Comments regarding Dutch Gardens

This was my first order from Dutch Gardens. I ordered Dwarf Sorbet Lily Mixture (10 bulbs) and Double Freesia Mix (25 bulbs). I was very happy with the condition of the bulbs. They were small to medium in size and looked really healthy. Shipping was realitively fast. I would order from this company again.

I have had good luck buying bulbs through this company, but live plants have been a different matter. I ordered what was supposed to be a mix of Japanese iris, what arrived were three of the same Siberian iris. After a call to the company I was given credit, and ordered a Coconut Lime coneflower, it arrived just before winter as a shriveled, dried out plantlet that I tried to save but it died on me. Another call to them and I have credit, which I will try on bulbs instead of plants.

Like I said, great bulbs but beware of live plants.

I placed in order with Dutch Gardens for two Tiki Torch Coneflowers and I was very pleased with their arrival. The plants were very healthy and robust. I have planted them a few weeks ago and they are doing very nicely. I will continue to order from them.

This was my first experience with Dutch Gardens. I placed an order for two Shady Nook Gardens and two separate plants. The plants were very well packaged and healthy. The Shady Nook Gardens that I purchased were bareroot. All of the items in these collections seem very healthy. I look forward to seeing them in full bloom. Overall, I am very satisfied with the items that I have received. I will order from this company again without any hesitation.

I love roses and have a small collection now of 47 roses. Last year I ordered the rainbow rose collection. All 5 bushes died within weeks of planting. They did not look good at all when I received them. I relayed my displeasure to Dutch Gardens sometime later and they to my surprise sent me a new rainbow collection this year that I received/planted the new roses in late March. They are doing fantastic, full of foliage, sprouting even more new growth and all 5 are begining to bud. I must say after my experience last year I was quite skeptical, but they are beautiful and I am very happy.

I ordered two small orders from them this spring, mostly perennials and some bare root raspberries and blackberries. Plants were mostly small, but healthy. The raspberries were huge, and are in the ground already. I will see how things go. I did note that their prices were not always the best. I found a few things that I had thought to get from them at a better price from a better supplier, so in the future I will check around before I commit.

I have been ordering from this company for more than 3 years. I have ordered many bulbs (alliums, daffodils, tulips) and the bulbs have always been good quality, producing beautiful flowers in the spring. I just ordered 3 verbascum plants and liatris bulbs. The plants arrived in great condition, and were packaged exceptionally well. Their customer service is also great.

I've been ordering large quantities of Spring flowering bulbs from Dutch Gardens for years. For the last three years I've said to myself I needed to find a new supplier. This year, I will. The problem seems to be quality control, sorta like the way McDonald's apple pies eventually were just compote and no apple. I'll open a bag of tulips and two or three out of six will be rotten, moldy or dessicated. If all the bulbs in the bulb bag were of the same quality... that is, the healthy bulbs are great, but too many years now in a row I've gotten rejects mixed in with premium bulbs. and this, I feel, is the company's attempts to pass their losses off on the consumer. Though their replacement policy is acceptable, I don't really want replacements, I want my order filled with plump, quality bulbs. As a professional gardener with plenty of mail order experience, I recommend finding another dutch bulb distributor, these guys have gotten too big to provide quality plants, which is what you want, not replacements a year later.

I have ordered several plants from this company over the years from roses to daylilies to alliums. The plants were always carefully packed and in good health. The plants and bulbs were of a good size too. I've never had any problems and they have good customer service also.

