Comments regarding Wayside Gardens

although i have received their seductive catalogs for years, i never ordered til a friend forwarded a sale email notice to me. well, the prices were just too good! and the merchandise was not! the casa blanca lily bulbs were no better than bagged stuff from home depot, the sedum was a stick (has some growth now), and generally the stuff was barely worth the sale price, never mind the full price! a one-time experience.

My son gave me a gift certificate to Wayside Gardens for $100 for Christmas, so in January I placed my order for a "Corallinum" Japanese maple, a standard forsythia, and some other things. When it arrived I was puzzled by the "stick" that was the Japanese maple. And I was disappointed that the only apposing branch on the forsythia had been broken off in the box. The Japanese maple wasn't even potted! Let alone packed with cedar shavings. And it had no graft and no branches.

When I sent them a photo of my "stick" (together with a photo from a friend of mine in Denver who purchased the "Corallinum" from Greer Gardens in Oregon, and received a beautiful plant), their customer service was totally inadequate. They didn't offer to ship one right off to me to replace it, but said they could get one to me in two weeks, or they suggested I could return it to get my money back. I wanted to know what happened to the tree! Their senior horticulturist told me I should have received a well branched seedling (seedling! at $49.95! My friend bought his for $32) with the named variety "Corallinum" above a graft, and it was supposed to be packed in a gallon container. Well, there was no gallon container attached to the tree, and no empty gallon container in the packaging at all!

Needless to say, I won't be buying from Wayside again! I have bought plants from them in the past, and they were very well packaged, but not this order. And the price I paid for the maple was very high.

although the phone reps were pleasant and helpful, the plants arrived in poor condition.....poorly packed; some root rot. I will not order from them again

I just received the shipment of the first order that I have placed with Wayside Gardens. I was very impressed with their catalog and the website as well as the selection of some more hard to find items that I was looking for. The box arrived today in perfect shape so I expected to open it to find my plants I had been anxiously awaiting. When I opened the box, I found that the Ben Franklin Tree had been too large to fit in the box with the other items so they simply snapped the top third of it off and bent it back. I carefully removed the tree to get to the other items and found the native azalea had at least one third of the growth broken and wilted. I can deal with dormant perenials but these other poorly packed (and very small) items have made me decide NEVER to order from this outfit again. I am sorry that I had a bad experience as they really seemed to have some great and hard to find plants.

I ordered over $200 from Wayside (my very first order). the plants arrived promptly, and looked just awful! Many of the bareroot plants were black and slimy with mold. The hosta was pathetic. No top growth and very poor roots. The elephant ear's leaves were severly damaged. No new growth on the hostas, or elephant ear, or the molded perennials. The only thing in this entire order that looked good was the helleborus and the ice plant (although small). I contacted Wayside right away (via E-mail) and complained. I told them that I was planting all this stuff in containers and was very concerned about the poor quality and small size of the plants. The customer service rep's reply was "we don't recomend that you put these plants into containers and we are making a note in your order that you did that and so if they don't survive, they won't be replaced. Have a nice day". NOTHING in their literature or planting instructions said that continers were outlawed. Another rep has since contacted me and said that their horticulturist said that most of what I got would be OK in containers for a short while, but she never said if they plan to stand behind their guarantee.

The prices are VERY high for the size of the plants, most of the plants are available elseware, and the customer service is horrible.

Ordered a bicolor buddleia from Wayside on 1/28/03, received notice the product was supposed to ship after 3/20. I e-mailed them yesterday (4/16) asking where the order was, having heard nothing from them. Reply today (the only good thing) stating that the product is delayed and not expected to be received by them until the first week in May. I am doubtful I will ever get it, and am seriously concerned about the condition it may arrive in, if it comes. Too bad I found this great site AFTER I placed my order.

Of the bare-root plants I orderd- half were dead, some were moldy. All were shiped late. Of the ones that were shiped live, most didn't survive the winter-even with mulch. All the roses were of very poor quality. They died as well.

