Comments regarding Michigan Bulb

On Sept. 14th I got a replacement of mixed foxglove that did not live this spring. The ones I just got are half rotted with hardly any roots. I am sure they are not going to make it. Michigan Bulb is good about replacing them but what good is that if they are going to die as well? I am not ordering from them again!

I have oredered from Michigan Bulb Several times. Only about half of the plants I have received from them were healthy when they arrived. The rest were either broken and/or completely dried out and never recovered. They have replaced some plants or sent a refund check, but for others, I never heard back from them or received a refund. This happened with 3 lavendar plants and a dancing dolphin plant that I can think of at the moment. Some of the bulbs I received did not do anything at all. Some of the crocus bulbs grew only a tiny stem and a few leaves and then died while the rest did nothing at all. I also got two Perennial fountain grass from them that only lived 1yr.

I took a chance despite all the negatives, and ordered things I couldn't get locally. My order arrived promptly and was extraordinarily well packaged to protect the plants. The plants were small -- but so was the price -- and all arrived green and healthy. They went in the ground and were watered and all seem to be thriving even in our heat.

I have since re-odrered three times when they send discount coupons and have had the same results, only the prices are even LOWER because of the discounts and shopping their sales..

I received a catalogue from Michigan Bulb today and looked it over b/c of all the negative comments here. I am surprised. They used to be very cheap & you didn't expect much but I see that their Oriental Lily Super Bag is 19.99 for 12 and they are only 10-12 cm bulbs. You can buy almost as cheaply from Van Engelen which has an excellent reputation and get much larger bulbs (16-18 cm).

I have been gardening & ordering plants for 35 years from several different companies. But I'm finally giving up on Michigan Bulb. Yes the prices are great, but the plants are terrible. They arrive either half or totally dead. Of those that do arrive alive, only about 25% actually grow. A lot of the problem is in the shipping, I think. My plants always end up in the bottom of the box somehow although they are packed in protective plastic covers. For instance a grouping of three will have at least one empty pot with dirt in the bottom of the box but the plant no where to be found.They do replace them but the replacments are no better. This year I just gave up & did not even phone for replacments as I do not want their replacments or a replacment certificate. Perhaps if they could correct this problem, things would survive & grow better. The size of the plants is really not a problem to me. But paying for dead and/or missing plants is. I'm beginning to think this is done on purpose with the thought that most people won't bother to complain.

I ordered the mailbox garden from MB this year. To their credit, the Clematis came looking well as did the three lavender plants. Everything else was dead really in a plastic bag. Still I gave it a go and two of the three lavender plants are growing and the clematis is doing pretty well. Everything else is just dead and adding to the integrity of the soil, I suppose. So I called them today and was offered replacement or refund. I just went for the refund. I will be happy with the clematis and the two lavender plants. I live in Ohio and my plants were shipped from Ohio to me. No reason in the world they should have showed up dead – and I understand the diff. between dormant and dead. These were pretty much DOA.

And scratch goes Michigan Bulb off my list of mail order companies, I think. We will see if getting the refund is a hassle. If it is, this neutral rating will go right to a negative.

This company may also be associated with Brecks and Spring Hill. I think they may have recently (yet again) changed hands - although they've always had small and fairly generic plants, they usually survived. And those that didn't, I had gotten replacements as per their guarantee (without returning any plants, which I noticed several other people mentioned doing). But things seem to have declined. And I've noticed some significant errors in the web pages or catalog re: cultivation (e.g. a bulb was listed as hardy to zone 4, when it really was zone 7!) So, while I have several things in my garden that I'm very happy with from past purchases, I'm not planning anything new.

I made a purchase with Michigan Bulb last year for fall items. I ordered 2 sets of carnation plants (6 plants total), a bag of 3 begonias, 1 bag of 10 asiatic lilies, 1 bag of freesia, and 1 bag of winter hardy glads. I received the items and the carnations looked half dead. I planted them anyway and none of them survived. I planted the lilies, freesia and glads as well and the only thing that survived was the lilies. I also planted the begonias in a potted plant in the house and 2 of the 3 bulbs survived and they look nothing like the flowers advertised in the catalogue. I actually questioned if they were for sure begonias. I sent MIchigan bulb an e-mail early this year when the begonias started to bloom and asked them about my begonias and if it was possible that they sent me the wrong item. I didn't make a fuss, I politely asked if it was possible. They actually went so far as to send me an e-mail back saying that they had no record of me ever purchasing anything from them. Which was quite funny since I had contacted them less than six months after I made the purchase. I can understand not having records of customers after a year or two, but less than a year seems out of the ordinary. I am just not real sure I would purchase from them again, especially since they said they had no record of my prior purchase.