I ordered about $130 of bulbs from Dutch gardens and wish I hadn't. I will not leave a negative rating because I did recieve the bulbs and they were not damaged, but they were really nothing special. The size of the bulbs was not any larger than what I have purchased elsewhere, not top size as advertised, just average.
I was enchanted with the beauty of their fringed tulips and and some of their fancier tulips and daffodils but was highly dissapointed in the blooms. They didn't look anything like those beautiful pictures and the fringed pinks were downright ugly.
On a side note I managed to pick up a clearance package of tulips at walmart, they were only 75cents for a bag of 30 bulbs which I planted down the row from the dutch garden tulips and they have outperformed the expensive Dutch Garden bulbs by far! Also picked up a discount bag of daffs and they are all doing as well if not better than the ones I bought from Dutch Gardens and just as pretty.
So I think what you are paying extra for is the pretty pictures in their catalog, the actual product is nothing special.

Just received my order from Dutch Gardens and I'm very pleased. I had ordered from them a few years back so took a chance in spite of some negative comments here. As I recall from past orders, the bulbs they sent were huge - Aztec lily 3 or 4 times the size of the ones I'd gotten at a box store in the past. Everything was diligently packed and in great shape - like opening a Christmas present! All bulbs and dahlia tubers are large and disease free.
They kept in touch in email about the shipping time for my order (zone 7). My experience was top notch.

I'm a first time bulb gardener. I ordered the three season sampler of tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinths, mountain lilies, windflowers, allium. The bulbs were all fat and healthy, my order arrived for fall planting, nothing was backordered. So far everything is coming up beautifully. I planted hyacinths and tulips in containers and they are blooming wonderfully. I had a question when planting last fall and got an e-mail back promptly with the advice I needed.

I will definitely order bulbs from this company again.

A few months ago this review would have been neutral or positive. I have ordered daffodils, tulips, and perennials from dutch gardens. Every perennial I received (3 - 4) was thrown in the trash or given away because it was such a puny bare root, my bulbs for daffodils and hyacinths were always perfect, tulips were a toss, some good some bad. My tulips always split after one year, not really sure it its their fault.

I'm upset because I ordered 3 Mariposa Skies Fragrant German iris, I received 3 huge irises, one arrived filled with fruit flys/borers, with just a shell (no inside, eaten by bugs) The other two looked healthy and I received a replacement for that one, coming this summer I go out and they all have produced offsets during the winter, but two of the three have borers, I believe they were shipped with them. I have never had borers in my iris beds. I will be getting rid of them all and ordering Mariposa Skies from Schreiners instead.

I'm not sure what happened to this company. I was a customer for years and I was always thrilled with the plants I received. However, the Iast two years I placed orders I have recieved the wrong plants. I ordered an Ebb Tide rose that bloomed light lavender, a Double Decker Echinacea that is only a single (two years later--so plenty of time for it to double), a Purple Emporer Sedum that was green, and a full batch of Iris Crysographes that were white, or did not come up. It has been very disappointing.
I do have to say that once they are contacted, they do rectify the situation quickly. I received credits for all the plants that were incorrect, and I appreciate that. However, I used the credits and got more incorrect plants. I've just given up. I used all my credit with them and whatever I got from them I'm just letting grow. I feel it's useless to write to them again and tell them that I've gotten the wrong plants for the third time.
I will not order again from Dutch Gardens.

I've never ordered from the company before and was initially impressed when they called and said one of the things I'd ordered was not up to their standards so they would credit me or substitute something. My impression was much less positive when the other things I ordered arrived. In the packages that were supposed to contain 3 healthy roots/rhizomes/tubers there would be 1 good sized and healthy looking, 1 small shriveled root (or whatever I'd ordered) and something that may have been grass but sure wasn't a root. NOTHING came up. the live plants I recieved died shortly after planting. I called about the problems with size in the first order I recieved (they came in 3 different deliveries) and was told it would be taken care of with the next delivery. it wasn't. after the 3rd call I quit trying and chalked it up to a bad investment. In all fairness, I expected some negative outcome as we had record heat and a drought and even though I watered religiously I assumed I'd lose some plants. None of my established plants died though. I spent over $100.00 with this company but figured they would just blame it on the drought anyway so I quit trying to get satisfaction.

