Comments regarding Henry Field's Seed & Nursery

I've ordered a decent bit of things from Henry Fields with varying ranges of success. I could probably attribute some of it to our climate here in Houston so I don't really hold that against them if it doesn't grow well. I did, however, order some hybrid tea roses and one of them was pretty small and weak when I received it. It ended up dying and my other 2 grew just fine. If I order anything from them now I insist in the comments that it be a large healthy plant.

My issue with them that annoys me the most is that they won't post my comments on their site. I tried to post a comment 3 times about the blue hybrid tea roses and not one of them was posted. The only comment on the roses that's posted is a 5 star review by someone. I wonder if it's posted just to make them sell better and my 3 star would be bad for sales. The description and pic posted of the rose is extremely misleading because it's supposed to be a blue rose and their pic shows it being very blue. Ours are light pink or very, very pale lavender at best. I think people that order them should know that.

I ordered a huckleberry plant recently March 2013), the perennial kind (not the annual graden huckleberry) It came promply and well packaged, but it was small for the price. It came in a 2 x 2 container and less than 6" tall. I had a similar experience with a cranberry plant, a gooseberry and a currant in 2012. The all survived and are larger now, but they started out small and there are many good companies that sell larger more established and bearing plants for the same price.

"On Mar 21, 2013 4:33 PM, Henry Field's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback, we truly appreciate hearing from our customers. The plants might be a little smaller but we offer a lifetime guarantee for as long as you garden."

I have never ordered from Henry Field's, but even without ordering I can say that the information they provide on their product is misleading. When I clicked on "native fruits" on their browsing menu, it brought up plants such as goji berry, Hardy Everbearing Fig, and Manchurian Bush Apricot. I suppose they are native somewhere, but not in this part of the world. It makes me mistrust them entirely, and unwilling to purchase from them no matter how tempting I find their selection and promotions.

"On Apr 21, 2012 12:45 PM, Henry Field's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for posting this information, you are entirely correct and this was an oversight on our part . We will have this corrected."

Late last year, I ordered daylilies and iris from several companies so I could compare plants and service. I placed an order on 9/26/2011 with Henry Field for (6) wineberry candy daylily, 2 shogun japanese iris, 3 miniature iris persona, 2 (sets of 5) Louisiana iris mix and 3 dwarf iris frisk me. My order wasn't shipped until 10/16 (3 weeks later). Unfortunately, on arrival, 1 of the wineberry daylilies was rotten (I tossed it out) and of the 10 Louisiana iris, 2 were so small they were almost non-existent (placed in 2.5" pots) and another was marginal at best. Overall, the plants from Henry Fields were the least impressive of the group. As of today, the shogun are very small and wispy, only 1 of the persona have managed to survive, and 1 of the frisk me never revived - it rotted out, also. The wineberries are alright. Seven of the Louisiana Iris, however, are growing well (3 feet tall already). In contrast, the iris and daylilies that I ordered from Hallson Garden 6-8 weeks later arrived healthy and robust (and within 3 days) and they are flourishing - very full, 4 to 6 times larger than the Henry Fields, and most are in bud or blooming. In all fairness to Henry Fields, I did not contact them for a replacement or a credit. After reading about other people's experiences in this department, I do not have the energy to pursue it and some of their plants did do okay. I will, however, be purchasing my plants elsewhere in the future.

"On Mar 13, 2012 11:51 AM, Henry Field's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We appreciate you letting us know of the problems you had with some of the plants. One of our customer service representatives will be contacting you for your account information and we can refund or reship, whichever you prefer."

