Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee)

I had been growing nasturtiums for several years in large planters on the front porch, using Burpee seeds because they were available at the grocery store. I was waiting till after the frost-free date and planting the seed directly into the planters, but kept getting only about 50% germination, and figured I must be doing something wrong. So I decided to try starting the seeds earlier, indoors in individual paper cups. The Burpee seeds weren't available yet, so I bought what they did have, namely Ferry-Morse seeds (even though I had the vague impression it was a second-rate company). Well, I got 100% germination! So of course I thought planting them indoors did the trick. The following year I was able to get Burpee seeds early enough to plant them indoors -- and dropped right back down to 50% germination again! I finally checked Burpee's Garden Watchdog rating, and learned that the company seems to have gone seriously downhill in recent years. Not sure what I'm gonna do next spring, but I sure won't rule out Ferry-Morse! I'm posting this same comment on both the Ferry-Morse and Burpee pages, with a positive rating for Ferry-Morse and a negative one for Burpee.

I ordered a lot from burpee this spring. a couple hundred dollars worth of bare root material etc. First of all, everything I got from burpee is small and lacks vigor. When I compare the blueberries I got from burpee to the one I literally just bought at Home Depot, the one from Home Depot is three times the size of the ones from burpee. That's after what, three months? Why buy from burpee when you can get healthier plants for the same price at a store which is omnipresent throughout the US? The currant bushes I got from burpee are 1/3 the size of the currants I got from a smaller seller. Just generally, I don't recommend them for the quality of their product. It has been extremely disappointing. But beyond that, the whole reason I shopped with this company was that I was starting a large new garden and buying a lot of stuff. I thought burpee offered the security of feeling like if something died that wasn't my fault, there would be customer service that might not be present at a smaller nursery. Boy how wrong I was! It is now a month and a half after I asked for a refund for a jersey blueberry. It never grew a single leaf, I waited until the end of June and then asked for a refund. They never responded. I contacted them again. A week after that they sent me an invoice saying I would be shipped an entirely different variety of blueberry as a replacement. I responded and said I did not want that variety. No response from Burpee. I guess they have better things to do. A few more weeks went by and I asked again. A week later I get an email saying they are sorry, but either it shipped, or it didn't ship (apparently burpee has no way of determining if their orders have even shipped which, come on, am I honestly expected to believe that?) But if it HAD shipped I could refuse it, and they would give me the refund. Well. Eight days later, no shipment, no refund, not a word from Burpee. I can tell you, I will never buy another product from this company as long as I live, and I do not recommend you do either. They just don't care.

I tried ordering through Burpee, it didn't end well. I filled out the order, while finishing up it mentioned a discount, I believe it was 25% over $35. I attempted to read the code off of the catalog, but the code was printed over 2 different colored bars, thus impossible to read. I went into chat to describe the problem, they weren't hearing it. They simply said without the code there was nothing they could do. Pretty much to me it sounded like SORRY CHUMP. At that point I deleted the order. Their loss. Had it been my company, I would have gotten the code off a different catalog and given it to the customer. That wasn't in their game plan.

My broccoli seedlings just arrived broken, yellow, distended, and curled. They are also way too late in the season for where I live. Even if these were going to live, which at least half of them won't, they are arriving two months after I should have planted them. It's even too late for me to get my money back and buy replacements locally. And the plants that do survive from this batch will never be healthy. I've ordered live plants through the mail before and they were well-packaged and suffered no damage, so it is possible to do it well. These are late, broken, and were definitely unhealthy even before they went into the box. I am also seeking a refund because of Burpee's "guarantee" and have yet to have any success with a refund. NEVER ordering from Burpee again

I recently ordered seeds from this company. They all came up except for maybe 2 or 3 there doing great! I have one cantaloupe seed which looks like something else we will have to wait and see what it is.LOL! good quality and fast shipping considering our pandemic. will order again

Their service quality and product quality is lower than when I ordered in past years. The order I placed was “processing” for weeks before it shipped. All items ordered were listed as in stock and within their preferred shipping dates for my zone. Instead of pausing accepting new orders like many vendors did this year, they kept taking orders but under delivering. Finally, the germination rate was below expectations for varieties I have grown before with a high germination rate using their seeds.

