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

I wrote Parks off the list last year when I received dried-up achimenes rhizomes. Previous year the colors I wanted were out of stock. I love the people at Parks, but I can't rely on the product anymore.

frankly, i'm tired, so tired of this i can't take it anymore. this is my very last order with these people and with wayside period.

i rec'd my plants they were vines......expensive vines, very expensive. they arrive and are so tiny it's terrible. they continue to ship the smallest plants possible for the highest cost. these plants can't have a chance to survive because of their size. i don't care they will replace them. i'm tired of replacing and replacing and replacing plants. like.....don't they understand that that takes TIME AND LABOR! which IS a COST to the customer. I'M DONE!

i had also ordered the same vines from brushwood nursery...just for a back-up. they were less than half the price...i wish i could show a picture. the one's from brushwood are at least 10 times the size for less than one half the cost. just terrible terrible terrible. never, ever again for me. so i hope you see this and take me off your mailing list forever!

I have still not received the order I told them to ship immediately...
I placed an order for bare root strawberries on April 8th. I then e-mailed the company several times before I was told they begin shipping to my zone (4) on April 24th (there was no link on the ordering web page for their zone shipping schedules). If I wanted to have my order shipped earlier, it would void the guaruntee.
April 24th came and went and my order status had not changed. I then began calling the company (starting April 27th). I then found out that they would not ship my order until mid-May. I asked them to ship my order immediately (April 28th), and I didn't care about the guaruntee at this point. I have continued checking my order status and calling. I have had three people put RUSH orders on my account and hand it to their supervisor. I have had two people tell me that my order is packed and will ship today (May 3rd, May 5th). Today I called again (May 8th) and the order was supposed to have shipped May 6th. She apologized. That was it. My order which I asked to be shipped immediately (voiding the guaruntee) on April 28th has still not arrived. Perhaps posting feedback is the only way to get this company to send me my order.
Perhaps they ship seeds in a timely manner, but from the run around I have received (despite the friendly operators) I will never order from this company again and I suggest you do the same.
-Melody

I used to buy plants and seeds from Parks but there's way too many problems dealing them. The plants that were ordered had a shipping confirmation of late April, then it was changed to the beginning of May. The begining of May came & went with a new shipping date of late May or the start of June. Finally customer service admitted they didn't have the plants and didn't know when the grower would ship them. I canceled the order, but they could've said something before this.

I've ordered from parks many times, but this year will probably be my last. I ordered 2 heat mats, along with some seeds, etc., one of the heat mats ended up being defective. I called and was told a replacement would be sent, no problem, toss the defective one (these are the cheap $20 mats). Several weeks later with no replacement I call again and spend awhile on hold, only to be told no replacement was sent, notes were made on my order, but no new order placed. The customer service rep couldn't place the order, said she'd have to talk to the original CSR and would call me back on Saturday. Guess what, no call. I call back the today and am told no order was placed and they would have to talk to the lady who said she was going to call me back. What is with this company, can no one do anything on their own? Unfortunately, it's been so long since my original order, I can't even reverse the credit card charge. One other thing of note, the first CSR I spoke with told me to toss the defective mat (this was brand new, defective out of the box), the following 2 CSR's told me I should have returned it, so hang on to anything you get from them, regardless of what your'e told.

Just had to vent, I hate being ripped off, especially from what I thought was a reputable company.

I didn't want to say anything untill I tried this company a second time, (second year).

Last year I ordered around 290 Petunia Seeds. 150 of them were every color in the book, some with stripes and some solids. None of them were the color I wanted or type. Some of them had different blooms on the same plant.

Last year my order took a long long time to get here and because the Petunia's take so long to grow in the first place, I wasn't able to pot them up in time for Spring Sales in hanging baskets. I suppose it was a blessing in disguise since most of them weren't true to what they were suppose to be.

This year I placed another order for some vegetable seeds. That was a month and a half ago and I still don't have them.

I will avoid this company in the future. There are too many places out there to order from where I don't seem to have a problem. This company cost me a lot of money in sales. It won't happen again.

