Comments regarding Cottage Farms

The same thing happened to a friend of mine. She ordered the blue rose of Sharon, but got the pink one. When she got her replacement the next season, after waiting for it to bloom , it turned out to be pink again. She said screw it and never ordered from them again.

This is the first time I have ordered from Cottage Farms. I ordered the 6 piece butterfly pincushion collection. One of the plants is in good shape but the other five had yellow and brown leaves and looked like one had a bud but was broken off before it was put in the box. I went ahead and planted them because I have a family emergency and had to leave to go out of state for a week. I hope they survive they were so pretty on the QVC presentation.

From QVC I bought the chefs choice tomato package and the pink cotton candy grass. On the air they looked very hardy and healthy. On their arrival the pink grass was brown with and dry. The instructions stated that this is normal and that they would green up shortly after planting. Of the six plants three made it. They are not thriving by any means but they did " GREEN UP ".
The chefs tomato group arrived wilted but green. They were planted in a topsey turvry planter and four of the plants are doing very well.
Two of the plants just didn't stand a chance they died a quick death.
I did not notify Cottage Farms. Because of QVCs guarantee I notified them and a partial refund was credited to my account.

Ordered from this company for 2 years in a row from QVC - last year I was totally thrilled and this year - I was not - this year plants arrived way too fragile and I babied them and they still died - bulbs did not come up and I called them and they replaced them but they still did not come up - will not order from them again.

My husband and I purchased a set of Daylilies from CF on QVC of which we were led to believe that these lilies will grow thick and fill the yard with lots of blooms. These easy to grow lilies were recommended for those who really don't know how to garden. They should have been able to grow anywhere. Living in Central Florida I thought they would grow. We planted them exactly according to directions after they arrived. At first it took weeks but then some greenry appeared , all but one came out of the ground with only two of them bearing single bloom later on. We were sent a replacement without any results as well. As of today April 2010, nothing is happening with these daylilies. It's spring and still no greenry has shown from the bulbs. I am so dissapointed since I could have had something of size to add to our garden with the price $28.00 not including the S&H .
We decided not to purchase from CF again.

Spring of 2008 I order three tree roses, three Rose of Sharon, 6 Hydrangeas and the only ones that seem to still be alive are the Rose of Sharons.
I have emailed Cottage Farms and replacements for the tree roses and Hydrangeas are on their way. Honestly I found that ordering through QVC they leed you to beleive the plant will grow in almost any light etc. When in fact the Hydrangeas are very picky. Please take caution when ordering through them to do your home work and know what requirements the plant needs, because I was miss lead.

I have ordered from Cottage Farms and have had neutral success.

I have ordered the iris plants, I had some flowers, not many. And yes, they are planted correctly, along with other iris that I have purchased and traded with neighbors.

QVC had a sampler this past spring that I ordered. The mini roses never grew, the gladiolas are ok but not great, the daylilies are very small.....actually I did not think they would grow at all...the roots were very dry.

I did order one of the rose trees as well. This actually has grown for me and flowered, but I expected more.

I have placed 3 seperate orders with Cottage Farms Direct. I was introduced to this company while watching QVC, but I did not order from them, I order from Cottage Farms own website.

I have ordered 4 Tree Roses, 13 mini roses, 4 dwarf grafted trees, various bulbs, kiwi vines, tomato plants and strawberries.

The reason I give this company a neutral is because all of the strawberry plants have died, including the replacements. Also the first order of 7 mini roses was packed so poorly they all were dead on arrival. I have received replacements for those as well, but they still look horrible.

My first order came rather quickly. As for the othe orders, the shipping was beyond slow. Those orders took approx. 1 month to get to me. Replacement orders take about 6-7 weeks to arrive.

I may or may not order from this company again. I will only purchase items on clearance as well, so I don't feel so cheated by he extremely slow delivery times.

Last year I ordered 3 items from Cottage Farms through QVC. The first was clematis, and when it arrived, the pots were not secure in the box, and so the plants were all broken and mangled. I sent them back to QVC and received a refund.

The 2nd item was Chocolate Cosmos. The plants looked dead when they arrived, and when I contacted Cottage Farms, they told me that the plants were dormant and would come to life. Well, they never did, and I was promised a replacement order in 2008, because the Spring shipping season had ended. I had pretty much forgotten about the replacement order, until I received a shipping notification via e-mail a few weeks ago. The flowers arrived, and once again the pots weren't secure , but the plants seemed ok. I was immediately disappointed to not see Chocolate Cosmos. Their customer service did say that they would substitute if the same plant wasn't available. They didn't include any information on the replacement plants that were sent, but I've figured out that it's Pink Mist Scabiosa. I'm glad they kept their word and replaced my order, but I'm still disappointed that it's not what I ordered in the first place.

By the way, the 3rd item I ordered was a Crocosmia collection, and most of them turned out ok.

Ordered BlueBird Tree Hibiscus in 2006 through QVC. It arrived on time and in good condition. The following season(2007) it grew hundreds of buds but only one bloomed. And it wasn't a Blue Bird - it was pink (but pretty.) I called CF and they have promised to send a BlueBird in the spring. They suggested I use a bloom fertilizer on the tree I have so that hopefully it will flower next season. Only time will tell! But they were very polite.

I too odered from cottage farms. My black elephant ears were my only disappointment. They arrived almost dead and they have only grown about 6 inches. My day lilies did well and my cape fushia. Be careful of 4 o'clocks they are very invasive and you cannot kill them. There seeds from the flowers spread and grow in cracks and corners. I only buy bulbs from catalogs I trust and buy plants at our local nursery.

Karl Almryde
San Diego

In September of 2003 I purchased a large order from Cottage Farms through QVC. In that order was a special for blue/black berries. Three each of 2 different kinds.

Three of one kind survived beautifully. The other three did not survive at all. I called Cottage Farms in April to let them know soon enough to send three more plants with an order of climbing roses I had coming. I knew it would be towards the end of May before this happened. Aside from being rather rude, the lady I talked to finally decided to replace the plants.

The plants arrived a week after the roses and inside were a type of ground cover blue berry not known for its fruit. I don't know why they would send a non-fruit bearing plant to a person who wanted berries. They say they will replace with equal or better plants. They should at least be fruit bearing if that is what you ordered.

I have tried to call but find the line busy at all business hours of the day. I will still try and perhaps change this posting if I get any statisfaction.

I will have to say most of the orders arrived in good shape and size.

I purchased twice from this company this past spring via QVC. The first order was for Top Hat Blueberries which are thriving and growing well. I have not had any fruit this year even though they stated that I would.

I also purchased a mini rose collection of 12 which arrived in poor shape, but I understand that roses do stress during shipment. With much tender care, all 12 lived, but I was quite surprised to see that at least 4 of them were the wrong rose. They were duplicates of the others.

I did email Cottage Farms and got a quick response. They offered to replace the duplicate roses.

Two months later, I have never received them.