Comments regarding Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee)

I ordered sunflower seeds two years in a row, and both times they produced weedy, nonflowering stalks. I will not order sunflowers from them again.

Because their seeds are readily available in many retail outlets, why pay extra for shipping when you can buy Burpee seeds at any store?

I placed an order on April 15th for some tomato plants. The website said the plants should arrive within 7-10 business days. After 14 days, I called (because you cannot track your order online) and was told that I would receive my plants in two weeks. I sent an email to the customer service center last week and hadn't heard anything. I called today and was told that my tomato plants would not ship until the end of May or the beginning of June!!!! I live in the south and ordered my plants at the appropriate time and they were not going to send me my tomato plants until June! I would not have tomatoes until end of August or beginning of September. I understand you want to order seeds early (which I did and received fine from Burpee) but why should it take so long to get my plants? I asked the rep this question and she said that there was a high demand and I really need to order in January or February. I have to order that early for plants!!! Give me a break!!!! This company took my money on April 15th and they weren't going send my plants until June - that is unacceptable. I promptly asked for a refund and we will see if I get my money back timely. I will not be ordering anything from Burpee again and that is sad because I ordered over $200 worth of stuff from them this year including my tomatoes. My husband told me that they are too high on their stuff anyway.

I ordered Sweet Potato plants and seeds on April 14th.

Positive:
I had to call the company to find out when the plants would be shipped as they had not arrived in the 7-10 days indicated when ordered. They told me they would ship the following week from the nursery. They did arrive this week in good condition.

Negative:

I ordered seeds at the same time as the plants. The seeds have yet to arrive. I was given two different ship dates during my first 2 calls to Burpee. On my last call I was told they were shipped on April 21st and I should have received them by now. The Lady said she would send a replacement seed order then said, um…we have one of the seeds you requested on backorder and they appear to have been on backorder for a while. She said she was confused because she was not sure if the backordered seeds had been originally shipped. She then said that she would send out a replacement order of all seeds they have in stock. She told me to call and cancel the replacement order if the original package shows up in the next week or so! So I guess they are holding my replacement order for a week???

The other “negative” about this review…The seeds on backorder are still on Burpee’s web with no mention of a backorder. The web page allows you to place the seed in your shopping cart. When does Burpee tell a customer that they can’t order something not in stock…after the order is placed?

Just had my first great experience ordering from Burpee. My plants arrived on time, and in great condition. Can't wait to watch them bloom this spring and summer.

I received a wonderful gift from a friend today and she directed me to this site.

She had ordered too many perennials from Burpee and brought me her "leftovers". WOW, I am so lucky. The plants are so healthy looking and will be such a nice addition to my garden. Thank you to Jill and to Burpee.

Several of my neighbors and I have already received our plants from Burpee and there are NO complaints. The packaging was great, plants look just fine, and they were delivered when promised. Customer service was very helpful when one of my neighbors made a mistake on her order and had to change it in mid-packaging. Can't ask for much more than that.

Looking forward to another great summer of plants thanks to this company.

Nothing but good from Burpee. Good plants, good service, good choices.

I had a great selection of plants from which to choose and all arrived in excellent condition. Took well to their new "home" and all is well. ....as usual, with Burpee.

Thank you Burpee. My tomatoes arrived and they look GREAT!

I have ordered from Burpee many times in the last five years, and all experiences have been positive.

my most recent order was for 6 cherry tomato plants at the end of march.....they arrived at the beginning of April and were beautifully packed and now are growing vigorously.

I have also ordered seeds and seed tapes, and tomato cages in the past, all arrived correctly and promptly.

also ordered some tomato plants last year and they also arrived well.

Michael Hewitt

I too had a very bad experience with this company. My plants were out of their pots & dead! UPS must have had a ball throwing this package around. When I called them the woman said they get a lot of complaints about this.I realize I live far,far away but,other companies get my order to me in a timely fashion with no damage to my plants. I suggested to her she tell the delivery dept. to switch to FedEx. I trusted this company because of their name & they let me down. I will never order from them again!! BTW : She said They would refund my money.As I haven't received my statement yet I cannot tell you if they did. I assume a company of this size & reknown will stand by it's word. I am not worried about my money.