"

Dear DarrellR Riverview,
Thank you for ordering from Park. The amazing diversity that
you found in the petunia seed is unusual, and we would
appreciate having the opportunity to resolve this situation as
well as the vegetable seed issue with you as soon as possible.
Our goal is 100% customer satisfaction so we welcome your
immediate call when something is amiss. Please contact us at:
1-800-845-3369 or ereeder@parkseed.com

We have exchanged several emails with DarrellR in an attempt to work out a resolution with his Canadian shipments. We understand his frustration and have extended offers of merchandise credit, replacements, or whatever he could suggest that would be satisfactory to resolve the issue. Even though he refused all of our attempts to reach a resolution, we made a special reshipment of his bean order using DHL express service and refunded his charge card for the cost of his petunia seeds. We have wished him good luck with his gardening and encouraged him to reconsider Park Seed in the future. We hope one day to be able to count him again as a satisfied Park Seed customer.

We are happy to report that DarrellR let us know that he
received his new shipment of beans on March 20. We appreciate having the opportunity to resolve the situation."

Extremely slow shipping!!!! I emailed to complain and they claimed I needed to be patient because it was their busy season (February). It’s been over a week (8 days and counting) and my seeds are still listed as “in stock and reserved” but have not shipped. Why did I bother upgrading to better shipping if they’re just going to sit on the seeds anyway? Very disappointed!

"

Dear krisxlee, Getting your garden off to a quick start by starting seeds indoors is smart gardening! We were surprised to see your posting and would like the opportunity to resolve this as quickly as possible. Please contact us at: 1-800-845-3369 or ereeder@parkseed.com

We have contacted krisxlee and worked out a resolution. We appreciate having the opportunity to fulfill our goal of 100% customer satisfaction. We look forward to serving krisxlee's gardening needs in the future."

I ordered from Park for three years. The first year was mostly seeds. Most of the seeds germinated and those that didn't were replaced. The second year, I ordered plants. The plants were very small starts. A few failed to thrive immediately and several others didn't overwinter well, despite the fact that they are hardy in my zone. I called and got credits. This past year I ordered more plants and they also failed to thrive. I hate having to ask for credits. Buying from Park isn't worth the bother. I can get much larger, healthier plants from a good local nursery for less than it costs to get small starts from Park. I will only shop from them when I can't possibly get plants locally.

"

We have attempted to contact KatieLovesDogs to resolve this issue. Our goal is to reach 100% customer satisfaction, and we can only do this by your willingness to communicate with us.

Katie, thank you so much for letting us know the problems you have had with our plants. This forum is a great place to exchange information about how our seeds and plants are growing, and I'm glad we have the chance to discuss specifics.

First, I'm glad that the seeds did well overall, and that you got credits for any plants that did not thrive or overwinter in your garden. Still, I know just what you mean about hating to ask for credits. (You know, we seldom ask for plants to be sent back when there's a problem, but we've had a few folks ship them to us anyway to "prove" that they aren't healthy! Say what you want, gardeners are a pretty honest bunch!)

And the worst part is that when you put a year into a plant, it's much worse to see it fail. Since you start part of your garden from seed, you are very experienced about hardening off and transplanting young plants, so I'm certain you gave the plants a great start in your garden. Although they were smaller than you wished, they grew the first year, then struggled through the winter. I wonder if they needed additional winter protection (such as a heavy mulch), or if their location was good for spring through fall, but stressful for winter? (Often shade-loving plants, for instance, are exposed to full sun in winter when the leaves drop from deciduous trees above them, and even this weak winter sun can be too much.)

I'm sure you have considered these possibilities, but sometimes it helps to go over everything with a fellow gardener. Our horticulturists are available for just these sorts of conversations, and if you ever have a question about another Park product, please give them a call. They would love to help, and all of us appreciate hearing about how our plants are doing in various climates.

But this doesn't answer your main problem, which is that the plants we send are often smaller than those you can find at the local nursery. It's true. Because we're a mail-order nursery, we have to ship our plants at prime transplanting time -- the point where they will best survive the trip and establish most successfully in their new home. You might think that larger plants with more branches and leaves would do this better, but oddly enough, a lot of aboveground growth can actually be a problem when it comes to transplanting. (That's why some plants are shipped "bareroot," or dormant without any aboveground growth at all.) All of the aboveground growth -- the leaves and stems and even buds, if they are present -- have to be constantly fed by nutrients the plant receives through sunlight, water, and soil. But when the plant is shipped, it loses several days of sunlight and a certain amount of water. If it's a small plant with a good root system, this loss isn't too damaging, and it usually transplants easily. But if it's larger and lusher, often it can't recover from the stress, and may suffer transplant shock.

