Comments regarding Richter's Herb Specialists

I have ordered from them a number of times over the years and never had any problems.
This year, I successfully germinated the Rosemary seeds that i ordered in spring of 2009. I got about 85% and within 10 days. i don't need a microscope, though i do have one.

I am currently awaiting my second shipment of the year, i expect it to arrive within the next few days.

I have not ordered plants from them yet. Most of what i want comes in seed form and i have great success with their seeds.

I do plan on ordering their plants in the future. I miss the scented geranium collection i once had, and i want to rebuild it.....maybe in a year or so. I will post again when i have.

A few weeks ago I ordered five different seed packets online using my credit card. I received a confirmation email shortly thereafter listing my order and the credit card used (with pertinent numbers X'd out). Their magazine states that non-perishable items will be shipped within a few days so after a week when I noticed they hadn't charged my credit card I emailed them to see if they were going to do so soon. They responded a couple of days later stating that they had some server problems the exact day I had ordered (a Sunday) and had lost most orders and that I needed to call them to give my credit card information again and they would send out my seeds. They then called a few days later to again state the same information on my message machine with their number.
When I called back, the woman I spoke to was extremely rude. I told her about the email and she bluntly said, "we didn't crash." I paused, then said, "your server was down the day I ordered." She said, "no it wasn't." This was all before I had even given her any information about myself.....so when I finally read her the email that I had gotten she replied that indeed their server had crashed that day and all the orders were lost. She didn't even have a record of my order under the order number or name, even though I had gotten an email from them (with the explanation of the server problem) saying they had my order ready, but they needed the credit card information again. Finally she rudely (tone of voice) and bluntly said, "do you want to make an order now?" I replied that I would probably do so online (who wants to give their information to someone like that?) and she just hung up!
My thoughts on reading a lot of the negative reviews on this site: This company may actually be a great company; their catalog sure is. So perhaps they ought to clean out their customer service department because with all of the complaints of lost credit card info, lack of returning calls, blatant rudeness, etc, it comes down to bad people skills. I'm saddened because I'd love to order tons of stuff from this company, but I'm not going to deal with rude people. I feel bad for a company that has employees like that tearing it down.

I ordered six plants from Richter's in the spring. They took a while to arrive and when they did, they were much smaller than I expected and they all had scale and white fly. Three of the plants died. It took a lot of work to maintain the other four. They seem to be doing okay now, but it took a lot of effort.

In early spring, I ordered 6 plants. Only two made it, one was St. John's Wort, the other ones were DOA. My wormwood arrived in good condition and is thriving. Since then I've ordered a book, and more plants. Considering they came from Canada all the way to Tennessee in the middle of summer, I was very impressed. Rose - scented bergamot, lovage, and great blue lobelia all arrived well established and in excellent condition. My last order consisted of 3 creeping lemon thyme, one periwinkle, 3 very small motherworts, and 1 applemint. I received these within the last week. All plants looked good, just small. The periwinkle is very small and I'm hoping for the best. The applemint looked tall and excellent, and is already thriving in one garden. Except for the first shipment, all plants have been healthy- and I'm very happy with them considering the distance they had to travel. I've always ordered over the phone, and customer service has been very nice. The catalog is the largest selection of herbs I've seen- and it's great to order plants that you might otherwise not have access to. My overall experience has been good, and I will continue to order from them!!

I ordered 9 scented geranium plants, and one mint. They all arrived in great condition. One I really wanted was substituted for one I already had, that was a disappointment. Other than that I would order from them again.

Placed an order on 4/8/09 expecting shipment to be around 4/20/09 based on their website and the email they sent. Didn't get it until 5/6/09 which annoyed me a bit, but when I opened the box...Wow! I ordered strawberries, lavender, santolina, passion flowers and lilies of the valley. They were all good sized healthy plants which were well packed and far better than I expected for the price.

No problems whatsoever with my order: it was filled exactly as placed, charged appropriately, and shipped promptly. My alpine strawberries look great, and I'm sure they'll give me lots of delicious berries in the months and years to come.