I ordered a cone flower in October. It was a special 'saul' one that I really wanted. It came up in March and then promptly 'disappeared'. I emailed them regarding their policy and they said they would replace it. Well, the replacement came about 2 weeks ago - at least a month after I complained, and it had no growth at all. Just roots in a pot that was somewhat displaced in the mail. My cone flowers at the time all had leaf showing, so I'm a bit dubious. I planted it immediately, but it's been in 2-3 weeks and nothing is happening. I check on it every couple of days. All my other cone flowers are huge. I will have to email them again I suppose, but I'm quite disappointed. They are a big, well-known company and it was an expensive coneflower which I wanted for a specific spot.

I ordered 12 Lisianthus plants from Burpee,since these plants are
not very easy to find. They arrived in a timely fashion, yet all plants
fell out of container and the box was a total mess, not to mention
the roots all tangled up. I planted them right away and prayed for
their survival. The plants themselves looked fine upon arrival that's
why I give a neutral rating. Burpee can definitely do more to improve
their packaging.

I recently received my order of three "ice tomato" and three super sweet tomato plants. I was horrified upon opening the box to find that the soil (and plants) had completely fallen out of two of the containers. Two of the others were half way out of their containers, as well. There was no plastic bag or newspaper around the individual plants for protection. The "This Side Up" arrow ran perpindicular to how the plants had to be arranged in the box inserts. I'll just have to see if they make it, but I will never order live plants from Burpee again.

"

Hello,
We are sorry to hear about your problems with your recent plant order. We would like to apologize for your problems with Burpee. Please know that Burpee will stand by its 100 customer satisfaction guarantee and will refund your money. Please check your DMail and send me a note back so we can process your refund.
Cheers.
Paul
"

I have bought seeds from them before with success. Recently I tried buying plants. The first box arrived and the plants were dead. They were no longer in the pots & were laying without soil. I wasn't sure if it was the way they were packed or the post office being rough. Then my next 3 boxes arrived. Out of 4 boxes of plants, one. . exactly one had plastic around the plants to keep them in place - so they were still in the soil/pots. The tomato plants were broken into pieces. I had bought plants from other companys, and since Burpee was rated well here - I took a chance. I may continue to buy seeds, but will never buy another plant from them.

I wrote them about replacing the plants - just the onces that didn't look like they would recover. Haven't heard back. However, even if they stand by their guarantee - if they pack & resend in the same manner, I don't see a better outcome.

"

Hello,
We are sorry to hear about your problems with your recent plant order. We would like to apologize for your problems with Burpee. Please know that Burpee will stand by its 100 customer satisfaction guarantee and will refund your money. Please check your DMail and send me a note back so we can process your refund.
Cheers.
Paul


"

In late February or early March I first placed an order for lisianthus and some heirloom tomato plants. Only after I placed the order did I realize the plants wouldn't be arriving until April, so I canceled the order and instead bought some celebrity tomato plants locally. Here it is April, 16th and I already have a small green tomato on one plant. Waiting until mid-April to ship tomato plants to New Orleans is too late!

I placed another order for blue lisianthus and added tuberose bulbs. I thought they would both ship on April 4th, but I didn't receive the lisianthus plants until April 14th, and I have still not received the tuberose bulbs. When the lisianthus 12-pack arrived via UPS, the box was battered, half-crushed, and poorly packaged. The 12-pack tray was crushed and not a single seedling was in its compartment. I dug through the pile of dirt and pulled out what was left of the plants, but I'm not sure they will grow with what roots were still intact. That box of dirt was not worth $26.00.
I emailed Burpee yesterday and attached two pictures of how the plants arrived, but have yet to hear from them.

"

Hello,
We are sorry to hear about your problems with your recent plant order. We would like to apologize for your problems with Burpee. We have a 100% guarantee and will process your refund promptly. We are always reviewing our ways to ship live plants and will be conducting additional tests this summer to improve our methods to provide well-packed and happy plants to our customers.
Cheers.
Paul
"

I placed an order for both of the Dinenr Plate Collections of Dahlias and recived my product on time and it was packaged very well and tubers look to be healthy.

Was pleased all around.

This was my first order with Burpee. I ordered a raised bed system and some vegetable seeds. I later went to the website to check my order status and it said that I had no orders pending. So I emailed customer service and received a very nice email the very same day stating that because I hadn't logged in when I placed the order, the info wasn't saved on my account. I was also informed when I could expect my items. Love my raised bed, would order from again.