Posted on June 29, 2010, updated June 29, 2010
Posted on June 22, 2010, updated June 29, 2010
Posted on May 27, 2010, updated June 22, 2010
Posted on May 26, 2010, updated May 27, 2010
Posted on May 24, 2010, updated May 26, 2010
I haven't recieved the products yet, so maybe I'll come back and change this rating later, however so far I've had a negative experience with their customer service, at least. I placed my first order today - a large order, as I wanted to use the 20 off of 50 coupon - and right after I submitted everything, I realized that I was going to be away during the estimated delivery period. Yes, I was going to be away throughout the ENTIRE estimated period. *sigh* This was my mistake, but I didn't want to cancel the order, either. So I decided to call and talk to someone to see if there was anything they could do. Well first off it was extremely difficult to find a phone number on the Henry Fields site itself. I actually had to Google "Henry Fields number" to find it. Then, once I called that number, I was connected to a rep after hitting zero. As soon as I explained my predicament, I was immediately given an attitude of annoyance. Originally I thought it was because the rep was worried of trouble with me blaming the company once I arrived home and all my plants were dead. I assured her that I wouldn't hold the company responsible, but that I simply wondered if she could at least put a RUSH note on the order for me. She explained that she didn't think I'd hold the company responsible, but regardless, still acted aggrivated at my requests for help, or even at the asking for her mere thoughts on the situation. I tried to find out why she was so irritated with me, but the most I could garner from her was that she really didn't feel there was a point to the RUSH note. Eventually I said that was fine, but could she please add the note- just in case it helps at all. She then said she would add it at no extra fee and I gave a sigh of relief and thanked her. It seemed there was actually nothing she could think of that would help me, but at least I finally got her to add the RUSH note. I thought maybe if the order shipped out soon enough, it may arrive in time, as the USPS transit map says it takes 2 days to deliver from Indiana to PA. Some items were on backorder, but at least with the RUSH note, maybe I can save part of the order if the plants in the partial order arrive before I leave on May 31.

IN SHORT: when I called for help, the customer service rep seemed annoyed and was hesitant to even add a simple - shot in the dark - RUSH note to my order. In fact, it was only after I brought up the option of canceling outright that she agreed to add the RUSH note "free of charge."

"On May 24, 2010 2:52 PM, Henry Field's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for taking the time to post. We appreciate your feedback to better serve our customers. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information."

Plants are very small bare root starts. Bulbs arrived dried and some had rot. They have rectified my complaints promptly, but I would rather spend a little more for a nice plant ready to go or high quality bulbs. Not an outstanding source for plant material.

"On Jun 29, 2010 7:29 AM, Henry Field's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for taking the time to post. The feedback we receive will help us to better serve our customers. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information to locate your account."

Posted on May 31, 2010, updated June 10, 2010
Ordered a grape plant that was supposedly shipped on May 19, 2010 via UPS. The tracking number provided by Henry Fields does not show any results on the UPS tracking site. Called customer service and got an Indian rep named "Russell." "Russell" struggled to understand many things and I had to repeat myself multiple times throughout the call. "Russell" informed me that he shows that my item shipped so he guesses UPS may have lost it. "Russell" says he will reship the product and I will receive it in May 2011. I say that's ridiculous and demand a refund. "Russell" says that he can only refund the amount I paid for the plant, not the approximate $7.00 I was charged for shipping. I tell him that is ridiculous and I'll simply dispute the charge with my credit card.

"On Jun 8, 2010 2:16 PM, Henry Field's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for taking the time to post. We appreciate your feedback to better serve our customers. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information."

Posted on May 13, 2010, updated May 18, 2010
They never answer any of their emails, the shipping date moves ahead every time I check the status- horrible.

"On May 17, 2010 3:46 PM, Henry Field's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to post. The feedback we receive from our customers help us to correct problem areas and ensure better products and service. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account infomation and check on your order for you."

Honestly I'm having a hard time choosing Positive or Negative on this company so here I am Neutral. I have just as many good things to say about this company as well as bad.

Positive
They are a 24 hour customer service line.
They stand by their satisfaction policy.
They use UPS shipping and give tracking numbers.
They send you an email letting you know when your item was shipped.
75% of most bulbs and bare root plants they send you do grow.
Yes I will still do business with them again.

