYTHING WAS READY AND THE ORDER WOULD SHIP THE FOLLOWING DAY. 7. When I mildly expressed my disappointment that the entire order had been delayed, RATHER THAN MAKE ANY ATTEMPT AT AN APOLOGY HE SAID THAT HE WAS SORRY I FELT THAT WAY AND THEN PROCEEDED TO HANG UP ON ME. 8. That was eight days ago. STILL NO SEEDS. 9. I called back today. Guess what? THE ORDER HAS NOT YET SHIPPED. 10. I was a little upset. I asked them to cancel my order and refund my money. Once again no genuine apology or attempt to make it right and, wait for it... SHE HUNG UP ON ME. Between the lousy customer service, the lies, and the quaint North Carolinian accents, I couldn't help but be reminded of the excruciating experiences I have had with Indian call centers. NEVER AGAIN PARK SEED!

George W. Park would be mortified seeing customers being treated like I have been by his company. This is in regards to order # WEBPS3825208, 802180, (same product). At first, when I found the website and the growing dome, I was so happy and inspired. My friend then purchased the 80 cell dome for my birthday. It took the company several days to ship it. Tracking reported for 3 days without ever being received by the post office. When I called in regards to the shipping, I was told that it is the post office who didn’t log the product. When I finally received the package, it was a tiny box with on small package of plant food and an invoice for an 80 cell dome. For that, I took a day off to receive the package. I called again, got a runaround, sent pictures of the box and invoice and insisted to have the product ASAP because I was ready for seeding. I then received a promise in writing to receive it on Wednesday, March 6th. The invoice stated a 120 cell dome in addition to the 80 cell dome. So, I took Wednesday off to receive the package (we live very rural). When it was 2 PM, I called the company who told me that the package was just sent out that very day and is to be expected by Thursday. The product arrived on Thursday and I lost 3 days. There were not even instruction included. This is by far the most expensive growing dome and it was handled like it had no value. It seems to me that this company doesn’t care much about good customer experience. This growing dome winds up costing me almost 3 days income in addition to the overpriced product. I learned that this company has no integrity and because of it, eventually no customers. I am grateful though for the lesson learned - NEVER PURCHASE FROM ANYONE WITHOUT INVESTIGATING THE COMPANY FIRST!!!

I have been gardening since 1968 and always found Park Seed to be a reliable company with great prices. Last Spring I ordered 3 bottles of Algoflash from Park Seed because they had the lowest price. When they arrived, one of the bottles had a broken seal and had leaked all over the others, even though they had been taped shut before being shipped. I was was more than disappointed. I notified Park Seed, hoping they would refund me for at least the one bottle. Instead, to my surprise, they shipped 3 more bottles for free. This time they used extra packing and all arrived safely. This is customer service that goes above and beyond what is required or expected....and it is really really smart.....because now I will buy my Algoflash and as much of my other gardening items as posssible from Park Seed. In a day and age where most companies are run by employees who don't really care, Park Seed is the exception. Thank You Park Seed for making your little part of America great again. Hermanson

I placed an online order on 12/15/18 and utilized Amazon Pay which meant I was immediately charged for the order. So far, my order has not been filled (1/02/19 more than two weeks) with no explanation as to the delay. When I check status updates it indicated an anticipated ship date of 12/19 however it indicates the order has not been shipped. The order only includes in-stock items. I consider this delay unacceptable. I have purchased from Park’s for about 30 years and it used to be a good company. About 4 years ago I placed an order which was also not sent for weeks and customer service could give no concrete information about shipment time. Now you can not even reach a real person when you attempt to contact the company. I stopping purchasing from Park’s for several years due to the bad experience. I wished I had not tried again. I would like to say that I have ordered items from three other companies within the last month and seeds and such have been sent out promptly 24 to 48 hours so I do not think my expectations are unreasonable. DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY OR TIME WITH THIS COMPANY.

