Comments regarding Michigan Bulb

I ordered 4 items yesterday. I received a confirmation email a few hours later and saw that they were not sending what I had ordered. I immediately sent a reply to their correct email address telling them to cancel the shipment because it was not what I had ordered. I called today to verify the cancellation. After some time on hold, I was told that they had shipped it out early without seeing my email. They told me that I was responsible for the order and that they already had my money from PayPal. I spoke to a supervisor who said that I would have to wait TEN DAYS until my plants arrived and then talk to them about a store credit or refund. I have filed a complaint with PayPal.

I ordered a Gloriosa lily tuber and some astilbes. When my order arrived it was marked complete but only the astilbes were sent to me. When I called to tell them that I had not received the Gloriosa lily, I was taken through the biggest inquisition one could ever imagine. The rep I spoke to was rude and treated me as though I wasn’t telling the truth. This is exacerbated by the fact that this item was less than $20. Never again.

Here is my experience with Michigan Bulbs:

1. You'll get a ton of unsolicited catalogs from Breck's, Spring Hill Nurseries, and K. van Bourgondien.

2. You'll get notified items are out of stock for orders placed months ago, and your shipments will be delayed. Live plants will arrive rotting, pest infested, and damaged in transit. The replacement plant that is healthy, but underwhelming and much smaller.

3. They then give you an apology credit to spend, and when your plants bloom, you realize they sent you the wrong ones. I can't even at this point.

Posted on April 21, 2021, updated April 23, 2021
Posted on April 19, 2021, updated April 21, 2021
Ordered April 10th, said available to ship immediately. I was excited because it has bulbs complementary to ones I am planted that week.
Then I get receipt, shows shipping 4/20 to 5/08.
Last time I checked online it's showing shipping from 4/28 into mid May
Of course getting plenty of emails trying to entice me to buy more.....I now just want what I ordered, weeks ago. So frustrated.

Michigan Bulb is the best gardening company I've ever dealt with. I have used others, but MB is the best. They stand behind their guarantees and replacements. Not to mention their prices are fair also.

BUYER BEWARE!!!

I placed an order with them on 4/2 for 3 items. All 3 said they are available and ready to ship. I bought them as a mother’s Day present for my mother. They said they’d ship 4/22. No problem! Then I checked on 4/22 and it had been changed to a ship date of 5/4. They never emailed me to say it was delayed or contacted me in any way. I checked again later and it had been moved to 5/12 (after mother’s day). I tried to call but they aren’t taking any calls. I emailed and they sent me a copy and paste answer from their website not even answering any of the questions I asked. I just checked this morning and they’ve now pushed my ship date to 5/18.

Seriously?! Not one single email discussing issues and yet they’ve pushed back my order 3 different times. If they actually ship on 5/18 then I’ll have waited almost 2 months for my order. That’s IF they don’t push it back again.

I understand the pandemic delays things, but looking at previous reviews this is a typical issue for them. And their lack of communication is unacceptable for a business. I will update again in a few weeks.

Michigan Bulb is taking orders but they are not answering to emails and phone calls, due to the pandemic. No doubt small business is impacted by the pandemic but some employees seems to be taking undue advantage of the situation. I ordered few items and have been trying to reach them without luck. People are supposed to be working from home. I don’t get why it’s hard to reply to customer emails and answer phone calls (can be redirected to home/cell phones) when the staff is supposed to be working from home. It’s time for management to take notice.

I'm leaving a neutral review because I'm going off of my memory from the fall of 2018 and the spring of 2019. I primarily ordered super-cheap bulbs and bare-root plants such as ferns. I got a "free gift" of the tiniest rose plant I've ever seen. Another "free gift" never arrived. The rose is still living on my window sill and maybe this year it will be large enough to plant outside. The biggest issue in my opinion is that they usually ship the plants by throwing them in a big plastic sack -- what kind of way is that to ship living things? When they arrived the bags were all beat up. I suppose it's ok for daffodils bulbs, but not bare root plants. I ordered some pea plants which were very, very small and not worth the money. The orders arrived in bits and pieces and it's hard to keep track of what was ordered. I remember overall being disappointed and vowing not to order from them again, no matter how cheap. I never bothered with customer service, since I did receive product.

