Comments regarding Breck's Bulbs

I could not be happier with my experiences with Breck's. The only "negative" is shipping time (it's very long) but I did get them in plenty of time to plant them in the fall. If you want to plant them in the fall order them soon. This is the first time I have ordered from them. The bubs were good size. They started to come up at the beggining of the month and then it got cold and snowy. I was a little worried. They are now almost all in bloom, what is now not blooming will be soon. They are the color and types of bulbs that I ordered. I ordered tulips daffodils and crocuses.

I placed an order with Breck's about a month ago and just received my bulbs today. I gave them positive only because I didn't pay a dime for the bulbs, but shipping is way too slow. I am surprised that none of the bulbs sprouted. I would consider ordering from them again if the price was right (or had a coupon). Their bulbs are a bit pricey. My order was for 50 Dutch Discovery Iris.

Polite but slow shipments. The plants and bulbs I've gotten from them are OK and healthy upon arrival.
I only order with the cupons. They are too expensive otherwise. I could head down to a local place and pay the same and take it home that day.
Thier custom stuff is nice but not exeptional unless you love spring bulbs. They do however contact you to let you know when things are shipping. Just don't believe thier arrival dates.

This company does take a long time to ship, and their estimated arrival dates were a bit optimistic. (The bulbs come directly from The Netherlands, which is probably why.) I ordered some spring-planted bulbs last July and December, which shipped close to a month ago...but they haven't arrived yet.

Shipping times aside, the bulbs I have received seem to be of high quality, and 100% of the daffodils and tulips I planted last year came up and look quite healthy.

Customer service was good when I contacted them last year about a missing order, and with the coupon I used, the prices were very reasonable. Overall, I'm pleased with my experience and will most likely order from this company again.

I received a shipping notice from them March 15 saying that my big order was shipped ups and would arrive no later than March 30. I emailed them on Mar.30 saying it had not arrived and got no reply. I emailed them again April 3 and got this reply today: Your order is being direct shipped from the Netherlands and can take up to 6 weeks to clear customs. This is pure baloney! I had ordered these bulbs and plants to complete a Memory Garden I was planting for the daughter of a friend who died in Feb. The trees and shrubs are in and have leaves on them already........but no bulbs or plants to go with them. I will never, never, never order bulbs from these people again even if they want to send them to me free.

I received a note almost three weeks ago saying my dry root plants are on the way. I still haven't received them. I wrote to the company for help over 48 hours ago (this is the amount of time they say in which they will reply) and still am waiting for a reply. They don't have a 1-800 number listed on their website or I'd call. I guess I'm going to have to pay to call to find out what happened to my order. Or maybe the plants will arrive tomorrow and grow up to be beauties? If so, I'll let you know.

Despite the low rating here, I bought some bulbs that I simply couldn't resist. They arrived in a timely manner, well packed and healthy looking. It remains to be seen if I got the right items, I will post on that later. However, they've already told me they will replace if necessary.

Categorizing my experience as something other than "positive" would have been unfair and undeserved.

I have ordered many times from Breck's and have received large healthy bulbs as described in catalog. The one or two times I had a problem they were quickly resolved with a phone call. Bulbs are much higher quality than low priced ones at Home Depot, etc.

I ordered their Apple Blossom Tulip Mixture, pink daffodils, Moonlight Serenade daffodils and various hyacinths in Spring 2006. Although the order arrived in time for planting, it arrived several weeks later than the delivery estimate. The bulbs themselves were big and fresh for the most part; the hyacinth bulbs had a slight touch of mold to them.

All of the bulbs came up beautifully strong and healthy. The pink daffodils' color was a little paler than advertised in their brochures, but they were a true pink and not orange/peach. The hyacinths came up nicely despite the mold, but I was disappointed in their color. The Blue Jacket hyacinths were supposed to be "porcelain blue", but were more of a deep purple, and the Paul Hermanns were supposed to be "rich amethyst violet" but were really bright pink with a touch of violet to them. The tulips came up far earlier than expected and were very pretty and as advertised.

I gave Breck's Bulbs a positive rating because the negative aspects of my experience were mostly color/shade problems and those were minor issues for me. They have a diverse variety of plant selections in their catalogue, and the bulbs themselves grow nicely. For those who simply want a little color to brighten up their gardens with loose requirements, Breck's may be a great choice for you.

