my dahlias were just beautiful and my lilies were better this year than last.

Note from the Garden Watchdog editors:

My experience with VanB's has been excellent. I use VanB's extensively and have recommended VanB's to my clients for years. I also purchase large orders for my corporate clients who have also been very satisfied. Over the years, there have been minimal problems which have been resolved immediately and with excellent response. The quality is superior to many of the competitors.

Purchase many flower bulbs and perenials over the years since we bought our house in 1996. They just seem to get bigger and more beeautiful as the years go on. always seemed to have our needs in mind A+++ company to deal with.

I have been planting Van Bourgondien bulbs for 33 years and have always been extremely pleased with the quality and the service. By now as you may quess, my gardens are mature but as gardens are..., I continue to change them and enjoy them again and again. In particular, my casa blanca lilies have been incredible, large and fragrant, my clematis is magnificent( at least 6 varieties), my daffodils and crocus bloom again and again, my peonies are so hardy and fragrant, I share them with all my friends. My tree peonies are my favorite...awesome. I have shared so many of my plants with friends and so many of my garden friends have ordered from Van Bourgondiens also and are also pleased. We all look forward to the catalog and share our experience. I expect I'll stay with Van Bourgondiens for another 33 years.

Bought a fairy rose, 3 butterfly bushes, 4 geraniums, 3 phlox, some foxtail lilies, and something else that I can't remember. The fairy rose, looked dead from the begginning and has never showed any signs of live...ever. One butterfly bush has come up, one geranium, no phlox, and two of the foxtail lilies, but one died right away. I contacted them and they did respond via e-mail three or four days later. They said to send them the invoice number which I had thrown away. I provided them with the transaction number from the bank, and the date of purchase and two weeks later and four e-mails to them and they have never responded back to me. Will not try this company again. I buy a lot of mail order bulbs, but this was the first plants.

My husband ordered fall bulbs from your company. ( He's always a bit skeptical of ordering from catalogs.) Well he did all the planting and took almost all the credit. The flowers were beautiful. People would even stop when they saw him working in the gardens and comment on how beautiful they are. He gives you a lot of the credit. I can't wait to see what he orders this fall, I'm afraid he might be outta control. :) Great job VanBourgondien's, Thank you.

Note from the Garden Watchdog editors:

I ordered Ranunculus, Fuschia, and anemone from this company online. I recieved order confirmation. And then I waited. And waited. I finally emailed asking where my bulbs were and was told that they were on the way.(Does it always take over a month to receive bulbs?). This is my first mail order experience with bulbs, but I have beed gardening for years. I planted everything in large containers and waited. One of the fuschia came up. Four of the Ranunculus came up, but nothing has ever bloomed. The anemones were damp and soft, so I didn't even bother planting them. Never again!!!!!!!

I am a new homeowner. And I've been working on my yard and creating new flowerbeds. I ordered many tulips, daffs, hyacinths, bleeding hearts, etc., from their catalog. To make a long story short, my yard was the talk of my neighborhood. Everything bloomed beautiful. I can't wait to order more.

I am very new to gardening and I have been experimenting with numerous mail order gardening companies. I was quite happy with my purchases.

I ordered from Van Bourgondien two years in a row now. The first year I purchased a few cannas, candy lilies and festuca elijah blue. The festuca arrived in great condition and took off even though I planted very late in the season. This summer the cannas and lilies all came in beautifully.

This year I wanted to find something that would grow in my yard where have pretty bad soil. I ordered liatris which the catatog said was good for bad soil. I was shocked not only that they grew, but right now they are blooming like crazy even though they shouldn't their first year. ( I ordered them from a 50% off newsletter and planted them late in the season.) I wasn't expecting much. I also ordered some more festuca and it is also doing very well.

Happy Gardening!

Note from the Garden Watchdog editors:

I have planted bulbs from Van Bourgondien every spring and fall for the last four years. This past spring the tulips where so nice that every neighbor had to stop just to mention how nice the yard looked.

The dahlias that we planted this spring are as tall as the fence and are loaded with buds and flowers.

I plan to plant from them again.

My dahlias and cannas that I bought this spring are doing just great. My casa blanca lilies from last fall were just beautiful this year. I cut so many stems for the vase. The fragrance was a little over whelming though. So far I am a happy customer.

Note from the Garden Watchdog editors:

I placed an order this spring and everything arrived on time and in great condition. My lilies were beautiful and I am looking forward to placing another order this fall.