I have been purchasing plants, books and herbal products from Richters for about 17 years. Initially, orders were placed from Edmonton, Alberta. All those years ago, I recall being amazed to receive tiny "live" plants in the mail and grow them into mature specimens so different from those of my friends and neighbors. In particular, rose scented geraniums and lemon verbena were novelties in Edmonton, unavailable from local greenhouses, but essential for my potpourri-making activities.

When I moved across the country twelve years ago, one of my beloved rose geranium plants from Richters made the trip in the backseat of my car. After the move, I was delighted to learn that my new home was within driving distance of Goodwood, Ontario, home of Richters. In recent years, one of my greatest springtime pleasures is visiting the Richters gift shop/greenhouse, smelling the variety of scented foliage on the plants, speaking with the friendly/knowledgeable staff, and leaving with car loads of herbs. I continue to purchase items, other than "live" plants, via the Richters website, for delivery through the mail. I have never had issues with quality or turnaround time. Regarding the website, I must say that it has been radically improved over the last year or so, and is now one of my references for all things herbal. As well, my e-mail inquiries have always led to same-day or next-day responses.

Frankly, when I leafed through the negative e-mails on this website written about the Richters organization, I re-checked to make sure they were really about my favourite source of specialty herbs and herbal products. Shipping delays crossing international borders I can understand, but I was really surprised by comments about poor customer service, which is so different from my own experience. Comments about computer system switchovers and website inadequacies were from years ago - these issues have been overcome. My rationalization is that the bulk of poor customer experiences must have been during a period of transition, because the Richters I know is not the one described by some others.

I feel that this company is DISHONEST. I've repeatedly had bad experiences with them improperly charging my credit card and taking forever to correct their mistakes. Yet I keep ordering from them because they have plants that I can't find anyplace else - and their catalogue is an education in itself. But I will ALWAYS carefully check my shipping charges and my credit card statement. It's a shame that they've ruined their name. I wish I had an alternative source for herbs.

my experience was so-so

wow- so many negative ratings!

excellent products but bad communication. their customer service is terrible!!!! impolite and plain rude!!!! and i was just inquiring about my order...i wasn't even complaining/??!!

I have nothing but praise for this company.
Plants arrive in good shape after being trucked all the way across the country. Service is prompt and friendly. The catalogue and website are full of information and a total joy.

My experience with Richter's over the last 10 years has been 9 positive and 1 negative. Overall, they are an excellent supplier of foil packed herb seeds and the have largest selection of potted herbs that I have found. Each year the live herbs arrive quicker and in better shape than the year before.

My order of 2 years ago was an overall disaster, including very late shipping and and a greenhouse failure causing cancellation of some of my live herbs. Steaming, I called their toll free line and spoke to customer service. She listened and assured me that they would make every effort to correct the problem. Since then my orders have been perfect.

Their website is the most complete and easiest to navigate that I have found. I actually use it as a reference source in the off season!

I think that they are a good outfit and will continue to receive my order for seeds and plants each year.

Boy, I was surprised to see so much negative about this company. Today, I received 23 herbs and all in great shape. I live in North Idaho and herbs were sent 3 day UPS select. Now, UPS DID mess us and cause them to come a day late, but even with this, the herbs were green, lush, all there, and great customer service on top of it.

I did hear a rumor where the last couple of years were tough on Richters. And, I've been buying from them for five or six years and they did have trouble with an order two years ago. All herbs were dead, shipped wrong. But, they stood up and sent all the herbs again.

I know they're coverting over to a new computer system as well and this may be causing some errors, but really, everyone I speak with has been incredibly helpful.

I do wish they'd offer to send overnight. I'll pay for it. It'd be worth it to me not to have to worry about the herbs.

I hope everyone gives Richters another chance. Their selection is SUPERB and their prices are the best around.

Sparrow Ivy

Great selection but the worst customer service. Frustrating and awful if there's a problem with an order. If you're lucky and everything goes right, the seeds are wonderful.

I have been ordering herbs from Richters (plants and seed) off and on for over 10 years and have always been happy with their interesting selection (I love reading their catalog). The seeds and plants have always grown well indoors and out. Earlier this year, when placing my order, I had a few issues with them and was considering not using them again (apparently they are switching over to a new computer system), but I just received my plants. They are vibrant, healthy, bushy little plants that are off to a very good start. (rosemary, tarragon, sweet cicely, lavender and basil) They arrived just a few days before the Victoria Day long weekend (the time to plant in this area). Great plants and great timing. I do hope they get their computer system running well, since I put a high value on great service as well!

I've had pretty good experiences with Richter's; reading some of the comments here makes me wonder if there are two companies by this name....!
I originally ordered plants from Richter's, because they happened to offer lemon verbena, which my favorite herb supplier didn't happen to have at that time. Normally I wouldn't order plants internationally, as the amount of time spent in shipping (customs, etc.) could be too much of a strain on plants. Surprisingly, my lemon verbena plants, as well as the rest of my order from Richters, arrived in fairly good condition, from Ontario CA, all the way to the Central Valley, here in CA, USA. Yes, some of the plants suffered some yellowing in transit, this was not unexpected, but a few afternoons on a shady porch perked them right up. I still have those particular lemon verbena plants going strong, now, two years later. I ordered some lemongrass seed from them, with misgivings, as lemongrass in my experience has a rather low germination rate. I was both surprised and pleased to find that pretty much all of the seed sprouted, I even had plantlets to share with my neighbors!
I was missing some orange mint plants from another Richter's order, and customer service gave me the option of a replacement for them this year, or a credit, which seems fair enough. In a different order, I ordered a CD, that arrived, but was inoperable, I contacted customer service, and was promptly sent a replacement. They are a larger company, and, as with most companies, shipping errors will occasionally happen, but customer service at Richters has always resolved any difficulties in my orders promptly, and politely. Any herbs that I cannot find locally, here in the US, I would definitely consider purchasing from Richters, although I do wish they were located a wee bit closer to here:)

Have tried to work with this company for more than a decade, and would like to say a little about Richters to other gardeners.

For those of you who expect fast shipping internationally, let me point out that it is not their fault if customs holds up an order--Richters has no control of that. Also, I don't think a one-week turnaround between receiving an order and shipping out the seeds is unreasonable--the idea is to deliver quality, and doing things in a rush leaves the door open for error. So, if you are ordering internationally, it really does make sense to allow 6 weeks for delivery, even if its "just seeds." However, I think that ordering plants internationally is a long shot at best--the normal delays at customs are very stressful to live material that needs sunlight and water to thrive. I would caution people not to jump for live plants delivered across international borders. My opinion is that you will be lucky to have good results, regardless of the expertise of the shipper.

I have a problem with "SowNatural tm" seeds. This is an attempt to circumvent organic certification of seeds. Organic certification is good--it assures a customer that the seeds are untreated, not genetically modified, and grown without herbicides and pesticides. Apparently these are similar to the claims of "SowNatural tm," a self-prescribed category that is not supported by third-party verification.

My feel is that Richters for the most part does not grow their own seeds, and that when they buy seeds they keep selling the same lot for years. This is a good way to reduce costs of running a seed company, but it often results in poor results for the customers. How do I know this? Because if they were growing their own seed, they could more consistently deliver from the new harvest every year. I'm a seed geek, and I examine seed shipments microscopically. Under high magnification, I look at the seed, and I look at the chaff. Most species of newly harvested herb seeds (e.g. hyssop) will look very bright for the first year, and eventually take on a patina of age. Also, if the chaff is bright green (or whatever color it is supposed to be), then the seed is probably recent. If the chaff is off color, then its just like those herbs in the jar on the kitchen shelf from three years ago--looking greyed out--and this often means that the seeds are quite old. Most of the seed I have received from Richters over the years has exhibited a patina of age, and my results with it have been mixed. For instance, I bought an ounce of Rosemary seed from Richters. When it arrived, the seed had a dull patina, and I could tell from the chaff that it was at least 2 years old. I composted that seed on arrival. Rosemary seed is a low germinator at best, and old seed in my opinion is dead seed. Granted, herbs are often herbaceous or woody perennials and in comparison to annual vegetables, the seed of such plants can be slow and difficult to start--it can take years of oscillating temperatures or special circumstances for such seed to germinate. I'm taking this into account. What I'm saying is, that even giving them the benefit of the doubt, and admitting that I sometimes blow it (I have problems with voracious pillbugs and my arch nemesis, slugs), over the years I eventually learned not to expect high germination or vigor from seeds purchased from Richters. I've let my account cool, and haven't ordered from them since the Rosemary seed experience.

I've tried twice to correspond with Conrad, once by letter and once by e-mail, and he has never replied. That's too bad, because I think we would have a lot in common, and could share information that would be of benefit to all. Or, perhaps our motivations for doing this work in disseminating diverse herbal seeds are not the same, and actually we have nothing in common. Perhaps this neutral posting will catch his attention, and he'll do me the honor of getting in touch.

Richo

I ordered from this company before I looked at garden watchdog. Last time I will ever do that again!

Their catalog is very impressive and they offer a lot of hard-to-find herbs. But that is the end of the good impression I have been left with. Their website is clumsy to navigate and lacks pictures on a lot of their herbs.
After I placed my order and received a confirmation number I waited and waited and waited. So after 2 and a half weeks and after having received all of the other seeds I had ordered that day from other companies, I called to see where my order was. By the way, they have no toll free number, so you have to make a long distance phone call to canada. Their website does not offer customer service, just an oportunity to leave feedback.
The woman I spoke with was pleasant and helpfull, but informed me that my order was shipped a week after I had placed my order (for seeds that just seems silly) and that I could expect it in ANOTHER 5 WEEKS. Since it will get held up at the border for inspections. I wish someone had told me that before I paid $5 to ship my seeds. Which is ridiculous for $15 worth of seeds! But I wanted those herbs so bad . . . ALL of their shipping costs are outrageous, ESPECIALLY for plants.
I also wish they had let me know that some of the seeds I had ordered were not available. Most other websites do this.

Anyway, I'll update when my seeds come as to their condition and other such important info.

Ordered seeds. They came within a week and germinated readily.

Richter's Herbs didn't ship a January purchased order until June. Our climate only allows for a short planting time til heat becomes extreme. I called four times explaining this only to be told April 15, May 15 and finally "It's backordered" and then "It's impossible to get everything out in time". Why be in business then?Email inquiries were never responded to. Finally my incomplete order arrived black and cooked, the box stating "do not expose to extreme heat". If I hadn't lost time and money it would be funny.

I ordered plugs from Richters......after sending two emails and no one responding, I called them to inquire on the delivery date, they could not find my order.....After I insisted they resolve this problem here and now....they finally found it....and will not get sent out till next week.....needless to say I am not a happy camper. The gal gave me the direct line to Conrad Richter who is CEO of the company. I called and left a detailed message, and yeah, you guessed it....he has not called back....Here is another company I shall never do business with.

It has been two weeks since I called Richters, and still no plugs. I will call them tomorrow and cancel this order.

Deann

I placed my first order with Richters in Canada and received my mint and thyme plants today.
They were ~very~ securely packaged and all look green & healthy. The soil in their pots was moist.
I will most likely order from them again.

I bought a number of seeds and plants a few years ago from Richters, over two seasons. Most of these survived and did fine; I bought a large expensive bag of seeds of a particular umbel that had zero germination under any treatment regime, but that species is known to be difficult. As others have noted, the billing was a mess. I'm at an institution from which others have also placed orders, and they just could not comprehend that we were different people with different addresses and would not pay for each others' orders, etc -- so that's not a recent problem. My biggest criticism of Richters is that two of the seeds I bought turned out to be misidentified (right genus, wrong species). That's just unacceptable, and it will keep me from buying from them again.

Richter’s has one of the most amazing herb selections in North America and their prices are quite reasonable. Their staff is also extremely friendly and attentive. I’ve e-mailed Richter’s with several herb-specific questions and I always get a knowledgeable, reliable response in a timely fashion. These people know their stuff!

There’s room for improvement, though. I recently received a package from Richters only to find one of the seed packets poorly sealed. Consequently, about half of those seeds spilled out in transit. The packaging on the seed packets could definitely be improved.

Their website design could also use some tinkering. Only about half of their herb descriptions include pictures, so you’re forced to guess what various plants look like. The plant care and hardiness information for each herb is also in a completely separate section of the website from the catalog section. That means that if you’re wanting to order, say, some creeping thyme but doubt its hardiness in your zone you have to navigate to another part of the website, check that info, and surf back to the catalog. Really inconvenient.

Some other reviewers have complained about the Richter’s customer service. Hopefully it’s on the up-swing. When I called Richter’s at the end of January to check on an order status and add a few items I found the place in an incredible state of disarray. Richter’s was switching computer systems, which meant there were problems tracking orders between the office computers (manned by customer service) and the packing warehouse (filling orders). The woman I spoke with was very nice, but obviously frazzled. Hopefully this new computer system is up and running now and it’ll make ordering, tracking, and shipping services much better than in the past. Cross your fingers that this will head off the types of problems past posters have had with Richter’s.

My experiences with Richter's have generally been favorable. I've accepted that I can't get plants from them here in good condition, but the packaging suggests that people closer to them probably receive great plants.

Seeds and items I've ordered have been competitively priced and arrive in good time. The seeds have always had excellent germination rates and have produced the correct plants.

And I love the catalog, it's packed full of interesting things.

Ordered seeds & plants from Richter's in 2003, and was pleased with everything. Didn't garden in 2004, but if they have something I can't find locally, I would order from them again.

For at least three years (maybe four) I have been ordering plants from Richters. Every year I have been quite pleased with the arrival of my plants...just like Christmas in April - very exciting...the packaging enthralls me, and the plants are usually in wonderful shape. On the rare occasion that a plant (eucalyptus in this case) did not make it, a phone call to their Customer Service department helped resolve the issue. I would have preferred a new plant sent to me; however, they were still willing to refund my money for a plant that expired almost a month after it was received.
Yesterday afternoon, I had a pleasant surprise delivered to my door...my partial order from Richters. Included in it were the books I had ordered and my seeds (only the second time that I have tried growing plants from seeds). As always, I perused the invoice to make sure that it all matched up with my records and with what was on my desk in front of me. Unfortunately, there were a couple of discrepancies. I called Customer Service and spoke to a very pleasant lady named Sandy. After going over my concerns with me, she informed me that she would need a little time to figure out exactly what had happened and that she would get back to me by tomorrow.
Less than one hour later, my telephone rang and it was Sandy on the other end. She explained that she was astounded by my situation; she hadn't seen anything like this one before. Not only did she refund me monies overcharged to my card, a credit was given for the shipping as well.
Thank you Richters for having such a great selection of plants and seeds, and especially thank you for having a great staffer like Sandy.

I have been buying seeds from Richter's for several years and like others, I got frustrated because they would just not ship things (never got the order) or the order would come two or three months later. I have learned how to get them to send what is ordered in a fairly timely manner. Don't order off the site. Call them up. Have the person check every single item to see if it is in stock. If it is not, tell them you do not want a backorder. They now have a deal where you can pay extra, I think $5, to have your order put on the top. This is worth doing, because they are very slow otherwise. If you talk to a real human being and have them check that things are in stock, you will get your seeds, and their seeds are generally pretty good in terms of viability, so it's worth it. I haven't ordered plants from them and so can't speak about that.

We ordered some lavender plugs from Richters. When they shipped the order of one flat each grosso and provence UPS left them at the incorrect address. They were left at our neighbors who where out of town. When the came back 2 days later they brought over the package. Over half of the plants, at that moment, where rotted from sitting in the box in the driveway while it was hot and sunny each day. We didn't at that point have a problem with Richters since it was UPS. I called them the next working day and left a message. No answer. Later that day I left and email. I never did get and answer to that. The next day my husband called and got a person on the phone. To make a long story shorter they wanted us to ship the plants back to them, paying for it ourselves, and they would then file a claim with UPS and refund us the money for the plants plus the 11 dollars it cost to ship them back. We called back to see if a notarized statement from our neighbors would be ok but it was a no.(Funny because when I called David Austin Roses a few weeks after that to tell them I got a white rose instead of a pink they said no problem and refunded it within 2 days onto my card) After a number of weeks we started calling again, because we had recieved confirmation that they recieved the package, but there was no refund on the credit card. When I finally reached someone (same problem as before, it takes them DAYS to respond to an email and not at all to phone messages) she said no problem she would at that moment refund my 109 dollars (that included the 11 for shipping) I said wait a second, the charge to my visa initially was for 123 NOT including the 11 we paid to ship back the plants. Oh, she said, there must be a mistake, she didn't understand why they had charged that it was not the correct price. Anyways she gave me to another lady who said she would straighten it out and refund us the rest of the money of which we have never seen and are disputing on our credit card. This company is a complete and total hassle to deal with and I won't do it again. There are others who sell lavender plugs.

BUYER BEWARE!
I have ordered from Richters off and on for several years because of the selection. I generally order plants during the winter for shipment the following spring because if I wait until spring to order, the ones I want are often sold out. In the past the plants I received from Richters were alright. Not great, but not bad and most survived.

I placed an order for seeds and plants in November of 2003 and the seeds were shipped and received in a reasonable timeframe. Since the company is located in Canada, I know that they generally do not ship plants too early in the spring so I wasn't concerned that I hadn't received my plants until the beginning of June. I live in Oklahoma and the weather gets hot here fairly early. After 3 emails, with the third being sent to several of their company email addresses, I finally got a reply yesterday from someone within the company concerning the plant portion of my order. This person in "Customer Service" informed me that an office manager had cancelled my order and expected me to reorder in 2004.
WHAT!!!!! What kind of moron would cancel an order and not even inform the customer that they've done so. It's now too late in the season to obtain the plants I want from another source and I'm still having to spend time and effort to determine if I in fact PAID for the plants and shipment of the plants that they do not intend to send me. I've asked for some evidence that I was NOT charged or was credited for the cancelled portion of the order, but so far there's been no response.
They call this customer service? Anyone who has ever gardened would realize that plants ordered in the dead of winter are desired for shipment the following spring. Their company information indicates that plants will not be shipped until the weather and climate are suitable.
I am furious! Although they have a huge selection, the quality of items received from them in the past has never been superior so after this experience, I will NEVER order from them again! I would not recommend this company to anyone unless perhaps you live close enough to select and take home your plants. There are too many good companies out there who actually do provide quality plants and customer service.

Lover of herbs and old roses

Plants were diseased, covered with plastic, and dead, Although they did refund with out any problem at all, it's discouraging to have to reorder from someone else because all your plants arrived dead. I will not buy from this company again.

kathy_ann

I have not received an order I placed 30 days ago by phone and was told the seed would go out that day because I had expressed concern about it being late in the season. I inquired by email 6 days ago and have not received a response. My credit card was charged the day I place the order. I am very disappointed with the service and will never order from them again.

