Comments regarding Sunshine Farm & Garden

I have had very positive experiences with this company. I wanted helleborus. They took a while to get started since I bought small plants but this year they are just great. There are some that have not as yet flowered but are really coming up quickly and in good health. Those in flower are just gorgeous and keep getting bud after bud. I did buy some primroses which did not take but Barry gave me double the original order and these are now beautiful also. I will be ordering from Barry in the future. I gave away two helleborus to friends who had not ever heard of the plant. They just called to say the plants are gorgeous and wanted to know where to get more. I appreciate all the help I have gotten from Barry!

Communications with the nursery was excellent. Prices were reasonable and packaging of plants excellent. Looking forward to doing more business in near future.

Dear Barry, I just wanted to let you know how glad I am that I let you pick the shipping date for my order...it arrived in perfect condition and on the perfect day. I was able to get everything planted within a couple of hours and they are all doing beautifully!!

And, I have never gotten mail-order plants packed with such tender loving care!! I'm sure you will hear from me again!

Judy

Just received my first (of many I'm sure) order from Sunshine Farm and am amazed at the quality of the plants. First of all, packing was superb with just the right amount of moisture per plant and no broken bones. The 50 Christmas fern rhizomes are packed in damp sphagnum and are exceedingly robust. Everything else I ordered was the 2" tree band size, so I expected very small plants. But hey! The price is right and I can pot up plants and hold them for a while. Much to my surprise, they were much larger than I expected and some are going straight into beds where I can monitor water, etc. I also ordered 50 2 yr. seedlings of unknown Hellebores. Haven't a clue what they'll look like, but the parentage is great and since I've never met a Hellebore I didn't like, it sounded like a good deal for filling in areas of new woodland beds. I am quite impressed with the size of these 'seedlings' and can hardly wait for them to bloom to see what varieties I have. It was a long, cold, snowy January and I was wooed by the intrigue of the 100 plant (5 ea of 20 different plants) sampler. WOW! Unpacking these babies and discovering what I'd received was fantastic. Not a dog in the bunch. Some are old friends, some are totally new to me and all look great. Additionally, while all of the spp. are well worth the price, some would normally command a premium price anywhere if bought separately. The sampler is not simply 1 or 2 desired plants and numerous run-of-the mill filler plants as with so many collections and Barry is very helpful in trying to select plants that fit your site demands. I normally order from 5-8 top-rated nurseries each year (Yes! Big-time chlorophyll addition) and have rarely had anything but very positive experiences, but I can honestly say dealing with Barry & his staff has been fantastic! I've only talked to two gardening friends since I unpacked my order, but both intend to try the sampler next year. Give Sunshine Farm a whirl. I don't think you will be disappointed.

ct

Experience very positive, Shipment of hellibores and phlox arrived in great shape. Packaging was excellent. Based on past experience, immediately moved the plants (2 inch treebands) into larger pots where they should do great following Barry's planting instructions. Expect to set them out this Fall (2008). Good supply of plant tags was included. If you know what you are doing with small plants, Barry's plants are a good buy, particularly when he does his 'specials'.

Al 3/26/08

I just recently ordered hellebores, trillium and Christmas fern. Barry answered questions thoroughly in advance of the purchase, and the plants arrived quickly. The hellebores were strong plants that settled in after planting and look healthy. I am looking forward to seeing the results.

ordered his Hellebores and they are beautiful and thriving ...Great instructions on planting and feeding and very informative information thru e-mail

I just received seven 2" pots with 2 year old Double Helleborus seedlings from Sunshine Farm and Gardens nursery. Plants arrived in perfect shape; they look healthy despite the stressful December shipment. The size is exactly like on the vendor's web site picture.
I was told that they were hand pollinated, so I hope that the blooms will look like Doubles on pictures as well: these babies are pricey.... I look forward to seeing them in bloom in a year or two.

Just received fifty Primula Japonica and they are magnificantly beautiful !!! They are in 2-inch pots & were on sale. The healthy leaves were much larger than I expected with every pot having nice white roots coming out of the bottom.