Negative
Don't buy trees from this company without knowing the following:
1. If you think your going to get a nice thick healthy tall tree. Your in for a rude awaking. Buy your trees where you can see them in person.
2. Most plants they send are bare root. That means they send you a tree that is sleeping. It arrives as a twig/stick with NO dirt. This can be quite alarming if you never ordered before.
3. Their shipping / quality assurance department, You would think they have the visually impaired working for these departments. The quality of the trees are very poor. And often arrives broken, dis-formed, shorter then advertised or dead.
4. They do stand by there satisfaction policy however it takes awhile for the item to be reshipped.
5. I had my order reshipped quite often from this company and it's partner company's 4 to 5 times. The percentage rating I give is 3 out of 10 or a 30% chance of getting a tree that will be satisfactory at best.

Check your time zone if you want a clear, knowledgeable speaking person on the phone. They out source there calls.

All the positives are good enough for me. Buying tree's are a nightmare. There customer service can be a little more knowledgeable but over all there policy and hours make up for it.

"On May 4, 2010 1:41 PM, Henry Field's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to post. The feedback we receive from our customers help us to correct problem areas and ensure better products and service. Happy Gardening!
"

Ordered an albeit cheap tree peony, they sent me in late winter (for Chicago planting!) a twig thing that did not sprout. Had to break the frost to plant...

Contacted customer support and a they then sent me a viable specimen (at a better time to plant).

Will not order again, but will not nay-say.

I ordered several live plants in the 2007 planting year. The buy one get one free on several of the items, on top of the $25 discount was too much to resist. If I remember correctly I paid about $26 for 100 strawberry plants, 4 hosta and 1 blackberry (3 plants)

My blackberry were moldy when I got them since they were not packed properly. They of course died. Customer service was very helpful and said they would replace them this year in 2008.

The Neutral...(aside from the plants - but I chalk that up to I get what I pay for)......as a some others have mentioned.....you get signed up for Junk mail. LOTS of junk mail. I can specifically track it to this company because for some really odd reason, they put the order under a misspelled last name and all the junk mail is coming up with that same last name.

I think the Junk Mail is the most annoying factor, almost bad enough to go towards Negative. Mostly because once your information gets sold once, it will be sold MANY more times. Be prepared for a flood of junk mail. If you don't compost your junkmail yet, it's a good time to start ;)

"

Contacted the Customer on 4/22/08 for possible resolution; as of 5/27/08, have received no response."

I ordered potatoes, onions, and strawberry plants last year (spring 2007) from Fields. They arrived here in upstate NY mid April when there was a foot of snow on the ground! Is it too much to ask that a company this big could check zones before shipping?

My experience with this company has been mixed. I first tried them right before they went bankrupt, and I never received the order I placed with them. I tried them one more time a couple years later after they were took over by Gardern's Alive and ordered a few trees from them, but they all soon died. Their customer service remains weak, but their shipping prices are very good. Be cautious when ordering live plants from them.

I placed an order thru the mail with Henry Fields in January 2007 for a packet of Red Hamburger Onions Seeds, Petunia Seeds, and 150 peat pots, the total was only about 20 dollars. I had ordered from them before but I had moved since then so I corrected the ship to address on the order form and the sent it with a check.
After about 3 weeks I tried to check my order online but I was unable to, so I email customer service. I received a reply later in the day stating that my order had shipped the week before to the old address.
When I emailed them back to say that I no longer lived there and I had updated my address on my order form I received an email back telling me that the order was already shipped and I should go to my old house and pick it up if I wanted it because there was nothing they could do once it had shipped.
I responded that it was their mistake and there was no way I was going to my old house to get it. They responded that they would have to forward my complaint to their customer service board and they would respond in a timely manner.
Well, 2 weeks later I had no heard anything so I email them again and this email went un answered. A week after that I email them again and finally got a "real customer service person", she emailed me back and said that she had looked into it and would make sure I received my order within 2 weeks and sure enough, I received it within the week. Of course by then I didn't need the peat pots because I had to purchase them elsewhere but at least I have them for now.
Afterwards I spoke to my uncle, who has ordered from them for his farm and he said that he also had the same type of problem with them. There is no way I will ever order from them again.

