Comments regarding Roots and Rhizomes

I too have had a neutral experience with this company. I had ordered 3 potted hostas and a siberian iris all have grown vigorously. The siberian iris was a large clump (the largest that I have ever received via a catalog). However the remaining items (3) that I received as bare roots failed to grow. Customer service was quick to give me credit on a future order, which I will make for potted plants or iris.

I ordred $120 of daylillies from Roots & Rhizomes this spring. They arrived and I immediately planted them. As the season progressed the daylillies failed to progress. They didn't come up! The company replaced my lillies, however it got worse! The lillies bloomed, they are not true to name!!!!!!!!! The lillies that they shipped me are not what I had ordered (one of whcih was a $35 lilly)! This is too much money to spend on lillies I already have!

I am an avid gardner with over 200 lillies, I will never order from them again!!!!!!!!!

Have ordered from Roots & Rhizomes this year and last. The daylilies have been okay, and my mail order experience has been limited. In 2002 I ordered the miniature package and found them to be puny; however, most of them did survive. The daylilies ordered separately were larger and all have survived, looking good this year. I also ordered Siberian iris and found most of them looked very good. However, they did not survive -- why I have no idea. I did not follow up with the company, in part because their order sat for a period of time before I put them in.
This year I ordered daylilies, Siberian iris, and a few perennials. Their packing seemed fine to me. The daylilies varied greatly. I got an excellent clump of Canadian Border Patrol, but the least expensive daylily I got was very marginal and has not survived. The most expensive daylily was medium sized but reasonable, and it has done okay. (Hopefully it has done well enough to survive our cold winter.)
The Siberian iris this time have done very well. Am very pleased. The clumps are quite generous. Oddly, they sent me as my free perennial one of the same Siberian iris that I had ordered.
Two of the perennials I ordered came in little pots and are fine. The bare-root perennials, however, were a different story. I received: One little stick of a penstemon, very DOA; something that I hadn't ordered, which actually is doing fine (a small bleeding heart) -- the only bare root item that is doing fine -- a heuchera that was very small (maybe it will come up next year? probably not), and a hellebore that was also marginal, seemed to hang in there for a month or so and now has disappeared (slug damage? am hoping it will pop up next year). Faced with that shipment again, I might do as someone else had suggested and try growing them on in pots or at least a dedicated spot in my garden.
Again, I've not contacted the company, although I probably will regarding the daylily that died, the wrong plant, and the stick.
I will probably order again, especially daylilies and Siberian iris, but I'm also going to think about going with someone else if I have a choice, and for perennials they will be my last resort. (But hey, if you got to have it, and it's nowhere else, what are you going to do?)

My first experience with roots and rhizomes was in 2002 and overall it was a mostly good experience. However, 2003 was an entirely different story. The order arrived in a very small box with 8 very tiny bare root plants in plastic bags and 3 ornamental grasses in small pots crammed inside. 6 of the items inside the plastic bags were dead when I received them but I decided to plant them in the ground anyway. 1 of the items wasn't even inside the box and I was sent something that I didn't even order instead. 2 of the ornamental grasses lived and are still living now, but, 1 of them was in a very poor condition when I received it. After about 10 days I could tell that the plants weren't going to make it so I called Roots and Rhizomes and complained about the condition of the plants. I was told to return the plants to them using the prepaid label that they mailed to me and they would refund the price of the plants plus the cost of shipping. I mailed the plants back to them on May 28, 2003 and was expecting a credit back to my Credit Card. After another 2 weeks I went online to see if my credit had shown up on the statement. I wasn't there. Again, I called roots and rhizomes and asked why the credit wasn't there and was told that all of the returned orders were in back of the warehouse and when their inspection people had viewed the returns, they would notify the front office of the amount of the credit to each customer. I waited another 2 weeks and the credit was still not on my credit card account. At this point, June 25, 2003, I notified my credit card company and made them aware of the problem and I have disputed the entire amount of the purchase--$62.20. Whatever you do, avoid this merchant. Do not waste your time and money. It's just not worth the pain, frustration, and suffering they put you through.

i don,t have any idea how anyone could rate this co. positively. i have ordered from at least 30 different nurseries in the last 10 years, and this was the biggest scam going. beautiful , lush photos mislead one into believing that is what you get. half dead liner stock meant to grow on in pots is what they send. so far, they have sent replacements(no improvement) on some, and it remains to be seen whether they credit my account as promised. they are next to impossible to reach on their 800 #. do not go there.

