Comments regarding Plants of the Southwest

I have purchased seeds from this company on two occasions. Once, I bought a shady mountain meadow mix for my front yard where there was a very large tree and two different weeds growing. My husband and I painstakingly hand-weeded over the course of two days, followed the planting directions to the letter, including adding a binder and frequent watering. The only thing that grew was the same old weeds we always had. I could have had those without the sore back and all the watering.
This season I wanted to try a fall garden. I carefully prepared the soil and got time-to-plant advice for my city. Although the seed packets did not offer any information about spacing, I did look spacing up online, and followed the planting depth advice that was often included on the packet. I have been keeping the soil a little moist--although not sure if I should as there is no advice one way or another on the packet. In two weeks, absolutely NOTHING has germinated. I can accept that I might have a brown thumb, but NOTHING???

I've been pleased with the live plants that I have purchased from their retail nursery in Santa Fe (a privilege that not all can enjoy, and which for me entails a three-hour drive each way) but have been disappointed with their seeds. I realize that many desert-adapted seeds are difficult to germinate, and have followed both the germination instructions on their packets, and also the information provided in several good books on the subject--addressing those particular species. In several cases I have achieved exactly 0% germination for the entire packet, even for a few species that were supposedly "easy to germinate." The seeds come packed in small gummed envelopes, which is fine, but in some cases the mucilage on the envelopes appeared to be extremely old, and I suspect that their seeds were either old or incorrectly stored.

I should note that I have purchased seeds of some of the same species of plants from other sources, and have had much better luck with germination, suggesting that it wasn't the "nature of the beast" of the species, or my treatments of them, but poor quality seed that was at the root of the problem. It is a pity, because they do offer some species that I have not seen anywhere else.

I ordered from this company when I was still living in America, and didn't have problems. Now I am an American living in Italy, and wanted to order some seeds, and saw that their website isn't set up to accept international orders. Ok, I thought, I can just send the seeds to my friend in NY, and she can send them to me. However, even the billing address is only set up for American addresses, so I emailed them asking them what I could do. My email was never answered. So I emailed them again, nothing. I even emailed them from another address, no response. Finally I called them, and told them to check their anti-spam folder, in case my email showed up there. Nothing. So I sent 3 emails, and called them and left a message(no one answered), still nothing. I have since ordered the seeds from another company, but a company that doesn't respond to emails or phone calls, isn't one that I want to do business with. The texts of my emails are below,
but doesn't include the phone message I left. If they don't have international shipping, ok...I can send it to my friend, but no response whatsoever??? What's up with that?


"Hello. I sent this email several days ago and never got a reply. Please let me know.



Hello,
Is it possible to order from abroad? I tried using the online shopping cart, but couldn't because you have to provide a US address ( for both shipping and billing). I seem to remember that in the past I placed an order from Italy and got it, but perhaps I am mistaken. If I need to, I can send an order to a friend in the US and have her ship it off to me personally, although that seems like an unnecessary extra step. I order seeds from the US often with no problems. Let me know what I can do.
Thanks,
Aaron Sipf ( an American living abroad)" (Sent Jan 21, 2009 for the second time)

"hello,
I called just a bit ago, but thought it would be wise to follow up with an email. I notice that this address is different, so perhaps it will get through. I'd like to order some seeds, but I live in Italy, and can't do so on the website. Can we make arrangements? I have ordered seeds from the US many times, without any problems. If for some reason you can't, please let me know and I'll have my friend order them in New York and send them to me (although that seems like an unnecessary step honestly). if you can, tell me the best way to get my order to you. I can email it or call. Thanks.
best wishes,
Aaron Sipf" (After I had called, Sent Jan 26, 2009)

I placed an order online on April 21, 2004. When I did not receive the order within a few weeks, I emailed several times and tried calling - got no response to email and none to the voice mail messages.

Finally after over a month, I got someone on the phone who said they were going through personnel changes but things were better, and it just so happened that they had sent my seed order out that day, and my live plant order would go out the next day. The seeds did finally arrive (I forgot to check to the box to see if they really had sent the seeds that day) but now it is nearly three months later and no plant, no reply to my email requesting a refund, and no one is answering the phone again.

I will never order from these people again. They are obviously having serious problems. They are unable to fill orders but they sure are quick to get customers' money in the bank.