They're fine, but not a 'wow.' I used to order seeds from them many years ago - they were reliable and the seeds always germinated fine, but I eventually switched to other companies that were less expensive and had a better selection. This year, I wanted a specialty begonia that was hard to find, and Burpee was one of the very few companies that had it - unfortunately, only in multiples of 4. Besides having to buy four bulbs when I only wanted one, there were two things I disliked. One is that *they* decided when the 'right time to plant' was for my zone. I wanted to start this begonia a month before they sent it - a pity they don't offer early shipping on bulbs for those of us who can start these things earlier under glass. The other is that only one of these bulbs is a decent size; the others are quite small. For $7.50 a bulb, I expected better. On the other hand, they were carefully packed and solid enough - no signs of rot or any other problems. I also thought their seed selection had gone downhill - they only had plants for some things I used to start from their seeds. So, basically no problems with my order, but I think the next time I want begonias, I won't be quite so picky on color and will go with Antonelli Brothers.

I have ordered from Burpee 3 times. I have gotten seeds, bulbs and even a couple of live plants. Every time the delivery was quick, and everything I ordered, I got. I have no complaints about Burpee. I love their large selection of seeds! My plants have lived and are starting to grow in the warm weather we're having. I would buy from them again.

I always order my seeds from Burpee in January for the last three years and the results were great each spring and summer. I enjoy all the differnt types of annual flower seeds.This year I recieved my order in January and set up my indoor seed starting schedule to begin in Feb. Last weekend when I went to plant my petunia seeds I realized that they must of been crushed and were nothing more than powder. Monday morning I called Burpee,they apoligized and told me they would replace the three packages of seeds.The replacements came quickly and not only were they placed in a small box but someone took the time to wrap them in bubble wrap and enclose a five dollar coupon. Thats great customer service and shows that Burpee is listening to their customers. Great job Burpee!!!

I ordered a full order from Burpee, including non-plant items. The non-plant items arrived promptly, with good packaging.

I'll update when the plant order arrives, but I'd like to say that there's seems to be a fair amount of "whining" rather than actual customer-service or product concerns in these ratings.

I suppose I should start off by saying that I have not ordered live plants or bulbs from Burpee, which seems to be the reason for so many of the negative comments.

I've been ordering from them for about two years now, and I've had nothing but positive experiences with them. The site is very easy to navigate, checking out is fast and easy, and I like the feature they have for reviewing plants as well. They always send confirmation order emails shortly after submitting your purchase, along with a UPS tracking number a few days after. Shipping has always been fast (about a week), and my seeds have always arrived safely. I haven't started them all yet, but germination rates have been great so far - no problems at all.

I also really like some of the supplies they sell (sea magic, germinating mix, trying out wall-o-water for the first time this season, tomato spray, and kelp booster) and the fact that shipping doesn't cost an arm and a leg. It's based on the purchase price, and not weight which is great if you're purchasing supplies (maybe not so great if you're ordering a ton of seeds, but I've seen much worse rates so in comparison it's not bad, but could be better).

I just started gardening recently and I decided to try ordering from Burpee this year. The web ordering process was simple and quick. I received all my seed packets quickly. I have to wait for spring to see how they all germinate, but so far, so good.

I have been a customer of Burpee for several years, but I almost had a coronary when the shipping and handling charge ($7.95) was added to my modest $40 order. Wow, that added an extra 80 cents to the price of each package of seeds. They arrived on time and in good shape, but 10 packages of seeds fit in a medium padded mailer and couldn't have weighed more than 8 ounces. As you can imagine, I will be checking the price of S/H before I order from them, or anyone else, in the future.

I had a very good experience with this company. My seeds arrived shortly after I ordered them. The lime basil and zinnias did wonderfully. My squash did not, but I blame the bugs, not the seeds as they germinated quickly and grew well. The tomato plants I ordered arrived at planting time and also did great. I will order from Burpee again.

Don't order a gift certificate! I ordered a gift certificate for a birthday. It did not arrive in the promised 10 days, though my credit card was charged immediately. When I contacted Burpee, they told me they were not sending out gift certificates until they printed their 2008 catalog. This was news to me! I regret that I will give someone a belated bithrday gift of having to deal with such poor customer service. Is an aplogy for an inconvenience they choose to force onto a customer meaningful?

After receiving their beautiful catalog last December/January, I immediately placed an order and was told I would receive it within 10 business days.

Well two months and many emails later, I finally received my seeds.

To my dismay, the artichoke, asparagus, and soybean seeds never sprouted (I didn't have a problem with the Renee's Garden replacements I purchased either)...

I would never ever buy from this company again, seeing how many great companies are rated highly on this site.

Just like most mail order places, with slow shipping that you have to pay for, but what made this go from neutral to negative for me is that they sent me a '$5 off' coupon that expired this past June! Thanks a lot for that!

