Comments regarding Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com)

Bought a himalayan blue poppy that was half dead on arrival and promptly died when planted. When I contacted VanB they said it was not meant for my zone; it likes cool and moist springs. We had the coolest, wettest spring in decades. I ordered elephant ears and it looked like a dried stone but I planted it anyway; it rotted in the pot. They said they will replace this next spring. Also, I ordered Stutgartt canna; this canna is sold for its variegation. It blooms after reaching a height of around 7 feet. This one has no variegation and bloomed about the size of a dwarf canna. I also bought foxglove, toad lily and hardy geranium and these are ok. I have some tulips and hyacinths from VanB and they are beautiful.

I had a special color theme intended for a particular garden bed. So I ordered daffodils which were to be whitish with very pick centers. (all turned out orange-ish. no pink there!) I also ordered 10 bags of 7 of a pale pink tulip. Needless to say there was no pale pink there either. I also ordered 5 bags of 12 of a windflower mix. (no mix there) It amazed me that I planted all this stuff in the fall of 2008 only to wait breathlessly for the arrival of spring to see the "pale pink" beauties that would come up in my special garden. Imagine my horror (and I have pictures) of all the plants that came up did NOT have one ounce of pink on them. Oh but lots of oranges and yellows. Pretty....but not what I intended! I did email them but got no response. I will find another company who can guarantee color and start again this fall. I'll dig up the other ones and put them somewhere else.

WARNING...CUSTOMERS BEWARE...WARNING...!!!

Catalog stated upright Blk Elephant ear bulbs would be very large, I did not agree to any substitues. So I was very disappointed to have been billed over $36.00 for two bulbs that were not even the diameter of a quarter. We were expecting as advertised 6-7" bulbs. A little note was sent along with the shrunken substitutes that stated...please forgive us there has been an earthquake in the tropical rainforest where these plants originate. I was unhappy that and contacted the company and requested a refund in full. I was told I would have to return the shrunken tiny bulbs so I asked them to send a UPS call tag so that I wouldn't get stuck with the return shipping fees. 5 phone calls and 2 months later I am still awaiting the refund to be credited to my credit card. Customer Service Reps are RUDE and unwilling to investigate my complaint, unwilling/refused to transfer my call to their supervisor or a superior. I am turning this over to the BBB and hope that they will investigate this, in addition to asking my VISA card to do the same. COMPANY IS CLEARLY IN VIOLATION OF FAILING TO ISSUE CREDIT, FAILING TO HEED CUSTOMERS REQUEST TO NOT PROVIDE OR SHIP ANY SUBSTITUTES IF ORIGINAL ITEM AS ADVERTISED IS UNAVAILABLE. FRAUD ALERT START TO FINISH.

I ordered 2 Angel trumpets which arrived in pot, bent but not broken and so far look good in the planting. Also, I ordered two bleeding hearts-they arrived in a plastic baggie filled with potting soil and 2 bright gold stems (I assume from sulfur). I have planted the stems, but no results yet. I am not sure they are going to survive. Only time will tell,but I was not happy with the bleeding heart packaging. Karen Shaver

Ordered four plants. All four came looking very rough. I was able to get two of them back to health again. Since I have emailed twice about replacements for the plants that didn't make it and still no answer back. If I could get my replace plants in good enough shape to make it I would seriously think about moving the rating to a neutral instead of a negative.

I recently sent a large order of clearance items (mainly daylilies and OT lilies) to Van Bourgondien. Given the negative feedback I've seen on DG, I was rather apprehensive as I waited for my order to arrive. My order arrived less than a week after I sent it, and the bulbs and fans were nice, fresh, and healthy. I think dornancy makes a big difference when one is ordering plants, especially at the end of the season. If the plant material can be refrigerated and kept cool, they should be able to survive the shipping ordeal. There is no way I would order plants with fibrous roots via mailorder at this time of year; I live in South Carolina and they would probably be cooked by the time they arrived. Bulbs, rhizomes, etc., are a different matter, as they can (and should) be kept cool until planted.

