Comments regarding Wayside Gardens

I just received a clivia. It was beautifully packaged and a nice healthy plant. I have ordered from Wayside for years and, sure, I have gotten a few misses, but overall its been quite good.
In defense of Wayside, their bareroot plants are clearly labeled as such and, as someone previousily wrote, these bareroot plants are high quality. Customers should always look first for plants at their local nursery anyway before mail ordering from any company.

One of my daughters purchased a rose for my recent birthday, specifically a Climbing New Dawn, through Wayside Gardens. For starters, the rose took a couple of weeks to be delivered - I initially received a certificate stating the rose would be delivered "in the fall" and a catalog rather than the plant. Here in VT, "fall" is nearly over, so I called Wayside Gardens and learned that the rose had been out of stock but had been shipped the day before.

It arrived a couple of days ago. The packing job was fine, though the free bulbs had been packed atop the rose. The plant itself, however, was surprising to say the least - about 5 inches high with absolutely minute leaves, so small that I am not at all sure that this is in fact a New Dawn., potted in a trade gallon container. Imagine my surprise when I went to plant the rose and found that there was little or no rootball - virtually all of the dirt contained in the pot simply fell away. Obviously, what I received was a barely-rooted cutting slapped into a pot of soil just before shipping.

I've planted it - but am extremely leery that it will survive the winter, even though New Dawn is supposed to be hardy in my Zone 5 garden. I won't know till next April at any rate.

Next time I want a rose - and we just purchased a lovely 1930's house with an heirloom garden - I will order elsewhere.

"

We have reviewed your posting on Dave's Garden Watchdog website. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order with the partial email address provided by the site. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to assist you. We want to help.

Some time ago, we reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website and responded with a D-mail on 10/23/06 but did not receive a reply. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order with the partial email address provided by the site. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to assist you. We want to help.

Barbara Kirkland
Park Seed/Wayside Gardens Customer Contact Department
bkirkland@parkseed.com"

I have ordered from this company several times. Some of my experiences were quite good. Some were not so good. I agree with the people who say they send small plants; however, when they send BARE ROOT clematis, then they can't be beat. Most of their clematis come bare root, but a few, mostly those that are the newest around, come potted. Those are the skimpy ones. But the bare root ones have nice, large, healthy root systems.

Wayside used to do excellent packing. Then they got very sloppy. I, too, had a huge order that looked as it if was just thrown in the box. But my last order was packed exceptionally well.

The thing I like about Wayside and why I continue to order from them is their guarantee. They give a full year guarnatee. They don't ask you to send the plant back or anything foolish like that, they know that most gardeners are honest people, and I think they figure there are a lot of people out there who won't bother with reporting it when some plant fails. Well, I report it! I order my plants online so I make my complaint and follow it up with a copy of my order so that they will have the purchase number, etc. So I always figure that it is worth the risk if I see something I really want in their catalologe.

So far my experience with Wayside has been positive. I recently ordered 4 clematis (2 jackmanii and 2 rooguchi) for fall shipping. All 4 plants were as advertised (i.e., in 2 1/2 inch pots). None appear to have disease or wilt and all leaves present were green and healthy. One of the rooguchis arrived with root damage, but, in all fairness, that could have (and probably did) occur during the shipment.

My only disappointment is that... I emailed Wayside to ask for advise on how to save the damaged plant and did not receive a response. I am fairly new to Clematis (but completely addicted) so had hoped their staff would be able to offer valuable insights.

I just purchased roses, hellebores, asters, delosperma and coreopsis from Wayside. The roses (14) and hellebores (3) were fine and healthy. However, the remaining plants (33 plants) were poorly packaged, and sent over a weekend. They were in small pots with barely any growth. In fact, most of them had significant amounts of black foliage and damaged, dessicated stems, i.e., they were dead (clearly different from my previous experience with this company: the coreopsis that I bought in spring from Wayside were healthy).

I called customer service but they were quite unhelpful and argumentative. In my 16 years of gardening with mail-order companies, this is the worst experience that I have encountered: poor quality of plants and unhelpful customer service.

