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

After having ordered last year with a small seed ordered, I reordered this year in January 2009. When I received my order, about 30 percent of the order was missing. After checking the website which stated it was waiting to be shipped and many many phone calls, it took until the middle of March before I saw most of my order. I finally ended up cancelling what had not been delivered as those in customer service could not tell me when the seeds would be shipped. Some of the missing packages were for early spring sowing (hence the Jan. ordering) and I was nearing the end of planting time for these varieties. I cancelled the remainder of my order because I was told it could be several more weeks before they would ship. Although I have ordered from Park's in the past, I had so much trouble getting my seed order this year, I will not be ordering from this company again.

I ordered, among other things, bean rings (a support system for pole beans) in January. I received confirmation on January 9th that they were SHIPPING NOW. My credit card was charged at that time. The rest of my order was delivered promptly, but not the bean rings. I have called and emailed repeatedly and have been assured over and over that the bean rings would be shipping shortly. Wednesday, April 22 (already 3 1/2 months late!) I received yet another email that they had shipped. Friday I received a package containing the bamboo-stake supports for the rings, but not the actual rings themselves. I have requested a complete refund and will never do business with Parks or anyone associated with them again. I used to trust them. No more.

Even if I eventually get my order it is to late to be a positive experience. My wait trumps most people: Over 3.5 months from Jan of this year. Every time I checked web site I got 'shipping soon'. My mom wanted a picture of the fig I bought her so I went back to the web site recently and sure enough, it is labeled "Sold Out". So I phoned a nice woman in CS, gave her my order number and was told; ~'Your order was never transferred from the web site'. This is ignorant fertilizer to tone it down a bit. While I am a chemist by trade I had enough book keeping to almost use it as a minor. This just doesn't happen in a double entry book keeping system. That is, you close out the books, prepare income, accounts receivable, and balance sheets et cetera on a monthly basis if not more often. When I did some moonlighting as a bookkeeper we balanced the books to the penny every day. There are things like inventory tax, quarterly withholding, and income taxes!!! No book keeper worth spit would not see the discrepancies.
So I tell the woman "I see on your web site that this is Sold Out. I guess this means I won't be getting my fig tree?" She replies `"Well it is coming up as in stock on my computer. We will ship it our as soon as possible." Needless to say it is not here yet and my order is listed as 'Shipping Soon' on the web site.
None of this rings true, especially in light of the other problems people are having.

I filled in the "Negative" button above, but the truth is that my experience has been RIDICULOUS!

I ordered azaleas in June 2008. After giving me the runaround for NINE MONTHS, the clueless Customer Service at Park Seed told me that they weren't going to send me my shrubs after all, although they had charged me for them nearly a year ago.

Not that they had bothered to let me know this — I had to call them a dozen times to find this out.

So I said, "No, I don't want store credit. I want my money back!" And I should have demanded interest, but whatever.

That was a whole month and a half ago. They told me initially it would take 2-3 weeks to get the money back in my checking account, but nothing happened for 4 weeks. When I called them back, they acted concerned and said it would take only 2 days more. I waited a week and called back. Same story.

Let's just say I've probably called them a total of six times AFTER they told me they're not even sending my plants, and I still haven't been refunded.

Plus they are only giving me back the price of the azaleas, not the shipping and handling they charged but didn't even use.

This company is a joke. They're quick to take your money but won't give it back.

PLEASE AVOID! It's not worth the hassle to even gamble on such a disorganized, sleazy business. They need to get their act together.

Here's a start — stop charging people before you've even shipped their plants!

Very poor order fulfillment this year (2009). Ordered flower seeds, wooden plant markers, and seed starter trays 2/17. Got the seeds over 5 weeks later; got the markers after 7 weeks; still don't have the seed trays over 2 months later. They're using "supplier problems" as an excuse. Pretty sure that translates into poor management or financial problems. The other 5 seed companies I ordered from this year had normal shipping times - about 2 weeks. Won't be using Park Seed again.

I had placed an order 3/10/09 for 4 seperate flower seeds and 2 groups of seeds for children ( unique plants for children).

Have gotten my flower seeds.

I have not recieved the seeds for children. Which has been a BIG disappointment for me and my daughters class. I had talked with her teacher before order and we thought it would be neat for the children in her class. No show on seeds as of today and I have made 3 calls.

Call 1: 3/20/09 The seeds are in the bin and would be sent shortly.

Call 2: 3/24/09 The seeds should be in Friday and since they were for a class would be put on priority.