I ordered from this company near the end of last summer (August). I had only done mail-order once before so really didn't have anything to compare with. However, I was concerned as the Custard Candy daylilies I receieved had practicaly no roots at all. I was suprised that two of the three actually made it through the end of the summer before dying. The third one died before winter. I also ordered one tradescantia and it also didn't make it through the winter.

By comparison, though, I ordered from Homestead Gardens last year after I received my R&R order and was really surprised to see how large their plants were. They were more than twice as large as the R&R plants. Also, the R&R plants were in very small pots and the Homestead plants were large bareroot divisions. I have since placed an order with Ensata as well and their plants are also more than twice as large as R&R.

So, I don't plan to order plants again from R&R. It would be a waste to order such small potted plants when other companies provide much better plants for about the same price. It is a shame as their sister company Jungs is just down the street and I do like buying plants from them.

As others have said, very small plants, very high price. Also, catalog does not say that some plants are bareroot (with hardly any roots!). Won't order from them again.

I like this company because they have a much greater variety of perennial plants than the run-of-the-mill mail orders, and I disagree with other complaints about price - these are bargains compared to White Flower or Wayside. Packaging, as I remember, was average, but the plants I received did fine except for one (difficult to grow anyway, and I definitely neglected it so don't want to blame them.)

I had a very positive experience with Roots & Rhizomes last year, and as a result I have been passing the company's catalog around my office. The 7 miniature daylilies I ordered all bloomed before the end of last summer. The trollius bloomed beautifully within several weeks of planting. The 2 thyme plants took off and put the established ones to shame. Everything arrived in good time, in perfect condition, and with efficient packaging. No black mold (a problem I've had with plants purchased from other catalog vendors); just healthy plants. It might help that this supplier is in Wisconsin and I am planting in Western Michigan, but I continue to RECOMMEND this company -- especially to those who live in Wisconsin, the Chicago area, and Michigan. Fabulous selection of perennial geraniums. Good varieties of Siberian Iris. The prices are considerably lower than those of Wayside Garden. I placed my order 2 weeks ago with confidence.

Ouch! I wish I had read the Watchdog before I ordered. Granted, my order is under $50 but still....! Guess I'll wait and see. If I get burned, then I suppose I can consider myself lucky that it hasn't happened until now.

I called customer service to ask which of the daylilies I was interested in were registered as dormant since their catalog doesn't specify and here in Montana only the dormant daylilies have a chance of surviving. I waited 35 minutes to reach someone, and then she was quite rude. She told me to read the catalog for that information, and when I pointed out it wasn't in the catalog she curtly replied that it was last year. When I explained my climate and that I had to know this information before ordering she told me to order from someone else and hung up on me! I complained to the supervisor and eventually did get a list of the 30 or so varieties in their catalog that are evergreen or semi-evergreen (NOT all marked as such in the catalog), but she was defensive of the woman I dealt with and did not apologize. I had really wanted some bright fuchsia daylilies, but will not order from them. Martha Rhoades

My experience was exactly as described by Eric. My plants were tiny, not packaged well and extremely overpriced for what you get. I don't mind paying higher prices for healthy plants. I even potted them up and nurtured the plants in my greenhouse and they just never really did much. The ornamental grass was just a teeny sprout and the Astrantia was dead on arrival. They did replace one plant with yet another sad plant, and refunded the cost of another that was out of stock. One plant did make it but will take a couple years to be of any size.

I purchased 18 hostas, some in small pots, others bare-root.
All but one variety grew quite large, larger than locally purchased ones in half-gallon pots.
Pulmonarias also in pots and bare-root, grew well.
I ordered 6 bare-root grasses, none of which grew. I asked for replacements this spring, so can't comment further.
I love the large selection in the catalog.