A++++++++++
A+++++++
A++++++


THANK YOU WAYSIDE!!!
Great company.
I had for Moms day gotten a gift of roses from my DH. One arrived
in not such great shape, and I called Wayside; that was back in May.
They said they would replace it.
I had thought about it since then, but not being a bothersome type person, I figured they had either forgotten about it or maybe would get to it.
I was so pleasantly surprised when my mail lady honked today and gave me a package marked Live Plants. I knew almost immediately who it was from, and was i SO HAPPY. `
I am glad to be dealing with a company that stands behind its merchandise, not like some others.
I have great plans for this potted Climinbing New Dawn, as it was one of my most wanted roses ever, and I hope to have many blooms and years and compliments about it, as I can give to Wayside on their keeping their word and not forgetting about the little gardeners.
Again....thank you.
sheri williams
Hastings,MI
WigglyPaw Farm
Heritage and Endangered Chickens
We Farm with Percherons!

This is my first experience with Wayside Gardens. I ordered a heuchera collection on Sep. 14. Today, Sep. 25, I received an email indicating that the collection had shipped out.

While looking through the details of the shipment, I noticed that only three of the four heucheras in the collection were listed. I discovered that Wayside went ahead and substituted one of the plants in my order (instead of receiving heucheras brownies, mocha, citronelle, and caramel , I would be receiving two mochas, one citronelle, and one caramel).

I really don't like it when substitutions are made without any notification. If items are going to be substituted, then I expect to be notified. I called customer service to complain. As a result, they told me that they would place me on a waiting list for the brownies heuchera, and they would ship it to me free of charge. I was told that it won't ship for a few weeks, which isn't a problem where I live (zone 8).

I'm pleased that they are going to (eventually) send the brownies heuchera. However, I still want to know why didn't they just place me on a wait list for brownies in the first place?

The customer service gets a positive. But the hassle of having to deal with making my order what it *should* have been in the first place gets a negative. So, for ratings, this company gets a neutral from me for now.

"

Some time ago, we reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website and responded with a D-mail on 10/11/06 but did not receive a reply. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order with the partial email address provided by the site. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to assist you. We want to help.

Barbara Kirkland
Park Seed/Wayside Gardens Customer Contact Department
bkirkland@parkseed.com"

Great experience with this company. When I ordered in August, I was told fall shipping to my area would begin September 13th. I received my plants, in remarkably good shape, on September 18th. I will order from them in the future.

This was my first order from Wayside Gardens. I am very happy with my purchase. I ordered the Echinacea Razzmatazz, which no one else had available. They came in one week from ship date. Very fast shipping. Also, I was very impressed with the packing. All the other companies I have ordered from pack the pots in packing peanuts and half the dirt is spilled inside the box. Wayside put some sort of material to cover the dirt so that very little was lost. Will order from them again.

Darned. I saw the negative ratings but took the chance anyway because Wayside was the only one with Clematis Arabella at the time. I crossed my fingers, but no luck. I got had. They charged my credit card, I never got the plants and I emailed and emailed, with no response. Just the same automated email saying someone would get back to me within 48 hours. That never happened. I also called and called and spent forever on hold. Why do company reps come onto this site leaving their emails, saying they want to help disatisfied customers? Heck, I even emailed the very person from Wayside (Jennifer Daniels) that comes onto this rating area, and I STILL got no response. Anyhow, I finally got through today by phone. I had ordered 2 clematis. Turns out, one of the clematis has been sold out for a while; they can't ship the other clematis to me yet because "the company doesn't have it yet from its horticulturist; maybe they'll have it in October". Unbelievable. The company charged my credit card despite not even having the merchandise on their premises. I tried to get a refund, but the company rep on the phone said it would take them 10 business days because they are "busy."

Please, Wayside, don't cut and paste that thing about "please email Jennifer Daniels, so we can locate your order." All you need to do, Jennifer, is check your email and you'll have all the info you need. And I'll be looking for that refund within the next 2 business days.

I have ordered no less than 20 times from Wayside Gardens. I am shocked that so many people have reported negative experiences, but I suppose that as Wayside stated at the top, with millions of orders going out, there are bound to be problems. Have I had probelms, sure, but they always made good on them by either replacing the plants with issues or refunding my money. Always great customer service and never a reason to go elsewhere. Perennials from Wayside have almost totally made my gardens what they are today and I will be returning in the future.

I ordered several bareroot rose plants last year from Wayside Garden and was very pleased with both the plants and the service. My ordered arrived at the right time in spring and the plants were in perfect condition. All of the plants have flourished.