Even though all of us here at Park want you to buy everything you can from us, I understand your point about using the local nursery, and there are definitely products that are best found locally. (Grass seed is a good example -- it's so specific to different areas that if you aren't sure what kind grows best in your area, the local nursery is the place to tell you.) But for all those wonderful plants you can't find at the neighborhood nursery, Park would love to be your supplier! Can we discuss more specifically the plants you had problems with these past two seasons? Please contact us at ereeder@parkseed.com. If at all possible, we'd love you to give us another chance.
"

I've ordered from Parks many times. The plants I've received from them over the past 2 years have not thrived. One reason is the length of time it takes for the plants to get to you (7+days). By the time they arrive they have been in pitiful shape. Yes, they will replace them if the plants are still available but I've decided it just isn't worth the effort dealing with them. Unfortunately, their supposedly more upscale catalog, Wayside, is just as bad.

"

We have attempted to contact furrbunker to resolve this issue. Our goal is to reach 100% customer satisfaction, and we can only do this by your willingness to communicate with us.

We are glad to hear that you’ve ordered many plants from Park and Wayside and have generally been satisfied. We have had excellent service from our current shipping company, which delivers packages in 3 to 5 business days. Sometimes things occur that are beyond our control (such as delays from the local post office), which may have happened in your case. Contact us as soon as possible when your shipment arrives late. We can either send you a new shipment or issue a credit. Also, if the carrier does not have satisfactory service in your area, you can specify one that you would prefer us to use to send your plants.

We hope that you will use your Dave’s Garden email to contact us for a personal answer and resolution."

Purchased canna's and lily bulbs in April. One package of canna rhizomes was devoid of characteristic eyes and showed signs of initial rotting. Planted them anyway-a mistake. They never came up..Park sent a replacement. The latter were in worse condition than the original set. You would think if you informed them of a problem they would look into it. Not so! Have bought a lot of seeds and other products from Park over the years and was generally satisfied. Unfortunately I have not made any purchases over the last three years were I did not have a problem. Have lost confidence in this companies products and would not recommend them to anyone.

"

We have attempted to contact frankc1 to resolve this issue. Our goal is to reach 100% customer satisfaction, and we can only do this by your willingness to communicate with us.

We have learned over the years that we can’t take the risk of shipping substandard plants. The shipping process in itself is stressful, and then comes transplant shock. We stake our good name on shipping big, healthy, top-quality plants, and when one fails to meet our standards, we remove it from inventory. We have been known to remove entire crops for the season when they didn't live up to our expectations. In the long run, we have found that it's far less frustrating for our customers to wait another season for a plant than to try to coax along a poor specimen.

Some plants or bulbs may be in a condition that they should not be shipped. We do our best to cull these long before they reach your doorstep, but there is no doubt that occasionally a substandard specimen gets through. We try to minimize these mistakes with our guarantee, but of course we know that there is no real "making up" for a plant that doesn't grow well in your garden.

Since you have been a long-time customer and only experienced problems in the last few years, we hope that you will give us another chance. Will you please contact us at 800-213-0076 so that we may talk about this further?"

I ordered about $350 worth of perennials and tomato seedlings on 4/9/2005 from several online companies, including:

Bluestone Perennials
Sunlight Gardens
Niche Gardens
Avant Gardens
The Tasteful Garden
The Natural Gardening Company
Park Seeds
Burpee

My order from Park Seeds was the last to ship (on 5/25) and did not arrive until 5/31 (sitting somewhere outside Philadelphia over Memorial Day weekend). The plants I received were in bone dry soil and beyond just wilted. They leaves were as crispy as burnt toast and fell apart in my hands.

The plants from the other companies arrived much earlier and in excellent condition.

Bottom Line:

Park Seeds' quality is very uneven. Sometime you'll receive healthy plants in good condition, but it is just as likely that you'll have to wait way too long to receive poor quality plants.

"

We have attempted to contact temorafarms to resolve this issue. Our goal is to reach 100% customer satisfaction, and we can only do this by your willingness to communicate with us.

Dear Temorafarms,

What a miserable experience you had last spring with the plants you ordered from us. I speak for everyone here at Park when I say that we are heartily sorry for the timing and condition of your plants. Six days in transit, especially in late spring when the temperature can rise dramatically, is far too long.