I ordered some items that I knew would thrive in my area, and all in all the order was okay. Of my wood poopy cormbs, one was rotten, which the company promptly replaced. They were small, as was the Virginia Bluebell. My 3 heleborus look pretty good- they were in stabilized packaging (which prevented some of the problems other customers have reported.) My peonies were very cheap, and were better sized than the roots I'd ordered from another company (possibly Gurneys, so really, the same compnay!) a few years ago. I only placed an order from Henry Fields because the prices were good-- Once I'm richer and older, I'll use a smaller and more careful company, but for a 20-something in her first house, it's fun to order from the gamut of the Garden's Alive companies and get the cheapest prices possible. It's like playing a game, ordering just enough to get the $25 dollars off. I agree, however, with the previous commenters that it would be a lot simplier if the company would just sell the plants at a profit point that works for them. I know I won't have the time or paitence to play the numbers next year.

Bareroot trees are shipped with wet shredded newspaper around the roots, but it had slipped off of the roots on both trees that I purchased and the roots were dry. Both trees did make it, however. Hopefully they can come up with a wrap of some type to keep the material on the roots. Some plants ordered are not as healthy as I would like, but most do get going eventually.

On the positive side, prices are reasonable and replacement plants are sent with no questions if a plant dies.

I ordered a Gingko Biloba tree from this company last year in March, taking advantage of the coupon in the catalog.
When the tree arrived I was surprised how puny it was, a mere seedling, and considering the full cost was nearly $30! Sadly, the tree died and I requested a replacement. A customer rep told me that the new tree would arrive in Feb. 06 - I don't recall why it wasn't sent when I called (Sept. 05), maybe they were sold out.
When Feb. 06 rolled around I called the company again to make sure that the replacement order was still on track, and found out that it was in fact so. The customer rep. was pleasant and even found and fixed a mistake in my records.
A week later I received an email notifying me that the tree had been shipped out and about a week later it arrived.
This new tree is considerably sturdier than the first one, and I was very pleased to see it was even larger than the catalog had promised. The roots were a bit mangled in the wrapper, but I feel that this new plant has a good chance of survival.
The reasons I'm not giving this company a positive rating are as follows: the quality of plants varies too much, it seems to be a matter of chance whether a good plant or a poor one is received, and that's too much of a chance for me to risk often. Also, I find the fact that H. F. doesn't have a toll free number very annoying. When I call the company with a problem it can take a while to work things out, and I don't see why that should cost me even more money.
Lastly, I'd like the company to improve on their packaging. My tree was in a plastic bag, with wet newspapers bunched around the roots, and the whole bundle loose in a cardboard box. I think if the company invested in stabilizing the plants within the cartons, a lot of damage could be avoided during the lengthy shipment. To sum up my experience: the replacement tree is a very nice one, but why couldn't the first plant have been this good? I don't enjoy reordering plants - it wastes my time, effort and my garden also suffers, plus I won't be likely to use the company again.

I had ordered a clematis, strawberry plants, and gladiolus bulbs from Henry Fields. The clematis arrived, but was not in a living state! Later, the strawberries arrived, and were very healthy looking plants. Finally, the gladiolus arrived, but many were moldy arounf the base of the bulb. Fortunately, Fields has a good gurantee, and is going to make good on the clematis and the gladiolus. It would be better if the plant materials were healthy to start with, as it is a bit disappointing to find dead plants, when the packages finally arrive, and one's all set to plant! I am hopeful that the replacements will be of better quality, and wish Fields would improve their initial plant quality, as this would only be wise and descent business practice. Perhaps they will improve this aspect, and future sales will reflect greater care with the live plant materials.
With Sincerity,
Chuck

I have ordered from Henry Field's for several years. this year I ordered some raspberries and strawberries. I was charged for them but never received them. I made several calls and even e-mailed them. They gave me several different scenarios as to where my order was. Lastly, they said my post office had them. Of course I called---not true again!