After looking through their catalog I ordered monroe white liriope as the local nursery around here does not offer it. Well let's just say i am happy about one thing "I only made a very small order" Wayside is only one state away from me and I know they were not sitting at the post office over a weekend; but these plants which I opened immediately were moldy! I cleaned the mold off best that I could and planted anyway as it was a small order and a hard variety to find and will hope for the best. I will never order from wayside again. :(

I have to agree with the other negative commenters in terms of size and quality of plant material I've gotten from Wayside. I have been so displeased that I did not order from them for about 4 or 5 years, and then, this past winter, decided to see if they were on the web.

Ordered a reasonably (for them) priced Japanese Maple. Got a confirmation e-mail, which stated shipment would be after February 5. By February 20, I was calling to see where my tree was. The blase operator informed me that Wayside had decided to "grow out" the plants they had gotten and ship in the fall. If I hadn't called, I wouldn't have known. I am, again, a former Wayside customer.

I recently requested a catolog from Wayside Gardens and when it arrived it had a 5.00 discount card in it. I logged onto the web site and ordered the most beautiful black calla lilly I had ever seen and used my discount. I got the order confirmation letter and they had charged me full price. I immediatly wrote to them saying I used the coupon code and then I get a letter back asking me a bunch of questions about the coupon code like where I got it, how I got it, they asked me to confirm the code and blah blah blah. I feel like they were questioning my integrety. Has anyone else ordered from them and had any similar problems? I am wondering if this is becasue I am a first time customer but tend to think that if they treat first timers like this does anyone go back again?

I have ordered from Wayside Gardens almost every year for the last 10 years and each time swear I will not do so again - I am truly an example of a fool and her money being parted. THe problem is that their catalogs are so beautifully presented that it is easy to forget what last year's plants looked like. I agree with all comments concerning expense, size and quality of plants, the fact that although they are well packed they have often rotted, and the sad truth that almost everything dies. One is far better off using a local, reputable nursery which will replace plants that don't make it and that stock plants that are suitable to your growing climate, temperature, and humidity. I have three of their catalogs on my desk right now and hope that I remember this e-mail when I decide I'll give them one more chance. Park Seed is just as disappointing. I have tiny little plants from them that are now 3 year old perennials which have never,never flowered and have not grown an inch since they were planted. Seeds from Park Seed might just as well have been irradiated for all the germination that occurs. It is plain to see that they are co-owned.

I have ordered twice within this past year. Once, supplies. The other plants.

The plants (Formosa lilies and Caryopteris) were very poor quality. I compare to my experience with Bluestone, WhiteFlower Farms and Heirloom Roses. All three lilies failed to take and the caryopteris is iffy.

I designed a perenial bed for a co-worker and recommended she try Wayside. Her plants, including a grass (Morning Light) did not make it and they were placed right next to plants from Bluestone that did just fine.

I'm not a new gardner and am used to planting bare root.

Their catalog is enticing, but the results leave a lot to be desired.

Got a tiny perennial, too small to sustain itself, it died. Called Wayside and they said, yes, they knew their perennials were small, and they sent them that way on purpose because they adapted better (i.e. died?) Spent LOTS of money on a tree, thought it was going to be a tree (duh) and it arrived in a 3 or 4 inch pot.

Have spent over $600 with Wayside over 3 years. 1st year was fine. 2nd and 3rd years have been dismal. Rotted plants upon opening the box even though shipped only a week prior. Small and tissue cultured plants including "specimin" sized plants barely 1 foot high and tiny. One hosta so small it's two years later and is still only a single eye. Incredibly high prices. Customer service always refunds/replaces without problem but twice have received replacements that were rotted as well! Catalog is tempting but beware!

I ordered 2 daylilies from them 2 years ago. They shipped the plants way to late for the planting time in my area. Neither one survived the winter. I did contact customer service and they replaced them, however, one of the plants they sent had crown rot. The other has lived, but is not thriving like I feel it should. I haven't ordered from them since.

I had been ordering from Wayside for over 5 years but have decided to part ways. My impression is that, over time, the specimens sent have gotten smaller and their survival rate lower. I have especially encountered disappointing results with bare roots which are sent late and often don't survive Chicago winters. This year, I attempted to order only for Spring planting but received post cards saying that 4 of the items ordered last Winter for the Spring won't be available until Fall. My relationship with them has fallen by the wayside.

