Comments regarding Texas Water Lilies

I have ordered from TWL many times in the past and was always pleased with their water lilies. However the company has changed hands and no longer knows how to ship water plants. My order arrived in only 2 days, but neither water plant was sent dampened nor with any water. Both were dried out and crumbling to dust. The owner has not responded to my concerns at all. I am very sad to lose a previously good source for pond plants, but TWL is no longer an acceptable source.

I've purchased from this company several times over the years and was always happy with my purchases.......until now. I just received my latest order and can not believe how tiny the plants were. The waterlilies they sent me are in no way suitable to be planted out and will have to be grown on for months until they are large enough to be introduced into my pond. Very, very disappointed!

Something has happened to this business, and it's not good. I ordered from it for years and got big healthy plants in early April that bloomed from May to October. For the past three years, I have gotten plants that have few roots, are much smaller (but same price as previously), and that sometimes do not bloom at all. The lilies that arrived last week at my place in North Louisiana are ridiculous. Service is good: lilies arrive as promised and are packaged properly. The product is just third-rate. A waste. I complained, to no purpose.

We bought 2 tropical water lilies from them last year. Both rhizomes were the size of a walnut at best. We were shocked that we paid that kind of money for rhizomes that small. (total cost about $50+) We figured if we babied them the entire summer we could make something of them. Neither of them grew or survived. Very disappointed.

I have purchased many times from TWL,and on the mostly part have been very satisfied with there products,But I must be fair,about what I just received in today's mail from them ,the lotus tubers were very small,and the hardy water lilies were tiny,I don't know how they every separated them from there mommy.My order was not a huge order,6 plants for $160,00,nut the box they came in was light,You'd thought the box was empty,seriously I have better buys from e-bay,so what I'm saying is you might what to reconsider buying from them,because there is definitely alternative sources with much better products in the market.

The Good:
It goes without saying that there prcies are great - really unbeatable. Also, the lotus tuber they sent me was enormous. They also do a pretty good job of email contact - almost always answering within a day.

The Bad:
One of the waterliles they shipped me was so small I was shocked they shipped it - it was a tiny start and there's no way it will come close to flowering this year. Another one that they shipped me was dead, but they replaced it (see mroe on this below). Their shipping price is the same if ordering 1 plant or 9 - so, ordering only 1 or 2 plants is not neccesarily cost effective.

The Ugly:
Their warranty policy only gives you 3 days to ascertain whether their stuff was alive or not. With water lilies, it's almost impossible to tell if a dormant tuber is alive or dead until the growing season starts and it has enough time to make roots and grow. The 3 days is not nearly enough. At first they didn't wanty to replace the dead tuber they shipped because I wanted to give it time to grow and see if it was really dead, and I exceeded the 3 day window, but they finally relented, only because they also shipped me that other tiny one. However, it took several weeks and half a dozen emails to actually have the replacement shipped out. Every email was responded to with 'it's going out tommorrow' and then I would email back 5 days later and get another one saying 'it's going out tommorrow.'

Conclusion:
I think they're a good value if you need a lot of plants, but if you need just a few, it may make sense to look to other places. In either event, be prepared for dealing with a small operation and not getting the best customer service/selection shipped out.

"

We did have some problems with this order. It was part of the group order where we gave over 50 people wholesale prices by ordering as a group but actually individual orders. We did not send any water lily tubers whatsoever. We only ship live plants in Lilies except Hadies are still attached to the rhizome. He wanted a tropical variety that was very behind in its growing stage so it was small when shipped. I will admit we kept promising him shipment but each time they were just too small. He waited past the 72 hour gurantee but we sent a replacement anyway. We are family owned but have many satisfied customers both big and small orders."