I have ordered from Michigan Bulbs several times and I am satisfied with my experience. The plants are small, they ship one order several times, but for the price this is a great deal for someone who is willing to watch the plants grow.
Some of the plants that I have ordered are:
butterfly bush 3-in1- I received it this spring and it is already blooming with different colors as promised;
purple passion hydrangea (special) - the plants were very small, so I planted them in pots first, then I moved them to their permanent places;
3 hemlocks, the hedge special - small, but all alive and growing;
Japanese maple collection - I received them last fall, they were very small, but survived the winter and are doing very well this year;
lilac hedge - one was dead on arrival, the other 2 are growing, I did not bother asking for replacement;
mockorange - I ordered 2 and both have grown about 11/2foot this year.
hydrangea, Annabelle - 2 pants arrived very tiny, I planted them in the ground and so far they have grown almost 1 foot;
sweet shrub - I ordered 2 last fall one did not survive, the other one is doing good this year;
I ordered the hardy fuchsia, it arrived kind of dry, but after planting it started growing. So far it is alive, but I feel that it is not hardy enough for my garden
I have also ordered crape myrtle, which is advertised, as hardy zones 6 to 10, but in my zone 6 garden they could not make the winter. I am not a gardener, that likes to put a lot of maintenance efforts and I did not give them winter protection, so I consider this as my fault and I will try to stay away from this plant for now.
Other plants that I have ordered are mixed hosta, mixed monarda and purple wintercreeper, they all have arrived alive and are doing well for 2 years.
Overall I have had positive experience with Michigan bulb and will definitely continue using their specials to order more plants.

After several orders from Michigan Bulb, each of which produced very slow shipments and tiny, dead or nearly-dead plants, I learened that they palletize their shipments. That is, they pack up orders, place them on a pallet, and there they sit until the pallet is full enough to ship.

No wonder shipping sometimes takes several weeks, and that the plants are in such poor condition.

In order to get replacements, I was told I would have to pay to ship the dead plants back, which would have brough my total cost up to about 5 times what the plants' basic cost was.

I have learned my lesson, and will not order from them again.

I have 3 orders partially sent. Most of the items are very tiny or dead. They have responded and replaced 2 dead rose bushes with 2 more dead ones. The shipping is very slow. I waited for 6 weeks for some plants only to receive a notice they didn't have any more. I ordered 6 hydrenga bushes. They were about 2 inches and 2 were dead and one has since died. The quality of their products is very poor. I still am expecting some fall bulbs. THIS WILL BE MY LAST ORDER . I SHOULD HAVE RESEARCHED THIS COMPANY BEFORE I ORDERED. BUYER BEWARE.

This spring I ordered 4 forty niner tea rose bushes, around 49 snow in summer ground cover plants, hardy fuschia and many different gladiola and lilies. In addition, I also ordered 2 Japanese Green Maple Trees, some lily of the valley and columbine plants. My frustration comes from the poor shipping. It seems it takes so long for the orders to arrive that the plant looks terrible by the time it's here. The first set of rose bushes they sent died, I did everything to try and revive them but nothing worked. They promptly replaced them but now that they have just now started to bloom, they are the wrong rose bush which frustrates me beyond belief. Upon their arrival, they were horribly dry and I wasn't sure they had much of a chance. I'm grateful they have bloomed but feel they should have checked the order more carefully to ensure I received the correct item. I called to let the sales rep know and they said to call back around the rose shipping time to have them replaced. I have a general issue when ordering bulbs especially that are "Mixed." When I see the word mixed I expect to get mixed colored bulbs. Out of all my lilies I believe out of the ones that bloomed this year they were all white except one real pale yellow one. When I garden, I match up my flower choices based on what I believe to be coming to me which this year doesn't seem to be the case. I specifically ordered some white plants(dragonflower) because I wanted to break up all the color I thought I was getting, now to my frustration, most of my bulb colored flowers are white. I know that Michigan Bulb will replace the items but to be honest it's a lot of hastle. In addition I received my hardy fuschia, I babied this thing to make sure it wouldn't die like the first one and it just didn't grow, it died within a few weeks....I don't understand. My snow in summer ground cover is equally as frustrating as my rose bush experience. I planted around 45 +of these plants which is tedious planting because they are so small and knotted like when they arrive. Now that they are planted, they haven't grown much and they are supposed to be what they call a moderate to fast grower. In addition, we are hot and humid here in Texas and they just don't want to grow. I've lost over 5 or more of these plants and just seem to keep losing more. The other frustrating thing to me is their Customer Service. From time to time they don't put enough information about their plants on their website, so to ensure I am getting the best possible plant for my area, some times I need to call and find out. Well this early spring we were going to get hit with a bad frost, I wasn't sure how the plants would survive so I asked the customer service rep - they didn't know any additional information than what I found online. They sent my inquiry to their local gardener who didn't respond well after the frost had happened. While my plants are doing ok, you'd think they'd have faster responses. Some times I've called and the agent doesn't know anything. When I asked for replacement roses the agent who apparently put the order through had done it incorrectly and another agent had to fix it when I called back. That agent is the one who sent the wrong rose bushes to me. I feel that their whole thought process is it's ok if we don't send the right thing or the plants look like crap when they get there. If the customer isn't satisfied they can always call us and we can send them another plant since they guarantee all the plants. I have to be honest, the only reason I keep going back for a beating some times is because their prices are pretty good, they guarantee their product so if at any time I'm not completely satisfied, they will go ahead and reship another item or provide a refund or credit. Other than that, if Breck's wasn't so much more pricey, I'd probably shop from them.

