Comments regarding The Tasteful Garden

I had to post because my first experience with The Tasteful Garden has been really great. The packaging is the best I've seen – no plastic peanuts, but really intelligent structures that keep the plants in great shape during transit. And the plants themselves are sturdy and healthy. I will definitely return to this company!

My first try at gardening in Florida, I had several questions. Customer Service couldn't have been any better. So impressed, I proceeded with a large order of tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. I couldn't have been happier with the plants when they arrived. They were immaculately packed with the utmost care for the plant's well-being. The plants included simple instructions of handling them and accumulating them to sun. I lost two tomato plants, but it was not the fault of the company. All other plants have flourished.

The two I lost, because I rushed them into the sun too soon and for too long--it was a shock to their little systems--a lesson learned.

I received my plants in the middle of march and my tomatoes and pepper plants have flowers, some already have fruit. Tasteful Garden took the work out of trying to figure out what to plant when. They only ship plants to an area with coordinating planting times. I can't wait until next year. I'm expanding my efforts with their great plants.

Fantastic company!!! Wonderful customer service! I am new to gardening and ordered a variety of organic herbs! Shipping was fast, products arrived looking good, and got them planted. For some reason, whether the weather got too cold even with me keeping them in the garage or over watering, some of my plants did not make it. I contacted Connie at Tasteful Garden and received far more than replacement herbs! I received support, guidance, encouragement and again, just fantastic customer service! I would HIGHLY recommend ordering from this company. Customer service is a lost art in so many businesses but it's clearly a priority for the very kind, helpful, and generous folks at the Tasteful Garden! HIGHLY recommend!!! Fabulous plants, awesome help and support, and they stand behind their products and with their customers!

I ordered six tomato plants from the Tasteful Garden, and requested a shipping date in mid-May. I received helpful email notices about my order, even a heads-up when they were shipped, so that I'd be ready for their arrival. The package came on the date I requested, plants all healthy and packed carefully. The plants were large and heatlhy with lots of leaf growth; bushy, not at all spindly. They'd even begun their hardening off process before shipping. It took only a few days of gentle acclimatization to get them ready to plant permanently. They're producing like mad, and I've had ripe tomatoes earlier than I expected.
I can't say enough good things about this company. They're on my favorites list indefinitely.

I ordered Sweet Million tomato plants from The Tasteful Garden. They are a variety that my husband and I love and, usually, some of them come back for us every year. We had pretty hard winters in '13 and '14 and we didn't get many returns. So, this year, we decided to order more to replenish. It was a little late, about the last week of May. (However, we deliberately waited later to plant this year.) The company could not provide that variety stating that they were too large to ship. Connie, sweet thing, gave me the option of choosing another variety or being refunded. I described to her the type of plants we were looking for, but left the choice up to her. (As they had some that were listed as 'sold out' on the website, but were enough to satisfy my small order.) She sent 'Juliet'. And all arrived large with buds and/or flowers, very green, and bursting with health. We've never had this variety before and hope we really enjoy them. Regardless, I will be ordering from The Tasteful Garden again.

A lot of people grow their peppers from seed, but here in Ohio, we have a shortened season, so this year, we bought plants. Specifically, from The Tasteful Garden, we bought ten (10) serrano pepper plants - and they are outstanding. The yield is phenomenal. And, we have been able to make our best hot sauce thus far. Order these pepper plants from The Tasteful Garden, and you will be absolutely pleased - they are wonderful - thank you, The Tasteful Garden!

