Comments regarding Easy to Grow Bulbs

I buy a lot of plants, seeds and bulbs online. This was my first time buying from this company. Huge bulbs for the price, gave some to my gardening friends and they were quite impressed. What I like best is that when my order was delayed because they didn't have some of the bulbs from the growers when they were expected, they both phoned and emailed me to let me know and included some free paperwhites for the delay. Great customer service! I will definately buy from them again.

I bought paperwhites from Easy to Grow Bulbs after a web search last year; they did so well I bought more this year. I also tried a method they detail for getting the bulbs to grow shorter leaves with just as many nice big flowers. That worked great! The 'Ariel' bulbs produced masses of beautiful 1"+ pure white, fragrant blooms, 2 and sometimes 3 stems per bulb. Far superior to any I've grown before!
Wanting another batch, but worried that cold weather would damage bulbs in shipping, I emailed the company. I heard back right away from Kathleen McCarthy, who assured me I could request my bulbs to be shipped with bubble wrap insulation.
That was easy to do in the shipping instructions on the online order form. So I have more bulbs underway!

My positive review would be too long to post here, but you can read it on my blog. It was NOT solicited in any way. I simply am a very pleased customer.

//ourlittleacre.blogspot.com/2010/11/shout-out-to-easy-to-grow-bulbs-company.html

I placed multiple orders with Easy to Grow Bulbs for my fall bulbs. Kathleen, their customer service representative, is extremely kind and helpful. She assisted me in shifting my shipment date for my orders when I had to travel out of town for business (so that hundreds of bulbs weren't just sitting on my front porch in the Georgia heat for days!) and everything arrived in beautiful condition. I even emailed Kathleen to ask how to make sure I'd planted my Dicentra "right side up" because it was very hard to discern it from the bare root plants. When I followed her instructions just days later to investigate and make sure I'd done it right, I was delighted to find that the Bleeding hearts (pink dicentra) were already well on their way to sprouting and forming a root system. Only one type of bulb was back ordered and everything arrived looked healthy. I didn't have to throw away a single bulb, as opposed to other online groups I used which seemed to have about one bad bulb in each bunch. My Blue Siberian Iris "super ego" are already starting to have shoots grow! I'm very excited to see the fruits of my labor this Spring!

Very gracious, competent, and patient customer service from Kathleen. I plan to purchase from them again.

This is my first time ordering from here. Great communication, quick shipping, and sent just when I asked. Thankyou! I ordered two Seductress amaryllis bulbs. They came today and look great. I can't wait to see them bloom!

Thanks again,
kentstar

I had ordered some Peonies, a wisteria, and some tulip bulbs. I was greatly impressed with the prices and the material I received. The bulbs were healthy and big. The vine looked great and peony roots were good sized. I would definitely order again. Any contact with the company has been quick and quite personable.

There are a lot of good seed and bulb companies listed on the internet these days. One of our very favorites, however, is Easy To Grow Bulbs of California. We have placed several orders with this company over the past couple of years, and have been very pleased with each of the shipments we received from them. We are also very impressed by the company's friendly and courteous service. Easy To Grow Bulbs offers a wide variety of flowering bulbs, and the bulbs we have received from them have always been large and healthy. We highly recommend this company!

I bought a set of 9 hardy geraniums and a bleeding heart from Easy to Grow Bulbs during a sale they had. Only two of the geraniums came up. Being an optimist, I waited a long time to see if the rest would come up before e-mailing the company. They refused to credit or refund.

These are 'easy' plants and I planted them in a nice spot. I am quite unhappy with this 'service' and will never order from them again.

"On Oct 15, 2010 5:35 PM, Easy to Grow Bulbs responded with:

This customer bought these plants in late spring 2009, 18 months ago. In early 2010 she emailed with a quality concern about that June order. We responded with an offer to help her figure out what was happening with her plants. She suggested a reconnect in spring.

After the winter email we heard nothing more for another 10 months. Yesterday, this customer emailed to say that the goods had been received DOA. And to ask whether we planned to replace or refund.

Our guarantee, noted on the website and printed on each packing slip, says to let us know within 10 days if there are any problems. This allows us to address the situation promptly. At this late date neither is an option and we emailed back saying this; the customer found this unacceptable.

After 18 months . . . . really? Her expectation/demand is way outside our guarantee. And outside what most gardeners would consider reasonable.
"

Excellent in every way: reasonable prices & shipping charges, quality stock, quick shipping, and extremely helpful personnel.
Smoothe transaction with a smoothe running company. Thanks again.