I ordered four separate orders early this year from Burpee. Each order was worse that the previous one. The last two were each missing a plant. Customer service is non existent. They will not answer phone calls or return them. I received plants that were dried out not at all rooted and most were out of the Pots with the soil in the box. Of the twelve plants in total I doubt over four will live and I still have not received the glass slippers buddleia replacement. I received a dried out of the pot with no rootball intact tiny Buddleia Prince Charming replacement today. It is in deplorable condition. I sent pictures of the condition to Burpee. I wi never order from this company again. If you check my feedback on companies you will see that it is almost entirely positive. I do not leave unfair reviews but Burpee is unacceptable. Rose

In the early to mid-2000's, I was an avid gardener with a ~900 sq ft garden. During that time, I was a fanatical fan of Burpee Seeds, having helped my grandfather and uncles (who used Burpee seeds) in their gardens growing up and then using their seeds in my own garden. Then I took a job that required a great deal of travel, so stopped gardening. I am now semi-retired and able to garden again. This is my first year back to gardening, and of course, I turned to Burpee for my seeds. My seed order was around $500. Mostly vegetables, a few herbs and petunias. My orders also included a few plants and onion and garlic sets. How incredibly disappointing an experience! In general, for the seeds, the germination rate was around 40%. Some as low as 10% (broccoli), to a high of 80% (non-coated petunias). The shipping speed was horrendous. I created multiple orders, to space out the costs. Invariably, the seeds weren't shipped for a week or more, even though the website says it will ship in 2 business days. Regarding the plants, in all cases, I had to call or email multiple times to find out why my plants hadn't shipped (even though I within the shipping dates for my zone posted on their site). Depending on the agent I got, the answer was either "we don't know why it hasn't shipped", "it will ship tomorrow" (it didn't), or in one very rare case, "I will let you know what's going on" (and she did, but she blamed the grower). Unfortunately, when the plants arrived they shipped in inadequate packaging, and arrived damaged and dry. About 1/2 survived, but it took significant work to get them to a healthy state. The onion and garlic, were no better. I again had to contact them regarding shipping and received the exact same results from customer service and, also, the same packaging issues. The garlic was not viable. I didn't bother contacting them again -- I knew what that would be like already. The onions did okay. At issue here, is the time constraints implicit in the gardening world. We expect our items to arrive on time and in good shape. The poor shipping, customer service and quality at the "new Burpee" causes us gardeners to potentially miss planting dates, which is not a risk I will take in the future. I'm very sorry to say, I will no longer be a Burpee customer.

I recently placed my very first order with Burpee, 8 Torenia plants for my wife's annual Mother's Day hanging baskets. These are 4" pots and with shipping was a little over $50. I've ordered a number of plants over the years and by far these are the worst looking plants I have ever received. Lots of dried out leaves, spindly, stems cut off, broken stems, wilted stems (some), chlorotic, two looked nearly dead, and all the size of starter plants. I sent an email to Burpee with the problems clearly spelled out along with several photos. Not a single peep from them. No apology, no refund, nothing... I expected so much more from such a long established company.

BURPEE really is just a seed company. Anything else should be avoided as they branch out into other offerings. I purchased Angel wing Begonias (12 plants) x 2 because I had a really good experience a couple of years ago with Whopper Begonia plants from BURPEE. Expecting a repeat performance I was disgusted with the plants that I received. They arrived wilted with yellow leaves and several had come out of the package during shipment and dirt was everywhere! Because of this I was immediately able to see the root development and it was very lacking. These were advertised as plants, however in my mind these are no more than plugs in poor condition. For $50 plus dollars I expected more, however these half dead plants were nothing like the plants that I purchased in the past. On top of that I called BURPEE to let them know of my concern and waited over 30 minutes on the phone before deciding to leave a message for a call back. According to the recorded message someone will be contacting me within 24 to 48 hours. Well tomorrow is exactly one week from when I called and I am still waiting to hear back from BURPEE. I realize it's Spring and that most nurseries are busy but they were not to busy to take my hard earned money. I wouldn't recommend BURPEE to anyone especially if you are looking for plants.

