Comments regarding Park Seed Company (aka Park's Gardens)

I intended to place an order with this company this weekend. However, upon checking out, I observed that in addition to the purchase price for my goods and the shipping charges, there was also an additional "Gas Surcharge" of $1.50 added to my small order.

In this case, I was ordering just 3 packets of seeds. The shipping prices would have been a reasonable $2.50. However, adding an additional $1.50 gas surcharge made this a total of a less reasonable $4 for 3 seed packets that could easily be sent in small envelope with a couple of postage stamps.

I won't do business with any company that tacks on fees in the style of a telephone company! I e-mailed this company and have yet to hear a response. Granted, only one business day is passed. However, not even a form e-mail response has been forthcoming at this time.

I ordered a large variety of vegetable seeds from Park Seeds. It took about 3 weeks or so to get my order. I have planted most of the seeds with good results, ie. 90 - 95 % germination rate. They give you a number of seeds per packet and that is what you receive. There were a couple of seed packets that I ordered that were "out of stock", but they replaced these with similar seeds, and that's ok with me. All the seeds that I received were fresh and good quality seeds. This is a good company and I will order from them again. Thank you for the good service Park Seed.

The seeds I ordered seemed to cost a lot for just 15 seeds in a pkt, they do not say how many in in a pkt and you are caught off guard and wonder why you were so foolish to order without that stated in the catalog.

I ordered black eyed susan vine plants in mid-March along with 2 packets of seeds. I received the seeds but received no info on when the plants were to ship. I called customer service and was told it "looked like they shipped". HUH? I waited a couple of days and called back hoping for a more knowledgable cs representative. This time I was told "they will ship either on 4/25 or 5/16". I was also told they use an outside vendor for live plants so I asked for the name of that company to get an EXACT ship date. I was told Park Seed doesn't give out that info. WHAT? My plants then arrived 2 days later and, of course, they were the wrong variety! Not to mention the outside vendor's company name was printed on the box! (C. Raker & Sons Litchfield, MI. ph: 1-517-542-2316 in case any of you need this info). Called customer service again letting them know I received the wrong item so they offered to reorder the correct item for me. However, it's on backorder until 5/16! I will never be ordering from this company again....

I had not ordered from Park's for several years. Having just moved to Georgia I have the opportunity to grow a wider variety of plants than I have had in many years. I placed a live plant/seed order and received email confirmation immediately. My plant arrived a few weeks later (early Spring) and the rest of the order arrived promptly and well-packaged. Unfortunately, my dog destroyed the plant (my bad) but I am happy with the seeds and the "freebies" included with my order. Am sorry to read of their recent distress and I hope they can pull it together. I would order from them again.

It has been a number of years since I ordered from Parks and I was saddened to read of the problems they have been having and people have been having with them.

They have some seeds I couldn't find elsewhere and some seeds at very good prices so I placed an order with them on April 4,2011. On April 5 I received a shipping number and a statement indicating that everything I ordered was included.

I'm hoping this indicates that many of the problems are being handled better. I won't get my package until the end of April when I go to Ca. For the moment, everything seems good.

I have placed three orders for seeds through Park so far this year and all were shipped within a few days and received within a week. I was really happy with the service and now have happy seedlings from all of the seeds. No seeds I received had stickers remarking them from a previous growing season. I would definitely order from Park again :)

Posted on April 1, 2011, updated April 1, 2011
Who would have thought an icon such as Park's would go bankrupt? How can it be that they dug themselves into a $44 million dept hole with only $12 Million in assets?

I understand the new owners paid $12 million at auction and agreed to keep the business open with the current non seasonal employees and in its current location for three years as of August 2010....not a bright future here.

I had a problem with shipping times, twice. My research on Google revealed that some shipping companies had filed suit against the old Park's. The new company is probably under a cash basis with the shipping companies or a more stringent credit agreement with them thus the slow shipping times for us.

My other problem was when I ordered two packs of morning glory seeds and one of the packs was flat empty. To return the empty for a reshipment would be costly for both me and Park's so I opted to just forget about it and decided to never buy seeds from them again.

