Comments regarding Wayside Gardens

I highly recommend this company!
I've always received the best quality plants and customer service from Wayside's. I've purchased from them throughout the years and have never been disapointed. I love the roses they carry and their prices on hard to find ones are unbeatable. Thanks for the great bare-roots you recently sent! My Red Eden bareroots were monsters in size! The branches were fat and green and the extensive root systems were the best I've seen yet in any of my mail-order bareroots.
Thanks again,
Chola

I placed an order for a Weeping Siberian Pea (Carangana Pendulosa) it was delivered very quickly but obviously damaged in packing or shipping. I called spoke to customer service they will send another and told me I did'nt even have to bother to send the damaged plant back. I'm pretty amazed at that kind of response .

Last year I ordered the new echinacea 'Meadowbrite' and also 'Razzmatazz'. Neither of those plants came up this spring and I notified Wayside via email and they promtly responded that they would send replacements. I am most pleased with a company that stands behind their product since so many of them do not. I am not nearly as reluctant to try something different from a company that will replace them if they fail. A positive for Wayside.

I've only had positive experiences with Wayside Gardens. It's too bad others have had such bad results, so I had to give my regards to this company. I ordered several perennials last fall -all are doing well this spring. I ordered 3 roses from Wayside this spring. WOW! They are doing wonderful! I thought the communication and packaging was good. Hopefully, Wayside Gardens will learn from their mistakes and improve for these other customers.

C&NN

My experience was mixed, but as a whole negative. The junipers and helleborus arrived in good condition and were a decent size. On the other hand, ecchinecea razzmatazz was rotten, artemesia valerie finis was mostly rotten, and russian sage little spire suffered from poor packing was was broken up badly. The size of hechera stoplight was a joke. One plant had a single leave the size of a nickle. The ferns (ursula red) were even tinier! The cost of these plants was way too much for their size.
I have already requested a replacement for the ecchinecea from Wayside. They said they would mail it, but the shipping date isn't until May 20. Why a month delay? I doubt any decent plants will be left by then. I also doubt this is the only plant that will need to be replaced.
I've learned my lesson with wayside. Their plants really are not that novel. They can be found with a little time on google elsewhere for a better price, or at the very least a better size.

I ordered several specimens from Wayside in the early spring. They arrived here this week. The pyrethrum daisy was in great shape - about 4 " tall, leafing out, and rooted in a deep 3" pot. The Awaikoe dahlia corms, however, were a different story. All three were rotten to the core , soft, and oozing fluid. There was no mistaking the fact that these were DOA. To their credit, I called and got an immediate refund, no questions asked. It took almost 10 minutes of waiting on hold to get through to a customer service rep.

I won't be ordering from them again - it isn't worth the grief of looking forward to a rare plant for the garden, only to have it arrive dead. No commercial nursery would stay in business selling products of this poor quality, and I am surprised these guys are still doing it!

I have ordered from Wayside Gardens for about 8 years. They are the one mail order company from whom I will purchase perennials. I also have had wonderful success with their Roses. The Rose Catalog is fully of great info and the plants are great. I ordered roses about 3 years ago from Jackson Perkins and Wayside - the boxes arrived on the same day - Wayside canes were at least trible that of Jackson Perkins. I will continue to order from them often.

I purchased a Malva bareroot and 3 daylilies from Wayside Gardens. The Daylilies were buy one set of 3 get 3 free and also bareroot. I received my order and was shocked to see the bareroots were very moldy and soft to the touch. no form of emails were sent, to notify, when my order would be shipped. I most likely will not order from this company again. I am marking this negative, for now, until I get this resolved with Wayside Gardens.

"

We have contacted amylavy, and this problem has been resolved."

Ordered ferns, hostas, and various others. Only plants that looked healthy were a Japaneese maple and one hosta. I will be VERY surprised if the expensive fern I ordered makes it. Packaging was poor. The butterfly bush arrived with broken stems and they use packaging peanuts (YUCK). I do a lot of business with Park and will continue to use Park Wholesale - but not the Wayside division.

