Michigan Bulb!

I wondered if anyone else had issues with your order from Michigan Bulb? I ask because I ordered quite a few plants and they sent me the wrong ones, for instance I ordered the Blue girl Rose, and the sent me a purple one. its beautiful but not what i wanted. Then there is my butterfly bush, i put a picture of it on here and before i complain about it too much can any one tell me if at some point it will change color. It's suppose to be the rainbow butterfly bush, so i'm not sure. What i'm trying to say is its quite late in the summer and I would have said something before now but they just bloomed. What should I do? should i write them now or wait until spring to say anything?
Oh and sorry if the picture is a little fuzzy.

Michigan Bulb has a pretty bad rating in Garden Watchdog, so I guess you should be happy that what you got is at least alive! http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/186/

Here's the Plant Files entry for the rainbow butterfly bush--its official name is Buddleia 'Bicolor' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/61639/ I think that is what yours is. Plants often don't put on their best show the year they're planted, so that could be why the flower clusters look a little smaller than some of the PF pics but to me it looks like a better match for 'Bicolor' than any of the other cultivars that I'm familiar with. My personal experience with my own 'Bicolor' is that the color variation in it generally isn't quite as impressive as some nursery catalogs would lead you to believe.

You might also check out the PF entry for your 'Blue Girl' rose...I looked it up on Michigan Bulb's website and their flower color does not look real to me, I think in reality you'll see something much more similar to what's pictured in Plant Files http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/468/ So you may have got the right one on that one too.

Thank you I appreciate everything. I just thought everything would be great because of the lifetime guarantee. We ordered one butterfly bush, one rose bush, six hydrangea, and 12 pampas grass well we must have been very lucky that only three pampas plants died. But thank you I was pretty upset.
they can just exaggerate things and they still have business. Its just crazy!

Mail order gardening is a tricky business--there are companies that do it very well, but others that don't. Sounds like your experience with Michigan Bulb is probably more positive than many people's so I guess you got lucky! The Garden Watchdog is a really great resource and I'd encourage you before you buy any plants from anywhere to look the company up there and see what other people's experiences have been. Most companies are going to have a few bad reviews here and there, but anyone that's got close to half (or more) of their comments negative should definitely be avoided!

Thank you! we bought a lot of plants locally, but there were just some that we couldn't find. I will check things out before i buy next time!!

I just wanted to agree with what ecrane said and add that I have seen 'Bicolor' Butterfly Bush and that's exactly what it looks like ("Rainbow" is such a stupid common name for it). Also, no matter what you see on the internet, there is no such thing as a blue rose. 'Blue Girl' is still about as close as it gets.

I see, I was another idiot who feel for it all! lol Like i said lesson learned. I'm going to check things out before I buy. Its probably going to be local plant shopping for awhile.

Don't feel like an idiot--until you know about the Garden Watchdog there's no easy way you could find out whether a place is any good or not. I hope you don't give up on mail order gardening because of them though--there are lots of great mail order companies out there, and now that you know about the Garden Watchdog you won't accidentally order from the bad ones anymore.

Gardening is a constant learning process. I'm not sure there's anyone out there who would disagree.

Well thank you soo much. You know I don't think i will stop Plant shopping online. I got discouraged but i will jump back into it next spring!!

I didn't show you the rose. I wanted one to fuss over. I know its silly but all the other plants in my garden take minimal care so i wanted something i could you know dead head, shine the leaves, things like that.

Very pretty! That does look like 'Blue Girl', although there are probably other roses that color too so I couldn't guarantee you it's that one. That is about as blue as a rose can be without spray paint or Photoshop! LOL

Yep, that looks like 'Blue Girl' and that's as good as it gets as far as blues are concerned. Don't worry, you should have plenty to fuss over since that one is particularly prone to black spot and powdery mildew (at least in my area).

I order from michigan bulb, as well as several others. The rainbow butterfly bush you show look exactly like mine. I got them this spring and planted them. Im actually surprised by how big they are already and that they bloomed the first year. So im very happy with them. I also have a blue girl rose. I ordered two, one each from two different companies. I was surprised by the purple of the blue girl rose since it didnt match the picture, but my mom said that the purple color is how its supposed to look. And it smells great. The rose i bought from burgess arrived dead, but then suckers came up and turned out to be a climbing red rose that looks like a wild rose, so they messed up in the grafting. Michigan bulb is definatly the best company to buy from when it comes to the cheaper companies. Ive only had one problem with them and thats they forgot a primrose lilac i had ordered. i called them and they immediatly sent a new one. One thing you will learn it a picture in plant catalogs will always look better than the one you grow. Avoid burgess and other countries affiliated with them. Ive never had any luck when it comes to ordering plants from them.