Comments regarding The Hosta Farm

I placed an order that included 2 field grown Hosta 'Firn Line' at $9each which was on the half price sale. After placing the order I left many phone messages, email messages, and a fax requesting they contact me concerning my order. None of my calls, emails, or faxes were returned. Last spring The Hosta Farm had an emergency sale for plugs (liners) they were ordering in but they had no where to put them. They were selling these plugs for $3.85 each and the ones they could not sell they put into a cold storage unit to keep them dormant. The Hosta Farm posted a list of names of those plugs. I did not order any of those $3.85 plugs they were desperately trying to get rid of because I was not interested in those varieties. 2 months after I placed the 'Firn Line' order I received an email notification of shipment and my card was charged for 2 'Firn Line' Then I received the shipment of Hosta. Instead of the more expensive field grown 'Firn Line' ... The Hosta Farm just pulled a couple of those $3.85 plugs in cold storage that they were trying to get rid of and sent the cheap plugs instead of 'Firn Line'. Instead of charging me $3.85 each for the tiny plugs they actually sent which was the correct price... They charged me $9 each. More than twice what they were advertised.

Next a tried to contact them for a month about sending me the cheap cold storage plugs instead of 'Firn Line' by phone and email but never received any response.

I posted the plugs and allowed them to grow in part sun enough for their tiny white leaves to have their true colors return. The plugs so far appear to be Hosta 'Great Expectations'. That's my best guess. I already have 15 'Great Expectations'. I am not happy that I just paid the Hosta Farm twice as much for the plugs as they were selling the plugs for and also they forced me to pay them to ship a Hosta I didn't order and didn't want;ONE OF THEIR CHOICE all the way across the continent

I wish I had read the reviews before ordering from this company. Unless they respond soon and send me the correct Hosta or credit me I will never buy from them again.

I have pictures and the story on Garden.org A thread called "Hosta Newbie Beginning my Journey"

Here is the link.
//garden.org/thread/view/54402/Hosta-Newbie-beginning-my-journey/?offset=280

I ordered FOUR Patriot hostas and by the description, I was to receive nice, large potted hostas plants. If the shipping was anything to go by, I paid a good deal for that too. But upon arrival, I got a bag of dormant roots and was extremely upset. I contacted the Hosta Farm by email since I could never reach them by telephone and told them I felt deceived by them but never got a response from them. Now those same hosta plants have failed to thrive. They are all less than six inches tall and won't grow any larger. I have had hostas all of my life and have bought the cheapo cheapest I could find and have NEVER had them not thrive. I don't know how I'm going to get my money back for them since they don't bother responding to me. How can I "make a claim" as others have said to try and get my money back?

I ordered 10 bloom-a-thon azalea plants last summer. 1 arrived in poor condition and 3 others didn't survive. All of the plants were extremely tiny. Based on their 1-year guarantee, I asked for replacement plants or a refund. I was told they would replace them in the spring. I contacted them by email in April and was told they would send me replacement plants. I never received them. All subsequent communications with them (email and phone were ignored). In June, I filed a complaint with the state of VA. The company offered a refund for the 4 plants and a $20 coupon. I received a check for only half the refund amount. I had to contact the state of VA again to reopen the case to get the rest of my refund - which I finally received July 16. I would not recommend this company.

They are thieves. Ordered $180 worth of plants for spring delivery and still haven't seen anything. No response to e-mails, no way to communicate with them.

Stay Away.

I have been trying to work with the company for several months in order to recover over $400 that I spent on ordered plants that were never delivered. The company does not return my emails or phone calls. In an effort to help other people avoid the trap I fell into, I created this website. Maybe it will save someone else time, money, and frustration!


//thehostafarmbeware.wixsite.com/thehostafarmbeware

I placed a large order in November 2015 for late March delivery. When I had not received my plants by early April I contacted the company and was told they were running a week behind. I contacted them again when my plants still had not arrived and was told they were running behind. My next 3 emails went unanswered. The telephone is never answered and messages are not returned. I wrote again in mid May and was told they were running a couple of weeks behind. I wrote again and said that was an understatement and I received an apology and told it would be brought to the managers attention. But I never heard anymore about that so I wrote and canceled my order.

