Anyone received an order from Floral & Hardy?

Anyone on DG received anything from these guys yet?

I'm kind of wondering what's happening with them, as I got a notice they'd dug my order, but no sign of it showing up...hmmm....anyone?

It says today they are digging orders starting at 443. Wish I could remember what number it was at the last time I looked. I wonder it they really do update it everyday. I know they must be tired to the bone after digging day after day. If they were in the late 300s when we got the emails( mine was the 23rd) it must be pretty slow going, maybe some pretty large orders. You should get yours soon. I won't even begin to wait for mine yet.

According to the date, they posted that on the 26th, and it hasn't changed since then, which is why I'm (impatiently) asking...I know, I know, patience is a virtue...but it's daylilies!!

(she whined)

I'd be more worried if the others that I'm waiting on weren't so late coming too. I think they are just too busy gittin er done, to look after the website. Don't think spring was to mauvelus there.

Figures - just got a notification from Canada Post that they mailed it to me this morning!

So, now I feel impatient and silly!
Did you get a notice, echoes from CP?

Not yet, but then I'm in the 500s, so I guess I'll probably be next week. hopefuly.

I got some hostas from them a few weeks ago. I hadn't expected them as early as they came because of the notice of my order number and what they were working on. They were in good shape although they took 5 days to get to me and were bare rooted. Canada Post apparently told them that it took a week, because they phoned me.

Ann

Do you have any pictures, V?

June 1st, 451. Oh well......

My order number was 456 and received it on May 26th.

This was my first order from F & H and it's left me somewhat ambivalent. The heucheras were teeny, tiny, but the hostas were acceptable size for the price. One hosta (the most expensive and one I wanted the most) was omitted from the order without explanation. However, I agreed to accept replacement plants and sent a list of hostas and daylilies that she could choose from. Also, the free plants they sent were not from my list as they suggested they would be, so I was disappointed in that. Also, two of the hostas were in rough shape, but with some pics and email exchanges we figure it was due to a combination of frost damage and sunburn and I've cut off the affected leaves and will keep an eye on them. She is very pleasant to deal with via email and was very apologetic. I got a notice on Thursday that Canada Post has sent out a parcel so they must be my replacement plants. So we'll see how the situation pans out, but they are sitting in a post office over the weekend. (Sigh).

Sandy

Hmm, that's interesting, as my order # was 386, and I don't have it yet!

Hm, yes. All very puzzling. The numbers sure don't make sense. At least we know that we can expect a notification from Canada Post.. I found her very pleasant too. Pleasant can go a long way to smooth ruffled feathers from an order gone wrong. I got a feeling I'm not going to like the teeny tiny heaucheras. No different than Crescent Nurseries then.

Someday I'll show you the stuff Cedar Ridge sent, Sandy. Fair warning.

I've had good luck out here, even with teeny tiny Heuchera, by the next year they are huge, so that doesn't bother me, but I did get an email from her saying that she was afraid they may have shorted my order, and please let them know...and I haven't even gotten it yet, so that was also interesting...she's very nice to deal with, though.

Someone asked about pics. Yes, but I'll have to have a look. My Spilt Milk was the largest and in good shape. Some of the others were single eyes that had not yet unfurled. Most were not particularly large, but as Sandy said, the price was not high either.

There were a couple of others that I wanted but which were sold out, bringing my total order below the amount for a bonus plant. I offered her a suggested replacement and first she said "yes", then later "no" but she sounded unsure about whether she actually had it or not. Anyway, the discussion got bogged down and no replacement plants ever got ordered; so no bonus plant. I noticed that the credit card went through immediately after I made the order whereas every other place waited until spring to ensure that they could actually fill the order.

But in general, she was pleasant to deal with and I was impressed that they called to check after learning that the shipping took longer than it was supposed to.

Don't know whether I'll order next year or not. Rather frustrating to order in February in Canada and have several choices already sold out.

Ann

Echoes, I'm not familiar with Cedar Ridge but inquiring minds wanna know....what did they send, what did they send?

Sandy

Tell her, echoes - save her from a mistake, like you saved me!

Ummm, daylilies. I think there is a pic in my diary. If not it will be in my journal, which isn't open at the moment. Let me just say that when things go fine and as expected, everyone is happy. When something goes wrong, some companies have a better customer service attitude than others. I think F&H is one with the better attitude. ..... Can you hear what I'm not saying?

Absolutely - comes through loud and clear.

And I also agree with your earlier comment about "..pleasant goes a long way..."

