Bewitched, bothered and bewildered

So here I am in love with two clematises and a major problem with ordering them. The names of them are Vienetta and Cassis.

Two are available at VanBourgondien. Yes, I know the negative comments!
http://www.dutchbulbs.com:80/store/floweringtrees/clematis/73846

One (Cassis) is available at Spring Hill. Yes, I know the negative comments!
http://springhillnursery.com/cassis-clematis/p/75624/

Ratings for each company are a bit more than 51% negative but I'll have to order from one of them. Perhaps a more accurate title for the thread would have been, "Between the Devil and the dark blue Sea".

What would you do?

Can't help you with the choice, Can give you some options. You pays your money and takes your choice. Nature Hills has both. http://www.naturehills.com/catalog/Spring_Flower_Bulbs.aspx?page=6 As does http://affordablehomeandgardenstore.com/clematis-vienetta
Chalk Hills has Cassis http://www.chalkhillclematis.com/nursery_shop/clematis/cassis_evipo020.html as does this outfit http://affordablehomeandgardenstore.com/clematis-cassis http://www.davewooding.com/garden/clematis-cassis-461844360.html

Thank you! I'll go to Nature Hills right now.

I always thought Nature Hills was an outcropping of VB. Look at the two pictures, I might be right. Or maybe they just get their stuff from VB.

I would go with Chalk Hills, but it's funny there is a notation on the Watch Dog about them closing down, but yet the website says it will be updated in March. Joy Creek also carries it, but is sold out. Darn it, 'cause they are very good.

Here's more pics of it. Definitely different.

http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=2977

Chalk Hill is gone. It closed down last year. If you go to any of the "shopping" pages, you get this message:

http://www.chalkhillclematis.com/nursery_shop/nurserystore.htm

I want both of those too. Here's Viennetta:

http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=2979

It looks like C. sieboldii, but it's supposed to be easier to grow.

Nature Hills has to have the most irritating Website ever. The prices on the thumbnails don't match the prices of the items. Little Mischief (a rose), for instance, says $8.95 in the main index and $17.95 when you try to order it. A package of anemones saying $5.95 actually costs $12.50. What the ?

I remember trying to order something on there a few years ago, and it went all the way to the end, and then said that product was not carried by them. It was strange.

How bizarre!

I have a feeling some things are supposed to be on sale, but the sale price never made it to the order page. I'll try again in a few days and see whether they can get their act together. They have both of the Clematis plants I want, and also some hard-to-find begonias and roses.

Though I want both of them I don't want to order them from two different companies so I'll take the plunge and order from VB and hope for the best.

I'm gonna say I told you so. Even if they are alive, they will probably not be true to name. Hate that place.

I'll call first and tell Debbie that if they're not true to name I'll tell on her!

And tell 'the bulb lady' they better be good sized too, or I'll tell on her, too.

Will do!

I ordered some peach melba gladiola bulbs from VB last year( I know because I wrote their name on the tag, in case the id was wrong), but they bloomed correctly, and were nice and healthy bulbs.

:0)

ps-
forgot to mention I also bought dozens of their orange lycoris 'spider lilies'. They were nice sized, too.

I have viennetta...I got them years ago when they first came out, from Wayside. They are a great clematis. They are a little on the small side(the blooms), but they bloom in great number.

I just got a catalog in the mail from VB, offering me $35 off any purchase exceeding $75. I'm sorely tempted in spite of their reputation. I think I'll order by mail and send a check so that they won't be able to add mysterious charges onto my credit card.

seedpicker - their bulbs are generally good. I've never had one that wasn't true to their description. Thanks for the good word on Vienetta. It was Zuzu who brought that one to my attention and I love how it matches Cassis.

Zuzu - I did order through them. They offered Pay Pal so that's what I used. If the plants appear dead or don't grow at least Pay Pal will credit my charge account if VB fails to send living plants.

Good plan, Pirl. I just seem to recall that these are the people who offer you $25 off and then "forget" to deduct it, so that you have to keep calling them and asking them to credit your card. On the other hand, if I send a check and they're out of some things, they'll send me one of those awful merchandise credits that I never use. Such a quandary!!!

That's true. Today I finally used a credit that's almost a year old but it wasn't at VB. Things like that get lost much too easily.