Meanwhile in another email account where I get subscriptions and a lot of junk email I received news from the owner that their daughter has been diagnosed with cancer. Apparently this only went out to subscribers of their newsletter and not everyone who placed an order. I received another email with an update on her condition and a form whether you wanted to cancel your order or hold it until fall. Again this was not received in the email account I had used to order my plants. I used the form to cancel my order again (just in case) and I had already contacted the Attorney General. I finally received my refund on Saturday. It was dated June 6 but mailed on July 6. Either a mistake or they have cash flow problems.

I have done some research on this company and they appear to run their business out of their home. Besides The Hosta Farm, Gorge Top and Sale for Plants, they have another site called The Hosta Club. I would encourage everyone considering ordering from his company to read the "about us" page. Copied below and also available here: //www.thehostaclub.com/pages/about-us

Our Hillbilly (Appalachian Mountains / Coal Country) engineering methods of selling perennials cheap:
• Keep it in the family.  Our entire staff consists of me (Tra) my Wife (Kim) my mother (Diane) and two of her sisters (my aunts) Gloria and Betty. The only time we hire in help is with customer service. That is 5 people working as hard as they can to ship nearly 10,000 orders which equates to around 75,000 plants in a 12 week spring season.
• Ship plants without the pot: We ship the plants out of their pots and then reuse the pots. We can normally produce around 5 - 7 crops with that one saved pot. This saves us thousands of dollars a year and reduces the amount of pots that end up in landfills.
• We ship out of my garage: no fancy fulfillment systems or convey belts here.  Just stacks of boxes, a sheet of ply wood on saw horses for a packing table and all the family pets consisting of 4 cats and 4 dogs.... and they are not much help. Most of the time they are just in the way but we love them dearly.
• No Fancy Greenhouses: Some commercial greenhouses can cost as much as a home.  We build most of own by bending conduit and some hillbilly proprietary methods I can't reveal. The average cost of a commercial green house is around $20,000 and can go as high as $40,000.  It cost us about $500 for the frame and the plastic and another $500 for the heater for a total of $1,000 per house.  We have 10 greenhouses in total and $10,000 is a lot easier to recoup than $200,000. 
• We are bargain hunters: I am a sucker for good deaIs and religiously  watch all the nurseries and suppliers for any special offers they may be having and then pass the savings on to the customer.  This year we are going to be a liquidator for many nurseries that need to get rid of stock to make room for new crops.  You would be surprised how many perennials and other plants get tossed in the garbage at large wholesale nurseries because they need the growing space.  We will be offering these liquidation nursery sales through our flash sales for members.
• We use plain brown boxes:  Those fancy logo covered boxes sure look nice but they cost three times as much as a plain brown cardboard box. This is another method that adds up to tens of thousands of dollars in savings per year.
• We don't publish a catalog.  Printed catalogs plus the postage it requires to provide catalogs runs into some serious money and labor.  We save money and again pass the savings to the customer.

YOUR SATISFACTION GUARANTEED:
We guarantee our plants to arrive in good, healthy condition labeled true to name. At the time of sale our plants are guaranteed to be free of known hosta viruses, foliar nematodes and disease free perennials. Our goal is your complete satisfaction so that you will continue to be one of our customers and recommend us to family and friends.  If for any reason you are not satisfied, return your purchase to us within 30 days and we will refund the purchase price. If you are a Gold Member returns are free. For non members you are responsible for return fees.
It's really simple, if it was our fault, or the plants where damaged in transit please let us know within 30 days and we will correct it to your satisfaction (a broken leaf or stem does not qualify as transit damage). We can not be responsible after 30 days due to the plants being subjected to weather conditions out of our control and your gardening skills.  We have found that the majority plants that die are the gardeners fault.  Neglecting to take care of new plants with frequent watering, proper feeding and providing the plants proper growing requirements is your responsibility.  Every item we offer has clear and simple directions for ensuring positive results. If you run into problems that you need help with contact us for advice.

  About You:  (Tips for being a great customer)
Have you ever heard the expression "The more I get to know people the more I like my dog"....... if you feel like you fall into that description of people please don't order from us. Running a mail order nursery and dealing with live products is much more difficult than running a store that sells off the shelf items and things do go wrong from time to time. We consider ourselves to be well mannered good old southern hospitality folks and we like nice people. Mean and impatient people make terrible customers and ruin the fun experience of receiving plants by mail.  If you are someone that if things don't go exactly the way you planned you get extremely upset and start flipping out right out of the gate please don't order from us.
While we strive to do our very best on fulfilling every order on time with the correct items we do make mistakes from time to time. We promise  we will correct the mistake.... you don't have to blow your top right out of the gate. Patience is greatly appreciated.... remember there are 1,000.s of you and only 4 of us.  If your order has to arrive during the absolute specific week you selected for delivery or your entire world will fall apart.... please shop locally or with one of our competitors. No matter how hard we try we always get behind schedule on a few orders every year. You would not believe how angry some people get if their order is late. It's just plants not transplant organs.
To sum it all up be nice and be patient and we will consider you as part of the family and work on resolving the problem quickly..... being rude and insulting and it could be "No Soup for You".