Posted on November 25, 2013, updated May 6, 2019 Posted on March 8, 2012, updated November 25, 2013 Posted on November 4, 2011, updated March 8, 2012 Posted on October 26, 2011, updated November 3, 2011 Posted on October 9, 2011, updated October 26, 2011 Posted on January 26, 2011, updated October 9, 2011 Posted on March 23, 2010, updated January 26, 2011 Posted on January 26, 2010, updated March 23, 2010 Posted on March 23, 2004, updated January 25, 2010 I got what I ordered, in a timely fashion and in good condition. Germination was fine. I found this company to be reliable and predictable, though better prices are easy to find elsewhere.

I ordered several petunia plants in unusual varieties I can’t find locally. Was I impressed with the large box UPS delivered with my twelve plants inside. The petunias were what you’d expect from the nursery, all busting with blooming color in four inch pots! They were so well packed that there wasn’t even one broken stem, excellent job Burpee!

This is NOT our fathers' Burpee! My father always used to order from them back in the 50's. Out of the catalog and mailed in a money order. Back in the days when it was a quality company with quality products and service. Like Sears. So now in 2019 I place order from them. First, I am shocked at their shipping charges. Totally excessive and out of line with other online retailers. Prices for seeds were double - even triple - retail prices in stores. I go ahead anyway because they had a few specific varieties I wanted and I did not have time to prowl the internet. $27 for a few packets of just seeds. Seven days later I have heard nothing. I check the tracking number. They are now using some convoluted shipping system where your order gets routed through numerous UPS shipping facilities, then handed off to USPS, then routed through numerous USPS shipping facilities, routed to the local Post Office and then delivered. As of today, 12 days later, UPS shows it was handed off to a postal facility on the other side of my state 7 days ago and there is no other further information from either UPS or USPS. Burpee presumably implemented this convoluted system just to save a few pennies even though their shipping charges are outrageous. Burpee has yet to respond to my email. So for me, its' Bye Bye Burpee. Never again. There are just too many other online and retail sellers of quality seed with good service to deal with their nonsense. One of them is True Leaf Market in Utah that delivered my Better Boy seeds in TWO days!

I have ordered seeds from Burpee twice in the last two months. Both times my seeds were in my house within 5 days of ordering them. I do not understand why some people are having issues with this company. I have bought from Burpee online for yers and never have had a problem. The seeds that I have ordered have had excellent germination. I am an organic vegetable grower for 3 local restaurants, and I can always count on Burpee's seeds, they have not failed me yet. I do order seeds from other companies, but Burpee will always be one of my "go-to" seed companies.

Ordered three helenium. Well-packed, and super healthy when they arrived. My experience is a good one.

Posted on January 25, 2019, updated January 25, 2019 I used to enjoy shopping with these people decades ago. But, like other northern nurseries owned by Jung and others, they have fallen so far from grace that they now think it's a great idea to cheat their customers. I placed a sizeable order for seeds and what I received was in such poor shape that I was flabbergasted that they came from Burpee. I purchased petunia seeds from 6 different suppliers, including Burpee. Burpee's seeds are the only ones that didn't sprout. Most of the coated petunia seeds had lost all their coating and there were only 9-12 seeds in each of the five 15 seed packs I purchased. It looks like this might be from last year. The quality has gone so far down from mismanagement that all they receive now is negative reviews from everyone. I won't be back and I suggest you avoid these people. Don't waste your hard earned money on these crooks! They don't care any more!

Super slow shipping. Took them about 5-7 business days just to ship my order. If your going to order from them I would order way ahead of when you need them. Had problems with my big mama and super sauce tomato seeds germinating. The ones that did sprout didn't grow very well at all compared to the other varieties. Probably won't be using them again.

Positive due their shipping speed, ease of ordering, and packaging. Responsive to my emails for questions and refund. Website is easy to navigate. Lots of promo codes. Neutral due to their plant quality. I've ordered from few online nurseries but theirs are the smallest, they don't look bad but not really great compared to other plants I've bought. They grow ok but not great, slow or poor in my small experience. Negative due to the prices which seem to be much higher than many other nurseries even online. The promo codes just slightly ease the pricing so always look for them before you buy! Overall, I think I would give their seeds one last try but not their plants! Maybe others may have a better experience!