The plants were expertly packed in a tray which was covered by a net bag securely tied to prevent disturbance in transit. Then the extra space was filled with foam peanuts to further prevent movement...all this in an extra thick cardboard box.

I had to co-ordinate the order with a friend from a different city...he mailing a check to Barry Glick separately from mine. Barry worked well with me and was quick to respond to my numerous emails. Will I order again ???...YOU BETCHA !!!

I've ordered 100 helebores from Sunshine Farm & Garden. They have all flourished in my garden for over 4 years. The were packed VERY WELL so for those who commented negatively on the condition of the plants upon arrival I wonder if it's the postal carrier that is to blame rather than Sunshine Farm & Garden.

I love the website too, it's so informative and the photos of Barry's gardens are wonderful and his personal response to my e-mails is the personal touch I appreciate. Barry's passion for gardening and expert knowledge of plants comes through and I feel free to call or e-mail with a question or comment and always get a personal, down-to-earth, grass-roots, "hey don't you just LOVE to dig in the dirt" response - so I feel I'm dealing with my own personal plant expert not just a 'company'.

My plants arrived shortly after I ordered them: hellebores, ferns, phlox, and a few other things. In all, a large order -- at least for me. The hellebores were outstanding -- really a nice group -- the ferns were great, and everything else was OK (although some of the tiarella looked a bit fatigued). I should have ordered more of the hellebores and ferns, but now it will wait for next year.

Very positive~~plants arrived quickly, in good condition, big and healthy! Will order again and again, and will try to drive over to his Farm; he has many rare and valuable offerings!

WOW X 3!
I ordered 20 Hellebore seedlings from Sunshine Farms. The robust plants arrived VERY healthy and in perfect condition—not a single leaf damaged. The order was promptly shipped and arrived as scheduled. The price for the seedlings was outstanding, too. They're small, one year old plants in four inch pots and a terrific way to quickly get a good showing in my garden. These are un-bloomed plants from Sunshine Farms' own breeding program. I can't wait to see what treasures might show up when they bloom next winter. I'm sure I'll be back.

Owner Barry is a hoot. I love his e-mails. He cheerfully answered my several messages.

I have purchased a lot of plants from Barry and for the most part have had good results. I am establishing perennial beds that include some unusual species. I share many of my plants with my kids who are doing the same thing. A couple of examples:

I have 6 Bergainia ciliata that I bought from Barry and they are the coolest plants!!!! You have to go to his website to see them. I have them along a brick walk and they are gorgeous this year. The Hellebores are getting big and filling in and I am anxious to see what the flower colors will be come early spring.

Also, I just got back from my daughter’s house on the Eastern Shore of MD and her Aster tataricus are in bloom – spectacular!!! They are the showiest of any plants in her flower beds right now. I wish I had enough sun at our place to support them.

I recently ordered some plants from Barry Glick at Sunshine Garden and Farm. They arrived in 2 days. Whoever readied the plants for shipping and packed the box paid attention to the minutest of details. It was most appreciated.

I read all the present negative comments and they are 100% correct. The plants arrive in a mess. Plant tags are everywhere IF they are even present (usually get one tag regardless of number of plants ordered). Plants that were sold as 5 years old were a long root with one stem with four leaves. GIve me a break!

And the snails!!! I have never seen so many slugs and/or snails on such tiny plants in my life. I do not need to import pests.

I did talk with Barry Glick and he is one heck of a marketeer. (He does not take credit cards---h-m-m-m, wonder why) But after the razzle dazzle, the plants are puny, in delicate condition and I had 10 tiny pots with nothing but the most invisible seed (I think) which I was told to "scoot" out of the pot and plant for appearance in the spring. Felt silly planting dirt from a pot.

I just say, buyer beware. There are tons of other places to buy quality plants with visible plants in pots bigger than a jigger glass.

"

I have contacted this customer to offer her replacement plants of her choice and have yet to hear back from her."

