Where do you order your Bulbs?

What is your favorite bulb company & why?
Has anyone ordered from K.van Bourgondien & sons?

I ordered from them last fall and was very happy with my blooms this spring. I don't know where you live, but just noticed today that the Christmas Tree shop in Massachusetts has very cheap bulbs. Mostly mixes, which I don't like, but I did find a package of 15 pink hybrid darwins for $5 which I thought was good. They also had red or yellow hybrid darwins, and a few narcissus and a 2 tone grape hyacinth that weren't in mixtures.

I've never purchased from K.van Bourgondien & sons, after receiving their catalog I checked the Watchdog, and was a bit leery from some of the iffy feedback. A lot of folks around here on DG have posted wonderful pics of blooms from the bulbs they purchased there. I have however, purchased from VanEngelen (Scheepers) and Brent&Becky's and been very pleased. I'm really cheap, so I end up waiting till the end of season 1/2 off sale at B&B, and the 40%off sale at VanEngelen. If there are specific things you're looking for, its a gamble, but if you just know you want some Daffs or Tulips, or whatever, it can be worth waiting.

Oh, and meant to say, how long you can wait to plant bulbs depends on where you are. Here in Kentucky, I can usually still work the soil through the first of December. If I can't get them planted, I just pot them and put them in the basement.

My favorite place to buy bulbs online is EASY TO GROW BULBS! They have personalized service and they do not charge you until your order ships!

I have bought from KVB wholesale with some good and some so-so experiences. Their prices are great but you sometimes take a chance on quality/accuracy.

Many of us have bought from Van Engelen and for most it has been a happy experience. Good experiences for me too, except last fall when I got what I suspect were immature bulbs. I recently received my Old House Gardens (another super excellent source) daff order and after looking at their bulbs and remembering/comparing to the VE from last yr, I am even more sure that I did not get blooming grade bulbs, which is what I paid for.

the VE daffs as well as some daffs that I rustled from a cemetery are shooting greens. I wonder how that will affect blooming.

I was at HD a while ago and their bulbs didn't look too terribly bad. $10 for a bag of 40.

I have bought from Easy to Grow Bulbs, Brent & Beckys and yes, Van Bourgoudien, eflowergarden. All good. I'm pretty much done until holiday sales.

Vossner , I too am awaiting some sales, eflowergarden has nice savings right now in the classifieds. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1054063/

I love his bulbs from either of his companies Touch of Nature or eflowergarden.

I am a huge fan of Brent and Becky, as well as Van Engelen or John Scheepers, and have been very happy with McClure and Zimmerman. Sorry about your bad experiance with V.E. Old house is a nice source, but most of the tulips are our of my price range. I also ordered a few narcissus that looked interesting from WFF this year as well as a couple of tulips. I always look to Buggy crazy for lilies and for some nice narcissus and a few speciality bulbs that only she seems to have at a reasonable price.

I have ordered in the past from K.van Bourgondien & sons, but limit it to certain cultvars that I have had trouble finding at my other favorite sources. They have a clearance going on now for a few good things. I had forgotten to order more of an old favorite called Tulipa Eye Catcher, so I just put in an order for it plus some others that I wanted more of as well as one new one for me called Black Hero. I am happy with their spring bulbs, but avoid the rest of their products generally.

I don't do box stores, but I will shop at small independent garden shops though mostly I order via on line catalogs.

Darwin Hybrid Tulip World's Favourite 25 per bag $15.00
Double Peony Tulip Black Hero 25 per bag $11.00 (new one for me so no pic}
Fringed Tulip Davenport 25 per bag $18.00
Iris Histroides Halkis 10 per bag $12.00
Iris Reticulata J.S. Dyt 25 per bag $5.00
Tulipa Praestans Unicum 25 per bag 1 $8.00 (no picture in my file)
Viridiflora Tulip Eye Catcher 25 per bag 1 $18.00

patti, last week i was hot for iris reticulata and i've determined it would only be an annual in my garden. where are you getting them for $5. at that price, I may spring for them even if only a 1 yr show

Those were from K.van Bourgondien & sons, but the better price and selection is from Touch of Nature. I will most likely be getting more as I adore them. Bleek's have done very well for me in the past. Plus he has several to choose from. Patti

25 for 7.50

http://www.touchofnature.com/fallcatalog/dwarfiris.htm

i'll ck it out. TY Miss Enabler.

I'm right in there with several other people. Brent and Becky is just outstanding. They do everything well. John Scheepers is very good as well and the prices are good, and they have terrific minor bulbs like seven kinds of chionodoxa, four kinds of ornagolathum, eight kinds of camassia, twenty five kinds of alliums. These are the kinds of bulbs that you can use to create wonderful effects. I always order from these two.

McClure and Zimmerman is really good for species tulips. I've never seen such a selection, and you can get as few as six. And they always throw in a freebie of 6 to 10 bulbs - turkestanica, iris reticulata purple gem are just two I've received. And oddly enough, my double hyacinths from M&Z have perennialized.

As a person with vole issues in the past I was very reluctant to order tulips from Old House Gardens. Quite expensive. And I like vavoom effects with lots of tulips (three kinds of double tulips with white trumphinator in one bed) and I can't handle the hit to my check book. In past years WFF has provided smashing tulips of the highest quality, but I can't speak for them now..

I like bloomingbulb, brent and beckys, old house bulbs, john scheepers, mcclure and zimmerman. Old house Gardens specializes in historic bulbs and they are actually correct. They are more pricey but if you are looking for authentic heirlooms they are great. I don't have voles in MI where I garden but I know they are a huge problem for all my friends in NC.