Over the past winter 2005/2006, I placed about $1200.00 worth of different plant orders. I live in MN and shopping via catalogs is the only way to garden here in the wintertime. I ordered many new introductions and began receiving my orders in mid may and into June. Most of my plants received were in good condition, bareroot stock was ok, some did well while several never got started. Wayside did credit upon request for the ones that never got started. The only glitch I ran into was upon ordering their bareroot oriental poppy collection. None of the 8 bareroot plants took off. After several phone calls, I was finally credited the amount charged. For my last experience, I called several times to check shipment of my primadonna coneflower, I was told it wold be shipped on several different phonecalls. Mid June, I received a package with substitution plants, not my primadonna. I was surprised to receive these plants since upon initial placement of the order I checked the box for no substitutions please. On top of this, the replacement plants were ones I previously ordered through them earlier in the year. I called customer service explaining the situation and a few different employees argued with me on this fact, changed my story around telling managers that I wanted to keep the subs and receive a credit which was bunk. I wanted a refund or credit, not plants I already have. About 1 month after I returned the substitution plants I did receive a credit voucher. In past years, they had good customer service, this year I feel I heard a miscommunication among employees a common comment made. I would do business again with them, but I advise one to carefully monitor your order.

I am new to gardening, and I have only placed a few orders with Waysides. About one third of what I ordered so far have arrived dead or so close to dead that they expired upon planting. I followed instructions carefully and my locally bought plants have done much better, so I don't think it's me! They have never argued about giving me credit for the dead plants, which is good, but it seems like they are always sold out of the replacement plants, so I can't get what I want at the right time. I have even called them to get a replacement for a dead plant, was told they are totally sold out of that plant, and then got an email ad the next day offering a special on that very same plant! When I called them back, they said they aren't shipping them until next spring, even though they are having a "sale" on them in August! Also, I once placed an order with Waysides and was shipped a plant from Park Seeds, and when this one died, I was not able to get credit with Waysides, only with Park Seeds. It's just too confusing and too much of a hassle--also, they charge the credit card right away, even they don't ship until sometimes months later. I'm trying Bluestone next time instead--they're cheaper, too.

"

Some time ago, we reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website and responded with a D-mail on 10/11/06 but did not receive a reply. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order with the partial email address provided by the site. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to assist you. We want to help.

Barbara Kirkland
Park Seed/Wayside Gardens Customer Contact Department
bkirkland@parkseed.com"

On June 9, 2006, I ordered 5 female Winterberry plants and 1 male plant, to ensure pollinating. I received the 5 bareroot female Winterberry plants in June, which I duly planted, and which are doing well now (August). My gripe is that I never received the male plant I ordered, despite an acknowledgment of my order. I waited. . .and waited. . .and waited, finally contacting Costomer Service a few days ago. I received an e-mail telling me that the male plants had been sold out at the time of my order. I quote from the message:
" I apologize for the error in availability status on our Web site. Our records indicate that 47001 was sold out at the time your order was placed. We update our Web site manually and items that have recently sold out may appear as available. We try to remove all sold out items as soon as they become unavailable. However, because we were approaching the end of our shipping season, items were very limited and sold out quickly. No charges were made against your credit card on this order, since the only item was sold out at the time."

Fine, but my gripe is that I wasn't notified of all this at the time, and I "wasted" the summer without my pollinator! No berries for the birdies this winter! The company should have told me right away that I wouldn't be receiving the shrub.

I have also received some on-sale Clematis that arrived shriveled and never recovered, while some I ordered at the same time were fine. (I am expecting a refund for the defunct ones.) My experience with Wayside is that when they are good, they are very good, but when they are bad. . .watch out. It's the uneveness of the service which discourages me.

I ordered several items from Wayside this past year. Though the fall shipment hasn't arrived yet (trust me--you don't want to plant in July or August, so be patient if you placed an order during these months), the shipments I have recieved to date have been satisfactory.
My first order came in April. I only ordered two or three items at that time, but one was a rather pricey Japanese maple (all JMs seem to be pricey). I planted both plants and neither one seemed to do well from the onset. From the looks of them, I suspect that they sat in a cold place too long during shipment. When I explained my situation to Wayside, they immediately replaced the Japanese maple and credited my account for the other plant.
My biggest problem was the same that everyone else seems to be experiencing--customer service and/or the computer systems have too many "glitches". I later ordered three rose bushes (buy one get two free--a real deal) and tried to use my credit from my earlier plant several times. No go--the computer system would not allow it. I contacted a sales rep who said my account would automaticaIly be charged the lower amount once I submitted the order. Fortunately, I doubted this. Once I placed my order online, I contacted customer service via email, mentioned that the order coming through should have my credit applied, and to please notify me with the total price. By the time a customer service representative got my email, my credit card had already been charged the full amount. The customer service rep said "we'll apply the credit to your next order". I was pretty hot, since I had spent way too much time trying to get the credit that rightfully belonged to me. The rep finally conceeded and issued a credit back to my card.
By the way, the roses that came we'ren't what I ordered, but they were a better, more expensive rose. I came out ahead on this one. And with many of the specials, Wayside is upfront with stating that they may substitue with plants of equal or greater value.
All of the plants I have ordered from Wayside so far are doing well, and you can get some unique items from them. I truly beleive that they are working on improving their computer and customer service capabilities. Be patient but persistant with them, and I think that you'll be happy with their plants in the long run.
I for one am willing to give them another try, and hope that by next spring my neutral rating will be upgraded to positive. We'll see how things work out with my fall orders.
Garth Wadleigh

