Comments regarding Michigan Bulb

I ordered 4 items yesterday. I received a confirmation email a few hours later and saw that they were not sending what I had ordered. I immediately sent a reply to their correct email address telling them to cancel the shipment because it was not what I had ordered. I called today to verify the cancellation. After some time on hold, I was told that they had shipped it out early without seeing my email. They told me that I was responsible for the order and that they already had my money from PayPal. I spoke to a supervisor who said that I would have to wait TEN DAYS until my plants arrived and then talk to them about a store credit or refund. I have filed a complaint with PayPal.

I ordered a Gloriosa lily tuber and some astilbes. When my order arrived it was marked complete but only the astilbes were sent to me. When I called to tell them that I had not received the Gloriosa lily, I was taken through the biggest inquisition one could ever imagine. The rep I spoke to was rude and treated me as though I wasn’t telling the truth. This is exacerbated by the fact that this item was less than $20. Never again.

Here is my experience with Michigan Bulbs:

1. You'll get a ton of unsolicited catalogs from Breck's, Spring Hill Nurseries, and K. van Bourgondien.

2. You'll get notified items are out of stock for orders placed months ago, and your shipments will be delayed. Live plants will arrive rotting, pest infested, and damaged in transit. The replacement plant that is healthy, but underwhelming and much smaller.

3. They then give you an apology credit to spend, and when your plants bloom, you realize they sent you the wrong ones. I can't even at this point.

BUYER BEWARE!!!

I placed an order with them on 4/2 for 3 items. All 3 said they are available and ready to ship. I bought them as a mother’s Day present for my mother. They said they’d ship 4/22. No problem! Then I checked on 4/22 and it had been changed to a ship date of 5/4. They never emailed me to say it was delayed or contacted me in any way. I checked again later and it had been moved to 5/12 (after mother’s day). I tried to call but they aren’t taking any calls. I emailed and they sent me a copy and paste answer from their website not even answering any of the questions I asked. I just checked this morning and they’ve now pushed my ship date to 5/18.

Seriously?! Not one single email discussing issues and yet they’ve pushed back my order 3 different times. If they actually ship on 5/18 then I’ll have waited almost 2 months for my order. That’s IF they don’t push it back again.

I understand the pandemic delays things, but looking at previous reviews this is a typical issue for them. And their lack of communication is unacceptable for a business. I will update again in a few weeks.

Michigan Bulb is taking orders but they are not answering to emails and phone calls, due to the pandemic. No doubt small business is impacted by the pandemic but some employees seems to be taking undue advantage of the situation. I ordered few items and have been trying to reach them without luck. People are supposed to be working from home. I don’t get why it’s hard to reply to customer emails and answer phone calls (can be redirected to home/cell phones) when the staff is supposed to be working from home. It’s time for management to take notice.

Previous experiences (many) with ordering plants have been good, and often excellent. However, in July 2019 I ordered for fall shipment 5 "potted" plants. They didn't arrive and I finally emailed about them. They finally arrived Oct. 1, 2019. The weather was fine for shipping at the time. I received a large box with tiny, puny little sprigs in miniscule "pots" which were dried out and near death. Planted them carefully anyway and am waiting to see if they survive winter. The quality of the plants themselves has been severely downgraded since my earlier orders. I will no longer be using this company.

What happened with this company is totally unacceptable.
Family members and I made 5 different orders from this company this year. Two in early spring, One in the Summer and one in the last couple of months.

They weren't really large orders. Mostly bulbs for Spring planting. The first two orders which were mostly bulbs, came with no problem. No complaints about the product, mostly nice bulbs , only a few i would question but over all I would have given them a good review based on those orders.

I ordered another order in July, One in Sept and one the first part of October. I never got the one from July , I did get the one for Sept and not the one for October.

I never got the July order it kept getting pushed further and further out, week after week for a month and a half and again right before it all hit the fan. When I sent an email asking why they couldn't send the products which they were showing to mostly be available and send the others, they still never sent the July order even when it updated and showed the were available and they did this repeatedly.

They sent the September order, which had many of the same items that were showing that were NOT available for shipping from the July order and the July order, 2 weeks before shipping, went back to showing not available on one Item which was apparently what was holding up the order.

I again contacted them and asked them why they wouldn't ship this order because I knew they had my items in stock because they were either still selling them for months after wards but just wouldn't send it out. The same items that were showing on "back order" they had sent in the September order that was made 2 months later so I know they had them. They aren't going in order, they only sent the other order because I complained.

