Comments regarding Wayside Gardens

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.

Nice selection, good catalog, very expensive!

I have been ordering from Wayside for a couple of years now. I probably will not order this year simply because of monetary reasons. They're just too expensive for me right now.

I have had some very good experiences with Wayside. My orders have always been well packaged. I have purchased perennials, shrubs, roses, and one dogwood tree. I once ordered a wintersweet which died, was promptly replaced and also promptly died. The next year I ordered a butterfly bush for the same spot. It died. Replaced. It died. Now I have a gardenia there (purchased at a local nursery). It's hanging in there. Maybe it's the spot and not the merchandise... The dogwood tree is doing very well. A few of the perennials that I have ordered have not done very well. (Verbena, geraniums...) But some of them have (asters, acanthus).

All in all, I would say that I'm extremely pleased with some of the plants that I have purchased from Wayside. But price and inconsistency is keeping me away from them for now.

I have placed several orders with Wayside and am satisfied enough to order more plants this year. I ordered a Zephrine Drouhin last year that put out an amazing amount of growth for it's first season. It had a few blooms early (then the very hot, humid weather did in most of all of my rose blooms except for the Iceberg from my local HD). I also received an Ambridge Rose from them that has done very well and smells better than any other rose I have.

I have never been anything but happy with my orders from Wayside Gardens. My roses from Wayside are the healthiest and most productive. Plants are always packaged well and accompanied by good directions for planting.

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 5 bare root roses this past spring. They arrived in good shape and have grown well and have given many blooms for their first year. I find their web site to be a good reference about plants.

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.

We ordered lavenders, ornamental grasses, hydrangeas in Jan. They came alittle too early to plant but the packaging was good and they did well getting adapted in the garage. Now here is July and they all have done beautiful! We even have blooms on the lavenders already! Would definetely order from them again!

All plants have servied but some were questionble and I had to gave them alot of care. Five plant were backorderd forever but I was creadeted for them. The packing in the shipping was great.

The Hydrangea Annabelle they sell does not have big white flowers as in the picture, and is not a hydrangea Annabelle, but the species type of this plant with very insignicate flowers. When I called them to complain, it was very difficult to get any service, clearly they wanted me to just go away. Finally, they agreed to send me another plant, which they claimed would be Annabelle, and they sent me exactly the same plant as the first one.

I have ordered from Wayside for 16 years. Most items have been as described or better. Those that were not were replaced immediately.

Customer Service has be EXCELLENT, supportive and quick.

The prices are appropriate for the quality of the plants.

Well, I ordered two climbing peace roses and two peace tree standards. Packed well and exceptionally healthy. When the standards finally bloomed,they resembled double delight more than peace.( They VERY, VERY beautiful, just not my color scheme in front) I called customer service. Very friendly and said they'd send two replacements no charge. I can keep the others....which will look great in my back yard. Hoping the next set is the right ones... but can't complain if they're as beautiful as these.

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 placed an order in Feb. 2002. I received everything in good order. It is now June 1 2002 and the weeping pussy willow tree is outstanding (approximately 4ft tall) and is quite an outstanding specimen. The other things I ordered were forget-me-nots and a variegated forget-me-not all are doing well and blooming. Wayside will get orders from me again.

I would order from Wayside again.I enjoy their catalogue and large variety of roses. They replaced an order for me just now, which I was dissatisfied with. They stand behind their guarantee.

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.

I have ordered lots of plants from them and I am very satisfied with their service. With one exception - a bareroot buddleia with hardly no roots at all... I'm still pampering it, hoping I can coax it into sprouting... - the plants arrived in good condition, took root quickly and are striving throughout my yard.
I especially love their roses: I bought ten different bareroot roses and planted them in mid-February and mid-March of this year. The mid-February batch already starts budding and the mid-march batch is sprouting like crazy :)
I emailed them several times with questions and they always answered quickly and in great detail.
Their online catalogue is great: all the information you need about a plant at one glance, including a picture! However, don't get distracted by the pretty pictures of huge flowering plants: I ordered three Chinese fringe trees, not realizing that they came in 3-inch-pots! Needless to say that I was shocked when I unpacked my "trees". But since it was an oversight on my side, I kept them... and they start growing leaves now :)

I ordered a camellia, a pomegranate and 2 paw-paw for shipment this spring. Wayside e-mailed confirmation with shipping date. Plants were shipped on time. No back orders or substitutions. Plants were packaged so well it took me 20 minutes to get them out of the box. All plants were in moist soil, topped with straw, with foam peanuts all around. Each pot was boxed seperately inside the large box and stapled to it on all sides, so no shifting and brakeage could occur. Plants were all good size and healthy. Prices are high, so I will only use them again for hard to find plants. Web site is very informative and a good place for beginners.

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!

seed packets /algroflash,bulbs delivered well packaged and within a weeks time of order.

I'm a horticulturist and master gardener. I've used Wayside for many years to obtain plants that are hard to find anywhere else. I've been very pleased with the way plants were shipped. I was always notified when they received my order and my order was prompltly sent. I have only had to replace one plant of the many that I've received from Wayside. Obtaining the replacement was not a problem. I have also placed yearly orders for the past 12 years with their sister catalog-Park's Seed Co. and again have been completely satisfied!

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'm in the business and was still able to find some very rare plants at what I felt was a good price. Plant quality was excellent and the packing superb.

My experience was positive. The plants were very nice. The price is too high. If that doesn't bother you....give them a try.

prices are higher than most, but product is guaranteed and any problem is solved quickly with call to customer service. Good beginners catalogue.

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?

I'm a novice gardener who's placed a couple of orders from Wayside Gardens. My results have been generally good, and I've never had a problem they didn't resolve. A bare root weeping cherry they sent me was good sized (for $55 it better be), but was poorly packed with only dry crumpled newspaper around the roots. I figured that since the roots were bone dry, it was probably a goner, but I planted it anyway and sure enough it broke dormancy and grew just fine. I had an issue with their Rhododendron 'Unique Marmalade,' which I ordered for fall of 2001, however. Again, it was good sized, but arrived with dry brown edges on several of the leaves. A couple of weeks after planting it, I noticed that the brown spots had spread and several leaves had curled and fallen off. The plant died in a matter of days. I called and was sent a replacement quite promptly. Unfortunately, it arrived in exactly the same condition as the other plant! I called Wayside immediately and they issued me a full credit, telling me to go ahead and plant it and see what happened (sure enough, it died just like the other one in a week or two). Even though I did get my money back, it concerns me that they didn't really take this problem as seriously as they should have. When I speculated that it must be some disease that was affecting the rhododendrons, the customer service rep said, "Oh, no, it can't be a disease-they're sprayed before we send them out." All I can say is, too bad they don't have this miracle 100%-disease-curing spray available in their catalog!I will definitely keep ordering from them as they offer many hard-to-find plants and customer service is satisfactory; however, I think I'll steer clear of the rhododendrons from now on.