I have purchased seeds from Park for many years, even some plants over the years. But this year they are using the same customer service as "Wayside Gardens" and "Jackson& Perkins".... I've gardened for 50 years. I'm a master gardener. Most of my plants have flourished with few returns. This year, unknown to me, several of the online plant sales, that I have used before, decided to required proof of dead plants or damage. The first problem was my petunias arrived with evidence of Bud Worm damage (person I talked to had never heard of Bud Worms) and the strange smell they get with Bud Worm damage. They told me to send them pictures. When they received them the horticulturist said they saw no worm!! Duh, the worms are small and hard to find. However, the photos showed chewed flowers and buds. One of my concerns about planting them was the Bud Worms would get to my Geraniums too. Which of course they have and the Petunias have suffered all season until I finally through them out. I have had other plant problems too. One problem was they notified me by email they were mailing them, early March, I called them and told them that I had added a note not to send until May and not to send them yet as the ground was still frozen with snow on it, he said "can't change it just store them in a cool place where they won't freeze." The ground still could not be worked until the middle of May! Guess what those plants looked like when I went to plant! Some of them were bulbs so they were okay, but several (six)of the plants were already shriveled up and dead, I planted them anyway but to know avail. Tell me one good reason I should have to dig up bulbs, or plants, that are dead and take photos of them, just to hear some person say I must have planted them wrong or didn't water them or any thing else they can think of to refuse to replace or refund the plants. I am never going to do business with those companies. I will just buy locally, I can see the condition they are in before buying. No one saves money buying online anymore. A disappointment, as the advantage is they have unusual plants I can't get locally. Definitely not worth the hassle!

Posted on June 29, 2018, updated July 7, 2018 I ordered a bareroot persimmon tree from Park Seed. I expected that it would grow given the proper care, but it never even leafed out. Park Seed refused to make any adjustments. Their guarantee states "Please understand that we cannot accept responsibility for the results of extreme weather, neglect, unforeseeable acts of nature, or ignoring our hardiness zone recommendation." I would understand their refusal if the tree had died due to winter kill, but our weather has been lovely, and entirely above freezing, since I received the tree. As such, I believe that their guarantee is misleading. Please be warned that Park Seed does not guarantee any plant that is ordered outside of their recommended hardiness zone, period.

The plants were supposed to ship on 4/11. I purchased with a gift certificate. In May I checked the status and it was set to AUTHAUTH. When I spoke with support they said the order failed because there was no credit card with the order (of course not I used a gift certificate). I didn't get an email or any contact to let me know the order failed. When I called support said they would bump priority so it shipped out in a day or two. 8 days later it still hadn't shipped. I called to cancel and support said they couldn't cancel because their supplier used a P.O. and said although it's not my fault they could not cancel. I could refuse the package when it was delivered and they would refund LESS a 20% RESTOCKING FEE - FOR AN ORDER THAT THEY MESSED UP - go figure! I asked to speak with a supervisor and was told they would call back and guess what - No call. Oh well I will spend some time posting reviews on the internet and never order from them again.

Nice catalog and website, but the very expensive seeds of petunias and geraniums arrived in foil packets with misleading generic planting instructions and silly glassine envelopes inside. The instructions prescribed planting 6-8 weeks early,, much too late for these kinds of seeds, and the glassine envelopes either held the seeds inside them by static electricity or spewed them all over when the paper was opened.If Park is only putting six seeds in a packet, the seed should be pelleted and placed in a vial.

I ordered a Portabella mushroom kit from Park Seed. It did not ship on time, so I emailed to find out when it would ship. I emailed three times with no response. Phoning the company leads to an automated message center with no option to speak to a human that I could find. I finally fished around the internet and found Angela D's email, and emailed her to request the order be canceled. By the time she got back to me, she said it was too late to cancel the order (this is because no one answered the original three emails sent to their customer service email address). The kit did not grow, and two emails for growing advice to the producer of the kit (Mushroom Mountain) went unanswered. I have grown a couple species of mushroom from kits before, and this is the only failure I have had. I did not email Angela for a credit, since I do not want to deal with Park Seed again. So, poor product, no manufacturer support, and no customer service (well, without jumping through hoops to directly contact one special person at the company) from Park Seed. Avoid at all costs. There are a lot of decent companies out there selling similar products -- take your business to those other companies. Also, there is a list of businesses 'associated with' Park Seed here on DG (likely, those are just the same company with a different name to give the illusion of variety) -- avoid them as well.

Posted on February 12, 2008, updated June 30, 2017 I order from Park seed every year and have been pleased with their service. One year I emailed as a coleus packet didn't germinate and they sent a replacement right away. This past weekend I had a question on a partial order and was surprised when my email was answered immediately over the weekend (had expected to wait until Monday at least). My experiences with the company have always been positive.