I ordered 8 thornless blackberry bushes and received them promptly. They were all bare rooted plants that looked like sticks with roots, and I planted them immediately and watered them regularly. Not one of them ever leafed out. I think I was sent dead plants. I find it hard to believe that not one of them would live. I keep getting spam emails from them several times a week. I've unscubscribed, and hope that will stop them now. I won't buy from them again.

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We have reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website. We responded with a D-mail on 8/28/06, also, but did not receive a reply. We want to resolve the problem but have yet to hear from you.We want to help.

Jennifer Daniels
Wayside Gardens
Customer Contact Department
[e-mail:jdaniels@parkseed.com]
"

SO VERY UNHAPPY WITH WAYSIDE........spent $390.00 and still don't have flowers.
.....Sad to say - a day late and a dollar short too! that I wished now that I had researched more about web/mail order plants. I placed my order with Wayside Aug. 8 and still have not heard a word from them. My order was well over $300 and my credit card was charged - but as of 8-24-06 i still have no flowers or comments from Wayside - except HOLDING ORDER.

I placed my order with Tasteful Garden and Square Foot Garden for boxes on the same day and received them Monday of last week.

Just doesn't make since..........so disappointed in WAYSIDE.

Debbie Baylor-Smith
Sad gardener in Indiana - fighting the bugs! and HEAT!

p.s. I wonder if WAYSIDE knew that the economy is not in the best of shape right now - and I am sure other Nurseries will be glad to take my money and ship my products?

"

We have reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website. We have used every resource available to find additional information that would aid us in locating your order. We responded with a D-mail on 8/25/06, also, but did not receive a reply. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order with the partial email address provided by the site. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to assist you. Delivery for fall orders begins in mid to late September.We want to help.

Jennifer Daniels
Wayside Gardens
Customer Contact Department
[e-mail:jdaniels@parkseed.com]
"

I have ordered from this company for the last time. They are sorry sorry sorry. They are even selling plants on Dave;s Garden now and on Ebay and other internet sites. Buyers Beware. This is a snake in the grass waiting to take your money. I ordered several climbing roses this past Spring and was told that my order would ship at the correct time. I never got the collection that I ordered, instead I got "substitute" plants that werent even roses. Dear Wayside, If you have over 7 million satisifed customers, then you had better start calling them in to buy from you, becasue I am outta here with my loyalty and business. I heard that Jackson/Perkins would like a few new customers and I believe they just got at least one. I am not sure who you are trying to convince with your little "story" at the beginning of your listing, but we are not all so easily fooled. Hope you realize soon that your customers ARE your business. It is sad to see a company got straight downhill after a decent run.

"

We have reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to help us to help you.

Jennifer Daniels
Wayside Gardens Customer Contact Department
[e-mail:jdaniels@parkseed.com]


"

I placed an order with Wayside prior to reviewing any of the commentary. I had mixed results. The pricing and shipping was as promised. My first two shipments arrived looking great and all plants appeared happy. I did find that the three shrub roses I looked healthy but seemed to take a long time (2 months) to restart their growth in my garden. They didn't die off- just seemed to sit with no new leaves and wait. They were planted in early June and the very very hot weather set in so that was likely the reason. My other items (climbing rose, honeysuckle) are very healthy and happy.

My disappiontment occurred when I didn't receive one of the climbing roses I ordered. This happened to be the reason for my entire order as they were one of the few sources with this variety. They didn't send me an email notifying me of the shipment- the box appeared with what must have been substitute plants. They didn't ask if I wanted my money back or what I wanted; I just got a substitution.

They did happily refund my money, tell me to keep the substitutes and place a reorder for fall when my rose was to come back in stock.

I give them a neutral for not letting me know about the stock error and just shipping without asking. The plants I received were in good shape, packed very well and are growing nicely.

This company's catalog and website give exaggerated and misleading information about a number of plants it sells - more so than any other nursery in my experience.