I have ordered from you before and not been particularly excited. Now your prices for 4" pots are amazingly high. I'm not sure why. I will wait to order from more cost effective nurseries and/or shop local.

I simply cannot say enough good things about Dutch Gardens. I have ordered from them many times and I have always received my orders on time. I can also check the status of my orders at anytime on their website and I love this feature. Their plants are robust and healthy. On the occasions where I have asked for replacements they have always treated me like I was the most important customer in the world and they have always treated me with the utmost respect. They really care about their customers. I will definitely continue ordering plants from them.

I have been ordering from Dutch Gardens for many years, and have never had a problem with them. Their bulbs are always healthy and large, and they have a nice variety.

Unfortunately, their perennial prices have skyrocketed this year, so I'll just stick with the bulbs.

I ordered bulbs from them last year. They came at the right time for fall planting, and were the biggest, healthiest bulbs I've ever seen! Seriously, the daffodil bulbs were bigger than my hand, and several of them were close to splitting into 2 or 3 large bulbs.

I'll have to remember to post here again in the spring, when everything comes up. But after a few years' experience growing these types of bulbs, I don't anticipate any problems. These were in much better shape than anything I could buy locally.

One side note: I ordered mixed bags of everything, so you'll never hear me complain that they sent the wrong variety.

Based on prior comments, I was very reluctant to order from Dutch Gardens. However, they were the only place I could find the Bulb Bopper, so I decided to go on and give them a try. I ordered 40 mixed daffodils along with my bopper. I was very pleased with the size of these bulbs - they were some of the largest bulbs I have ever rec'd ! They both arrived from 2 different locations, but at the same time. At this time, I'd say I am very pleased with them as a vendor. (I feel sure they will bloom, come spring)

Back in April 07 I ordered $120 worth of bulbs. They did not look to good upon arrival but at that time I was not experienced with bulbs and didn't realize that they were not top quality. As of this date they did not sprout except for two dahlias. I e-mailed Dutch Gardens and told them that I was a member of Daves Garden and the very next day they e-mailed me and offered me a refund or credit. I chose a credit as I appreciated their integrity and will definetly continue to do business with them.

When I first saw the catalog for Dutch Garden's dahlias I was impressed. I decided to do a Red & Orange color scheme along my walk way. I ordered the tubers early but still didn't get them until the end of April. I planted them immeadiately and now it is July 13th, and guess what, they are THE WRONG COLORS> Thats right. Instead of Red and Orange both sets of Dahlias (I ordered the Mrs Eileen and the Zorro) are a deep (almost black) purple. They look really ugly. I sent an email to Dutch Gardens a email just before this message telling them what they did, and not to send me a catalog anymore (they just keep sending them with those same photos). I guess I should have read t his message board first).
Jason in the Bronx.

I have ordered from this company at least three or four times and have had several problems with my order each time. The latest problem I just discovered with the dwarf canna bulbs that I last ordered, which are supposed to be pink, are YELLOW. I had placed this order much earlier in the year and when the package arrived, the pink cannas weren't even in it. I had called and complained and they sent me REPLACEMENT pink cannas (I waited quite a long time for them to arrive, by the way) and now I have discovered, several months later, that my REPLACEMENT pink cannas are YELLOW. Of course, you don't know these types of things until they have been planted for weeks and finally come up.

I have had problems with daylilies too, that aren't the right type. A couple of years ago, I was involved in the "Blueberry Sunday" dayliliy fiasco, in which I got a "blue daylily that wasn't". Apparently I wasn't the only one because the company sent out a "oops" letter to everyone and gave them a coupon. That, at least, was a mark in their favor.

However, I have had problems with another order this year with some dahlias that didn't resemble the picture in the catalog. I have also had to call and complain when I got a bag of expensive bulbs, which was supposed to have had three bulbs, only had two. I also, have gotten bags of bulbs that didn't look too fresh.