Posted on May 26, 2017, updated June 16, 2017 Here is my experience with J&P Ms Davenport, You should not apologize for the inconvenience but for the $71 lost in the purchase of dead rose plants. I would like to mail the dead plants to you since they are of no use to me. Please provide your address. You know, I was just looking for any kind of concession but nothing is coming. I will continue to post my experience with J&P in as many sites that I can find. People will know that when one purchases a J&P plant there is 60% likelihood the plant will die within a year. The number will be an eye opener for anyone who reads my review. The dead plants were faulty, I reported it within 90 days refund period, and J&P does not back their guarantee. David -----Original Message----- From: Angela Davenport To: David Sent: Fri, May 26, 2017 8:30 am Subject: RE: three rose not doing well [3679191:4339324] Dear David, Thank you for the order information. As you know the warranty is expired on your order as of August 2016. I see your order was noted on 6/15/16 that you had emailed advising that your Pope John Paul rose was not growing and the representative advised you to do the scratch test and the Epsom salt treatment. After that it appears you did not contact us back to advise if the rose was responding and growing. If the customers do not let us know before the warranty expires, we are unable to make any adjustments. There are many factors beyond the initial guarantee period that can cause an otherwise vigorous and healthy plant to fail, most of which are beyond our control. They include severe winter weather, drought, disease, insect damage, marauding animals, etc. While proper care and winter protection will go a long way toward ensuring your plants will have a long and healthy life, even this cannot unconditionally guarantee that environmental conditions will not impact the survival of your plants. Because of this, we are unable to extend our guarantee beyond the initial growing season. We apologize for any inconvenience. Angela Davenport Retail Communications Supervisor J&P Park Acquisitions, Inc. Park Seed, Wayside Gardens, Jackson & Perkins adavenport@parkseed.com The JPPA Family of Brands: From: David Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2017 6:13 PM To: Angela Davenport Subject: Re: three rose not doing well [3679191:4339324] Hi Angela, Thank you for your help. Below is the original order and its 2 Pope John Paul II Hybrid Tea Rose (I really like this one) and1 Sugar Plum Hybrid Tea Rose. Capture.JPG -----Original Message----- From: Angela Davenport To: David Sent: Thu, May 25, 2017 1:34 pm Subject: RE: three rose not doing well [3679191:4339324] Dear David, Thank you for reaching out to me for assistance. Can you advise me what the name of the 3 roses were that died and I will speak with our Manager to see what resolution I can get for you. We will definitely do something to help you. Please accept our apology for any inconvenience caused. Angela Davenport From: David] Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2017 2:17 PM To: Angela Davenport Subject: Fwd: three rose not doing well [3679191:4339324] Hello adavenport, one last try to change your reputation. Below is my experience with the organization. -----Original Message----- From: David To: info Sent: Mon, May 22, 2017 5:47 pm Subject: Re: three rose not doing well [3679191:4339324] Very disappointed in the way you do business. I called and tried to understand why 3 out of the 5 rose plants I purchased died and j&p does not back up their product. Wasn't looking for a credit but a replacement. Anyway, I will be posting the following review in as many sites that I can find. Hope fully I can warn others of your business practice. When I first contacted you within the 90 day period about the weak plants you should have replaced them In May of 2016, I purchased 5 rose plants. By toward the end of June, 2 of the plants were barely sprouting and one plant had no sprouts. I contacted J&P and they gave advice to use Epstein stalk on it. That did help the 2 plants plus the one that would not sprout. I did get roses from all 5 plants. We had a very mild, extremely mild winter and 3 of the plants did not survive even though I covered them with weather protection. The 2 remaining alive plants are doing great and I can see roses developing. I sent J&P 2 emails letting them know what had happened and if they could do something about it. There was no response so I called and the rep told me there is no guarantee of the plant after 90 days. I explained the issues I had with the 3 plants within the 90 period but the rep said they survived within the ninety day period. J&P does not back up their plants as they advertise or would not consider any accommodation to myself. So the simple math is 3 plants died out of 5 so J&P plant survival rate is 40%. Definitely not a good deal. By the way, the rep only gave me one line that she kept repeating, "J&P guarantees the plant for 90 days". What a rip off. Lesson learned. -----Original Message----- From: David To: info Sent: Fri, May 19, 2017 3:05 pm Subject: Re: three rose not doing well [3679191:4339324] Hi, Its going on about a week and I have not received a reply. Don't you stand by your plants or at least at a minimum tell me what I did wrong. Would not like it if the other plants did not survive the next winter. David -----Original Message----- From: David To: info Sent: Sat, May 13, 2017 6:06 pm Subject: three rose not doing well [3679191:4339324] Hi, Out of 5 Roses I purchased, only 2 survived the winter. It was a very mild winter and I did cover the plants for protection. I do want to replace them plus purchase 3 more, but my experience is not good. Can you do something? David