Posted on May 23, 2016, updated June 6, 2016
Order placed on April 15 and had a ship date of the week of April 25. No product has shipped. Have sent multiple requests via email and voicemail. When you call their number it goes to voicemail. So far no response from the vendor to my emails or voicemails. I will be contacting my credit card company to file a dispute. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!

I ordered four hosta in April. It is now June. No plants. I've emailed multiple times with no response. I order tons of plants online and this company is the first to be a negative experience. I contacted them today for a refund. No reply. I ordered more from a company I know to be reliable while I wait on the refund. I empathize with family farms, but when you take money you provide service! Too bad but I will not be back here to shop again. I'm a full-time adult student and don't have reserves to waste. Would not recommend this company!

On March 11th I ordered from this company. When viewing the website of salesforplants.com there were many spelling and grammar errors. Some of the prices were cheap I wasn't sure it was a real website. I sent an email to the website stating they may want to check out some of these errors as it does not give the website credibility. I did get a response back that she was busy finding deals and the website went up in fast, she will review shortly. So they do know how to answer their emails.

I did an order anyways, $75.00 worth, some bare root some live plants. The typical spring order. Then some more things went up on the website that I wanted but not enough to pay another shipping charge for. I wrote her an email stating that they should combine shipping. She replied again that you can get around separate shipping by buying a gift certificate for $100.00. Once you use that in your cart, you do not have to finalize it and the items will stay in your cart but be taken out of inventory so you don't lose them. Then complete 1 order. (but they still have your $100.00 and you have no product.).

That raised another eyebrow, so I kept watching and watching for my tracking number and kept watching and watching the website and seeing items get sold out right away. Then seeing messages about how she found deals for SUPER PETUNIAS (An Annual) when she has not even sent my bare root perennials out yet gave me the willies. Now my eyebrows are raised off of my forehead and unfortunately I know I got taken. And so are all of these other people that are still buying the deals.

Most of us gardeners have dabbled in plant sales for ourselves and groups, so I understand things happen, but she was finding more deals to sell while she was going through her family crisis knowing how far behind she was on her orders. There is no forgiveness for that. And I am sorry, but you can hire garden groups, get volunteers that do know something about plants to get your orders out. I am sure if you would offer a garden club free plants they would have come in and helped in a heart beat. What I am trying to say is that if there is truth to the family crisis there was alternate solutions instead of letting your business and website names go to trash. I think I am more upset about that, that you took a very good Idea, an Idea that I would have supported more than you know, (Cheap Plants) and ruined it.

I have still not gotten my plants from the 2nd week in April deliveries date and I have now been forced to file a claim with Paypal.

I think someone must be sick or died at this company. I can't believe they just abandoned all their orders. I ordered a hosta exactly one month ago that I wanted a lot. It was supposed to ship the first week of May and it's now the end of May. I emailed them and got no response. I have emailed them again and I'll see if I get any response, but I'm not very hopeful. I wish I'd read the reviews here before ordering. As with others, I ordered with PayPal, but the plant has already been charged to my account. If I don't get a response tomorrow, I'll cancel my order and have PayPal get my money back. This is either the worst company EVER, or they are simply having real issues with fulfilling orders and responding to inquiries for some reason. I would not advise ordering from them.

Posted on May 19, 2016, updated May 22, 2016
I placed an order for perennials on Feb. 2, 2016 and chose a delivery week of April 11. That week came and went, so I attempted to contact them, but they have been unresponsive to email & phone attempts. Unfortunately I've had no other choice but to open a PayPal dispute.

I give up! Placed 2 orders in early April for last week of April delivery. Nothing happened until after calling numerous times and getting the "leave a message" and never getting a return call I FINALLY got a call this Monday the 16th and was told I would receive a call by the end of the day with an update on by orders and ship date. No return call as usual so I contacted PayPal and started a request for stop payment. I also received the long email yesterday about the family sickness that was causing the problem with shipments. Too little too late. Just give me my money and I'll find another vendor.