I expect a company that deals with thousands of bulbs to make some mistakes.......and of course, some of the bulbs aren't going to make it. Personally, the mislabled bulbs are the most irritating to me because you don't know there is something wrong with them for quite a considerable amount of time, plus it messes up your planting scheme.

I've just been burned too many times now and I won't order from them again. The stuff that is good is good but the company is just too "hit or miss" and you can't trust that the bulbs you order are the ones you will actually be planting. Imagine if you ordered 200 red tulips and after planting them, you discovered that they were white!

Ordered a daylily and 4 packs of different bulbs. Dutch Gardens must not realize that April is often still winter in Iowa. Came home from work to a wet box of frozen bulbs that had obviously been sitting on my doorstep in an ice storm most of the day. E-mailed Dutch Gardens to tell them most of the bulbs were frozen. They responded promptly and sent an entire new order at their expense. The bulbs were lovely and the daylily was quite large. They now appear to be growing quite nicely. Dutch gardens has nice quality products and in my opinion, their customer service is top-notch.

I placed 2 orders with Dutch Gardens and the plants looked like they came from 2 different companies. The first order arrived in 2 shipments with puny plants in poor condition, bulbs and plants reeking of mold. The second order arrived with only the slightest scent of mold and larger, healthier plants and bulbs. When I called and told customer service this they were very nice and apologetic and immediately sent out replacements for the first order. The replacements were much better, but there is still a problem with a moldy smell, so I have decided to leave a neutral rating for now, and when I see how the bulbs come up and how the plants do, I hope I can upgrade it to a positive.

This was my first time to order from Dutch Gardens and I am not a happy camper by any means.
I ordered two Vavoom floribunda roses from them. I recieved the roses in a decent time span, but the roses were well past their prime and were packed terribly which resulted in broken roots and the roses were completely dried out. They packed the plants in a plastic bag with just a few pathetic small dry newspaper strips to supposedly keep the roots moist, but everything in the box was dry including the roses. I immediately put the roses to soak, submersing them completely for two days. I cut as much of the dead cane off as possible and planted them but it looks like they are not going to make it even with my best efforts.
When I received the plants I e-mailed them immediately to advise them of the condition of the roses and I have e-mailed them three more times and have yet to receive any reply from them.
I am very disappointed and will not order from them in the future unless they get on the stick and get back in touch with me to resolve this problem very soon.
After placing my order but prior to receiving it, I got several notices and e-mails from them, but now that there is a problem they seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth.
How typical.......

I placed an online order for roses and a perennial and had considered ordering some bulbs but removed them. For the record, I test internet sites, specifically ecommerce and have for 10 years so I know how websites work. I know what I ordered and wrote down my total and when I received my confirmation, the items I removed were included and my total was much larger. I called immediately to ask them to remove those items and refund my money and they told me they couldn't do that because the items had already been shipped. When I pressed her on that--I was surprised something would be shipped so soon she said it hadn't been shipped but that it was too difficult for them to cancel. So first she lied to me and then told me that basically they don't want the hassle--they would prefer their customers deal with the headache. I was angry but got off of the phone. I did further checking against this company and found several situations reported that were similar to mine. Then I checked my order status and it also read not shipped so I called back thinking that since the item had not been shipped they would be able to correct their mistake. The second No-customer-service lady I spoke with told me I must have done something wrong and that it was too hard for them to remove the item from a shipping box so I would have to do the work of having them ship me a return label AFTER I received the item. I asked her to send it immediately so that I could return the item as soon as it arrived and get reimbursed. She was rude and completely unhelpful. She basically said it was my fault and that she couldn't do anything to resolve this situation. I guess they hope that you are just worn down and decide to keep whatever they send you. I am so angry I am filing a complaint with my bank so that they can refund my money and then I'm changing my card # so that DG cannot charge me in the future. They charged my card BEFORE they shipped the item. That is not what their policy says and I don't shop with companies that do that because I think it's a bit shady. Save yourself serious grief and find a different garden supply company.

