Comments regarding Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com)

My Van Bourgendien experience has not been good. They originally shipped me plants after the ground had frozen in late fall. The next year they did replace the plants, but made an error on the shipping label, received the plants back, and didn't call me. Weeks later I called to see where the order was, they said it had been returned. They corrected the shipping label, and resent the same box and plants, which all died. They refused to replace the shipment or credit the order. I have spoken with Debbie Van Bourgendien herself. She even wrote me a letter saying she will sue me if I say anything negative about her company. She and her people were all very rude and self-righteous on the phone. They will not take any responsibility for when they ship, or shipping errors they make which result in dead plants. These are not the kind of people I ever want to do business with again. BUYER BEWARE!

I ordered two "pretty in pink" dahlia's which turned out to be a pink cactus dahlia. They were labeled as "pretty in pink" so I didn't know until they bloomed, very disappointing! Also out of 12 begonias, 6 should have been white - all were pink. The cascading begonias that I ordered for my daughter never bloomed and neither did any of the "freebies" that they sent. I should have been suspicious when they offered "freebies" as it has been my experience that any place that offers them always sells inferior products.

We ordered a mixed pastel color pack of tulips from Van B. last Spring. Of theones that came up, all were one color of pink. Half of our order didn't arrive... When I called, the customer service was incredibly rude. They told me the order was mailed already and basically accused me of trying to get more. So, I asked what date their database showed the order was sent. They said two months ago! I left the conversation with a message to their manager to call me back. Three days later, I received the rest of my order post-marked the day I had called! I decided to try them again this Spring. Iordered two Black-eyed Susan's. I received what looked more like a discard of knotted hair from a brush! There was no structure to the bare roots and nothing to indicate a stem from the originating plant. I put them in the ground,anyway. That was a month ago... Nothing yet. I think I've been the fool too many times with this company. While their catalogue is excellent, their service (and subsequent customer help) leaves a lot to be desired.

I had a horrible experience with the plants I ordered from them. In the late spring of 1998, as a beginning gardener, I ordered [several plant.] I don't remember exactly how many plants were rotted when I received them, but at least one was just a dead, mushy root. I ended up planting the crysanthemums, and two of the other plants. The crysanthemums seemed to be doing well, but never came back the next spring. Out of all the plants I ordered only one came back - one of the Jupiter's Beard. However, when it came up the next spring, it was still puny, and looked like I had started it from seed only a few months before. I don't know if it ever bloomed, because I moved from that location, and it was not one of the plants I took with me. It seems like the only plants that did well were two out of the three freebie daylilies that they sent me. They survived the winter, but I never saw them bloom. Now, I know I was a beginner, but I wasn't a bad gardener. The soil that I planted in was clay, but had been amended with a tremendous amount of peat and some sand, and all my other plants did very well there I now throw the catalog out when I receive it, but am still searching for some of the plants that I have seen in their catalog that aren't widely available in other places. It is a shame that they have such a nice selection, but such awful quality. I never bothered to ask for a refund or replacement, so I can't comment on their customer service. I was very green, and too bashful to ask for my money back - Now I know better.

I have ordered from them 2 years ago. Perennials, bulbs, and rhizomes. Everything either was very small, halfway dead, dry, rotted, or if it came up was the wrong color, plant. Most plants did not come up. I order a lot mail-order, sometimes a plant dies but I've never had that many plants never come up or die right after planting ever. When I asked forreplacement I had to wait until next spring, just to get plants which again failed to grow or again weren't the color I ordered. About the cannas which were supposed to be replaced, they send me a note, that all the cannas rotted in the fields, so without asking they send mecompletely different cannas, which first of all one did not come up, the others came up but they are not the ones they described. Also they donot at all fit in my color scheme. It took them more then two seasons to fulfill their orders. And there are still outstanding credits with them. Which I believe are senseless to get, there I don't think they will grow anyway. I also have already enough plants of the same kind in the wrong color. I'll never order from them again. I wrote them a letter last fall, to get my money back for the plants I've never got or never got replaced, just to be told they don't do refunds. Their policy is to only give credit. I don't want any more credit there I am not planning to get anything from them ever again. I will try again to get my money back this spring…

I've placed only one order from them (a black iris), which never came up. When I called to complain, I was told they don't give refunds, only credits. I don't want a credit from a grower I have doubts about. They also told me the plant is difficult to grow--when I complained, not when I placed the order. A lot of good that did me. This catalogue goes straight into recycling.

I ordered a number of plants from Van Bourgondien and was greatly disappointed. A few arrived dead. Of the dozen types of flowers I ordered, only 1 buddleia and some lilies of the valley have bloomed after 2 years. About 1/3 of the plants never sprouted at all. Of the bulbs that did grow the first year, only a few are still alive the 2nd year. I will not order again. Their 1-year guarantee does not help when plants don't come up the 2nd year.

I ordered a species type iris from them and the plant that came was about the size of my little finger and half rotted. I called to let them know and they said they would send out another for me. That one arrived about the size of my thumb and rather sickly looking as well. When I called this time I asked for them to issue me a refund and was told they don't do that. And since they had already replaced my plant one I would have to choose something else. I just ordered some lilies and hope those do better. If not I will write the whole thing off as a learning experience. I would NOT recommend them at all.