When I last contacted them, I told them I didnt' want to be planting in the middle of winter and in the snow and I didn't understand why they couldn't ship the items that they showed 'available for shipping" and had been showing available for shipping for nearly a month and a half, and then send the other items later. By this point I had 2 orders out that were over $100.00 each.. I told them if they weren't going to send them then just refund my money for both orders.. I WANTED the orders but I felt like if they couldn't ship the July order after nearly 3 months, then I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get the Order made around the first part of October Either.

Well after 3 months, instead of doing the right thing and sending the items they CLAIMED that they had in stock and many they sold for months afterwards, or are still selling, they just cancel my entire order that I had waited on for 3 months.. They did refund my money after I told them I would file a complaint with Paypal. They didn't refund my money for the September order at first , so I emailed them back and told them "if you aren't going to send my order out and you're just going to hold it hostage for 3 months like you did the other money and then cancel on me, then go ahead and refund my money".. I did want the items but again, it was starting to look more and more like they weren't going to send them and they didn't show many of the in stock any longer so I had no faith I would ever get them..

All I can say is, They didn't even try to fill my orders or any part of them. They just cut me off sent this copy paste apology for doing me wrong and completely copped out on me and canceled by order. It's disappointing to me because I had intentions on planting a lot of these at the grave yard at our church and also some of them for my own home.

It's wrong to do people like this. You didn't even try to send me any part of those orders and you held my money for weeks and months and kept selling those products even after weeks of me asking for you to send my order. This is very unprofessional. You can apologize all you want, but I was a good customer and intended on buying more from you in the Spring but I'm not going to give you my money and you hold it for weeks and months only to cancel out on me.

It would have been one thing had you cancelled a couple of the items because you made a mistake and send the rest and refund for the other, but you made no attempt to do anything at all. Your apology is not accepted and now I don't have the prouducts I wanted for my business and church. You could have at least tried. You didn't do anything. That's what makes it bad. You just completely sold my orders to other people and didn't try to do a thing to remedy it. I wasn't asking for anything free. Just what I paid for and I even asked for you to just send the items that you supposedly still had in stock. I was very nice up until the end until I realized, you just sold my items to someone else. That's just wrong.

I ordered a couple of things (clematis and daisy) from this company....I knew they were "iffy" at best - but these poor little plants came DEAD, DEAD, DEAD! They were obviously dried out and moldy....shame on these people - they have no right to treat plants with cruelty!

Immediately charged me but did not tell me there would be a delay.
Then a second delay. Then a third delay- all without communication.

Did not answer emails.

Phone support from overseas with unbearably loud room- I had a hard enough time understanding the agent without hearing what seemed like the NYSE in the background, phone call took 30 minutes AFTER waiting for the agent. They first refused to refund AT ALL, claiming the order was in their system so they couldn't refund it.

***It was NOT BECAUSE a shipping label had been generated***, it was just because "once you place an order you can't cancel"

Huh? Makes no sense. Another 20 minute wait for a "supervisor" who I still insist was the same person trying to disguise her voice. Yes, it's that bad.

After 45 minutes of refusal/inability to help with anything, I said I would call my credit card BECAUSE PAYPAL SIDES WITH THEM REGARDLESS OF THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED. PLEASE NOTE THIS- FOR WHATEVER REASON THIS WAS A CLEAR VIOLATION OF PAYPAL POLICY, YET PAYPAL CLOSED THE CASE. I never had this before- very, very sketchy.

Insult to injury, they tried to Insist on a refund through paper check one I said I would have to go to my CC company then all of a sudden they agreed to refund through Paypal (how I paid them).

Absolute refusal or inability to work out a mutually beneficial solution- for example, partial refund and adjusting shipping.

I would never do business with them again.

I put all of my eggs in one basket and now either am going to have to weed out the area I was plating these in extensively, or wait until next year.

Stay FAR away from this company!

Posted on March 17, 2010, updated May 20, 2019
Posted on May 25, 2009, updated March 17, 2010
Like many people, I was slightly nervous about ordering from Michigan Bulb. In the last year, I have now ordered and received my orders three times. Overall, a very positive experience. Their prices are cheap, they have excellent coupons, although, yes, it's not as nice as popping over to my local nursery for some new plants. On the other hand, they tend to have a very different selection than my local nursery and-- yep-- they're a fraction of the cost.