It is also frustrating, when ordering from more than one gardening mail-order company, not to receive all your plants within a few weeks of each other. You would think that because most companies ship according to the US hardiness zone schedule (based on bundles of zip codes), your plants would all ship on the same date. If only this were true! The fact is that even companies with identical shipping schedules modify those schedules all season long based on several factors: the type of plant being shipped, the weather at your location, and the weather at theirs. Let's look at each of these:

The type of plant being shipped: As an experienced gardener, you know that different plants break dormancy or reach transplant size at different times. Gardening companies try to ship at the peak of plant health -- at the time when the seedlings or young perennials are growing strong enough to survive the journey to your garden, yet are not so well-established that they have extensive foliage, buds, and possibly even blooms to maintain. (You may have had the frustrating experience of going shopping for plants with a novice gardener. They always want to buy the biggest, most bloom-covered plant in the nursery, and it's hard to convince them that a smaller plant that is only beginning to set buds is more likely to transplant successfully and grow well in their garden!)

So based on the needs of the type of plant they are offering, mail-order gardening companies may ship at very different times. Tomato seedlings from the deep South are probably ready to ship a month or two before late-rising perennials grown in New England, for instance, even though they are all going to the same place: your zone 6A garden.

The weather at your location: At Park, we change our shipping schedule throughout the season to reflect actual (instead of "average") weather conditions in your area. The goal is to get as many top-quality healthy plants as possible to as many gardens as possible, so we pay close attention to the weather. Now, this may mean that your plants arrive a bit earlier or later than expected, and occasionally your garden may not be in the area most affected by unusual weather. But we try to err on the side of lateness rather than earliness, because in spring, late frosts kill many more new transplants than early summer heat.

The weather at our location: We have field-grown plants as well as greenhouse-grown varieties here at Park, and we also use trusted, top-quality professional growers for some of our plants. All of these factors affect when plants are shipped. A late spring, such as we had last year, will delay shipment of some plants. Again, our goal is to ship the plants at their peak of health, not when it is most convenient for us -- and this often means a change in ship date.

But I doubt that the ship date was responsible for the death of your plants last spring. The culprit was the unconscionably long travel time. No potted plant should spend 6 days in darkness in a box, no matter how healthy, well-packed, or stress-resistant it is. And added to that, the fact that your plants sat somewhere (possibly in an un-air-conditioned warehouse) over a long holiday weekend . . . It's no wonder your plants did not survive.

I'm going to mention that we have a new shipping carrier this season, and a new policy that no plant we ship will ever spend more than 3 days in transit, but I know that's small comfort to you for last spring's disaster. Will you please get in touch with us as soon as possible so that we can see if there is anything we can do for you? We can be reached at 800-213-0076, and we really want to hear from you. Thank you, and again, on behalf of all of us here at Park, I apologize for the bad experience you suffered last spring."

Ahhhh.... my love/hate relationship with Park's...

Their end of season clearance sales are awesome. On one hand, I ordered a TON of spring blooming bulbs for next to nothing, I am talking hundreds of bulbs. Their giant fragrant hyacinths were the BEST I have ever seen or grown. The tulips and daffs were all true to name and very few of them did not thrive, I mean, maybe 1% out of hundreds. There's the love part of my feelings. Now on to the hate.

At the same time I ordered these amazing bulbs, I also ordered about 30-35 iris rhizomes. For $1.69 each, why not? Now, I know you don't bury the rhizome. I know they don't like wet. I planted them all in with other irises I received through trades or other companies. This spring, I was HORRIFIED to realize that ALL BUT TWO suffered rot and the rhizomes were gross and mushy. ALL BUT TWO!! That is a HUGE failure rate! While all my other newly planted irises thrived.

This spring, I ordered some perennials, and about 25% needed to be replaced due to being received dead (and yes, I know the difference between dormant and DEAD). The phlox collection for $28 was a joke, little bare roots so tiny you needed a microscope to see them, but they are at least growing.

The upside is, they stand behind their plants and replace as requested. I am leery, however, of being sent MORE defective iris rhizomes, but am keeping my fingers crossed.

"

We have attempted to contact lilaclily to resolve this issue. Our goal is to reach 100% customer satisfaction, and we can only do this by your willingness to communicate with us."

Last year ('04) I ordered several packs of tomato plants for myself and for a friend. They arrived late (too late to find local replacements) and spindly, and neither of us had much luck with the few that survived. I phone Park's immediately after the plants arrived to express my dismay, and emailed toward the end of the growing season to describe our failures and ask for some sort of adjustment. I heard nothing from Park's, so I called this winter. My early concern had been noted, and Park's refunded the cost of our tomatoes.
This March I ordered my tomato plants from another source, but my friend wanted a specific variety that Park's carried, so I ordered a six-pack for her, as well as several perennials for my garden. The perennials came far too early, but have done well enough after some weeks of nurturing inside. No sign of the tomatoes, however. I finally got a card from Park's, asking me to call about my "recent" order--and I learned they are completely sold out of tomatoes! It is now late May, and my friend will have to take whatever is left locally. The women I spoke with were polite and sympathetic, although neither could do anything for me, and all three supervisors on duty failed to answer their phones. I can imagine no reason, save a horrendous last-minute catastrophe, for Park's failure to inform me some weeks ago that they had failed to start enough tomatoes to cover a March order.

