Comments regarding Violet Barn (Rob's Min-O-Lets)

I've ordered three times now. The plants are well-packed, and even cold-sensitive episcias arrived in good condition in Ohio in March.

I ordered from Violet Barn this past spring and wanted to post feedback while it was on my mind.

The violets were expertly packed and shipped and arrived in great health.

They are all doing great and I've recently repotted them into larger 4" (2 1/2" for the minis) Oyama self-watering planters.

What I ordered:

Rob's Hot Tamale mini
EK Goddess of Beauty
Rob''s Antique Rose mini
Ma''s Wonder Woman
Ness'' Ruffled Skies
Rob''s Sarsparilla mini
Mermaid''s Kiss
Winter Smiles
Ian Sasha
Gillian

All but one were in stock, Winter Smiles, and they are all still doing great despite a very long and tedious move into a new house this past summer.

I would not hesitate to order again from this company.

Ordered Streps, Standard, Russian and Miniature AV's in early October. The plants arrived promptly with the best packing I have seen from any supplier. The plants, although small, were healthy. Now all are blooming and growing at a great pace. I will definitely order from them again when the weather warms up.

Two separate orders, streptocarpus for myself and my mother. Plants were just as advertised, and arrived with impeccable packaging. plants were very healthy.

Thank you to Rob for the beautiful delivery of my new African Violets! The packing is absolutely outstanding, the plants are healthy, and because they were packed so well, they arrived in excellent condition. I would definitely order from you again and would encourage anyone else to have no worries about the way this company does their business. You receive the highest praise from me. I asked a few questions about pot size and when to repot and every email was answered courteously and quickly, even though my questions were answered in the care information that is included with the boxed order. Great customer service! Lori

I ordered just a couple of plants back in March and they recently bloomed beautifully.
One of my SINNINGIA's although very beautiful were the wrong variety.
I sent an email and was promptly nitofied I would get a replacement at no cost.
The replacement came in just a few days,
I must say their packing is OUTSTANDING,as well as the customer service,
Bravo Rob !

I received my order of 4 miniature violets today, the packaging was excellent and everything arrived in good condition. Two of the plants have flower buds and it should not be long before the others do as well. The selection of plants and flower colors offered, truly are spectacular. I look forward to ordering again.

I've been buying from Dr. Rob and Olive Ma Robinson for about 3 years now and have never been disappointed. So far this year (2010) I've ordered streptocarpus in one order (let me see Bristol's Tractor Beam Bristol's Cat Dance Bristol's Goose Egg Bristol's Hot Rod) and my other order this year was Picasso, Vintage Wine, Rob's Heat Wave, Rob's Suicidal Squirrel, Rob's Chilly Willy. Great plants, healthy. Great Packing. What more can I say?
They have a great selection of all kinds of gesneriads. This is one of probably 3 websites I check before I go to ebay to look. I highly recommend them and I will keep coming back.

I ordered 9 columneas. Eight were quite well established. One had a rather skimpy root system, but it pulled through. Warning: Rob's soil mix is fairly heavy, and has a tendency to look wet when it's dry. Be prepared to babysit your plants very carefully for the first few weeks.

Good experience with this company. Was notified by email when my plants would be shipped. The violets arrived in excellent shape...not one leaf was broken and all the growing medium was still in the pots. The free violet they sent was different from any in my collection. I will order again from this company. Thank you Violet Barn

The plants were healthy and packed very well. They did an excellent job on shipping the plants. Each plant was wrapped in damp paper. I received the potting soil the next day. I will buy from them again. My online experience with them was positive.

I just received my order today from Violet Barn and I am very happy with my plants. This was my first time ordering from them.

All of my 5 plants I ordered are healthy and are great starter plants. My Alsobia and Kohleria already have blooms! That was a wonderful surprise. :) Also my Episcia looks like it has a flower bud developing.

The packaging was done with great care! I would definitely order from Violet Barn again. They have a great selection of Gesneraids!

Sincerely,
Vanessa

I have ordered standard african violets from Rob's twice, and each time the plants are carefully packed and shipped. They may be small plants, but grow very quickly and bloom within a few months. Some even arrived with buds.

I also recently ordered the streptocarpis and these have started blooming well even on the tiny plants.

Rob's is really the place to get a great variety of african violets, in terms of selections and quality.

The Alsobias and Streptocarpus I ordered were delivered beautifully packed. Two of the six Streptocarpus were blooming, only one of the Streptocarpus didn't have a bud on it. I will order from them again.

I have placed one to two orders a year for the last at least 10 yrs. The plants are always well packed with prompt mailing. I have ordered almost all of their miniature house plants and many of their miniature african violets. The plants have come in very small pots.
They are usually in white 2 inch or 2 1/2 inch pots.
I have resisted transplanting them upon arrival and not transplanted them for a month after delivery. They advertise as sending small rooted cuttings. Their prices are commensurate with the size.
I have found Rob's violet barn is a great place to buy bonsai starter plants at a cheap price. Thanks Shohinken

I ordered 3 miniature African Violets last month for a terrarium. They were thoughtfully and carefully packed, and arrived in perfect condition, as contrasted with the experience I had with another vendor of different plants last month. While the shipping/handling cost initally seemed high, it was well worth it to get the plants intact. If I am unsuccessful with the terrarium, it will be my inexperience to blame, not Rob's Violet Barn, and I will definitely get replacement plants from Rob's.
A minor suggestion: the ordering process and website is unsophisticated in a way that suggests a fly-by-night operation. When ordering, I had concerns that the process was not going to be effective or secure, but so far, so good!