The bulbs I've received from them have done fabulously, as have the bareroot hostas and Valerian. The packaging is quite good-- the individual plants were shipped in protective cardboard sleeves in small pots with dirt. My only misses with them have been hydrangeas-- and the ones from my third order are doing very, very well, so I must come to the sad conclusion that perhaps the problem with the first lot of hydrangeas lay with the gardener and not the nursery. Potting bareroot/small plants up and then keeping an eye on the leaves has helped me enormously-- the plants get a good start (I have clay soil, which can kill plants super-fast) and I can make sure that I've really got them in the right amount of light before I commit them to the ground.

Lastly, Michigan Bulb has been fabulous about replacements. This last order, two of the plants arrived dead (the other six were healthy and green) and one bulb was mushy (and I knew I was ordering on the very, very end of bulb season-- the ones in our local nursery are mush now). They've sent a very generous set of replacement plants and backordered an entire replacement package of bulbs for me for next year (and only one was bad-- so that's certainly very generous of them). Overall, it's a very good deal for what you pay and if you need to fill in in your garden. I will be ordering from them again.

"On Mar 17, 2010 12:13 PM, Michigan Bulb responded with:

We appreciate you taking the time to post and we appreciate your feedback. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We strive for 100% Customer Satisfaction. Happy Gardening!
"

Do yourself a favor and don't patronize this company. I have been gardening for decades and have hundreds of perennials, etc I tend. This company sells bad goods, doesn't grow and customer service number just has someone in India answering the phone and they do nothing, just answer the phone. They want your money but will never leave you alone for the rest of your life. You cannot opt out, calling or emailing gets you nowhere. So now out of money from dead plants and getting spam email all day, every day, all year forever. Nothing like having them remind you constantly of the dead stuff they mailed you and the money you wasted.

Placed order 4/4, no shipping status received. Called for status and finally received dead plant 4/19. No response to email sent with pictures. Called and was given the option of refund or store credit. Plant no longer available. Reordered a new product 4/26, checked on it 5/8 to find it was cancelled. No notification received. Contacted customer service and was told it was no longer in stock. Requested refund. They would refund the order, but since I used a "store credit" for the previous plant, they refused to refund the amount of the store credit. Now, I have to continue with this ridiculous waste of time just to get my money back. Escalating the call to a supervisor was of no use. These people know how to wear the customer down by repeating the same phrase. They are obviously well versed in dealing with unhappy customers. The other bulbs I received were shriveled up and only one out of 6 even showed signs of life. Total waste of time.

Service/Delivery Comments
It took two weeks for Michigan Bulb to even ship the plant I ordered. They sent it by the slowest possible mail. They watered it and wrapped it tightly in plastic so it arrived so rotten that it fell apart in my hands - I couldn't even tell what kind of plant it was. I emailed them and got no reply. I sent a second email and got a copy-and-paste "we could give you a store credit." I wrote back telling them that 1) I did not want another plant four weeks late and 2) the credit they offered was less than than the amount they charged my credit card. They never responded. Terrible product and miserable customer service. Most importantly, their "No risk guarantee" (the reason I took a chance on them) is completely false. DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM MICHIGAN BULB!

First, last, and only experience ordering from this company.

Maybe they need a vocabulary lesson?
“In stock” means you have it there, at your site.
“Available to ship” means it can be put in a box and mailed that day or the next.

On 4/18 I placed an order for:
Black Knight Butterfly Bush
Kaleidoscope Butterfly Bush
Congo French Lilac
French Hybrid Lilac Red
Per the confirmation email, everything was shipping on 4/24 except for one item that was shipping on 4/29

4/25
Three items are due to ship on 5/1 and the other on 4/29 because it is now on back order (even though it was in stock and available to ship when I placed my order the week before.)

4/26
Everything is now shipping on 5/2.

4/27
Ordered two Ebb Tide rose bushes since they finally had them "in stock." Per the customer service rep on the phone I could not add them to my previous order because I placed it online and paid via PayPal.

Today's shipping update: first order is shipping on 5/3 -- a day later than yesterday's estimate.

4/29
Now not shipping until 5/8.

4/30
roses shipping 5/6
the rest shipping 5/9
Canceled my orders. Three to five days to get my money refunded to my PayPal account, even though they took the money out as soon as I submitted the order.