Call3: 4/6/09 Final call having problems with suppliers. Would ship very soon. Again priority because of class and my complaining.

Checked and was charged for these seeds on 4/13/09 even tho' I have been told they can not deliver.

Oh yea that class I need them for are handicapped children and they were told this.

I wanted an early start this year and ordered from Parks. I did not order any live material, only seeds and supplies. It took 1 month for my order to arrive. No notification was given to me about the delay. I will not order from them again. On the positive side I love their BioDomes, but the price has gone up $5 this year.

I placed my order with them on February 28. I got a shipping confirmation without a tracking number on March 6. The seeds came today, on April 13, more than a month later. Way too late for my plans.

This is not a good year for Parks --- one for the vendor failure history books. I had my order in status of "shipping soon" for three months now. Supposedly, they are having trouble with their suppliers -- not a good excuse. They are just getting in the Cauliflower seeds -- and it's April! What a mess. They sent me a packet here and there and then sent me a card that I was being refunded for some seed that is sold out. Of course, the card nor the website informs you of which one. I feel sorry for the CSRs but whoever is responsible for the massive breakdown in getting the products from the vendor to the customer should be demoted or fired. They spend a lot sending out pretty catalogs but this year they literally can't deliver. They owe their customer a big sincere apology. This is a difficult business environment and I bet you that Park's has lost a lot of customers this year. They did me.

I received my black magic elephant ear "plant" and nine canna bulbs this past week, the "plant" is three leaves. The bulbs appear to be okay, but no planting instructions as to the depth or spacing for them. My future purchases with this company will depend on my success with growing these items. will report back later this season.

Once upon a time when you placed an order with this company, you received your order all at one time or no more than two separate mailings. That would happen if you ordered plants and seeds. I placed an order for three packets of seeds and one plant on 2/11/09. First pack of seeds shipped 2/16, second pack 2/18 and the third 3/14. The plant, understandingly, will arrive at proper planting time. Sure is a waste if time and energy. Thankfully there are better companies out there as this will be my last order from them.

Ordered 10 packs of seeds March 25. Shipped March 31. All of that is o.k., and as advertised.

Here it is today, April 8. No seeds. Tomorrow is Good Friday, traditional planting day.

Call the customer service number, which is of course a call center (asked that question). They said that they shipped the seeds USPS "and of course that takes longer." Well, maybe. I'm a whole 95 miles from Park Seed, and even USPS doesn't take that long. They do not have a response to that, except "wait 15 days."

They say that I have to wait 15 days, even though the shipping policy on their website says 5-7 days. They don't know nothing about any website.

Just so there's no doubt, here a quote from the website:
"BestWay- This is our standard shipping option. Park's BestWay is always your least expensive option and may take about 5-7 days en route after leaving our building. "

So can I get my money back. Well I have to "refuse" the shipment. Well, exactly how can I refuse a shipment that I haven't gotten. So when will I get my money back. "It will show up in 30 days on your next statement."

Uh -- I paid with a debit card and I'd like to get it back as quick as you took it out. "It will show up in 30 days on your next statement."

So I want to speak to a supervisor. As usual, "she" is busy helping other customers. O.K. I can wait. Put on hold. "It will be a while before she can help you, can I have her call you back." "Sure, who can I expect to call," Well, we have many supervisors, it might be any one." WAIT A MINUTE -- I thought "she" was busy" "Oh, all of our supervisors are busy helping other customers."

BTW, for the Park's People who are supposed to read this, The person at the call center insisted that she was a Park's employee, which is a lie also.

This used to probably the best seed company in the South (other than Hastings, which they bought) you would talk to someone right there in Greenwood, but like a lot of other companies, I guess they've sold out to lowest common denominator.

NO DELIVERY -- NO REFUND -- LYING EMPLOYEES-- DON'T CARE.

Count me in as another disappointed customer. Shame on me, because I read all these negatives and decided to still take a gamble and hope it worked out...not. Take it from me, DO NOT gamble that you won't be one of the unhappy ones---you will! I ordered strawberries from them on March 3rd. I called on March 13th to check the status and was told they'd be arriving in the nursery and shipping out in the middle of March--so, a few days from when I called. Since then, no word, no nothing. I called today and was told that they are back-ordered until the end of April. When I mentioned that it is kind of getting late for planting, the (admittedly very nice) girl on the line said I completely understand, but we are back-ordered. She was nice, but I'm still not getting my strawberries for at least two months after I ordered. Oh, and yes, of course my card's been charged already. Truthfully I've given up all hope that I'll get them at all. I wish I had gotten them from someone else---I was suckered in by the cool hanging bags that Park's offers that I didn't see anywhere else.