I ordered from this company last year. All of these items were listed as hardy in my zone. I planted and tended them as directed. My soil is very good and boosted by natural fertilizers.
When bulbs didn't pop up or arrived looking sickly, I e-mailed them to ask for a refund. The lady asked me to poke into the soil where I had planted the bulbs and tell her what they looked like. Some were rotten. She immediately insinuated that I was overwatering. I was actually underwatering at the time, I had discovered and we live in the high desert, so that wasn't an issue. Some appeared to be deeply peeled and others just stagnated. I threw them all away and asked once more for a refund. She pointed out that I had to return the bulbs in "saleable condition." Like I'm supposed to wrap and send rotting/molding, torn, and lifeless bulbs back? And how are they resellable if they're in this condition?
Then she suggested that I don't take time on gardening when it is the favorite thing aside from taking care of my family that I do.
Bottom line is, after several (4, to be exact) months of back-and-forth about whether I should be refunded or not, she ineffectually offered to send bulbs if I covered the cost of the shipping. The problem is that by this time, I had bought from another nursery who honors when their customers tell them that something didn't grow within a year even when that customer does not send the bad bulb back. I didn't *want* bulbs from Easy to Grow Bulbs because chances are good that they wouldn't work well either and I didn't want the annoying runaround if the second set of bulbs didn't work. I need to work with companies that trust that what I'm saying is true. I wasn't asking for a million dollars. It's all about faith in your customers.

"On Aug 30, 2010 2:41 PM, Easy to Grow Bulbs responded with:

At Easy to Grow Bulbs we believe that growing plants - which are perishable, living things - is a shared responsibility.

We're responsible for providing good, healthy stock that's true to name. We offer planting information and special tips to improve gardeners' success rates. And our customer service folks help with individual trouble shooting/advice to sort out customer's cultural questions.

Customers are responsible for choosing items suited to their growing zone and garden conditions, and for following the planting guide information provided. They are also responsible for notifying us promptly if problems arise. And for reading our guarantee.

This customer:
1) Waited 5 1/2 months before contacting us to report the stock wasn't healthy upon receipt. Our guarantee requires notification within 10 days; this is so we can address issues quickly, during the same planting season.
2) Stated that she discarded a number of bulbs before contacting us. This leaves us without any way to research/recommend/troubleshoot for to those plants.
3) Stretched this communication over a 4 month period by taking an average of 3 weeks per email response. (We responded in 24 hours or less.)

Still, we offered to absorb the cost of replacing the bulbs in question, asking just that the customer cover the shipping of the second group of bulbs ($8.85). This falls outside our guarantee but we chose to extend the courtesy. (BTW - there were no reports from other buyers having issues with these bulb varieties.)

We feel this was more than fair and are sorry the customer didn't agree.
"

Most of the bulbs I received were very large and healthy. There were problems with one set of dahlia bulbs, and they sent me replacement bulbs within a week after I emailed them about the problems. The customer service was great! I am ordering more bulbs form them this fall.

Posted on May 20, 2009, updated June 9, 2010
Bulbs arrived quickly, were well packaged and healthy so if anything goes wrong it will be my fault, or the fault of another really bad weather year here.

Easy to grow bulbs offers very nice sized bulbs at a reasonable price. Tuberous begonias are offered by few suppliers, and usually expensive, but I received 3 big bulbs from EasytoGrow for $10. They are up and doing well. I also ordered glads and cannas, all nice. They were shipped at the appropriate time. I will order from them again.

Posted on May 14, 2010, updated May 21, 2010
Posted on May 14, 2010, updated May 14, 2010
Posted on May 14, 2010, updated May 14, 2010
I purchased two Passion Flowers in April. One of them is green and well, the other one had only leaf buds, but no leaves when I received it, and it died in a couple of days. (I planted it the day I received it). I called the company, to tell them about it; I got the answering machine and I left a message. Nobody called me back, so about 3-4 days later, I wrote them an e-mail. No reply, again. I just called them again today, and left a message... I'm wondering if they're gonna get back to me...?

"On May 14, 2010 11:06 AM, Easy to Grow Bulbs responded with:

We are concerned about this customer's experience and are also a bit confused. Having just checked our voicemail (again) and gone through all recent emails (again), we have nothing from anyone relating to passiflora. Finally, a check of emails in our Dave's Garden D-mail (not the best way to reach us - pls contact us directly) there's also nothing there.