This generally takes the form of overstating bloom season - often to claim that a plant blooms all summer or summer into fall, when experienced gardeners know otherwise. Just one example - the company claims that Pyrethrum 'James Kelway blooms spring and summer and gives "two seasons" of color.

//www.waysidegardens.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10151&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=43773&PrevMainPage=advsearchresults&scChannel=Container%20Plants%20AS&SearchText=p11.v94;p4.v7&OfferCode=SH3

In reality, most gardeners who successfully grow this plant can expect (at best) a few weeks of spring bloom.

So it's recommended that you carefully check the catalog claims with a reliable source before ordering.

There's also the question of whether one would want to order from a firm that basically tells you in its company statement not to trust the word of your fellow gardeners on this site.

I started ordering from wayside gardens at least seven years ago. At first my experiences were wonderful. I loved the variety and that living in the North Carolina piedmont the plants were from a similar climate and did not have to be shipped far. Unfortunately starting in 2000 nearly everything I got from them died. What did not die was a oak leaf hydrangea that infected my entire garden with "rust".

Wayside Gardens has replaced the plants that died. However, the replacement plants also died. What a nightmare. The company has had such a good reputation for so long I was beginning to think I had lost my green thumb. I gave up, the last thing I wanted was yet another credit for more plants destined to die.

However, being a gardening addict, I tried plants from other companies. Now that I get my plant's from other sources my garden is back to thriving.

In the spring of 2005, I ordered a First Love gardenia from Wayside and thought it would be shipped then. Later I received notice that it would be shipped in September. It finally arrived in November, which is too late for tender plants to establish themselves here. It hung on through the winter but died this spring despite many applications of Superthrive. I notified the company and said I wanted a replacement. They replied that they would send me a voucher for the amount of the plant, less shipping. In the last few months I've emailed them several times and am always told that the certificate is "in process". Nothing has been done. Since it was charged on Visa, the money should have actually been credited to my account. I was willing to accept the gift certificate, or whatever they are calling it, instead of a refund, but this is ridiculous.

Hathaway Anderson
Virginia Beach, VA

I ordered many trees from Wayside a few years ago and then waited for a few months. Got part of the order of perennials I had included but got a notice that the trees were out of stock and then in their next catalouge the trees were available but at a lot bigger price. my order was sent in very early spring , probably Feb. Or even Jan. after I got the catalouge. Now is that false advertising or what?
i just sent them a notice again to quit sending me their catalouge but they keep ignoring that also.

I made a large order of Impaitens earlier this season that were gorgeous. And the price was very good considering the size of the plants I got. I ended up needing less than I originally thought because of their size, so I ended up sharing the left over plants with my neighbors. Leftover plants given free to neighbors = happy neighbors+pretty neighbor's yard=me being happy!

I recently bought a flat of Alternanthera "Red Theads" from their retail store that were very nice looking and very cheap. Fortunately the purple/red foliage will make my garden look a bit more formal. They are still in the flat right now but they will soon be serving as ground cover around my mailbox and a border for a small bed.

Along with the Red Threads, I also got a Dogwood. I can't tell much from it right now, but it looks promising. It's in a gallon size container and about 1 1/2 foot high right now. I hope to get it in the yard soon if I can find a place.

I have gotten a bad plant from them before but I called the 800 number and they sent out a better looking plant, but most everything I have ordered from them has been better looking than anything I would find at my local nursery or Lowe's.

Also, they have alot of exclusives and things that are new or new to our market.

This is more of a precaution for anyone considering using Wayside Gardens at this time: there is an additional shipping charge for FUEL ($3.00) at this time. They actually say the surcharge is $2.00 alongside the column where they list it as $3.

(I had just made a purchase from Park Seeds, and redirected to Wayside Gardens for a "Free Gift" offer... I almost made a purchase there until I noticed the price.)
Park Seeds also charges for fuel, unless your order is seeds only, whereas Wayside Gardens does not offer seeds and therefore the surcharge is always in effect.

There are numerous other sites that don't charge extra when ordering live plants; in fact, most sites I've encountered charge less for standard shipping altogether. Some sites charge less for seed-only orders, which is even better!
I'd strongly suggest looking elsewhere first, since everyone is affected by the rising cost of fuel.

"

Some time ago, we reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website. We have used every resource available to find additional information that would aid us in locating your order. We responded with a D-mail on 6/16/06, also, but did not receive a reply. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order with the partial email address provided by the site. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to assist you. We want to help.