I placed an order with saleforplants.com on 3/11/16. By 4/11/16, I had not received my order. Tried calling (over the next month) at least a dozen times - no one answered, went straight to voicemail. Tried emailing. The first reply on 4/16 merely said, "It looks like your order has shipped or is ready to be shipped." No tracking info, no carrier info & a really incompetent reply. I then decided to cancel and requested a refund. Several emails later (each which contradicted the other), with no satisfaction and no refund, I contacted my credit card company (Citibank) and initiated a dispute. Within a few days, I came home to find a voicemail from someone who didn't give their name or company. The only way I figured out who this call was from was the caller ID. I tried calling but no answer. I have also initiated a complaint with the BBB and the Dept. of Consumer Affairs. This morning I received an email with an epic story of illness in the family which caused their business to suffer beginning Easter. My order was placed weeks BEFORE Easter so I have no sympathy. And knowing how easy it is for a business to refund a credit card makes this all the more infuriating. This company runs under various names so they should be prepared for orders especially when the growing season in the north begins. A horrendous company!

I ordered 4 plants from this company in February and charged to Paypal. They never sent them the last week in April as they said they would, and they have not responded to repeated emails asking for a refund. They also do not answer their phone. I opened a dispute through paypal but they have not responded to that either.

I ordered plants on April 2, paid with PayPal, requested delivery the 2nd week of May. Still no plants. The tracking information says that the order has not been filled. I have contacted them by email multiple times with no response. Finally I contacted them via PayPal. I hope I can get my money back. I have done business with them in the past and everything was OK, but since they have started this outlet business, it has been downhill.

I placed an order three weeks ago and still have not received my plants. The phone number for the company goes straight to voicemail and no one has responded to my numerous voicemails. I would never recommend making a purchase from The Hosta Farm. I would have been better off ordering from somewhere else.

I don't think I have ever written a negative review before. I ordered 3 hostas in October and paid via Paypal for first week in April delivery. I finally got the plants about 3 weeks late (which I thought was bad, but after reading other reviews it seems I am actually comparatively fortunate).

2 of the hostas were correct but one was the wrong plant. The tag and plant are different from what I ordered, and in addition the plant does not match the tag.

I dutifully sent an e-mail as requested on the site but got no answer. I sent a second e-mail with documentation photos. No answer. It's been a week and a half with no response to e-mails so I called and left a message but after reading others' experiences, my hopes are not high. This lack of response is unacceptable.

So now I am stuck with a plant that I'm keeping alive not knowing whether I will need to send it back, and hole in the garden that I don't know whether to hold open or not. I wish I would have seen the reviews before I ordered, I would have taken a pass.

The plants were pretty small, but seem healthy and the two I planted seem to be doing well.

My advice would be to only order from this outfit if you like to gamble and you are feeling very lucky.

I began ordering plants from the Hosta Farm in 2013. I was pleased with the delivery and quality of the plants in the spring of 2014. After that, it was all downhill!!! I pay for my plants months in advance and choose a delivery date. When it came time to deliver my orders in 2015 nothing arrived. After numerous unanswered phone calls and emails, I was advised there was storm damage which caused delays in the shipping. It was a harsh winter and I was patient. Yet after weeks of no plants, I became annoyed and continued my barrage of emails and phone messages. My order was supposed to arrive early April and finally arrived in June!!!!! I gave them one last chance. I placed orders in November and December 2015 for plants to arrive early April 2016 for a landscaping job. No plants and more excuses. This year the east coast experienced an extremely mild winter so storm damage doesn't fly. It appears this company takes your money but has no one to fill the orders. Sounds like greed has gotten the best of them. They refuse to hire anyone to fill orders because it takes money out of their pocket. I had asked for a refund several times but was informed by Greg that the plants had shipped. In fact, they had not. I guess Greg was hired on to the company in Kevin's place as the new company liar. The plants are somewhat expensive for the size but actually in good health and a good selection of varieties, which is why I gave them a last chance. If they hired some help, sent out the orders on time, filled them correctly, and stopped lying, this company would flourish. Instead they rack up dozens of negative comments for poor business practices and therefore rely on unsuspecting new customers. It would be to their benefit to retain repeat customers.