If this customer could call 1-866-725-5361 and ask for Jon or Kathleen, we'll address the situation. Thanks!
"

A friend sent me some six-packs of their strawberry plants a while back. I planted them right away and they never looked back. I have little berries forming right now and the plants are very healthy and vigorous. Very nice plants.

Just got my order from ETGB. Outstanding!

I needed a new vendor for tuberoses, as both the quality of both Burpee and Brent & Becky's has declined. Those clumps were small, and I got not a single flower (out of 20 planted) last year (B & B's). ETGB's 'single flower' are huge! And the doubles respectable.

Also bought a Rudbeckia Henry Eilers and a yellow clivia. Both arrived in perfect condition, in large pots, packed so that not a crumb of soil escaped, and also so that they wouldn't dry out.

I'm really impressed! And will use them again.

I love this company!!!! The website is so informative and Easy to Grow carries the most unusual items. I ordered ten coral carpet roses, Angel's Trumpet, Ornithogalum Thyrsoides, Tuberose, and Flowering Ginger. I received an email to notify me of the shipping date, expected date of arrival, and the tracking information. My package arrived exactly on time. When I opened my package OMG!! I was amazed at the size and growth of the lovely Coral Carpet Roses. They are larger than any at the local garden center and the roses are so healthy. The Angel's Trumpet arrived potted in a very large container and was so healthy and very tall. All bulbs are very large. Easy to Grow takes the time to package every item with care. They have made my Spring!!!!! I would recommend ordering from EASY TO GROW BULBS. They are raising the bar for mail order. I will be a repeat client and will recommend them to others.

I placed my 1st order with Easytogrowbulbs last year because I have fallen in love with ranunculus bulbs! I had purchased ranunculus bulbs from Walmart and K-Mart before so I was truly amazed and wonderfully surprised to find that the ranunculus bulbs from Easytogrowbulbs were huge by comparison! I have ordered plants, tubers and bulbs from several other online companies but none of them compare with the value, size and quality of ETGB! I ordered several items for planting this year and came to me carefully packaged and in great shape...many with buds, sprouts and vigorously healthy!!! The customer service representative (Kathleen ;-) is truly phenomenal and extremely knowledgeable about her company's products. I can't say enough about the great experience I had with Easy to Grow Bulbs!

I purchased the cotton candy astilbe collection, hardy glads, and fressias. I could not believe the size of the astilbes I received they are huge. They weren't lying when they said 5-8 eye bare root plants. They've been in the ground a month now and all of them are thriving. I can't wait til they flower!! I am very happy with my purchase so far and will definately buy from them again. I am very confident that the bulbs I ordered will do well also.

I have received several bulb and daylily orders from this company, and have been quite satisfied with the quality of the shipments.

Very nice, large, fresh bulbs received yesterday. Lots of healthy roots attached to the stargazers with no pieces or scales found floating around in the peat. Rain lilies were the largest I've ever seen. Their website is easy to navigate and provides all the necessary info for every bulb they sell as well.

It's great to find a company that only sells top-grade bulbs *and* ships them promptly. You can miss a season of blooms waiting for some others (who shall remain nameless) to ship, and you won't get the same quality. Highly recommended!

Posted on April 9, 2010, updated April 15, 2010
Last year I ordered 22 carpet roses from them, followed the watering directions and soil prep directions on their website and got 14 dead sticks sticking up from the ground in front of my house for a year. I contacted them and they were nice enough to replace the dead plants...but when I opened the box of replacement plants they sent me I found 10 of them were COVERED in white fuzzy mold, all the branches were black and limp. I tried to cut them back to salvage them, but it was no use, I threw them out with the moldy bags they were in. Strangely enough, there were 4 plants in a separate bag that were in great shape. I threw them away too however, because honestly I don't feel like wasting my time planting them only to have 4 more dead plants staring at me for the rest of the year. I will just order carpet roses from a local nursery and get a one year guarantee on them.
I honestly don't see how they stay in business. I guess I have learned my lesson about online nurseries. BUY LOCAL so you can SEE what you are paying for!!!

"On Apr 13, 2010 3:07 PM, Easy to Grow Bulbs responded with:

We received an email from this customer last Friday night, 1 hour before he posted this review on DG. Had the customer's intention had been to resolve the issue his timing didn't support that.

Mold on roses is rare, but does occasionally happen. We do a visual check on all plants and bulbs as they are packed, pulling anything that doesn't look good. Because roses can dry out, they are packed in plastic bags and need to be planted upon receipt. In his email this customer mentioned leaving the roses unplanted (and presumably bagged) for several days which could explain the development of mold. We didn't see what he did, nor photos of same, so it's hard to say.

