Comments regarding The Lily Pad

I placed my order on march 10th. I have not recieved the order yet, which is fine since winter here is having a hard time letting go. But my issue right now is that I wanted to remove an item from my order, I have emailed and called to no avail. No one answers tgr the phone, it says the voicemail is not set up so I can't even leave a message. No response to 3 emails either. So their customet service has me worried right now. What happens if my order is wrong, or I have issues with it?

I'm hoping that the bulbs I ordered are really top notch!!

Posted on April 3, 2009, updated March 5, 2010
This company was pretty terrible to deal with. Placing my order for 5 lilies was a breeze and completed 3/16/09. I was notified 10 days later, 3/27/09 that my order could not be completed because two of the lilies I ordered were no longer available. I e-mailed back to replace those two with two others of equal value.

The following day the charge posted to my account $14 over what I agreed to pay. I checked my online invoice which showed their charge was incorrect. First I used e-mail to contact the company to make them aware of the error. I received no response. I also used their online "contact us" page and received no response. I also tried calling and received no answer and no response. I had to go through my bank to dispute the charge.

I did receive my order and the slip from running my card for more than I agreed is stapled to the sales slip with the correct price.

The box they used was very small and the lilies, though packed well in their individual bags, were crammed into the box, one upside down, with the fans being bent, crushed and broken.

There were also only four plants in the box, I ordered five. When I checked my receipt the most expensive plant is the one that is missing. So I called the company and received no answer due to "understaffing caused by spring vacation". I left a message and the voicemail said I would receive a call back within 24 hours, which I did not receive any response. I have to get back onto the phone with my bank to see if I can get my money back for the product I did not receive.

I will never order from this company again. They're very quick to take your money, more than they're entitled to even, but do not respond to e-mails, phone calls or complaints of any kind.

Over all I am going to rate company a postive experience which maybe subject to change. I have received 2 orders of bulbs from The Lily Pad. I got 1 bulb in the fall of 2007 and 3 bulbs spring 2008. All were very nice sized and healthy looking and all have grown.

The fall bulb I had ordered was a Bulb- Zilla Midnight. I ordered this specifically for my husband who likes that type of dark color. What has bloomed though seems to be Regale. We are both rather dissappointed.

The spring shipment is growing and will be blooming in the next few days, but I am confident they will be fine.

I also just placed a third order with this company for 1 bulb for fall 2008 delivery on June 23 and I am confident it will be right, with some reseravtion though.

I have emailed the company regarding the wrong bulb sent. They do not address this problem on their website. So I am waiting now to hear back from them.

I ordered from The Lily Pad for the first time this spring; normally I order my lily bulbs from The Lily Garden (which is unsurpassed in service and quality, in my book!), but because I was having difficulty contacting them this year & was in a rush to place my order before traveling, I decided to give The Lily Pad a try. It was - for me, at least - a substantial order of ~$250.

They offer a good selection of lilies, including the Oriental Trumpet hybrids that have done so well for me in the past. Prices were rather high, compared to most mass-market suppliers, but my experience with ordering the more expensive bulbs from the grower (The Lily Garden, specifically) has given such supreme results that for me it is worth the cost. Because we were traveling and going to be away most of the spring planting season, I needed my bulbs to arrive within a very narrow window, and indicated this when I ordered. Unfortunately (for me), this part of my message was disregarded, and the bulbs arrived within a couple of days of placing my order. Incredibly fast, but extremely inconvenient & not what I had requested. This caused a big problem for me, but I sucked it up and managed to get all of them in the ground between trips. Many of them were sprouting in their bags on arrival, with the predictable results that the flowering tips broke off. Packing was not as careful as that from The Lily Garden.

As of now (mid August), my results are mixed, but overall I have to say that The Lily Pad's bulbs have not fared as well as those from The Lily Garden. Some didn't come up at all, while the growth of many others was spindly and anemic. The flowering tips of some were either nipped off by critters (OK, that's not their fault!) or never developed properly. Some of this may have been my own fault, due to the fact that we were not home to assure an even level of moisture during the spring & early summer.

My main complaints, though, are 2: the stems of many, especially the Trumpets, have been consistently puny & weak (those from The Lily Garden have always been like small tree trunks from the moment they emerged), and most of the Orientals & Oriental Trumpet hybrids have remained ridiculously short. I'm talking 4-6" stems here, with gorgeous flowers 6-8" across - ridiculous! So apart from being disproportionately short, this has screwed up my design scheme, because I plant lilies to emerge through lower-growing plants in order to hide their less-than-attractive stems and keep their root runs cool in the summer heat. A glorious 8"-diameter Casa Blance lily just shouldn't be blooming under a dwarf marigold - it just ain't right!

To be fair, I am gardening in a new location, and conditions may not be identical for comparison. I am, however, fairly experienced with growing lilies, and conditions here in my new garden seem even more favorable than those in my old one. The lilies (originally from The Lily Garden) that I moved from my former garden have continued to be spectacular, despite some misadventures with the lawnmower. I'm hoping that my problems with this year's crop from The Lily Pad are due to it being their first year in my gardens, and that next year they will really take off for me.

For now, I'm going to give The Lily Pad a Neutral rating, with the benefit of the doubt & hopes that next year my beloved pet lilies will have settled in; I'll update this when I see what happens. In the meantime, though, I'm going to stick with The Lily Garden for my future lily bulb purchases.

March 2006 Daylilies received were small single fans.
Customer service is very good.