The catalog and variety of plants offered are impressive. But my order yielded mostly extremely small plants that were a poor value for the relatively high price charged. One salvia was sent bare root with no packing material around the roots, dried out and dead (as was a subsequent replacement). Tiny seedling ornamental grasses were shipped. Packing was poor. After shipping the dead replacement salvia and three additional tiny ornamental grasses that I did not request, the company ignored further e-mail from me. This is one operation to avoid.

I bought several perennials from them. Some arrived as small dessicated roots in little plastic bags. A terrible thing to do to a plant, I thought. Turned out they were not live plants as they were potted and coddled and never grew. A lesson learned.

Terrible experience. Perennials were tiny (prices are on the massive side), poorly packed with soil strewn around the box. One perennial Salvia was shipped bare root, dried out and dead with nothing packed around the roots to keep them moist. A replacement was similarly packed and died soon after potting. Three of an expensive ornamental grass were sent as tiny slips that would take years to attain decent size. The company initially sent several replacements but then ignored requests for a refund or credit for the dead Salvias. There's no reason to order again from this company, which apparently gets a number of its plants from other suppliers.

HORRIBLE. My first order was this year (2002) with this company and it was the worst packing I've ever ever seen. They crammed 10 plants, bareroot and potted, with 6 metal markers into a 7 x 7 x 7 inch box, which seems impossible but they somehow did it. There was no packing but for 1 sheet of uncrumpled newspaper, and the pots had nothing on them to keep the soil from spilling everywhere. The box looked like it had been used as a soccer ball, and because of the lack of packing all the plants were crushed and mangled. The plants themselves were tiny and sad. I planted them, have no idea if they will survive. I will never again order anything from this company, there is way too much risk.

Interestingly, the label indicated it was shipped by Jung Seeds. I had ordered plants from Jung at the same time, and they were packed far better than this.

AVOID.

Something happened to this nursery since my first order last year (then they were strong, healthy plants). This year the plants were interesting but were excessively small. Only one eye on the daylilly; a crown the size of an asprin tablet with 3 long roots on one of the perennials; a vacuum (?) packed bare root plant with 4" of top rowth that wilted immediately as I put it in a pot to get it started; a small potted plant that started green and ended up brown two days later after being in a sheltered spot.... and many more disappointments.

They win the prize of being the worst mailorder experience I have ever had. (Before it was SpringHill Nurseries, whose plants were tiny, also.) The only hope I have for the mass of plants I ordered were the few that were still dormant when they were received -- but since they haven't put up any top growth yet, I am still keeping my fingers crossed.

Avoid this nursery at all costs!!!

Just received my first order from them. I was disappointed at the size of the daylilies they sent, especially when I asked the operator if they sent 1 or 2 fans. I was told they usually sent 2 fans unless the plant was large, then 1 fan. Of the 3 daylilies I ordered, 2 were tiny fans with a small amount of roots. The third fan, (cheaper of the 3 plants) was a double fan and what I would expect. They do carry a 1 yr. guarantee. Be aware they are connected with Jung nursery and I have found their plants to be quite small also. I will not order from either company again.

This company ships in a timely manner and has wonderful varieties of plants that are hard to obtain elsewhere..but the plants (at least the dozen or so I bought) are small and have a tough time competing in the garden, even here in the Pacific Northwest, an area is known for its fine climate for perennial plants. If I buy from them again I would grow the plants on in pots a year to get garden sized plants.

Nice catalog, good descriptions, excellent daylilies. However, I found that the tags came off the plant packs very easily and I was left to guess about a couple of the lily's IDs. I ordered a few perennials along with my daylilies and I would not do that again. The perennial plants were very small and half of them did not survive (I'm a gardener of 30 years experience and have a greenhouse to shelter new plants). I believe they should stick to their specialty and leave the miscellaneous perennials alone.

Roots and Rhizomes has a great daylily selection! I've ordered twice now and have been very happy with the results. Even when I received something that seemed a bit small or unimpressive, the vigor with which the plant has shot up has shocked me. The daylilies I've gotten bareroot have been nice and beefy, and have been packed well. They are my favorite mail order house right now - and I've ordered from many.

Nice catalog. Good selection. Average prices