I ordered 4 coneflowers in Sept 2008. They were dead and nasty. I called the company and a gentleman stated they were a perennial and they should be fine come the following spring. Well spring has sprung no coneflowers. 6 weeks ago I called and spoke to a young gal who stated her name was Kathy (which I didn't believe her) and I also emailed this company to no avail. I did request to speak to a supervisor or manager . . they don't have any! This is what I was told by "Kathy." Interesting to say the least. I called on 6-8-09 and requested to speak to a manager again and the person who answered the phone was an assistant manager (Bev). Told her the whole story again and was very emphatic I didn't want a refund I wanted the product. Well she was happy to help me, however the original coneflowers (After Midnight and Double Pink) were no longer in stock or they no longer handled. Ok she went thru what they did have and I picked out my 4 coneflowers. She stated they would be shipped right out and they were. I received them on 6-10-2009. What a joke! I received 4 plastic baggies of what appear to be nothing but dirt. After inspecting them, there 4 tiny roots about the size of a small office rubberband! What a joke! I won't give this company the time of day as satisfaction is not a priority for them. I have a new home and money is tight but I did want to have a larger coneflower bed . . well it ain't happening with this place! I caution anyone who is contemplating ordering from them . . DON'T! $50.00 + s/h is a lot of money when you're younger and getting into that new home. NEVER AGAIN! Learn your lesson from my experience.

I ordered 3 Jade and 2 Green Jewel coneflowers from Van Bourgondien at the beginning of June: my local nurseries did not have these varieties and VB was offering them on clearance.

They arrived about 8 days later. The Green Jewels had no viable roots and each had a sprout smaller than my pinky nail. All three Jade coneflowers were dead and rotted. And shipping alone for these five dead sticks was $19. And to add insult to injury, their packing list included a note saying that they do not offer refunds on clearance plants. (Now why, I wonder, would they have cause for a policy like that?)

I'm appalled by their shoddy plants. VB might be a great company for bulbs but I'll never know since this first purchase from them is absolutely my last.

I placed an order that was shipped 3/25/09.. a part of the order was the PENSTEMON COLLECTION (73906)... I contacted the company twice to tell them there is no growth and they appear to be dead ... via there website... both times I received NO RESPONSE

I would not recommend buying from a company that doesn't not even take the time to send a respond to a problem

I am in a daylily club in SW Michigan and we always look for bargains for other "lilies." I found this site, filled my basket with bargain lillium bulbs and was shocked to see double the shipping rate for the cost of my order. I tried removing the fall shipping bulbs, still the shipping was approx. 50% of the cost of the order. I was confused so I called.

I was told it's their policy to charge the amount of shipping that I would have paid for the original price of the bulbs. How absurd! I've been using mail order most of my adult life an shipping has always been based on the price of the products in the cart. That's like paying sales tax on what the car's original price, not the discount. Is this legal?

Sorely dissappointed in Kalamazoo

Prior to ordering bulbs on line for the first time I researched suppliers. I chose Van Bourgandien in February because of the relatively short distance my order would travel, the reviews I read at DG , and the ease of navigating their website.
While waiting for my first order to arrive Van Bourgandien's customer service e mailed that my card had been compromised ( ID theft). That headsup allowed me to make other arrangements for payment in time to avoid any delay of the scheduled delivery date.
I could not have been more pleased with the care of filling and shipping the order. The quality of the bulbs was such that only one bulb was not viable. The replacement bulb and a backorder arrived just a few days later- both are growing very well.

In April I made another order-this time for well over 100 bulbs. Again my order arrived on time and in excellent condition To date not one one bulb has needed to be replaced.
Here in lenoir we are limited to bulbs sold by big box stores such as Lowes and Walmart. Although their prices are competitive for the few varieties they carry quality is lacking.

I wanted a white amaryllis for Christmas last year. I bought a (rather expensive) kit from Van Bourgondiens. It bloomed red. I returned it for another kit, and this one late January bloomed red. Oh well, I was not meant to have a white one.
I complained to our delivery driver, who also delivers to V B,
indeed he is a friend of Mrs V B. She sent me 4 huge (leftover) replacement bulbs, (which bloomed red, no surprise here), a pack of President canna, and a pack of 4 different Summer bulbs. These had in them the hardy fragrant Glads, you know the ones, white with red center, and the little claws of ranunculus. I have never in the past been able to grow these, but upon planting them in my garden, they
postively flew up out of the ground. I can only speak for myself, I am very pleased with the bulb lady's above and beyond gifts to ensure my satisfaction at not having a white (amaryllis) Christmas.