I used and am very satisfied with their Bio Dome Seed Starting systems, but there are similar systems available from other seed and garden supply companies. I will transition to the other companies' products to avoid an risk in dealing with the new Park's.

I have been a Park customer for nearly 40 years... this is likely my last year. I placed an order with them about 3 months ago. About 3 weeks ago I had to schedule a trip out of town. The plants are scheduled to arrive while I am gone. I have written customer service 4 times and they are totally unwilling to work with me about changing the date of arrival. A similar order with Burpee was indeed changed with no difficulty at all. It is a sad day, indeed when a company grows so big that they are unwilling to "work" with their customers in a reasonable way. My neighbors are away, too... so having them take in the plants is not an option and I expressed this to customer service. The only option they gave me was to cancel the order. My advice... do not expect good customer service if you have problems once you order....

I'm not saying that this is a bad or dishonest company, but, well, you be the judge.

I called today to follow-up on an order that I had placed on March the 12th. The girl I talked to said that they had sent me a postcard a day or two ago saying saying that they couldn't ship my asparagus because of some problem with my Credit Card. "Postcard!," I exclaimed, "What happened
to E-mail or telephone"? Anyway, I straightened the matter out, but another thought occurred to me: "What if something goes wrong with the corrected Credit Card number I just gave you"? Will you be sending me another postcard"? She finally suggested that I call again at the end of the week (Remember, this is Monday) to see if everything is okay.

As I said at the beginning, this performance might not be dishonest, but it is definitely not satisfactory. I probably won't be doing business with them again. Small problem, perhaps, but I'd rather do business with a 21st century company.

I ordered about a dozen packets of seeds on the 7th from Park Seed. After a few days went by and my order had not yet been shipped I sent an email to the listed contact and asked if they would please ship my order (or what they had in stock if a pack(s) was holding everything up. I never got a response from the email so I called and was told it was shipping soon. TWO weeks later on a Friday it still had not been shipped; I called again and was told that some seeds were indeed on back order but they would ship on Monday. I called on Monday and was told they were "in the shipping department." Right. They were finally sent on the 25th, 18 days later.
What galls me is not that seeds were on back order, but the complete lack of communication, failure to comply with a simple request and what basically amounts to lying to me several times. This company does not seem to care about their customers, even in the middle of a transaction! Please use caution when ordering from them and don't expect even a modicum of customer service.

Posted on September 20, 2010, updated March 25, 2011
I have been a very satisfied Park customer for better than forty years, It is sad to see an old friend being in such straits, but I'll stand by them. I've never had a bad experience ordering plants or seeds, which I can't say about other companies.

Their catalogs are a delight and I have looked forward to receiving them every year. Over the years, I've learned a great deal about plants and gardening from them. When I got my first catalog from Park I was a rank novice, and am now recognized as an expert gardener. I owe much of this to a foundation from Park's catalogs.

I hope the new owners can bring them back to their former status.

I, like many others, have been ordering from Park seed for over 30 years ...THEY USED TO BE A GREAT COMPANY ! . They lied to me about my order , kept telling me it was in shipping and would go out at a certain time . I finally recieved it almost 2 months to the day ,late ...and like others I had little stickers on some of the seed packets that said packed for 2011 but under that , when you pealed it back it said packed for 2010 . I will put Park seed on the very bottom of my seed ordering list from now on ...their customer service sucks big time and the time it takes them to ship is way to long ......I had bad service with them last year and thought maybe I would give them a try again ...BOY WAS I WRONG ...They need to get their act together ! I heard they filed for bankruptsy and I can see why ...Next thing we will hear is that they are going out of business. It is sad that a once great company has slid so far .....Jerry

I ordered 10 different genera of perennial seeds from Park Seed. My order was shipped complete and in a timely matter (10 days). Additional seeds were sent at no cost for those seeds with poor germination success.
Eight of the ten genera have already germinated in less than 5 days.
I will definitely order seeds from Park Seed again.

I have order seeds from Parks for the last two years and have found the company reliable and the seeds excellent. My seeds were carefully packaged and germinated well. My seed orders tend to be lengthy and I can say that I got everything and in the right amounts as well.