Previous experiences (many) with ordering plants have been good, and often excellent. However, in July 2019 I ordered for fall shipment 5 "potted" plants. They didn't arrive and I finally emailed about them. They finally arrived Oct. 1, 2019. The weather was fine for shipping at the time. I received a large box with tiny, puny little sprigs in miniscule "pots" which were dried out and near death. Planted them carefully anyway and am waiting to see if they survive winter. The quality of the plants themselves has been severely downgraded since my earlier orders. I will no longer be using this company.

I see a lot of negatives about this place and it made me suspicious. I had a good experience about 20 years ago ordering a red japanese maple, so I thought I'd try again! I'm pleased to say that my recent October 2019 order was fine. My order was all fall planted bulbs and fortunately for me they shipped at the same time. I was impressed with the size and quality of the bulbs. Everything was packaged well, and labeled nicely. I really appreciated the bonus items too. I LOVE how their website is super easy to use and the prices are reasonable. As someone at poverty level, but a love for plants and the environment; Michigan Bulb Company helps me to try new plants and keep gardening. Other places can literally leave you with sticker shock. I would order here again. I wish I had come back sooner.

What happened with this company is totally unacceptable.
Family members and I made 5 different orders from this company this year. Two in early spring, One in the Summer and one in the last couple of months.

They weren't really large orders. Mostly bulbs for Spring planting. The first two orders which were mostly bulbs, came with no problem. No complaints about the product, mostly nice bulbs , only a few i would question but over all I would have given them a good review based on those orders.

I ordered another order in July, One in Sept and one the first part of October. I never got the one from July , I did get the one for Sept and not the one for October.

I never got the July order it kept getting pushed further and further out, week after week for a month and a half and again right before it all hit the fan. When I sent an email asking why they couldn't send the products which they were showing to mostly be available and send the others, they still never sent the July order even when it updated and showed the were available and they did this repeatedly.

They sent the September order, which had many of the same items that were showing that were NOT available for shipping from the July order and the July order, 2 weeks before shipping, went back to showing not available on one Item which was apparently what was holding up the order.

I again contacted them and asked them why they wouldn't ship this order because I knew they had my items in stock because they were either still selling them for months after wards but just wouldn't send it out. The same items that were showing on "back order" they had sent in the September order that was made 2 months later so I know they had them. They aren't going in order, they only sent the other order because I complained.

When I last contacted them, I told them I didnt' want to be planting in the middle of winter and in the snow and I didn't understand why they couldn't ship the items that they showed 'available for shipping" and had been showing available for shipping for nearly a month and a half, and then send the other items later. By this point I had 2 orders out that were over $100.00 each.. I told them if they weren't going to send them then just refund my money for both orders.. I WANTED the orders but I felt like if they couldn't ship the July order after nearly 3 months, then I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get the Order made around the first part of October Either.

Well after 3 months, instead of doing the right thing and sending the items they CLAIMED that they had in stock and many they sold for months afterwards, or are still selling, they just cancel my entire order that I had waited on for 3 months.. They did refund my money after I told them I would file a complaint with Paypal. They didn't refund my money for the September order at first , so I emailed them back and told them "if you aren't going to send my order out and you're just going to hold it hostage for 3 months like you did the other money and then cancel on me, then go ahead and refund my money".. I did want the items but again, it was starting to look more and more like they weren't going to send them and they didn't show many of the in stock any longer so I had no faith I would ever get them..

All I can say is, They didn't even try to fill my orders or any part of them. They just cut me off sent this copy paste apology for doing me wrong and completely copped out on me and canceled by order. It's disappointing to me because I had intentions on planting a lot of these at the grave yard at our church and also some of them for my own home.

It's wrong to do people like this. You didn't even try to send me any part of those orders and you held my money for weeks and months and kept selling those products even after weeks of me asking for you to send my order. This is very unprofessional. You can apologize all you want, but I was a good customer and intended on buying more from you in the Spring but I'm not going to give you my money and you hold it for weeks and months only to cancel out on me.