The worst experience for me. 3 roses bushes ordered only 1 was not truely dead wood. irish moss arrived dead/they resent and it still looked like dry straw. The Orange tree that came (potted) was a 2 inch tall seedling but indeed it was in a 2 inch pot. Its been 3 months and still no orange tree. They change the estimated date daily on it too. The 9.99 Wintergreen plant actually arrived without any leaves (there were leaves in the package). It has 4 leaves now. They take a long time to send the items and some items they dont have, they also take along time to respond. They have their own shipment tracking for USPS items, and do not utilize USPS website tracking, and all packages I received were in shipment for 3 weeks.

I ordered a number of bulbs/plants from Michigan Bulb in early/mid-April. Here it is June 21st and I have still not received these. I emailed Customer Support multiple times, but got no response. I called today and they told me I would get the order - NEXT Spring!!! Ridiculous.

I will NOT do business with this company again!

Last year, I ordered several climbing roses. They arrived bareroot and took awhile to establish themselves, but are doing very well. They all have buds right now.

This year, I ordered some Moerheim Helinium and Black Eyed Susans. This is where my disappointment begins!

They sent me five bare root astilbe with a note saying they were out of the Helinium and that the astilbe was a reasonable replacement.

To me, these two plants look nothing alike. I simply accepted that this happened and planted the astilbe. Although I ammended the soil and watered them in well, only two of the astilbe are growing.

Yesterday, they called and left a message that they are out of black eyed susans.

If you REALLY want a particular plant, son't count on this company.

I ordered hydrangeas, lily of the valley, crown vetch, phlox, and bleeding heart from Michigan Bulb. All the plants arrived on time, but were alot smaller than I expected. The hydrangeas died shortly after delivery, and the reason I give this company a positive score is because of how fantastic they were in shipping a replacement. I got three new plants, alot larger than the first ones (alot larger than anything else they had shipped me in fact), and they look great. The crown vetch never did make it to fruition, but the bleeding heart is the first one I have been able to get to flower. The quality of most of the plants was a little lower than expected, but the customer service was fantastic, and the prices and shipping times are good too. I dont know how much I will order from them in the future, but overall I cannot say I had a bad experience doing business with them.

I placed my order in February '06 and all of my plants arrived when or before they were supposed to. Everything was alive, just looked a little road weary. So far most of the live plants are doing very well, I ordered the butterfly and hummingbird garden, some sunflowers, a shade garden, and a few others. I did order a couple magnolia trees and a peach tree and they are very small, but at the price you pay you can't expect a full grown tree. I did have all of 12 liriope and one of three wisteria vines die and the company quickly issued me a replacement certificate for all liriope and all 3 wisteria even though only one died. You definitely cannot beat the prices here and in my experience if you give the plants adequate care they do just fine. Definitely will order again. They offer a great guarantee and are good to work with.

I ordered astillbe, coneflowers, tuberose, and fringed daisies late April. The coneflowers still have not arrived; what did come, though, was very dry and very small (the astillbe has been in the ground for a month now and is still difficult to find) - I don't think these plants are going to be large enough or healthy enough to come back next year. I know you get what you pay for, and I should have known better. Wish I'd known about this service before I ordered.

I placed an order with Michigan Bulb about a month ago. The ship dates on my "online status" kept changing, and the majority of my order arrived much later than the regional ship chart suggested. (End of May.) When I contacted them with my concerns, the customer service was brief and offered no explanation, and only noted that they were preparing my order for shipping. Some of the plants still have not arrived, and are scheduled to arrive at the end of June!