While I am normally pleased with their products, this time I am not happy. I ordered 4 Bloom-A-Thon Azaleas. When I ordered them, I was advised they would be shipped to me in Sept 2016. The order was not delivered to me until Monday, 10/17/2016 at 11:41am. On Dec 4, 2016 I notified them that one of the bushes completely died to the ground and got no response. In April of 2017 I contacted ParkSeed and advised them several of the bushes were not growing. At that time they told me to give it about 6 weeks. On May 19th I contacted them again. Luckily two of the 4 bushes were alive. I received a response form them stating that this is their busy season and they would get back to me as soon as they can. Now its June 2017 and I am being told its too late to do anything. Yes I did call, and waited and waited. Like most people, I do not have time to waste being on hold on the phone. I am better off shopping local for now on.

I've been ordering from parks for a few years now, but only seeds. This year i decided to try plants. I ordered tomato plants on 2 occasions and they arrived in very poor condition both times. I emailed them the first time and never got a response. I gave them another shot hoping it was just a fluke. The next set of tomato plants also arrived in bad shape, but this time i was able to nurse a few back to life. I ordered 2 white peach trees and a 6 pack of pepper plants on my last order. The peppers arrived in good shape and continue to do well. The peaches arrived very beat up with nothing on the roots to keep them moist. Most of the buds were heavily damaged. I planted the peach trees anyway to see if they could bounce back. After all of this I will keep ordering seeds from parks but I think I'm done with their plants and trees.

The good: On April 21 I ordered 3 Rozanne Geraniums and 3 packets of seeds. The geraniums came quickly and though they were packaged pretty well with shredded paper, they just are not tough plants and were a bit broken up. They have survived though and 2 out of 3 are doing really well. The third will make it, but only has one leaf. The price was very good for this patented hybrid and I kind of wish I had ordered more. The bad: I have been waiting, waiting, and waiting for the 3 packets of seeds to ship that were ordered at the same time. I FINALLY got a notice that they are shipping 2 days ago (May 16), though the tracking link isn't working, so I don't know if they have actually shipped. This is really annoying. The seeds are going to arrive after our last frost date, and maybe that was their intention? If so, I wish they would give an option to ship immediately because I was planning to start them in a greenhouse with other plants and put them out as seedlings after the last frost date. Now I've lost a whole month of growth and that's a real bummer, not to mention that it has been an incredibly warm spring and we haven't had a frost in 6 weeks. I'm not really sure that I will order from them again, though it seems they can have some deals that can be worth the gamble.

Having ordered from this company one time before with no issues, I was really disheartened about my recent experience. I placed an order on 5/9 for a 6 pack of geraniums and some strawberry plants. The strawberry plants said they were shipped today but I am still waiting for the geraniums to ship. The anticipated ship date was listed as 5/12. I contacted customer service to cancel the order and was told that I cannot because a shipping label had already been created for the geraniums. I was told that the absolute latest the order would ship would be 5/31, with an arrival date of 6/2. I am very frustrated about the lack of communication about shipping and updates about possibly shipping delays. I asked if there was any way they could refund a portion of the order or shipping and was told they could not. After this experience, I do not think I will be ordering from this company again.

Posted on April 26, 2017, updated April 28, 2017 Posted on April 25, 2017, updated April 26, 2017 I just had an extremely negative experience with Park Seed, and I’d like to make others aware of this, as well as other reviewers’ experiences with them. I found consumer ratings for Park Seed on four websites, with the results summarized below. My rating is NEGATIVE, or 1 star. I’ve come across bad companies before, but Park Seed is the worst of the worst! I won’t deal with them again. “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” The details of my situation are described below. //www.resellerratings.com/store/Park_Seed_Company Rating 1.0 / 10 (25 reviews) https://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/3/#b Rating 425 positives, 107 neutrals, 421 negatives https://www.yelp.com/biz/park-seed-greenwood Rating 1.5 / 5.0 stars (31 reviews) https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.parkseed.com Rating 1 / 5 stars (13 reviews) I bought seed packets of 10 different vegetables. Thankfully, 8 did well. But one packet of peppers took 3 weeks to germinate, never grew more than 1” tall, and never developed true leaves, after 7 weeks! And with one packet of 10 watermelon seeds, only 2 of the 6 seeds I planted germinated (33%, which would increase to only 60% if the 4 unplanted seeds were viable). I called Park Seed and spoke to Robin. She told me that Park Seed wouldn’t do ANYTHING about the watermelon seeds “because they only guarantee 80% germination.” I responded that the germination was at best only 60%, but she had nothing further to say. She said nothing about the dwarfed and useless pepper plants. I asked to speak to a supervisor. Robin took my phone number and told me that one would call me back, but she wouldn’t say when. I doubt anyone will ever call back. The Park Seed guarantee, on their website, says nothing about 80% germination; it simply states “We guarantee all Park Seed products to be high quality, true to type, shipped properly, and to perform as advertised. If your plant has received our recommended care and doesn't perform to your satisfaction, notify us and we will replace it free of charge or provide the cost of the product as credit toward a future purchase.” Evidently not! To avoid disappointment, DO NOT BUY FROM PARK SEED!

