I ordered from Hirt's on eBay. My plant was shipped within hours of the auction closing and arrived in three days. My plant was well packed, wrapped in newspaper and protected by styrofoam peanuts. I'm not a huge fan of those, and would suggest that Hirt's switch to the biodegradable kind. Other than that a fantastic experience.

I ordered online from Hirt's and got my merchandise in less than a week. My plants were in very good condition (butterfly weed) in little square pots, taped up so the soil and plants could not fall out.
I was really amazed with the rapid service since I had read negative comments about the company.

I've ordered just about everything from this company....thru ebay and amazon. All orders arrived with tape and peanuts as described in many reviews, and yes, that's annoying...but all of the seeds, plants etc. have grown and look beautiful AND I received within days of ordering.

I will say, that there were a few times when 1 or 2 plants looked like it wouldn't make it because of damage in shipping, but I baby everything in my garden, and all eventually took off with a little more tender loving care.

Simply put...I will continue to order from Hirt's!

I have purchased from Hirt's for years and they are great.

Note from the Garden Watchdog editors...

I will never buy anything from them. BEWARE if you are buying from them!!!
I spent $44 and I can't believe what they have sent to me. feel cheated and disappointed. People don't expect lies from gardeners.

Ordered "Plum Lemon" tomato plants, and received "Yellow Plum" instead. Sent an e-mail to customer service, who replied that the varieties are "one and the same." These ARE two different varieties, and there ARE two different listings on Hirt's website, so something's wrong somewhere... Also: it won't be planting tomato planting time in my area for another five or six weeks, and I get these plants on March 27?

AKA "Seed Mart". I purchase many seeds on Ebay from this company. I was attracted to the low shipping cost. These are the things I found wrong:
*About half of the seeds I received were packaged to sell at places like Walmart with a price stamped on the package. I paid a WAY higher price than what was printed on the package. Several of the packages had permenant marker blacking out the price...guess they missed a few. I should have went to Walmart!

*Usually when you order seeds a company throws in a few extra to account for any damaged seeds. Not this company, the seeds that are packaged by them have exactly the amount of seeds listed...which is fine if all of the seeds are good. Many of my seeds are damaged or broken. Also, not all of those packages have the correct amount of seeds. I was shorted on several. I guess they think people won't bother to count the really tiny seeds. I did and I don't appreciate being taken advantage of.

*Last but not least...the germination rate is not even half!! I planted their tomato seeds on one half of a flat, and tomatoes seeds I bought from another supplier on the other half and all of the seeds sprouted from the other supplier and maybe half from Seed Mart! This is going to throw some kinks into my garden plans for the year.

DO NOT BUY HERE!! YOU WILL WASTE YOUR MONEY AND BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY!! THEY HAVE A DECENT RATING ON EBAY ONLY BECAUSE THEY DEAL IN SUCH VOLUME THAT 200 NEGATIVE FEEDBACKS CANNOT REALLY AFFECT THEM MUCH. BEWARE!!!!!

I recently received an email from Hirt's, stating that I had purchased a packet of very expensive seeds (Meconopsis poppy). I had visited the Amazon.com site of this seller while doing some research on an article I was writing. At no time did I place an order nor did I supply my credit card number or my address. Interestingly, those two items ARE stored on the Amazon.com web site.

I sent an email to Hirt's immediately, advising them of the error and asking that the bogus order be canceled. They responded the same day saying that my order had already shipped. At that point I did some research on this company. I was not surprised to find it has received negative reviews.

Suspecting that I would get nowhere with Hirt's (they had advised in their email to contact them directly, not Amazon), I tried to contact Amazon.com via an email from the Amazon web site. An order number was required in order to send comments. The order number from Hirt's was not accepted ("please enter a valid order number"). I tried three times, just to be sure I was entering the number correctly. After much searching, I found a way to contact Amazon by phone. The person who answered was pleasant and cooperative. I reported my experience with Hirt's, and she immediately removed the charge from my credit card.

I will not deal with Hirt's in the future.

These guys couldnt grow weeds if they had to! I've bought seeds from them which when sprouted ended up being MISLABELED! There's a big difference between a temperate and tropical plant!
I order a Nepenthes from these guy and when i got the package everything was frozen, one little heat pack was inserted and almost no packaging. The plant was literally thrown in a box and covered with peanuts! I got a Sarracenia at the same time ( mid - January) and it wasnt dormant! It was not a seedling or young plant but at least a 2 ft plant when I put it in a CORRECT environment. Needless to say I will NEVER buy from them again and I suggest you look elsewhere unless you want something incorrect!

