Comments regarding Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com)

I was very hesitant to order anything from these folks based on the reviews on Davesgarden.com, but did decide to take a chance. I ordered a number of varieties of Tulips, some Grape Hyacinths, Several Crocus, and some others I cannot name.

The bulbs arrived and had good weight to them, meaning they weren't dried up. The bags are clearly labeled and clean. Everything I planted came up this spring and/or late winter. I am way beyond happy with the results and will order again.

Hope this helps. I am in South Carolina.

Have ordered from this company on and off for many years with no problems. Recent ordered some Oriental poppy roots and an ensata iris; both were bareroot, which I understood
They arrived today and I was very pleased with the plump fresh roots I received. Often when you order bareroot plants, you get a mixed bag of quality, but I was very impressed.

Over 5 years and we have experienced no problems at all with this company. I also have received bare roots that look like sticks, but planted them and they performed just as they should. If bulbs are received to early for planting, and they are packaged in plastic, i remove them and place them in paper bags and store them in a cool dry place. This is also how i handle tubers and bulbs when i am thinning out a bed. The tubers and bulbs hold just fine until i am ready to plant them.

I placed my order with van Bourgondien before I read the reviews on Dave's Garden. Needless to say, I was very dismayed at all of the bad reviews and was prepared for the worst. Well, it never happened. My order of 3 Cimicifuga Brunette arrived in a timely way for my zone and the bare root plants were huge and healthy with many sprouts. I don't know if I got lucky or van Bourgondien has heeded the many bad reviews and gotten their act together. I will definitely order from them again.

After reading the many negative posts, I was afraid to order but decided to try a few varieties. My narcissis came today and I immediately placed a second order. N. Martha Stewart was the smallest of the bulbs but it is impossible to find and usually expensive so I am OK with that. N. Sinopel and N. Chapelet were most all double nosed bulbs.

I saw no mold through the semi-translucent bag and bulbs all felt firm. I immediately placed a follow up order since they are now 50% off.

From order to shipping was not as prompt as I’d like but acceptable. Once they shipped, they were here in 2 days. I hope my follow up order ships quickly as we had snow today!!!

I’ll try to remember to post in the Spring re: whether they were true to the variety stated.

I ordered several types of dahlias and although they did take a while to arrive, it was worth it. The tubers appeared healthy. I planted them soon after receiving my order and they have grown into the most lovely and healthy plants! I am very happy with my purchase and would buy from this company again due to the quality of the product and the beautiful options I had to choose from. I wish I could post photos of the plants and flowers- they make me smile almost every day.

This year has been a learning experience for me in terms of which catalogs to order from and which to not. Van Bourgondien is a definite "do order."

They issued a replacement credit when my Shaker's Prayer irises didn't come up. When I had a question about an order I placed last year, they had access to my order number, what it contained, and provided an employee name. This is compared to another company that provided no name, no number, no contact info.

Their prices might be on the high end, but my trust in them is worth it. I will definitely order again.

I received my first order about a month ago. Karma dahlias and Crinum bulbs. The order arrived right on time and healthy bulbs. I have since made a second order and received it for Dahlias and Crinum. Same smooth result. Good prices, fast shipping and quality product. I would recommend this company.

I placed a very large order with them this spring, mainly perennials but also some bulbs. I ordered in early Feb and they shipped promptly, which is less than ideal. I was able to store the plants until spring but I will wait a little longer before placing my order next time. The plants all had very good root systems; the dahlia's were some of the largest I have seen and definitely the cheapest. A few plants didn't come up (i'm not going to complain if I get 4/5 dahlias but none of the heuchera came up) however, their customer service was US based and very easy to deal with. I was promptly refunded and just placed another order with them. They have a pretty wide selection and if you wait for a 50% off sale they are the cheapest by far. I will be back next year for my spring bulbs.

Posted on June 14, 2015, updated May 11, 2017
I ordered a variety of bulbs. Good prices. Shipped quickly. Bulbs were packed nicely, were big and healthy. No complaints. No problems. As as expected and hoped. I will shop with Van Bourgondien again.