My overall interaction with Park Seed is positive. A general note is: plants shipped directly from them are in better shape. I live in Zone 8, Greater Seattle area. I have ordered plants and seeds from Park Seed for a few years now. When I order plants that are shipped directly from their warehouse, they are always in fantastic shape and shipped in a timely manner: strawberries, raspberries, hydrangeas, pomegranate, lily bulbs, and seeds. I usually order everything in spring, mid March to early April. Items are usually shipped on the Monday/Tuesday after order and arrive a week after shipping. When ordering plants shipped from their outside distributor (not Park Seed or Jackson & Perkins), the quality of the items are less consistent. Last year, when they used a distributor in Michigan, the rosemary was ~1 inch tall and dying. Additionally, the plants were not packaged well for shipment. This year, they used a distributor in Ohio and they are MUCH BETTER. The tomatoes plants are healthy and large. The packaging for the shipment was superb. The tomatoes were shipped overnight! I am glad they fixed their distributor problem. Overall, my experience is positive. My plants growing fantastically in my garden (except for the rosemary).

On 3/20 I placed an order for 7 packets of seeds. All items were designated "available to ship". As of 4/6, the order status page still listed the anticipated ship date as 3/22. There was no communication at any time about any delay or backorder. I contacted the company via live chat a week after ordering to get an update, and was told my order was scheduled to ship at the end of the week. It did not. An inquiry via web form on 3/30 received no reply. When I contacted them again via chat on 4/6, I was told one item had been backordered and was undergoing germination tests, and would ship by the middle of the following week. (This item is still listed as available to ship.) I canceled my order at this point. I would not have ordered at all if it had been clear it would not ship promptly. The customer service representatives were very polite, but the delay, coupled with the lack of communication about item availability means I won't be ordering again.

I placed an order on 3/11/17 for a six-pack of lantana plants, and received an email confirmation with an estimated ship date of 03/31/2017. Well, the end of March rolled by and nothing - no plants, no email with a shipping update or confirmation, but boy oh boy, every day there's a marketing email from them in my inbox encouraging me to buy more. Yesterday I decided to call and follow up on when I might expect these plants to be shipped. After getting a recording about "all of our associates being busy but please hold" and then being on hold for 10 minutes, I gave up, called back and tried the "automated order update" option - which gave me a message saying that the "system was down so you're being transferred to customer service - please hold". Yep, another 10 minutes and nobody picking up, so out of desperation I called back and tried the "to place an order, press 1" option - surely SOMEBODY would pick up that line, right? Nope! "Please hold..." So I sent an email stating my inability to get them to answer their phones, and letting them know that I would be cancelling my order if I didn't have a response back by close of business today with a firm ship date. Naturally, I didn't hear a thing from them - not a phone call or email - so I have now sent them another email cancelling the order. I am really wondering if they are actually still in business...

Posted on May 9, 2011, updated March 26, 2017 Posted on March 12, 2011, updated May 9, 2011 I just got an order of seeds. I'm not happy. First of all, the seeds were fairly expensive, a couple of them were something like $4/packet. I bought 10 packets and a lot of them only had 15 seeds in them. What really gave me a bad feeling about the whole deal though is that one of the packets had a sticker saying 'packed for 2011' on it, and I removed the sticker and underneath 'packed for 2010' was printed on the packet. To me, that seems like fraud. I don't care if seeds DO last from year to year, if you've marked them packed for one year, don't change it next year and expect that your customer won't notice. It isn't true that it was packed for 2011. Next year, I'll pay less somewhere else, and do my research first to make sure I'm not paying premium prices for year old seed.