So I won't order from them again. What a disappointment.

"

We have attempted to contact feministg to resolve this issue. Our goal is to reach 100% customer satisfaction, and we can only do this by your willingness to communicate with us."

I was hesitant to order from them, as I never had before. I ordered two bareroot roses. They were not packaged very well when I received them, both seemed just tossed in with some straw and were tangled together. Neither rose had any growth on the stems, and one of the rose roots was brown and looked dead. I still planted them, and could never get either of them to grow. I won't order from them again. I was very disappointed.

I have ordered from Parks several times and it has become one of my favorite places. I always get my seeds within a week and plants in a timely manner as well. I have never been sent anything but healthy plants ready to plant in my garden and so far everything has thrived. I've had excellent germination with their seeds, most packs giving me a flower from every single seed. I have some bulbs as well, but they haven't come up yet. I fully expect them to be excellent as everything else from Parks has been.

When money is tight there is nothing better than their end of the season sales. I fill in holes in the garden at that time and place large orders if I can. Those sale plants have always been just as wonderful as those I pay full price for.

The only problem I've had is that they ran out of the hydrangea I wanted the first time I ordered and no one notified me. It was listed available on the website and I received everything else in the shipment, but that one plant kept changing shipping dates at the website. I finally called about it and was told they were sold out and it would be shipped in the fall. When I asked why I wasn't notified and why the shipping date changed daily instead of just saying a fall date, I was told that they don't give that info if you order online. That wasn't very nice, but they never charged me for that plant and I was able to just cancel it without a hassle and reordered two of them this year and received them in excellent condition. They are thriving!

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We have attempted to contact Purlefirefly to resolve this issue. Our goal is to reach 100% customer satisfaction, and we can only do this by your willingness to communicate with us."

Seeds and hardware are OK but in 2004 I decided to try perennials from them and was sorely disappointed.
The bare roots were withered and moldy. Colocasia in 4" pots never sprouted. When I dumped to investigate I couldn't find anything that looked like a tuber!

I also dislike having to login/register to order and this year it seems my name/userid couldn't be found in the database. Certainly no more plants from them and I've shifted my other gardening needs to different companies.

"

We have researched this customer's order and found that the issue was resolved."

The tree we ordered was dead on arrival and the seeds we ordered did not grow. I'd gladly have traded all the glossy magazine-like advertising and free product that I didn't ask for for a live tree and living seeds. Avoid.

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We have attempted to contact RichoCech to resolve this issue. Our goal is to reach 100% customer satisfaction, and we can only do this by your willingness to communicate with us."

Ordered a couple of the 80 cell bio domes. I got my product 3 days after placing order by credit card. The bio domes are excellant quality and should last for years.

I was totally disappointed with this company. I had poor results with their so called sale items. They are badly over priced in today's market and need to run sales to be competitive. I also called customer service and they were not very knowledgable at all. Very frustrated!!!!!!! Avoid at all costs!

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We have attempted to contact gardeningtime to resolve this issue. Our goal is to reach 100% customer satisfaction, and we can only do this by your willingness to communicate with us."

I placed an order with Wayside for bulbs. I received a confirmation from Park's, which is fine but confusing. From that point on I dealt with Parks.

Their online order checker informed me that one of the bulbs I had ordered was out of stock. I wrote to them to ask about this and I got a strange and confused message back which didn't really tell me if I was going to get this bulb or not.

Then I got a confirmation of shipment e-mail telling me that another bulb was going to be shipped and I was going to be charged a horrendous rate for it. I queried this, and the reply said that since my bulbs were being shipped on different days (why?) etc. the shipping costs were different blah blah blah.

My main complaint is with the quality of the bulbs. They are substandard in size and they were not packed well. In addition, since they were sent USPS they sat in my hot mailbox for many hours before I found them. The instructions included with the bulbs, which are called "planting instructions" have no information about how or when to plant the bulbs. (Thankfully, I know how to do this.) Instead, they just say the eventual height of the plant. One of the descriptions of a giant allium says the eventual height will be 3" to 5". That's nice, isn't it?

In short, unprofessional and substandard in every way.

