Comments regarding Harris Seeds / Garden Trends

Posted on May 27, 2018, updated June 1, 2018
I placed an order in January including some liatris and Lilacs. 3 bundles of Lilacs came in great shape but a bundle of 25 were dead & moldy and some liatris were not shipped. I received my money back for the missing liatris, but they have not refunded nor called back for the moldy dead product. I took pictures to confirm the quality, but they were not interested. If considering an order of lilacs I would look elsewhere, as that was a total loss.

Posted on May 1, 2017, updated June 5, 2017
Posted on March 31, 2009, updated May 1, 2017
I am THRILLED with this company! This was my first time orderering from them and it was a very positive experience. The customer service was excellent, they answered all of my questions without sounding like they were making it up as they went along. (I'll be posting another review for a different company soon). I recieved my order in 3 days! Ordered on 3/24 late in the evening. It shipped 3/26 - I received it on 3/28. I will definitely be using them again!

Ordered a similar volume of seeds from Kitazawa and they arrived in excellent condition in a cardboard flat rate box ($5.25 shipping.) Harris seeds arrived the same day in a thin plastic envelope ($10.40 shipping.) Might be a great company but they need to put part of their high shipping charges into more substantial packaging to protect easily crushed and damaged seeds.

Posted on May 4, 2011, updated May 10, 2011
Have grown plants on the side to supplement my income for 15 years. Grow flowers for our landscaping, and have been gardening for 35 years.

This is the second time I've ordered from this company. They have the most variety. My first order was about 3 years ago. Ordered a mix of one variety. It was Vinca. When the seed grew, the mix was mostly one color. Emailed the company explaining the poor mix. A rep responded, but provided no help. Ordered from other companies with success the following years.

This year, due to colors and types I was seeking for my business, tried them again. This order was an easy and wave petunia sampler mix. Also ordered Delta pansies, which were great. The easy wave white petunia had low germination. In addition to the the few white, easy wave petunias that grew, other plants also grew resembling strawberries.

Emailed the company explaining my problem. A horticulturist emailed back, blaming me for using garden soil. I responded back that i used organic seedling mix. Set the seeds in the center of the cell so I could be exactly sure the seed planted was the type and color planted. He said he was concerned, but reached the conclusion that since no one else had a similar problem, it was my fault. How can taking seeds out a packet, planting them, and yielding strawberries be my fault. Somehow strawberry seeds were pelleted with the easy wave white and made it into the packet I purchased. If the truth is known, other people had the same result. This company does not have customer service, even when they send defective product that is their fault. It appears they don't care if their product meets expectations. All they had to do is send a new packet of easy wave white seeds.

Posted on May 11, 2010, updated May 14, 2010
Posted on May 10, 2010, updated May 11, 2010
A dwarf peach, 'Bonfire' was delivered on May 6th as ordered. It was shipped dormant, bare root and well packed. I was home when it arrived and immediately got it potted up. Unfortunately, on close inspection it is evident that the tree is dead. It has no live cambium above the graft, the branches are shriveled and desiccated and there has been absolutely no bud development. I immediately called customer service and asked for a refund or replacement and offered to ship the stock back at my expense for verification. The customer service representative said a 'manager' would call me back. I also emailed them on their web site explaining the problem and asking for a refund or replacement. I have not received any response to either the phone call or the email. I just checked the tree moments ago and it is absolutely dead. There are no signs of life at all, above or below the graft. It appears that this componay does not respond to customer complaints nor does it deliver quality nursery stock.

Having posted yesterday, I received an email from Harris Seeds explaining: "Live plant material such as fruit trees do not ship from our facility, but are shipped directly to our customers from our supplier's facility. Our supplier only ships at certain times because of the preparation required for live material. We offer multiple ship week options to our customers, but they are at set dates. For example, the products you ordered can only ship the week of April 26th and the week of May 3rd, and unfortunately the dates cannot be changed. We would love to accommodate customers who require other shipping times and therefore are working with the grower to offer more flexible shipping in the future."

If I had received that information at the time of my request (and an apology would have been nice) I would have been satisfied, and I am satisfied now.

For background, I have been gardening for several decades, but only decided to build a greenhouse and expand my pursuits three years ago. Since then, I have been actively spending a lot of money at various online nurseries/retailers and can say that these guys are horrible when it comes to quality and customer service.

There are two examples, but I will focus on one to demonstrate my point and warn others away from these guys.

1. Last Fall, I decided to get heavily into Daylily Hybridization. I was advised to use a starting tray that Harris and another retailer carry. I ordered several from both.

2. Harris sent me less plugs then promised and the trays were not only noticeably inferior to the other company's, but they actually caused more labor due to the said inferiority (it was damaged and cost me seedlings).

3. The inferior trays, I did not have a major problem with (heck, I did get 75% of them to work, so life goes on). But, I wanted them to make good on the missing plugs. So, I put an order in for the plugs with Harris and advised them that they had shorted me in the initial shipment and to make good when they sent my new order.

I received (and still have) a receipt, but never heard back from them. I never received the plugs that I ordered, nor did I receive the plugs that they shorted me.

I can honestly say that I have never gotten such poor service - not even from what I call the 'cheapo' online nurseries. I strongly urge anyone considering this company to look elsewhere.

I placed an order for seeds and seed starting supplies which was delivered promptly. However, I started the pansies and was not impressed with the germination rate, so I checked the packages, and they are all packed for last year! They gave me 2003 seeds instead of 2004. When I pay full price for a seed package, I really expect fresh seeds. Otherwise, I'd go to the local home improvement store where I can get them for 50% off and not have to pay any shipping.
I'm marking this a neutral as I have complained to the company and am awaiting their response.

My order took quite a while to arrive. The package came damaged, with a hole in it. It was a package simply made of weak paper, unlike other companies that ship their seeds in durable Jiffy envelopes. The seed packets are simple, but with good instructions. The seeds themselves were of good quality, although they were teated heavily, more so than other companies usually do. I ordered treated seeds by mistake. But, I expect they will sprout well and have no problems this way. I am willing to order from Harris again.

Decent selection, but prices a bit high. was a little slower on shipping than other companies I ordered from, but not terrible (ordered from Pinetree and Cook's on the same day as from Harris, got their orders within a week, Harris took two weeks). Also they called and left a message that there was a problem with my credit card, when I called back to the extension they left, the woman I spoke with was nice seemed a bit clueless. said she wasn't the one who called, didn't have my info available, but took my info and said would look into it. My order did come through so guess everything was OK

If you are an organic grower, note that it seems their seeds are treated unless specifically noted that they are untreated. Also if you are a seed-saver, be careful when ordering from their website. I placed my order out of their online site, when I got my seeds, I discovered that a couple of the varieties I ordered, specifically with the intent of being able to save seed, were F1 hybrids. I checked back on the website, thinking I may have just overlooked that, but it was not noted anywhere in the descriptions (even though another variety of the same species as one of them was indicated as such). I cross-checked with the print catalog, they did have it correctly labelled as an F1 in there. So if you care if what you get is hybrid, I recommend checking their print catalog.

I would like to add a comment on Harris. I ordered an inexpensive propagation chamber (a Styrofoam cooler heated with a light bulb) and an Abutilon plant, not seed. The "cooler" came long before the plant. While waiting for the plant, I started Abutilon seeds from Burpee. I had 15 gorgeous 6" plants weeks before the poor spindly 8" plant arrived. I have worked and worked with the plant but I think it's a goner. The "cooler" on the other hand is an unqualified success. I have started many plants in it and have had uniform (excellent) germination. I will order more propagation systems and never order another plant! Don't know about their seeds.