I ordered two bundles of strawberry bare roots from Park Seed. Of the 25 Tribute strawberry roots, I have 25 living plants. Yay. Of the 25 Pineberry strawberry roots, I have 3 (maybe 4) so-so plants. I received both bundles at the same time, planted at the same time and with the same medium. I tried to give the Pineberry time to show signs of life but as the dead roots started to mold, I had to separate them from the healthy plants. And to top it all off, my negative review on Parkseed.com was removed. At first, just my opinion of this one product was negative, now my opinion of the entire company is negative.

I purchased some heavy duty 1020 perma nest seed trays on parkseed.com and they arrived damaged. My error was that I did not inspect the package within 48 hours. My initial thought was, I have ordered these trays through Fedco seeds in the past and Ive never had an issue. On seed planting day, I removed the trays from the box and noticed they arrived damaged, but still usable. The box it arrived in was large and filled with bubble popcorn. The trays had enough room for movement during shipment. I called customer service, and i alerted the customer service clerk that my order exceeded the 48 hours. She had me go through a long process where I was on the phone for over 15 minutes . She then tells me that there is nothing they could do. She stated "The trays were still usable so there is no need to refund you the money and you exceeded the 48 hour time limit." I understand not reimbursing the full amount for the trays or replacement but I shouldn't have to pay full price for something that arrived damaged regardless If the 48 hour mark has been exceeded. There motto should be " If we send you items that are damaged its okay because you can still use it."

I ordered an 8 cell seed starting dome on January 11, 2017. The status page said the expected ship date was January 14, 2017. I contacted them in late February and they could not explain why it hadn't shipped. After several contacts they said they came in and would ship within a week. They didn't. I contacted them again on March 2, 2017 because the status page still said the expected ship date is January 14, it showed zero items shipped, but they had a shipping number with no tracking. Again they couldn't explain it, but said they were backordered. I asked them to cancel the order and they said they would try, but probably wouldn't be able to since it showed a shipment number, even though it hasn't shipped yet. They are required to cancel the order since it's over 30 days if I understand the law correctly. They never gave me an update on the order until I contacted them late February.

I place an seed order recently since the company had a great selection and prices so for my first year ordering seeds I decided to try them. When I placed my order I used their free shipping promo code. When my order totaled it said shipping would be a few buck, which I figured had to do with the fact that I am in Alaska so I was fine with it. After I submitted the order the confirmation page said I had just been charged $23 for shipping. We are talking for packs of seeds that could easily fit in a $6 flate rate box. So I called the company the next morning to cancel the order. They told be I would have to refuse the package at delivery since it had already shipped. After 2 weeks and no package I decided to look up the order status and find a tracking number for my package. Looking at the tracking history I realized the shipping label wasn't even created until 4 days after I had made the call to cancel. My order had not already shipped when I call to cancel. Now I see it is in Federal Way which often is the last stop before it ends up on the barge up to Alaska which may take an additional week or more. So pretty much I was lied to and paid ridiculous shipping amount for the slowest shipping option. Won't be ordering from them in the future.

I ordered seeds and some seed starting domes from Park. The seeds came right away, no domes. Please note, it did not state at the time of ordering that the domes were out of stock. I never received a message telling me they were out of stock and when they would be shipping. I emailed them 3 times, as per their " email us with any questions". No response. I tried calling several times, never able to contact a human. The longest I spent on hold (and then hung up because no one had yet answered) was 9 minutes 28 seconds. I tried calling at different times of day to no avail. My domes showed up 4 weeks after the original order and then THAT day (Feb 14, 2017) I receive an email stating "Your order shipped 2/8/2017". That is all totally unacceptable customer service. I will NEVER order from this company again. I will update this review when I see how the seeds work out.

I'm a bit flummoxed by all the negative reviews I've been reading about this company. So much so, that while I hate signing up for anything, I had to sign up here to post a review. I've been ordering vegetable and flower seeds from Park Seed for the last 5 years, placing orders several times within each year. I've found that while they carry many of the common varieties, they also carry some that I have found harder to get elsewhere - case in point, Cobra French Beans and Caraflex Cabbage (before this became popular). In all instances, the orders have been filled promptly and have arrived in excellent condition. I like the foil-lined seed packets, which seem to keep the seed fresher. Germination rates have been very good, typically greater than 90%, on everything I've ordered. If I had anything negative to say, it would be that they, like all companies, inundate me with emails. Rather than understand that I would appreciate a email a month, emails typically show up at least daily - I wish companies would realize that this shows some disrespect for their customers and their customers' time.