I placed my first order with Park's a few weeks ago. All six plants have arrived in good condition and well packaged. The dirt was where it should be--in the pot--not all over in the box. The Gaillardia Summer's Kiss plants are a little on the small side, but the root systems are very well established. I will definitely order from them again. They have a sale going on right now that is very tempting!

May 30, 2004 I ordered a 2-gallon dogwood and a 1-gallon chastetree among other things. The dogwood was shipped bare-root and the chastetree was 1-quart size. The chastetree was shipped upside-down in the box! It wasn't too happy when it was unpacked. With TLC it has survived, and so has the dogwood.

But I do feel they should have contacted me for permission to substitute on my onder.

Parks is yet another example of the 'bigger is better' syndrome which most companies seem to adhere to by purchasing other companies in order to stay afloat competitively. The problem with that of course, is that it's usually done at the customer's expense. I have ordered from Parks Seeds for years, so did my parents. Usually the best quality of seeds, superb research and nursery management has gone behind their product. However, one can almost watch the customer service decline with the merging or acquisition of another company.
I placed an order on March 26 of this year for seeds, seedstarting kits, etc. Over $120 order. It is May 4th and I've yet to receive the seed starting kit and supplies.
I ordered an item which was heavily promoted, emails sent with it highlighted, found on every web page they had. Ordered it and of course it was 'not in stock'. I waited and waited, emailed them twice with no response, called them twice and was just told to wait longer. I watched my order status and saw when the item arrived at Park's. My order was shown as 'reserved and in stock' for over two weeks but not shipped. Seems an item such as a seed starting kit for this time of year would be sent as soon as possible knowing a customer needs it promptly.
I've had several experiences over the last 3 years with slow delivery from Parks. I do agree they have the best seed packaging available and I do like their vegetable selections, but I wont' be ordering from this company anymore. Kind of sad since this has been a family preference for years.

I placed my first order for seeds and planting material and the items never arrived. So I had to get a refund from my post office. I replaced my order and only the seeds arrived. E-mails were not responded to so I called them on my dime. They reshipped the items and there was still a packet of planting items missing. Time for one more e-mail to get it finally all shipped. So many hours spent at post office, On phone with customer service and plant seeds started much later then my original plan. All in all be careful when purchasing you never know when or if your items will arrive.

I just received the three clematis I ordered from Parks in December. I am extremely dissatisfied because the plants I received and was charged $9 and $10 each for are about one inch in diameter 'plugs' with a tiny root system. These types of plants can be purchased by wholesalers for a couple of dollars or less each. Plants this size are meant to be grown on in pots for 6 to 12 months by greenhouses before sale, not sold to consumers to be planted into a garden situation. I plan to contact Parks about my dissatisfaction.

I ordered over $100 dollars worth of plants from Parks before I read about them here. I received my order and the plants were extremely small, some didn't even have leaves. Several plants were back-ordered. I received those plants about 4 weeks later and they were nothing but black slimy sticks about 1/2 inch tall. There is no way these things will live. And the prices are very high for the size of pots I received (even if they had plants instead of sticks in them!). I will email the company about this but with the feed-back I've read here, I'm not very confident about getting an acceptable resolution.

I think some weight should be given to the timing of positive experiences when including them in an overall rating for a company. It seems Parks had many more positive comments from 2-3 years back than they have recently. This seems to skew their rating. Think twice before ordering plants from this company!

I have to say the bulbs and seeds I ordered were fine and I have no complaints on them at all.

i will rate this negative, only because of how i've been dealt over the phone....

i've dealt with parkseeds in the past (for seed) and had nothing but "goodness" come from them. Since then, i've tried ordering live plants... this seems to be their downfall. my orders were place in 2003, and early 2004.

i can currently goto to my local hardware store (yes hardware store) (ACE, HOME DEPOT, ETC), and buy strawberry plants.. they are everywhere but at my house... parkseeds shows my order (still) as "in stock and reserved" after waiting first 9 days from calling them last i am told today "we will ship them immediately" btw... immediately to them is 1 week. The lady reported it takes them 3 days to pack them and then another 3-4 days to get delivered. UG!

so i moved on to two other orders still "in stock and reserved", one for clematis(also available locally now), the other for achimenes & hibiscus... after my inquiry i was told they were still waiting for them to "come in"
i said "huh", your site has them ALL MARKED as "in stock and reserved" you mean they arent? the response: "well sir they are reserved for you, you will get one when they get here"... apparently "in stock and reserved" means in somebody's warehouse, not theirs!