I have waited four days to popst a negative comment, but 'neutral' is certainly not how I am feeling about this transaction. Have purchased helleborus this year from three companies, three of these mail orders. Two orders arrived within ten days. This order had not arrived three weeks later, at which time I was scheduled to be out of town. By email we agreed that the plants would be shipped to coincide with my return, as I did not want then to arrive while I was away. After another two weeks with frantic emails, the package arrived. This was not even recognized as plants, because the small recycled Amazon box appeared to be books. Yes, the entire 300 'plus a bunch extra' "Five year" plants were in that book box! The roots, wrapped in moss and plastic wrap, was, in diameter, the size of a quart pot. The root mass of FORTY of these together was less that that of ONE of the ONE year plants that I had just recieved from another company! I spoke with Mr. Glick. who told me that these plants were small because they had been grown in the woods, and that when placed in pots they would 'take off.' I had no intention of potting three hundred plants. The intention of planting these in the woods and edge of wooes to be ,naturalized was made very clear to Mr Glick in our conversation regarding this order. I had asked him to quote the three-year plants on his website in larger quantity. He said that if I could use 300, he would sell them to me for $3 each, and, not only that, but they had some "Beautiful, healthy, five year plants, that they just had not had time to pot, and that, if potted, these would sell for $10, but", having just made a deal with someone else, he would extend it to me , so that, efficiently, they could pull both of the orders at the same time, so if I would just send him a check for $900, he would send me 300 of these "beautiful "babies". I was told that these were grown in beds in the woods, but there was certainly no indication that they were less developed than a 'normal' five-year plant. All description emphasized the quality and vigor of the plants. Now I am told that they will 'take off' when potted. I have 2'x2' helleborus in wooded and semiwooded areas now. They are four and five years old. These came from plants that looked very much like those I have just recieved from Sunshine. The difference is that they were in 'cells' of approximately 1" within flats purchased at the greenhouse of the local commumity college hortifculture program. They were sold for $.50 each by the kids who had planted them earlier that year. Yes, I understand that these plants could also grow, but I had ordered and paid for established plants for an established garden. Mr Glick has assured me that not only will these 'take off' but that he will replace any which do not live. I have spent considerable labor and materials in preparing holes for 300 nice plants. It just makes me sick to even deal with these little things. I would be even sicker to have to do it again. This is a MOST DISCOURAGING transaction.

"

I am in contact with this customer and we have agreed on what it will take to make her happy and as soon as this much needed rain ends, we will be shipping them to her."

A woodland garden is, for me, one of the most entrancing sights in the world. The best have a quiet, calm beauty with modest-seeming plants that truly become spectacular when you take the time to bend to inspect them. As your eyes adjust to the conditions, where ever you look, you begin to find some small treasure gently spreading to form a colony at your feet. So, during a brief trip to America from England last week, I was delighted to meet Barry Glick, helleborus breeder and guardian of Sunshine Farm & Gardens, one of the best-stocked and most magical of woodland gardens.

As a visitor to America, I cannot bring Barry’s plants home, only admire them and hope with all my heart that they can somehow be spread across America, which always seems to have so much untapped potential for shade gardening. I do wish we had this kind of service in England. It’s hard not to feel a little like a hungry child pressing its face against a sweetshop, watching the adults inside mostly oblivious to the rows of sweet jars on the shelves.

Life is full of possibilities. What suits one person does not suit them all. However, if you are serious about creating a medium to large-scale shade garden and want to learn more about the thousands of wonderful, often rare plants that love shade, may I suggest you take the time to explore Sunshine Farm and its website? Gardeners who love plants, enjoy diversity and are prepared to track it down; who value native plants and would enjoy individual advice before they buy them; and who have respect for good-natured, great plantsmanship are, in my view, highly unlikely to be disappointed.

Visit the farm and garden (by arrangement only) if you can. It may not be the quickest of journeys, but it could just be one of the most memorable days of your life and you’ll have a chance to meet a delightful, highly knowledgeable new friend.

If you care about your environment and feel inspired to become a guardian yourself of even a fraction of the thousands of rare and native woodland plants grown at Sunshine Farm, take advantage of Barry’s experience which is always generously shared. Above all, buy his plants, enjoy watching them gradually multiply in your garden and make a happier future for us all. With plant diversity about to become one of the most significant of the world’s preoccupations over the next century, your children’s children will thank you.