I live on 4 acres and have a 780 sq. ft vegetable garden. I purchased all my seeds for my annual flower gardens and vegetable garden fom burpee this year. I couldn't be happier with the results. My seed germination rate was almost 95%, although I did notice it took longer to germinate seeds in peat pellets vs seed starting mix. Next it will be straight seed starting mix for me. The african blondies are now the size of Patriot hostas and the vegetables are exploding. My juliet tomato plants are well over 7 feet tall. Even the cantelope and watermelon are producing like crazy. Thank you for the best year yet.....I won't buy my seeds anywhere else from now on.

I ordered a Patty's Plum Oriental Poppy from Burpee in April. I've been in love with this particular poppy for a while, and Burpee was the cheaper of the two companies where I found the plant available. It seems you get what you pay for.

The plant took a very long time to get here, and they never sent me a confirmation e-mail after I paid for the plant. I began to wonder if the order had even gone through. I ended up sending an e-mail to their customer service, asking if I actually did have an order in process. It took them several days to get around to responding to me to let me know that the plant had been paid for and was on its way.

When the plant arrived, it was "dormant." When I ordered it, the website said "plant". When I order a plant, I want a PLANT. Instead, I got what looked like a cigar butt with roots in a plastic bag of mulch with a rubber band around it. I waited so long for this plant to arrive, and this is what I got.

I was upset, but some gardening friends assured me that sometimes plants come dormant and to give it some love and care and that hopefully it would start to show some signs of life. I immediately planted it in good soil and have regularly watered it, given it lots of sunshine, and followed the very brief instructions that Burpee sent with it.

It is now August. (Four months later.) I still have what looks like a shriveled up, black, cigar butt in my backyard. I have cared for this stick the same way I have cared for all of my other plants, and there is no sign of life in it whatsoever.

I ended up buying a poppy from our local nursery for about $3. It's not a Patty's Plum, but who cares about having a fancy plant if it's dead? My poppy from the nursery is green and lush and thriving. My dead poppy from Burpee cost $12.90.

I've wasted my money and my time on Burpee. You'd think, being such a name in gardening, that Burpee would actually offer professional customer service and beautiful, healthy plants. This is not the case. It's better to go elsewhere, even if it's a little more expensive.

In short, Burpee ripped me off. They have my money, and I have a dead stick. I can say for sure that neither I nor anyone I know will ever order from them again.

I bought four packs of seeds-- tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and pumpkin-- I did everything the packet told me and was a complete dud. They only sprouted two leaves, and 3/4 of them didn't even sprout. I only replaced the tomatoes, and I compared those puny little tomatoes with big tomatoes that I got from a local nursery- it's like comparing a great dane to a hamster. Stay away from burpee, or you will loose a growing season.

"

Hello - I work for Burpee and I would like to apologize for your poor germination experience. If you can provide me with you name and address, we will refund your purchase price for the seed packets.
Cheers.
Paul"

When I bought my house three or four years ago, I ordered a number of packets of flower seeds from Burpee (which my father had used for years and years for his vegetable garden). I was generally pleased with the seeds, which seemed to germinate well. They didn't send many seeds in a packet, but I was okay with the quantities (mostly). I give Burpee a neutral rating here because one of my last orders was for Dame's Rocket. I followed the instructions on the packet and planted the seeds in pots in early spring, but almost none germinated. Then I bought Dame's Rocket seeds from another source that said to plant them in late spring or even summer, and the seeds germinated like crazy. I ordered another packet from Burpee and planted them according to the other company's instructions, and the Burpee seeds also germinated fine. So, I emailed Burpee to suggest that they should change the instructions on their seed packet. I didn't complain unduly or demand a refund. I just thought they'd want to know that their instructions for germinating Dame's Rocket might be wrong. I got a very snotty email back that said they weren't going to give me a refund and their instructions were just fine. I guess no good deed goes unpunished. But I haven't ordered from Burpee since. So, maybe they should have at least humored me.

I've had mixed experience with Burpee over the last few years. They have a great selection of seeds, and most years the seeds I've bought from them have germinated well (primarily vegetables). This year, however, germination rates for most of the seeds I got (both veggies and annuals) seemed very low. I gave up on my coleus started from their seed when they were three months old and an inch tall. Finally just got plants from them - one of which was in miserable shape when it arrived but is starting to grow now. I had the same issue with the salsa tomatoes that another user had - not all of the ones that came up are salsa tomatoes! Haven't eaten any of the mystery tomatoes yet, but we'll see how they are.

