Comments regarding Wayside Gardens

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 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.

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!

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 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 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.

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!

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.

Thank you Mr. Gabella for shedding light on the 'whole picture.' No one who's ever received a Wayside catalog can deny it's extensive information and high quality. I'd pay for it if it wasn't free. This 'magazine' is worthy of the coffee table. I do like to shop around for a better price, so as to increase my basket, but I placed an order with them just to secure a place on their list. I received a Weigela florida rubens and it arrived looking like was hand delivered from a florist's gift shop. I even kept it in its packing pot in the house for a week as a centerpiece. Incredible. I tend to reach for one of these catalogs when I have a question before I'll grab one of my expensive garden reference books and I always find my answers.

For months I looked at the Wayside catalogue but wouldn't order from them because they were too expensive. Then, I began comparing them with other catalogues and found they were not all that expensive. What I liked about their catalogue was the extensive information about each plant--soil conditions, drought tolerance, etc. I ordered from them two springs ago, an extensive order, and everything took off at a dead run, except for some maidenhair ferns which arrived too early. They gave me credit for those. Two astilbe plants were sent of the wrong variety. They replaced them immediately and Itransplanted the two of the wrong variety. All are living and, in essence, I have four plants for the price of two. Customer service asked no questions and was very helpful.One rule I make on mail catalogues: if they don't give the botanical name for the plant, I don't order from them. I'm sure that rule has saved me many problems.

I have found Wayside to be the best mail order company yet for plant material. The plants I ordered in spring and fall of 2000 were, by far, the largest and healthiest I have seen in 10 years of mail order experience. My only disappointment was to find the lilies I ordered were out of stock. I didn't learn this until way too late to scramble for replacements! I hope their quality continues. It does seem that no one company is consistently good, which makes mail order gardening so maddening.

Glad to discover this site. I've had nothing but excellent results with their plants.

This spring planting season will see my 30th annual order from Wayside Gardens. During that time, I've created three gardens in two states and zones. I've used Wayside for much of the plant material in all of these gardens and I have never been disappointed. Only twice have I had to follow up on a plant that arrived in bad shape. In one case, it was due to the delivery service. In both cases, I was completely satisfied with Wayside's handling of the problem. Frequently, I receive customer satisfaction questionnaires from them, which I think demonstrates a customer awareness uncommon in the mail-order plant world. Their selection is better than many other companies and I don't find them that expensive. Often, when I hear people talk about the cost of Wayside products, I find they are focusing on roses and don't understand the grading system used for roses and the variation in associated cost. I have purchased many roses from Wayside - particularly old and English roses and have found them to be far superior to container-grown roses purchased locally - and often bearing highly-recognizable names.

I have now ordered 3 times this past year from Wayside Gardens and each time have been very pleased. I have yet to have a single one of their plants die one me, let alone have any problems with the plants themselves… Their customer service has been wonderful whenever I had a question, and I had plenty, since I am a first-time gardener. I have placed a lot of plant orders this year from various mail-order companies, but I would not hesitate to order again from Wayside. They are definitely my favorite.

I have always had extremely good luck in my dealings with Wayside Garden. My plants have done well -- some too well. A few years ago, we purchased a dogwood, when we opened the box we discovered it had been poorly packed and the top was broken off. I immediately called and was told that a replacement would be sent. When I asked what to do with the tree we had, I was told to "stick it in the ground". We received the second tree within a week--packed properly. The roses I have purchased are hardy and have never had any sign of disease. I was also contacted by Wayside when I ordered a plant that was a borderline Zone 5. They convinced me that I lived too far north to guarantee success. I recently had the need to get some horticultural advice and e-mailed the plant curator at Wayside. My questions were answered the next day.

I have always hesitated ordering from Wayside because of their prices - decided to bite the bullet last year and try them. I ordered four different trees. While some were small, I was still impressed with their overall condition. One small dogwood died because I didn't water it enough, but the others immediately flourished. I like their selection, plus their catalog is a wealth of information on other plants out there.

I ordered bare root roses from Wayside Gardens. They were in wonderful condition. The weather here is very hot so I planted them the same day. They are not very old. Only a few months, but one of them had 32 blooms within a month. It has bloomed repeatedly with lots of blooms. All the bushes are very healthy. I am very happy with Wayside Gardens.