I did try contacting customer service, first through their page on Face Book and a second time with a phone call to someone I'm pretty sure is not in Indiana. They were not able to give me any kind of real explanation as to the delays,although the person who answered me on Face Book (on 4/26) said they were placing a rush on the order, which (vocabulary again?) apparently means "We'll add another day or two to the estimated shipping date every day."

I have ordered from this company for years, with varying results. The latest order I placed with them is probably my last, due to the poor condition of the plants I received. I ordered on the 11th, but the plants did not ship til the 23rd, just in time for the holiday weekend, and the plants obviously sat in the heat til Tuesday the 29th when I finally received them, in all their dried out and yellow glory. I don't expect anything to survive, but regardless, I am done with Michigan Bulb.

VIRUS WARNING Ordered hostas from Michigan Bulb. Potted them up and gave good care as they leafed out. Two of nine showing HVX. I now have to decide whether to destroy them or the entire order - what a waste!

I placed my order on 3/29/18. I received part of it on 5/21/18. Our area has been warm enough for planting for weeks now, so I was annoyed at the lengthy shipping delay. I still have not received the rest of the order and hope I never will. One of the items I ordered was a Hummingbird Mint. It was completely black and withered. There is no way it got that bad during shipping. I was so angry that any company would send a plant of such poor quality. I sent them a picture and a request for a refund and a cancellation of the rest of my order. They replied that occasionally some things just slip thru the cracks, it can't be helped and said they would refund my money. It wastes my time to wait for plants that arrive dead or near death, plus no shipping is ever refunded of course. I should have read the reviews on here first. I will never order from them again no matter how tempting the plants look online. I also requested to be removed from their mailing list. I don't want any trees wasted on this junk.

I will not order from Michigan Bulb again! I have had two bad experiences with them. My first order I placed in early spring (mid-March in zone 6b), assuming that they would delay shipment until I was able to plant as do the other plant companies that I order from. Well, they did not. They shipped right away, which meant I had plants sitting for 3+ weeks before it was warm enough to put them out. I assumed that they just operated differently and that I would know for next time that they shipped right away. I ended up having to reorder some of the plants that I had ordered before, so when I placed the second order, I assumed that it too would ship immediately as the other one had done. I waited nearly three weeks before I received my order. Then when I got it one item was missing. It had apparently been left out by accident. I called and was told that it was out of stock and that they would give me a refund. Fine. But, then I received a promotional email for an item that was exactly what I had ordered but in a different color. I called back to see if I could get that one substituted instead. I was told that in actuality, the item that I had originally ordered was actually in stock and the one that I was calling about (that I had received the info on in the email) was not in stock. What!?! The previous representative told me it was out of stock. Why would she do that? So, I ask if I could have it shipped to me then since it was actually in stock. They told me no, that they weren't reshipping any items as it was after April 30. The date of this phone call was May 7. So, because they delayed shipping my order for nearly 3 weeks I can't get an item that they made a mistake on and left out. Does that make sense? I could go online and reorder it as a new order and they would send it to me, but they can't do me the courtesy of reshipping an item that they left out. In addition, the representatives that I spoke with and emailed during the three weeks when I was trying to figure out where my order was, were extremely unhelpful and none of them really gave me any information except to say that my order was in process and that they would send my order over to "the department." What does that even mean? None of them would give me an update or tell me why it was taking so long or any explanation for why one order would ship three weeks before I could plant anything or why I was waiting for three weeks to receive the second order. I feel that I got the run around in every instance and I will not order again. Hopefully some of the plants I received will actually grow. My interactions with their customer service representatives don't give me much hope for that. If not, I may be back to leave another review.

Oh, I now see all the neg comments for this company. Another to strike off my list.
Ordered around April 2, now it is 93 degrees outside. Have not received anything.
Yesterday I canceled 1 item. Today after finding out the temp on Monday, I called to cancel the entire order. They wouldn't let me - yesterday Ok to cancel and today No. What ?? Sounds like management got involved.
I told the girl not to mail or I would just mail back and have the fee taken off my credit card. What a mess !!
Not again.

I ordered 3 rose bushes in the spring of 2018. cost me around 40$. The quality of the plants is very bad- as in very small plant, all three had black spots in the stem, which later died back. It would be incorrect of me to say, you get what you paid for as I paid similar amount and got much better quality plant from other nurseries.

So, the plant is now down to 2-3 inches with 3-4 leaves on it and I have been babying it. I have ordered roses online before and have over 40 rose plants. I won't be purchasing from Michigan bulb again.

