Comments regarding Veseys

Veseys is a good company to go to for vegetable seeds, but the flower department is iffy. I have never had any problems with the vegetables, but some of the flowers I ordered (parrot tulips and a blue iris) serve as a warning to shop in person (the flowers were not as advertised, since the avignon parrot tulips look like magenta dishrags, and the blue iris turned out to be a wild type iris). Also, I received someone else's order of flower seed, so I hope that customer eventually got their correct order.

I've ordered from Veseys at least 10 times now since 2007... plants/bulbs, tools/materials, and seeds. Their tools/materials and seeds come quickly, packed nicely enough and I've never had a problem related to these orders.

The plant/bulb orders have been hit or miss for me and actually as I look back over past orders, I am not sure how I manage to muster up the optimism to continue ordering plants from them regularly! I think the thrill of using a $25 off coupon on an order barely over $50 is usually to blame.

Early orders are most rewarding--with a majority of the plants in dormant or near dormant states when they arrive, in decent condition, in peat moss-filled bags generally. Usually nothing impresses, but nothing disappoints majorly when ordering early--except when they get the order wrong--more on that later.

End of season sale (50% off) orders tend to result in the delivery of up to ~50% "off" plants--dead or nearly dead, with no chance of surviving--and the survivors having to pull through being planted at the wrong time... so not such a bargain in the end.

I have received several wrong plants--max. 1 per order, and they were not substitutions, but packing errors. I contacted them by email to get a refund only one of the times that this happened (I hate dealing with this kind of stuff), and it would have been an okay experience except that the CSR and I were in disagreement about the amount to be refunded at first. I had to nicely argue my side to get an actual full refund (if I recall correctly, it took 3 emails from me before she conceded), which I found to be incredibly irritating. I was only asking for a full refund without any deduction to the value of the item (due to the $25 off coupon I used on the order since my order was well above the required $50 order without this item) and then obviously tax and the related dollar or so in shipping, since this item that I didn't receive had tipped me over into the next shipping bracket. To me, this was only fair and how the CSR should have calculated it in the first place.

After reviewing my orders, I don't think I should order plants from them anymore... I am apparently way too optimistic and forgiving (or forgetful!).

I agree, their seeds are of great quality and they have a great selection to choose from, always something different to try each year.

However their live plants are not at best, I’ve also had many mislabeled lily bulbs from them. Nonetheless, they do stand by their guarantee of customer satisfaction and have always credited my account with no questions asked.

Ordered about 8-10 seed packets from this company and not a grower in the bunch. Really. They germinated okay but none survived and not by my hands. Very weak seed quality.

Although I love looking at the catalouge when it comes, I must say I have been quite disappointed with the live plants I've ordered. They were very small and in dismal shape when they arrived and most of them did not make it, and here in Victoria BC Canada it is so temperate that we often joke that it's hard to kill plants. The Dahlia that did live (1 out of 4) was not true to name, instead of being a pink ball type, turned into a giant red dinner plate (pretty though it was...)
That said, the customer service representation was excellent and the gal I spoke to was very friendly and said that I would be credited for the lost plants, however when I placed my next order and asked to have my credit applied to that order, it was not done and I was charged full price for my bulbs.
I may try again with seeds but I think that would be it...

We've ordered from Veseys about 8-10 times over the past four seasons. Ordered everything from seed starting equipment, to organic bug removal products, to seeds, bulbs, roots and shrubs.

We are very pleased with the handling of the seeds and garden supplies. All of these have always arrived quickly and in good condition.

However, the live shrubs we are not generally pleased with. They arrive rather small, and take quite a while to grow. Once, we ordered four lilacs because they were on sale, and two of them died. But we promptly received refunds for these and the next season we re-ordered the same lilacs at regular price and those came in much better condition.

The bulbs I haven't had any trouble with thus far, including the free ones. Some roots we ordered like daylilies are very small, and this is the third season since they've been planted and hopefully we will see them bloom finally this season. The other roots were not that healthy and died.

But this year, we put in an order for a bunch of lily bulbs back on March 3rd, expecting arrival before now, and they still have not arrived. The existing lilies in my garden are already up 5 inches and we are experiencing 80 F temps during the day. I fear receiving these bulbs too late will result in them not blooming this year. Or worse, spoilage from shipping in warm weather.

Have contacted them on the matter of the bulbs this year and was assured they would be shipping out soon, but this is the reply I received on May 3, 2006:

"The oriental lily order will be leaving soon and the larger spring bulb order will be a couple of weeks before it leaves."

As of May 15th, they still have not arrived. Will wait and see what happens. This is why I vote Neutral. Good customer service and nice packaging, but live plants aren't always 100% and a little on the small side. I wish the bulb shipping would be a lot faster.

I ordered some pansy seeds I was hoping to wintersow and was dismayed to get an email receipt saying I could expect the seeds (in stock, not backordered) in 3-4 weeks!

That's just too long. First class US mail can travel cross-country in 4-5 days, I've received Canadian cross country mail in not much longer, and I can't remember a company I've dealt with that had more than a 48-72 day turnaround on orders.

I ordered 2 rose bushes, and they arrived so late in the spring (late April) that the ones in my yard were already completely leafed out and had buds on them. I even emailed them to explain how warm my California climate is, and to let them know that I needed them sent immediately, and was told "please be assured we will ship your order as soon as possible". By the time they arrived, it was already getting warm and dry here, and one of the two dried up and died despite my best watering efforts.

As a Certified Master Gardener, I have never lost a locally-purchased bare-root rose, which are planted in January, not April. Since they don't seem to be able to ship out their roses early enough for California, I won't be buying from them again. The only reason my review is neutral is that the one surviving rose is doing well and has had four flowers on it this year already (the vigorous Dr. Brownell yellow). Scentimental was much less strong (some branches were rather twiggy) and it basically shrivelled up and died, even though both plants were coated with wax very heavily and I planted them the day after I received them.

I ordered two bare root roses from Vesey's in the early spring of 2003. I waited and waited for them. They finally came in late June, pretty late for planting bare root. They enclosed an apology with the roses, and sent a free rose bush as a consolation gift. Because it was so late, I had a hard time keeping the roses moist until they sprouted, but all three did survive and blossom. I ordered seeds from Vesey's this spring, and they have sprouted well, although they took quite a while to be delivered. If you're not in a hurry to receive something, than Vesey's is a fine choice, but I doubt I'll order roses from them again.

I have always found Vesey orders to be prompt in past years...and so I ordered live shrubs in 2003.
However after receiving such small specimens......I'm afraid this WILL keep me from ordering live plants in the future. Even though my shrubs were planted as soon as they arrived, they were that small that it was impossible for them to attain much height by winter. Their small sizes have me concerned for their welfare, even though I have taken great pains to provide winter protection. I believe i could have taken my own cuttings from neighbours and ended up with larger specimens on my own.