Alternatively for the armchair gardener, visit http://www.sunfarm.com and take the garden tours to find shade garden images that will sooth and delight your soul on the busiest of days. This site should really be prescribed to reduce the nation’s blood pressure: it will put a smile on most people’s faces.

We are a small nursery, and purchased a small wholesale order from Barry Glick. I understand he sells retail also. I have grown Barry Glicks famous 'Sunshine Strain' of hellebores before. They are known to be the most vigorus and colorful hybrids, and I found them very hardy, and easy to grow. I thought I would try to contact Sunshine Farms directly, instead of through a re-wholesaler. I had corresponded with Barry for awhile, before purchasing. I was very pleased with the way he treated my small order, and my questions, especially since I know his main business must be with large companies. I purchased his Sunshine strain of hellebores, they arrived in excellent condition, with great top growth, good roots, and solid crowns. We could not have been more pleased. Also, I must mention it was most entertaining dealing with Barry, everyone should experience the Barry Glick phenomenon at least once. In addition he followed up with a postcard asking how the plants were, something unfortunately the large wholesalers often do not do. As a retail nursery, I would like to have more wholesale companies like Sunshine Farm and Garden to work with. I will continue to purchase from Barry in the future.

I nearly chose the negative response, but since I resolved this matter as far as I care to, decided to just give a neutral rating. It is obvious Barry knows his stuff as far as a horticulturist, but I think he needs some help from a pro in mailing plants if he wants to raise money to support his botanical gardens.
Back in early Feb. I wrote to Barry in response to one of his newsletters in which he touted a native plant (Spigelia marilandica). From the photo and description, I thought this would be a spectacular plant to add to my woodland collection both here in SW PA and at our cottage in south-central VA. I wrote & enquired, found out they come bare-root and the price, and ordered 5. I asked him if they could be sent directly to our VA address, explaining that we would be there from March 6-26. He replied that that he could not ship them until April. I accepted this and agreed that he should ship them to PA when the plants became available.
We returned to PA on 3/26, and I found that the plants had already arrived here! I have no idea how long they had been awaiting me in the mailroom where our mail arrives, but opened them immediately. I found 6 small, sealed plastic bags that had some soilless mix and could see or feel no plants. I opened each to find extremely tiny crowns only about 1" in length, with wet, black roots as fine as thread. There was no sign of life. (At this point I felt they were definitely NOT worth the price I paid--even if they had been alive!) I immediately e-mailed Barry expressing my chagrin that (1)they came here (they obviously COULD have been sent to VA after all!) and (2) that they looked utterly lifeless. He replied:
From: Barry Glick [mailto:barry@sunfarm.com]
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 10:02 AM
Subject: Re: S. marilandica

Hi, sorry about the mixup.

They should be fine as long as the moss stayed moist. [Oh, it stayed moist, all right!]

They should be planted in the ground after the last freeze.

You can keep them in pots for now in a window using soil from outdoors.

Cheers
*****************************************************
Well, it is against everything I know to plant such frail things in regular garden soil, but I got some of my old screened compost & mixed it with a peat/coir mix, watered with Maxi-crop seaweed, and put some of them under lights alongside my 6 seeded flats. Just to experiment, I put a couple on the windowsill and kept all of them barely damp. I told him what I did and that I was very dubious, but he assured me they'd replace any non-survivors. Long story somewhat shorter: (the bad news) nothing ever sprouted. I notified him on 5/25 of the problem.
The good news: he asked how many he owed me, my address, and within a very reasonable time I received 5 replacements--nice little plants this time, about 4-5" high in square 2" pots. Unfortunately, the method of packing was very poor. A plastic baggie wrapped & rubber-banded around the pots & bases of the plants to hold in the soil--that was fine. But then they all were put loosely into a large paper bag full of Styrofoam peanuts, and there they rattled around freely en route, with the result that two (miraculously only 2)of the plants had broken stems. One survived after I pruned off the wilted top half; the other was broken below all the leaves and so far has not shown any new growth. Caveat emptor; I have not the energy or desire to pursue this further, but will chalk it up to experience.