It would have been one thing had you cancelled a couple of the items because you made a mistake and send the rest and refund for the other, but you made no attempt to do anything at all. Your apology is not accepted and now I don't have the prouducts I wanted for my business and church. You could have at least tried. You didn't do anything. That's what makes it bad. You just completely sold my orders to other people and didn't try to do a thing to remedy it. I wasn't asking for anything free. Just what I paid for and I even asked for you to just send the items that you supposedly still had in stock. I was very nice up until the end until I realized, you just sold my items to someone else. That's just wrong.

I ordered a couple of things (clematis and daisy) from this company....I knew they were "iffy" at best - but these poor little plants came DEAD, DEAD, DEAD! They were obviously dried out and moldy....shame on these people - they have no right to treat plants with cruelty!

Immediately charged me but did not tell me there would be a delay.
Then a second delay. Then a third delay- all without communication.

Did not answer emails.

Phone support from overseas with unbearably loud room- I had a hard enough time understanding the agent without hearing what seemed like the NYSE in the background, phone call took 30 minutes AFTER waiting for the agent. They first refused to refund AT ALL, claiming the order was in their system so they couldn't refund it.

***It was NOT BECAUSE a shipping label had been generated***, it was just because "once you place an order you can't cancel"

Huh? Makes no sense. Another 20 minute wait for a "supervisor" who I still insist was the same person trying to disguise her voice. Yes, it's that bad.

After 45 minutes of refusal/inability to help with anything, I said I would call my credit card BECAUSE PAYPAL SIDES WITH THEM REGARDLESS OF THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED. PLEASE NOTE THIS- FOR WHATEVER REASON THIS WAS A CLEAR VIOLATION OF PAYPAL POLICY, YET PAYPAL CLOSED THE CASE. I never had this before- very, very sketchy.

Insult to injury, they tried to Insist on a refund through paper check one I said I would have to go to my CC company then all of a sudden they agreed to refund through Paypal (how I paid them).

Absolute refusal or inability to work out a mutually beneficial solution- for example, partial refund and adjusting shipping.

I would never do business with them again.

I put all of my eggs in one basket and now either am going to have to weed out the area I was plating these in extensively, or wait until next year.

Stay FAR away from this company!

Posted on March 17, 2010, updated May 20, 2019
Posted on May 25, 2009, updated March 17, 2010
Like many people, I was slightly nervous about ordering from Michigan Bulb. In the last year, I have now ordered and received my orders three times. Overall, a very positive experience. Their prices are cheap, they have excellent coupons, although, yes, it's not as nice as popping over to my local nursery for some new plants. On the other hand, they tend to have a very different selection than my local nursery and-- yep-- they're a fraction of the cost.

The bulbs I've received from them have done fabulously, as have the bareroot hostas and Valerian. The packaging is quite good-- the individual plants were shipped in protective cardboard sleeves in small pots with dirt. My only misses with them have been hydrangeas-- and the ones from my third order are doing very, very well, so I must come to the sad conclusion that perhaps the problem with the first lot of hydrangeas lay with the gardener and not the nursery. Potting bareroot/small plants up and then keeping an eye on the leaves has helped me enormously-- the plants get a good start (I have clay soil, which can kill plants super-fast) and I can make sure that I've really got them in the right amount of light before I commit them to the ground.

Lastly, Michigan Bulb has been fabulous about replacements. This last order, two of the plants arrived dead (the other six were healthy and green) and one bulb was mushy (and I knew I was ordering on the very, very end of bulb season-- the ones in our local nursery are mush now). They've sent a very generous set of replacement plants and backordered an entire replacement package of bulbs for me for next year (and only one was bad-- so that's certainly very generous of them). Overall, it's a very good deal for what you pay and if you need to fill in in your garden. I will be ordering from them again.