One month, 3 phone calls later. still no seeds. I actually recieved a card stating they only ship at planting time for this area. They don't know about greenhouses I suppose. They certinly don't know about planting time for this area.

My experience with Park Seeds was a very positive one. After my order was placed, my one e-mail to company was answers in a timely manner. Seeds arrived, packaged well, with plenty of time to start indoors for spring planting. I would not hesitate to order from Park Seeds again.

I ordered a seed tray, heating mat, light system, and some seeds and you'd think they'd all come at the same time, but nooo, they arrived a piece at a time over a period of 3 mths which made it impossible for me to raise seeds inside. Will never buy from again.

I have a B.S. in plant science and an M.S. in plant pathology; my garden includes several acres at 1500-foot elevation in Zone 9, California, and every year I start over 1,000 new seedlings (mostly annuals, but some perennials as well). I have a full time job (not associated with gardening in any way) so this is just a hobby, but it takes up all my free time. I've been placing large seed orders with Park Seed for the last 7 years, and my experiences have been excellent. The seed has a very high germination rate, and the customer service has been excellent. I would offer the following to fellow gardners: many seeds are difficult to start, and they may require treatment with gibberellic acid, cold/moist stratification, heat, smoke, nicking, or soaking. As a gardner, it is our responsibility to understand how to properly germinate the seeds we order. Seeds generally have a specific temperature range that ensures optimal germination; those temperature guidelines should be followed. Seed starting equipment should be sterilized. Many seeds, for example delphinium and zinnias, are inherently more susceptible to soilborne diseases such as damping off; therefore, I treat the soil and/or water with chemicals such as Agri-Foss or Physan20 at the time of planting. "Seed Germination, Theory and Practice" by Norm Deno is an excellent reference. Finally, if there is a problem with an order (I have occasionally received a packet with substantially fewer seeds than were supposed to be included) I always call - I don't rely on emails; when I have called, I've received a second packet of free seeds that arrives in about 2 weeks. Out of stock backorders will occasionally happen and have happened to me with many companies, not just Park Seed. One final note: although emails are convenient, because of previous unsatisfactory email experiences, I don't ever place an order or attempt to use customer service via email, ever, with any company. Speaking with a real person over the telephone always brings the best results. Park Seed has always treated me as a valued customer, and I will continue to order from them. Happy gardening : )

Avoid like the plague!
In winter 2009 I ordered $50 worth of sunpatiens. When they arrived several months later there were only $25 worth of plants in only two of the four colors ordered. The first two times I called I was told the others would be mailed soon. The third time I was told there had been a crop failure and my credit card would be credited the $25. The fourth and fifth times I called I was told the credit was forthcoming. The sixth time I called I was told the company was in bankruptcy and there was no telling when the credit would happen, if ever. I then filed a complaint with the Attorney General's of Oregon consumer office. A month later the credit appeared. The company never offered an explanation to the State of Oregon to explain their actions. In all this took seven months to resolve.

Park Seed was the 1st co. I ordered from as a new gardener 11 years ago.I found their name in the references section of a Garden Book.One example: I ordered Petunias (of course), still like them and the new Calibrachoas are beautiful. But I digress.The seed packet contained100
seeds.Back then I was using the time consuming plastic seed starter trays that you fill W/seed start mix.I carefully planted the tiny seeds W/ a dampened pencil(still the method I use) in the middle of the 100 pockets
To my immense excitement, 2 days later 100 tiny stems w/2 tiny leaves appeared.Every single seed had germinated.I became an obsessed gardener.I believe the internet has a longer learning curve than the average customer will allow. People have become impossible to please