I read Barry's newsletter on the merits and large size of the Cyclamen hederifolium he was selling on special offer, and bought some- they were smaller than he said (2" diameter rather than 2.5 to 3" as stated.) I respect his knowledge and enthusiam, but I'll take the descriptions with a pinch of salt in future. I might buy something from him I couldn't get elsewhere, I suppose....He was very quick to follow up an e-mail I sent raisng the issue, but ended up just verifying that I got what he planned to send. Disappointing.

We ran a Coop this past October for four Sampler Trays of Helleborus and other perennials. We did this first, to check out Barry's plants and customer service...and second, to see how our wonderful gardeners at Dave's Garden would respond to the actual plants we ordered.

We had a totally POSITIVE Coop. My communication with Barry was fast, very informative with quick answers to all my many questions and to several of the coop members that emailed him personally.

Barry quoted an exact price for me and he was true to his word.
We mailed the check off to him and within the week, the plants had arrived via UPS. His packaging was fantastic. My own personal experience with UPS for sending my own plants from my nursery has not been good....but his came through great even though the box had been overturned at some point during their shipment. My nephew works for UPS and he warned me they move billions of boxes each day and they are turned and tossed every which way.

Barry uses a great stacking method of packaging that protects his plants. I was amazed that with all the tossing they received, that very little soil came out in the box. The soil was still intact upon arrival. They arrived in such great shape that my sister thought I had sprayed them with some special spray to make the color brighter. Some of the plants were in our hoop house for over a month while waiting on their new homes...and they all came through this beautifully!

We cannot say enough good things about Barry, his Sunshine Farm & Garden nursery, his great communication and his ability to share his love for his gardens with others.

We are in the process of offering another coop to start mid Fedruary with plants from his gardens even now, December 2003. This will complete the first of March 2004 for order taking.

We are very excited about offering our home state, South Carolina, more exposure to plants that are very unfamiliar
to our local gardeners. Barry's plants are going to have the best life in our shade garden...and we are thankful to him for a fantastic and very informative website! We feel honored to have the ability to share his plants and information with others!

Stephanie Pierce
Carolyn McDaniel
Owners, Aquatic Farm and Nurseries

I ordered from them last year and had some problems with his ambiguity (which he never clarified even when asked directly) with mixed batches and emailing back and forth with what was in stock, similar to GagglyWogger. I found the plants to be extremely small for the price, $3, and not worth the money at all. I purchased a few of a particular bulb from him. The ones he sent were as small as a fingernail (less than half an inch), yet this year a local nursery is selling them for half the price as Sunshine, and they are FOUR-INCHES across! I will not be ordering from him again.

We met Barry Glick last year at an illustrated lecture he gave on Hellebores at nearby Hancock Shaker Village and were very impressed with his knowledge and enthusiasm. These same qualities are evident in his e-mail "Glick's Picks" which we receive and read with much enjoyment. We have now ordered plants several times and have been very impressed with their quality. Further, we have never received plants from afar that were so well packaged. Inasmuch as he carries plants that, in many cases, are out of the main stream increases our interest and we have every intention of continuing to buy from him.

Very positive! I have a beautiful three acre garden thanks to the guidance of Barry Glick of Sunshine Farms and Gardens. We found him to be generous of advise and authentic in his love for gardening. We have had no issues with him professionally and found him to be faithful to his pricing, true to his product and prompt with his delivery. He is an irrepressable fountain of knowledge and invaluable as a resource.
It is a shame that a singular group of gardeners have found the need to jump on a negative bandwagon, but feel confident that despite the acrimony many avid plantsmen will continue to avail themselves of his services and knowledge.