Veronica Jackson
Wayside Gardens
Customer Contact Department
vjackson@parkseed.com

"

Used to order from Wayside years ago. Returned to gardening and OUCH. Prices were high, stock was weak and failed to grow. My credit card account was charged when the order was placed in February, but no shipments until I started to call in May. No notice of shipment. Live plants sent ground mail. Order was incomplete. Second shipment same story. Still not complete. Now items are out of stock. HMMMM ! Order and MONEY theirs since Feb. Called for a retund. Insisted on a store credit. Really???? I will never order from them again. Finally assured that my CC account would receive a refund. Three weeks and still waiting. This is a real ordeal and quite honetly it is beginning to look like I may file formal charges. If you order online. Go to SpringHill but avoid Wayside at all costs. (No pun intended) This story keeps coming up with other gardeners whom I meet at local nurseries. Sad. They used to be good.

"

Some time ago, we reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website and responded with a D-mail on 7/12/06 but did not receive a reply. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order with the partial email address provided by the site. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to assist you. We want to help.

Veronica Jackson
Wayside Gardens
Customer Contact Department
vjackson@parkseed.com
"

I have found the best way to get park's/ wayside's great plants at a decent price. Ebay. They ahve en ebay store and at first I was cautious. but The stock I was sent was the real thing. Double knockout roses for $30 in the catalogue? I bought three for $11-$14 each. These arrived in gallon pots as big as you'd find in a garden center. I bought two endless summer hydrangea for $8 and $5 These arrived in gallon sized pots with blooms! I even got a native amethyst falls wisteria which is sold out nearly everywhere for only $7 instead of $25.00. Great deals, Great plants. shipped VERY well and VERY fast.

I ordered from "Parks" mid- June. I actually made 2 orders about 1 week apart. Their prices were irresistible.

The first order received was within a week's time. All plants were happy and healthy. All plants were in the ground in 5 days and are doing well.

Well, 3 weeks later, the remaining plants I am waiting for are not here. I have emailed the company 3 times and still no plants, and zero response or updated status. I am waiting for 18 more plants and in the heat of July, it is a horrible time to put new plants in the ground.

So, except for the amount of time it is taking, and I should know that I get what I (didn't) pay for, "Parks/Wayside" is okay.

I ordered some Meidiland roses on a special they were having. It was buy 2 roses, get 3 free. When they arrived, I only got 4 roses. I called and complained and they shipped me out another. When it arrived it was dead. I called them again and they said they were sorry but they had no more of those left. Now I have to wait till next spring to complete a row alongside my house that I really wanted to do this year. They said they will ship the roses next spring but I really wanted it for this year. I am very disappointed.

I've probably spent over $500 with Wayside this year. They do have a beautiful catalog and some unique items. Quite a few of their plants turned out fine and are growing well. I had some expensive coneflowers arrive with no roots and just dirt in the containers. I did email them and they did send me out replacements. None of their coneflowers that I purchased (and I purchased a lot) were larger than 2" when they arrived in small pots. Most had hardly broken the soil. Some of them later died.

I had placed quite a number of separate orders over their website (I got suckered in on some of their daily sales) and when I checked on them I noticed that they had substituted items for out-of-stock items without notifying me. I immediately called them and they said they would cancel the order but if it arrived to refuse the package. I did that in one case but once you've opened the package if you don't know that, then you've got to pay for return shipping. In my opinion this is a very deceptive practice, especially when you order a plant in a particular color and the plant they send you isn't the same type of plant and isn't the same color or have the same characteristics at all. Since I ordered over the web they had my email but at no time did they ever ask me if it was OK to make substitutions.

Overall compared to places like Garden Crossings the size of their plants are very small - similar to the size of those that Bluestone Perennials sells but Bluestone sells theirs at a third the price. Wayside's clematis come bareroot which means that you will have no flowers on it this year since type 1 and type 2 clematis bloom on old wood. Considering their price is the same as clematis you would get from Brushwood Gardens and Garden Crossings where you get a 1 foot plant for the same price, they're a poor value in my opinion. Ideally the clematis you get should be about 1 ft high and have been pruned the previous year or so to bush out and promote more growth. A bare root plant even if it has a large root system means you're going to lose a year or two in flowering.

While I was pleased with some of the items I got, I wasn't pleased with others or the way they substituted stuff without permission on more than 1 ocassion in an attempt to not have to refund some of your money for items they couldn't provide. Also, their quality seems hit or miss. I purchased 12 various honeysuckles from them. Those that were from Monrovia were of good quality and 3ft tall but the yellow John Claytons were only a couply inches high and had a hard time surviving (several died). I eventually purchased replacements for some of them from Carroll Gardens where theirs are about 3ft. Every other place I've ordered honeysuckle from including Forest Farm - the plants come 3ft.