On the plus side, the packaging was very nice. Although the plant the is down to the stub, it is still alive.

Absolutely terrible company. Run by people who really don't have a clue about different types of plants. I ordered succulents, the condition they arrived in was terrible. Twice! When I complained about the first order, I received a 2nd order which was every bit as bad as the first.
My main complaints with Michigan Bulb is
1. Poor packaging. The poor little plants were strangled in plastic and all dumped in a big box so they could bounce around throughout their trip.
2. The people who work there obviously don't have a clue on how to handle succulents. A lot of the plants were so wet it would have been unlikely they would have survived even if they had been well packaged.
3. A lot of their plants, in fact most of them, were not what was described on the website. Much small, skinnier, not healthy. Just not anything I would have ordered had I had a clue as to what I was getting.
I did get a replacement certificate, but I've been reluctant to use it. It can't be used online so it means I have to call to order. And with some of the other experiences I have read here, I'm not sure I'll bother.

Posted on May 20, 2017, updated May 27, 2017
Posted on April 1, 2016, updated May 20, 2017
The ONLY problem I have with Michigan Bulb is the same problem I have with Spring Hill Nursery and Breck's. They ship too early for my zone (5). I think that problem lies with their owner (distributor?) Gardens Alive. So, I don't hold those 3 companies responsible for that.

I ordered around $200+ worth of plants and bulbs from all 3 this year. I had a really good experience last year with Spring Hill sending me my order packed really well and in great condition. So, I figured I would give Michigan Bulb and Breck's a shot. The orders arrived packed well and growing. I have 2 4-tier mini greenhouses in my house that I recently bought for growing seedlings. Looks like they will get a lot of use while I baby-sit these plants for 3-4 weeks until it is safe to plant them outside.

I got shorted 1 Yarrow in my Michigan Bulb order. I called customer service and was treated very well. I talked to a very nice C/S Rep and she is sending me 3 Yarrow plants to replace the one they didn't ship! So, they may have had issues in the past - according to a lot of these reviews. But, it seems like they fixed the issues or I have been very lucky!

I have ordered twice from this firm. The first time I ordered. Of the roses I ordered, three of the five promptly died. Before their passing a second order arrived. The flowers, many of which arrived as root buds and none were advertised as such, arrived. The box was packed terribly. There was inadequate airbag cushion inside and it looked like the contents had been spun around a dryer for a day. There were no specific planting directions for the plants which arrived. Several of the roots were broken and three of the six live plants were near death. Their leaves looked like month old lettuce. Very disappointed. I will not order from them again.

I had a very bad experience ordering Thuja Green Giant Arborvitae trees from Michigan Bulb. They are described in the catalog & online as being 18 to 24" in height. In reality, of the nine trees I ordered, a couple were about 8 or 9", and the rest were between 3 and 5 inches tall. All but the largest two had tiny, poorly developed root systems. Not only were they much smaller than promised, but they arrived completely dried out and brittle. These bareroot trees were only packed in a little straw, which probably allowed them to get even more dried out in shipping, but they were so dry that they were probably dessicated when they shipped out.

On top of all the problems with the trees, Michigan Bulb did not post my review describing the problems above. At the time of me writing this post, the trees have a 4 & 1/2 star rating, with reviews from 2013 describing sizeable, potted trees, which is very misleading because that is not what they are selling in 2017 at all. I was extremely disappointed with the dishonesty and carelessness of the company, and I would never purchase from them again.

Posted on April 14, 2017, updated May 3, 2017
Posted on November 9, 2016, updated April 14, 2017
I ordered from Michigan Bulb only because I had a half price coupon code, and they had some perennials I needed that weren't available locally.
I placed an order late August. I amended the order about a week later, and customer service was very helpful.
Estimated shipping date was pushed back three times. When the first (partial) shipment went out, it took ten days to arrive. I've had stuff sent to me from overseas that took less than ten days.
The packaging wa ridiculous... each potted plant was shrink wrapped, boxed, and re-shrink wrapped. A few of the plants were slimy and disintegrating, but the roots seemed okay.
The rest of my order arrived in November, and was not what I ordered. Seems they didn't actually have what I ordered 10 weeks earlier in stock anymore, and thought it was okay to substitute without notifying or refunding me.