My previous experiences were fairly positive, although the hoyas were very small. To date, now 3 years later, they are still in the same tiny pots & haven't bloomed. This time I tried epscias & African violets...I have to go with the negative rating because they sent the order while the temps were still too cold @ night to arrive safely, even with heat packs & expensive express shipping. I explained the problem to the owners & they took the attitude that I was making this up & the plants really hadn't died. They said they had no problem with shipping to other people in cold climes, & not only one, but TWO seperate orders to my climate were unable to survive. I don't like owners that act mad @ me when the weather causes plant loss. So, they will wait till MAY to send replacements, even when I assured them that April would be fine. I just don't like this guys attitude....no thanks to ordering from them again. I don't need this kind of grumpy attitude...there are others out there that don't consider me a liar. What happened to assuming the best about their customers.??..When did these guys gets so jaded??? Sorry, but they will get no more of my business.

Absolutely the best packaging of mail-order plants I've every received. I ordered the Begonia collection of 10 plants, seller's choice. Yes, small 2" pots, but for $3.50 ea, what I anticipated. They gave me a great selection, I will buy from them again.

I placed an order with Rob's, for begonias. I forget how many, but the order came to around $64. While I received them in a timely manner (from placing the order) and it was not too early in the season - June or early July, I received very small plantlets with poorly developed roots. Most of the plants did not survive, in spite of my nurturing them.

I am an experienced and successful terrarium and begonia grower. I would recommend that if you do buy from Rob's, you should request that they grow the plants up a little before shipping rather than receive a specimen that can't thrive. I am seriously disappointed and they did not respond to my emails. I will not purchase from him again.

Wonderful selection of plants. Plants arrived well packed and in great shape. I really enjoy their plant care advice on their web site. I will order from them again.

I ordered four Hoyas from Rob at the VioletBarn last month -- my plants were shipped relatively fast (from USA to Canada) and were intact when I received them.

The phyto inspection cost is a bit prohibitive but I felt hopeful about the quality of the plants after talking with them on the phone. In reality, the four plants I received, while well protected in the shipping box and undamaged when I received them, were extremely small and basically appear to be leaves that have been shoved into the dirt. I was promised 2.5" pots, but received 2" ones, and other than one plant which is already a six inch climbing vine, the other three (as I said) are each just two or three leaves in some dirt. Frown.

Last fall I ordered 2 small Hoyas and they arrived in very good condition! I did not think the packaging was overkill, I rather appreciated the extra effort they took to insure the plants traveled comfortably. They are both growing and doing well.
Thank you.

First time buyer from this company this past summer. Paid close to $60 for 8 plants. Plants that arrived were very small and packaging was really overkill. After two weeks three of the plants developed wilt and I ended up tossing them. Called the Violet Barn and left a detailed message on their answering machine, which to date, I have received no reply to. Very disappointing. Will not order again.

Recieved 7 plants 4 days after ship date in perfect condition, 4 where already blooming, not a single problem with any of the plants. All where healthy and beautiful.
This is a new hobbie for me and i set these up in a spare room i made into a grow room, they are doing great under the grow light, i am making a second purchase this week of several more violets. I recomend the Violet Barn to anyone whishing to purchase quality plants in excellent condition for a good price. I will be purchasing other exotics from them in the future.

I recently ordered some miniature plants for terrariums. The delightful little plants all arrived very well packaged and in good shape. They're now all planted and are going well. I'd definitely order from Violet Barn again.

I placed my order Friday night and received it the next Thursday, very carefully packaged (almost too well-packaged - it took a while to get the plants freed of their protective wrappings!). Most of them are babies not yet in bloom, but that's OK and it's clearly stated on their site that you will probably get small starter plants unless you select a "grower's choice" option. I was given a free plant for finding the "secret words" on their site, and they chose one that was similar in flower characteristics to the other plants I had ordered, which was nice. If these grow well for me (and if I can find more room...!) I will definitely order from them again. They have a nice selection for very reasonable prices.

This was my first time ordering African Violets, so I'm not the most experienced reviewer. However, while small, all 6 plants that I ordered look beautiful and healthy. The prices were very reasonable and I received my plants within 2 weeks after ordering. I would certainly purchase plants again from the Violet Barn.

I have never received such beautifully grown plant material. I'm really sorry that I divided my total order into 3 companies because people had said Rob's material was too small. It is outstanding plant material and I couldn't possibility expect more from a company.

****It is not 'just ok'....the plants are fabulous

The pricing at this site is indicative of a small plant. I received small rooted cuttings which is exactly what I expected. I had read old comments here so I was very careful to check for pests- nothing so far and it's been well over a month. If they had a spot problem a few years ago, they evidently don't now.