"On Mar 17, 2010 12:13 PM, Michigan Bulb responded with:

We appreciate you taking the time to post and we appreciate your feedback. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We strive for 100% Customer Satisfaction. Happy Gardening!
"

Do yourself a favor and don't patronize this company. I have been gardening for decades and have hundreds of perennials, etc I tend. This company sells bad goods, doesn't grow and customer service number just has someone in India answering the phone and they do nothing, just answer the phone. They want your money but will never leave you alone for the rest of your life. You cannot opt out, calling or emailing gets you nowhere. So now out of money from dead plants and getting spam email all day, every day, all year forever. Nothing like having them remind you constantly of the dead stuff they mailed you and the money you wasted.

Placed order 4/4, no shipping status received. Called for status and finally received dead plant 4/19. No response to email sent with pictures. Called and was given the option of refund or store credit. Plant no longer available. Reordered a new product 4/26, checked on it 5/8 to find it was cancelled. No notification received. Contacted customer service and was told it was no longer in stock. Requested refund. They would refund the order, but since I used a "store credit" for the previous plant, they refused to refund the amount of the store credit. Now, I have to continue with this ridiculous waste of time just to get my money back. Escalating the call to a supervisor was of no use. These people know how to wear the customer down by repeating the same phrase. They are obviously well versed in dealing with unhappy customers. The other bulbs I received were shriveled up and only one out of 6 even showed signs of life. Total waste of time.

Service/Delivery Comments
It took two weeks for Michigan Bulb to even ship the plant I ordered. They sent it by the slowest possible mail. They watered it and wrapped it tightly in plastic so it arrived so rotten that it fell apart in my hands - I couldn't even tell what kind of plant it was. I emailed them and got no reply. I sent a second email and got a copy-and-paste "we could give you a store credit." I wrote back telling them that 1) I did not want another plant four weeks late and 2) the credit they offered was less than than the amount they charged my credit card. They never responded. Terrible product and miserable customer service. Most importantly, their "No risk guarantee" (the reason I took a chance on them) is completely false. DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM MICHIGAN BULB!

First, last, and only experience ordering from this company.

Maybe they need a vocabulary lesson?
“In stock” means you have it there, at your site.
“Available to ship” means it can be put in a box and mailed that day or the next.

On 4/18 I placed an order for:
Black Knight Butterfly Bush
Kaleidoscope Butterfly Bush
Congo French Lilac
French Hybrid Lilac Red
Per the confirmation email, everything was shipping on 4/24 except for one item that was shipping on 4/29

4/25
Three items are due to ship on 5/1 and the other on 4/29 because it is now on back order (even though it was in stock and available to ship when I placed my order the week before.)

4/26
Everything is now shipping on 5/2.

4/27
Ordered two Ebb Tide rose bushes since they finally had them "in stock." Per the customer service rep on the phone I could not add them to my previous order because I placed it online and paid via PayPal.

Today's shipping update: first order is shipping on 5/3 -- a day later than yesterday's estimate.

4/29
Now not shipping until 5/8.

4/30
roses shipping 5/6
the rest shipping 5/9
Canceled my orders. Three to five days to get my money refunded to my PayPal account, even though they took the money out as soon as I submitted the order.

I did try contacting customer service, first through their page on Face Book and a second time with a phone call to someone I'm pretty sure is not in Indiana. They were not able to give me any kind of real explanation as to the delays,although the person who answered me on Face Book (on 4/26) said they were placing a rush on the order, which (vocabulary again?) apparently means "We'll add another day or two to the estimated shipping date every day."

I have ordered from this company for years, with varying results. The latest order I placed with them is probably my last, due to the poor condition of the plants I received. I ordered on the 11th, but the plants did not ship til the 23rd, just in time for the holiday weekend, and the plants obviously sat in the heat til Tuesday the 29th when I finally received them, in all their dried out and yellow glory. I don't expect anything to survive, but regardless, I am done with Michigan Bulb.

VIRUS WARNING Ordered hostas from Michigan Bulb. Potted them up and gave good care as they leafed out. Two of nine showing HVX. I now have to decide whether to destroy them or the entire order - what a waste!