I ordered from Breck's because I had a free code for $20 of free flowers.)only having to pay shipping. I ordered the daffodils (assorted) and not feeling too good I planted in 2 large pots on the front steps. They are up, in bloom and words can not describe how beautiful that they are.I am extremely pleased and plan to order for my daughter. Thanks,Breck.

I ordered a good number of bulbs from this company in Fall 2006, enticed by their $25 coupon. I ordered a large daffodil mix, sweet sue daffodils, firespray tulips, snowdrops and mountain bells. So far, everything has come up except the mountain bells. I am very happy with my bulb purchase. I do hope the mountain bells come up though! The sweet sue daffodils are so beautiful. I recommend these cute little guys if you have not tried them already.

I ordered 6 dozen daffodils in fall of 2006. They came packaged in bags of 6 each, and more than half of the bags had a rotted bulb.

This left me with an insufficient number to complete my planting. When I called for replacements, the CS rep said they had no more of that variety, leaving me with a gap in my planting.

Just wanted to say I've ordered from Breck's 8+ years and have received great product. The tulip bulbs sizes were bigger than expected... I always use the coupons tho - sometimes placing 4 different orders for the $25 discount on each. Or if they have a sale late in the year is a good time to order as well.

Exellent! I recommend the deluxe daffodil collection,large hyacinths and the Darwin hybrid tulips. all have done very well in my garden. I stored the darwin hybrid tulips in a cool ventilated drawer all summer,put them in the fridge for 10 weeks keeping an eye on them to not let them get mold and then planted again in late January. The red darwin hybrids from last year came back just as pretty and the even the little bulblets where they multiplied are growing and have bloomed.

When I recieve bulbs as nice and healthy as these arrived then I cannot complain. This company deserves compliments when it delivers good bulbs like I recieved this year.

In Fall 2005, I ordered lavendar mountain lilies, early snowdrops, and mixed mountain bells. To date, only what I assume to be the mixed mountain bells have appeared in my garden & even so, they look NOTHING like the flowers shown in the catalog.

Not learning from my previous mistake in ordering from Brecks, in Spring 2006, I placed an order for (2) tall hybrid phlox multi-packs and when they FINALLY arrived, planted them excitedly in my garden. (Phlox were my mother's favorite flowers & I wanted something to remember her by in my garden). And then I waited... and waited... and waited.. Nothing even remotely resembling phlox ever came up.

Dissappointed doesn't even begin to describe it.

I planted over 200 lilium ordered from Brecks in Sept 2005. All colours mixed. When they grew there were 14 virused that had to be rogued immediately, in spring 2006. When they blossomed they were mainly yellow and orange, with 4 !!!! whites. Now, in 2007 with their totally rediculous sales pitch of 'lily trees' I hope people will stop ordering lilium and iris from them, and order from reputable growers. There are so many wonderful lily and iris farms to choose from.

Order lily bulbs they were good sized and healthy and shipped when promised.

I ordered from them about two years ago. I too used one of those $25 coupons. I ordered just under $25 worth of products, so I only had to pay for shipping. I found the prices a bit high; I was only able to get two items, green tulips and some Vallerie Finnis muscari. I ordered the items in the summer and recieved them just in time for planting. The muscari were nice and large, the tulips were of average size. In the spring the muscari came up beautifully. Only three of my six tulips came up though. This could have been my fault, since the place where I planted half of them was a bit harsh on bulbs. The ones that did bloom were gorgeous though. Most times I can find what im looking for at a local garden nursery, for about the same price and quality. But I would probably order from them again - if I had another coupon.

I am amazed at some of the negatives comments. I have never had a problem with them. I LOVE them, especially the pre-season sales and if, for some reason, the flowers don't grow they are guaranteed!! Even at our old house in clay soil the tulips grew beautifully.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE 'em
Did I mention I love them?

On the negative side, I don't think our family has ever placed an order from Breck's where all the bulbs were exactly as expected. For example, we've received the wrong bulbs (that we could see automatically were wrong, due to the label). The company was very kind at letting us keep the mis-shipment. However, at other times it seems the bulbs, once they bloom, don't match the labels. We've ordered various types of allium (including blue allium), and basically everything comes up the same shade of purple allium. With this type of mistake, it takes months to realize you have the wrong bulbs. The company also solicits by phone. We have very limited garden space and thus these solicitations really are not of interest.