It took over 2 weeks just to send the plant and when I called to find out why I had not received it they did not have any explanation - just that it has not sent. And when it FINALLY came they were SO SMALL, NOT worth $10 and SOOOO DRY!!! I don't know if it will live. I will NOT order from Burpees again and removed my name from their mailing list!!!

As a first time customer I am very disappointed. I placed an order on 4/30/18. My zone is 6. My orders were to begin shipping as of March 26 for the items I purchased. I had not received any response other than the confirmation and funds withdraw. On 5/7 I sent an email inquiring as I had yet to see any shipment confirmation. I got no reply. I called on 5/11/18 and spoke with Paula. I was told that orders could take 7 to 10 days to arrive. I specified I had ordered 11 days ago and heard nothing back. I was then informed they only ship Monday thru Friday. well it had been 10 full days since I ordered and that was Monday and Fridays. She stated my order had not yet shipped but was not sure why and I should wait until next week at the end of the week to see if they shipped. I asked her to cancel my order and refund me my money. I also asked for email confirmation which I have yet to receive. I have no order and no confirmation of a refund which she also said would take another 7 to 14 days. This is a very poor example of a company for a first time buyer and I will not be purchasing from or recommending them to others. I will be proceeding with a dispute with my payee to obtain my full refund including the very expensive shipping costs.

I ordered annual petunias (6-pack) and tall pentas plants (x3), both products arrived healthy. Got the plants at a discounted rate in the spring and would probably use them again.

Bought 3 determinate tomatoes from the 3/$19.99 sale online. They arrived in terrible condition with one dead and the other two very sickly. They were shipped in a plastic molded 'egg case' with most of the dirt loose in the container and very dry. These very small seedlings did not stand a chance. Comments have been left on their website.

I ordered seeds in mid January, of all the companies I ordered seeds from this year Burpee's were the last to arrive, however they were also the most expensive... I was happy with the quantity of seeds, all exceeded the numbers stated BUT of the 4 types of eggplant I ordered 3 of the varieties had poor germination. Actually of all the seeds I ordered this year from many different sources, of the 30+ varieties of eggplant I had poor germination with 3 of the 4 varieties ordered from Burpee, this was a surprise considering it I thought Burpee would be a reputable company. The 3 that did not germinate well were planted side-by-side with other varieties at exactly the same time, in the same planting medium, in a climate controlled room, and the majority of the others germinated very well, most averaged in the 80% range. For example Meatball Eggplant, also from Burpee had a perfect 100% germination rate, while in the same 6 cell (3 cells of each variety with 2 seeds per cell) Shooting Star Eggplant failed with 0% germination. Germination rates: Meatball Eggplant 100% Shooting Star Eggplant 0% Behold Eggplant 10% Early Midnight Eggplant 20% I emailed them today and will update this accordingly as I receive a reply from them.

Posted on June 12, 2017, updated June 20, 2017 I contacted Burpee when I received curly parsley instead of the Italian (flat leaf) parsley I ordered. A Burpee representative contacted me quickly in response to my email, noting that I should check the plants for a specific product number. I emailed Burpee back with the only three digits I could find on the plant labels. In my follow-up email, I also included three photographs, one of each of the plants I received, and I noted that the parsley in my photos looks very different than the photograph online at the Burpee site. Unmistakably, the plants I received are curly parsley. I have not had a response to my follow-up email. I contacted Burpee once more through the website, but I have received no response here, either. Buying from Burpee has been something of a family tradition for me, but this kind of customer service response is not OK. I understand how the wrong plants can be sent out from time to time. I don't understand being ignored, though.