Note from the Garden Watchdog editors:

I ordered a couple of plants from this company and thought they were pretty good. They had a 50% off sale at the end of the spring and I ordered a bunch of plants. I wasn't sure what to expect, but when they
arrived they were very nice. We had great results with their dahlias, callas, glads, daylilies and hosta. I plan to buy from them again this fall.

Note from the Garden Watchdog editors:

Awful! I wish I had found this site before I placed my order. The only upside to it all is that I did find this site while I was looking online for some assistance with my situation.

Long story short - placed order online. Confirmation was completely wrong, so I called them. Very rude woman in Customer Service tells me my order didn't go through. I question that I received a confirmation. Weeks later I receive notification that they are sending a duplicate order, when I check I see they've charged me again too. I call, they tell me to refuse the package. This was in April, it's August and I still have no refund. They tried to pull that "credit only" B.S. w/me and I flipped out. Still waiting on that refund. Top it all off? NONE OF THE BULBS EVER GREW! I agreed to replacement order just so I don't have to deal with them anymore.

I requested that they remove my name from their database immediately. I don't want to be tempted by their catalog ever again.

Really - they are not worth the aggrivation. Their prices can be competitive, but you have to ask why. Lousy product and worse customer service.

I've bought bulbs and roots from this company several times. The fall bulbs I ordered in Fall 2004 (daffodils, crocus, hyacinth, and iris) were a good size and grew nicely. The roots and bulbs I ordered in Spring 2005 (perovskia, veronica, periwinkle, buddleia, yarrow, lilies, gladiolas, and rudbeckia) were even better, considering that I let them dry out and waited 3 weeks to plant them after I received them (very cold spring); I only had a 20% mortality rate. The perovskia and gladiolas look fabulous right now.

I have ordered from the VanBourgondien bulb company on three occasions - once while living in N.C. and twice in Maine. They ordering process has been very easy, with immediate confirmation. They informed me re: when the order would ship -- I was not going to be in the country during that time so they made big accommodations re: changing and keeping me apprised of the shipping date. As with any mail order, some plants are not going to make it; or if they made it they may not come up -- when I emailed them with the report on either end (e.g., arrived in poor condition; didn't come up the next year) they either credited my credit card, sent replacements within appropriate planting time, or the next available planting time. They were very professional and the quality rivaled some of the more expensive/high end mail order companies. I will continue to order from them.

Ordered a ton of hostas and ferns during their ½ off sale. VERY pleased. Plants arrived healthy and are already growing well.

I have been dealing with KVB for many years. I have found them to be very fair in their dealings with their customers. Remember when dealing with a live item, there's always the possibility of it NOT surviving but they have always replaced with no questions asked. Their phone people have always been pleasant and helpful when I've called with problems. I have turned many of my gardening friends on to Van Bourgondien and they've been just as satisfied with the company as I have. The bulblady herself has gotten on the phone with me to help me with my gardening questions. Also, they do substitute but when I've called to say I was unhappy with the substitution they've given me a store credit AND let me keep the substitution they sent. WOW that's good business. I've ordered from many catalogs but Van Bourgondien gets my order every season!

This spring I placed an order over the telephone with this company, for a very specific gladiolus. I would absolutely not have placed an order with them, but for their advertisement in their catalog for this item. When I placed my order, I was not told that the item was unavailable, nor was I told that the company would substitute something else without contacting me first. When I received my order, the glads I had ordered had been replaced with another "similar" variety of their choosing, as those I ordered were not available. At no time had they contacted me to tell me that my order could not be filled and to ask me whether I wanted something else substituted.

Since I had placed the order very specifically for the glads that I ordered, I asked for a refund for that part of my order. I received an e-mail from them telling me that I could not get a refund without returning the substituted items. I then requested from them a return postage-paid mailing label, since I had already paid shipping and handling to have the items I had ordered sent to me. So far, they have not sent me a return label so that I can send back the items I did not order and do not want, so that I can get my refund.

I will absolutely never do business with this company again. There are plenty of other bulb sources that I have dealt with over the years that understand the concept of customer service. Other companies that I have dealt with in the past and will continue to do business with in the future have either asked me at the time of my order whether I want to accept substitutions if something becomes unavailable, or have told me that they would never do a substitution without contacting me first. Charging me for something I did not order and do not want, then refusing to send me a return label so that I am forced to pay the return postage in order to get a refund has convinced me that this company should be avoided.

Summary: I won't use them again, did not ship on time, but good quality for the begonias -

I ordered begonias and astilbe in March; both were to ship about the first week of April. By April 20, I had nothing; I called, and was told they had no idea why it hadn't shipped but would put me on immediate shipping and I shoud get them the next week.