The passionflowers I ordered arrived in a beat up old box but were in great condition. One pure species, which had like four buds on it, one hybrid that wasn't even considering blooming at the time. HUGE plants, much bigger than I had expected. One (the species one) suffered from a little shipping shock, but it bounced back after a month or two of TLC. The other (the hybrid) started blooming like crazy after about two weeks. I think it's underpotted now b/c it grew like crazy too, so it's not as happy as it was. I'll have to ASAP if I want it to do any better. Good quality passionflowers, but that's about all the experience I have with Hirt's so I guess I don't have much more to say.
I guess from all the negative reviews that this is a hit-or-miss company. Some things are good and some aren't. My experience has been all good though.

This is the last time I order from these people. None of the seed germinated-i mean none, bears breeches, peony, primrose etc. The jasmine plant i got was about 1 inch tall and is still 1 inch tall after 8 months, I should be lucky its not dead yet.
I gave them one last try with irises, bare root may I add-(the site said pots. So I got bare roots in a pot :( ). I ordered them, the site says begins shipping in February, I figured shipping for the really hot zones would start in February-I am zone 6B-7, there is 6 inches of snow over frozen ground. The handwritten note in the package says plant immediately???????? Most nurseries send plants when it is safe (or possible) to plant (I need a jackhammer to plant anything right now. what type of nursery is this? Never again.

so far - I'm completely impressed by their customer service person, Pam. Congenial, informative, honest...and very concerned that my order reach me properly! Thank you.

Ordered Pansy Chalons from them, my first and last dealing with this company. Pansys are very easy to grow, this is the first time I ever received a generous quantity of pansy seeds from anywhere and saw all of them fail to germinate after 7 weeks. I used my traditional seed starting methods and 4 different pots with sterilized soil, good light, moisture and air, to no avail.

Unfortunately this company covers themselves against refunds from the beginning, and I failed to notice that:

//marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/storefrontprofiles/deluxepagecreate.aspx?sfid=124287&type=e2
"Claims must be made within 15 days of shipment."

Small loss, live and learn. But beware, they are on ebay as well as "seedmart" "bulbmart" and "hirtsgardens". They state this on their homepage. They have great ratings of course, because people get their shipment and leave feedback, if there's a problem with plants, it's usually too late to leave negative feedback on ebay.

I ordered a sugar and cream hoya plant online through Amazon and received my plant(s) three days later. Although I ordered only one plant, there were three individual plants in the pot. The plants where thriving and were well-packed with sufficiently adequate soil and moisture content.

After ordering 50 seedlings of New Mexican Anahiem Chili Plants...I recieved my delivery only a week late. The packing was OK for the most part as they use alot of tape to keep the soil from falling out. They were healthy and hearty.
With that said, what was suppose to be Anahiems weren't them at all. All through the early summer months, we couldn't understand why they weren't growing. To make a long story short......THEY ARE TOBASCO CHILIS!. After being dissapointed and unable to eat or make salsas out of them (unless you want to numb your tongue) I called them 3 times and was put on HOLD. I sent 5 E-mails requesting an explanation or at very least some type of compensation. N O T H I N G!!!! I Heard N O T H I N G!!!!!!!!. Not only is it rude, but it is unprofessional.

So, anyone who is willing or interested in ordering from them. ( I went through AMAZON). All I can say is BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!. Now they have my money and I have hundreds of chilis that will blow your socks off. Oh well, I learned a lesson about buying seedlings online. SHAME ON HIRTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
PS....Does anyone wanna buy any Tobasco Chilis at a bargain???? ha ha!

At first everything was fine. I bought a hindu rope plant from the company. There was a lot of pink and green in the plant, and I was impressed. Though it did look like plugs were just carelessly thrown in the pot, the dirt was real loose, it was potted right before it was sent...but hey, everybody does their own thing. Then shortly thereafter my mother calls me and tells me to take a good look at the plant, because I had gotten her one too! And, it seems that my plant and hers as well, came with buddies! Mealy bugs everywhere! And yes, they came from these plants, this is my ONLY house plant, and it has never been outside (not that there are mealy bugs out there either). I understand that things like this happen, but I want the company to acknowledge it. I emailed the company, and over a month, and no response. So, I guess they just must not care about what their customers think! Heck, there are lots of other suckers out there that they can sell to! If you are prepared for bugs, and can isolate and treat immediately...then take your chances. But if not, then don't even think about buying from here. And I never suggest buying from somebody that you can not get in contact with...that just spells trouble. I would stay clear.