I ordered from this nursery for the first time last year. My order was placed very early in the year. The bareroot roses didn't arrive until May and most of them died over the winter since they didn't have enough time to get established. I didn't find out that the hydrangeas I had ordered wouldn't be available until months after the order was placed. The remaining plants had a very poor survival rate -- they either died that summer or over the winter. I will probably not order from this company again unless they have something I want that I can't get anywhere else. In fairness to the company, I did not contact them for a refund on the plants that didn't survive, so I don't know how they would have responded.

I was given a gift of some bearded irises in July 2000 that were supposed to be shipped "at the proper planting time for my area" (late August early September according to my local Iris Society).

They arrived in late October (too late for my area)and were almost completed dried up. None survived.

I called customer service and they said to call back next summer and I will get my irises at the proper time.

I called back next summer and left specific instructions to ship no later than early September for my area. My replacements arrived in late October and were almost completed dried up again. None of the replacement survived.

I will never order from Wayside Gardens!

I've bought plants from Wayside for years, am generally pleased. The catalogue is a 'bible' I take to nurseries to see what things will look like in bloom. But recently, the quality of plants has fallen off greatly, and I especially hate the 10-day shipments (across 2 states!) by the postal service. In late spring, plants die in the heat. Wayside always replaces plants, but by then you've lost growing time, and even the replacement may be of no better quality. I hope they are reading these comments and improve their plant delivery quality, before I find even more places that deliver better plants to my door.

I have ordered from Wayside a few times but never again! Like others I have found their stock overpriced and under- quality. This year they sent dredges of plants in early March, when our average last killing frost date is April 15. I had a nursery friend pot up and tend the plants for me, but over half of them were received in a state too far gone to revive. I lost over half of my order, making the $400+ order closer to $800 for what actually survived. Like others I have found their customer service dept. to be indifferent at best and inadequate always. This appears to be a company which has grown too big for its service capabllities.

I have seen some overpriced items in my time, but I have never seen any company try to take advantage of plant costs like Wayside. They are consistently two times if not three times the cost of the same plant on numerous other internet/mail order sites. All I can think of is that they have taken to heart the saying that there is a fool born every minute. Search the web for the same plant before ever buying anything from this company!!!!!!

I had ordered from Wayside in the past and found their stock to be variable. Sometimes wonderful, sometimes barely passable. Then, after not ordering from them for a few years, just last Spring I decided to order their Philadelphus 'Virginal'. Although I have a number of other varieties of mockorange, I really wanted to try this particular variety. The plant arrived looking like it was afflicted with 'witches' broom'. It was a mass of tiny, tiny, tangled branches crossing this way and that, no one branch thicker than a piece of vermicelli. There were a few shriveled leaves scattered here and there, no more appeared, and the plant was pronounced dead. Wayside already charges too much for their plants, and although I was willing to pay their price for this particular one, I ended up overpaying for a dead plant. I do admit that I refused to deal with customer service. Maybe they would have offered a replacement. They shouldn't have had to. The plant I was sent should never have left Wayside. As far as I'm concerned Wayside has absolutely no quality control. I will never order from them again (I don't care how many catalogs they send.).

Have received plants which were dead on arrival. Planted them anyway, to make sure. Even got one pot which was supposed to have a $30 bulb in it and found it empty. Customer service was inept and I finally gave up on getting a replacement. Recently ordered from Park and noticed, with apprehension, the tags being identical to Wayside. Surprise! They are affiliated with them. I have a similar problem with some of their items but haven't tried yet to get replacements. Will let you know if it works out ok.