I placed my order on 3/29/18. I received part of it on 5/21/18. Our area has been warm enough for planting for weeks now, so I was annoyed at the lengthy shipping delay. I still have not received the rest of the order and hope I never will. One of the items I ordered was a Hummingbird Mint. It was completely black and withered. There is no way it got that bad during shipping. I was so angry that any company would send a plant of such poor quality. I sent them a picture and a request for a refund and a cancellation of the rest of my order. They replied that occasionally some things just slip thru the cracks, it can't be helped and said they would refund my money. It wastes my time to wait for plants that arrive dead or near death, plus no shipping is ever refunded of course. I should have read the reviews on here first. I will never order from them again no matter how tempting the plants look online. I also requested to be removed from their mailing list. I don't want any trees wasted on this junk.

Posted on May 22, 2014, updated May 12, 2018
Posted on October 15, 2012, updated May 22, 2014
Posted on May 7, 2012, updated October 15, 2012
Posted on April 1, 2012, updated May 7, 2012
Posted on September 27, 2011, updated April 1, 2012
Posted on May 17, 2011, updated September 27, 2011
Earlier in the spring, I saw an inexpensive "deal" from Michigan Bulb for red border lily bulbs. I decided to place the order, even though I had seen several negative reviews in Garden Watchdog. They arrived, looked fine, and I planted them. They are on the verge of blooming now, and I am pleased. I will order from Michigan Bulb again.

"On May 18, 2011 11:15 AM, Michigan Bulb responded with:

We really appreciate you posting your experience with our company and we look forward to your future orders. Happy Gardening!"

I will not order from Michigan Bulb again! I have had two bad experiences with them. My first order I placed in early spring (mid-March in zone 6b), assuming that they would delay shipment until I was able to plant as do the other plant companies that I order from. Well, they did not. They shipped right away, which meant I had plants sitting for 3+ weeks before it was warm enough to put them out. I assumed that they just operated differently and that I would know for next time that they shipped right away. I ended up having to reorder some of the plants that I had ordered before, so when I placed the second order, I assumed that it too would ship immediately as the other one had done. I waited nearly three weeks before I received my order. Then when I got it one item was missing. It had apparently been left out by accident. I called and was told that it was out of stock and that they would give me a refund. Fine. But, then I received a promotional email for an item that was exactly what I had ordered but in a different color. I called back to see if I could get that one substituted instead. I was told that in actuality, the item that I had originally ordered was actually in stock and the one that I was calling about (that I had received the info on in the email) was not in stock. What!?! The previous representative told me it was out of stock. Why would she do that? So, I ask if I could have it shipped to me then since it was actually in stock. They told me no, that they weren't reshipping any items as it was after April 30. The date of this phone call was May 7. So, because they delayed shipping my order for nearly 3 weeks I can't get an item that they made a mistake on and left out. Does that make sense? I could go online and reorder it as a new order and they would send it to me, but they can't do me the courtesy of reshipping an item that they left out. In addition, the representatives that I spoke with and emailed during the three weeks when I was trying to figure out where my order was, were extremely unhelpful and none of them really gave me any information except to say that my order was in process and that they would send my order over to "the department." What does that even mean? None of them would give me an update or tell me why it was taking so long or any explanation for why one order would ship three weeks before I could plant anything or why I was waiting for three weeks to receive the second order. I feel that I got the run around in every instance and I will not order again. Hopefully some of the plants I received will actually grow. My interactions with their customer service representatives don't give me much hope for that. If not, I may be back to leave another review.

Oh, I now see all the neg comments for this company. Another to strike off my list.
Ordered around April 2, now it is 93 degrees outside. Have not received anything.
Yesterday I canceled 1 item. Today after finding out the temp on Monday, I called to cancel the entire order. They wouldn't let me - yesterday Ok to cancel and today No. What ?? Sounds like management got involved.
I told the girl not to mail or I would just mail back and have the fee taken off my credit card. What a mess !!
Not again.