On a positive note, I have, in the past, received $25 coupons with no minimum order. This type of deal would possibly encourage me to order again, and there are few customers who wouldn't appreciate some free bulbs. It's just nice to know what they are before they bloom!

Well, I have to say I had high hopes when I placed a $150 order last year. Most were daffodils, some Grecian Windflowers, Grape hyacinth, Dahlias and Angelique Tulips. First, they arrived quite late, but because of relatively mild winters here I went ahead and planted them anyhow. In the spring, the daffodils came up and I got 12 blooms off of about 35 bulbs. The Angelique Tulips looked nothing like the catalogue pictures at all, they were deformed and teeny weeny. Not even very pink! The wind flowers came up scraggly and did not bloom; the only thing that flourished was the grape hyacinth, and I have to admit they were pretty. But that's all! Spring was diappointing but I'll admit the dahlias were much better. They did bloom, not as big blossoms as the catalogue though, and they lasted from June-early October. Not too bad, I guess.I probably won't be ordering from Breck's again; they are too expensive and too late in shipping. What do they do to the plants in the catalogue? Nothing looks like them!

I've ordered bulbs from Brecks numerous times. Daffodils, tulips and allium have bloomed 100% as far as I can tell, and when they ship the wrong thing, they have replaced it. HOWEVER, here are three reasons why I would recommend Scheepers over Brecks any day:
1. They ship from Holland and it takes too freakin long to get here. I have a tulip order that still hasn't shipped, so will not get here to Madison, WI until the end of November. Advice given by CS rep: "dig holes and wait."
2. Attempt to cancel order that didn't ship yet met with response that "it's already processed and all you can do is refuse the delivery." Huh? They can't get it here at any reasonable planting time, but they can't stop a future shipment?
3. The coupons don't make up for the fact that the prices are way too high, even for good quality bulbs. With the exception of the daffodil grab bag, which was cheap and had very nice selection.
Finally, let the buyer beware that what Brecks claims is "blue" is probably going to be violet at best, and a "pink" daffodil is open to interpretation. The colors in the catalog are not true to life.

Am still waiting for my LAST and FINAL order from these people. Almost 200 daffodil bulbs which should have been here a month ago. Why I ordered these is still a mystery to me after everything I've gotten in the last couple of years. At least 95% of the bulbs I've ordered have been sub par to say the least. Tuberous begonias, cannas, fall bulbs and more. Glads etc. All pretty much worthless. They love to refund your money, which as a landscaper doesn't really do me much good when I have customers expecting results. I would rather have growing, thriving plant material than my money back. Will not ever order again. Have better results with the bulbs I get from Costco!

If I could choose something BETTER than "Positive", I would.

I have always had a good experience with Brecks Bulbs and had never had a reason to look elsewhere. The quality is always consistently good and the service is great.

Today topped everything. There service was beyond great. By my own mistake, I used the wrong shipping address when I ordered my bulbs in August. I was in the middle of a move then and did not think about the address thing when I placed my web order for some 350 bulbs (there is a lot of space in my new home). Well, the bulbs were shipped to my old address and luckily a neighbor there let me know. When I called Brecks and explained the situation, the fabulous CSR (Steward) said they would re ship the order at no charge. It will take a while, which I understand, but I will get my bulbs and spring at the new home should be spectacular.

For me, Brecks has a customer for life. I will never consider ordering from anyone else.

Wow, I have to admit I was rather surprised by Breck's low rating. I have just found this watchdog site and thought I would comment. I have ordered bulb's and perennials from Breck's for year's and am very satisfied. If an item doesn't make it, a simple phone call to them will result in a reshipment of the same product or they will give you a credit. It is your choice as long as they still have the product in stock. By the way Breck's and Michigan Bulb are basically the same company. I will leave a similar comment on Michigan Bulb since I order from them as well and have had the same experience.

Last month, I received a Brecks catalog with a 25.00 free coupon. Knowing the bad luck many have had with Brecks, I decided to put them to the test. I placed an order for 25.00 and didn't spend any of my own money. The online checkout was simple and I was not asked for a credit card, so I wasn't worried they would charge me. I really didn't expect to get my "free" 25.00 of bulbs and 2 weeks ago when I received a shipping confirmation, I still didn't get my hopes up. Well, today, the package came, the bulbs look great. They were Gladiator Alliums and they compare to the ones I ordered from other vendors. I will order from Brecks again, I liked this experience.