I read the Watchdog daily; it's my favorite part of the website when I'm not looking to grow something. Most negative remarks come because companies DID charge the order before it was shipped. Companies I typically deal with DO wait until the order is shipped before billing a credit card. Your experience was just unfortunate, it sounds; I certainly wouldn't terminate business with a company because of something as innocuous as changing credit card companies mid-stream. Best thing to do is to call them and explain the situation; if they're rude and uncooperative at that point, then bring on the negative complaints.

Positive experience with their seeds. I'd order again.
Negative experience with plants - poor quality and poor survival.
Negative experience with potato eyes - poor quality and many did not sprout at all.

I've ordered from Field's three times in the past four years. Seeds (and seed potatoes) always did well but plants and trees are another story--some arrived in good condition and are growing well; some were dead on arrival; twice they sent wrong varieties. I'll order seed from them again but not live plants.

Their seeds performed fine, but I would definitely not buy live plants from them again. Almost all of the plants that I purchased from them on several different occasions died. I think one problem is poor packing and/or slow shipping.

They said they are under new management and try to get back their reputation. They still have a mirror companey names Gurney's. Both has some format catalogs and websites. Good thing about them is that they have trees.

Last Spring I ordered many items from Henry Fields; however, I did not receive a few things, which I had paid for. I attempted to call them; however, I could not reach anyone. I also wrote a letter to the company; however, I did not get a response.

I ordered a Pear Tree and seedless Grapes Last year from Henry Fields. They arrived looking dead. I planted them and they are doing great. Recently I received a catalog and was planning to order more items then came across this web site. After reading comments and now finding out about the bankruptcy I will order From Michigan Bulb.

We had a very bad experience with Henry Fields. We ordered in response to a sale offering $.49 and $.99 plants. I guess you get what you pay for! The order arrived full of bugs--looked like flying ants. All the salvias died. Nine of the 10 asparagus never came up. The bleeding hearts have sprouted little leaves and never grown, etc. The toad lilies and Virginia Sweetspire are the only things we ordered that are growing. Our money for the entire order was refunded, so that was good, but not worth the hassle.

I ordered some supplies and plants from Henry Field's this spring. The supplies were a better price than my local garden stores (organic fertilizer) and Field's had Hybrid Gerbera daisies for zone 5, which I haven't been able to find anywhere else. Everything was carefully packed and shipped, but, the plants had the pale color of iceberg lettuce, as though they hadn't seen the sun for a week. I'm trying to revive them before planting and Field's has offered to replace them if they die. After reading all the complaints on this website about plant quality it seems as though Field's has good plants, just poor shipping and handling administration. I will continue buy from Field's for their range and prices on gardening supplies, but, won't order plants until they improve their mail order techniques.

I receive the Gurneys & Henry Fields catalogs and I can state categorically that they are one and the same. Every price is the same and catalog descriptions are verbatim. This is a very strange marketing approach!

Henry Field's and Gurney's catalogues are set up in the same way and their items are very similar. And the problems are the same. Do not bother with their very interesting special bulbs or live plants. The seed specials are always ok, but bulbs and roots arrive less than lively. In fact, they tend to arrive more dead than alive.

Fields must have had some storage problems with bulbs this year. My first order arrived mostly crushed, musty and moldy. However, they immediately sent replacement stock without complaint. The bareroot climbing rose they sent has yet to show signs of life after planting, but it is still early April.

My advice: Don't order a Fields' "special". On a couple of occasions,