Like the reviewer below, I was amazed when I got my two Viking Aronia plants in very good condition and with very quick delivery. I would risk maybe risk another order if I see this trend continuing. Maybe the bad reports are causing a change in business practices? We could hope so!

Either I was just lucky or lead a charmed life, but I had a GREAT experience with Hirt's. Package was shipped EXTREMELY fast, packing material was appropriate, and the plant, Meconopsis betonicifolia, seems healthy. I particularly liked the care sheet on Meconopsis, which was full of useful information. So, I would order again, based on this one experience.

I ordered at least 25 tomato and pepper plants from Hirt's because my normal supplier was out for the season. When the shipping package arrived,the box hadn't been taped or packed properly.The bottom of the box was falling apart due to improper taping.The plants and styrofoam began falling out of the bottom of the box as soon as I accepted the delivery. Once I opened th box,I realized that there were hundreds of styrofoam peanuts lying on top of the plants that were all jumbled-up. The plants were all tangled up and in a mess.Once I got the plants out of the box,I soon discovered that one plant was broken,one plant was diseased,most were in poor condition and some were very wilted.I called and complained about the shipment and asked to speak to the owner.The person who answered the phone was the incompetent individual who packed the order in the first place. She was defensive about my complaint.I asked to speak to the owner and she took the message. One day later I hadn't heard from the owner,so I called them back. The same incompetent person answered the phone,got defensive again,but then put the owner on. The owner was defensive and argumentative. The owner tried to avoid the customer service issue and ultimately hung-up on me.Don't order anything from these people!!!

I placed an order for 2 plants in mid February 2008 that Hirt's indicated were in stock and would be delivered in days. 30 Days after I placed the order (mid March) I called to inquire about the status and I was told they would ship early spring. 60 days later I received a snail mail notification that the primary plant I wanted was not in stock. I called to cancel the order since Hirt's didn't reduce the cost of shipping and I only ordered the plant they had in stock to defray the shipping cost in the first place.

I was informed that the lone plant was en route. Hirt's customer service told me to refuse shipping and I would receive a full refund to include shipping. 60 days after the plant was returned and Hirt's didn't refund my money I again inquired about my account status. I received unprofessional treatment and was generally given a hard time. Since I placed the order through Amazon I decided to seek resolution through them. Amazon refunded my money with 8 hours of investigating the situation.

I had previously purchased peonies and fruit trees from Hirt's gardern and everything was fine. This experience was unrewarding and I will not be back.

I tried this company for the first time this year for their unusual seeds. The package came in a reasonable time. All the seeds were in small ziplock bags and no planting information. Planting per normal recommendation for the pant types I got resulted in very poor performance. Less than 30% of the cauliflower germinated and less than 5% of the spinach. I have received no feedback from the compnay and their website leaves you with the impression that seed sales are "as is" with no guarantee. Needless to say - I may be shopping around in the future.

On a good note - all the Hmong Cucumbers did germinate. This is the only company that seems to have Red Hmong Cuke seeds.

Purchased two kinds of lily bulbs. They came in paper bags marked in black felt tip pen.
Arrived dead. They told me to follow package directions and send them back to Holland Bulb company. I wrote back to tell him there were not package directions and they did not respond. I looked up contact information and called the number. I asked if Alan Hirt was available and he asked what the call was about. He said I had the wrong number. I asked if I had dialed (and read the number aloud) he said I had mis-dialed. I dialed redial and read that the number did match the contact number he gave. Subsequent calls all resulted in hangups on his end.
Ebay said that he is required to have legitimate contact information and says I can also report him via Paypal "significantly different from description." I did this as well. With such a negative history, why don't people shut them down?

Ladybugs arrived within a week of ordering. They were humanely packed and appeared very healthy, even on one of the hottest days this year. Enclosed instructions were thorough. The ladybugs are about to dine on scale and aphids. Chomp, buglets, chomp! And then go forth and multiply!

My best friend and I are both avid gardeners. We went in together to purchase 2 prayer plants from this company in an eBay auction a few months ago. The auction was for 2 different kinds of prayer plants, one that she wanted and the other one was for me.
They arrived 2 weeks later. Many of the leaves on my friend's plant were crumpled, broken and torn. She removed the damaged leaves and the plant has since grown back.
On the green one that was mine, a lot of the leaves had large brownish spots and brown edges. I removed the leaves with spots but new spots kept coming up on other leaves. My friend and I sent several emails to Hirt's asking for help. They only answered one of the emails, in which they asked for pictures of the plants. We sent the pictures then heard nothing more from them. No apology, no offer to replace the plants or offer a refund. They did not even answer our requests for advice on how to get rid of the leaf spots from my plant. This company is severely lacking any kind of good customer service ethic.
Luckily, I decided to purchase another prayer plant from a different ebay seller to replace the one I got from Hirt's. That seller not only sent me a bigger, healthy prayer plant but she also helped me get rid of the leaf spots on the other prayer plant I got from Hirt's.