Don't take a risk--find your stuff somewhere else! It will save you a lot of frustration.

Placed an order for asparagus plants and strawberry plants in February, website said they would ship mid March. Called 3rd week of March, was told it was not shipped, not sure why since it was in stock. Was told it would ship on the 1st of April. Called again on April 4th, not yet shipped and now one of the items is on back order.

So disappointed. I have ordered from them for 10 years, never had a problem. Use to be a great mom and pop place, great plants and seeds.

Obviously in a whole lot of trouble now. Hope they make it, as this economy will not forgive this large mess up. I now I will not order from them again if these plants to make it here in the next week.

I placed a small order in Dec for a spring delivery of strawberry plants and my charge card was immediately charged. After not receiving my plants I checked my account and it said your plants will be shipped soon...but soon never happened. I then emailed to receive an email saying this is their busiest season and they could not return my email..Duh! After steaming over this a few days I called and spoke to a man that never gave me his name. He said yes..they had my order but they didn't have the plants and he didn't know how my order had fell through the cracks..he was very polite and said he would personally see that my credit card was credited. Ok...only it hasn't happened yet. I received my card statement yesterday and it wasn't there. I will wait til next month and then report a complaint to the card company. I have since ordered with another company and received the plants in 4 days. I was told by that company that it is not legal in New York to charge a card before the item is mailed. I told the man at Park's this and he told me it was easier for their company to go ahead and charge..yeah right! I guess the law doesn't apply to him. I will never order from this company again but I will not let up until my money is returned.

In the past Park Seeds for me has been a little better than others describe tho it appears they are getting worse. Their customer service is unreliable and will give varying answers for which the candor is in question. In my last order to them originally to be delivered 2/14, still has not arrived by 4/1 - ONE packet of seeds. I was told several times it had shipped, that it was backordered by an affiliate of theirs, that a similar seed would be substituted, and most recently that they would reorder the seed. Lastly they gave me two "tracking" numbers that I could use for the US postal service and that somehow they could not track their own order. I agreed to call the US post ofc and was told the two tracking numbers were invalid and not their format. I won't be doing business with Park Seeds in the future. I would like to somehow get other poster's opinions on what flower seed companies are well thought of however....Thanks.....

DO NOT ORDER From THIS COMPANY. I wish I had read some of these reviews before I did. I ordered 8 packets of seeds on 3/2/2009. Now here it is almost a month later and I have nothing. I have called 3 times and still no seeds. I have emailed them. They email directly back and say there will be a response to my email within 48 hours.....nothing. I am a Master Gardener and we have a yearly plant sale to raise money for our charitable causes. We have missed 2 greenhouse dates where I had volunteers scheduled to plant seeds and now our entire plant sale is in jeopardy. Please do not give this company your business.

I really should of read about this company before I did business with them. So my bad. Anyways, It has taken 3 and half weeks to get my partial order from PS. Everything in my order said it was in stock and when I call them I get a completely different story. The kind southern lady Barbara, had not a clue to any of my questions. Do you have my order? "I don't know sir" , Did you get my order "I don't know sir" , When should I expect my order? " I can't be sure sir" , Do you work at Park seed? "I don't know sir". I wonder if Barbara is a vegetable herself. Oh, the best part is that my complementary banana pepper seeds are on back order. I bet they charge me shipping on those.

Do not deal with this company! Otherwise, you will get your orders after the season has come to pass. Plus, it's just all around pain in the Ass!

Ordered seeds on 03/11/09, and didn't get them by 03/30/09 so I called to find out the status.
The operator said they'd "gone to print".
What does that mean? I asked.
She said they would be shipping soon!
How soon is "soon", I asked.
She could not tell me, but it would be soon.
She was unaware that Park Seeds had already shipped one package of the 8 different items I ordered. Some German Chamomile seeds advertised that there would be 100-seeds in the packet. There weren't. At best there were 50.

By from Park Seeds at your own risk.

I have ordered from Park's for many years. Only last year did the service get so bad. They made totally unacceptable substitutions and claimed they would issue a credit. Then they did not do so.
This year, they charged my credit card twice and I am still waiting for my lettuce seeds. By the time they come, it will be too late to plant them for a spring crop. When I call, they assure they're being shipped. They have also assured me they will issue a credit for the extra charges on my credit card; I'll believe it when I see it. I won't be doing any more business with Park's.