I wouldn't purchase from them again and don't recommend them. Now that I've discovered this web site I've found numerous other companies that have much better quality plants for less or the same price and don't pull deceptive practices such as unauthorized substitutions.

"

Some time ago, we reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website and responded with a D-mail on 7/12/06 but did not receive a reply. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order with the partial email address provided by the site. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to assist you. We want to help.

Veronica Jackson
Park Seed/Wayside Gardens Customer Contact Department
vjackson@parkseed.com
"

I sat all winter and poured over catalogs to plant in my garden in a newly purchased home. I have a 44 x 4 ft. garden space. i spent almot $100 (alot of money on my budget). I ordered Cannas, Perinial pkg. and serveral rose bushes. I followed the directions to plant and was so excited. Well, that was in April, and the daylilies that I ordered can't be found. I ordered 9 climbing rose bushes. So far, only 4 have leaves. I did the scratch test on the 5 which have't sprouted all, but they are dead. No growth on the roots. One American White had a BIG flower, but that's all. My Joseph's Coat (1) have finally started to bloom--only leaves. All of my daylilies-I don't know where they are. My Cannas hve yet to sprout. The perrenial garden is a joke. Most of the plants---I don't know where they are.
I spoke with TIFFANY and she said to send my mailing labels and they would refund my money. I am so disappointed. After viewing this website, my only wonder is when I will get this refuund. I wanted to invite my coworkers over for a backyard party and impress them with my garden. A lesson learned. It's a shame that people like me who are on a budget and want to have something nice are subjected to such a rip-off. All I wanted was a nice garden to sit and look at and marvel at my "green thumb" (This is my first time at gardening). I wish I had have known about this website. I would put extra money in my "plant fund" and purchased more expensive plants from a more reputable company.
I and going to give them one more try with just a couple of plants and we'll see how things work out. Such a glutton for punishment!!!

I rate this company a positive for plant selection and quality, and a negative for customer service.

I am a new gardener who has ordered several hundred dollars worth of plants from this company this year. Almost all of the plants arrived in good condition and seem to be high-quality plants. I have received replacements or credit for the few plants that died.

My complaint is that the company is very slow to answer emails and only partially answers the emails that I send. They also do not correspond at all with customers regarding order status.

With the last order that I placed, I received about half of my order 2 weeks after placing it. When I looked up my order status on the website, I saw, to my surprise, that 3 of my items were listed as out of stock, although the company was still selling them on their website and was even offering one of the plants as their special of the week!

It has been over a month now since my order, and the company is still telling me that the plants are out of stock even though they are still being offered for sale. This is just ridiculous.

Also, I have more items listed as "to be shipped" and no correspondence whatsoever as to why the month-long delay, or when the plants will ship.

It has been 5 days since my last email and still no response. I will be looking for another company with better customer service for my next order.

I have dealt with Wayside in the past with diminishing results, but what strikes me the most is that the newly purchased "Wayside Gardens" feels the need to post a defense of itself on this site in response to the myriad of unhappy recent customers. What is even more alarming, is that they refer to the members of this site, as "statistically insignificant" in what is suppose to be an appeal for understanding. Would you really want to do business with someone this callous and arrogant? For me, the answer would be: Not anymore.

"

We have reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to help us to help you.

Veronica Jackson
Wayside Gardens Customer Contact Department
vjackson@parkseed.com
"

I placed an order with them in February 2006. Everything came during the spring planting period except a Sinocalycanthus 'Venus.' Now, suddenly I get an email dated June 27 that it has been shipped. Here it is the hottest part of the summer in Virginia, with people going on vacation so they cannot tend to a newly-planted shrub if the weather gets dry, and this has been shipped with no warning, no "do you still want this," or "maybe you would rather have this in the fall, when it should be planted." The only thing I can do is refuse the package, and a choice plant will probably end up dead. Stupid. A customer service rep named Mildred tried to tell me they had no way of communicating with me. Well, duh, where did this shipment notification come from? This company gets worse every year.