With all the comments above I would like to state that I've received nothing but healthy, husky bare-root roses from Wayside Gardens. I've been ordering Floribundas, Grandifloras, shrub roses, English roses & a Meilland hybrid tea, a few every year since '94. The plants are floriferous & their leaves are totally healthy & leaf-spot resistant (I don't spray but I dig million-dollar planting holes in well-drained soil.) Their horticultural department has knowledgeable gardeners to talk to and even a good many of their order-taking staff are gardeners as well so can discuss whether the color in the catalog picture is accurate, for instance. They refunded the one rose about which I complained, because it never made the flacon-shaped hips advertised in the catalog despite flowering abundantly & thriving well.

I have also ordered from wayside Gardens and have nothing but high praise for the company their product and their service. The bulbs were of very high quality and when I did have a problem they offered me money back or re-ship.

I can give two recommendations for mail order that have been excellent quality & delivery for me, including…Wayside Gardens.

I did not know that Wayside and Park Seeds were the same company. However, I must admit that I have had excellent results with all of the products that I have ordered from both companies over the years. I was a little worried when I received a rather large order of their bushes through the mail, as they looked a little rough. However, I found them to take off like gangbusters. I will continue to order from Wayside. Despite other's claims of higher prices, I find them to be quite in line when compared to other "quality" rose growers

I've had nothing but good luck with Wayside Gardens. I've bought many perennials from them and all have been healthy. My Lenten rose from Wayside has been planted next to a Lenten rose from White Flower Farm for three years, and in each of the three years the Wayside one has been bigger and had more blooms. Also Wayside always sends a follow-up letter asking for feedback about my experience with them. No other garden catalog has done that in my experience.

I think Wayside Gardens is wonderful even if it is part of Park Seeds. Both companies give top rate service. With Wayside you don't have to remember to notify them if any plants purchased from them to not thrive (which has been a rare experience for me). They usually send a note of inquiry and enclose a postage paid envelope with the note. I have always had a satisfying experience with Wayside Gardens and Park Seeds. I think it is worth paying a little extra when I want to be sure of the quality of plants ordered by mail and know that they are interested enough to follow up the order with a request for comments and pay the postage. Wayside is the only nursery I've purchased plants from that does this.

While gardening is not a new hobby for me, my wife and i have never before lived on a sunny enough property to grow roses. As a completerose novice, my experience with Wayside Gardens has been entirely positive. All the plants arrived dormant, of the eleven ten have putout leaves and will survive. One started to put out leaves, but then turned black and died. When I called Wayside, they gave me credit for the plant and shipping. What more could anyone ask from a catalogue seller??The blooms are lovely and seem to meet the description and photo. They are expensive versus some catalogues, but much cheaper than some local nurseries. As to the quality of the plants, I have had problems with aphids and black spot…Finally, the staff on the telephone have been exceedingly helpful and willing to answer my questions. As a novice, I was concerned that several of the plants had bloomed, but Mme Ernst Calvat remained dormant. The telephone staff in response to my calls told me to keep tending the plant as long as it remained green. She broke dormancy last week, so the staff was right.Expensive??? Maybe but if the old expression about "you get what you pay for" is true, Wayside represents value for the dollar.

We placed our first-ever plant mailorder this year, from Wayside Gardens. We crossed our fingers, having never ordered plants from a catalog before. The plants arrived earlier than promised and in perfect condition. They were enclosed and well-supported in a large cardboard box. The soil was moist. The leaves were green, and two of the plants even had someblooms. The plants were in 6" pots and stood at least 10" tall and about 8" wide; I don't know if this is considered good-sized or not, butwe were pleased. They were completely free of pests and disease. The plants looked so good that at first I thought they looked fake! Theyhave been in the ground for a month now and are showing new growth and look healthy. The other day we received a letter from Wayside askingfor comments; I plan to let them know how pleased we are and will order from Wayside again in the future. The prices may be a little higher than at the nursery but the convenience can't be beat especially considering the quality of our product and service.

I have had very good luck with Wayside Gardens, Greenwood, SC although I rarely order roses from them.

I have always received top quality plants from Wayside that are consistently of better quality than the specimens I receive from local nurseries. The few plants I have lost (usually due to my own fault), have been graciously replace by Wayside.

Price: Expensive. Quality: Excellent. Service and Guarantee: Excellent. Will allow you to keep poorly doing plant and will ship replacement. Catalog: Excellent description and pictures.

I use them and have had mostly good experience, although they're somewhat expensive. My sole bad experience, receiving a mis-labeled rose, turned out to be good because I liked it (Louise Odier). When I've gotten a bad plant they've offered either a) keep it and see how it does), b) full money back now if you agree to destroy the plant c) keep the current plant and they'll ship another the next year (in the case of a poor-quality rose that their entire stock wasn't great on). Can't beat that kind of guarantee!