It distresses me that Park Seed has had so many negative reviews, and that I am adding one after many years of satisfactory dealings with them. It is the same scenario as others - briefly, I ordered (and was charged) on 12/23/08. All seeds except the herb collection (which I needed a month ago for starting in the greenhouse) shipped - one or two at a time over many weeks. The latest correspondence (of many) indicated that the herb collection was "due last Friday." When I asked if it actually arrived, of course, it had not. "Apologies for the inconvenience, etc." My order number is 5498204. It's sad that Park has followed Wayside's example....

Another negative comment. I ordered seeds 8 days ago online. The online shipping information says they are still "shipping soon". I emailed a cancellation of my order and asked for acknowledgment when they credit my CC, as they state they bill the CC at the time of the order.

BE PREPARED FOR SUBSTITUTE TREES OR SHRUBS OR SEEDS. PACKETS OFTEN FALL SHORT ON SEED COUNT. GERMINATION IS LOW. PLANTS OFTEN DIE, I HAVE YET TO HAVE A ROSE BUSH LIVE THAT I GOT FROM PARK SEED. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND PARK. 10CENT AND 25 CENT DOLLAR STORE SEEDS GROW BETTER THAN PARK SEED.

On March 5, 2009 I placed an order with Park Seeds out of Greenwood SC. The order had a total of 109 seed packets of vegetables, herbs and flowers. Last week I received 1 seed packet -- still missing 108. This evening I received an e-mail that said 2 more seed packets had been shipped -- so that means that there are still 106 left to be shipped. When I called Park's this evening to find out about the 106, the gentlemen told me that my order had been in processing since March 10 and to think it is now March 24. I wonder if next week I will get 4 more of the packets I ordered?
I have always had very good service from Park's as did my father before me and my grandfather before him. My great Uncle's and great grandparents in Lexington County, South Carolina swore by Parks. Growing up I remember how everyone "poured" over the Parks Catalog when it came in. Park's no longer has the seed selection that it once had for Southern farmers and gardeners, but they do have seeds that I have not been able to find easily elsewheres, but if I can not get the seeds in a reasonable amount of time -- then it does not matter if they have them or not.
How disappointing it is to have a company that my family has ordered from for generations go from being a top notch seed company to one that loves to take your money and then make you wait and wait - almost like they hope you forget that you placed an order with them. I guess since it is taking the order so long to come in, I will just freeze the seed and have it for next year crops.

I made my usual order on Feb 25,(30 packets of seeds) on 3/15 I called and asked where my order was? I was told they were still waiting for their online exclusive packages that I had ordered. I told them if they didn't send me the total order by 3/18 then cancel it. on 3/18 they email me stating they sent out a partial order. (the day I said to cancel if they didn't ship the total package). I received this partial order 3/24 six days after the order was allegedly shipped. I live 6 states away from them. That's 1 day travel per state. What seed company doesn't stock their seeds in the Spring? especially their online exclusive items. It has taken them a month to package and ship a partial order. I find that totally unsat.
Who knows when they intend to ship the rest of the items. My seeds should be planted by early March for a May transplant. I emailed them 3/19 with complaint, received an automated response with a 48 hr. return response. No response to date. Over a $100.00 of seeds were ordered and I receive this is the type of treatment . This is not the Park Seed company of yesteryear. Time to find another company with another company that keeps their customer's best interest in mind. Unfortunately Park seeds deserves to fail if they don't want to treat customers right.

I also have been a customer of Parks for well over 20 years. The service has not always been perfect, but in the end I was satisfied, and continued to come back year after year because of the wonderful variety of seeds. This year, however, has been a total disaster. I placed my order three weeks ago, and it still has not been shipped. My emails have all gone unanswered. There have been no notifications of delays or items out of stock. My first phone call resulted in the customer service rep saying she'd put a "rush" on my order. No results. My last phone call(yesterday) resulted in a very nice rep saying that she was making a list for her superviser of people whose orders should be shipped immediately. She also told me that my order had been packed on Mar. 10 and was just sitting there waiting to be shipped. I have no clue why it hasn't been.

I'm about at my wits' end. To make things worse, my order was paid for with a gift certificate given to me by my best friend, and now she is really upset too, as she thought she was giving me a great gift. Actually, the email gift certificate itself took over a week to arrive, which was bad in itself. I don't know if my order ever WILL be shipped. I intend to call every day until the end of the week, and then I am going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau if my order has not been shipped. I will also cancel my order and never order from Parks again. It's a shame to see a good business destroy itself like this.