In October of last year I placed an order with Park Seed and most of the seeds that I received had a sticker that said "packed for 2015." Just a few months later I got a 0-10% germination rate from almost all seeds in my order, several varieties. It's clear to me that they sold me old seeds that were past their prime. To sell 2015 seeds in October 2015 is very deceptive, especially because they are not labelled as such on the site. Even at garden stores they give seeds away that late in the year, but instead Park Seeds sold them to me representing that they were good, when in fact more than half of my order did not germinate after a few months because the seeds were old. I assumed this was a mistake and was prepared to order from Park Seed again. I wrote to them a few days ago to see if I placed an order now if the seeds would be 'packed for 2016' or 'packed for 2017.' They told me I didn't have to worry about it because the seeds no longer have dates on them. This indicates to me that Park Seed are well aware of this issue but are trying to hide the fact from consumers that they sell seeds that are near the end of their shelf life. It appears that it's common practice for Park Seed to sell old seeds and now they are just trying to cover up that fact by not putting a date on the packaging, which every single reputable seed company does. I'm disappointed and feel ripped off.

Posted on October 2, 2016, updated October 7, 2016 I have probably ordered $75+ worth of products from these guys over the year, and I can say for sure that their products are the bare minimum. The first thing I bought was one packet of Gay Butterfly Weed and two Orange Milkweed. I never saw one sprout from the Gay, and only one, measly orange milkweed ever grew. I eventually dug it out and threw it away, since I had bought other Orange Milkweed from a local nursery - three that looked much healthier and I even collected from its seed pods (so I’ll never have to buy orange milkweed again!). There were a few things in the middle. I had attempted to grow the next seeds inside, following the instructions properly and giving good care to them under a UV light. While other seeds were strong (seeds from other sellers, of course), the ones from Park Seed struggled and eventually died. I even bought some of the Jiffy Pots from them, which I ended up hating… a lot. It created a moldy environment and had no way to allow ventilation - allowing the seeds to be suffocating and the mold to thrive. Then Mother’s Day was around the corner. My mom wished for live plants, and their “Burgundy Iceberg™ Floribunda Rose “ seemed perfect - and it was on sale for Mother’s Day! I bought a bareroot, and Mother’s Day came around… no roses. My mom was a bit sad I didn’t get her a gift, and was surprised to find the roses I had ordered about two weeks ago were arriving… that Wednesday. Once I finally got it, I told my mom “it looks ugly now, but wait for it to bloom!” And we waited. And waited. Leaves formed, but they blew weakly in the wind. I cut them back, and watered it all summer in hopes it would grow. Nope. Not a single leaf ever grew back, even though I put it in nice soil with mulch surrounding it. I decided to Live Chat with Park Seed, but was told that it had a “90-day policy”. A bareroot only had a 90-day policy. I understand that policy for live plants, but even then there are a lot of sellers who have a YEAR policy for live plants AND bareroots. Many plants will take a month to grow their leaves back, and another to grow their flowers in their barefoot form. Now, they were having a good sale on my favirote fertilizer about a month ago. Nature Source is a good, natural fertilizer with no weird stuff in it - very good if you have a wildlife-focused garden or you have pets who go through the garden. This product was alright, but no there were no warnings saying to water it down. Me forgetting that most fertilizers need to be watered down used it anyway… and killed about $30 worth of seed. You know what the real sting of all of this is? Most the people I had bought the other seed from understood my mistake, and gave me new seed for free - because they’re real people who understand that people can make mistakes. But… I had decided to buy two seed packets since they were only a dollar at Park Seed. They sadly died too. I emailed them 48 hours ago, and have I gotten a response? Nah. They’re not in a rush, they’re probably going to wait until my 90 day return policy is up to reply. As a final note, I’d like to mention that ALL of my boxes from Park Seed have been damaged somehow. I have never gotten a damaged box from anyone until I bought from Park Seed. I’m never buying from Park Seed - and if I do, it’ll be because I love Nature Source.

I have been buying my seeds from Park Seed for many years with great success so this growing season I decided to buy several different live plants from Park that were unique and not seen locally where I buy from. I was very excited to receive my plants and expected top quality but I was completely disappointed. I made several different purchases and the timing of the delivery time was poor as my account kept saying they were being shipped. When I received my plants the size and quality were terrible! I had ordered three six packs of San Francisco Begonias that were barely alive. They were root bound beyond anything I have ever seen and brown leaves and dried up. The roots were not a healthy color at all. I have been able to nurse a few to live and after two months they are just looking like starter plants. I bought several Ice plants that came root bound...dried up...horrible looking. Most have died. I purchased several other Ice Plants from another supplier and could not believe the beautiful large healthy plants that were packaged so nicely when I received them I was embarrassed I had to plant them next to the ones from Park...and they were much cheaper. I also bought the Cheyenne Spirit Cone flower from Park and they should have come in a casket! They look like my dog chewed on them or a child dug them out with a spoon. They were hacked. I was so disappointed in every plant in that pack. I also ordered Bacopa...the plants were maybe an inch or two of a cutting that was fried up. For the amount of money I paid I expected top quality plants. I sent a lengthy email to the company on 6/10/16 and never received a response from them. Very disappointed in the customer service. I would never purchase a " so called" live plant from Park Seed ever again.