Posted on May 3, 2017, updated June 6, 2017 Posted on March 31, 2009, updated May 3, 2017 I always thought highly of Burpee - but Burpee.com has changed that completely! I placed my order online 3/17, I called to check on the shipping date and the $5 off coupon that did not come of on the online order. I was told on 3/19 that the order "is in the warehouse and would probably" go out by the end of the week (which would have been 3/21) OK fine. I called back on 3/24 because the status online never changed to "shipped".Again I have been told "it's in the warehouse and will probably go out by the end of the week" This has been 2 different weeks! This is not acceptable and I requested for this order to be cancelled. The rep that I spoke to then says she will see if she can "catch it" from shipping today. I find it very odd that prior to my requesting a cancellation, the order would ship at the end of the week and now she's trying to keep it from shipping out today all within the matter of 5 minutes. I felt that Burpee's reps were making things up as they were going along, as there was a lot of "uh's and I don't knows" coming from them. I felt very uncomfortable and demanded the order be cancelled via email on 3/24. I recieved my refund on 3/27. I will never use Burpee.com again as the customer service is not what it should be, and that is not acceptable.

Burpee’s packaging of plants is BY FAR the best I’ve ever seen! I shop online for my plants a lot, and usually get 10+ orders each season. They do unbelievable job at packaging, it’s so smartly designed, easy and super fast to unpack and recycle the cardboard, and the plants are large and healthy and happy with zero damage! None of those annoying peanuts, or shredded paper, or excessive taping... as we all know, just unpacking of plants can be such an unpleasant ordeal... This was just a pure delight, really a pleasure receiving and opening their boxes, admiring healthy plants, and I am looking forward to ordering again next year!

Posted on May 8, 2016, updated May 30, 2017 Posted on May 5, 2014, updated May 8, 2016 Posted on May 3, 2014, updated May 5, 2014 For several years I have purchased Dragon Wing Begonias, tomato plants, perennials and roses from Burpee because I felt they were a good price and quality. For three years in a row the Dragon Wings or perennials were mangled or small and they gladly replaced the items. On Friday 5-3-14 I received a box of Dragon Wings (several weeks before last expected frost) and the plants were mangled. I called and the rep asked how plants could be mangled in the box. I explained it looked like they had been run through a grinder. I took pictures and tried to pull out root balls...The rep was indifferent and I told her I had taken pictures and wanted me to send the pictures or return the plants. I told her I did not want to go to all the trouble and asked for a refund (although I stressed I would really like to have the Dragon Wings. Finally I asked for a full refund and asked for them to stop sending me a catalog. I will NEVER buy anything from them again. What has happened to this once great company?

I opened up a $2.49 pack of Burpee Batchelor Buttons (I had two packs) that I bought at Fred Meyers to cover an area that was about 1' x 2 & 1/2' I had prepared for Summer flowers. Each pack contained no more that 15 seeds (and I'm being generous) ... so the total might cover a foot square ... that is, if they all live. This is about the biggest rip-off I've seen in awhile. I will never buy another pack of Burpee ... of anything. And I'll give them the advertising they deserve.

They seem to be hit or miss. So far the gooseberries and apricots are coming in. my blackberries on the other hand have not done anything and only two raspberry bushes have started to bud, out of 5 that I planted. So I'll see what happens when the weather gets a little warmer. But I use gurneys and starkbros more than burpee because the quality of live plants seems to be better.

I have to agree with the comments that say Burpee doesn't pack well. I placed two separate orders last spring, one with blueberry plants and some bare root raspberries, one with blueberries, lilacs, huecheras, and bare root strawberries. In both orders, I noticed the plants were smaller than my usual mail order plants, and they were not packed well. I had the most issues with my Burpee plants, with my lilac dying and strawberries not working out and some raspberries not ever growing. Also, the blueberries have struggled and are still small, with one dying. We have ordered from at least 5 different mail order nurseries and Burpee had the worst outcome for us. We thought the big name would do the best. But nope!

I want to know what Burpee puts on their plants? I ordered numerous plants from burpee, I must say I was disappointed when I received them via Fed-ex. I was expecting bigger plants for what I paid for. I got angry and said I'd never order from Burpee again! Was I wrong, it's been 3 weeks since my order arrived,and I'm glad to say I planted exactly as the instructions said. I can tell you that at 3 weeks my blueberry bushes have grown about 3 inches the 25 strawberry plants I have planted are taking off like there's no tomorrow, they already have flowers and runners. I was so impressed I canceled from Stark Bro's. and re orederd from Burpee today! And I plan to order from Burpee in the future!