Posted on March 15, 2016, updated March 24, 2016
Posted on February 29, 2016, updated March 15, 2016
Posted on October 22, 2015, updated February 29, 2016
I purchased what was supposed to have been an Empress Wu from The Hosta Farm several years ago, but it has stayed tiny and never developed into anything resembling what they advertise as an Empress Wu. Hosta Farm's employee Kevin has been promising to replace it since March 2015 without ever following through. I am only grateful I never purchased anything other than this one initial plant from this dishonest company.

My first experience with them was about 6-months ago, and it was very positive (had purchased 6 bare root plants that have thrived).

Recently got an email showing some specials - I purchased some Hosta 'Northern Exposure' that are great plants; however, with this order, I also added 3 hydrangea plants - advertised as $30 plants at 1/2 price. All three are pathetic, but one is the worse plant I have ever seen - the "Pinky Winky". Puny with stringy-looking branches, and may not survive. They asked for pictures when I mentioned it to them...wish I could post them here. Wish they has sent pictures of the plants before I purchased the 3 hydrangea! They couldn't sell such plants if they provided the real pictures of them...not for $15 anyway.

Maybe all online nurseries provide plants like the hydrangea, but I was basically shocked at seeing such plants, especially after the great experience with their bare root deal 6-months earlier. The Hosta 'Northern Exposure' are also healthy good looking plants that one expects from a nursery, so it's sorta like dealing with two different nurseries here...a Jekyll and Hyde experience.

Posted on July 14, 2015, updated August 6, 2015
Posted on July 12, 2015, updated July 14, 2015
Posted on July 7, 2015, updated July 12, 2015
ordered hostas june 6th. shipout should've been the week of the 12/15th, per their email. on the 18th, i contacted them and an excuse of 'winter storms' causing delay was given. i explained how the delay, the excuse, and some of their reviews was getting me concerned and agitated.new shipout date (given by them) was 7/6. ('at the latest' -their words).

sent them an email on the 5th that if they didn't have the ordered shipped out in full, and with exactly what i ordered, to cancel and refund the cc (no check in the mail or other bs). they cancelled the order (which means that all claims by them were bogus) and did not refund the cc. contacted the bank to start a chargeback, contacted the bbb for complaint. considering contacting the fbi and/or to start a class action lawsuit against them. all they do is swindle you and say how they're so great because they sold some garbage to martha stewart (pathetic, as she was also investigated for fraud, iirc, heh). joined this site specifically to warn anyone who finds this via a google search to avoid the hosta farm and any 'gorge-top' garden site like the plague. DO NOT DO business w/ these folks. at the least, you won't get your order on time. anyone who wants to join me in a possible group action lawsuit against these swindlers is more than welcome to contact me via this forum. -vitz

"We had greenhouses collapse during snow storms in March/April, which damaged plants and we basically had to start the growing process over at this late date. This put the shipping behind from the start which we have almost caught up with at this time. This customer's order was cancelled and refunded, due to him basically being a nut and sending emails using foul language of which I have saved and should file charges against this gentleman(NOT). As with any company dealing with the public, you sometimes have to deal with customers who are mentally unstable, so we just cancel and refund their orders and move on. As stated before we fill thousand of orders each year and have our loyal customers and do not need his business. I will also post a copy of the cancelled order which shows his refund, so he can contact anyone he wishes.


Store Manager > Retrieve Orders > Order 27103

Order ID yhst-93407786163746-27103
Marked Cancelled (not counted in stats)
Mark Reason Customer changed mind
Date Sat Jun 6 19:25:24 PDT 2015
Ship to [personal information redacted]
US United States

map
ship-weeks Week 12 = Week of June 15
Bill to Same
E-Mail [personal information redacted] (emailed)
Via UPS Ground
Tracking Information
Tracking #

Payment
Visa EXPIRED
Approval: 182053 Auth Code: A for up to 138.45
AVS: YYY (Addr OK Zip5 OK)
CVV: M (Code Match)
Charged 138.45
Credited 138.45
Referrer http://www.thehostafarm.com/html/blue-cadet.html
Rev-Share URL: N/A
Yahoo Network Order: No
Order XID # x5494253562
Entry point http://www.thehostafarm.com/html/blue-cadet.html
IP Address [personal information redacted]
Comments my only request is making sure there's proper labeling of each cultivar. you can ship 'no signature required'/ l'eave at door'. TIA
optionsMark Order
OK
Fraudulent
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On Hold
Pending Review
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Name Code Qty Unit Price Options
Hosta 'Blue Cadet' h14 1 4.50
Hosta 'Brim Cup' h21 6 5.00
Hosta 'August Moon' h10 3 5.00
Hosta 'Halcyon' h58 3 5.00
Hosta 'Blue Angel' h13 2 8.00
Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears' h17 3 9.00
Hosta 'Northern Exposure' h85 1 9.00
Heucherella ' Sweet Tea' h149 1 10.00
Subtotal 126.50
Shipping 11.95
Tax 0.00
Total 138.45