I bought 2 50-seed packets of celosia, but had only a 48% germination rate. . .with all seedlings surviving transplant into my garden Needing 77 celosia plants, I made a 2nd order, buying ONLY an additional 50-seed packet, but had only a 36% germination rate . . with only one seedling surviving after transplant into my garden. While the company responded the 7th day after my seed guarantee claims, notifying me that the cost of the seed would be refunded, they refused to refund the shipping charge I paid to have the 2nd order of substandard seed sent to me, citing "company policy". I will no longer do business with them OR their known affiliates. It is not right, just or honest to charge the customer for shipping substandard seed.

I placed an order for tomato plants on 4/27/2016 and as of today (5/26/2016) I have not received them. I called their office today and was told the plants could be shipped as late as 6/10/2016. When I placed the order, their website indicated these plants would be shipped beginning 5/16/2016. Today when I checked their website, it shows these plants "now shipping" Why is their customer service department saying one thing and their website saying another? Maybe they don't know what truthful means! I live in Ohio which has a limited growing season so young plants received in the middle of June, if they survive the summer heat, would not have time to mature and produce many tomatoes by the end of the growing season. With this in mind, I requested that my order be cancelled and my money refunded. The response I received was: "Unfortunately we cannot cancel your order". I asked to speak to a supervisor and after several minutes of stalling, Jessica finally connected me to Chantra who said she was a supervisor but again said she could not cancel my order. She did offer a solution; Refuse the order when it arrives and it will be returned to their vendor. Their vendor will in turn notify them that the order was refused and then they would refund my money...sometime in July or August. I said I did not want to wait 2-3 months to get my money back and asked to speak with her supervisor, Brad. Unfortunately, Brad (and all of the other upper management people) was in a meeting and would have to call me back. I will contact my credit card company to see about getting my money back. In doing some research on the internet, I discovered that Park's Seed has had a long history of not being dependable when it comes to fulfilling internet orders. And their customer service is horrible!!! I ordered from them last year and had no problems so based on that, I would say you have a 50/50 shot at getting your plants! Beware!

Posted on May 4, 2016, updated May 5, 2016 I placed an online order and decided to cancel it after 12 days of no response or updated info online (I also called and spoke to a not very nice representative that said "Sometimes it takes a while for order to get processed ". I asked her if I could cancel online, she said yes any time. I went to the website and on the order status page there is nowhere I could find to cancel so I wrote an email to: info@parkseed.com on May 2nd asking them to please cancel my order. Lo and behold the same evening I cancelled they placed a charge on my credit card. I never received an answer to my email. I immediately wrote them again and sent my cancellation email 3 times including all the information. I still have not heard back, but the email works fine since I got notification today that the order shipped. I am very unsatisfied with their customer service and would not recommend this company to anyone. I do not want this order and they forced payment and sent it anyway. What a bad business practice!

I have ordered several seed packets from this company both last year and this year and was very satisfied with everything I received. They are one of my go-to companies for flower seeds, and I would recommend them to other gardeners.

Posted on March 31, 2016, updated May 4, 2016 Posted on March 30, 2016, updated March 31, 2016 Posted on October 20, 2015, updated March 30, 2016 Posted on October 17, 2015, updated October 20, 2015 Posted on July 31, 2003, updated October 17, 2015 My Park orders have been 100% seed, so I can't address other areas, but the seed is outstanding. It is very carefully packaged, and the prices are reasonable. I ordered wave and double petunia seeds from Vermont Seed, Harris Seed and Park. The yield from Vermont Seed was zero, from Harris about 80%, which is fine, but Park's was 95% plus. That has been a consistent experience with all kinds of seeds from them. My rule of thumb has become, if I want something a little unusual (new hybrids or new colors colors)and I want them well packaged so the seed lasts several years(paper inside of foil)and I don't want to pay a ridiculous price (Thompson & Morgan), then Parks is it.