Comments regarding Bob Smoley's Gardenworld

I order from Bob a couple of times last spring. This was my first experience with mail order plants. It took several months to receive my order, which being a newcomer I didn't know any different. The plants were rooted cuttings, a bit small, but I was still pleased. After ordering from other companies, I realized I could get more for my bucks, so I tend to stick to other companies to order my Hoya plants. If they don't have what I am looking for, I would consider ordering from Bob's again. As long as I have a few months to hang out and wait for them.

Bob may have a good selection of plants, but his processing of orders is the worst out of all the cacti nurseries I order from; this is my last order from him. I ordered plants in February and here it is April 23 and still no plants. I hope to receive them before I am too old to enjoy them.
Louis

I have ordered over 70 different sansevierias from Bob Smoley since 2002, and quite a few other various plants as well- gasterias, cryptanthus, epiphyllums, etc.. I've always been very satisfied with the plants recieved. It takes a while to get them, but he makes it clear from the start that such is the case, and it's always worth the wait. There is simply no other place where such a variety of sansevierias can be ordered. The plants are always very healthy, with good root systems, and good sized. Sometimes one may be a smaller specimen, but always in such a case I've either recieved an extra, or another plant in the order would be much larger than expected. Very happy to have this very valuable resource for so many extremely hard to find plants!

Someone stole my 18 year old common Hoya carnosa that had been started for me by my deceased mother and I was beside myself. Bob was not there when I placed my order and I was told it could take up to a couple of months to get my order. But it only took a couple of weeks. I had ordered one of his "collections" and 3 or so of the variegated carnosa matching the plant that had been stolen. I was delighted with all the new varieties, some of which I have not seen anywhere else since. I have turned into a collector and have ordered from others now too. But no one has sent as healthy and vigorous plants as Bob did. I would not hesitate to order again, but you do have to be prepared for a wait.

I've ordered from Bob several times over the years, and am more or less pleased with my experience. Because he does a lot of shows, orders can sometimes take a very long time to be filled. The plants are usually nicely sized but are often mislabeled.

My experience with this nursery was somewhat perplexing. I placed an order explicitly stating that I did not want substitutions and yet I received them anyway. Also, the catalog listed a plant which is often found only as a graft. The catalog listed this plant "on its own roots". I ordered this plant only to receive a grafted specimen. I will also note that the rest of my order was fine. Plants were healthy and shipping was not too long. I did not complain to the vendor as I had limited experience. I do not understand the inconsistencies though.

I've ordered plants from Bob a few times and have always been extremely pleased with the quality of the plants. And I like that I can always count on Bob to return my e-mails personally. If you have questions, he's there to answer them. He's one of my favorite vendors!

I ordered the Alocasia Assortment. I was very pleased. Item arrived very promptly and was well packaged.

I purchased several Christmas and Easter cacti from Bob. All were in very good condition, I received two plants of each (ordered only one of each), extra plants, and only a few substitutions, which I had said in advance said would be okay. The plants arrived within two weeks of order.
Bob mailed in advance a copy of my order, announcing the arrival time.
I recommend Bob to any collector of Christmas or Easter cacti. I have not ordered any other types of plants from him.

Bob Smoley certainly does have an impressive list of plants at his web site, but I've never seen one so I don't know how healthy they are. I did try to order about $125 worth of plants plus a few other odds and ends. Although he lists oak leaf mold as one product he carries, he has apparently been out of it for a year or more. I wanted to try his Bob Smoley cactus soil, and added that to my plant order on an impulse. I had placed two other plant orders from other companies on the same day, and they arrived in about a week. I continued to wait, and received a snail mail order confirmation from Smoley in another week. The soil sold for about $7.00 a cubic foot plus $12 a cubic foot for shipping (I ordered 2), plus the $16 shipping on the rest of the order. I hadn't realized the shipping would be so high on the soil, so I emailed Mr. Smoley that I would like to cancel that item. is reply was that if I had read his catalog I would have seen that there were extra charges for shipping the soil, and since I 'obviously did not understand the conditions of the sale' he would refund my money for the entire order. I emailed back asking that he substitute plants of equal value (his choice) for the soil, since I had indeed not realized that the 'extra' charges would amount to $24, and I was fearful of running out of weather warm enough for shipping. In about a week I received the refund check along with a sheet of paper on which he had taped cut out sections of his catalog detailing his shipping policies. Now anyone would think that for a vendor to behave in this way, the customer must have been really rude first. I can only assure you that was not the case. I simply requested in my first message that the soil be deleted from the order, and in the second message that he substitute plants for the soil. So my review is not 'mixed' as another that I read here, it is entirely negative.

I have ordered from Bob Smoley for years and have found his plants to be in excellent condition when received. Prices are competative. I also order his cactus & succulent mix & have had success using the potting mix.

I have ordered several times from Bob Smoley. His plants are healthy and vigorous, delivery time and packing is okay, but he sometimes sends misidentified plants. This is very frustrating. Still, he has alot of things that can't be found anywhere else. I will still continue to order from him.

His plant list includes a huge number of hoya species plus lots of other succulents, but my experience with him was frustrating. I placed my order in the middle of March. On the web site, one is warned that can take up to 7 weeks to ship orders (on the snail mail confirmation, the 7 had become 8), so after 9 weeks but no plants and no word, I sent e-mail. To his credit (and unlike some others with whom I've dealt), Mr. Smoley responded quickly, saying the plants would go out the following week. Three weeks later they were finally sent. Along with a refund check and a note telling me that two of the plants (half my order) were unavailable because of Winter losses (which hadn't become apparent until the end of May?) On the other hand, the plants were fine. One of the two is significantly bigger than I expected and is in fine shape. The other is basically a rooted cutting, a little beat up and kind of anemic, but good-sized; I expect it will grow on fine. I guess my bottom line is a mixed review. I can live with "advance orders," but it was very frustrating not having any real idea what was going on with my order, and I suspect that if I hadn't contacted him, it might have taken even longer than it did. But if you want unusual hoyas, there aren't exactly a vast number of sources. Just be prepared to be, uh, "flexible."