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Thank you. Kevin TheHostaFarm"

Posted on July 1, 2015, updated July 1, 2015

"On Jul 8, 2015 9:08 AM, The Hosta Farm responded with:

Sorry about the delay in shipping, as we are a small business and had the worst weather year that we have had in 25 years of business. Everything is back on schedule as we have caught up with shipping. Again I apologize for the delay in shipping. Thank you. Kevin TheHostaFarm"

I placed a large order with this company last Feb. to be shipped the middle of May. Two weeks after my order was due, no order. I tried calling and calling. I left messages but got no response. I tried emailing and did finally get a response stating they were a month behind. At the same time I got a phone call, I was voicing my concerns, and the person was saying "UPS was......" and got hung up on. No return call and no response. I I emailed again and got a response that my order was to be shipped out that week. A week later, no plants. I called again and the man said he wasn't sure why my order hadn't come up and said he would get it out. Two to three days later, my order comes, but it is one small box, not my $400 order. Inside was one of the plants I ordered and one random hosta. It included a note stating they had a snowstorm that took out four greenhouses, had tried to get more plants but those that came in were inferior, but he sent what he could AND DID INCLUDE A FULL REFUND. I appreciate that, but now all of my stores are out of Hostas of any varieties that are interesting and I have a hosta garden sitting bare!

"On Jul 8, 2015 9:16 AM, The Hosta Farm responded with:

I apologize for this order not being fulfilled as the damage to the greenhouses and plants were severe. We have now repaired all of the damage and will be back next season with a full line of quality plants. If anyone has or has not ran a small business which depends on the weather cooperating knows this is a challenge at the least. Thank you. Kevin TheHostaFarm"

On September 17th 2013, I placed an order for 2 of the giant hosta species,"Empress Wu." I was charged $43.95. The plants were in good shape, but there's just one thing wrong with them. They aren't the giant Empress Wu variety! These sorry looking hosta's are a tiny ground hugging variety that you have to squint to see. I waited until this September just to make sure, and they haven't grown another inch!
I'll never order from them again, it was a VERY expensive rip off!

"On Sep 29, 2014 7:23 AM, The Hosta Farm responded with:

I am sorry that you are not pleased with your plants. But with that being said all you needed to be do is to return them for a full refund if you are displeased for any reason. As for the variety, I assure you that they are the Empress Wu as our greenhouse mgr/head grower has been doing this for 25 years. I am not sure why they have not grown, but there must be something hindering their growth in your garden such as the soil may need amending. We fill thousands of orders every year with customers from your average gardener to the professionals that care for the gardens at Martha Stewarts properties in NY, of which you can read about on her blog at marthastewart.com and they are more than pleased with the plants they received. Again, I will assure all customers that we stand behind our plants and will still honor our warranty with this customer if she would like to return the plants for a full refund, rather than trying to tarnish our image by coming to sites such as davesgarden and complaining about our plants without contacting us at all about her concerns. We cannot offer a solution when we have not been contacted and given the oppurtunity to resolve the matter to the customers satisfaction. On of the average 5000 orders per year, we have very few complaints about our plants as we ship the same plants to everyone including Martha Stewart who loved them, so I dont understand how her plants and many others plants are wonderful specimens and these few people get the so-called sorry looking plants when they all come from the same stock. I hate to be blunt, but I have came to the conclusion that some people just love to complain and thats the world that we live in. In closing I would like to assure all potential customers that we sell only the best quality/healthy plants at the best prices, and stand behind our plants if for any reason you are not satisfied.

Posted on September 14, 2014, updated September 14, 2014
Posted on June 7, 2014, updated September 14, 2014
We recently ordered from The Hosta Farm for the first time. We are very pleased with our plants. They arrived in good condition and are thriving in our garden. I just sent another order today and am looking forward to receiving our hostas. Thanks so much for the great experience we have had with your company. On my first order I could not get one of the hostas to add to my cart. I emailed about this and was told they would check to see if they had any in the greenhouse. When my order arrived, the hosta in question was included free of charge. Thanks so much!