I ordered 3 rose bushes in the spring of 2018. cost me around 40$. The quality of the plants is very bad- as in very small plant, all three had black spots in the stem, which later died back. It would be incorrect of me to say, you get what you paid for as I paid similar amount and got much better quality plant from other nurseries.

So, the plant is now down to 2-3 inches with 3-4 leaves on it and I have been babying it. I have ordered roses online before and have over 40 rose plants. I won't be purchasing from Michigan bulb again.

On the plus side, the packaging was very nice. Although the plant the is down to the stub, it is still alive.

When I picked up the USPS box supposedly containing 3 tuberose bulbs, the package immediately felt light. When I opened the package, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was empty. Michigan Bulb sent me some Michigan air.

To be fair, it wasn't entirely empty. It contained some packing bubbles and a brochure. But it was devoid of any plants. I called and had the shipment resent to me. Eventually I received bulbs that were 1/3 the size of tuberose bulbs I got from another online nursery.

I was lured into trying this company by their promotional discount. I got what I paid for. In addition to the tuberose, I ordered 3 types of lily bulbs, which were all smaller and less firm than the lily bulbs I got from Home Depot in a box of 5 for $10. One bulb was moldy.

Even if the quality of the plants were not an issue, I don't think I'll order from them again due to their tardiness. I live in Texas and summer comes early here. I placed my order for all the bulbs on 2/16.
Their reported delivery estimate was 02/26/18 - 05/18/18
By mid-March I asked their customer service when my order would be shipped. They said 2-3 weeks after the start of the delivery estimate. Hmm. Why didn't they just post a more accurate delivery estimate?
Actual date of shipment of the lily bulbs: 3/26
Actual delivery date of lily bulbs: 3/30
Date of shipment of my box of air, supposed to be tuberose: 4/2
Date of deliver of box of air: 4/7
Date of shipment of tuberose bulbs: 4/10
Date of delivery of tuberose bulbs: 4/17

By the time I received the lily bulbs from Michigan Bulb, my Home Depot lilies were already 6 inches above ground. Good thing I didn't wait for their tuberose delivery and got bulbs from another source. The silver lining from this experience is there won't be any disappointment if the plants end up not growing well. I already expect them not to do well! If I get a bloom here and there, it'll be like a bonus. If one of the plants actually lives, heaven knows I'll be propagating it myself and not needing Michigan Bulb ever again.

I’m a beginner gardener so I was a bit shocked and disappointed when a bag of little roots arrived from Michigan Bulb instead of growing plants. I didn’t believe that they would grow, but every single one did. Bleeding Hearts, Astilbes, and Hellebores. I’m so excited!!!

I didn't discover this website until I had already placed, but not yet received, a couple of orders from Michigan Bulb. I was terrified that I'd get a pile of late, dead plants. To my surprise, everything arrived fine. My order consisted of daylilies, iris, and some assorted lilies. All grew, even though I didn't order them until June and get them in the ground until July. Now, 8 months later, I've probably ordered well over $1,000 (that's being conservative) in plants from them. So far, so good. I'm looking forward to the arrival of my spring plants. I will say this, I never take their prices at face value. I discovered that if I'm signed in and browse their site but then don't purchase, I inevitably receive an email for a 50% coupon link within the net day or two. I also have to cross shop with their sister sites, K Van Bourgondien and Breck's to find the best price on the same exact item. I can't fault them for being a business and trying to make money, even if it requires a little extra effort on my part to get the best price. The sale and discount policies remind me of a Kohl's or Belk, where if you have the magic coupon or link, you get a much better deal. And the absolute BEST part about them is the end of season sales are spectacular. If it's something you can still get in the ground or a pot and save for next year, they are awesome. I realize not everyone has a great experience with them. But they seem to work well for my needs. I've literally rebuilt my beds and gardens with their (and their sister companys') products.

I've been buying MI Bulb items for my garden for the last 3 or 4 years now. I've ordered flower bulbs, bare root plants, fruit trees, and purely ornamental things like Hostas. Overall I have had a very positive experience with this company.

Many of the previous reviews complain about the product packaging. I've never had problems with their packaging - things are generally wrapped in cardboard with a plastic sleeve to protect items during transit.