Ordered two plants (rose of sharon and some ornamental grass) paid $ 25,00. What I received were two sticks about 2" wrapped in plastic.
I guess you get what you pay for. Ordered from many mail order companies before, this one is the worst.
NEVER..... EVER again ! !

Received wrong shipment
Website tracking info link did not work
Waiting on correct items to ship

Posted on June 14, 2015, updated November 22, 2016
My overall rating for Michigan Bulb is a qualified positive.

I am always apprehensive about doing business with Gardens Alive! affiliates. Service and product from all the companies clustered under that "umbrella" seems hit-and-miss.

I had a lot of planting to do this year, and I grudgingly decided to order from Michigan Bulb again, despite writing them off a couple years ago when I had a hassle trying (ultimately unsuccessfully) to get a replacement or credit for a shipment of rotten, mushy lily bulbs). Some of the prices this season were tempting, and they had lots of plants I wanted to add to my gardens.

I placed an order May 1. Shipping was respectably quick--received the order on May 11. The plants and bulbs were generally respectable/acceptable enough that I ordered a few more times. Packing, as I experienced in the past, is just OK. All of the packages we received could have been packed better. One or two more "air bubbles" in each box would have held the plants more securely and kept things from shifting/shaking/sliding around inside their boxes.

Product has been hit-and-miss. Some of the plants (Hosta) were nice and healthy. Some of the more tender ones (violets, primroses, sedum, hollyhocks, etc) didn't arrive in great condition--some were partially rotten and some were completely rotten. In general, vines, trees and shrubs arrived very, very dry (and tiny) and I am not sure those will survive. A sedum collection was very skimpy...5 tiny sprigs, although it does appear that all will live. Bare-root items all seemed healthy with no problems. Lily bulbs were consistently nice size and healthy. A couple of the primroses we ordered have actually bloomed, but did not bloom true to the promised colors...they are the common colors I can buy anywhere for less money. Rose bushes drop-shipped from a grower in California arrived quickly, were very healthy and were a great value.

I have nursed some of the plants back to health, and the ones that were beyond saving, have been, or are being replaced or credited, so far with no hassle.

Overall, I am pleased. Some of the plants/bulbs I received are nicer and healthier than expected. The plants and bulbs in general have been healthy and the customer service has been fine. Three of five orders remain incomplete--still awaiting shipment for items ordered over a month ago, but order updates have been timely.

Again, you do get what you pay for. I shopped around and believe I got some really good deals from Michigan Bulb this year. I will shop with them again.

2 years in a row they disappointing me.

They don't ship on time.
They don't ship the full order
They string me along for months and then cancel the order.

This year I ordered 8/29
Was supposed to ship mid September.
Finally got a partial shipment 11/16
11/18 they canceled the balance of my order, didn't even send me an e-mail to say that they were canceling the order. I had to find that on their web site.

If they were honest with me I could have gotten the canceled items from another source. Now it is too late in the season. Another planting season lost.

1. Constant email harassment with discount offers
2. We planned on first shipping date told us and it has been put off three times thus far.
3. This source more expensive than others who specialize in quality organic plants
4. We reserve judgement on product until we finally get and grow them.
5. Absolutely the worse seed/plant site we've been to and we have used many over 30 years of planting in an organic, sanctuary as well as our own garden needs.

Background: more than a decade ago I ordered about 30-40 ferns from Michigan bulb. When they arrived they looked small and dried out. I called with concern and was brushed off and told they were fine. I planted them exactly as directed, but only three ever came up. I called back and was told to wait until the following spring. I waited. Only the same three came up. I called many times and left messages but never received a return call. I decided never to order from the company again.

Present (2016): In spring 2015 I decided to give the company another chance. I ordered a mix of things from them including 4 azaleas, a hosta, a fern, freesia bulbs, coneflowers, a blue daisy, bleeding heart, blazing star, evening primrose, etc. The "azaleas" were laughably tiny (I could, and should, have bought two healthy full-grown versions locally for the same price as the four twigs). I was surprised and disappointed, and my husband was none too happy, but we planted everything carefully as directed. Out of this entire order, after more than a year, we have 4 teeny tiny fragile twigs (6" tall with one stalk and two leaves) that call themselves azaleas, and an anemic hint of a hosta. The blue fringe daisy was first delayed, then supposedly shipped, then out of stock -- and never refunded. My calls were not returned. NOTHING else from this company ever sprouted. NOTHING. Every single thing I bought from our local garden stores and our big box stores grew (even clearance items in poor condition). The only thing that has grown from this company is email: 306 since my order a year ago. BUYER BEWARE.