"On Sep 14, 2014 4:24 PM, The Hosta Farm responded with:

I understand that customers want their order to be on time, but to the greenhouse managers defense, alot had happened right at the start of the fall shipping season. It is a family business and one of his family members/hosta farm employee who plays a major role in shipping had a spouse who nearly lost a leg in a mowing accident and almost a life if someone hadn't just happened to see the mower overturned below the roadway. So for some orders to be late is understandable with all that they have been through this September. We try our best to meet our customers needs and will go out of our way to try to satisfy their expectations and hate to lose any customers. We will ship the full size plant when it is available if he still wants it in the spring. Free of Charge.

I purchased 6 Dicentra 'Bleeding Hearts,' and they just arrived at my home. They were advertised with no plant size info, and they have a link about their "Ellepot" potting that you will receive. The plants that just arrived on not potted, were poorly packed as bare root, and they are so microscopic there isn't even any foliage - it is like a draping of roots and a base. This is insane! I am furious about this!

"On May 7, 2014 8:17 PM, The Hosta Farm responded with:

I have been in contact with this customer. I explained that if he had read the culture information about the plants he ordered, it explains that they are shipped as bare root plants. I also have offered numerous times to refund the entire order plus shipping cost if he would return the order, which he has refused to do. We ship thousands of orders each year and do our best to satisfy our customers, but some are impossible to please. "

It has been a couple of years since I ordered from this company. I am usually hesitant about giving negative reviews, but two years later, my experience with them still hurts.

I ordered a Hosta "T-Rex" and a heuchera, whose name I don't recall, but it was a frosted green color.

I mailed my order in, with a check. Time went by, and my order did not arrive. I emailed and called the company, and eventually they sent some plants. The hosta I received did not resemble a T-Rex, and the heuchera was deep red, but it had a marker with a photo of the green heuchera that I'd ordered.

I did not pursue the matter at the time because I was just glad to get something for my money. I am posting this today because I don't want anyone else to get stung.

I don't know if my hydrangeas are on the way or not. I have emailed three times without a response from thf, I have called the 800 number, disconnected, I called my credit card company and they gave me a different number, also disconnected.

I purchased a few plants from the Hosta Farm on Jan 12 it was due to ship on March 25. I sent them an email to find out if my product shipped yet I got a response that they had snow so after 2 emails and no shipment I decided to cancel my order it is April 29th after about 11 emails I still have not received a refund and I'm disputing with my credit card company. The credit card company says after 30 to 60 day they cant help but since I canceled and have sent them all my emails I have a good chance. I believe the The Hosta Farm puts you off intentionally as they know the limits of credit card companies. my nest step is to contact attorney general in that area in the future if you cant contact a company by phone RED FLAG!

Posted on June 8, 2010, updated June 16, 2012
I ordered (6) Hosta Empress Wu back in March. The plants arrived in excellent condition in mid-April as I had scheduled.. I was able to plant half of them right away in their permanent location. The other three remained in their shipping bag for another 10 days.

All of them are now planted and getting established in their new home. While they are growing rather slowly, I attribute this to the below average temps we've had most of the time since planting. I expect that they will really take off once the weather stays reliably warm.

My first experience with the Hosta Farm was very positive. The plants were shipped as stated on the invoice/order and I was charged the correct amount. Their website is wonderful. I ordered again and the invoice amount was incorrect. I emailed them asking for their Half-on-half discount. This was a discount they e-mailed to me. That is when I noticed that they have no phone contact.. Yikes. I went to the parent company Gorge and their phones are down too. I emailed the Hosta Farm several times asking for the Half-on-half discount and never got anywhere. The person responding to my e-mails seemed to purposefully misunderstand what I was asking for. And with the phones down I had no way else to communicate. Also, there was a hold up on the ship date. I finally gave up and cancelled my order... too bad they have really nice plants.

I placed my first and last order with this company this year

Received my order in good time but one of the hosta had every leaf broken , the tex rex they send was tiny and dry,
the orther hostas had all had most of their leaves cut off by the company ?

I have ordered hostas from other companies for years and have never received such poor quality plants as I did from the Hosta Farms I will never order from them again.