Placed an order in March, 2009. Slow to ship. Some good, some bad: plants were well packed but small. The phlox had not sprouted and I'll have to see how they do, but they looked fine. Coneflower was backordered with NO indication of shipping date. Who knows when it will arrive. I have ordered from this company several times in the past, with mixed results. Some of their plants are very nice, others are marginal at best and don't live well. I have about 60/40 luck with them (60% good, 40% not so good.) Got a "deal" on what I ordered this time so I took a chance.

I did not expect much from this company, but I ordered Bletilla (6) and Habenaria (really Pecteilis) "bulbs". They initially charged me $16.95 for 10 bulbs, and the size of Habenaria tuberoids (4) are about that of peas. Apparently, Habenaria is not available, but I only found this because they sent me an e-mail. Two of Bletilla rhizomes were shriveled. So I replied to the message asking about Habenaria and the quality of Bletilla received. No reply.

So I called the company and expressed a concern. She told me that I have to grow this 6~8 months before I get a replacement or a refund. She did not know what kind of plants I received but had a nerve to advise me to soak them with water "to give a chance", even I repeatedly told her that I have grown this one before.

I ordered a variety of perennials, both starter plants and bare root stock, about 36 plants in all. I emailed the company after placing the order to request a specific "not to ship" date as I was going to be out of town for 10 days. I received a very polite reply indicating they would honor my request. My plants all arrived before I left town and all in good condition. I saved quite a bit over buying 4" or larger pots in town, and several of the plants are not offered locally. Overall, a very pleasant and worthwhile purchase.

Ordered about 10 items ranging from Hostas to Geraniums, and everything looked great. While the packing was dry, it did take 3 days for UPS ground to get it here, if you live further away, you might want to pay for quicker shipping if you are worried.

The only thing I could suggest would be a little more moisture retentive soil mix, but other than that, everything seems to be great.

I bought 2 hardy fuschias and 2 cana lilies. The fuschias arrived in plastic packaging with a faded label, and inside were roots with no visible signs of life and a few llimp, wasted roots. The canas were in similar poor condition. My email question about their condition elicited no response - I would definitely not order from them again or any "affiliated" site, as it appears to have several different sites/names.

FYI while I got no response, my inbox has been spammed every other day with 50% off sales and a variety of cheesy offers. Beware!

Last April or May of 2008 I placed an order of Gaint Phloxs, Day Lillies, and other plants, thinking I would get them soon. No I didn't get them till that fall. I ended up losing all of the plants except for the day lillies. And even though the day lillies did ok they were not the plants I ordered. I have request my money back for the plants that died and was told that I could only get a credit. Since then I have made another order that should arive this spring and I'll have to wait and see if this will be a waste of money or just a fluke.

Very negative! This company ships dead plants. I ordered a clematis from them which was very expensive. They shipped it bare root. It never had a chance! If you don't want a bare root plant, you should stay away from this company. Their customer service is also very poor. In my experience bare root plants very rarely grow unless it's a bulb or tuber. I know for a fact that most of the plants they ship bare root will never grow. Some things aren't meant to be shipped in that manner!

I have been buying from VB's for many years, both from their "wholesale" catalog and their standard one. I have always received top quality plants in good condition and shipped quickly. The one time I received some rotted daffodils they were promptly replaced. I can usually get very good plant material here at a fraction of what I pay elsewhere, either locally or by mail. Highly recommeded!!

About three weeks ago I ordered around $100 of clearance bulbs for some landscaping I'm doing. The job is a nonprofit deal for a friend whose health issues doesnt allow them to garden. Being clearance fall bulbs, I expected a good amount of damage and/or rot. I was pleasantly surprised with neither. The ferns and hostas were fat and had nice heathly buds on them. The lillies and poppy I received were equally large and in good condition. I received them about 4 days after ordering, planted them 2 days later. I live on the florida panhandle coast so I'm very lucky to have a very mild winter and I'm thrilled to say the ferns are already starting to frond up and I have nice 3in sprouts on the iris I ordered. My only complaint would be that I ordered a mixed lot (50 bulbs)of daffodils to naturalize the back of her property and they sent 14 pink daffodils in place of them. The price was comparable but I was looking more for quantity in the use. It would have been nice if they had called to confirm the substitution, but overall a very fantastic shipment of very nice healthy plants.