Posted on May 2, 2014, updated June 19, 2014
Posted on May 1, 2014, updated May 2, 2014
I ordered a few plants from this company last fall. A few of the plants were damaged in shipping and they requested I send pics and I did and they replaced the damaged plants. So in Nov. of 2013 I placed my spring order. It was a small order however they are quite pricey it was around 200.00. After waiting for spring all winter and starting my own seeds inside, I received at the end of feb brussel sprouts, cauliflower, onions, and potatoes. I also called to have them hold my order longer but they said I called too late and they had already pulled my order, but they were willing to add some strawberry plants. I tried to have them hold my order because the weather here was bad and the ground was still froze and having freezing weather. No prob I would just keep the plants in the house. The plants arrived late at night left on porch via ups and I didn't see the box until late. I unpacked the plants and put them with the rest of my plants. The next day when I got home from work I was looking at the plants which I should have done at first and they had aphids all over them. The cauliflower and sprouts were just tiny seedlings and were smaller than the plants I started from seed. I sent a complaint and put these plants outside and they froze. They sent me new plants and said the plants were small because they used jiffy pots. They sent me some bigger ones with no aphids. I wanted to cancel the rest of the order but they asked me not to and assured me the rest of the order would be up to par. The plants had a few yellow looking leaves. Then a few days later my plants inside started getting sick and they had yellow looking leaves or burnt looking or brown spots. I lost all of my tomatoes and some peppers and some cauliflower and sprouts and also some of my broccoli and eggplants. I knew it had come from the plants and should have canceled the rest of my order. But I really wanted the sweet potatoes and other plants and now I needed the tomatoes I ordered. I just received the rest of my order yesterday and the plants have the yellow and browns leaves. I can see signs of the disease. The sweet potatoes arrived brown and black. I cant put these plants outside yet it is too cold and I cant keep them with my other plants. I am going to throw them away. I hope this disease doesn't ruin my whole garden this year and I am highly upset and disappointed. They have to be aware of these sick plants and are still sending them to people. And they charged me a lot of money for this. I have emailed them twice once last night as soon as I looked at plants and also today. No response. I am going to contact my credit card company to see if I can dispute the charges from last year when I paid. I also will be contacting the better business in their state to file a complaint. I cant believe this. I sincerely hope my whole garden is not ruined. I have invested a lot of money this year and I have 21 straw bales that I paid 7.00 each for not too mention dirt and seeds and plants. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY. I want to know how many other people have received sick plants??

I just unpacked my first and fairly large order ( 12 tomatoes, one sage plant) and I am blown away. I have never seen such giant happy plants from any mail order company. I don't think I've gotten such big plants from a nursery. I live in New York and every plant in the huge box looks perfect. I have a small garden so I see no point to buying boring plants. I wish they had the other six types that I bought elsewhere. I really can't get over it! So happy!

Great nursery with a great selection of plants! Packaging was excellent & I'm very pleased my experience...will absolutely order from them again!

A great family run business that provides high quality plants. Delivery is prompt and the plants arrive in great condition. Since I started growing from seeds, I order less frequently, but when I want an herb that is difficult to grow from seed, I turn to The Tasteful Garden. While not organic, the sweet potato plants and sets are robust. Even though we are over 1000 miles apart, I am confident that my order will arrive in great shape.

This past spring I had received a plant that I didn't order and contacted customer service. They replaced it with the one I ordered x 2!
No questions asked! I look forward to ordering every year from The Tasteful Garden. I wouldn't buy my tomatoes anywhere els. Thanks for the great customer service and quality plants!

Amy Carson

Customer service is excellent - just got my Rutgers tomato starts and they look healthy --- I had some shipping delays and the first batch came many days after FedEx had promised and were bone dry and wilting --- Called Connie and she immediately sent out more starts via UPS and they arrive in 3 days and I am one happy camper--- The good thing for those of us in California is that they do the necessary pest inspections to be allowed to come into our state.

This is my first experience ordering vegetable seedlings by mail order. They had some varieties I couldn't find seed for anywhere, and really wanted to try. It turned out to be a very pleasant and rewarding undertaking. This company allows you to choose your shipment date (how cool is that-?) and allows you to order whatever quantity you wish, rather than having a minimum order of like twelve at other places.
My plants all arrived in beautiful shape-they take great pains with packing. They were all well developed and healthy and came with many instructions and tips. I started not to even read the instructions, as I'm a fairly experienced gardener, but I actually learned a few things!-also cool!
Best thing of all, they all have already produced "fruit"-actually tomatoes and peppers-even though our weather has been frightful, and all but one are still hardening-off.
I would highly recommend ordering from this company. I know I sure will again!