I ordered 4 plants from Hirts off Ebay, they arrived packaged safely and shipped promptly. All the plants were rather large for on-line plants and looked nice and healthy and have shown growth since being planted. Overall considering the other reviews here I have to say I was pleased with my purchases and would consider buying from them again.

Purchased a bunch of stuff via multiple orders from their website. Everything came except for one order, 2 sets of netted peat pellets, a whopping $5 of price. It didn't come. After repeated attempts via email I was told "USPS has it marked delivered, ask them where your stuff is." This company has no idea of customer service.

SAME AS THE OTHERS
I ordered through amazon.com. I ordered tomato plants and vegetable seeds in April and they sent the plants US mail and it was 19 degrees here and snowing so the plants arrived frozen solid. When they thawed they were limp and dead and I notified them immediately. and they were very rude and will not refund my money or replace them. I have a complaint in with the Ohio Attorney General and BBB right now,so I am hoping they will help me......I am in a very rural area and very far from stores and unable to drive the distance to the grocery store very often so I wanted to grow fresh vegetables at home.
I have not planted the seeds yet as it is still freezing here,so I don't know whether they will grow or not.

A bad business! Won't find a repeat customer here. The negatives reviews on here, Amazon, & Ebay are right. I received a damaged plant (many broken branches, droopy leaves, dry soil). I contacted them, they asked to send pictures, I sent them multiple pictures as proof, didn't hear from them since. There are good and bad mail-order businesses out there, this is a bad one.

I ordered a Monkshood from Hirts through Ebay. Made my payment right away. Plant arrived about a week later. It was in a very small box filled with those white peanuts. When I took the plant out I found that it was damaged. The stock was about 5 inchs long but was bent and broken about 1 inch from the soil. When I called they told me to take a picture of the damaged plant and email it to them. I guess they didn't trust me over a $7.00 plant. I took the picture and emailed it along with the invoice. About 2 days later I got an email back that said, "just cut the stem below the damage, it will grow back".
That was it!
No, "sorry sir about the damage"
No, "we will be glad to replace that plant for you".
No, "we'll be glad to refund your money sir".
All I got was CUT OFF THE DAMAGE.
If this is their idea of customer service, I don't know how they stay in business.
There are too many other places to buy my plants and spend my money then with someone who plainly shows that they really don't care.

I've had mixed results with Hirt's. Over the past six months or so, I've ordered a large number of things from them -- seeds, starter plants, and potted houseplants.

Most of the seeds have been viable. I had some trouble with a few varieties, so reordered and had trouble again (no germination). I called them to ask for culture instructions, and they didn't have any suggestions beyond what I was doing already. They did send me replacement seeds without my asking. Still no luck, so either the seeds are just no good or my germination technique is wrong.

Some of the starter plants I ordered during the winter arrived damaged. They appeared to have frozen slightly during transit. Hirt's replaced them. Once they asked me to email photos before replacing them. In each case, they both refunded my money AND sent replacement plants.

A few of the starter plants I ordered this spring (Feb and Mar) were pretty sickly-looking. Spindly and weak. They did not survive transplanting. I should probably have called and gotten replacements right away, but since I went ahead and put them into the ground, I didn't feel right complaining to the company weeks later when they died. (The hardy hibiscus were the worst problem. Of a flat of 25, only 10 lived. On the other hand, I ordered another flat of 5 later on, and all 5 are doing well. They were much larger and sturdier than the first group. Perhaps the first plants were too young to be shipped?)

The potted houseplants were exactly as advertised, and are all thriving.

I bought a daylily from Hirt's via Amazon. I received the plant within one week. It arrived in excellent shape in a 4 inch square pot, fully filling the pot ; it was also packed very well. I have bought daylilies from several suppliers and this plant was definitely in the better quality class.

I am soooo not impressed with this company. I found them as seed sellers on Ebay, and decided to peruse their website for exotic and tropical seeds. I placed an order of about $100 with them.