...and speaking of Old House Gardens, I was positively horrified yesterday when I went to inspect a recently planted bed, w/ nothing but OHG bulbs and a @#$% tree rat that dug one out. I looked for it but nowhere to be found. I am going to the store today and getting chicken wire to protect that bed. NO WAY i'm gonna let those rats eat my high $ bulbs, NO WAY.

Well that stinks vossner! No fun when wildlife enjoys all the bulbs.

I've bought from Van Engelen and have always been pleased. I have bought from KVB wholesale and have often been pleased with their bulbs; not their perennials.

BTW, I believe John Scheepers an Van Engelen are essentially the same org; but if you are willing to buy in lots of 25, you get a good price break at the latter. They have the same plant lists; and their catalogues always arrive the same day.

Steve, you're right. VE is the wholesale arm of JS.

Donna

Do any of you have links to these?
Thanks so much for all of your input.

http://brentandbeckysbulbs.com/

http://vanengelen.com/

VanEnglelen, above, has a link to their sister retail company, John Scheepers.

You can find links to all of them through The Watchdog.

Thanks,gemini.

Another nice way to check is to go to Garden Watchdog, to search at the top, then specializing in, and drop down to whatever bulbs you want, and where it says sort by, put in ratings. And it will come up with a list of sellers, with the one with the best ratings at the top.

A lot of people have never used the search feature by ratings on Garden Watchdog, and I think it's very helpful.

In addition to the above (I place orders with B&B, VE, and BB probably every year), eFlowerGardens and/or Touch of Nature (both run by our own Bleek) have very nice bulbs, and Bleek can often get you some very nice discounts. :-)

I had bad luck with KVB, like Steve, with their perennials. They packaged
up my tree peonies w/absolutely no protection - just rattled around to be
bent up bad during shipping. The rest was mediocre at best. But I have
not tried their bulbs.

I have had only one issue in the 20yrs or so I've ordered from VanEngelen.
They sent the wrong tulip once. I saw on one of the bulbs threads that
someone else had exactly the same mistake so they must have confused
the stock a couple of years.

Tam

Did you receive a white late single when you were expecting a yellow?

I had one wrong lily from VE. I ordered a group of pink lilies, and in the group, when they bloomed was a glaringly orange one. They made it right. But every year when the group blooms I say I have to mark the orange one, and every year I forget. So the clump will always probably be pink and orange.

KVB perennials are horrible, the bulbs not so bad.

I'm having fun with the Brent and Becky bulbs sales right now because they have clearly waived their $35 minimum. I placed two orders that were smaller, and today a third.

Neal - that sounds right. Its a white with tints of pink... I'll find the picture
and post it. I actually have the name of what I think it is in a spreadsheet
on my home PC. (Shhhh... I'm at work right now)

Tam

Here it is "Elegant Lady" I believe is the name. Pic dated 4/28

I was curious because of LeawoodGardener's experience, he planted about 1000 Mrs.John Scheepers, a yellow late single, and the blooms were white, probably Maureen. It was still a fabulous display, but VE did replace them this year. They also said they hadn't had any other reports of the same mix up, which made me wonder if yours was the same mistake, but apparently not. Those 'Elegant Lady' are beautiful! Is that one of the Temple sports, like Perestroyka and Hocus Pocus? I have it in my mind it is, but 'Blushing Lady' may be what I'm thinking of.

I don't know much about this tulip - except that it is nice. I think I'd ordered
yellow with a white edging. I've forgotten the name. I didn't tell VE about the
mixup. I wasn't going to dig up those bulbs and I didn't mind them so just let
it go.

Tam

Tammy,

It was very nice of you to let it go, but the company would have willingly sent you the correct bulbs the next year. I ordered Double tulips in three colors from McClure and Zimmerman, and instead of Maywonder, which is dark rose, got a gorgeous pale rose double I had never seen before. I let them know and they shipped replacements this fall. The good companies do that.

Of course, if you didn't want them it's another matter. It's still nice of you.

Just for the record, LeawoodGardener's mis-labeled bulbs came from Van Bourgondien, not Van Engelen:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1050210/

If I remember right, in years past Van Engelen's bulbs were smaller than Scheeper's, but this year the ones I checked are the same size... I waited too long, VE was out of everything I wanted this year so I ordered from Brent and Becky's.

claypa, thanks for the correction- I've had that wrong in my head since spring when the pics first went up.

Neal, I have too, so you're not alone.

Claypa, congrats on your B&B order. I succumbed too. Lov ly people, great bulbs.

I like all of these sources except I've avoided Van Bourgondien, because of the Watchdog reviews. I also use Willow Creek Gardens, B & D Lilies and Colorblends. There's an Ebay bulb wholesaler, ebcooler, who sells VERY discounted bulbs from Ednies. Got some real beauties from him this year.

http://shop.ebay.com/ebcooler/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

This message was edited Nov 19, 2009 8:35 PM

Quite a combo he has for sale there, Mary, bulbs and helmets.

I've always bought lily bulbs for my nursery from Ednie, and they have always been nice. I had one packet of wrong ones, other than that, they were great. I've also bought some daffs and iris histriodes from Ednies, and they were all really nice, and true to name.

Yes, it is an interesting combo! The bulbs were beautiful. I think there was a DG lily co-op from Ednies.

Gemini_sage did one. And there might have been another one, also.