We moved to Oregon recently and I am in the process of rehabilitating the somewhat neglected, depleted garden. Last year I bought a few Summer bulbs from Van Bourgondien and was delighted with the results. I went all-out for this coming Spring. In a series of orders, I wound up planting 550 bulbs from this company. Many varieties in lots of 25.
The daffs were all huge, most twos and a lot of threes. Everything is clearly labeled. What's popping up now already looks amazing. Tulips, Dutch Iris and Iris reticulata also good sized bulbs. I've bought from other vendors as well as locally - these are by far the biggest and very healthy-looking.
If you watch for their frequent "sales" - I'm a "retired" vet on SS - you can make out very well. My new rock garden received 190 bulbs, and they didn't cost me more than $50 or so. Most of the others went into large, practical planters. Stand by for pix.
I agree with some of the other posters about telephone customer service, which I attempted only once. I found that e-mail and live chat are most efficient.
On the topic of dropped shipments, that happened to me too. Three Items [on two separate orders] were not shipped. To be fair, these were "end-of-season" sales at huge discounts. So inventory gets messed up in heavy shipping times, it happens. I was disappointed, but they refunded my credit card immediately, so no big deal.
I am planning the next phase of Summer rock garden, and I will be ordering from this company again.

I ordered before checking reviews, because the selection and prices were promising. Then, I got worried after reading reviews. I received bulbs in a timely fashion and in good condition. I planted them, but 99 of 100 freesia failed. I emailed the company and received immediate response. They refunded my purchase price and shipping for the freesia. I also received a well worded apology and assurance that if anything else fails that I should email them again. I will definitely order again!!!

Hi Folks,

I've been ordering from KVB/Dutch bulbs for years now and the only reason for that is they have always fixed what they or their growers screw up.

I have had experience with many different online sites and overall KVB/DB is the best of the lot.

If you are looking for live plants I would suggest a nursery or a big box store. Places like HomeDepot and Lowes have taken notice and (@ least around here) are being supplied with a better quality product then say 5 years ago.

Bulbs, tubers, bare roots etc... I have found and in my opinion, you go to KVB wholesale. Are they perfect? No. Have they had everything I have wanted to plant? No, I have shopped at "easytogrowbulbs.com and Vanengelen.com" and a few others to find everything I need. Have they ever screwed up an order? Absolutely. Have they ever sent me bulbs, roots, tubers, plants that look as though they had been lost in the warehouse for about 2 years? Certainly.

Have they done their best to rectify each situation? Yup!

I order every year, sometimes in the fall and sometimes in the spring, the quality as as it is with many online groups but the quantity and price trump most I've been able to find.

Thanks for your time.

I have bought bulbs from this company for 3 years and I most likely will order from them again soon. I hesitated for sometime before rating them because well, I just was not so sure what I thought of them. On the negative side: I have a pet peeve and that is, please do not send me substitutes and they sent me a different Lily than I ordered. But busy with my garden, I never bothered to notify them or tell them and lucky for them, I do really love the Lily or I might feel a lot more negative. And their policies do say they can substitute but I really do not like that policy with any company. If a company does run out, I think they should call and ask what you would like substituted or refund your money. Also, I thought they failed to send me some Gladiolus I ordered but they just did not bloom for an extra season and when they did they have like 4 stocks on them. In the end, I got everything I had asked for with the Glads. But I have been thinking about this company a lot lately because there is definitely an upside to them. Their bulbs and the flowers they produce are HUGE. When they say they are big, they're big. Their Tulips are Huge. Their Gladiolus have been absolutely amazing and multiply rapidly. And of the Lilies I have bought from them, I have been happy. In summary, their customer service is OK, their substitution policy is not to my liking - They need a Please do not substitute checkbox. But in their favor, their bulbs are huge and produce really good plants (and flowers) that perform well year after year. That is why I recommend them.

Great experience... everything was delivered as expected.

I orderd a few items last week. The packaging sizes were great and the prices were reasonable. The order arrived at the expected time. It was complete and the bulb quality was good and comapred well with the other whole-sale suppliers. I had good experience with KVB. I will order from them again. I recommend it to others specially if they like to try many varieties at smaller package sizes.

"On Nov 19, 2013 9:52 AM, Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com) responded with:

Thank you for your feedback, we appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with our company. Enjoy your garden."

Great prices & order arrived promptly.Everything was there,no missing items like I seen other complain about. Did have a couple bulbs (& I do mean just a few out of a large order) that were either dead or undersize-- called Cust. Serv. & they were great!!!! gave me a credit since they were already out of the items..very polite & helpful & credited full item cost when there was only partial loss. WILL DEAL WITH AGAIN & DEFINITELY RECOMMEND AAA+++ much better customer service that a lot of other companies & overall very happy with the bulbs

"On Nov 16, 2013 2:37 PM, Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com) responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. Happy Gardening!"