I ordered quite a few Streptocarpus, they are all doing very well and for small leaf cuttings I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of them began sending up flower scapes within a few weeks. Incredibly pleased with this as quite a few are already blooming.

I don't particularly care for the substitutions deal that so many nurseries slip into their orders but with this place, addressing substitutions was simple enough- note that you aren't willing to accept substitutions and forgo the free plant they offer to ship you if you aren't willing to accept a substitution. I think it's nice that they offer a free plant if you are willing to accept substitutions.

Overall I am incredibly pleased with the health of their plants and I'll take a pest-free small healthy rooted cutting any day.

I gave them a neutral rating because up till now I have been VERY happy. Their plants love my house and grow very well. They have fast shipping and are always packed good, but...
I put in an order, one of many, and the main plant I wanted was Alsobia "San Miguel" they substituted it with Alsobia "Cygnet" beacuse the invoice said "out" for the ASM. The website said they had some(and still does), small plants, but I emailed them to ask why they sub'd if they have some say if they had any left I would be happy to put in a small order (my orders usually are small anyways, 3-6 plants) to get it. Well , a week later after another email to them, no response.
I am sad because I really enjoy getting a box from them, but I guess they don't want my money anymore.

Disappointed in NC

I ordered this spring for the first time from the Violet Barn.
My order consisted of 3 hoyas.
Needless to say, they were TINY cuttings. I potted them into their new homes only to discover that the Polyneura (which is why I placed the order originally) had NO roots and quickly died after moving. I called Rob to let him know and to explain that I couldn't send a picture as they no longer accept e-mail. He said that the next time I placed an order he would send me a new one. So I asked him if I bought one now what my total would be....$17.00! $12.00 of that being shipping for 1 plant. Needless to say, I felt that was too expensive for the size plants he sends. They charged me $12.00 shipping for 3 cuttings that cost them $5.40 to mail.
I hate nurseries that make money on the shipping!

So, all in all I ended up with 2 small rooted cuttings for $27.00!!!!!!

Never again!

Kim

African violets delivered as promised in good condition even though the post office delayed delivery by 24 hours. Some of the plants, however look like they might be older, rejuvenated plants rather than young, freshly propogated ones. THese plants have responded and begun to grow nicely, but do not look as vibrant as the obviously very young plants growing side by side with them. When they get enough leaves I will propogate some fresh ones from them as I plan to exhibit them and want to present the best plants I can.

Some of the varigated types were not varigated when they arrived, but are beginning (2 weeks in) to show some varigation because i am growing them under cool conditions. One is still not showing much varigation and I am waiting for it to bloom to see if it is the variety I ordered. All but one plant have developed many buds and it is growing beautifully-just no buds yet.

Very good customer service response to my questions and odd-ball shipping instructions.

Overall, a positive experience and I will order from Rob and Olive again.
Thanks Guys!

I ordered a set of miniature african violets, self-watering pots and potting mix as a Christmas present for my mother. They emailed me right away to confirm my order, and then again to let me know when it would be shipped. My mother received the violets less than a week after I placed the order. She said they were extremely well packaged, all healthy and she was very happy with the assortment. The pots and soil arrived a day or two later. I would definitely order from this company again.

I ordered a holiday special, express delivery of 3 mini violets and fertilizer, ceramic pots and violet mix (I think I get a spring catalog also). I asked if they would send dark colored minis if possible - which they did.

The plants arrived in perfect condition via express delivery (next day) and were blooing and healthy looking. I will definitely order from them again.

I have ordered from this company several times in the distant past, and just recently my husband placed an order with them for a surprise anniversary gift to me.

It was wonderful! Everything was packaged beautifully, and the plants were in excellent condition (despite having been wrapped and stored for a few days after the package arrived) when I opened the box this morning. My husband said that the staff had been very helpful when he placed his order, and that he had chatted with them for quite awhile to make sure that everything would be perfect for our anniversary. I was so surprised, and I am thrilled with my miniature violets! They are gorgeous!

We would not hesitate to order from this company again.

My order was mostly gesneriads (i.e. kohlerias and columneas for the most part).

Plants were small but a fair value for the price. Packing was done with extraordinary care (I had the express shipping service), everything arrived intact and healthy-appearing and the turnaround time from when I placed my order to its receipt was three days.

Thumbs up.

I had the same problem as shivers but it was because they never recieved my on line order. A quick call and my order arrived three days later. Nothing but good things to say about this company. And beautiful minis in bud and bloom is not sales talk.

While I have ordered from the Violet Barn before with good success, I am not pleased now. Several months ago I placed an order with them----weeks went by and I never received it or heard a word from them. Unfortunately there is no phone number on their website where customers can call. I sent another email again asking for the status of my order. It has been about a month and I still haven't heard anything. Since they did not charge my credit card I did not lose money----but for whatever reason they do not contact their customers or keep track of their orders. :(

All hoyas arrived in good shape within a couple of days. Only a couple of tiny insects. Plants were small, but they warned me that they would be. What do you expect for $5 apiece.