Next week, nothing; called again, and was told that there was no record of my previous rush ship request, and that the first week of April was only a "ship after date" not the actual shipping date. Of course, begonias need 6-8 weeks of start time in my zone 6, so to plant by memorial day (my frost free date) the first week of April is, well, correct. WFF ships to my zone starting mid March.

So, I received them the first week of May; behind by 2-4 weeks, but I have to admit the quality of the begonias is pretty good. Only one of the three astilbe was any good, though.

Actually, I am changing my rating to negative because I will never order from them again. Based on the other posts, it's not worth a call, either-

I ordered a collection of karma dahlias because they were the only US retail supplier this year. I knew they had a reputation for bad handling so I specifically on the order "absolutely no substitutes." LOL and behold, they substituted karma naomi with "dark red" dahlia and billed me for karma naomi.

I am very very disatisfied with this Company. I will never order from them again. I had a credit for $30.88 from almost two years ago. The credit was for their poor quality plants back then. I decided I had better use my credit this spring, because as a matter of fact when I went to use my credit they had no record of it on their computer system. I had to wait a week and call back while they retrieved the info from their old system. No problem with that. Well approximately two months or so ago I ordered their Monk's Cap Collection and their Astrantia Ruby Wedding. My order came to more than my credit, but that's okay. Well, my bareroot plants arrived in
extremely poor condition. They were either totally black and mushy, or a couple of them had some signs of life. Being an experienced gardener I looked at it as a challenge to try and nurture these poor litttle guys back to health. I potted them up and nurtured them along. Of the 6 plants I received I could only nurture two of them to start to grow. The rest rotted in their pots. I contacted Customer Service one day last week and spoke to this very sarcastic lady. She tried telling me to give them more time. She wanted to know how I knew they were dead. Duh! Isn't rotting plant material a sign of being dead? Duh??? We continued to argue about this. I finally told her I want my replacements now, not later on! She then told me that she would only replace them once. I specifically asked her if she could put a note on my replacement order to ask for some nice healthy looking bareroot plants. She said she would. I have dealt with other companies and they have offered to do this so I just thought I would ask.

Well, today my plants arrived. I am in total shock and disbelief. The plants are smaller than the original ones. In fact one of the Monk's cap bags there is not even a plant in it. The other monk's cap is mush. The Astrantia Ruby might? might? make it with lots of TLC. I am so angry at this company. I have friends that will never order from them again. I wish this site would allow pict's. I would love to show all of you these poor poor plants that Van Bourgondein sends out to people. I am going to take pic'ts and send them to the Bulb Lady. Sorry about my rant, but do not buy from this Company! I repeat do not buy from this Company!

I ordered twice with Van Bourgondien over the past year and after some trial and error, I realized that my inexperience with ordering bare-root perennials from a mail order company resulted in some of my plants demise.

At first I thought I was sent unhealthy stock, but after some tips and a little more care in planting them, I concluded that I could have done more to ensure their survival. I simply wasn't aware of some tricks of the trade to help them along -- mainly, soaking bare-root perennials for an hour or two before planting did wonders.

Even though I've had some replacements still not live, it's possible not all the plants I ordered find my gardens inhabitable (Foxtail Lily won't give me the time of day). Gardening is a trial and error adventure and I give Van Bourgondien a thumbs up for their quality customer service and willingness to replace their products when & if something goes wrong. They've always been pleasant to deal via the phone or web and their replacement guarantee is hard to beat.

Ordered fall sale items including Phlox Collection (16 plants), Coreopsis Collection (4 plants), Iris Siberica Collection (3 plants) and Leucanthemum Becky (1 plant). I planted the plants the day after they arrived. They were labeled so I could find them in the spring. I also planted similar plants from OTHER vendors at the same time. Needless to say, none of the previously noted VanBourgondien items came up. So, out of 24 live plants ZERO survived. Plants from the other vendors are 6"-8" across and growing beautifully. I called VanBourgondien today to report and they say they will reship again in the fall. But I know, I'll get similar INFERIOR quality product that will be a waste of time to plant because I am sure these also will fail to grow. I fell for their slick catalogue and e-mail offers. But won't be ordering from this company again. I've requested to be removed from their mailing list and e-mail list. Beware of this company!!!

Ordered 6 tree peonies, and they have all grown well. One flowered this year which I didn't expect. The flower was *huge*. No problems experienced!

I ordered about $100 worth of plants and bulbs from these folks.