I couldn't have been more happy with the service from this company. I order over $200 worth of bulbs and was extremely satisfied. The product shipped earlier than the promised date, shipped 100% complete and the quality of the bulbs was excellent. I almost canceled my order based on the amount of negative reviews I saw on this website - I'm glad I didn't. I couldn't be happier with the quality of customer service and the product received. I will definitely be ordering from them in the future and would advise others to do the same.

Marisa May

"On Nov 16, 2013 2:52 PM, Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com) responded with:

Thank you Marisa for your feedback. Enjoy your garden."

Everything very positive! Bulbs I received were larger than advertised. I needed my items before the promised date because of surgery, called them with my request, and within 4 days received my orders, 10 - 15 days before the promised date. I have done business with this company many times before, and service had gone down until last spring. Now service is excellent, and so it the product. John

"On Nov 16, 2013 2:55 PM, Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com) responded with:

Thank you John, we appreciate your posting. Enjoy!"

I have placed many,many orders of all sizes over the past ten years.I have not even once had a bad experience .I am a member of Dave's garden and can not believe all of the negative reviews.I find their prices very good.I have always been sent what I ordered.

"On Aug 6, 2013 4:10 PM, Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com) responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. Happy Gardening!"

In October 2012 I ordered 145 fall planted bulbs including: Daffodil “Golden Ducat,” Irene Copeland , White Passion blend, and the Wild Flower Bulb Mix (100 mixed bulbs) which was not shipped. I called the company and the mixed bulbs were shipped right away. The first shipment also included a package of 10 Muscari blue- purple bulbs which I did not order. I planted them anyway and this spring ALL the bulbs I ordered and the Muscari thrived and bloomed. I was ordering bulbs for my White and Yellow Gardens, so I did not think I would like the Muscari and I planted them in another section near my roses. They have just been a delightful spring flower and a great pop of bright color considering the roses are just putting out a few leaves in the spring. Excellent customer service.

"On May 8, 2013 9:35 AM, Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com) responded with:

Thank you for sharing your experience with our company. Enjoy your flowers!"

I have spent the morning reading & making comments here. I now see that all my complaints have been due to Gardens Alive. Thank you for that information.

I have many beautiful plants that are still thriving from vanB. I placed an order recently in which 1 item (phlox David) was dead; but customer service was excellent, & they immediately shipped a replacement.

So sad when a decent company gets bought out & destroyed by predators. Shame on those of you who blame the victim!

"On Mar 26, 2013 4:29 PM, Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com) responded with:

Thank you for your posting, Happy Gardening to you!"

I have ordered from this Co. for about 20 years. I have no complaints. Several yrs ago I was short one bulb in pkg of 5. I called and was sent a whole pkg of 5 bulbs. I have my usual spring order in process. Don't expect any problems.

"On Feb 19, 2013 11:50 AM, Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com) responded with:

Thank you for your feedback, we truly appreciate it. Happy Gardening!"

Ordered 48 Daffodil Bulbs. They Came exactly when they were supposed to come and looked Great. Called Customer service Once and they were very nice as well. No Problems here.

"On Nov 2, 2012 10:19 AM, Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com) responded with:

Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback. Happy Gardening!"

Posted on September 27, 2012, updated September 27, 2012
Just wanted to add my experience over many years and tens of thousands of dollars spent with this company. Best deal anywhere, hands down. I look at all these negative reviews and see a lot of folks who expect too much and don't know what they're doing. Tiny orders usually go to folks who are inexperienced, so there will be lots of negative reviews from them. Clearance items are just that. These are end-of-season closeouts that have been stored in damp, musky conditions for months. Do y'all really expect them to be in first class shape? I have items that I order every year and they die every year. Same if I order them from anyone else, though. Everything doesn't do well everywhere. I keep trying different growing methods and microclimates and I'll figure out a way to get them to grow here, but I imagine there are many items that a hobby gardener would never get a satisfactory experience with. And while I have occasionally ordered plants from kvb, I usually don't. They're a bulb company. I typically don't order plants from other bulb companies either, nor from seed companies. Now the worst thing is that all of these negative reviews certainly contributed to the bankruptcy of my preferred supplier of bulbs, who have now been taken over and will be cannibalized by Gardens Alive. They've already ruined it. Check the prices and the quantities available now. Overpriced and small quantities, even for wholesale. Their awesome sale prices are gone, too. Geez.