Wonderful experience. Plants arrived on time and beautifully packaged. Not a leaf out of place. Great size on all of the plants. This was my first order from them and based on this experience am headed back to order more!

I received my first ever order from Tasteful Garden today. I ordered 8 tomato plants, and they are the largest most beautiful tomato plants I have ever gotten! I usually shop at a few local nurseries for my tomato plants, but this year I wanted a greater variety of heirlooms so I went online instead. The plants were very well packaged and they are in perfect health. I will definitely order my tomatoes from them next year, and I am thinking about getting some more different veggie plants from them this year too. Highly recommend!

Initially I was displeased with the company because they charged my credit card months before the item was going to ship. When I complained, they refunded my card and set the order aside, then charged my card when it actually shipped. While I disagree with their policy, they certainly did what they could to please me.

My asparagus crowns arrived today and are large, plump and healthy, and were worth the wait.

I ordered a few items from the Tasteful Garden for my mother for Christmas to be delivered in April this year. I obviously did not have the plants to give her so I asked if there was anyway that I could get a card or something to show my mom. I figured that this could help to explain that she would be getting some heirloom tomato plants for her garden this spring. She loves to garden, it's quite a source of pride for her, and I really think that she will love getting some new varieties.

So after I filled out the feedback form on the Tasteful Garden website a woman named Connie emailed me and asked for a few more details to see if she could help. After a few very pleasant emails back and forth Connie created a beautiful card for me to give to my mom on Christmas. She even came in and emailed me on Sunday!! So due to Connie's kindness and overall positive experience you have earned a lifelong customer. I look forward to ordering more items from the Tasteful Garden and keep up the good work, especially you Connie!!

- Bill Puccio

I'm in love with this site, The Tasteful Garden - sending it to my sister today! As hot as it has been this year, I've been trying to find strawberry plants early, so I took the chance, regardless, that it might be too hot to ship successfully so soon, but because these strawberry plants disappear so fast, I took the chance - the plants arrived by regular shipping, and they are just beautiful! I couldn't be more surprised or pleased-will order more fall plants in a couple weeks!

Sincerely,
Sheryl Ryals-Storch

"On Sep 12, 2012 8:07 AM, The Tasteful Garden responded with:

Thank you Sheryl! Better order fall vegetables soon, we are selling out very quickly..."

All I can say is "Wow!!" This was the 1st order I placed with The Tasteful Garden and the plants completely exceeded my expectations. Great packaging and some of the most hardy plants I have seen!! I ordered 1 tomato plant, 1 Stevia plant, and 2 Sweet Pickle Pepper plants (this was the ONLY placed I could find these). Extremely large & healthy plants!! I will definitely be ordering from this company again.

I'm a brand-new gardener, and this is my first year to grow tomatoes. I ordered six heirloom tomato plants from Tasteful Garden this spring, and they arrived big, gorgeous, and right on time. I somewhat abused the new plants--we had a cold snap and could not plant for a couple of weeks after the plants arrived. Even still, they took off once they were in the ground, and have grown to over five feet tall!

Most of the plants have produced beautifully and have just started to ripen. The varieties I've sampled--Yellow Taxi and Big Raspberry--are quite delicious.

I also ordered a strawberry plant, also healthy. Oddly, a HUGE weed sprouted from its roots along with the plant. It's in a container, so the weed must've come with the plant. Not a big deal, the plant recovered nicely after I dug it up and pried the roots apart. It's still producing.

Two big, green thumbs up! I plan to order from this company year after year.

When I contacted The Tasteful Garden; I only wanted one tomato plant that I had been unable to find. They sent me two of them. And . . . WOW! Beautiful healthy plants that the likes of which were 'choice plus'. Packaging was beyound belief. What a stroke of luck!
I don't plan to order from anyone else so long as they have what I want. The nicest folks you'd ever want to deal with. They've got a friend for life in me! Try 'em; you can thank me later.