I have ordered several times from Breck's with no problems. The bulbs have all come in great condition and when (if not sooner) I was told they would arrive. If ordering from Breck's is a hit or miss experience, I have certainly been very lucky!

I ordered $400 worth of bulbs for my new rock garden from Brecks one year ago. I wanted a large variety of strange and interesting types of plants and found many at Brecks. My credit card was not charged until the time the bulbs were ready and all arrived well packaged. Everything came up wonderfully. I thought one daffodil did not make it and called Breck's to tell them.They promptly refunded my money and within a week I had to call them back to tell them I was wrong and that the plants did come up (I thought they would bloom earlier). They were wonderful to me and did not uncharge my refund. I again ordered from them this season and the bulbs arrived looking wonderful. I look forward to Spring and to another great season with Brecks.

Ordered from their catalog via snail mail. My check cleared two months ago. Still haven't rec'd anything. Never again!

Bait & Switch Shenanigans

I have never given a negative to anyone before. But I am irate.

I recieved a mailing with a $25 off coupon -- no minimum order. So I looked through the catalog and found something I wanted -- for less than $25 and called it in. The Customer Service rep and said I would only be charged for shipping. Nice deal. I'll give someone a shot for that kind of percentage. Meanwhile I went to their web and found a $25 off $50 order and other plants I wanted to give a try. So I placed that order as well, ended up spending more than I should, but oh well. This was the same day. No problem. Polite CS reps, nice website, good pictures and information. I am very happy so far.

Meanwhile my purse is stolen. Not their fault of course, but I cancelled all my credit cards just in case. I checked the website meanwhile and they had cancelled one order and shipped one order -- but with a balance. Oops, so I called CS and gave them my NEW credit card number, and the gal was very helpful -- right up until she told me AFTER THEY HAD THE NEW NUMBER that they would not honor the terrific coupon that started this whole thing. I asked to speak to a manager and she hung up on me!

OK, I called back, got a nice young man this time and asked him to explain what was going on. I can understand why you would cancel BOTH orders, or ship BOTH orders with balances due, but when they only cancel the one that is the real bargain for ME and ship the other with a balance due, that feels sleazy.

Any manager there could have done an override on the system, issued me a coupon, made the service part of CS work -- we all know how these things work, but they wouldn't do anything. The very polite, sympathetic young man on the second call did say that they mail these things out all the time.... so then why couldn't he give me the coupon right then and there?

It's only $25, OK, it's not a big crisis, the earth doesn't stop revolving, and my quality of life hasn't got a ding in it. The point is I only made the SECOND order because of the coupon for the first order, and when they canceled the great coupon on the first order, it wasn't right.

The order numbers were 61830025700 & 61830030400. If any manager wants to track down the chick who hung up on me and smack her wrist, it was the one with the lovely Indian accent who inputted my cc info on 9/29/06.

My sister had a very good experience with Brecks large mixed bag of daffodils - the flowers I saw were very impressive.

I've ordered from Breck's twice. My experience so far has been good. I needed to contact customer service today, and was pleased with how pleasantly and professionally the representative talked (in real American English, no less). I was also happy with the result.

I have ordered from Brecks for years. I lived in Washington and everything they sent grew and flourished. I moved to Minnesota and am now have to relearn gardening for a new area. I have ordered from Brecks and they have been true to their word of a lifetime replacement gaurentee. My gardening in Minnesota hasn't been as successful as it was in Washington but Brecks has replaced anything that has died with out any problems. Their customer service is exceptional.The bulbs they send are always healthy and large in size. I can't say enough about how good they have been to me A1 as far as I am concerned.

I used to think that Brecks was a good reliable vendor but I recently did some statistics on what I have ordered and planted over the last three years. The results were interesting to say the least.

Henry Fields-100%
Gurneys- 88%
John Scheepers- 92%
Michigan Bulb-85%
Burgess- 80%
Brecks-33%

This represents the rate of survival. What can I say- 2 out of 5 peonies, 3 out of 8 astilbe, 2 out of 8 dahlias, 0 out of 15 arum?