Many years ago as a novice gardener I ordered from Michigan Bulb and was disappointed in the size and quality of the plants I received. Upon reading reviews I found that I was not alone. But somehow, every few years or so I find something I must have and Michigan Bulb is the only place I can find it in stock or cheaply enough to buy in quantity. I forget the past, think "How bad can it be?" and order from them again.
Sadly, I did it again this year.

A big gripe is that they take forever to ship- an order placed the first week of April only just arrived May 10. The order was split into so many shipments- this in combination with the amount of spam they email you is annoying. You have to check every single one of the emails for shipping info, but it seems to never come.

God forbid you do try to use an offer from an email- it raises the purchase price of the plants! I had a full shopping cart, applied a discount code, and the total price actually went up. I had to disable cookies, clear my cache, and sneak up the the website sideways from my browser history to get back to the lower prices I had found initially.

And then the plants.
My Astilbe looked like flotsam that I find in the bottom of my compost pile. As I unpacked my tiny sad little wads of dried up roots I was mentally composing my review thinking of phrases like "retarded monkeys could grow, pack, and ship better looking plants." But then I realized that such phrasing, besides being politically incorrect, was an insult to retarded monkeys everywhere.

Things are just so tiny and sad looking. Poorly grown, rootbound, hanging onto life by a thread type plants. My Josee lilac was mere stubs- clearly they snipped off all of MY foliage to root for other unsuspecting fools. And my creeping phlox! Oh my God- these "plants" were mere snippets of of a bit of yellowed foliage. I toss better looking things in the compost pile when cleaning out beds. Simply horrible shape.

I must say, however, that I haven't lost anything that I purchased from them this year BUT I feel as if that speaks more to my abilities at rescuing plants that it does to anything done on their end.
I order many, many plants each year from many, many vendors and Michigan Bulb is repeatedly the worst of the lot.
Why do I keep doing this?

I really think I have learned my lesson this year.
If you enjoy the challenge of resuscitating plants that need life support, go for it. You'll get your money's worth in that regard. But if you want to receive healthy, vibrant, saleable sized plants do yourself a favor and avoid this family of vendors as everything you receive will be tiny and of very poor quality. Things will take at least one full season to recover and grow enough to look decent.

The one small silver lining in my having now finally received the last of my items is that now I can consign Michigan Bulb to the spam folder once and for all and never have to see another one of their misleading and innumerable emails ever again.
They market solely to novice, unsuspecting gardeners, and those like me who are thick headed and never seem to learn.

Don't be like me.

I have been a customer of Michigan Bulb, Dutch Bulb, & spring hill nursery which are all the same company for over 20 years. I moved to a new house & purchased a few plants from them. A few of them arrived dead & they had to replace. They kicked me out of their customer base & won't allow me to buy any more of their products stating that our products don't work for you. They clearly blame their POOR quality plants on their customers. It could NEVER be their fault. Please save your money & buy elsewhere. Do NOT buy from them. They will take your money, blame you for their poor quality work, & then kick you out of the their service. I am also filing a complaint with the BBB & the State Attorney General's Office

Posted on October 19, 2015, updated April 21, 2016
Posted on October 15, 2015, updated October 19, 2015
Hopefully I'm not putting the cart before the horse as I haven't received my order yet but I thought the process up to now deserved a review. I actually came across this site by searching for reviews for Michigan Bulb.

I placed 4 orders from 4 different online nurseries, Michigan Bulb being the first, on the same day a couple weeks back. This was the first time I have ordered plants online. I received 2 of the 4 within 3-5 days of ordering. The third and largest order took a bit longer but it was much larger than the others and it arrived when I expected it to. The only one I'm waiting on is the Michigan Bulb order.

I placed a small order with them a couple weeks ago. They had a sale going on, which from going back to the site frequently to check on my order seems to happen a lot, so the price was right. Unlike the other sites I ordered from, none of the plants I got had much of a description or any planting suggestions. Thinking back, Im not sure if Im getting actual plants or bare roots.