When I bought my home in 1980, I became a good customer of Wayside Gardens, but a couple of years ago the orders I received was so sloppily packaged that the little plants (which are not cheap!) were in terrible shape. I re-potted them and nursed them through the summer, but not all of them could survive. I wrote a letter to Wayside describing the plants' deplorable packaging, and in return I got a form postcard telling me that Wayside would replace any plants that died. Anybody who knows anything about gardeners should know that I don't want the plants replaced, I want them to arrive with a chance of survival.This spring I took a chance, hoping that the plants would be better packaged. I ordered a Winterberry and six small plants, including 3 yellow baptisia. The Holly is about four feet high and very well packaged in a huge box. The six smaller plants were just stuck in the box, and had been bounced around until most of the green shoots were torn off! Two of the baptisia are nothing but little root balls! Of course they'll be replaced, but how frustrating. Never again Wayside Gardens!

1.Customer Service needs training in customer service; rather insulting to my refined wife; however not to her less refined husband. 2.When asked if a daylily plant was one or two fans; was told we only sell top quality bulbs. 3.I sincerely wish they would tell a customer if the plant is tissue cultured and has not bloomed yet or has bloomed true to color and form -- or how long it takes to bloom -- have been waiting since '99 for one particular plant to bloom. 4. For the most part the catalog has representive images of plants; data on roses and daylilies can have mistakes but then I am picky.

Prices are too high, especially when all they do is throw your order in a box with no packing material of any kind and then drop kick it as it goes on the truck. I have ordered from them on several occasions and was disappointed beyond words each time the order arrived. I tree was sent bare root and bone dry through the US Mail (10 days before I got it) needless to say it was dead when it arrived. They sent a replacement right out, unfortunately, they used the US Mail again after I strictly said to send it by UPS only. Again, it arrived dead. Many other overprices items are nothing more than barely rooted cuttings. Sad considering how quality oriented they claim to be. 2 years later I decided to give them a try again, with the same disappointing and disastrous outcome. Now that I think of it, after several hundred dollars in purchases, I think I only have one plant of theirs that lived to show for it. Save your time and money and shop elsewhere. Theri catalog is nice, but that's about it. A letter telling them how angry I was was never acknowledged.

Overpriced and overhyped. Supposedly "new" or "rare" plant introductions have often been around for years, sometimes decades. Size of plants received has been disappointing. Some plants were received in very poor condition. They do put out a beautiful catalog. They do also replace or refund without any hassle. Having received both replacements and refunds, I prefer the refunds.

Poor quality from Wayside Gardens; very inconsistent. Have ordered roses and various perennials during 2001-won't repeat in 2002.

I am a very experienced gardener and do design, garden consulting and workshops on gardening. I ordered from Wayside in the 80s and was very pleased with their quality and service. But after a few scattered problems in the late 90s, I had an experience in 2001 that was so bizarre I will never order from them again.When my order was three weeks late, I finally called to see what was up. The representative told me that since I had requested shipping the first week of April, they had only shipped on that date--I would actually receive the order sometime in the next few days. When I suggested this was a strange take on a shipping request and that my plants would have been in transit for three weeks, she said that plants were shipped in their own refrigerated company trucks and would be delivered to my post office from whence it would be delivered by the P.O. to me. (My post office told me such delivery is impossible.) In any case, she agreed to reship the order. When it arrived about a week later, three of the shrubs were not what I had ordered--Cornus kousas instead of the Cotinus coggygria 'Velvet Cloak'. When I called about that, I was told that my P.O. had refused and returned the previously shipped order. My tiny little rural P.O. had a good laugh about this. I did not. So, finally, Wayside got the Cotinus to me, and when it leafed out it was immediately clear that they were inferior seedlings already turning green and not the deep purple leafed selection the catalog had touted. Not wanting just to complain to a phone representative, I wrote a long letter directed to the head of customer service. I never received a response, so finally two and a half months later I phoned for a refund on the Cotinus. I received it promptly, but I lost a whole season of growth. That's it for me and Wayside. I warn my customers about them too.

I just want to let you know that I ordered about a dozen roses from Wayside several years ago, and about half of them Wayside Gardens had mosaic virus. Now, when I contacted the, they did offer to replace them, but I didn't see the point in replacing the infected roses with other infected roses. This was maybe eight years ago...they may have cleaned things up since then. But why buy infected plants when there are plenty of clean roses out there?