Purchased tomato, vegetable and herb plants from The Tasteful Garden in mid March. They were shipped within 2 weeks and were packed extremely well. The plants exceeded my expectations - they were much larger than what I can find at garden centers this time of year and were very healthy. I will definitely order from them in the future!!

I ordered 4 San Marzano tomato plants from the Tasteful Garden. When they arrived, they were the most beautiful plants and very well packaged. After a week or so, 3 of the 4 developed a disease and died. I went back to the website to order replacements and the folks at the Tasteful Garden replaced them at no cost. What a wonderful company to deal with! Thanks! I highly recommend them.

This is the second year I've ordered tomato plants from Tasteful Garden, and I couldn't be more pleased. My eight plants were packed so nicely, and they were huge and very healthy. I appreciate that they ship early in the week, so the plants reach me by midweek and aren't sitting in some warehouse over a long weekend--a problem I've had with other mail order plant companies. I have been recommending Tasteful Garden to friends and family looking for specific heirloom tomatoes.

First time order. I ordered 5 Jimmy Nardello Sweet Pepper plants because I couldn't find any locally.

The plants arrived about 3 days earlier than expected which was great. They were very well packed - the soil had plastic wrap carefully covering the tops of the pots and each pot was in an individual cardboard compartment in the box.

They were good sized plants and arrived in perfect condition. I would definitely order again from them.

They shipped my six tomato plants to Houston promptly in early March as promised. I could not believe how large, dark green and vigorous these plants were! I planted them in mid-March and they are all doing very well - simply could not ask for better. Best of all, I didn't have to argue with anyone about shipping the plants in March to TX. Will buy all my hard-to -find plants from these good folks in the future!

Posted on April 2, 2010, updated April 3, 2010
I am a quite experienced gardener and a heavy user of mail-order garden plants. I ordered 3 items from The Tasteful Gardener after seeing great reviews here: asparagus, 1 tomato and 1 eggplant. I had them delivered early so that the asparagus could get in on time. The asparagus seems okay, though it hasn't come up yet; the tomato plant was beautiful and is doing well. The eggplant, however, was not in great shape and has continued to wither despite my best efforts - keeping it in a sunny location, taking it outside on warm days, etc. I probably should have reported its poor condition immediately, but thought I could salvage it. I reported this to the company and basically got the response "you ordered delivery too early so it's not surprising it died. You are welcome to order another one." The other types of eggplant I have grown from seeds for this year are doing just fine; I'll stick to my own, thank you. And I won't order from the company again.

"On Apr 3, 2010 11:38 AM, The Tasteful Garden responded with:

Thank you for your post, we have not had a large number of complaints this year but a large number of orders which is great! However, this spring has been extremely cold which has made early shipments, prior to last frost dates, susceptible to cold damage. We highly recommend choosing a ship date very close to or after your last frost date for best results. This plant was shipped to Tennessee in mid March. We also offer split shipments for early plants such as asparagus, onions and lettuces."

I was new to gardening. I recieved outstanding advise and customer service. They stand by their products and resolve issues quickly. I am now in my 3rd year with The Tasteful Garden and love gardening. Wouldn't trade them for any other company!

I first ordered from the Tasteful Garden last spring and was very pleased. I ordered a collection as a wedding gift which I was told did really well. I sent plants to a young niece who loved them. And the ones I ordered for myself also did well, in spite of the unusual weatehr we had in Atlanta last year. I recommend the company and am planning this year's order now!

I ordered about 6 heirloom tomatoes and a pepper plant. The plants, although not quite as large as those I received from a a closer mail order company, were healthy and did quite well in my garden. Since I don't have the room or lights to grow good plants myself, a source for actual plants rather than seeds for heirloom varieties is crucial. I did have my pepper plant substituted for a different variety without consulting me, but when I contacted them with my objection they offered to send the correct plant when it was available. When it arrived, it was quite small. But, when you run out of a plant, it takes time to grow a new one and I am sure they just sent it as soon as they felt it was large enough to travel. The originally supplied substitute plant went into the garden and was healthy enough at first but then got a strange type of wilt, with no discolored leaves or signs of disease, it just wilted and died quickly of some disease but the replacement plant that arrived so small is still out there and I am hoping the weather will hold long enough to get the peppers on it mature.