I ordered two hybrid Clematis from Dutch Gardens...they arrived in beautiful condition and were well on their way to vigorous growth when they arrived. I've had mixed results from this company in the past, but I wasn't so disappointed that I wouldn't order from them again (some items, like Regale Lily bulbs, were downright unbelievable, and others, like tuberous Begonias, were disappointingly small in the past years that I've ordered from Dutch Gardens). This time, these were among the best plants I've ever received via mail order. I also ordered Lily bulbs and Dahlias from them this year, and so far, all looks pretty good with those as well. I will definitely order from them again now!

I recieved two boxes of bulbs from Dutch Gardens and as in the past I was happy with my purchase. The bulbs were large and in very good shape. They are a good company to do business with and they are very good about answering their emails.

I ordered 3 packages of bareroot sets described as "three top sized roots per package" = 9 total. One package had really tiny roots, but the other two packages each had 5 healthy ones. So I guess I am ahead in the long run.

I've ordered dahlias and begonias from them for the last few years and the quality has always been top notch. I just received some climbing roses and some perennials. The packaging and quality look to be among the best that I have seen. They are not cheap but they deliver variety and quality. I recommend them.

I have been ordering from this company for the last 10 years. Admittedly the size of the plants leave quite a bit to be desired in comparison to the fully grown size shown in their catalogs. Their bulbs however have been outstanding for 8 of my 10 orders. I found the key to be to order well ahead of planting time so as to receive the best quality. I have restricted my purchases from this company to 'bulbs only', and I recommend them as such.

Two years or so ago I placed a large order with Dutch gardens. My complaint was that 30% of the items (there were perhaps 20) did not come up as the stated item. Not even close. This year I saw some Dutch garden items at the hardware store and - well - just loved the pictures - what can I say. I bought 5 different packages of tulips. Three of them were not the kind on the pictures. That makes me a fool for being fooled twice. Somehow this company does not think its cost effective or all that important to be true to advertising.
I wont use them again.

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We were sorry to read of this experience with bulbs purchased at a local store. Dutch Gardens does not sell on the retail market. Our bulbs are only available through our mail order catalog and web site and are shipped directly from Holland to you. We extend 100% customer satisfaction guarantee and are always happy to replace unsatisfactory items or offer complete refunds. Please contact us to ensure that any problems related to your earlier Dutch Gardens order have been resolved. We look forward to serving you.
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it is stated clearly in their catalogue that payment will not be taken from your credit card/debit card till the merchandise is shipped. i placed an order in march for delivery in may. they put a hold on my bank account - i used a debit card- for the amount of my order-they called it a preauthorization. what it meant to me was that my money was not available to me for 72 hours! i called them-told the lady right up front that i was angry, but would make every effort to be calm and polite. i told her the situation including the fact that when i saw the money on my account i called them and they assured me that the money would not come out of my balance, it was just a preauthorization. well, the money did come out of my balance, so i guess they didn't understand their own system. anyway, the second person i spoke with told me that the bank was the one who held the money, not dutch gardens. i called the bank and they assured me that the hold was indeed from the company and could last 72 hours, and could not be removed without permission from the merchant. i cancelled my order, and dutch gardens told me that my money would then be immediately available-wrong again! the bank told me once again that they needed something in writing from the merchant. so, right now i'm waiting to see whether my money will be available after 72 hours-if not, i have to call the company again! this has never happened to me with any other catalogue. on top of that, the people i talked to got testy with me, even as they spouted misinformation. they have all these cutesy little messages on their telephone answering system about how much their customers are valued, but that is obviously not true. to me, they have an obligation to inform their customer that their money will be held, despite the written statement in the catalogue to the contrary. thank god i had enough additional money in my account to cover my checks-that isn't always the case. so-dutch gardens is stunningly ignorant of their own policies, with each person saying a different thing and none of them being correct-and this ignorance can do real financial damage to their customers-if items are presented for payment while the money in our accounts is on hold, they will be returned, causing overdraft charges, embarassment, and damage to credit. they should inform their customers that the amount of their order will not be available to them right away, even though the catalogue clearly says it won't be taken out till time of shipment. one of the people i spoke to there had the nerve to tell me that probably all companies did this, i just didn't notice-in other words, i'm stupid! i can unequivocally say that this has never happened before with any other company, and i have used many gardening catalogues. needless to say, i will never do business with them again. i can only hope that my money gets released sometime in the next day or two, or i'll have to deal with them again!