The logic of throwing out replacement plants that "were in great shape" eludes us.

Email is a great way to communicate and this customer's messages were answered personally, completely and quickly. Still, sometimes email isn't the best approach if something is still puzzling or unclear. Or, as in this case, it needs our further attention. We wish this customer had called us so we could have made this right.

I received my order and everything is great. The patio blueberries are outstanding. Thank you. :)

I participated in a co-op for plants and bulbs from this company and after receiving my order I'm wondering why I've never ordered from them before. It was obvious this box of bulbs and plants was packed with much care. I was most impressed with how the plants were packed. I do a lot of mail order and I've never seen a plant packed as well as these were. When I unwrapped them from their packaging, the plants looked so fresh. Not a yellow leaf or tear anywhere. They were perfect. The bulbs were perfect too. No wonder this is a DG top 5 company!
I'm very happy with my order and just wish I'd ordered more now. Awesome job Easy To Grow Bulbs! If there were a 'Perfect' rating I would have given you that.

another near perfect co-op with this company thanks to kathleen and jon. bulbs fresh and healthy. potted plants arrived pristine. superb packing. excellent customer service. even when i misunderstood the instructions for our co-op jon and kathleen were going to honor what i thought i understood. who does that? at my request they did allow us to continue ordering to reach the correct goal they had set for us. it was at THEIR inconvenience as it caused their staff to have to work extra fast to get our "new" orders pulled and shipped within the same time frame.

i like this company. i like their employees. and i like their plants.

I joined a Co-op with other members here and from another website to order bulbs from this company. The order was submitted mid March with requested ship date of March 29, and here it is April 2nd and my order has arrived! I ordered an assortment of bulbs: Achimenes, Picotee Begonia, Hanging Basket Begonia, Hardy Gloxinia and Gloriosa Lily. The bulbs and tubers look to be of great quality and I'm anxious to get them planted and watch them grow!

I will definitely do business with this company again, either through a co-op or direct ordering!

I have ordered from ETG a few times in the past... the begonia tubers arrive in wonderful shape.. and I love the fact they are budding and I don't have to wait weeks to see some growth.. the customer service is fantastic.. very personable to say the least.. will buy from this vendor over and over!!!!

I ordered ranunculus from them last year and they were delivered in a very timely manner. Also, their website was full of helpful info and video to aid me in planting them. This was extremely helpful as i am new to gardening. Unfortunately, my dachshund dug them up repeatedly! Will definately give it another go......in a container! :)

I've placed at least two orders with this company and the service and quality of bulbs has been outstanding both times. Only one (very minor) gripe: the anemones I ordered were supposed to be all one color and I discovered after they bloomed that they are actually several different shades. Still lovely, so I'm not really complaining.

The Amaryllis bulbs they sent were the biggest I've ever seen and each one produced at least three stems of flowers.

This is a wonderful mail order company! They offer some very unusual, hard to find bulbs. I was looking for Sandersonia, which is very difficult to find here in the U.S. When I first found their site, it was out of stock. I emailed the company to ask if they were going to offer this in the future. They were very quick to respond and very friendly with their correspondence. This alone is very unusual especially since I hadn't even placed an order with them at this point.

I ordered the Sandersonia and a couple of Gloriosa species that are hard to find also. I received the tubers. They were packed with care and the tubers were healthy and larger than I expected. I am very happy with my order and plan on ordering from them in the future.

Posted on February 27, 2009, updated March 4, 2010
I absolutely love, love, love these guys. Every product I've ever rec'd from them was a high quality bulb or plant. They take tremendous care when packing things, so that even live plants are rec'd in perfect condition. And I love the adventure packs that you get when placing an order of $50 (?) or more. I've gotten some great introductions to new plants from these little additions.

Their website is also terrific - they have an easy to follow planting guide for just about everything they sell. You can search by growing zone in addition to traditional links. When you order you can include instructions to ship earlier than their schedule for your zone if you want to start things going indoors before moving outdoors.

I've been ordering from this company for years and it's always a positive experience.

Ordered a 10-pack of Narcissus bulbs and a specialty Amaryllis 'Chico' at the absolute end of the season (they were also on an incredible sale) and wasn't planning to be disappointed if they did not perform. Shipment came quick and just as described. The 'Chico' is absolutely stunning now that is has bloomed! As for the Narcissus, I forced them at the same time I forced some other Narcissus bulbs I received from Longwood Gardens (both Ziva)...I wish I could attach a picture to show how incredibly Easy To Grow's bulbs outperformed bulbs from a world-renown Botanical Garden. I have a PhD in ornamental horticulture and the quality of the plants I received is the best I've seen. Forget about any gripes about a missed bulb in an order, these are excellent quality plants.