Given the problems inherent in shipping live plants and the difficulty in finding good selections of heirloom plants, I would say I was definately satisified overall. I am still eating the tomatoes and enjoying them a lot! :)

I ordered from TG for the first time this year for the majority of my herbs - they did fabulously! I am a first time gardener and I will deifintely use them again. There was a problem with Dill making the trip tp MA and they tried over and over - but I am grateful they were willing to work with me instead of dropping me or not communicating with me about what to do. Excellent customer service and products.

"On Aug 17, 2009 3:45 PM, The Tasteful Garden responded with:

Unfortunately, Dill can be very tricky to ship because of hot weather or cold weather which means that there is only a short window during springtime that we are able to ship it successfully. Although it may be cool in Massachusetts, the back of UPS trucks can get quite hot on the way and Dill is just more sensitive to heat than other herbs. Thanks for your comments!"

I have dealt with this company a number of times and have always been more than pleased. The plants always arrive promptly and in excellent condition. I picked tomatoes from my Ozark last week and they were delicious. I highly recommend the Tasteful Garden to everyone!

What a terrific mail order experience. I received my Hybrid San Marzano tomato plant this afternoon. The plant was well packaged, large, healthy, and ON TIME. It arrived exactly when they said it would.

This tomato plant was larger and healthier looking than the three other tomato plants I purchased from my local (and well respected) nursery.

I ordered from the Tasteful Garden because they had such a nice variety of tomatoes that I can not find in my area (Central NY State.)

Because I have had bad experiences in the past with other larger and better known seed and plant companies, I only ordered one tomato plant; so I could test them out.

I wish I had ordered my whole garden through them.

I can't wait until next year when I can order MORE plants from them!

Excellent service. I ordered 12 tomato plants and they arrived in good condition and are doing GREAT. They were larger than I expected and very healthy. All the plants were shipped quickly and when I asked them to be. A+ !

Great packaging and very large tomato plants! I let them rest for a few days before planting them and they're doing great. I'm very pleased with my plants and I'll definitely be a repeat customer!

I ordered and received (..just when I was told I would) five superb Sweet Million tomato plants. I could not be more pleased. They are all about 10 inches tall ..leafy ..strong and healthy. They were beautifully and carefuly packaged and there was not a weakened or broken stem in the bunch. This is my second time ordering from The Tasteful Garden. I ordered several plants and a coupleof gardening aids from them last year. I am still just as pleased and will be doing business with them in the future.

This was my first time ordering from them and I could not be more pleased with my purchase. The plants arrived exactly when the company said they would and I must say that the tomatoes and herbs I ordered were packed for shipping better that any other company I have used before. All the plants were healthy and much larger than I thought they would be. I will definatly buy from them in the future.

The tasteful garden is a wonderful place to purchase plants, etc. I love that they use organic growing practices. If I have a question Cindy gets back with me quickly. She is very knowledgable. They value customer satisfaction and I will purchase from them year after year.

The first year I visited The Tasteful Garden in person since I live in Atlanta GA. The folks were very nice and I got to see their operation up close. I bought 7 varieties of tomatoes, 3 vegs and a couple of herbs. One tomato and one veg never produced but everything else was beautiful.
The next year I ordered online and the order was delivered right on time (late April) and beautifully packaged. As mentioned before, do not yank off the plastic wrap but take the time to find the scissors and gently cut them out. This time I ordered 11 varieties and different vegs/fruits. The varieties were very successful (except the one a cat got to). Some produce more than others but that depends upon the varieties.
I like that there is a good variety but not too overwhelming. It is a small business and they care about customers and service so if something is wrong by all means call them up and talk to them.