Ordered 3 dormant Sedum cultivars which were good sized and healthy, leafing out within a week. Shipment arrived in a timely manner.

Waysidegardens.com is a nicely constructed site, and they have very colorful descriptive catalogs. But the fun stops there. I'm no stranger to purchasing online, but this was my first nursery purchase and I came away disappointed. While the ordering process went smoothly with prompt status notices being emailed to me, the specimens that arrived a week later did not impress. I ordered a Oridono Nishiki, heuchera caramel, and brilliance ferns. I thought I was overpaying for the maple specimen but I took a chance. Whether the Oridono Nishiki didn't travel well, or it wasn't a healthy specimen in the first place--when it arrived it was brown leafed and not at all very happy. The heuchera also seemed scraggly and small, hardly worth the price I paid for them. The ferns appeared to be the only ones that traveled well since they are still green and lush in their little 3-4" pots. Will I order again from Wayside Gardens? Most likely not.

"

We have contacted a_abutin and the issue has been resolved."

I ordered last fall 2004 for spring planting, recieved plants on time. Thats the only thing good to say about this place.
I will never buy from Wayside or any company that is on the website again. Tiny plants, bad shape, cost too much, packing is not good. Not sure any of the plants I've planted will grow? I've bought duplicates from other companies and the plants were ten times the size for the same money.... three words of advice... DONT DO IT!

I have been purchasing plants for several years from Wayside Gardens and I am very satisfied with them. The few problems I have had were promptly and courteously resolved. They're a bit pricey for my budget, but nearly always offer some unusual cultivar that I can't live without. I didn't know they were affiliated with Park Seed Company, which is my favorite mailorder company for both seeds and plants.

My Wife and I have been using Wayside Gardens for the last two years and we have not had the any trouble with there company. We bought some plants that did not grow and they back them and we were credited. We are very pleased with the way we have been treated.
D L R
coolsky

I started with an order of a packet of seeds and one small plant. My previous experience with mail order nursuries hadn't been great, so I was "testing the waters."

Not only did the seeds and plant arrive promptly, but the plant was in PERFECT condition when it arrived. I don't know how they did it, but it was *not* wilted or broken in any way; the soil in the pot was well around the roots, and was still moist. I promptly planted it in my garden, and it is happy and healthy today.

I was impressed, so I placed another order, this time for a larger plant. I received it today, and it is also in PERFECT condition: Nothing broken, soil well around the roots, soil still damp.

I highly recommend this mail order company, and will order from them again and again.

While their customer service is good and they replace or refund your money if you get bad plants, its is not worth my time anymore to try to get anything decent out of this company. Last year I placed a large order of many perennials. It was all scheduled to be delivered in early May for my zone. Some plants arrived then. Most were extrememly straggly. Some were rotten. The packing wrapped around the plants was moldy and the plants were mushy. I called for a refund and got a service rep with a horrible attitude ...sooo rude! Then I got a notice that my instant butterfly collection and daylily collection would not be coming in til June. So I planned out the spaces for it in my garden and waited....and waited....and waited. Then I got a notice in mid-June that it was backordered until September. So I had holes in my garden all season long where those plants were supposed to be. And not even any kind of apology or offer to exchange the plants. I was told that the plants were not in good condition and would need to be babied over the summer in their gardens to survive. However, when the plants arrived at the end of September (very late to plant small plants in my New England zone) they were again very scraggly and mushy. And very little of what did get planted in Spring ever grew, despite the best of care. And then to top it all off...I got a notice that the daylily collection that had been backordered, was now cancelled and would be credited to my account. However, the collection was a bonus for spending over $150. So they just ended up pulling their free gift.

Can't say very much good about this companies quality of plants. Would not bother using them again. What good is a good refund policy, if you can't get good plants to start with. Not worth my time!