I normally grow from seed in my hydroponics system but 2 years ago I got started too late. So I ordered from Burpee and was amazed by their immense selection they have. The problem is, when I received my starter plants, they were puny almost dead looking things and I lost almost ¾’s of them after transplant. This year I tried again but as soon I received the puny pathetic plants I dropped them into my hydroponics system. This helped a little as I was able to feed them right away and I only lost about a ¼ of my plants. But selection means nothing if the plants won’t survive. I live in grow zone 5, so maybe my problem is I am getting the last of their plants, that is, all the good ones have been shipped previously. My starter plants that I got from Earl May are dwarfing the Burpee plants, so next I will just buy everything from them.

Last year I would have happily given them a positive, but what a difference a year makes. For what they charge I expect plants that grow. First, the seed I got had a poor germination rate, then once germinated had poor top growth, and, as I recently found out, poor root growth. So I won't buy seed from them again. Second, some of their perennials are growing well, but most have languished. The perennials I bought from them last year died over winter despite being native and hardy for my zone. Third, I bought a six-pack of petunias. When UPS delivered them the plants were all out of the six pack. It looked like UPS had played soccer with the package. This is party Burpee's fault since they should package them to prevent this. Only 2 of the six have survived. Since the plants I bought from them this year are doing about 50/50, I am giving them a Neutral.

I ordered three dahlia showtime plants from Burpee. When they arrived, I unpacked them and set them in a sheltered place outdoors to acclimate. When I checked back two days later, the leaves were developing powdery mildew, which grew worse by the day. I called Burpee customer service and they offered to replace the plants. They arrived today looking HORRIBLE. 2 of the three had broken off near the soil line and the third was very beat up, with soil scattered all over and roots exposed. I called again and they said they'd refund my $$, but that really doesn't assuage my anger. How can they send out diseased plants or ship plants in packaging that clearly doesn't do the job??? I have ordered online from many nurseries, so I know that plants can be shipped and arrive intact. None of those nurseries sent plants that were diseased. Where's your company pride, Burbee? You should be ashamed of yourselves. That's a 100-year old brand you're destroying.

Posted on April 27, 2016, updated May 19, 2016 Ordered some live plants that arrived as an untaped box of spilled dirt on my porch and a rapidly receding UPS truck. I was able to salvage 4 of 6 ornamental grass plants but 2 Eragrostis were beyond help. I contacted Burpee via e-mail, no response. By phone, endless hold. The upshot? High prices, unresponsive customer service and no shipping oversight. In fact, the only thing Burpee seems to excel at these days is charging customers' credit cards and filling their in-boxes with spam. This is not the company it used to be.

Burpee has revamped their online system. It would appear that if you have been a customer with Burpee that you may have challenges gaining access to your account history. (As an avid gardener, knowing what I purchased in the past is very important.) I tried to view my history on May 1, but remember seeing some sort of note that account histories were not available, but I could request to receive my history. Thus, I sent a note to the email provided. I did not hear back and sent another message last night. I tried to logon today, but either forgot my password or it is not longer working. Here is the message that popped up from Burpee.com. "The "Forgot Password" function can only be used if you created an account on our website after January 19, 2016. Any account created prior is no longer valid due to the re-launch of Burpee.com. We're sorry but you will need to create a brand new account and re-register your email address."

This spring I placed an order for two "Sunshine Blue" and one "Misty" blueberry plants. When my order arrived the two "Sunshine Blue" plants looked great. The third plant looked a little rough; some dry and dead falling leaves and was a "Jersey" blueberry. Jersey blueberries are zoned 3-7 and I live in zone 9. This might explain why the third plant looked rough. I contacted Customer Service through E-mail to let them know I received the wrong plant. They responded in less than 24 hours, were polite and helpful. The customer service representive asked for a photo of the plant (I included the label) and I received the correct blueberry plant within a week. It arrived in excellent condition.