I ordered four packets of seeds - pole bean, bush beans, carrots and broccoli. The first sowing was a complete dud. I partially replaced them with locally purchased seeds and replanted what was left. The local seeds are going gangbusters, the Burpee seeds are completely unproductive. I also ordered a 9 plant tomato set. They mailed them weeks after our zone time guideline, so we're already behind. They all looked spindly when we got them. I planted them within 48 hours after following the package directions for watering. The only two who have grown at all are in planters on the deck, completely protected from the elements. The ones in the garden, in three weeks, have not grown at all. A locally grown plant that was smaller at planting is growing like crazy and already flowering.

I complained via email, the response completely ignored the seed issue and she basically told me to mulch (I did that the day they were planted) and because of the heat (our summer has been pretty normal) the plants were going to struggle a little. She also admitted that a bunch of their plants froze in shipping, meaning what should have been mine were shipped as replacements, making mine weeks late.

No offer to compensate, no mention of the seeds, nothing. Just a perky little admonition to wait!

I replied - I will never buy from Burpee again.

"

Hello,
I work for Burpee and would like to apologize for your poor Burpee experience. Can you provide me with your name and zip code we will provide you with a full refund
Cheers.
Paul

Hello - Today, we provided a complete refund to your charge card. Again, we apologize for the problems with your order.
Happy Gardening.
Paul"

In March I ordered six sinonome to be delivered in April. When I received my plants ,the instructions were to plant them as they were not babied at the nursery and would survive very well in my area. So in went the babies with loving care and anticipation. Three weeks passed and only one tentative sprig with leaf attatched made an appearance.When I called for help an operator who obviously was shouting to another operator about my problem gave me advice. You see, I had to wait for at least three very warm evenings with 80 degree temperatures before the sononome could sprout. Four weeks later I again requested aid in the form of a credit card refund. Burpee apoligized and promptly credited me for the five dead plants.So you could say they did well by me and fixed their mistake.But I knew those flowers were dead four weeks earlier...

I will no longer be purchasing anything from this company. As a gardener and plant lover, I will not put money in the pocket of this person that is obviously neither!

I buy annual seeds from them. They are a good quality product. The prices are high on new varieties, but they are never available locally.

When I owned in DC, I ordered only a few times from Burpee and had a good experience. Now moving to a house in VA with a lot more space to garden, I ordered from them and several other companies. After a week and a half and no order (I received all my other orders from 4 other companies), I called to find out the status and learn that because I ordered by plants "late" they would not be shipped out for another 2-3 weeks (order placed on morning of 21st).

I asked where on the website did it say for Zone 6 my order was "late", she tried to find and I actually end up finding that my order which was for perennials was order 9 days within the time period and even within the correct time period if they were all annuals. She indicated that to have it shipped at this time, I would have had to order back in January...ah...that makes no sense.

I then asked to cancel my order and was told that my order was filled and sitting in the nursery waiting for shipment...huh (then why has it not shipped???)...and if it ships out and is not canceled I will have to send it back to them. At this point, I mentioned that that was ridiculous. You won't ship my order within the 7-10 business days as indicated in my receipt but if you ship late after my request to cancel...I have to make arrangements to ship back??? She finally talked to her "manager" and said my order would be canceled.

There are too many companies that clearly state when they will or will not ship to you to deal with this kind of bs. I won't even buy burpee's seeds in the store due to this poor customer service and mishandling of my order. I am extremely disappointed.

I've placed 2 orders with this company over the last year and a half, generally with good results.

Last year, I ordered some Brandywine tomatoes, a variety of jalepeno pepper, Connecticut field pumpkins, catnip, basil, and a fern. Of the vegetables, the peppers were the only vegetable that produced, but this was probably due more to a fungus infestation and the weather than seed quality. The free packet of mini-greens I received did well too. The fern plant arrived rather dried-out and nothing I tried was able to remedy. Since then, I've decided to avoid purchasing any bareroot plants via mail order--too risky. I'll add that the order shipped very quickly and was well packaged.

This year's order has done much better. In particular, the Johnny-jump-ups, which have weathered less than optimal condition. The Swiss chard, impatiens, cucumber, etc. have all done just as well, and I have no complaints overall. Have not been able to plant the dolichos or alyssum, so can't report on those results yet.

I'm giving them a positive rating, despite my problems with the fern, since the majority of my experience with them has been good. Their seeds are a bit more expensive than some other companies, but IMO worth it.