I have ordered from this company a couple of times over the past several years. I have received healthy plants that have done well. Ordered from them again this spring; hope this year's experience turns out positive as well.

My order for three Tricyrtis hirta 'Miyazaki' (Toad lilies) arrived in a timely manner, packaged well and looking very good. I began planting three days later and was very impressed with the first two plants rootballs. I was thinking about the glowing review I was going to post on Dave's Garden when I up ended the third plant and was suprised to find a heaping handfull of slightly moist potting soil quickly slipping through my fingers. I was left with barely anything to plant. Being a good mother I did plant my runt with it's brothers and it will be watched closely and babied. In the end I decided I've gotten far worse "suprises" from my many local garden centers and that's why I give the positive review. I will probably order from them next year if I see something that tickles my fancy.

I have bought Angel trumpets from them a few years ago and although they were just a stick the size of a pencil they grew and flowered the same year. I just received a catalog from them and look forward to ordering again. I am counting on a good experience again. If I'm not happy I'll let you know.

A good source for hard to find and unusual plants if unable to locate them elsewhere. mostly small specimens.

These people have made me very angry today. I called to check on 2 orders that they billed my credit card for last Tuesday, a week ago. The woman who answered the phone told me they had shipped out on Friday which she claimed was a post office holiday as well as Monday (President’s Day.) The Post Office observes federal holidays only and only had Monday off. She told me “well here they had Friday off, too.” Of course, if they did for some reason have Friday off “there”, Wayside would not have been able to ship via USPS on Friday, now would they? I did not argue the point, though. I asked her to add a comment that they shouldn’t be shipping live plants just prior to a weekend when there will be a federal holiday that Monday. She started arguing with me! She told me that the plants were dormant because they’re kept in cold storage and sit in shipping boxes for up to two weeks! When I told her the little clematis in 3 inch pots would be DOA if they spent that long in a box, she told me they shouldn’t have any foliage when they arrive because they’re dormant! Then she told me “there’s no point to this, just wait until you get your plants.” How rude and dismissive. Guess what my attitude will be if I receive dead plants? It will be one I think they’ll understand.

I have ordered from Wayside during their sales for the past 3 years. My experiences with them have continually gotten better, I think they were a little shakey several years ago and have worked hard to improve their reputation.

I order mostly roses from them and have been pleased with the plants I've gotten. On occassion I have gotten one that was mis-marked, but their outstanding customer service has either credited (when the rose was sold-out) or promptly replaced the rose in question.

I would not hesitate to recommend Wayside!

caliloo

Nice catalog-moderately high prices-good packing.

I ordered a Blue Muffin Viburnum and a few other items earlier this year (2004) and was disappointed that the Viburnum appeared to be diseased with an ugly fungus. I was also perturbed that the plant I wanted most was backordered, and no timeframe for delivery was known. The other plants were rather small but healthy and grew just fine.

On the flip side, when I called them about these issues, the sales representative was pleasant and apologetic, and they refunded the cost of the Viburnum. However I still had to give up on the plant that was backordered.

All in all, a decent experience. I'm willing to give them another try. Had they been rude like some other companies I've had the displeasure of talking to, I would never have given them another chance. Never underestimate the importance of good customer service!

Merry Christmas =)

Good Lord...way way overpriced and not at all what you get for your money. Several orders placed and poor results from them. I see they are associated with Park as well...go figure!!! Sale prices do help keep them in line with the real world!! Check out other places before using this one!

this fall i ordered green halo peony. i received a nice, big root with about 6 eyes. i was very pleased with my order.

I have been purchasing plants from this company for about 3 years now. It's been sort of a hit or miss experience. I purchased the Citrus Limon Meyer that came in great shape and was much bigger than what I expected. However, I've purchased several begonia's that were really small, especially for the money, and most of them didn't survive. Their customer service is very good and they do replace plants without any hassle. The biggest problem here is by the time you discover they aren't going to make it, the season is over. I have received some plants that were D.O.A. and were replaced. Their clematis vines are all bareroot, and depending on the variety, the size can vary, but do have a good developed root system. But they are small and are only a 'good deal' when they have them on sale. They also carry some clematis I can't purchase anywhere else, so I end up buying them from them.

