Chocolate Flower Farm

Posted on February 20, 2010, updated April 25, 2018 I truly adore this very unique company, and my experience with them was wonderful. The selection of coordinated plants - each the quintessential 'chocolate garden' flower or complementary plant - was extraordinary and incomparable. The variety of plants they offer really stimulated my imagination, and completely changed the plan I had for a number of my gardens. Many of their offerings seem to be unique to their website, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to order them. The plants I did order arrived well-packaged and healthy - a satisfying comfort, considering we reside across the continent from their Washington nursery. They all thrived in and enhanced my garden. In particular, I just love my single black columbines. So pretty! My order arrived with a surprise chocolate candle, which was beyond generous and smells delectable. Emails were answered super quickly, and Marie's communications were so, so friendly.

Posted on July 16, 2016, updated July 21, 2016 I am very disappointed in my experience this year. I have been ordering from this company for years and have had very good experiences, every year. This year is different. I ordered in January 2016. I received my seeds pretty quickly. My total order was charged at the time of the order. I receive newsletters so I saw that my chocolate Dahlias should have shipped in April. They did not. In May I emailed the Chocolate Flower Farm and asked about not getting my dahlias. I also ordered Cosomos which were to be shipped in May. I hadn't received either. The same day, Marie from Chocolate Flower Farm emailed me back and said she had hired helpers to ship the dahlias and they must have missed mine. They were out so I was supposed to get a $22 refund. She said my cosmos were being shipped in the next week or so. On May 29 I emailed Marie again. No credit and no cosmos yet. By June 20 no response, so I emailed her again.Finally on June 29 I got a response that she was sorry and would take care of the credit and shipping the cosmos with an extra the next day. On July 10th I emailed her again because neither the credit or the cosmos had been taken care of. On July 10th she said she would take care of it the next day. It didn't happen. I ordered and paid 6 months ago. I am owed for both the cosmos and dahlias. Lots of promises and I truly wanted to believe her because her plants are beautiful.

Posted on May 11, 2010, updated April 23, 2013 Posted on February 9, 2010, updated May 11, 2010 Posted on March 15, 2007, updated February 8, 2010 I spoke with Marie on the phone; she is the sweetest lady!! I ordered plants, they came fast, they look great, big roots filling up the pots. Great packing, fair price too, and unusual collection of plants! Highly recommend this nursery. She sent a candle as a gift too, I love surprises! I can't wait for April, when more plants will be available, I will be ordering again!! Christie

I had the recent opportunity to visit the gardens in Langley, examine the beautifully grown plants and to speak at length with Marie (who owns the business with her husband, Bill) about the formation, development and future plans of Chocolate Flower Farm. Marie is an astute business woman and talented gardener, as well as incredibly generous with her time, taking pains to ensure all of my questions were answered and to share her love of plants "from the dark side." The plants were gorgeous and healthy, despite the recent succession of 90 degree + weather (almost unheard of in western WA's mild maritime climate) and Marie was hard at work before the crack of dawn watering and caring for her plants. This is a business run with passion, intelligence and skill. Order plants, seed collections or perhaps a dozen of Bill's hand-crafted, chocolate-scented candles. You will be delighted with the quality of all their products!

This was my first order from this company and I will definitely order from them again. I needed to cancel an item and my email was handled promptly and personably. The plants arrived on time and in beautiful condition. They are the largest plants that I have ever recieved from an online source. A great value for the price.

I absolutely love this company. The plants were packaged wonderfully, were large and healthy and transitioned into my garden without any problems! The chocolate theme is wonderful and their candles smell yummy, too!

I am a fan of dark flowers & shrubs, and couldn't resist the price from Chocolate flower farm and, at the time very few carried the somewhat rare and new variety I wanted particularly for the much lower price they had. When they arrived I was VERY surprised at the nice size and quality of plants I got, all in excellent condition. I too, got a chocolate candle with my purchase! I purchased my plants in '07 (I like to wait a year before reviewing). I highly recommend this company, and the plants were all alive, healthy, and for being rare very reasonably priced. They grew wonderful last year, and are coming back with a vengence this year. Great service too!

Last spring I ordered two chocolate daisies and chocolate mint from them. The chocolate mint was fine and has grown well, but the two chocolate daisies were in poor shape. For $8 plants, they were scrawny, with small root systems, and one was on the verge of death. I planted them anyways, in a raised bed with lots or organic matter and tried to nurse them through the season. One died promptly, the only barely survived. My hope of having chocolate scented flowers last summer were dashed. I moved the surviving plant, which had died down to the size of a seedling, to a more sheltered place for the winter, but I doubt it will survive. I've had the run-around too many times from too many mail order catalogs, so I did not bother this time. Now I see that everyone else seems to have had a great experience, and I really wish that I had emailed them about the problem when they could have done something about it. That is why I am putting "positive" down, because I honestly did not give them the chance to rectify the situation, and I don't want to hurt their rating. Plus the free chocolate-scented votive was nice :)

I was also in search of a plant I couldn't live without. It is one of the new dark foliage elderberries called 'Black Lace'. I talked to Marie via email and by phone and was finally able to talk her in to mailing me one. I was so excited. It is a wonderful addition to my borders. The shrub was in a 2 gallon pot and the shipping was a little extra but well worth it and it was well discussed before she relented. I just couldn't see driving from Central Oregon to Langley Washington for a shrub. I also ordered 4 perennials. Two are oriental poppies that are not available anywhere else on the West Coast this year - Royal Chocolate Distinction and one of the New York Series, Brooklyn. And then to top off the box was Dan Hinkley's ornamental rhubarb, Rheum 'Ace of Hearts'. I opened the boxes 2 days later and it was like I had walked into Chocolate Flower Farm and chosen the best plants they had. Large - Lush - Wonderful. I rate this business with 5 huge Gold Stars.

After following a lead on chocolate scented flowers I ended up at Chocolate Flower Farm's website. When I found that they had chocolate- or dark-foliaged plants as well, I tracked down a black Cimicifuga that I've been lusting after for some time now. I emailed them a handful of times in the course of the same day, asking continuous questions about the health and size of the plants, shipping, prices, etc. Marie -- one of the owners -- responded quickly and patiently every time. I was looking for a large Bugbane and Marie informed me that they were getting ready (literally, within a day) to move all their gallon sized plants up to 2 gallons (which would make them pricier ... and unshippable, but that wasn't as much of a concern since the farm is within a ferry ride and another 2 hours drive of here) but that they would be willing to send one to me instead. Marie let me know that the plants had all but outgrown their pots, but then told me that they had smaller (cheaper, of course) 4" pot plants if I was concerned about planting a large, near-rootbound plant in summer. At the end of the same day I made the decision and opted for one of the larger plants, ordering online. I received the shipping notification the next morning (early), and had the plant delivered into my hands 1 day earlier then was promised. The plant was packaged beautifully; I simply could not be happier about that. With the exception of two small broken leaves (already crisp, so broken well before they were shipped) this was the healthiest looking nursery plant I have ever seen -- mail order or otherwise. The nearly 4' plant glowed with vigor. The roots were indeed bound, but I pulled them away from each other without much problem. All in all, I'm impressed with the customer service, the plant, and Marie's willingness to lower their profit by offering me a cheaper plant when she thought it might suit my needs better. And if all that weren't enough, she threw in a chocolate-scented candle as a gift. My experience was very positive.