From February to March (I placed 5 orders) I ordered several seed packets along with 16 live tomato plants and 9 live pepper plants. I received them via UPS in large boxes. Their condition is spectacular. They are quite tall, slightly bent over in their plastic shipping enclosures, but look healthy. The seeds I ordered all came a week or so after my order was placed. One specific type of tomato plant I ordered 4 of, came super leggy and very limp. The plants needed sunlight, oxygen and water. They’ve been in the garden outside for about 2 weeks and are dong spectacular. My only problem with Burpee was with ordering onions. Firstly, for my zone (#8) onions were to begin shipping March 11. I ordered Walla Walla onions on March 22. After that it took 2 ½ weeks to get to me. I called Burpee a week and a half after I placed my order to see what was going on. Apparently my onions were coming from a vendor in Texas and it takes 2-3 weeks to prepare the order. Okay. If I had known that I would not have ordered onions from Burpee. The next day, after I called, the onions shipped and were delivered in great condition. Secondly, I clicked on the bulb option on the Burpee website and I got onion starts. Which is okay, I just wanted to try something new. Oh well. Also, Burpee Customer Service... if you email them a question or concern you will not receive an answer. Call if you need anything. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I got them in the ground too late so they will not bulb up. Next year I’ll purchase onions from a different company because this was a waste of time and money. Nonetheless, regarding the live plants, I am surprised that mine came in such great condition since there are sooo many complaints about live plants being delivered dead. Mine were/are very much so alive and doing great. Also, I don’t mind the price. I bought 9 different kinds of tomato plants, from hybrids to heirlooms from Burpee this year. I realize that buying from your local nursery or farm store is a little cheaper than Burpee but at my local stores you can’t find this many different varieties, so to me, the price was fair. Also, for all five of my orders that I placed this year I never had to pay for shipping. They always have a free-shipping coupon or a 20% off coupon, which is great. I would recommend ordering from Burpee and I will be ordering more from them next year!

More than a 2 week delay in shipment, would not have ordered if I had known that would be the case.

This year I placed my first (and last) order with Burpee for 20 raspberry plants. At first all seemed just fine and my plants shipped on the expected date. Their website states 3 day shipping and that they don't ship orders on Thursday. I received my shipment notification and noticed that it was THURSDAY and had a delivery date of Tuesday, 4 days. When I emailed customer service I was told that my order was probably being prepared for shipment and hadn't actually left yet. After I provided the tracking number I was told that yes, it had shipped but it would be 3 business days. When I advised the representative that my order had a Tuesday delivery date the rep changed her mind and stated that it was actually going to take 4 days and not 3. Well, that meant that since it shipped Thursday it would be in the truck or at the dock somewhere for the entire weekend. My plants arrived at the first UPS destination on Saturday morning and stayed there for 12 hours. Then on Monday they arrived in my city early morning and were not delivered until late Tuesday afternoon. Burpee assured me that my plants were guaranteed and would be replaced if the didn't live. So, now I wait for a month to see if they live and by then bare root season has ended. So much for fruit next year if they don't live. Very discouraging. No more ordering from Burpee.

I've started keeping my empty Burpee seed packs after a couple of incidents when the seeds were not true to type and the testy customer service rep wouldn't even offer an apology without the seed lot numbers. If you buy from Burpee, save the packs! Other than that, I've had decent experiences with them, although, considering their prices, their service could be better. Some of their seeds are actually pretty good, others are so-so.

I placed an order for 5 plants on the 4th of July 2015, I waited and waited, never received anything so I checked my account on the burpee page and it said they would ship my order at the best time for planting in my area. They charged my credit card the day or the very next day, but I never saw my plants until September! I could have been enjoying them for 2-3 months. When I did receive them, they were all stuffed into a little box, that I thought only held 1-2 plants max. Oh no! all 5 were stuffed in and dry. I did not get what I paid for. My neighbor said Burpee was the best and that if I wanted to get some great plants, that was the place to order from...NEVER AGAIN! I would have understood waiting if id placed my order in December or January, but it was July! Now ive got to wait until spring to see if this mess of dried leaves and twigs are really just sleeping or if they were dead when I received them. Now im on the hunt for another online nursery that I might actually receive what I pay for.

Posted on February 6, 2015, updated February 17, 2016 Burpee has good seeds, but takes entirely too long to get them to the customer, especially considering their prices!