Who among us hasn't made a mistake - a cheerful willingness to deal with the problem makes me more than happy to give repeat business.

Echoes, I saw your pic of the daylilies from Cedar Ridge. Oh man, you must have been sick when you opened that box!

I see what you guys are saying. If it wasn't for Betty Fretz's 'cheerful willingness' enough for 3 companies, I know I would have been upset over the situation. I also know they were swamped this year, expecting fewer than 100 orders and receiving 800! They'll work it out.

Sandy

You asked about pics. I ended up getting 7 hostas from F&H. Here are four of them. Other than being a bit on the small side, all were in good condition.
These are Remember Me, Spilt Milk, Outhouse Delight and White Christmas.
Ann

This message was edited Jun 5, 2006 2:10 PM

Thanks for the pictures, what a name, eh? Outhouse Delight?

2zeus, I wonder what inspired that name? LOL.

Ann, those look nice and healthy.

I guess I was a bit paranoid and disappointed when I saw the leaves on these two hosta unfurl. Especially with all this talk of viruses, etc.

But after conferring with F & H, we determined it's a combination of frost and sun damage. I've cut off the damaged leaves as she suggested and there's a new leaf on each that look clean.

Glad you sorted that out and that the new growth looks healthy, Sandy.

Here are the other three I received. I'll send them separately. For some reason, Picasa put the pics in the folder in a different order and I couldn't see what they were without clicking on them. Made it tricky to make a composite.

Here is Venus. A bit small.

Here is Loyalist.

And Cherry Berry.

Yep, all the (10) others in my order were fine!

Ann, that Spilt Milk has a nice shape to the leaf. I received it in a trade with my neighbour this spring.

counter is at 470 today.....

481 today.....

503 today. Either they are picking up the pace or orders are being cancelled. Which was very tempting at this point.

Did you read their blog? Sounds like they are allowing folks to cancel if they wish, and are shipping on more days than Mon & Tues.

Allowing? They'll never make it to 800.

You don't think?

smack

snicker...

echoes reminded me that I forgot to post here that I've received my order from F&H on June 6, and was disappointed - I was missing 6 daylilies.

I'd heard from them a few days prior that they thought they may have shorted me - that was ok, we all make mistakes, what I wasn't happy about, was that other plants had been substituted for some of the missing daylilies.

I guess I'd assumed that subs would be another similar daylily, as that's what most places do.
Edited to say: one sub I was thrilled with, was a "Golden Stargazer" lily, which I've been trying to find for 3 years or so, and am always just too late in ordering.

I'm not sure if the daylilies were missing because they didn't make it through the winter, or were just forgotten, or what. I also found the invoice impossible to figure out, but that may have more to do with me and my brain than their invoice...

She is a very nice lady, and did apologise profusely in an email, but I'm still not sure what's happening, as far as - am I getting daylilies, or a refund, or what.

I think the overwhelming success they had in numbers of orders is causing more problems than maybe they'd expected?
And customers like me who add to their order 4-5 times probably don't help either!

The Hosta, Heuchera, Calla, etc, were all nice big pieces in good shape, as were the daylilies - so quality of plants, no complaints there.

This message was edited Jun 8, 2006 4:53 PM

Thought I'd post that I received my package of replacement plants on June 5. As of today, about a week and a half later, all my plants are doing fine.

When I received my parcel, I was disappointed again because here's how the plants looked (below). Also, one fan of Jersey Girl Daylily was rotting. But, the point I want to make is that they sat in the post office all weekend because they were shipped on a Thursday and they were all wrapped with a single piece of damp newspaper. This has led me to believe that it was probably moisture loss, not sunburn that caused the browning and melting out of the hostas. Come to think of it, why would they send a sunburned leaf anyway?

I emailed her my 'packing problem' suspicion along with some pics of other hosta orders I had received in the meantime which were so healthy looking and packaged meticulously with damp newspapers and saran wrap, or soil and saran wrap. I also mentioned that both orders were sent on a Monday and didn't sit all weekend in a post office. She wrote that they had thought they'd try to keep the moisture to a minimum because they didn't want to have things rotting, but it was obviously too wet on the daylilies and not enough on the hostas. She ended by thanking me profusely and saying she wants to do well and needs to know these things.

Sandy

Sandy, I'm afraid that if I got that, I'd be very disappointed - they don't look very good at all - and when you think about what other places send, well...

Here's my daylily order from Culver Farm Daylilies, for instance:

And from Hemerocallis Montfort:

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll stop now!

2zeus - Top notch packing from Hosta Choice Gardens:

....and The Potting Shed: