Comments regarding Rockwood Gardens

I made the phone call to the Rockwood Gardens today. I saw 1999 catalog and I planed to order few plants from them. Surprise! Rockwood Gardens doesn't exist any more. I wonder how the Spring Garden works. I hope I will not find that many complaints about them.

I have ordered plants from Rockwood gardens sporadically over the last 10 years. I haven't particularly had a high success rate with the outdoor plants. The bulbs were dug up and eaten by the local wildlife so I don't know if they were the right colour or the right type. The indoor plants thrived beautifully! (my Bird of Paradise was growing fine until the neighbors cat pee'd in it)I originally lived in Guelph and my husband and I decided after looking through the catalogue that we would try driving over there to see if we could buy anything direct since we lived so close. We drove up the driveway and got out of the car to face a picnic table full of people staring at us. I asked if we could buy direct and got the rather rude answer - that they "didn't deal with the public". Like it was something distasteful.One positive point is that whenever something didn't survive, I always wrote to them and received a refund or more plants. (yes they even replaced the ones eaten by the squirrels - but I just ordered a mixed variety replacement) Some of the bulbs were lifted and transplanted with us when we moved and flourished until the earwigs got them.

Ouch. After reading all those complaints, I guess I won't bother complaining about one grape vine that didn't grow. However, my free bulbs bloomed, the ferns grew, the 4 ivy plants grew, the bleeding heart grew, as did the few other plants I had ordered. Things came in time for planting (in Southern BC zone). You can't expect your plants to look like the magazine pictures the first year. BUT I won't be ordering from them again. Mainly I will buy locally.

Last year (1998) I received a number of plants from Rockwood - I had not yet realized they were the kind of company who relentlessly sends you junk mail and has no qualms about selling your name to other companies. I also wasn't all that impressed with their plants. HOWEVER - I had one plant that did not grow at all, and when I faxed them to ask for a refund, they replied immediately, and sent me a refund certificate no questions asked. I used the certificate to get some bulbs for the spring, although I will avoid ordering from them in the future.

I am a young and new gardener; I tried out several ordering companies and must say was disappointed with the plants I received from Rockwood. They were very small, but to my amazement I planted them and fertilized them andthey all grew and bloomed. My major concern with them has been misinformation. I am sure that many people received the free peacock orchids this last year and they toted them as blooming in spring well that is wrong I did a little research and found that they are not hardy at all zone 9 and that they require a long growing season in hot sun. They are native to Ethiopia. They in fact bloom in late fall. Mine began to bloom this September, well that's a little late; we had frost before 3/4 of them could bloom. The buds froze before they opened. They also claim that they have hybrid tea roses that are hardy in all the country! I was under the impression that more than half of Canada was zone 2 or lower and tea roses of this type are hardy to zone6 without protection and zone 3 with protection, that is great, But hey be honest and say that.I did receive all my plants and they all grew but I question their honesty and integrityI guess in short research the plant before you buy!!!

I sent my order into Rockwood Gardens around the end of April, in hopes that I would receive something by the end of May. I did not of course, so I decided to check the internet to see if there was a website, and this is the site that I found. Of course after reading all the FAQ's, I panicked and called the number that the previous people had left. It only rang a few times, when a female answered, so I politely asked about my order and if there was any idea when the order would be shipped to my area. She informed me that they weren't due to come out till the first week of June, and I said "so, what your saying is, next week?" She replied. Yes. So, I waited two and a half weeks and received my flowers. The plants arrived healthy, a few were back ordered, and I received them later that same week. So, now it is the first week in July and all the plants seemed to have taken well, except for a couple but they do suggest it takes a few seasons. However, I have decided, it is not worth the worry and the fact that I have to depend on when I receive the plants, in order for me to begin my planting. I will go to nurseries around the area instead. Even though the plants were in good heath, and the price seemed right, it's still just not worth it. I'll shop elsewhere thanks.

I sent my order to Rockwood Gardens on March 25, 1999 and they cashed the cheque on March 31st. It's April 9th and I just found this site andsuddenly panicked thinking I've probably been taken also so I called. I was only on hold for about 2 minutes, which was a pleasant surprise but I quickly became annoyed when talking to the customer service rep. I asked for the status of my order and she said they weren't due to ship to my area yet. She then looked up my order and told me that it didn't matter anyway because some of my items were on backorder. When I asked which ones she told me the Rose of Sharon and the 3 In 1 Butterfly Bushes. That's a joke since the only other thing I ordered was a blueberry plant for the patio. I asked her where the plants were coming from and she said she had no idea. I was under the impression that Rockwood Gardens was a greenhouse and they manufactured everything right there. Instead, I found out that they order from 'all over' (wherever that is) and the plants get shipped to their warehouse where they sit until they get shipped to customers. No wonder most things are dead by the time they get to us! I was then told not to expect my shipment before the end of May. I told her my concerns, that I had discovered this website and had read pages and pages of complaints against the company. She rudely pointed out that anything not received would be fully refunded. I guess you live and learn.