Prices I think are to high, so I never odered from them.

I've done a lot of business with Wayside over the last 10 years but I must say Spring 2000 has ended my association with them. I ordered 3 Cimicifuga racemosa "Hillside Black Beauty" plants for 55.00 and received in the mail three mould covered pots that smelled rotten. Also in that order were two lilacs "Krasavitsa Moskvy" and "Blanche Sweet". The Blanche Sweet lilac never budded out. When I called to report the failures I was kept on hold for nearly 30 minutes. When I did talk to someone they were nice enough but all that I got in the mail at a later date was one "Hillside Black Beauty" and a $4 dollar refund for an aster. I didn't bother cashing the check. I don't know what happened to Wayside but whatever it is, it's been for the worse.

I have ordered from Wayside two times and won't be doing so in the future. Last year I placed my order in January. I ordered several roses. I asked them if there were sure they were in stock and was informed that they were. When my order arrived in May I did not receive the Moore'sPink Perpetual Rose I wanted. Additionally, instead of the floribunda 'French Lace' I was sent the white hybrid tea, 'Pascali.' And last, I had ordered two Royal Bonicas. I was billed for them but they were not in the shipment.When I called Wayside, they said they'd run out of Moore's Pink Perpetual, and that's why I didn't receive it. Yet, when I ordered it inJanuary they told me I would be getting it. They told me to keep Pascali, and they did send me the 'French Lace' I'd ordered, but when I told them my Royal Bonicas were not in the box, yet were listed on the packing slip, they said they couldn't send them because at that point they no longer had any. I asked to speak to a supervisor and complained to her about not receiving the Royal Bonicas. She *looked around* andfound two to send me. However, they are not Royal Bonicas. They are plain Bonicas, but I didn't realize that until this year.This year, again in January, I ordered the Moore's Pink Perpetual, again asking if ordering it meant I would receive it, and the person said yes. However, when my order came, Moore's was listed on the packing slip as "out of stock." Two years in a row I ordered this rose and had a spot for it but didn't receive it. I did get the other roses I ordered this year, but they were thrown bare root into a plastic bag and put into a large box. The bag was not sealed, and neither was there any packing material of any kind around the roots. They were bone dry when Ireceived them. Most of the roses are now doing OK, but the Heritage is dead. It's been in the ground for five weeks and the canes arecompletely dried up and dead.I will not order from this company again. I should have learned my lesson with my first order.

I ordered over $300.00 in plants from Wayside in February. I called April 20th to check on when it would be shipped. They said next Friday. Seven days later I called again. They said it was held for one plant, but it was ready now and would go out next Friday. Seven days later I called again, they said it would go out next Friday. I cancelled my order. I guess it was too small of an order to be bothered with or because they were all potted plants. I'll never bother with them again.

Just received my order from Wayside and it was short by two azaleas. Called the company and they said they were sold out. Offered to credit my card or offer substitution plants as long as they weren't a penny more than the ones I ordered. I opted for the credit, but don't know what to do with only one azalea. This was my first experience with Wayside, and almost certainly my last.

Ordered separately from both in October. The orders arrived after three weeks instead of one week promised. They billed twice for the same order, one the day the order was placed and the second the day when the order was shipped. I understand they are the same company now. After four calls over three weeks they have yet to correct the problem. Courteous on the phone but lacking in execution. I will probably not order from them again.

This past summer I ordered 24 daylilies from this place. They were the tiniest, slimiest, fungus filled, moldy plants that I ever saw. 17 of the 24 have died. I urge everyone to exercise EXTREME CAUTION with this company!

Ordered separately from both in October. The orders arrived after three weeks instead of one week promised. They billed twice for the same order, one the day the order was placed and the second the day when the order was shipped. I understand they are the same company now. After four calls over three weeks they have yet to correct the problem. Courteous on the phone but lacking in execution. I will probably not order from them again.

You can keep Wayside Garden. I ordered some bulbs from them in June and found the charges on my next credit card statement when the bulbs were ordered for September delivery. I promptly called them about this and did not receive a satisfactory explanation; as a result, I cancelled the order…