As part of a community wide project to plant daffodils I recently ordered 60,000 wholesale naturalizing daffodil bulbs from VB. I used this company on the recommendation of a daffodil planter who has been using the bulbs for 20 plus years. We received outstanding service from the company, including personal phone calls, reduced price and free shipping. The bulbs were in wonderful condition. The bulbs were the size as described and minimal decay or rot was found. Of the 60,000 bulbs, we still have about 10,000 to plant. At this point I am satisfied with the company and their service. If there is need to change my opinion in the spring when the daffodils are set to bloom I will certainly update my evaluation. But at this point I feel certain that the bulbs will preform beautifully in our area as I have seen the VB bulbs in bloom in a local private garden that has a million or more bulbs.

Like many others, I had a poor experience with this company two years ago - about 25% of the bulbs failed to come up, and half of the others were not what they were labelled. This was especially true of the premium bulbs - madonna lilies turned out to be tiger lilies; poet's daffodils were ordinary yellow daffodils; and so forth.

Altogether, I think that my $200 order gave me about $75 worth of ordinary bulbs. (The good news is that I learned to pay attention to reviews of online retailers, but it was an expensive lesson.)

About 5 years ago I bought a dark blue double tradescantia from them. When it bloomed, it was single and almost white. I contacted them, but I had to wait a year for a replacement, because they were out of them. The following spring I received what was supposed to be a replacement plant, but the plastic bag contained only peat moss and there was no plant in it. I contacted them again and was promised a new plant the following spring. I never heard from them and I will never order from them again.

I fell in love with a double white Brugmansia in their catalog a few years back and caved to my desire by paying $20 for it. When I got it it bloomed single pink. They said they'd replace it, which they did, and it bloomed single YELLOW! So they again replaced it and the buds are starting to open now. I pried one open and I see that it is another SINGLE flower and NOT a double! Not sure what color it is, but I don't care at this point. I will be contacting the company and demanding a refund. I am tired of this charade. I guess I should've check with ya'll first!

This wasn't a mail order experience, I bought 2 grape vines from Home Depot but they are from Van Bourgondien. Seedless Suffolk and Seedless Reliance. I waited 3 years to get fruit and to taste the sweet seedless grapes that I had purchased. 3 years! After reading several of these reviews I'm sure you can figure out where this is going. The grapes were not seedless at all. Did they just dig up anything to fill up an order? And I am surprised that Home Depot got duped by this company. Home Depot has a 1 year refund policy but at this point we are way beyond that. It sounds like this company will just fulfill orders with anything they can dig up! I honestly don't know how I can trust any company with a plant that takes several years to develop!

This company was recommended to me by a Master Gardener (president of the local chapter, BTW). So I thought they must be good. I placed a sizeable order with them last year. Probably 50% (or even less) survived planting. I figured either I had done something wrong, the plants weren't right for this area (I had check the zones so I knew that wasn't it) or 'something.' Not having learned my lesson last year, this spring I placed another order with them. Same experience as last year. Not one of the ferns I ordered from them survived, several lilies never sprouted and some of the plants that did sprout don't look all that great. The Blazing Star is the only plant that looks like something that will survive and even flourish. I'm sure the person who recommended this company has had good experience, but sadly I can't say the same thing for me. And looking at the other comments out here, I'd say more people share my experience with them than have positive experiences. There are too many other highly rated companies out there ... save your money and spend it with them rather than this company.

I have ordered dahlias, daylilies, and tulips. After they have bloomed, I see they aren't the kind I had ordered. I'm very disappointed, especially about the daylily. I was really looking forward to that one. I won't order from them again.