Posted on March 11, 2009, updated February 25, 2011
Order number 5532805
I am really dissappointed for myself but more so for Park Seed. I am a second year customer that they are very close to losing for good. In my business if you tell a customer you are going to do something and you dont you lose them as customers. If you dont return emails follow thru on what you say you are going to you lose customers. Customers are tough to get and a lot easier to lose Its too bad because I enjoy their website, catalog and product. I have made numerous phone calls sent numerous emails ultimately getting no where on the last item on my order the corn mirai collection. At the beginning of February I called and was told it was going to ship in mid February. It didnt. At the beginning of March I sent emails got no response and called again and was told that inventory was being done and would most likely ship in the following days. It didnt. I followed up with another phone call on sunday March 8. I asked what was up and was told they were waiting on seed from their supplier. Shandra the manager had no explanation of why I was told it would ship in mid February and did not.. Although very nice she could not handle my objection. Instead she offered me twenty percent off on my next purchase. Essentially I construed it as a backhanded sales pitch. I told her I didnt feel it was appropriate to pitch me when I had a negative issue pending.
They are great at sending numerous emails selling their websites products many times per month but do not have the technology to handle customers concerns in a prompt resposible manner. I am considering cancelling the last item on my order (corn mirai collection) and considering sending my business elsewhere in the future. I wonder if I will get a satisfactory response to this statement. I would like to hope they can turn around the negative feedback that is prevelent on this website. If not they endanger losing people like me.

I ordered seeds December 19th and did not recieve them until February. I did not complain about that. My problem with Parks was that they took seeds that were packed for 2010 and put a sticker over the date saying packed in 2011. The company took almost a month to respond. The response was that they would credit me if the seed didnt grow right. There was no hint that this was not acceptable company policy. I believe most gardeners want fresh seed and an honest transaction.

Posted on January 22, 2010, updated February 19, 2011
I saw the negative reviews, but they had the viscara and the mimulus that I really wanted so I only ordered 3 packets of seeds. They arrived within 10 days and the viscara and mimulus have already germinated so I'm pleased.

I've ordered both seeds and plants from Parks in the past, and never had a problem with anything. I was worried after reading the reviews here, but I don't have anything negative to say. My orders are generally small,(about $50.00), but germination and production are excellent. Shipping times could be a bit faster, but I always recieve my seeds in time to start them early in my "basement greenhouse". I will be ordering from them again this year.

I mailed my order for seeds and bio sponges along with my payment by personal check on Jan. 24, 2011. I received my complete order via UPS on Feb. 7, 2011. Since I have ordered from Parks for many years and hope to in the future, I hope this good service continues.

I ordered 2 doz. seed packets in early December. It's now 6 weeks later and nothing except a charge on my credit card. No communication, no response to emails, no idea when I'll get my seeds that I want to start soon. Disappointed.

Posted on March 24, 2010, updated January 25, 2011
Posted on March 20, 2010, updated March 24, 2010
Posted on March 16, 2010, updated March 20, 2010
Posted on March 5, 2010, updated March 16, 2010
Posted on February 25, 2010, updated March 5, 2010
I was going to wait until I received my seeds from Park, but it has now been over three weeks, and I have no idea when that may occur. I ordered seeds on January 31 and after two weeks went by I emailed them to find out what was going on with my order. To cover all bases, I asked them to immediately send available seeds in case any were on backorder and to send the backordered item(s) when they were available. I got an email back indicating that one of the items was on backorder because they were having a "quality issue" and were conducting germination tests on the seed. Maybe it is just me, but shouldn't germination tests be conducted before the shipping season starts?

No mention was made about shipping the seeds that were in stock as I requested but rather they indicated that it would take up to another 10 business days before anything would ship.

So, if I am lucky my seeds may get shipped 1 month after I ordered them.

I don't know about the rest of those ordering seeds on the web, but I am getting really disgusted by the lack of service with some companies. (Here's where the seed companies reply and tell us how busy they are).

I can order from almost any online retailer (seed or other product) and have product shipped within 5 business days regardless of the time of year or how busy a particular retailer may be. In fact, I have ordered from seven different online seed companies this year and none of them took even 5 days to ship.

This type of non-service from Park Seed has now occurred two years in a row for me, and I won't allow them a third strike. There are too many other options in terms of seed selection, quality, price and service.

Good Bye Park Seeds, this is definitely the last you will hear from me.

I ordered tomato seeds on 12/31 and 25 days later, they still haven't shipped. I live in the South and needed these seeds planted in early January. They are not in stock, but their website doesn't show that. What a horrible company. I've ordered from them in the past, but no more. Each order is progressively slower and slower. Many items they advertise are not regularly stocked and ready to ship. To a gardener, each day is critical. Don't depend on Park Seed for anything. Avoid this company!!!