Products ordered from this company are shipped in dormancy, usually in a bulb or bare-root form. They may even look dead when they arrive, but it's just because they are dormant. Once planted, most everything does beautifully. It may take several years for the plants to get big and pretty like in the ad pictures, but that's just how life works!

I have had a few things die or fail to produce over the years, and MI Bulb has always been great about issuing a replacement item or refund certificate to use on something else.

Generally very friendly customer service via email and text chat. They also have great promos for their email subscribers, which often feature a $ off or % off purchase, plus sometimes even a free plant with order!

Overall, I do recommend them for all your perennial plant needs. I intend to keep shopping with them for years to come!

Absolutely terrible company. Run by people who really don't have a clue about different types of plants. I ordered succulents, the condition they arrived in was terrible. Twice! When I complained about the first order, I received a 2nd order which was every bit as bad as the first.
My main complaints with Michigan Bulb is
1. Poor packaging. The poor little plants were strangled in plastic and all dumped in a big box so they could bounce around throughout their trip.
2. The people who work there obviously don't have a clue on how to handle succulents. A lot of the plants were so wet it would have been unlikely they would have survived even if they had been well packaged.
3. A lot of their plants, in fact most of them, were not what was described on the website. Much small, skinnier, not healthy. Just not anything I would have ordered had I had a clue as to what I was getting.
I did get a replacement certificate, but I've been reluctant to use it. It can't be used online so it means I have to call to order. And with some of the other experiences I have read here, I'm not sure I'll bother.

I just received my order from michigan bulb yesterday. I was nervous after some of the bad reviews, but pleasantly surprised with the plants. I already knew everything would be small. If it's cheap it's going to be small and to expect otherwise is just silly. I ordered a tangerine tree, 2 service berries, a blue passion flower, and a cinnamon fern. Everything was extremely well packaged. Out of the 7 companies i ordered from this year, they had the best packaging. The tangerine and passion flowers were only about 8 inches each but very full and healthy. I wish the service berries had a few more buds but they still look very good. The fern is just a root ball so we'll see how that comes up. My only real complaints are how long my order took to get here, and the way they bait and switch prices. Right after I placed my order they sent me an email with a coupon for free shipping on my next order. When I followed the link it took me back to their site but everything was priced a buck or 2 more than it was on my first visit. I opened the site in a new tab to double check and sure enough the prices were different. I would still order from them again, just have to be aware they play with prices.

I bought perennial (roses and crepe myrtle) and bulbs from Michigan Bulb in 2016 and this year. So far all I received were grew well. Customer service was also excellent.

Posted on May 20, 2017, updated May 27, 2017
Posted on April 1, 2016, updated May 20, 2017
The ONLY problem I have with Michigan Bulb is the same problem I have with Spring Hill Nursery and Breck's. They ship too early for my zone (5). I think that problem lies with their owner (distributor?) Gardens Alive. So, I don't hold those 3 companies responsible for that.

I ordered around $200+ worth of plants and bulbs from all 3 this year. I had a really good experience last year with Spring Hill sending me my order packed really well and in great condition. So, I figured I would give Michigan Bulb and Breck's a shot. The orders arrived packed well and growing. I have 2 4-tier mini greenhouses in my house that I recently bought for growing seedlings. Looks like they will get a lot of use while I baby-sit these plants for 3-4 weeks until it is safe to plant them outside.

I got shorted 1 Yarrow in my Michigan Bulb order. I called customer service and was treated very well. I talked to a very nice C/S Rep and she is sending me 3 Yarrow plants to replace the one they didn't ship! So, they may have had issues in the past - according to a lot of these reviews. But, it seems like they fixed the issues or I have been very lucky!

I have ordered twice from this firm. The first time I ordered. Of the roses I ordered, three of the five promptly died. Before their passing a second order arrived. The flowers, many of which arrived as root buds and none were advertised as such, arrived. The box was packed terribly. There was inadequate airbag cushion inside and it looked like the contents had been spun around a dryer for a day. There were no specific planting directions for the plants which arrived. Several of the roots were broken and three of the six live plants were near death. Their leaves looked like month old lettuce. Very disappointed. I will not order from them again.