I have learned (after wasting many postage stamps) not to order anything, or enter anything in this company again. Thankfully, I learned this before I spent too much money! I have been receiving mailings from Rockwood Gardens for about 5 years now. I am glad I stumbled onto this website, as I have suspected it is a company of very ill repute, and after reading all of the comments, I now know it is fact. I have probably filled several garbage cans over the years with their junk mail. Have entered most of their Sweepstakes and Finalist entries - never won a dime, even though they said I did! I have never ordered anything from them until this year, when I ordered 10 lily bulbs. To my surprise, I actually got them, and on time too! They were a good size and seem healthy, but won't know for sure till next summer. I will not ever be ordering again though, and as far as their junk mail is concerned, I'll just keep filling trash cans. I am an avid gardener, so I'll keep the catalogues, but only to look at for ideas on plants I will buy elsewhere!I have a friend who has just ordered a lot of spring flowering bulbs from Rockwood this fall. He said they confirmed that his order was received, and the stuff would be sent at the proper planting time. Hasn't heard from them since. It is October 22nd, and planting time here is late September or early October. I suspect he has been "had"! Some friendly advice would be to NEVER order live plants from a mail-order company; perhaps only dry dormant bulbs, and then only from reputable companies for which other people have given you good references. Never order from Rockwood Gardens…don't be fooled by all the pretty pictures in those mail-order catalogues!

I placed an order with Rockwood Gardens in early August. I have yet to receive anything from Rockwood Gardens. I phoned and was told they were still waiting for a couple of items - they did not know how long it would take. I have ordered from Rockwood Gardens before and only half came up. Their seed packages are tremendous and grew overwhelmingly - I won these! Junk mail is horrendous and unless I get my order within the next 2 weeks I will never order from them again. But really there are enough nurseries and garden centres around that you really don't need to shop by mail-order except for seeds maybe.

I have been a regular Rockwood customer since 1992. Although I agree with other comments regarding bulb size, and inconsistent performance of certain bulbs, my overall impression about the PRODUCTS is favourable. The service sucks (my latest order arrived at the Post Office, and the box sat there for three days!), as does the hokey promo material. This year, however, is the first time that I have been disappointed with the live plants that I ordered. The "birch clump" is a joke (half of them died after planting); and two of my Poplar "sticks" were broken in half. Rockwood has promised to ship out replacements. I will probably continue to order from Rockwood, but I will certainly make sure that they honour ALL of their guarantees from now on!

I ordered plants this year and I'm nervous about getting them now. I'm on Vancouver Island and its gardening time. My lilies are up as area lot of other plants and still no sign of my order. How can they get away with such bad service for so many years? My mother warned me that her order was a mess a few years but I ordered anyway

I ordered $30 worth of house and patio plants from Rockwood at my mother's recommendation. I placed my orders in October 1997 and January 1998 respectively, figuring on the usual two to three weeks shipping times I had from competitive companies. Well folks, as you can guess, I'm still waiting for my plants, bulb season's passed, I've a raft of catalogues and prize forms from Rockwood, and three slips of paper, verifying orders. I also received another catalogue from Spring Garden, at the same town and postal code as Rockwood; same slick ads, same offer of freebies with minimum orders. [update]According to The Vancouver branch ofthe BBB, Rockwood Gardens has…folded up their act. But…they have regrouped under a new name: SPRING GARDEN.[2nd update]To date, Rockwood mailed me all the plants I ordered, and all were as I expected, nursery plants, except the Fort Laramie Strawberries, which were sent as dormant cuttings. I put them in a compartment in my fridge to keep themDormant (How does one get these to grow and thrive?), as the manual was very sketchy in its care descriptions for the fruits and veggies. Other than this, I was impressed with the shape the others came in, carefully packed, with plastic bags around the bases to slow the evaporation process -- the soil was still damp when the plants arrived. True, none of the plants resemble the advertising, but since I read the fine print, I knew it would take some years and TLC before the plants looked like that. I'm still waiting to hear fromBreck's. As for the freebies, we only planted a few peacock orchids in a pot, and they haven't come up. Since they're free, I consider it no big loss. [3rd update]Three of my five plants did wonderfully well and I had to repot 5 times in only four months. The only things that were a total loss were the Ft. Laramie strawberries. After planting and tending according to the directions, it still failed to thrive, and I've since discovered our local nursery carries the same breed in stock, so I won't be re-ordering. The blueberry is barely hanging on, but I consider that my fault, as blueberries need more than one plant to bear fruit, and we did have a very dry season. I would recommend Rockwood's house and patio plants but not without some reservations.[4th Update]It's been little over a year since the initial purchase of my plants, and the only one that made it was the blueberry, believe it or not. The banana tree was last to expire over Christmas, while a friend innocently tended it according to my instructions. I wrote the company in good faith, asking for my lifetime guarantee replacement plants, noting all the time I'd taken, how they'd seemed to flourish, then inexplicably died, and added that I didn't relish all the wasted effort. Well, you can imagine my surprise when they sent to me plants that were the size mine should've been by now (i.e., 1yr specimens)!! I may not re-order anything from this company, but I must admit they showed a lot of class by replacing my plants in such a manner.