I ordered seeds, only, from them at the end of April of this year. First of all, I did not know how to use their website to add to my order which hadn't shipped yet, so I had to call them to correct that. I was told that several things were not available even though the website listed them as available. So after the call to them, I expected to get a confirmation by email as I had paid for it over the web with a credit card...it took at least three days to receive the confirmation which was my only invoice or receipt of the transaction. Then it took at least a week or so for them to charge my credit card. I finally received the seeds last Saturday which was on May 22. But according to the invoice which they sent, they still got the order wrong after me having called them 3 times and emailing them more about it, they charged my credit card for 3 different types of seeds that I did not receive! There was nothing on the invoice to indicate that the seeds would be sent later or were not available...it said that they were sent with this order! Inside the package were spilled seeds which didn't seem to be from anything inside the package; plus they put my mobile phone number on the outside of the package on the mailing label for the whole world to see! So I have now emailed them 4 times about the order and they have not answered back one time...the first email was on the same day I got the package (about May 22). What I want to know is, do people commonly loose seeds on the border when customs inspects the package? The seeds not in there were: Schisandra, Hops and Snake Gourd...not like they are drugs are anything or weapons of mass destruction??? On the outside of the package was the phytosanitary certificate plus an indication that it was seeds...but it also said that they could open and inspect the package...how would I know if that is what was done here? In other words, how would I know if customs inspectors had removed some of the seeds from the package at the border, or that Richters just did not send the seeds but did charge me for them??? I am sure that many people here will read this and think that I am making much ado about nothing, but this is the very first time that I have ever ordered any seeds and I am startled at the unprofessionalism of a company that I have heard to be so highly spoken of for their professionalism all of these years! If they did not send the seeds at all and don't ever intend to then they need to credit my credit card for the ammount that they charged me for those same seeds and send me an email stating that that is what they are going to do!

Richter's has a lot of rare plants that is not available by other seed sellers, but their customer service is horrible. I order 30 type of seeds one month ago. When I email them 2 weeks after the order, they said the order is in process, so I wait another 1 week and called. When I called they told me that the credit card didn't go through. So when they called, I give them the credit card number. When I gave them the credit card number they said the order will ship that week. As I find out 1 week after that week the order is not yet shipped. I was very upset on how they handle the order. The worst of all, I order only seeds from them. I was waiting for the seeds diligently because I need it for a school project. This is the worst online merchant I ever dealt with. It seems that they take 6 months to fulfill a little order as seeds. I will never buy from them again. Nor will I recommend my classmates or my teachers to buy from them. Their customer service are horrible, they lied, they delay, and they don't fulfill your order. Beware buyer, their online order safety is in question. The weird thing is they can loose credit card number in cyberspace. If I ever find this website and their negative feedback, I will think twice before ordering from them. This is the worst nightmare online buyer can have is losing their credit card number in cyber space.

I rec'd my order of several different herbs from Richter's about 10 days ago, and I was extremely pleased with the quality and health of the plants, and really amazed at the packing. They arrived in perfect condition. I wouldn't hesitate to order from this company again.

Richters' Herbs ia a wonderful plant and seed source. And their staff are so friendly and easy to work with.
Just remember they start shipping plants again after the winter about April and it is first come first serve. So get that order in early! And if you are in the hotter zones, order the plants in the fall before for better success. Because, since they do not ship spring orders until April, it may just be too warm for those baby plants by the time you get them in the ground. Zone8-9 here,so I order plants in the fall and seeds throughout the year depending on what season they will do best here.

I think this company has a wonderful selection of herb seeds. I placed an order that was quickly filled. There was a problem with my card and instead of delaying my order they just billed me with my delivery, which I thought was nice. Good germination rates on the seeds too. I would definately order from them again.

I ordered six salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' this year as soon as the catalogue came out & I couldn't believe the size, they were at least 12" high. They arrived in great shape with good root development. Last year I had placed an order for some echinaca 'Ruby Giant', but it was the end of April when I ordered. When they arrived they had very little root growth. But they did flower & are doing great this year. The other plants I ordered at the same time were fine. My advice is to order early. I will be a returning customer & will always order as soon as I receive the catalogue which is packed with great info.