I ordered blackberry plants from Parks and have waited over a month for them. When I checked my order status, it says "shipping soon", yet they have had my money for over a month. I see from other commentors that "shipping soon" means they have no idea when it will ship. I tried to log onto my account and received a message saying that they have changed their site and my old password won't work. They said they would send me a new password after which I sign on and can change my password again. Well, I've been waiting quite some time now and they have not sent me the temporary password, so I cannot access my account. I think they have done this deliberately to lock me out of viewing anything. I won't deal with these people again, and I recommend that no one order from them in the future.

Placed an order online March 8th for seeds and fertilizer. Checked website a week later and saw that the items would be "shipping soon". A week later I still had not received my order and checked online. It still said "shipping soon". I called the company and they told me that the items were "being processed". After a few days, I called back to see if it had been shipped only to be told that the order was "being processed". I ask what the problem was and was told they always wait approx. 14 business days to process an order. I told them that was unacceptable to me and I wanted to cancel my order. They said they could not do that now because the order was "being processed".

I have ordered from Parks for many years and have
NEVER had this much trouble with an order. Needless to say, I won't be ordering from them again. There are too many other good companies out there that will take care of me as a customer.

I have been a customer of this company for years but this year I have been saddened by my experieince. I placed a large seed order and also ordered some starter equipment. I phoned to be sure it was in stock and was assurred it would be shipped right away. I got a nice order confirmation by email saying it was being shipped....NOTHING was said about anything not being in stock.A few weeks later a package arrived with a few packages of seed and most of the order missing. When I called I was told that the missing items were not in stock and it would be weeks more before they "would probably" get them in....I asked why I had been told both on the phone AND by email that they were shipping . The answer was that they were working on fixing the confirmation notice . A bit later a few mmore items arrived but the order was still incomplete. Again I called. I was further upset to find that my credit card was charged immediatly upon placing the order even though I eventually had to cancel much of the order as by the time they said I might get it, it would be too late to be starting the seeds. It seems very wrong for them to take our money and use it for weeks before they ship...especially as the products may never become available. I just hope the promised credit actually shows up.

I reluctantly will join the chorus of negativity about this company. I placed an order online, and weeks later the promised 'order number' has yet to arrive, and email to the company goes unanswered. Needles to say, no product either.

It's sad. I'm a long time customer of this company, and have regularly visited their plant in Greenwood to tour their flower and vegetable show beds. At one time they were a fine company. It's sad to see a venerable old seed company trash its heritage, but that's what has happened here.

I would advise everyone to go elsewhere for their seeds. Thankfully, there are reputable, competent sources to replace Park's.

Sad.

I placed an order with Park for 8 items on Tuesday. I was really hopped up on the Bio-Dome. A friend of mine has one and she said it works great and she needed refills.

Anyhow, after checking the order status of my web order daily, today it still says will ship soon; so I called to find out what the deal was.

Half of my items are not in stock I was told.

The customer service rep was nice enough as I explained to her that I find it rather disturbing that a company of Parks magnitude did not have a web system that lets one know that the item is back ordered.... AND even worse that I was not e-mailed that items were back ordered.

I asked her to remove my name from their snail mail and e-mail list, which she supposedly did.

On December 28 I placed an order, and was immediately shipped the Park Starts kits, one package of tomato seeds and one package of (free) sweet banana pepper seeds. Other seeds, which also were marked "ships now" have still not arrived and this is March 16. I also ordered asparagus and strawberries, which were supposed to be shipped in late January or early February. I have since been told the plants would ship on March 15, but the status still says "shipping soon". They are ignoring my questions about the rest of the seeds.

Park Seed needs a course in communication. I placed an order on Jan 30, 2009 for their "Right Light Collection." When I placed the order, the status for the item was "Ships Now." This was my first experience with Park Seed so I thought now meant, well, NOW. Not so.

It is now March 11, 2009. I have called three times and was told all three times the order would ship the next week. I called twice in February and just today. Same answer.

There were no emails to explain the delay, no communication whatsoever. I am a patient individual, but it'd be nice to know why the product has not shipped. Most reasonable people understand delays as long as they are kept apprised of the situation.

The order status for my order on their web site has a comment "Ships soon." Soon meaning when exactly? Next spring, I'm thinking. Too late for this year. Unfortunately I had also ordered a large variety of vegetable seeds and supplies on a separate order before I discovered what "now" and "soon" means to Park (maybe never) and I am experiencing the same type of delay on some of their seed and supply orders even though all the items I ordered had an ordering status of "Ships Now." It didn't. But, hey, it does say "Ships soon"...which is not at all encouraging.