The plants arrived on time and seemed to be in great shape. They were fine until the following year when they died (not a problem); however, most of the bulbs in which I had ordered just plain did not come up at all. Digging in the dirt I found that most if not all the bulbs that got planted in the fall were dried up or missing in the spring. The china hedge can only be seen as a joke…a wise decision would be to not buy that plant. On the topic of sweepstakes: if there were really a chance to win in the four years that I have bought plants from them, you would think that my numbers would have come up by now, (no pun intended.) No more junk mail unless there is a cheque inside with my name on it. In closing: good service, average survival rate on plants, not so good on bulbs. If it's free or you are going to win (you won't) and if I do receive a cheque I will be more than be happy to apologize to all that I was wrong.

I ordered for the first time last fall (1996) from Rockwood Gardens. I mailed my order in late August and the charge was put through on my credit card for September billing. On October 17, 1996 I telephoned to customer service, which was difficult because they do not publish their phone number on any of the literature that they bombard us with, to cancel my order as there was already snow on the ground and the flowerbeds were partially frozen. Customer service advised me that the shipping label was already printed and there was no way to halt the order. I asked if they could possibly hold off on sending the order until spring and they advised me that it was an automated process and could not be stopped either electronically or manually. I was quite concerned because I was leaving for 2 weeks. I received the order for over 150 bulbs and perennials the night before I was to leave. Thankfully, my husband managed to plant all of the perennials because by the time that I returned from my trip the ground was covered by about 5 inches of snow. I left the planting of the bulbs until spring.I gave the plants a chance and waited until mid July before taking a headcount of the survival rate. The survival rate was not good at all. Out of 151, I had 15 bulbs survive and 1 perennial. At this point I mailed a complaint letter to Rockwood to advise them that I wanted a full replacement order. About 2 weeks later I received in the mail a standard form reply letter for my complaint. It was very obvious that they did not read my original letter at all. The letter stated that they would send out a replacement order that will be "shipped at the proper planting time for your area." Which brings us to now. I called to Rockwood Gardens on Friday, October 17, 1997 and inquired as to where my order was. I spoke to customer service again and they advised that the label had been printed, but it had not been sent yet. I asked if there was any way to rush it and she said no, (the same song and dance as last year.) The only thing that she could offer was that they have a lifetime guarantee for full replacement, which it seems that I will be using every year for the rest of my life. So, I have mailed another letter requesting not only a full replacement of my original order, but also a full refund and a reply to my letters.

After searching the net for information in Rockwood Gardens I was disappointed to see others comments about it. I ordered plants from there in early March. My cheque was cashed on March 14, 1997 so I have been expecting to get my plants any day. I called them today (April 11, 1997) to see if my order has been sent and to my dismay it hasn't. I spoke to someone in customer service and she did have my address and order on their computer but told my nothing has been sent out yet. I asked if there was someone I could speak to as to why it hasn't been sent out yet and I was told there wasn't! I couldn't believe there wasn't someone I could talk to! It's been almost a month now since my cheque has been cashed and I was hoping to get my bulbs in the ground soon. I was told that I should receive something by the end of May. Why is it taking so long...I'm only in British Columbia and the flowers are starting to come up here now. I'm disappointed so far and after reading some of the comments from other gardeners I'm wondering if I should have ordered from them all. I guess I should have ordered my bulbs in December to get them by now!