I placed an order of daylilies and when they arrived they were puny and mostly dead. They wouldn't give me back my money, instead they gave me a credit slip. I placed an order with the credit slip and when they arrived they were also puny and mostly dead. Again they gave me acredit slip and I am now waiting for the flowers I used it for to come up. I will never order from them again.

I ordered from them last spring. Maybe their plants are ok, but I will never know. First, they miscopied my credit card number from the order I faxed to them. They notified me by postcard months later (around shipping time), whereupon I sent the card back promptly with the correct (again) number. As the weeks passed and I still had not received any plants, I became anxious and called them, only to encounter one of the rudest people ever. At this point I was informed that most of my order could not be completed, since the plants I wanted had already been shipped to other people. No apologies, no nothing, except arrogant and unpleasant customer service. That catalog now goes directly into the recycling bag upon receipt.

I ordered early, as soon as I received the catalog. Didn't receive my order, called to find out why and was treated very rudely. Finally a small part of the order arrived and the plants were in very bad condition. I called to complain and was treated even more rudely. They would not give me my money back. The minute I get their catalog I throw it out. I have also warned several people in my circle of gardeners. Some of them also had already had bad experience with this company. BUYER BEWARE

Bought 3 daylilies, all turned out to be completely mislabeled as to color and height, though all were healthy. Bought Siberian Iris, allegedly the popular 'Caesar's Brother'. Color was a washed out blue, nothing like the one I had seen in other nurseries, though all were healthy. Bought two lots of Arum italicum. Half were variegated, half were plain. All were supposed to be variegated. All were healthy though. Bought 3 Oriental lilies. Have successfully grown oriental lilies before. None of theirs grew - at all. Company refuses to give refunds, only replacements granted. I told them that I wasn't willing to wait another whole year to find out if they could get it right. Was able to talk them into sending me something else instead. Beautiful catalog. It goes straight in the trash. Never again. I've been burned enough.

I ordered from this catalog last spring and was very disappointed - of 6 achilleas, 1 daylily and 3 physotegia variegata, only the daylily lived and even it was very puny compared to daylilies ordered from [elsewhere] the same year. All of the other plants I ordered, all bareroot, never grew at all; they may have been DOA. Plants from other mail order and local sources in the same border did very well, so it was not a cultural problem. I cannot comment on the service, since I did not bother to call them - I assumed they would offer a credit, and I did not want to waste any more time or garden space on their plants.

I do not like this company. I order some hardy glads from them and it was horrible. The glads were from the bargain section of their catalog. They said that they will cover their guarantee from the bargain section, too. They give you the circumference of the bulbs they will sent you. I did some research and the glads that were describe were indeed top quality. So I order and I was shock that I receive the bulbs in about a week. I ask them when they were going to sent out bulbs and they said they sent it outfor the right planting time where I live. They sent the glad bulbs too early. I was also shock that the quality of the bulb. Yes, it was theright circumference the catalog describe, but there was a catch. They have included the old corm of the bulb! Well, I sent them an emailagain ask them when they sent their bulbs. No reply. Then I sent them a complaint letter with e mail and no reply. I planted the bulb and a little sprout came up. The real bulb was only about the size of a big pea.

Ugh. Plants were small, very dehydrated, and almost a third of the plants in the order were dead or died within the first few weeks. I may have just gotten a bad shipment…

I am extremely disappointed with the service I received from Van Bourgondien. This was my first order using a catalog, and I after the service and plants I received, I doubt I will use a catalog again. The phlox I ordered has not come up at all. I'm going to call to get a refund on those. The delphiniums finally arrived a week and a half after the phlox did. Apparently, they come from Michigan, so it's takes longer to receive them. Explain that to me. The Monarda I ordered was never received. I called the company twice, and I was told the first time it was on backorder. In the second call, I was told they were out of stock. What a waste of time.

I've found their customer service people to be rude, and delivery unreliable. I was underwhelmed with the plants that I ordered.

After two tries to get the Salome Daffodils I ordered, instead of the unknown yellow ones I received, I finally gave up.

I was extremely disappointed with the items I received this spring and with the Customer Service department when I called them.Much of the root stock was of exceptionally poor quality, especially the phlox, and it is quite obvious to me that it will not grow. Also, some items were not included and others were of the wrong variety. When I called their Customer Service number, I was told that some of the items were out of stock, but they did not tell me this when I placed my order by phone three weeks earlier. Also, I was told that the plants could be shipped anytime "during the season," and I would get a refund or a credit at the end of the season if the plants were not sent. They were not sure when the end of the season is, however.I will never order from this company again. Their catalog is fine, but that's about the only thing that is satisfactory. Not since I started serious gardening five years ago and was stung by the Michigan Bulb have I been so disappointed with a mail order catalog.

I ordered from Van Bourgondien for several years before I became totally aggravated. They have a nice catalog and good prices, but I realized that about half of what I ordered either died or was not what they claimed to have sent me. There are many other good mail order nurseries--it's too bad that some of the worst ones are so widely distributed.