Back in Dec 2001 or Jan 2002, I contacted Mr. Glick about a wholesale order that I wanted to do for another gardening club that I belong to. I saw that he offered wholesale and proceeded to email him and explain what I wanted to do. I wanted to do a wholesale order for this garden club, I would do all the gathering of orders, compiling, etc and submit it to him once I had it done. He ask me to call him in a return email which I did. We chatted and, once again, I explained what I wanted to do. He said the $1.50 per plant was plants of his choice in a package. Well, I knew our order would far exceed the number of plants that came in the package and explained this to him. He that was okay, we could make it our choice at $1.50 per plant AS LONG AS we did plants in multiples of 5. Fine. I go gather orders, email the list to Mr. Glick. Well, first of all he tells me that Hellebores are $3.00 per plant and deletes all the plants we want that he is out of stock on. Fine. I go back to my group with this info. Fine, everyone is fine with this. We re-do our orders based on this new info. I submit it again to Mr. Glick. I am then told that Hellebores come only as a mix. I go back to my group with this info. Fine, everyone still wants their Helles. So, I am now into working on this order for two months. It takes ALOT of emailing, adjusting, re-choosing, upping quantities, etc to get an order to match specs for wholesale when you have 40 people involved in the ordering. In the meantime, I stay in contact with Mr.. Glick. Emailing him occasionally to let him know where we stand, what our plant list consists of, etc. SO, FINALLY, after months of work on everyone's behalf we get a finalized order and EVERYTHING is in multiples of 5. Our order was for 605 misc. plants and 55 Hellebores for a total of 660 plants: $1,072.50. I submit the FINAL list to Mr. Glick. He emails me back with prices that are NO WHERE near what our agreement was. So, I email him back to tell him that he had agreed to give us a price of $1.50 and $3.00. He comes back and says that that price is per plant per flat. I email back that no, you told us as long as we ordered in multiples of five. He comes back with okay, but that 4" pots will be priced $3 - $5. This was the first time I ever heard that the plants we ordered even came in 4" pots. So, he emails me back with every plant broken down to a price that was no where near our agreement. So, I call him. It is now 10 PM at night. He is not budging on the price because he can't afford to sell 4" plants at $1.50. hey, I am not in disagreement with him. I just KNOW what he told me to begin with and since then has had AMPLE opportunity to say the prices had changed. He had changed the Helle prices at one point so why not all of them. Anyway, he would NOT give us the price he quoted to begin with. His final comment on this was, "I don't think anyone will mind, after all, they are getting twice the plant for double their money." Now, you have to understand that I cannot just cancel the order right then and there. I have thirty some other people to get together with via email. I must tell you, I wanted to give him a new idea for a place to plant his weeds. Now, I am angry and he is trying to get me to talk these people into spending double what they thought they were going to. I had to about chew my tongue off because I didn't know what the group's opinion would be, really. Now, for the final kicker he tells me, "I'm not going to pot these plants up until you get here. That way you can walk around with the girls and help." What the heck does that mean? Do I have to pot up my own plants? I didn't even respond because it is now time for me to get off the phone before I go ballistic.
Needless to say, we canceled our order. He has made a whole bunch of gardeners angry. We knew he had some problems when he was advertising stuff on his site that he doesn't even grow but we had no clue we were about to get hit with the old bait and switch. This has been a real disappointment to all of us who were involved in this and at our garden club his name is mud. Every time I would ask him something via email I would get some vague answer. it always took me two or three emails to get my question answered in a concise manner. I am a VERY detail oriented person and VERY organized and when I know I am dealing with a disorganized person I am very careful to nail down specifics. You could ask anyone who deals with me on any project, I am down right anal when it comes to details. Mr. Glick, even suggested at one point that I had bitten off more than I could chew and that was the problem. NO. When I do ANY project it is set up with a spread sheet, every calculation input correctly, every name included, all my i's dotted and my t's crossed. I set things up and anticipate problems before they happen. transitions run smoothly when I am hosting a project. I expect change therefore I am ready. I must say, I never expected or anticipated the old bait and switch, though. Perhaps, I will next time with other companies. If Glick does it and stays in business then it must be a working program.

Barry Glick's company showed up on a list of certain native plants that I was looking for. I e-mailed him and he sent a small tree's worth of literature but his list was a single page with no prices. Seems that he asks what he thinks the market can bear and I refused to pay $12 to ship a half dozen small thumbnail size bulbs. Maybe he's better in situ but not by phone.