Normally I had great experiences ordering from this company but not this last time. First order, I got all my lilium bulbs and daylilies on time and in great condition. My japenese iris collection was in great condition.

Encouraged I ordered again the german iris collection and the siberian iris collection. All were rotted except Avalon Bay and that was in no great shape. The Siberians were all dead or almost dead. Lady Vanessa was not even in the package, it was empty.

I contacted Dutch Gardens and they agreed to resend the order which I recieved June 1st. A note said they could no longer get the german iris collection and no refund was offered. The siberians arrived almost dead. Butter And Sugar and Lady Vanessa were dead. I think I saved the others but they are not in great shape.

Will not be ordering irises from this company again for I have better sources. I do like the daylilies and lilium bulbs so will risk ordering those. They have honored day lily mix up in the past and treated me well until this last order over the irises.

Although I did finally receive our bulbs, my experience was less than satisfactory. After weeks of no news, I called to check on the status of the order. I spoke with a very nice CS representative who assured me that my order had been received and that the bulbs were going to be shipped out the next day. This was 4 weeks ago.

I then called 2 weeks ago and was given the same story. I was even given a tracking number that never worked, despite being assured that it would activate shortly since the bulbs had just been sent (there was no mention of why they hadn't been sent 2 weeks prior, and this representative blatantly dodged my question). I thanked her and went back to waiting.

Finally, at the end of last week I called back. This time I was more than a little upset because I truly felt jerked around. I got a similar response to my questions, but at that time I actually got a valid tracking number. The bulbs had just been sent earlier that morning. That in and of itself upset me because of all the past promises about shipping time.

The bulbs finally arrived at my home yesterday. The packaging was TERRIBLE. Miraculously, all of the bulbs arrived and appear in good condition (this is the only reason I am giving a neutral rating instead of negative). We shall see what comes up in the spring... I will definitely not be ordering from this company again. I expected much better from a company that is linked to Gardener's Supply.

Purchased four types of iris and lilies. All arrived in good shape, packed well, and all appeared to be excellent bulbs.

I have yet to see the results of my planting, but I am dissappointed because of the shipping times. I know it really can't be helped but I placed orders days apart. But their shipping times are weeks apart due to when my orderes were shipped. I would recommend ordering the daylilies from there. I have heard about people getting the wrong variety. I ordered a South Seas Daylily. It shipped from Canada and was the first order I received. The shipping time was a little long, about 15 days. The plant itself was beautiful, it was very dry when I received it though, I have no idea why. The shavings in the box were BONE dry and so were the roots. They left a few pieces of foliage so I could tell what was up from down. But the roots and clump size were huge. Not what I was expecting. I will see how my tulips arrive (i'm expecting a shipment today) I also have hyacinths and lilies on the way and I'm still waiting for one more order to be shipped from Holland to customs. I will be back in the spring/summer to tell you how everything went!

I've been suckered in by their beautiful catalog several times, but I've been consistently disappointed with the merchandise.

The dahlias I ordered from them last year were diseased. The begonias only vaguely resembled the gorgeous photograph. The toad lilies I put in this spring failed to come up. The gloriosas never bloomed.

The more common items in their catalog can be gotten cheaper elsewhere. The more exotic things have failed to live up to my expectations.