I have been a customer of Wayside for several years and, until this year, have highly recommended it to many of my friends, relatives and clients. Now I warn them and apologize for sending them to the company in the past.
My last order was never completely filled; a couple of plants arrived here, a couple there; in bad enough shape that most didn't survive the winter. I continued eagerly awaiting the plants I'd longed for and finally had the perfect spot in which to plant them...waiting ....waiting....waiting. Phone calls indicated there was a "shortage" of plants and, although the website said they were in stock, they weren't able to send them. A company credit was issue for the part I had paid on my credit card...the coupons and credits which I had used to order the plants weren't refunded or renewed; I was simply "out of luck". The customer service rep said the special offer timeframe was expired. (Well, of course, after many months of waiting!) But it was valid when I successfully ordered the plants which never arrived...I'm not talking about a small purchase, the sum of my purchases was several hundred dollars (not the first time, either!)So they sent me a "company credit" for a refund. I do not want a credit coupon, I wanted my plants. I would be happier with a credit back to my bank account as I have no intention of purchasing from this company ever again.
I don't know what happened to their quality and customer service, but both have deteriorated severely. To be told by a customer service rep of a company that they cannot return money to me which they charged for items they didn't have is a totally unacceptable business practice. It isn't possible for me to fully express my disgust with Wayside Gardens at this point... but I do try - everytime I talk with a friend, relative or client about their interest in purchasing plants. As a horticulturist, landscape designer, greenhouse owner, and producer /advocate of organic medicinal herbs, I suspect my negative advertisement has cost Wayside several thousand dollars in lost sales this year alone. It would have been much more beneficial for the company to meet my reasonable expectations of a filled order, backordered items, or a full credit.
Whoever ran the company so wonderfully before must be absolutely beside themselves at this point in time.

"

Some time ago, we reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website and responded with a D-mail on 7/10/06 but did not receive a reply. We want to resolve resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order with the partial email address provided by the site. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to assist you. We want to help.

Veronica Jackson
Wayside Gardens Customer Contact Department
vjackson@parkseed.com
"

I, purchased 14 trees from Wayside in 2005 when they were still just Wayside and not owned by Parks! I had 4 of the 14 trees die over winter! I e-mailed wayside for replacements as I purchased the 2 year replacement! After They tryed to get out of replacing the trees and billing me for shipping! They agreed to send out the 4 trees free( like they were doing me a favor by sending them for free when I purchased a 2 year replacement for $10.00 extra.) When I recieved the four trees they were very small about 6 inches tall! The 14 I ordered in 2005 were 16-18 inches tall! The 4 new twigs they sent me died in about 3-4 weeks after being planted because of poor root systems! The remaining trees I ordered from the real Wayside Gardens are now 3-4 feet tall and doing great! It is sad that a very good mail order company sold out to such a poor company as "Parks"! I was a customer of waysides for about 4-5 years , but I will never buy from the new "Wayside Gardens" again! When there is to many other great mail order companys out there! Goodbye forever!!!!! I hope this company is out of business very soon!!!!!!

"

Some time ago, we reviewed your posting on Dave’s Garden Watchdog website. We want to resolve the problem but are unable to locate your order with the partial email address provided. Please forward your complete email address, billing address (including zip code), and any other pertinent information to help us to help you.

Veronica Jackson
Wayside Gardens Customer Contact Department
vjackson@parkseed.com
"

I ordered 7 roses and 9 clematises from Wayside in Febreary 06. Plants arrived in time for planting and were in wonderfull condition (except 1 rose, which was small, but alive). All other roses were huge, with 5 or more big healthy canes. They broke dormacy as soon as they were planted and were covered in blooms in June. Several of the bareroot clematises failed to grow. I notified the company and Wayside immediatly promised replacements and even issued store credit for the small rose that was not performing as good as others.
Excellent customer service and good quality plants!

I placed 2 orders totalling about $200 with these guys. The orders took over 2 months to fulfill. When they finally did ship the orders, several of the plants were DOA. I mean absolutely DOA -- no leaves, no stem, no shoot, no nothing -- just tiny pots half full of dirt. Most of their replacement shipments also came in dead. When they ran out of some of the plants I ordered they just chose another plant to substitute -- no asking me if that would work or what other plant I would like instead -- they just chose another plant and shipped it out and billed my CC. Pretty amazing: charging me for plants I never ordered! The few plants that did make it were tiny tiny little babies that are going to have a tough time taking the shock of transplantation. They dragged out the process of issuing refunds to me -- first they issued me store credits, then they said they would credit my CC, and it took two more phone calls to them over a matter of weeks to get the CC refunds to actually be issued. I cannot tell you frustrating this all was, and how much of a waste of time it was. These guys issue beautiful catalogs, and talk quite a game. But, at least from my experience, the follow through is something else entirely. I will never do business with them again.