I did complain about the arum and they did replace it . When I consider the higher success rate with the cheaper companies, I wonder what's up at Brecks. Life is too short to keep on complaining. I'll take my business elsewhere.

This isn't a comment about the company so much as a notice for those who like to be aware of related businesses: my Breck's order arrived (in good condition... for bareroots and bulbs, at least; the bareroots grew, if not spectacularly; still haven't planted the bulbs, as this was a springtime order, not a fall one) from Spring Hill Nursery's mailing address. I don't know what the formal relation between these two companies is, but those who wish to order from Breck's might want to check out the comments on Spring Hill.

I did business with them for 20+ years and it wasn't always the best, but it was always a good value and they were dependable. Now they have taken to using my confirmation information to market to me by phone. The first time, I waited the 20 minutes to explain to a real person that I was not interested and to please not use my information for computerized telemarketing. She assured me that my information had been updated to prevent that.

Unfortunately, I placed a pre-order with them again and again provided my phone number with my credit card information. Again, the computerized telemarketing began. Again, I waited and waited. I have asked that all my information be removed from their database, and to receive no more catalogs.

It's a shame, really.

Mom bought bulbs and lilies last year from this company. I told her not too because of a previous experience but she did anyway. She had to have the red border lilies. They looked alright when we got them but they came up this year and well, #1. They are not to border. They are already over 18 inches high and still going. #2. Mom bought over 80 of them and there is a least three colors of lilies. So much for the all red effect she wanted. The red ones don't even look red. In fact they look faded and are very mishapen and deformed. It isn't about where or how they were planted. I have flowers everywhere that I have planted and they all look great. Will be contacting them ASAP.

The bulbs I bought from them last fall arrived far later than their initial estimates, which was annoying, but the plants are doing great so far. I'm not likely to order sensitive bulbs like lilies from Brecks in the future, but I've had good luck with their other bulbs - their perennial tulips were some of the largest tulips I've ever seen, the hyacinth were gorgeous, and their daffodil bulbs were huge and the flowers beautiful. Brecks would be a better company if they got their scheduling in order.

I had some positive and negative comments so the overall rating is neutral.

1) The bulbs were big and much better quality than I can purchase locally.

2) Unfortunately, they shipped the bulbs very late. I ordered (large order, hundreds of bulbs) in May-05. I received a couple items in late September, but did not receive the bulk of the large order (daffodils, giant crocus, perennial tulips and others) until mid to late October. That is a real problem in MN, especially for daffodils that need about 6 weeks to root before the ground freezes. Because they arrived so late and I had so little time to get them planted so that they could root well before winter, I ended up taking vacation time from work to plant them all.

3) All of the tulips, the grape hyacinth, snow glories, and the snow crocus planted last fall were stunning this spring. The red tulips in particular-- wow. About 3/4 of the the oriental and asiatic lilies came up, though it is too early still for blooms.

4) Other bulbs performed marginally if at all. The daffodils were disappointing. Fewer came up then expected (~65%), and only about a third that came up did not bloom. The yellow were true to type but the Salome were not pink. Considering the amount of work required to plant hundreds of bulbs, I was not happy. Only about 20% of the giant crocuses came up, and all of those were yellow (supposed to be a mix). None of the snow drops or wood hyacinths came up.

5) I do not know whether the poor performance was due to the late planting secondary to late shipping, but I do know that locally purchased bulbs planted at the appropriate time performed well.

6) I have not had a chance to contact customer service yet regarding the poor performers-- wanted to get through spring and confirm that they really weren't going to come up before complaining.

If their customer service is professional when I contact them, I'll give Breck's another try. However since late fall shipments are really a problem for my zone, if it happens again I'll stick with buying bulbs locally so that I can dig them in at the correct time, even if they are smaller.

Ordered some fuilips and other stuff last fall, but most importantly I ordered a Madonna Lilly bulb at $17. Well it has not sprouted and some of the others bulbs did not come up either. Called Breck's and in less than 3 minutes I have a fall shipping order to replace everything that did not come up. Some of the bulbs were glads. Most came up but they are still sending me full replacement order. I was impressed. When I got home from work, I had a confirming e-mail of the replacement items.

Very nice. I have ordered from them in the past. Never any issues.