On May 4th when I received the 6 plants I had ordered from this company they arrived looking quite dead. I emailed them explaining the problem and was given the same run-around that everyone else has gotten. Store credit only. I notified my credit card company of a dispute. Sure enough..they have
rebilled my account. I had taken pictures of these plants and
I can prove my claim. With all of the negative comments they get you would think they would try to change their ways.

Last year I placed two large orders for bulbs and plants which were on Clearance. I have been very disappointed with the company response regarding bulbs/plants which did not perform. They are not willing to replace them. Their policy is not to give a refund, but to give the customer a credit to be used only at Van Bourgondien.
I do not want a credit, I want the bulbs/plants which did not perform replaced!
Because the items were on Clearance, when I order again (as I must if I want to recoup anything) it will be at full price. I am on a fixed income and would not have ordered these items at full price. I love to garden, but I must shop sales.
If Van Bourgondien had replaced the faulty items I ordered I would have been pleased that they stood behind their products. They would have gained a long term customer. As it is, I do not plan to do business with them again after I use my "credit."

Two years ago I ordered a number of various bulbs from here. Packages were marked with right names, when they flowered, they were anything BUT what I had chosen! Ordered early to INSURE getting a certain variety of tuberous begonia, recieved a bag of mixed gladiola bulbs instead, and the dahlia tubers proved to be types not even listed in their choices! I wrote them a letter of complaint, NEVER heard a word back! Now when their catalogues come in, they go right in the scrap pile for recycling.

Did not send all of my plants but would not refund my money, instead gave a credit and argued with me about it. I planted the bulbs and the other plants last Fall. Maybe 10 of the 50 bulbs came up. 2 of the 8 plants came up and they are tiny and struggling, not blooming. Very poor quality plants. Very poor service too because now I have to buy from them again the get my money back becasue of the credit which means I have to pay shipping again too. Terrible company wish I'd read the reviews first.

I'm not a gardener but I just decided to plant for fun. My mother loves dahlia's so one day I came by the Van Bourgondien's website and was aww-ed by the varieties of bulbs they carried and was delighted by the clearance sales. I ordered a few varieties of dahlias .. and ordered strawberry plant, toadlily and a hot flash calla lily.

I found the company's shipping a bit hard to deal with because they only ship during season but never have an expected arrival date, so you basically sit and wait until it ships.

It finally came and the dahlias and strawberries are beginning to grow leaves. The calla lily and the toad lily bulbs came and were a bit dry, so I'm not sure if they will grow. There is one dahlia bulb that might be mislabelled because the leaves are coming out different from the rest of them. We'll just have to see later. I noticed a lot of people have problems with their mislabelling.. hopefully these ones are the ones I ordered.

I wish I saw reviews for this company beforehand.

I ordered three tree peonies, (Yoshinogawa) in a soft pink color to frame my light yellow home. The three peonies were all tagged as the variety I ordered. After waiting two seasons for the plants to establish, this spring I was delighted to see flower buds growing on the peonies. Much to my horror, I arrived home from work to see that Van Bourgandien had mislabeled my peonies. Instead of a soft pink the blossoms were a harsh red that made the house look tired and the rest of the landscape washed out. It completely clashed with the hues I had carefully selected for the front garden. If they make good on their mistake, then I will change my rating and update this post, if not, it stays negative and I would recommend you steer clear of a nursery that cannot properly track and label the varieties it sells.

I have ordered from this company for several years and, overall, have been satisfied. I had a bad experience with 3 of the 4 plants I ordered this spring. Two were DOA and one is sickly. When I called, they cheerfully gave me a credit against my fall order Two years ago, I ordered 20 iris and are very happy with them. There was only one that wasn't as marked and I have no problem with that. However, last fall I ordered 4 more. Three bloomed and all of them were mis-marked! I am disappointed, but they were healthy or they wouldn't have bloomed and I am not going to complain to them.
I have gotten a large number of daffidills from them over the last several years; can't find a better price and they are beautiful. I take advantage of the $25 off offer and have gotten a lot of different plants that I wouldn't buy otherwise. Some don't grow but I expect that. I ordered a collection of 20 lilies for $5 that I have really enjoyed. No, they didn't all grow but I didn't expect they would.
Yes, I have received larger, healthier plants from Bluestone but they cost more. For the price, I think Van Bourgondien is a good deal and I have never had a problem with their customer service.