Bulbs are a different story. I've order a few dozen lilium, oriental and asiatic lily's and all were huge in size and very healthy. When they are on sale, you can't beat their prices! I purchased Lilium Leslie Woodriff for only $2.99!!! This is a $10 to $15 bulb! Bulbs from these guys is a 'no brainer', great prices when on sale.

In recap, their plants are, in most cases, small in size, except for the bulbs. Sometimes you get plants sent that are D.O.A., but they do replace rather quickly. They do have several plants that you just can't find anywhere else. But when they have a sale going on, you can't beat their prices. And they do have great customer service.

I have never ordered from Wayside before this season because their prices are far too high. However, I just had to have some Razzmatazz Echinacea and they are the only nursery who seems to be able to get this plant. Firstly, my bonus plants were out of stock. Why offer a bonus if it is not in stock? Shouldn't a firm as large as this be able to slide a bonus to another choice that is in stock? And the Razzmatazz themselves finally arrived. I do thoroughly understand that plants are not always available on demand and patiently waited til this fall for my order to arrive. The packing of my plants was awful. Most of them arrived with horribly bruised leaves which made them all rather sad looking since they are so small. And some without any tag so we shall see what Coneflowers they have stuck in the box with the ones I ordered! Some of them will most likely not even leaf out in the spring because they were dead when packed...dried right up to a crisp they were which certainly did not happen in two days in the mail. As for the missing tags, I complained and they mailed them out which was nice but still does not identify the contents of those pots! I won't be ordering from this hoity toity place again.

I live in California and ordered a lilac bush, oriental poppy, a clematis vine and a dwarf avocado. The plants were shipped fairly quickly, were well packaged and doing nicely in the garden and greenhouse (the avocado). As for size, the clematis and poppy weren't huge, but I didn't expect them to be. The lilac came in a one-gallon container and was much larger than I expected. The avocado was a good size and came bare-root. I'm happy and would order again.

originally, i received the wayside gardens catalogue because i was a long-term buyer of park seed company. the colours were beautiful and as true as i have ever seen in any catalogue, except thompson & morgan! park seed, in my humble opinion, had an excellent reputation, especially with the tropicals they offer, so i felt comfortable ordering from wayside gardens. BIG MISTAKE!! although their warranty is pretty good, i spent a lot of time wondering just how many times i could call and get replacements which were just a poor and unproducing as the original ones. i gave up after FOUR TIMES!
the only problem i have in withdrawing my name from their lists is that they offer one particular Campanula which i cannot find anywhere else (chettle charm). the picture of it is wonderful and i cut it out of the catalogue and put it at the place where i planted the 1/2 dead plants they sent. i just don't know if i'm willing to try one more time. (sigh)

I have had problems with Parks before and was wary to order from this company being that they are owned by the same people. I decided to go ahead and try again so I ordered quite a few bulbs, and several plants from their fall sale. They were sent quickly, and the quality and size of the bulbs was excellent. The two potted plants that I received arrived looking pretty good however the bareroot plant was mushy on the main stem and I don't think will make it. Their customer service is excellent and you can't beat their warranty. The only complaint I have about this order was 2 hyacinth bulbs had exploded more or less and the mold had spread to one other package. I called and asked for replacements which they did send out right away, however they charged my credit card for them! I called them as soon as I noticed that and they claim they refunded that...I guess I will find out on my next credit card statement. Overall I was very pleased with my order from this company.

