Comments regarding Holland Bulb Farms

Their bulbs seem fine. But their customer service is abysmal. When my order shipped I was sent an invoice. The invoice did not contain my whole order. I received no notice or warning at any point that different items on my order would ship separately, nor did I receive a second invoice saying that would be the case. They just deleted an item from the list and that was that. I emailed to ask if it was shipping separately . They sent me a cut and paste response that in no way addressed my question. I asked for clarification. They sent me another cut and paste answer that again completely failed to address my question. This went on for about five days. At which point I tried using online chat. Within ten seconds of starting, I was informed that the missing item would be shipping separately, scheduled for next week. Apparently someone at the company noticed because I received several emails in a very short span, all from different people, all telling me my order was shipping separately. And then I received the second order within 48 hours. Which was on the one hand nice, but on the other just made me more suspicious that they’d just completely forgotten that item and were not in fact shipping it separately until I inquired. I received everything I ordered, and with no obvious issues with the stock. So if you’re thinking of ordering bear that in mind. But the experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve worked for small businesses my whole life. Being one is no excuse for poor service. All this company had to do was answer my initial email and I’d have been left with a positive experience. It would have taken less time than it took them to cut and paste their useless response. This is a really self defeating behavior and I hope for their employees sake they figure out that they should respond to inquiries instead of ignoring them and sending faqs.

So far so good. The orienpet lilies I ordered were a very good size and healthy with the exception of maybe one bulb which the scales were spread apart, the top growth was broken and it sounded hollow. They were already growing but looked as though something was placed on them while they grew. Not a real complaint or problem for me. The roots looked good.
The Stella daylilies looked fantastic. Also growing in the bag. I ordered 5 but was sent a bag labeled as 10. There was 9 as far as I could tell. Again, no complaint. But only time will tell how they really do.

A mixed bag. The prices are good, but sometimes you get what you pay for. Over the past few years, I've ordered glads, begonias, bearded irises, butterfly weeds and a variety of lilies. The lilies were the best thing I've purchased from them and come back stronger every year. The glads were a steal and also come back stronger each year. The iris bulbs were tiny in comparison to bulbs from other companies with similar prices. The butterfly weeds never grew. The begonias bloomed once and never again. Of note, they are not good about telling you when something is out of stock; it just doesn't show up and you have to ask for a refund, which they provide, but still. After writing this review, I now understand why I haven't ordered from them recently...you just don't know what you're going to get.

"On Nov 16, 2020 10:57 AM, Holland Bulb Farms responded with:

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback! We are happy to hear that some of the products you received worked out well for you. We are sorry that a couple of the items did not grow, or only bloomed once. Hopefully, the items that did grow well will bring you back in the future to try our products again. "

Posted on June 5, 2017, updated June 13, 2017
I'm not sure about this company. I've ordered from this company 4 times so far this season alone. My hostas that I ordered were healthy BUT I don't think the majority received were what I actually ordered. Beach Boy is coming in very solid blue with no light green at all, Tokudama is also coming in very solid green, my cherry berries are not coming in with white center but a very yellow one. The only one that looks close to what it's supposed to is First Frost. I'm trying really hard to give them a chance so I ordered some begonias, freesia, raspberry plants and concord grape vine. The berries and grapes are supposed to be dormant but they look dead. Not one has sprouted. The asparagus roots seem to still be alive and fairly healthy. the shallots were healthy. I hope I can call and address this issue with the hostas and the dormant plants.

"On Jun 6, 2017 1:49 PM, Holland Bulb Farms responded with:

Hi--

We are so sorry to hear your disappointment in the hosta you ordered, we will certainly be letting out supplier know about these inventory mix ups to avoid this problem in the future. If you email us info@hollandbulbfarms.com we would be happy to issue a refund for any of the items that were incorrect or did not grow. Thanks again, and we are sorry for the disappointing items, we certainly do not desire for your items to be incorrect.

Best Wishes,

Holland Bulb Farms Staff"

Will update when I have a resolution! :)

I ordered the collection of orienpet lilies and a kopper king hardy hibiscus from HollandBulb at the start of the month, and less than 4 weeks later they are here! Very happy with the timing of the shipment compared to what I expected since their fall shipping JUST started. :) I had also emailed them recently to find out when to expect shipment, and they said around the first week of October, so it's earlier than I planned and I'm quite pleased!

Packing of the box was excellent as well - all the bulbs and plant were well bagged with tons of soil around them with low moisture to keep them healthy and safe, and there was basic planting and storage information included which was nice.

The first bag I opened, though, made me VERY unhappy. My hibiscus was TEENY TINY compared to what I received a couple weeks back from Hallson Gardens (about 10 times the size and nice a green!). The stems were all under 3", the two longer ones were nearly all black other than the last 1/2", and the one stem of the THREE STEMS that looked alive was less than 1" long and brown. No growth! All three were skinnier than the inside of a drinking straw, too. The roots were all flexable and not dried out, but the longest root was maybe 8" and dry at the tips (expected the dry tip - and sizes are accurate as I actually measured!). To plant this thing, I would need a hole about 4" deep and 8" wide one way, 1" wide the other! That's IT! The other hibiscus from Hallson? I needed a hole over 24" deep and wide, and it was the same price! I began considering a very negative review...

So I opened the other bags and changed my mind about the company. These lily bulbs are huge! They are all the size of my biggest tulip bulbs, big as many of the daffodils I've planted! Lots of attached roots, and look very very healthy. All 12 look great. Now to see how they grow - I'm very excited about these! I think I'll stick with the company for bulbs only, but not much else unless I find out most plants are much better than this - and if I find what I like elsewhere, I may just do that. We'll see, but these bulbs ARE gorgeous!

I emailed the company about the hibiscus with pictures of it with a 6"ruler next to it to see just how small it is and those black stems... We'll see what happens now! :) I will update then...

Ordered bulbs received, communication great, packaging ok. One half the bulbs grew and one half failed to grow. I ordered the bulbs that didn't grow from another company and they grew.

Holland Bulb Farms is out of lilies for the year. Check back next spring. It would have helped if they had posted this news on their website.