Half the stuff was dead on arrival and three of the plants came up the next year in a different color than I had ordered. (Species tradescantia rather than the special cultivar I had ordered and paid extra for.) When I dealt with Cust Service, they were rude, condescending and reluctant to refund/replace. (Duh - I know the difference between a dormant plant and a dead plant.) It took at least three calls, two e-mails, and finally a regular letter to get the matter resolved.

They haven't managed to take me off their mailing list either - which I requested - and I always feel that twinge of regret when I see the catalog (and think about the trees that have died on its behalf!)

I would avoid these folks like the plague. There are many other reputable companies that provide much better products and service.

I ordered about $450 of perennials through the wholesale side of the company. The website was terrific, and the ordering process easy. I got an e-mail confirming my order, with approx ship dates. When it didn't arrive as soon as I expected, I called the toll-free number, and had an excellent representative on the phone who helped me out very courteously. Within days my order was on the doorstep. The plants are FANTASTIC. Big, healthy clumps, not dried out as many other sellers send you. The price was excellent also. I highly recommend this company.

The reblooming irises I ordered last Fall looked bad, but I planted them with hope. When Spring finally arrived, some had no growth so I contacted the company via e-mail in hopes of replacements. I sent the company THREE e-mails over a two week period requesting replacements or a credit with NO REPLY; however, when I finally was able to reach a customer service rep during business hours by phone, she was VERY nice and said they would replace them--the catch, they don't ship until Fall, so I'll have to wait until next year to see if they take!!!

I am not upset that all of the irises did not do well--it happens, but I was shocked that there was no response to my e-mails. Customer service should be more important. Again, I do want to stress that when I reached an actual person, she was understanding and helpful.

If the irises which did come up are true to variety and as described when they bloom, AND I actually receive the promised replacements this Fall, I MAY order from them again...they do have a beautiful selection of rebloomers. I'll let you know!

I hope that my opinion will be relevant,because I ordered bulbs for about $550.00 from their spring wholesale catalog back when I had a nursery.The quality of the bulbs was truly first class,especially the Lily bulbs.My order also included Dahlias,Gladiolus,Cannas and various small bulbs.Now I am considering ordering retail,because I no longer own a business but I wonder if they take better care of their wholesale customers than their retail customers.I still get their catalog sent in the mail and I use it to research many of the latest Lily Varieties.

Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs is one of the best companies I have ever dealt with both through their catalogs and the internet. Not only do they have one of the best selection of plants and great prices they have a wonderful website with added information and guides to planting those wonderful bulbs and perennials you order from them. Plus their is a very personal feeling you get when you shop with them. I guess being in business for over 100 years and family owned makes that difference.

Check out their website @ http://www.dutchbulbs.com, I'm sure you too will find the time spent there as enjoyable as I did.

I am new to the forum, but was compelled to write after seeing so many negative comments.

I have planted bulbs and perennials from Van Bourgondien for three years in a row now and have always had pleasant experiences with their products.

Their Giant Dinner Plate Dahlias are out of this world - my blooms were tremendous - and the colors - breathtaking!! I made sure that I cut several for bouquets to bring as gifts for all of the summer barbeques I went to!

I will say that the Hellebores I ordered did not bloom, but their customer service staff apologized and issued replacements promptly.

I think this is a good company to order from.

Note from the Garden Watchdog editors:

I ordered from VanBourgondien in the past and received good quality merchandise, so I was quite surprised by my experience in 2003. I ordered a number of items which arrived in poor condition. The Calla bulb was broken and had mold on it and never grew. The Madonna Lily was rotten and never grew. The Josephine Clematis was tiny and died soon after planting. I contacted them and explained this to them, providing the original invoice and requesting a replacement, then waited and waited and never heard from them. By now it was the end of the season and I didn't want the merchandise, so contacted them again and explained the problem. Still no response. Early in 2004 I emailed an angry note, describing my experience and was contacted with instructions to list the items I had a problem with and they would refund. Appreciatively, I sent them this information and guess what........I never heard from them again. I will never do business with this company again, which is a shame, since they carry some great stuff that I don't see elsewhere.

I have purchased from them in the past and have found the best prices and almost always good quality. I wasn't happy with some geraniums but they did replace them for me. Buying perennials through the mail isn't the best choice but it is the most economical. Now when I buy, I always plant in a soil that has been mixed with compost so those less hardy plants will survive and have a better start. It saves me the hassle of waiting for a replacement and not knowing if the replacement is going to be any better.