I ordered several items ( most of them perennials ) 5th September through the website, all of them seemed to be in stock. I never got an order confirmation, but I thought "it may be the email system, things happen". I received my order 29th September ( it was processed the 25th). Being in zone 6, this complicates the planting. One of the items I ordered ( orange Echinacea ) wasn't sent and checking my order on line, I saw it has been pushed to 18th October, without asking or notifying me. I have a tiny greenhouse and I will plant it there since I still want it, but I can't say I am happy. The others, I mulched them thoroughly, but some were so extremely tiny ( pyrethrum, for instance ) that you cannot see them between the mulch !

I had ordered from Wayside Gardens years ago and was really pleased with my Salix purpurea 'Nana' - it had arrived bareroot and is still thriving . I haven't had the funds to place another order with them . Recently they hosted a crossword contest - I was one of the selected winners of 2 Helebores. I am delighted to say they arrived today in excellent condition . Now the Pine Knot Strain was a bit small as expected for a 3 inch pot as stated but the Royal Heritage far surpassed my expectations - Both very healthy , very well packed , very nice plants. I will be ordering from them next year for sure now that I know how well they ship their freebies .If they take that good care of plants that are totally free, I can only imagine how great they do on paid for plants.Well done Wayside !

I have ordered several times from this company and have had good results everytime. I usual order at end of season to take advantage of huge discounts (I ordered 18 plants for less than $30 with shipping, not bad at all). In one shipment, I had two plants that appeared dead, but I tried planting them anyway. Neither one made it, so I called and was promptly issued a refund, no questions asked. They CSR's have always been friendly on the phone and helpful. I am new to flower gardening, so I can't vouch much for size or quality compared to other companies. I would buy from them again and plan to in the future. I am always looking for a good bargain and I don't mind if I have to wait until next to see the plant bloom!

I ordered from them a few times over past years. I was disappointed more often than not. They are a pricey concern, and for those prices, I expect QUALITY. I ordered some special colors, and years later, when the plants matured, the colors were NOT as advertised. A yellow lilac bush is pure white, not what I wanted at all. It took 2 years or so to bloom, so I didnt learn it wasnt as advertised till their warranty ran out. Sure, it bloomed, but I paid for a yellow lilac, not a white one. I also ordered a red dogwood. It blooms pale pink. Both are real disappointments. The only thing I was happy with was a yellow magnolia I ordered (Elizabeth) that is a very fine grower and bloomer. That is one out of three items I am happy with. I asked to be removed from their mailing list some years ago because of this. I dont mind paying top notch prices, but I expect the exact item I paid for.

I received my order quickly and I was very pleased with all of my order. I got everything at once and everything was packed great and everything was nice and healthy! I will definately be ordering from this company again.

I say this with some reservation (I'm still waiting on most of my shipment, I may change my mind) and my transaction involved steep discounts and mainly bulbs. The first package arrived today, was very well packed and seems very healthy.

Still, I wouldn't buy from wayside outside of these seasonal sales, and I'd doubt I'd buy shrubs or herbaceous plants from them. Their sale prices are really good, better than even Costco or Walmart for better quality goods.

I have ordered several times from Wayside and have not been completely satified with a single order. The last order in June had plants that were dead on arrival. I tried to get a replacement with a different plant, which they said was fine. Apparently, they only ship out certain times of the year,because it has been 4 months and I never received the replacement,so I canceled the order and received a refund. In short, their plants are much smaller,higher priced(even with sale prices), and take much longer to receive than other companies I have ordered from.

Ordered 6 Thuja "Green Giant"s and 8 Japanese Holly "Sky Pencil"s. Thery were on sale, so I was a little worried about size, but all were larger than expected. All arrived in EXCELLENT condition. Delivered in under a week, plants were well packed, good size and are now thriving. I highly recommend this company.

I ordered eight perennials from Wayside this fall. I received seven of them today. What a disappointment! At least four of them are not salvagable - dead growth or rotted down through the crown. Others certainly can't be described as anything near healthy - clinging on to life would be more like it.

I thought this was a reputable company, based on how long they have been around. So far, my experience has been negative - I will change this rating based on how they respond to my complaint. But the key point is - I shouldn't have to complain. They should have sent healthy plants to start with.