I have started ordering from this company, and have my first review ready. Overall, this is not the worst experience I have had, and customer service was awesome at helping me out. This year I have spent quite a bit of money, so I would have been absolutely furious if customer service had been bad.

To the company, thank you for improving on your customer service as compared to other reviews I have found here and elsewhere.

As for improvements: This company has poor instructions for planting and has actually mixed up a few planting requirements. For example, you really shouldn't plant hostas or clematis in the fall.

Your plants are smaller, and sometimes weaker than would be expected for immediate outside planting. You should encourage and recommend for best results they are greenhoused for a few weeks in potting soil and appropriate lighting. If I was running a greenhouse and not just doing a ton of yards this summer, I would have been absolutely in love with everything you sent. Your sedum and coral bells did amazing when they were greenhoused first.

However, this is not a negative review, your customer service rep was amazing and happy to help me get the plants replaced. This makes up for everything, especially when you consider how much I have had to buy to get all of this done.

In the future, I WILL purchase from here. So far, I have no problems getting items replaced and have been absolutely amazed by the bulbs. The other plants need to get bigger.

I do not recommend this company for new gardeners, unless you are buying bulbs. New gardeners are expecting to see actual plants, not starters. Additionally, the plants need attention to survive. IF you are a new gardener, I recommend sticking to the local nurseries until you start moving and dividing plants successfully.

Thank you!

This place has always been hit or miss for me for decades. I've ordered from them since I was a kid but half the time the plants die and mostly fail to live up to the hype of the advertising. Their prices are fair and they do have a reasonable amount of unique and interesting items- but they seem to have a habit of misrepresenting some plants and don't give any information on growing them.
Sometimes they're perfect wonderful plants that grow true and beautifully, sometimes... they arrive dead....
In all I will still order from them when something they offer strikes my fancy, but I don't have great expectations. Their prices are reasonable enough that if it's a fail it's not an epic fail.

I had a very bad experience ordering Thuja Green Giant Arborvitae trees from Michigan Bulb. They are described in the catalog & online as being 18 to 24" in height. In reality, of the nine trees I ordered, a couple were about 8 or 9", and the rest were between 3 and 5 inches tall. All but the largest two had tiny, poorly developed root systems. Not only were they much smaller than promised, but they arrived completely dried out and brittle. These bareroot trees were only packed in a little straw, which probably allowed them to get even more dried out in shipping, but they were so dry that they were probably dessicated when they shipped out.

On top of all the problems with the trees, Michigan Bulb did not post my review describing the problems above. At the time of me writing this post, the trees have a 4 & 1/2 star rating, with reviews from 2013 describing sizeable, potted trees, which is very misleading because that is not what they are selling in 2017 at all. I was extremely disappointed with the dishonesty and carelessness of the company, and I would never purchase from them again.

Posted on April 14, 2017, updated May 3, 2017
Posted on November 9, 2016, updated April 14, 2017
I ordered from Michigan Bulb only because I had a half price coupon code, and they had some perennials I needed that weren't available locally.
I placed an order late August. I amended the order about a week later, and customer service was very helpful.
Estimated shipping date was pushed back three times. When the first (partial) shipment went out, it took ten days to arrive. I've had stuff sent to me from overseas that took less than ten days.
The packaging wa ridiculous... each potted plant was shrink wrapped, boxed, and re-shrink wrapped. A few of the plants were slimy and disintegrating, but the roots seemed okay.
The rest of my order arrived in November, and was not what I ordered. Seems they didn't actually have what I ordered 10 weeks earlier in stock anymore, and thought it was okay to substitute without notifying or refunding me.

Ordered two plants (rose of sharon and some ornamental grass) paid $ 25,00. What I received were two sticks about 2" wrapped in plastic.
I guess you get what you pay for. Ordered from many mail order companies before, this one is the worst.
NEVER..... EVER again ! !