I've had similar negative experiences with poor seed viability and mislabeled/misrepresented varieties, but the real clincher for me was my experiences trying to order several of their "bio-domes" this year. The all were poorly packaged and the tops busted (they are made of extremely brittle plastic) and I had to go through all sorts of nonsense to get them replaced. The replacements were also broken as there was no padding of any sort inside the box. They're clearly cutting down on their workforce, perhaps as a part of their bankruptcy.

I have ordered successfully from Parks for years. Recently I received a shipping notice for some backordered seeds, and after 2 weeks they still hadn't arrived. I emailed them to inquire after my order, and I received a reply within an hour or so offering to replace the seeds if they didn't show up within the week. They arrived two days later, so there was no problem, but I appreciate the no questions asked approach to customer service.

Posted on November 5, 2010, updated November 5, 2010
I placed my order to Park Seed and then found these reviews. I was very nervous but in the end no problems. A couple of the supplies I wanted were out-of-stock, but not a big deal. I also ordered a 4-pack of seed trays and only 3 came in the box. To my surprise, the 4th tray arrived the next day. I had not yet decided whether to call them about it or not, and was pleased that they immediately corrected their mistake.

I'm placing another order with them today.

Posted on March 30, 2010, updated October 20, 2010
Well,I must say that I was hesitant to order from Park Seed co. after seeing all of the negative comments here recently. I have ordered from Park in the past and never had any problems and they are the only ones that I could find that had the "Mumsy" marigold so I ordered from them a week ago. Received all of my seeds in less than a week! Have some rhubarb ordered also which will not be sent until planting time for my zone. I will let you know how that turns out. I almost always order some of my flower seeds from them and will continue to do so.

Who has not been duped by these guys! I almost feel like I should buy from them to get initiated into the gardening world or something!

I have been gardening for quite a long time. I think any gardener who's worth his potting soil would have bought something from Park at some point in time or another. I am happy to say that during the bad years these guys seem to have had I was not purchasing plants from them so I cannot speak to the negative. All my experiences have been extremely positive!

After checking out a few websites Parks seemed to have a good selection of what I wanted at reasonable (or better) prices than other big sites so I ordered most of my seeds from Parks this year. I started all my plants from seeds and they did wonderfully. One package never germinated but they were just marigolds so I just picked up a new pack of those at the store. They did send another pack when I told them about it but it arrived too late to plant. I recently ordered some houseplant seeds and they also seem to be doing well.

Im a novice so I didn't order anything fancy or too hard to grow, so that might have helped my success. But either way Ive already made a list of my must haves to reorder for next year! They do seem to have some great varieties I cant find in stores.

I had a really positive experience! I called and talked extensively with a couple different reps who really seemed to know what they were talking about. Although I live in the north they helped me pick the most hardy little dwarf orange they had and instructed me on growing indoors- Not a very big plant but I have been able to maintain a healthy fruit producing table top orange tree. My son always seems to swipe my oranges if he is home from school when it is fruiting so I think for his birthday this year I should order him his very own! My purple fig is growing fantastic outside and is at least 6 feet wide at this point, and loaded with gold ball size figs that are just starting to get color. My son always seems to swipe my oranges if he is home from school when it is fruiting so I think for his birthday this year I should order him his very own!

I am not one to write nasty reviews, but, our experience with Park's this year was really terrible. My grandmother used to order from Park's and recommended them when I was looking for some unusual seeds for my May order. I ordered seeds, perennials and bare-root roses. My order came in several installments (that was okay), the seeds mostly germinated (that was promising) but the phlox had mildew and 4/5 bare-roots were absolutely irreparably dried out! The irrational hope in me made me plant them anyway puckered cracked skin and dry cane be damned. Dumb decision on my part! The phlox died promptly and 4/5 roots ultimately went to the compost pile! In the end I have one nice Candyland rose for all that money and effort. Really, really, unfortunate and frustrating.

My spring 2010 order was properly handled. One plant was not nice. It likely should not have been sent. They replaced it in a timely manor. I have used Park Seed over many years. No dis-satisfaction here.