I ordered 4 amaryllis bulbs that were on sale. I expected small bulbs for the price, but to my delight, these bulbs were so large, I had trouble finding plastic pots to fit them, so that I could watch them sprout.
I am very pleased, as these bulbs were much larger than ones I had purchased from other vendors on e-Bay.

I actually live very near to their headquarters (under 10 miles). Before I placed my order online, I'd contacted easytogrow to ask a few questions. They called me within 10 minutes of my message, and were exceptionally friendly and helpful. After I explained that I lived just a few minutes away, and told the woman I spoke with (Kathleen, if I'm remembering correctly...) what I was thinking of ordering, she gave me some very helpful suggestions, even making it a point to tell me which bulbs I could expect to naturalize and thrive in our coastal climate, others I could only expect a single season with, and a few bulbs that even expert gardeners with perfect care wouldn't get to perform in our zone. She even said she was pretty sure she might be able to save me a little on shipping costs because I live so nearby. Sufficed to say, I ended up revising my order based on her guidance, and am glad I did! As of today, every single variety of bulb in my first two orders of over 200 bulbs with EasytoGrowBulbs.com has finally pushed forth little chartreuse sprouts! I'm an easytogrow.com customer for life!

I have been happy 2 years in a row with my order from this company. They send good quality bulbs of large size that bloom well. It is also nice to receive a bonus gift. It appears to me that they are more than willing to promptly and fairly resolve any issue that arises with an order.

Ordered 2 bags (advertised as each containing 10 bulbs) of Narcissus Bells daffodils, as well as 4 bags saffron crocus. Unfortunately, one bag only contained 9 bulbs. The bulbs weren't cheap after shipping.

My letter to Easy to Grow read:

"Hi, Received my order just fine--nice bulbs too. But one of the Narcissus Bells had only 9 bulbs in the bag rather than the 10 bulbs listed on the package. The other five packages had 10 bulbs as listed. Send me another Narcissus Bell bulb? Thanks"

Their response was:

"Hi, I am so sorry we made such an error! That never should have happened. Unfortunately, I have no way to send you just 1 bulb, as we order and pack them in sets of 10. I will be happy to refund the amount for the bulb you are missing. Will that work?"

I replied, "I'd've preferred the bulb. Thanks, Dave"

I have not received bulb or refund since my email September 28. That's a fact.

"On Dec 8, 2009 9:59 AM, Easy to Grow Bulbs responded with:

This customer was accidentally sent 59 bulbs instead of the 60 he purchased. When he alerted us to this we:
- Apologized for the error
- Explained that we order and pack these varieties in lots of 10, so don't have loose bulbs to send
- Offered to immediately credit his account for the missing bulb

After receiving his second email on the afternoon of 9/28 (see above), we responded that evening. Echoing his concern about shipping charges, in this case for a single bulb, we offered the customer the following, in addition to the original offer of a refund for the missing bulb:
- To send a full pack of 10 bulbs at half price if he'd cover the shipping ($5.85)
- Or to include a full pack of 10 additional bulbs free with any other order

The customer was given three options to address the situation and we awaited his response. He did not call or email again. This customer service ticket has been "open" since late September.

It's now the end of the fall gardening season and the narcissus variety ordered is sold out, so only one option remains. This customer's account has been credited for the one missing bulb. Again, we apologize for the original miscount and the inconvenience it caused.
"

Posted on November 13, 2004, updated November 21, 2009
Found this company accidentally while 'surfing the web' and was quite happy I did! Their website is easy to navigate and they have quite a nice selection, including a large assortment of the Tecolote strain of ranunculus (which are hard to find). Ordered Anemones and Double Freesias and the corms of both are HUGE!! Had a question about the bulbs and got quick help from Jon in Customer Service. Their quality is excellent and the Customer Service unbeatable. If you email this company, you can be assured that you will receive a prompt reply. I couldn't be more pleased with them and will order from them again!

I placed my first order with Easy To Grow Bulbs. My plants were shipped fast, very well packaged, all properly labeled, they arrived healthy and in good shape. I was very happy to receive such large healthy bulbs. They even sent me a bonus plant as a thank you gift. Great service, I highly recommend them.