(maybe they need to open an ace hardware or home depot closer to them ?)

as a funny little side note:my order from directgardening.com (i placed after parkseed) is already here, and growing nicely. go figure.

thanks for listening

'g'

I placed an order over $125 lately and didn't receive the free standard shipping as advertised on their website. Questions sent to the customer services were avoided in their responses and eventually ingnored. Will not order from them again.

About four years ago I placed an order with this company for 24 Oriental Lily bulbs so I could split them with my grandma who lives about a half mile from me. About half of the bulbs failed to grow. I would have understood if I was the only one growing them, but my grandma had about the same success rate as I did, so I don't think that it was our fault. When I called the company they were very rude to me on phone and questioned my ability to grow them. They only replaced half of what did not grow. So since there are many other catalogs out there I have not ordered from them since.

Until last fall when I received a coupon for $20 of free merchandise. I thought this would be a good chance to try them again. I ordered two bulb items. I received an email saying that they had been shipped so I was watching for them. UPS always leaves their packages in our garage or on the doorstep. For some reason they decided to leave the package in a vehicle we rarely use, even though it was hot and sunny. I never thought to check in there (we live on a farm - if that is the case it would be like an easter egg hunt to look everywhere they might possibly leave it) so I figure it was about a week before I found the package. Half the bulbs we dried up and the other half were covered with green mold. I know this wasn't Park's fault, but I thought they may be able to do something. I called them and the lady on the phone said they could be replaced but we should wait until this spring to see if they grow. I told her what an awful condition they were in and I doubt they will grow. She said let's just wait and see. This would not have been such an agrevation if I had not previously had problems with this company.

I have never had this bad of luck with a company and I actually order quite a bit of plants through the mail. All of the other places that I have ordered plants and bulbs from have had much better customer service and have been much more willing to keep their customers happy.

It is very doubtful that I will order from them again. As it is now I don't even look at their catalogs so that I am not tempted to order from them again.

After shopping around the internet, I ordered seeds from Park's January 20. The web page indicated that the seeds "ship now." My email confirmation indicated that the seeds "ship now."

When I didn't recieve my seeds by February 2, I checked my order status. There, I learned that my seeds were EXPECTED to ship in May. After an e-mail, I was told the order status function wasn't working properly and assured that I could expect the seeds in early to mid-february. Today, February 20, my online order status indicates that the seeds are EXPECTED April 5. I called and was told that they get new seeds any day and it MIGHT be earlier then April.

I don't mind waiting on order...IF I'm told up-front. But Park's happily takes your order without mentioning they're out of stock and haven't a clue when they'll receive the items ordered.

To their credit, Park's let me cancel my ordder and I was never charged. Likewise their customer service was always polite. For myself, that didn't make up for the time and aggravation of keeping tabs on my order.

I just received my order from Park Seeds yesterday. I phoned them to ask why none of the seed packets have dates on them and to tell them that the packet of onion seeds, which really need to be fresh, were even OPEN, not sealed at all. The response I got from their "hort" representative was "we don't have to put dates on our seeds" and "uh-huh, that can happen." So I have no way of knowing if these onion seeds I've planted will even germinate or how old any of the seeds might be. I must say that I was dismayed by the attitude as well as the fact we gardeners have no assurance of getting fresh seeds from this company.

I ordered several types of daffodils last year, and the bulbs of one variety were rotted. I called the company, and they sent a replacement bag - which was similarly rotted. I called again, and they offered a replacement, but it was much too late for planting by then, so they credited my credit card. On the positive, the customer service person was very pleasant. But I thought if they had a complaint about the quality of a certain cultivar they ought to make sure the replacement is good before they sent it. The other bulbs were so-so, and the whole order was sent a little later than it should have been for planting here in South Dakota.

I have dealt with this company for a number of years. I even went and visited them in South Carolina about 5 years ago. I believe that at one point they didnt have the problems they now have.
I have been the victim of low seed counts per pack, poor germanation as well as not being able to get a catalog. They assure me that I am a valuable customer (I spend $50- 75 per year at Park) but havent received a catalog in 3 years. I have been forced to purchase over the internet and have begged for a catalog without success.
I am looking elsewhere for quality seed at a good price.