I also agree their web site is excellent and informative, their newsletters timely and educational, but it's mere window dressing for poor customer service lurking within. Luckily it was my first (and last) Park experience. I'd order elsewhere if I were you.

If my order ever gets here or the status changes, I will amend my review as needed.

I ordered fast...way ahead of my local area garden curve..on Jan 16, 2009. All I ordered were 3 packets of Sea Magic, 1 trellis net and one of their strawberry hanging bag specials.

Now, knowing that the strawberry plants will ship in feb, I didn't expect to receive the other items till then either since they tend to pack together. By mid Feb, I called and wanted to know why my order status still said "ships now" but nothing is every updated.

I got a scripted response, "I show this is to be shipping by the end of the month". I said, okay..gotcha, I'll keep monitoring the site.

Now it is the end of the first week of March and I look for updates and voila, "ships now" is still in the column. Grrr.
I call and get the scripted response, "I show these items will be shipping at the end of the Month." Now I say, hold on there, we harvest Strawberries in May, this is ridiculous. Nothing, nada, nichts. Crickets could be singing here in the silence.

Finally, the guy on the other end of the phone says to me. If I were you, I would buy them someplace else. I keep saying the same thing about shipping times to people and there is something wrong with what's going on with us and our suppliers.

Now, this guy would lose his job for telling me this instead of keeping to the party line so I'm very grateful. My order is fairly small and I'll just order from someone else and keep this one open to see if and when it ever does get filled.

I'm really shocked at how far down hill this place has gone. Used to be good and reliable but certainly not anymore.

I have to agree this company is horrible. I ordered seeds the first week of February and only recieved about half of them the next week. Slowly, the last few seed packages have been coming in the mail. I am still waiting on two tomato seeds. Each time I call them, they say that it is shipping out this week. On Monday, I just told them to exchange the seeds for others that will ship out that day. I was assured that the varities exchanged were in stock and would ship out that day. What a lie. I am still waiting for them to be shipped out. What is worse, they have already charged me for the difference.

This is crazy!!! It is way past the time for me to start the seeds indoors. I already have volunteer tomato seedlings popping up under my row covers.

Do not order from this company...ever. If you want seeds for less there are much better companies to buy from than Park Seeds.

Like many of the recent posters I too ordered refills for my Bio Domes in January and have yet te receive them. Repeated inquiries have yielded only a single return stating shipment would be 7 to 10 days. That was over three weeks ago. I keep hoping to get the refills in time for my seed starting which must begin in the next two weeks. After that I guess I will cancel the order and return to using Jiffy Pellets. It's a shame because I really liked the results with the Bio Dome I got last year.

What has happened to this company? I ordered seeds and biodome refills back in January. I called around Feb 12th when I hadn't heard anything - I was told they were about to ship. I got some of my seeds 2/21. I just called about my biodome refills - not available for shipping until LATE MARCH! (My last frost date is April 15). Cancelled the rest of my order ($54) and turned down a 20% coupon code for my next purchase as there will not be a next purchase. Nothing I ordered was marked as "out of stock" and their website says tha seeds ship immediately - DON'T COUNT ON IT. I am now behind becasue of this merchant.

I ordered two packets of seed from Parks over the internet on Feb 5, 2009. After waiting three weeks, I called to check the status of my order. I was told that it would ship within two days. Well, here it is March 5, and I called again. I was told that one of the packets was in stock, but the other wouldn't be in until mid-to late March. Well, I live in South Carolina, and these seeds should have been started weeks ago -- I can't wait another three or four weeks, on the off-chance that Parks may or may not send me the seeds. I cancelled the order. I am disgusted with Parks. This is the third time I've ordered from them, and the third time I've been let down. I ordered several packets of seed this year, and have had very poor germination rates. Also, there are only a few seeds per packet. They should have told me when I called the first time that there was a problem with a backorder...come to think of it, they should have told me via email the day I ordered it that it was on backorder. I'm never ordering from Parks again.

I am curious to know how Park Seed and their other companies, including Wayside Gardens, are still in business. I had ordered from them both many times. After receiving many weak, shriveled, dying plants and shrubs, I finally decided to take my business elsewhere. I hate to read here of many other gardeners placing their time, trust, and money into ordering from this company. When I would call about a shrub I thought to be unhealthy, I was generally told to lightly scratch a stem, and if it showed green it would be OK. Nonsense!