I placed an order with this company in early Spring (March) this year. Order arrived fine and timely but the 2 Brunnera Looking Glass plants never did come up.
I wrote to the company and even though they did not have any available for replacement they did send me a credit by e mail as well as snail mail for the cost of the 2 plants. I placed another order and the credit was applied with no problem at all. I will do business with this fine and reliable company again.

I recently ordered some daylilies and lilies on clearance. After placing the orders, I read the reviews here and my expectations were thus set very low. To make matters worse, the floods in the midwest played havoc with the UPS schedules, and the first order spent 12 days in transit with often hot summer weather.

Having now received the orders and potted everything up, I am quite pleasantly surprised by the plants I received. No, it was not perfect, but assuming the plants turn out to be as labeled (it will be quite a long time before I will be certain), overall I received healthy plants which I already can see will grow well.

A couple of the daylilies did perish in transit and replacements will be on their way, but out of quite a large order which endured an unfortunately protracted journey west, I felt the packaging was quite good overall and the health of the plants was fine. So far so good, and much better than expected.

This Spring I ordered some Birch's Double Hardy Geraniums. These plants were kind of expensive for their promised size, but I felt that it could be worth it for the beautiful double pink blooms all summer long. When they came, all were rotted and mushy. I called right away to let them know and was instructed to give them a chance, I explained that I had been gardening for many years and could tell a poor quality plant when I see one! Some of these plants did struggle and make it. I called and asked for replacements for the dead ones and was told to give them a little more time. After arguing and finally speaking with a supervisor, I was sent replacements. (By the way, I was also charged more for shipping than I had originally agreed to and the customer service rep I spoke with was extremely rude.) This evening I noticed that two of the buds had actually opened on two different plants. Much to my surprise and chagrin, neither is a double pink flower. One is a common single purple and the other is a single white. I could have gotten either of these for free from fellow gardeners. I can't wait to hear what they have to say when I call tomorrow. I checked online tonight and, of course, the Birch's Double Hardy is sold out for the season. I will never buy from them again. I wish that I had seen the reviews on Daves Garden BEFORE I dealt with them.

I placed an order in early February for some hardy fushias, soapworts, crocosomia and tree peonies. I spent $70.00. I waited for eight weeks without recieving a thing. I live in Ca and everything in my garden was already pushing out new growth and coming out of dormancy by then. I called and the lady advised me my order had been delayed due to my tree peonies not being in stock. Another month went by, and I received my package. I opened it excitedly, hoping to plant my costly new plants. One fushia was bone dry and clearly dead. The root was limp and soggy. The other had come out of dormancy during its month long shipping ordeal, was sallow white from lack of light, but alas alive. The soapworts were all mush. The crocosomia were moldy and smelly. Both tree peopnies were out of dormancy and pushing leaves out through the bag. One obviously stayed in the box for over a month; the leaves were twisted indicating the cramped quarters of the shipping box. I planted everything anyway, doubtfully. One tree peony grew (unfortunately the one w/ gnarled growth) and one fushia grew but is weakly(4 inches high, no flowers...all my other fushias are flowering). Nothing else grew. I waited a month, nothing changed, so I called and complained asking for an exchange. Well my exhange (minus the peony, which I have to wait 'til fall for) arrived today.....soapworts again are mush, definately dead. The fushia roots are mushy, with the main roots having been busted during shipping somehow. Not that it matters, there are no dormant buds on the dead moldy twig anyhow. Needless to say I am frazzled! Not to mention, the lady replaced a duplicate fushia (I ordered two varieties) AND she sent out only 5 crocosomia to replace the 10, furthermore I was billed for rising gas prices for an order that is the replacement order for very low quality items fo which I already paid shipping. The plants shipped to replace have likely been in the warehouse box since early spring, it is now summer. The customer service lady was totally lame, she was not apoligetic or sympathetic to me as a paying customer. She even said "everyone has their day to complain" when confronted with the question of why poor quality items were shipped! Unbelievable. Save your money and throw away these catalogs. DO NOT BUY!