I, too have had a problem with not getting the specified number of seeds and poor germination rates on flower seeds, but I thought it was just me. This year I foolishly placed an order for 12 Purple Wave Petunia plants. The plants were healthy, though very small, and of course came too early to plant (don't these people check the weather channel?). I kept them inside until they could be planted out and they are finally blooming, but they are Blue Wave not Purple. When I e-mailed the company (with my order confirmation attached) they responded that I must be mistaken because they do not offer Blue Wave petunias. I admit to getting older, but I can still tell the difference between dark blue and pruple-magenta! They finally offered to send me a merchandise credit (whoppee!) but the tone of the correspondence from customer service was snotty at best. No one deserves to be treated that way. I'll probably use the credit (providing I actually get it) for bulbs and plant them where it won't matter it they are not the correct item. I will never bother with this company again!

I ordered bulbs, bare-root strawberries, and live plants from Park. They were slow to fill the order, and I received a box of dead, rotting, and sickly-looking plant material.

The first problem was that Park apparently does not respond to web orders as quickly as to phone orders. After more than two weeks of silence, Park finally informed me my order had been shipped. When the package arrived, I was dismayed to find that almost the entire order was damaged or missing. Since it had been only a week in transit, in mild weather, the poor condition of the plants could not be explained by shipping trauma.
--- Of the four kinds of bulbs and corms I ordered, 3 of the 5 sprekelia were rotting and the other two looked doubtful, the glads all had a coating of mildew on them, and some other bulbs weren't even in there (though the packing slip claimed they were). Exactly one bag of corms was there as ordered and apparently in good condition.
--- Of the five live plants, three were dead, and a fourth was broken off at the base when it was packed (it had had time to turn brown and dry out). The fifth plant was alive, but undersized and sickly-looking. I would not have bought any of these had I seen them first, even as a $1 gamble on a nursery clearance table.
--- The bare-root strawberry plants were dried out, and several didn't make it. The bargain ones I bought on impulse from the local big-box store's nursery did better.

So out of the 10 parts of my order, only one of them was in satisfactory condition and properly shipped.

To my pleasant surprise, their customer service person willingly credited my card or sent replacements for the dead, rotting, missing, or broken parts of the order. She also suggested that I plant the roots of the broken plant, just in case it came back (and replaced it anyway). The replacements arrived much faster than the original order had. Unfortunately the replacement plants were also puny and frail-looking. None of the Park plants are doing as well as plants I bought locally for much less, including the discount-store cheapies.

I've mostly been happy with their seeds, but for bulbs and plants I'll shop elsewhere. Their catalogs are enticing, but they just don't seem to have their act together on this side of their business. Pleasant customer service staff can't make up for poor quality control and defective merchandise.

Have had two bad experiences with seeds from this company. Failed to germinate, two seperate years - not tough to grow plants, either - impatiens, petunias. The customer service rep willingly offered to send new seeds out (it was mid may!) but had to be convinced to offer a due bill for next year. (I really wanted a refund, but no dice). She also implied the germination failure was my fault - curious how the impatiens/petunia seed I unceremoniously tossed in my fridge last fall germinated and grew into big, healthy (albeit, mystery-colored!) plants! Far as I'm concerned, they had their "second chance". I won't go back - except to spend that due bill, of course...rats!

I ordered over $100 of plants and was supposed to receive a free rain gauge. Well, no rain gauge (even after I brought it to their attention -- no "I'm sorry" or anything), and half the plants were either dead or dying. The plants were piled one on top of the other and the straw that was supposed to support the stems of the plants instead crushed the stems and leaves. I immediately emailed Parks Countryside and they replied 4 days afterwards offering to send replacement plants -- NEXT YEAR. I replied that I needed to landscape my property NOW, and could they please refund my credit card. They replied that they would, but so far they haven't.

The one good thing is that two other small trees were received from them in a different package, and those trees were very healthy and in good condition.

But a local nurseryman told me (after the fact) that Parks Seeds is an excellent source, but the live plants section is horrible.

I am glad that so many posted with thier experience with this company. I am troubled by the seed orders with Park Seed Company - why do they rip you off with the seed amounts, this does not seem to be an accident. I would expect to get 50 seeds if I ordered a pack of 50 seeds, not 20 or 30. Thank you for informing the uninformed about this deceitful practice, I will never order from this company!

I ordered the first time from Park Seed this year and was very unhappy.
My only comment is they sent me the plants too early and the seeds too late.
I emailed and emailed and of course got the run around but about 6 emails later she told me that Feb was the right time according to their records for sending plants to Northern Georgia. So they don't really know what they are doing. Of course I had to baby those plants until after the last frost before I could plant them.

I will never use them again. If they don't know the right season for planting in area how well do they know their seeds and plants