I found this company when researching Hostas online and I decided to order some from them. I wish I had looked here at the ratings beforehand. My parcel came two weeks after ordering, arriving May16th 2012. This was one week later than they stated.

I requested 4 varieties. Only 3 Hostas came. The company had 14 days to alert me to the fact that one hosta was unavailable, and to give me a chance to order something else, but no one contacted me.

The hosta which was "unavailable" is still offered on their website at this time (May 20th), which now has gone to "half of half" off sale. Unusual math is evident here, as a $10 Hosta went down to $6 for half off. The 3 plants I did receive were okay. Two were leafed out, one was bareroot with no top growth but good roots. It remains to be seen how they perform. I sent an email to the company a few days ago expressing regret about the missing hosta, and not having a chance to choose another, and have not heard back yet.
The website lists shipping charges as $10.95 but I was charged $11.95. Reason given: UPS charged more due to gas prices. Why didn't they change that shipping price on their website? It's deceptive.
I am also uneasy to see that the website says phones and faxes are down, please email. This signifies to me The Hosta Farm does not want to talk to any customers personally. They have a wide variety of Hostas, but they need to be willing to serve customers better.

Last year, I bought some inexpensive hostas from them...and they grew OK. Puny, but alive. This year, they didn't send my orders when they promised they would. When I assumed that it was due to flooding, I waited. Their phone number was taken off the website. I sent emails, and no response. Three weeks after any weather, still no response. I had to cancel my order, because I am leaving the state for two weeks, and since they are so late, I can't get the plants in the ground. No response. I filed a PayPal dispute, and MAGICALLY the plants started to appear today: dry, puny, some missing (without a credit or refund). The final shipment? Apparently sent for the day I have to get on the plane. No response from the company, no nuthin'. They just took my money and ran. BEWARE - this is a rotten company that will take your money and may or may not send you plants that you can use. In their case, you don't even get what you pay for.

Notified Hosta Farm in April about the 4 Hostas that I received from them that did not survive our winter....they all had a years guarantee on them. Was told it would be a few weeks by a gal named April. Further e-mails when not received and was then told it was up to the manager...wrote him a letter, no response. Calls went unanswered. Their switchboard is for 3 different companies. Again recently sent another e-mail. Was told that April was no longer there and they were having problems getting everything straightened out. Was told again after they found my address, order # etc. the hostas would be sent out "next week" by someone named Tra. That was 3 weeks ago. Had offered to sent back the plants, send pictures, whatever it took to have them replaced. Several hostas ordered cannot be found on other websites. Their shipping prices are over the hill, so would prefer to have the plants rather than a refund as these were to be gifts for my sons new home. American Meadows has all my business now. Great customer service and quality plants.

I received my order in June for two White Feather hosta and received two completely different plants. I emailed and received a reply back from an April within two days. Said she had to talk to the manager. Didn't get a reply for week or two so I left a phone message. Nothing. Emailed again, April said manager was out of town until after July 4th and if I didn't get a call from manager to call. Left yet another message. Nothing..
Sent an email complaining about quality of service. Nothing, zero! What poor service. They have my money and I have two hosta and do not know what either of them are. I will NEVER, EVER order from this company. Poor, poor service.
Glad I found this site to voice my concerns.
Thanks

What was initially a positive buying experience has quickly soured, because I can't get the company to do anything about having sent me the wrong plant. I've been emailing The Hosta Farm since May 25 and according to "April", my email was being forwarded to the "manager" who was going to handle the matter. That was over a month ago. After the first few emails, my communication attempts--both emails and voice mail messages--have gone unanswered. It seems painfully obvious that The Hosta Farm is ignoring me and has no intention of resolving this matter to my satisfaction. By now, I would have placed another order with The Hosta Farm, but I refuse to reward bad customer service. The Hosta Farm wants me to just go away, and I'm going... but not before warning other prospective customers. Thank you, dave's watchdog!

Posted on July 22, 2010, updated May 12, 2011
Very nice plants ,all half price plus 10 percent off that.Good communication and fast delivery. Would recommend.
Have some hard to find ones.

I have been trying since March to get replacement for hosta under their 1 year guarentee. I have e-mail confirming replacements would be shipped. When no replacements received and I contacted company I was told my records were no longer in data base but their cus svc rep April remembered my case. I have all my correspondance regarding this case and am getting nowhere. Does anyone know how to contact the owner of this company? This company is too dificult to deal with if there is a problem.