I have been ordering seeds and plants from Burpee for years. I am always disappointed in the live plants, which are sadly much smaller than I expected and sometimes I can kill them much easier than I expect. I have had a LOT of luck with their ferns though, and most of their bulbs. *** I am a terrible gardener, but have been getting much better these past few years*** So far, I am going to say their seeds are AWESOME. Compared to the four other brands I have bought, most of the time their seeds not only germinate, but last longer than expected. However, don't buy the Stevie seeds unless you are an expert gardener. Don't buy live plants unless you are at least an experienced gardener. They need more help than some other places. I have never contacted their customer service before, and I don't know if they would help with the problems.

For many years, at least twenty, I have ordered Burpee Flower and Vegetable seeds. This year is the first year I've had a problem, well two problems. Penta (flowering annual) seeds which did not germinate, although I was meticulous with directions. No big problem, I really didn't care much about that. BUT, I ordered good old Sweet 100 cherry tomato seeds, among others, like I have done for a long time. I typically germinate about twenty sweet 100 plants, greenhouse them to about 15 inches, and give all but two to friends. The two I grew this year had GOLF BALL size tomatoes which were, in my wife's opinion, not too sweet. I felt the same way. Well I complained to Customer Service who referred me to Horticulture, and I sent them photo's of the plants, the ripened fruit, and the lot number on the packet. They returned the price of the seed packet, and postage. What do I tell the friends who got the other plants? Sorry? Is there a QA problem? Someone leave the hybridizing unit door open?

Not everything goes smoothly in any walk of life, gardening included. Good experiences with this company overall. Not particularly fond of paying so much for certain 4-inch plants (e.g. unique berries), but they are definitely grow-ers if not show-ers. Had a mixup with my order (shipped wrong product) that caused me not to get my strawberry until the following spring, but, once it arrived (healthy, albeit tiny), it was planted and, without any regard to my expectations, grew with gusto. Don't judge a plant by its top, I suppose.

First time order from Burpee, ordered Lewisia on sale. The plants were fantastic large plants with a great root system. Very pleased.

I live in zone 5. I ordered 9 tomato plants and 6 pepper plants, total over $100, on May 4th. I called several times asking for a shipping date. Customer service could not tell me even approximately when my plants would ship. I finally received an email from UPS on May 26th telling me that my plants had shipped. I never received any communication from Burpee regarding shipping. The plants arrived on May 28th. They were ridiculously small. I completely understand why neither the website nor customer service can tell you shipping dates. No one would order from them. Their plants are over priced, but I wanted to give them a try, thinking it might be worth it. Not only were the plants a disappointment, they cost me almost a month of growing time. I will never order plants from them again, unless they provide actual shipping dates on their website.

I ordered tomatoes and peppers on May 7 and received an email on approximately May 12 stating that my order had been picked and would be sent when it was time to plant in my zone. My zone is 6 and according to their website they have been shipping to zone 6 for about 2 weeks. I called to ask when I could expect to receive my plants on May 20 and was told they would "probably" ship the next day. Still had not received on May 26 so I called again and was told exactly the same thing. When I explained that I had been told that on the 20th and needed to know exactly when they would ship, I was told that no one in the company could answer that question but that "the truck" went out with the day's shipment and mine were not on it. When I politely stated that a more specific answer was needed at this point, I was hung up on. Apparently they don't have a shipping schedule. The lady I spoke with was very unconcerned and seemed to be annoyed that I would even call and could not care less if customers are satisfied. This is their customer service. Never, never again will I purchase from Burpee.

Strawberry plants arrived in EXCELLENT condition! I ordered 3 purple wonder strawberry plants and then happen to read all the negative comments here. My initial thought was... I just wasted $34. But to my surprise... the plants arrived in excellent condition! Each plant was PLANTED in a 4" pot. The packing in the box protected the tops of each plant and kept the dirt from falling out of the pots. Genius! Plants I have bought and carried home from a store have had more damage than these plants! The dirt was still moist after 7 day shipping period. Their communication was excellent. I was sent an email with tracking number and expected arrival the day the plants were sent. Plants were shipped within the time period described on their website. VERY happy!