"On Sep 27, 2012 10:16 AM, Van Bourgondien Dutch Bulbs (dutchbulbs.com) responded with:

I apologize for any trouble you may have experienced with any member of the Gardens Alive! family. Is there anything I can assist you with from a previous order from one of our sister companies? Gardens Alive! is now the proud parent company of VB and hopes to extend it's customer service to existing, as well as new, customers. Our excellence is evident by our new and repeat customers that have made us one of the successful and prosperous catalog and online gardening suppliers for 27 yrs. Please give us the opportunity to extend our world class service, or allow us to resolve any past issue you may have had with Gardens Alive! or any of it's member companies."

I've purchased numerous plants from the K. Van Bourgondien company since Spring 2008, and have had no problems with their warranty if something didn't grow. I know how to grow plants, and know that plants are on God's and Nature's time schedule, not on any human's immediate gratification schedule.

Take notice of their restructured websites (www.dutchbulbs.com & http://www.kvbwholesale.com) -- Gardens Alive! now owns the company, and it moved to Ohio. I can only imagine how difficult it was on the KVB descendants to have to sell the company after so many generations were involved with this family-operated business.

Very happy customer! Quick service, recently ordered hardy geraniums and they arrived eight days later. In excellent condition, started sprouting immediately after planting. This is representative of my previous experiences with ordering from Van Bourgondien, as compared with negative experience with a competitor.

In late April I ordered 15 large trumpet lilies and 25 glads to add to my garden. The order arrived promptly and everything was in great condition. The glads are already up!

Recently, on one of the DG Discussion Forums, I recommended Van Bourgondein to a gardener who wanted to plant tulips and was considering going to a big box store. I order 1,500 to 2,500 tulips every year for my garden (and a friend), and I have had excellent experience with Van Bourgondein over the last 20 years.

Others in the Discussion Forum jumped all over me, bashing VB and scolding me for recommending them. I was shocked to hear the company was in Chapter 11, so I apologized for my ignorance. Now, looking at all of the negative comments posted, I wonder why it is that I have had such good luck. Some say "it didn't grow" - I wonder how much of the problem lies with the gardener?

All I can say is I've had a positive experience, as recently as three weeks ago, so I'm going to give the company the benefit of the doubt and order my tulips from them, just as I have in the past. I feel I need to post a positive comment and I hope they survive and thrive.

Here is a link to a forum describing my tulip experiences, including a problem with VB that was resolved quite nicely by the company.

Posted on August 14, 2005, updated February 28, 2012
I have been ordering from Van Bourgondien for many years. I dealt with them when they were in NY and now they have relocated to my neck of the woods. Just this spring, I went to their facility, and picked up my purchase, and saved on shipping charges! When I placed my order, the phone operator was knowledgable and courteous. My daylilies are incredible, and the oriental lilies are just great. I sampled some grasses, as they seem to be the "in" thing, and I cant wait to try more as they have really taken off. I look forward to dealing with these folks again.

I would like to say a word of farewell to this company. They used to be so good when I was a beginning gardener, 20 or 30 years ago, when they were still based in New York. I ordered lilies from them one time and the bulbs were as big as small cabbages and their bulk prices were so good. I ordered from them every year and was nearly always pleased. I built up a daffodil collection and still have some of them, dug up & transferred to a new home, 11 years ago. Van Bourgondian, RIP.

I've been ordering from Van Bourgondien for probably at least 6 years. If it's true they are going bankrupt, that is a big disappointment...! When you order $50.00 of bulbs, you just can't beat the pricing online anywhere.... For Tulips, daffadills, Allium, lilies and so on... Dahlias came in LARGE clumps, unbeatable by any other company online... Anything that was a plant, is pretty
risky no matter who you order from... (the shipping just beats them
up , badly)... those are best bought locally...! I've lost trumpets I ordered from this company, only to have them reship more and lost those too... They have been very good at replacements...
I for one wouldn't want to be them and replacing everything you sold...!
Weather, plus the way people plant stuff, has alot to do with if they make it or not... You just can't blame it all on the company...
It's a big expense to ship anything now adays...
I will definately miss this company....as I said their pricing could
not be beat...
If you order late in the season when things are on sale, your going to get some bulbs that have rotted, or have mildew, but my experience has been the majority of the bulbs I ordered were
in healthy condition... I for one most certainly do not want them to go out of business....