It took longer than I expected to receive my order. The seeds were packaged in tiny ziploc bags with VERY little information about the contents. I had to spend hours googling the genus info to know how to propagate and care for anything I planted.

As it turns out, all that time researching was completely wasted. NOT A SINGLE seed I received has sprouted. MANY were not even viable at the onset. Even the ones that did not float (i.e.--the test for viability) have done NOTHING.

I use the chamomile/hydrogen peroxide method of pre-soaking and scarified the hard seeds, and still have had NO LUCK. This method works with about a 90%+ success rate for me, usually. It HAS to be the seed quality. I am so disappointed to have gone through all the money and trouble of researching, waiting, planting, etc. just to have all hopes of pay-off dashed.

Luckily, I have since found Garden Store & More. Although they don't seem to carry the exotic and tropical non-flowering tree seeds I was hoping for, they have MANY, MANY other types of tropical and exotic plant seeds to choose from. Their customer service has also won me over, and 99% of the seeds they've sent me have germinated!

I really wouldn't recommend wasting your time or hard-earned money on Hirt's.

I GOT SOME PLANTS AND SEEDS FROM HIRTS THE PLANTS ARE NICE BUT THE SEEDS DID NOT GROW! THEY HAVE HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! THE OWNER IS RUDE AND TERRIBLE TO DEAL WITH! BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have ordered from Hirt's greenhouse's website and also eBay for the past 2-3 years. My experience with them has been nothing but positive. I ordered 2 live plants, which ended up dying, but due to mistakes of my own, not theirs. The plants arrived in great condition. Problem was, I had not grown anything like them before and ended up doing them in myself. I have ordered several different types of seeds from them as well. Right now, I have gazania growing and doing wonderfully. I have recently planted some more seeds I had purchased from there and will update on those at a later date.

They may have wonderful products, but beware and make sure you read all the details regarding delivery dates.
Terrible customer service, I'm not sure they understand
they are dealing with people who can find other sources
for product where the seller is glad to have the business.
One time dealing with them was enough for me. And, yes,
I agree some of the positive "experiences" do sound
contrived.

I ordered picotee blue morning glory seeds from this company recently. It was the first time I heard of Hirts and thought I'd try them. The seeds arrived 4 days after my order. They were packed well and had good, very understandable planting instructions. i have started a few, so will see how well they germinate. If they do well, I definitly will order from them again!

I purchased two plants from this company on Ebay last spring and waited and waited and waited for them to bloom or do something. Summer came, not a leaf or anything else. These plants did absolutely NOTHING!!! I am more than a little disappointed.
I am very angry regarding this situation.
Tonight, I ordered seeds from a company named SEEDMART, which I now after 'winning', realize is affiliated with HIRTS. When I realized they were the same company, I quickly tore up the invoice. They can never have another dime of my money. They DISGUST me!
A better way to spend cash is to donate it to charity. Also, I have the sneaky suspicion their positive feedback here is self-produced. BEWARE!
End-rant

HELLO PEOPLE......
MY EXPERIENCE ON THIS COMPANY IS WORST; HORRIBLE ; I ORDER 1 ITEM ON EBAY BUT I FOUND OUT THAT THEY R CLOSED WHERE I LIVED SO, I CANCELLED IT COZ I WANT TO SEE IT IN PERSON SO I CALLED AND E-MAILED THEM AND THEY SAID NO PROBLEM ... SO I WENT THEM IN PERSON COZ I'M CURIOUS OF ONE ITEM HOW IT LOOK LIKE AND I ASKED HER WHERE IT IS THAT ITEM AND SHE QUICKLY REMOVE THE TAG AND TRY TO SELL ME THE WRONG ONE BUT I TOLD HER I WANT TO SEE THE TAG AND NAME WRONG AND THEN SHE CHANGE HER STORY SAYING THIS IS THE CLOSEST PLANT WE HAD...I STILL PURCHASED PLANTS AND WHEN I CAME HOME I READ MY E-MAIL THEY DIDN'T
CANCELLED IT I EVEN TALK TO A WORKER WHEN I WAS THERE SAYING THEY WILL TAKE CARE OF IT... SO I CALLED AGAIN AND THE I TALKED TO THE OWNER HE WAS REALLY RUDE ON THE PHONE. SO THOSE PEOPLE WHO WANTS TO ORDER ON THIS COMPANY WATCH-OUT !!!!AND GOODLUCK!!!!

I just recently bought a Jenny Dahlia tuber from them. It arrived VERY quickly. It was well packaged and the tuber looked great. Price was decent as well. Would have no fear of buying from them again!