Note from the Garden Watchdog editors:

I will NEVER order anything from this company again!!!!!!!!
The first order was sent after a long delay. The bareroot plants were dead and the Strawberry Candy daylilies are maroon. The free lilies were nice though.

Then it got worse. They were out of the tree peonies I had ordered but billed me for them anyway. Finally when I called customer service, which was nice but clueless, I was told that they didn't refund money but preferred to give customers merchandise credits. No other company I have ever dealt with expected me to pay for items they didn't ship. Finally I got a $5 credit on my credit card bill for $40 worth of merchandise. I called customer service who explained that I now had merchandise credits for the balance.

Well at this point they had the tree peonies back in stock so like a fool I made an order to buy them and utilize the credit. When I printed out my internet invoice the total was $114 less the merchandise credit. When they finally shipped the items the charge to my credit card was $160!!!!!!! Buyer beware.
Oh, and the irises were pitiful. I HOPE the peonies grow. So far, so good.Now after reading all this I hope they are the right color.

I've had pretty good luck with them but they are amiss consistently in one area. Plants that they claim can take partial shade, mostly can't. I bought several items over about 4 years, from them, and a lot of ones marked "part shade" never bloomed. I had to move them. But I have very few areas of full sun, so I can't make more mistakes like that..

My comment for this company is same as my rating for Van Dycks which apparently is related.

I used their end of season sale and received a very mixed quality. The martagon and tenuifolium lilies were sold as 10-12 cm bulbs and they were hardly that. The Asiatic vermeer bulbs were ok, and the hit parade lilies (16-18 cms) were very large and plump.

This is not an example of only poor merchandise. The "hit parade" bulbs were very large. Generally, their oriental lilies appear to be of excellent quality and size. Almost too good to be true. I got some "casablanca" bulbs from their sister company "vanDycks" and they were similarily very large and healthy (hydrated/plump).

I suspect the vendor they use for the oriental bulbs is local and supply fantastic merchandise whereas the vendor(s) for the other bulbs may be abroad or are stored longer.

The species lilies (maragton/tenuifolium) were very very small. Interesting that their packing list misspelled "maragton" ("martigon"). Similar experience with quality I experienced early with their sister company van Dycks who shipped very very small "citronella bulbs".

Due to year end, most of the bulbs - not all - were very dry and dehydrated.

I will plant them, but wont hold my breath.

The prices were very good, and based on past experience I did not expect more than I got (I also used their end season sale in the past). However, I would probably not go to this company first unless the prices were very very good.

First of all - let me say that I have never purchased from this company via mail order. However, as a budding Amaryllis fancier, I began my collection by purchasing bulbs from various garden centers & discount stores over the holidays. Invariably most if not all of these bulbs came from this company, as their name & address was on the packaging.

That said, all the bulbs purchased were of very nice size with excellent root systems. All grew & bloomed beautifully - with several flower stalks bearing 3-4 blooms each. Considering I took advantage of after-holiday sales, the bulbs ended up costing me no more than $4-$5 each. Talk about a bargain & quality!!

In addition, I have also purchased garden center tulip bulbs that came from these folks. Again - out of 45 bulbs planted - 45 came up & bloomed for several seasons before spending.

While the mail-order division of this company might be poor, please don't turn down bulbs you might find locally that came from these folks - they are terrific.

I see a lot of negative responses, but my own experience has been good. I have not purchased any perenials, only bulbs and dahlias. Perhaps this is the area that they excel in?

We just ordered a fall shipment of bulbs from their end-of-year sale, which arrived promptly (two weeks) and in good condition. Back-ordered items arrived only a couple days after that.

I will post again in the spring if I have any problems with this purchase, but based on past experience with their bulbs, I'm not expecting trouble. I've never needed to call their customer support for a replacement.

I would stay away from this company with one exception:their relatively inexpensive Japanese Tree Peonies I bought a collection several years ago at about $15 per plant and each grew and some blossomed even when neglected and even when planted in the spring. If you want to spend more $$$, I highly recommend Golden Tree and Cricket Hill for Chinese Tree Peonies. (Note: Japanese Tree Peonies are almost always grafted and can revert to the rootstock.) But at VB's prices you can add to your collection and stay within your budget. I bought six more plants from this company today for the cost of a single plant at the more serious peony sellers. You aren't getting the fancy varieties but the size of the bare root plants I received was just as big as what I've gotten from Golden Tree. My only other happy experience with VB was a honeysuckle that smells like jasmine but out of the six plants I bought only a couple made it. . I won't buy anything from this company except for Tree Peonies.