A few days had passed since I placed the order and I had either received or was about to receive 2 of the orders so I got onto Michigan's site to check the status which listed my order as not shipped and a delivery estimate of 10/13 to another date I forget. I checked the site again on the 13th, the first potential day of delivery, and found it still read not shipped and the delivery estimate was gone. I emailed the service department that was listed in my order confirmation but hadn't received a response 6 hours + later so I called customer service and quickly got a representative. He assured me that my order was slated to be shipped that day. About an hour after speaking with him I got an email from another rep telling me my order would ship in 3 to 5 business days and to expect another 5 to 7 for delivery. I responded telling them what the rep I spoke with had told me and about an hour after that, 10 p.m., I got a shipping confirmation. Checking the tracking on the FedEx website showed the order had shipped over 12 hours prior. Not sure how that info wasn't available to the reps I dealt with.

I should have my plants today or tomorrow and I'll update then.

I ordered my bulbs from Michigan Bulb in early February. From early February to early April, there were 8 ship date changes. Every week they changed it a couple times. When I contacted them the first time, they used the weather excuse, even though my area had excellent weather and it was planting time. Lie

When I contacted them the second time, I got promises of the bulbs being rushed and shipped that day. Lie.

So I opened a Paypal dispute as I had paid with my Paypal debit card and got a customer service rep that promised a refund when the item shipped AND that the refund would come in the guise of a check in 3-4 weeks. 3-4 WEEKS???? A CHECK???? I paid you with a card and you can refund the money to that card just as anyone else does. You did not wait for 3-4 weeks for payment and neither should I!

So I have escalated the claim so that Paypal can deal with it. This company is horrible! I ordered bulbs from Holland and got them with free shipping, affordable price and already have them! I even got my bulbs from other companies in good time.

This company is horrid. The customer service is bad and the "no hassle" return is even worse! I will never buy from them and will let others know what I had to go through.

Very long time between ordering and shipping. In fact the time between the two seemed to grow every time I checked my order status. Unfortunately their bulbs didn't grow nearly as much for me. Of course that could also be because it took so long to ship my order I wasn't able to properly start the ranunculus bulbs I ordered, and consequently none of them grew. Out of the couple dozen ranunculus bulbs I ordered, exactly ZERO did anything. The butterfly bushes - which shipped as live plants, albeit tiny ones -, had to be coaxed very carefully into life for several weeks after arriving despite the website claiming their were easy to grow.

I placed order Feb 27. Schedule ship date has changed from March 3 to the 11th now it says the 16th... Chatted w/ customer rep... assured they would be shipped soon as to my areas planting guide.... Ummm, I live in Florida. Everything is now in bloom... Why not give me a realistic date then instead of continually changing the shipping date.... I feel like Im being scammed.. I hope not.

The first time I ordered from this company, everything arrived poorly packaged and literally nothing grew. I ordered thru Zulily so I was able to get a credit on my Zulily acct for the cost of the bulbs.

I recently received a catalog that stated half off everything. So I placed a 60$ order on 2/21. The confirmation email stated everything except one would be delivered by today. Well, I never got any kind of shipping confirmation email or anything at all indicating a delay.

When I called them, the guy said that everything would be delivered by mid-March. Certainly not what I signed up for. It's not like it's still cold outside, I'm in SE Texas!

Regardless of everything else, when I called both men who I spoke to, one stating he was a manager, had such a hard accent I struggled to understand him. They were definitely in some sort of call center, not in the USA. If I have a problem with an item I spend money on I want to be able to have a conversation with someone where both parties can understand one another. I will never be ordering from here again.

I just received my first and only order from Michigan Bulb. I wish I had done my homework beforehand but my previous mail order experiences with other companies have been very positive so I thought it was a safe bet. On Mother's Day, (May 10) I placed a small order and paid a $10 shipping fee, which normally means a 2-3 day wait but mine arrived on the tenth business day after I placed my order. I called twice to find out where my order was, and it was obvious I was speaking to an off-shore call center, and was told my order had shipped on May 15th. However, it was still a week before I received it. On their web site, Michigan Bulb claims they are partners with Fed Ex so it seems strange that their orders take so long to ship.

One item I ordered was a mixed sedum "carpet" for $10, which was a 50% discount off the normal price. The carpet was actually five individually shrink wrapped single sprigs of common sedum, one of which was only about 1 inch long. I ordered two supposedly potted creeping blue sedums and these also were just one single sprig each, one mostly dead. I ordered two bi-color hens-and-chicks, each hen is not quite as big as a half dollar and quite dried out by the time I received it. Luckily my order was a small one but it was still a total waste of my hard-earned money. Caveat emptor.