I've ordered with this company three times (two in the last couple of weeks). I also have to admit that I usually just order when they have sales. Most of the bulbs I got were in good to excellent condition, and with "buy 1, get 2 free," I figured if they've all survived, that'd be great. When some or most make it, that's still a bargain. I think the shipping is okay, it's not too pricey. However, with the sales, free shipping coupon is not usable. The 50% off is good with new merchandise only, not clearance.

I have not ordered any plants with them, so I don't know about their live plant quality. So far so good for me.

Ahoy,
I ordered about $50 worth of bulbs (fritillaria, indian hyacinths, dragon arums, & aliums...its gonna look awesome!) , and all came in good condition except 2 dragon arums, which customer service promptly replaced the same day I told them about it through email. All around positive experience,
Cheers!

Posted on April 8, 2011, updated December 30, 2011
Posted on March 21, 2011, updated April 8, 2011
I placed a very large order with this company about 3 weeks ago as they offered a lot of summer blooming bulbs that I coldn't find all in one place elsewhere. They sent a confirmation of my order immidiately to my email. Also, I had requested immidiate shipping and a customer service rep. contacted me to let me know that, they could ship immiditely but that that would void the replcement warranty because it is too soon to plant these in zone 5. I replied explaining that this zone has been expereincing days in the 80s as early as mid-April over the past few years and requested an early April ship date and we agreed on April 4, which is the soonest ship time that ensures the bulb warranty will still be in effect.

In any case, i was impressed by the customer service care and how considerate the company has been in processing the order.

I ordered:

3 Oriental Lily Tiger Edition
3 Oriental Lily Salmon Star
3 Oriental Lily Sixth Sense
3 Oriental Lily Lovely Girl
5 Oriental Lily Muscadet
5 Oriental Lily Hot Lips
5 Oriental Lily Dizzy
10 Oriental Lily Venezuela
10 Oriental Lily Star Gazer
10 Oriental Lily Salinas
10 Oriental Lily Josephine
10 Oriental Lily Belgrado

5 Tiger Lily Yellow Star
5 Tiger Lily Pink Giant

3 Asiatic Lily Sugar Love
3 Asiatic Lily Forever Susan
25 Asiatic Lily Deep Red
25 Asiatic Lily Yellow
25 Asiatic Lily Pink
25 Asiatic Lily Orange

2 Iris Siberica Butter & Sugar

I'll update when the order arrives.

We've used this company for fundraising for our nonprofit preschool for last fall and this spring and plan to use them again.
The quality of the bulbs, the blooms, and the customer service were excellent. I went to the time to register on this site just to post this. I was disappointed to see all the neg reviews and wanted to give them a positive one because of this good experience we've had.

Posted on July 22, 2008, updated June 28, 2011
I ordered about $75.00 of clearance items from them June 16th. Today I checked the status of the order online because I hadn't heard anything at all since the order confirmation.

They said my credit card was declined and they cancelled the order. I just took that credit card on vacation for two weeks and used it every day-I find it hard to believe. And even if there was an error with the card, wouldn't they have let me know?

I asked if I could re-order and they said they stopped shipping the day after my card was declined.

From reading the reviews, it's probably for the best anyway.

Received tree peonies that appeared like they had been refrigerated. They did not thrive in pots the first year. The company gave me a credit. I appreciate their standing behind their products.

Separately my garden club ordered several thousand daffodil bulbs to be planted throughout our community and in our personal gardens. They have multiplied beautifully. The mixed varieties are a bargain with decent sizes and several unique color combinations.

I made a pretty large order--over 100 bulbs. All of the daffodils bloomed beautifully, as did most of the tulips. One tulip variety was not the variety I ordered, and maybe a half-dozen of the bulbs appeared to be either underdeveloped or damaged, but I planted them anyway, and even though they were stunted, they still bloomed. As of today I still have two daffodil blooms and most of the tulips, which bloomed Easter week, are still up and beautiful. Overall I'm very happy with my order.

I ordered bulbs in november and received them promptly. i purchased hyacinths grape feather, muscari, daffodils- mixed halo and pink butterfly and paperwhites ziva. The tulips are coming up and I have already been rewarded with hyacinths and paperwhites. Out of 225 bulbs, only 7 had to be discarded. I just placed my second order with them and hope to have as good an experience.