Comments regarding Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com)

Thumbs DOWN.

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 placed an order with Van Bourgondien last spring (2001) and waited, and waited. Finally I got a letter saying my credit card had been declined. I don't know whose credit card that was, but it wasn't mine, the number wasn't even close. I called the company and gave them my number and expiration date again. Then I waited, and waited. A couple of weeks laterI get another letter saying that my credit card had been declined - they were still using the same wrong credit card number! I decided not to bother correcting them again and bought plants elsewhere. Boy was I surprised to see a package from them the following week with my order in it. I had already planted other things in the space I had set aside for them and should have just sent them back, but I stuck the plants in the ground anyway. It seems they did get my credit card number right eventually because it showed up on my bill. Some of the plants from Van Bourgondien haven't grown at all, and the ones that have don't look very good but I confess that I was mad when I planted them and didn't take great care. I won't buy from them again.

Ordered 5 hostas, 6 lilies, and a clematis from above and all plants are doing great. Will use them again.

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.

I ordered tulip bulbs from Van Bourgondien last fall and had a most beautiful display of flowers this spring. I am planning to order again this fall. The only problem was that I wish they would ship the bulbs sooner. I live in zone five and November is just too late to be outside trying to plant bulbs. I need them by the first of October.

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.

We have been ordering large amounts of seed, perennials, fruit and shrubs for the farm over the past decade. Van Bourgondien's has been good for bulbs on wholesale orders.

I haven't ordered from them for several years. Their great attraction for me was perennials offered nowhere else. Unfortunately, these were small and puny. Even with coddling, only a few made it. The bulbs are of much better quality.

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 have been delighted to hold a school fundraiser selling Van Bourgondien bulbs. They offered a good variety of items (seventeen), displayed in an attractive colorful brochure. All were reasonably priced: $5, $10 or $15 -- same as their retail catalog! And we got to keep 50% of that price for the school! We got all the bulbs in a bunch of big boxes and had to divide them up ourselves. The quality of all the bulbs appeared to be quite good, and the ones I planted in my own garden did very well. They did make a few errors in filling the order, so one must check packages carefully. But they sent replacements (and let me keep the incorrect bulbs they had sent). Their processing was prompt (about two weeks). We earned more than $1000 this way! I recommend their bulbs highly. (I'd also like to note that most of the negative comments I have seen posted about VB related to their perennials, which seem to be poor. Their BULBS are excellent!)

Arrival time spanned over a month. All plants appeared well-wrapped and healthy at that time. All were planted as per instructions. Most are foundation plantings; in heavy clay with some amendment and excellent drainage. [update August 1999]They have already issued me a partial credit, and promise to consider additional credit this fall.

Mixed results. I don't like their packaging, which seems to result in lots of broken roots. Orders from this company seem to take twice aslong as orders from any other company ... some things arrive far too late to plant. Their lily bulbs all appeared to be large and healthy, but they aren't doing as well as the ones I picked up at the hardware store. I mostly ordered perennials from this catalog last fall, and while the results have been good for the most part, I've been frustrated with the hardy fern collection (only one of which came up) and theMaidenhair ferns I ordered (again, only one came up). Some of the rootstock was poor, although they sent extras of several items, so that was okay. Blue spiderwort has bloomed white, which is all well and good except I have white spiderwort all over my yard and didn't really intend to buy any more. As a free gift, they sent me two dead Black-eyed Susan roots. Oh, goodie! Just what I wanted.

I give up. This company's products are quite fine, and its prices are ideal. However, I've had nothing but trouble with each order I've placed. A month into the planting season, I inquired about my order's status. "The computers are down," an employee told me. "Can you call back tomorrow?" Funny. The same thing happened in the fall - and that experience was less than enchanting. The company claimed my credit card was declined; such was not the case. It took several rounds on the phone for the customer service folks to get the number and expiration date correct. Sigh. I did get the bulbs in time, and today the blooms are fabulous. But I'll forego dealing with this company; nothing is worth this hassle.

I always order from Van Bourgondien and had good results. Even though they have a "no refund policy," I always take advantage of either replacements or merchandise credit. This spring the tulips and bearded iris's bloomed perfect! I can't wait for the fall catalog again.

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 have ordered from them several times and always been satisfied with what I received. Everything I have ordered has been from the sale pages, which are really good prices if they have what you want.

I often purchase plants by mail. Van Bourgondien is on my shopping list. Since I have had successes and failures with each and every purchase, including purchasing from local nurseries and garden centers, I usually chalk it up to experience, and try something else.

About half of the things I ordered from them didn't come up. I'm not the most organized about keeping track, but as I was about to make some spring orders this year I was glancing through their catalog and suddenly wondered - what happened to the tuberoses, the fairy lilies, the climbing lilies I ordered from them and planted LAST spring? Unlike some other people who've made comments, I didn't find them to be rude at all, quite the contrary. My results were better, though, with other bulbs I ordered [elsewhere]…

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.

Last Fall (1996), I ordered from Van Bourgondien. They are a lot cheaper than White Flower Farm. I ordered crocuses from both of them. But the bulbs from WFF are three times as large as those from Van Bourgondien. All the bulbs bloomed in spring. The bulbs from WFF had 4 blooms each. I also ordered anemones and ranunculus from Van Bourgondien. Anemones are all coming up. But I had no success with ranunculus. All the bulbs caught some kind of fungus when I planted them in planters. Needless to say none came up. I ordered some begonias and a tree peony from Van Bourgondien in spring 97. Begonias are pretty good. They are all coming up. Tree peony is quite small (at $12) 1 year old. I saw a bigger one locally - 2 year old for $15. Overall my experience with both these mail order companies has been good.

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 ordered from their wholesale catalog this spring and was very happy with my plants. The lavender plants were huge with dry roots and at first I was skeptical - they looked dead. But I planted them, clipped them back slightly and the grey leaves turned green and they have put out flower buds already. A bargain for the price! I will definitely order from them again.

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.

Absolutely one of the best gardening mail order businesses. Have been ordering for over 3 years and have NEVER had a problem!

We've been ordering from Van Bourgondien for the last four years. We have found their products and service to be top notch. We have many challenges to face while trying to plant in our area of Vermont and their products have always come through for us - to the point that folks stop by and ask where we got our tulips, etc. Also, we've always been happy with their customer service & prices.

I have decided to no longer order from Van Bourgondien because I was very disappointed with their RUDE service department. Beware of their "mixed color" varieties of bulbs--all the ones I ordered ended up being the same color. I must say, though, that the tulips I purchased were very nice.

I do a lot of buying of flower bulbs and the quality of Van Bourgondien far exceeds any of the competitors. Their customer service department has been exceptional: extremely prompt and helpful. Van Bourgondien also provided me with a special package (along with advertising displays) for a fund raising activity I was in charge of a few years ago. We sold spring bulbs and it was a financial success, and a welcome pleasure from selling chocolate, etc.

…What I have ordered has pleased me to no end. Also, I've noticed a distinct and pleasant improvement to the Van Bourgondien catalog over the years. All in all, continued improvement in a company portends good things over the coming years for us consumers. Keep up the good work guys!

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