A note regarding the items I have recieved - the bare roots arrived in good condition, however the plants did not. They send out three-packs of 3" plants, and most of the "growth" was yellow, or even black by the time it got to me. One plant was dead and rotted and soggy, and had fallen completely out of its container. I am hoping that the other plants will perk up a bit, once they are exposed to sun, air and water. I wouldn't recommend ordering the plants, but you might have a chance with bare roots.

I will choose another retailer next time. Even with a big sale, I don't think it's worth the risk.

I placed a large order with Michigan Bulb this spring because the price was right! As expected the plants arrived small, dormant, and/or bare root. The bulbs looked good. Everything from them, grew out perfectly and most are now blooming. The things I ordered from them last year REALLY are doing well this year.

I ordered mailbox garden from this site. The plant selection was perfect for the maiibox area. But only half the plants lived. The garden contained silvermounds, lavender,clematis and cone flower of which only lavender and clematis lived. I have no hopes for it blooming this year though, since its terribly small. There are no traces of the coneflower and silvermound. I'd rather just but the plants at the local nursery and spend a little more money than going through this pain.

I have placed several orders from this company. Most of the items I rec'd in fine condition, but several arrived dead or nearly dead, and some bulbs that did not come up. I contacted the company, rec'd an email confirming my concerns, but no action was taken to refund my money, give me a credit, or reship. It has been several weeks. Since the first problem, I have had several other plants arrive in poor or dead condition. I have sent a request for action on the part of these plants and await their reply.

I have only purchased a few things through Michigan Bulb, but whatever I did get from them, was perfectly OK. Shipping was average time, packaging was good. The plants are small for the most part but usually healthy and grow. I only had one experience with a tree from them and they tried to replace it twice. It failed all three times and they unquestionably refunded my money. Their prices are decent, IMHO, and their customer service is very friendly and issues are promptly attended to. No problems!

I have ordered from Michigan Bulb before, and have had mixed results. My first order was in '05 and my order was shipped in a timely matter and the tulip bulbs were very nice. However, when they bloomed in the spring at about 85%. They weren't the kind of tulips I had ordered. The customer service people have always been very nice, and do their best to resolve the situation and plan to send the right bulbs this fall.
My order for this spring has really been frustrating. I placed my order in February thinking that would be plenty of time to get my plants as soon as the weather was good. It is now June 8th and my plants are nowhere in sight with their spring shipping season coming to a close.
On May 4th I got a letter saying that my credit card was messed up,but my order had been shipped anyway. So, on the 5th I called and spoke with Crystal to set the payment straight. She told me my plants had not yet been shipped, but now they would be and they should arrive in 10- 14 days.
May 22nd, still no plants and the website had only a shipping estimate of 1.5 weeks from that day. So, I emailed and got a reply on the 24th from Candace who said that my order had been printed over to the warehouse to be packed and shipped.
June 7th and still the delivery date on the website keeps being pushed farther away. So, I called CS again and she said that, NO, my plants had not been shipped and she didn't know why and that she would put a rush on the order.
So that is where I stand. I am willing to change my review to positive if I ever get the plants (and they are alive too)
Lots of unfilled holes in yard :(

Overall, their shipping method is a big problem. A lot of plants were damaged during shipping. Good customer service. No problem so far in replacement or refunding. Can find bargain price with this company.

I made an order from Michigan bulb this April. I thought the price is great. In three weeks, I got two packages, four lilacs came in great shape, and they were growing just fine even after I transplant them to another location after a month. However, my second package of daisy is a disaster, all the plants are falling off the tiny seeding package, and most of the stems are broken. As the root system still looks good, I planted them (basically the roots) and called Michigan bulb to complain. To my surprise, within three days, I got my second shipment of daisy through UPS, all in great shape. I planted them and they are all doing great now. (By the by, some of the roots also came out).

I then got my rose. This rose has been staying is the sortation station for more than a week before sending to my address. The whole journey took two weeks. When it arrived, it doesn't look alive at all. But I planted it anyway, very carefully, conditioning the soil, watering everyday... But three weeks later, it still looks dead. I called Michigan bulb. But as they are out of stock for this one, I only got an in-store credit, which is nothing as if I need to reorder, the credit will not even cover the shipping fee.

Then came my hydrangea, the same thing as the daisy, falling out of the seedling and damaged during shipping. I am waiting for my replacement now and it is already June.

My order of coneflower never came after 7 weeks, I just cancelled it.

Final headcount, 9 daisies, 4 lilacs, 2 (maybe + 2) hydrangeas, for 27.5$. A lot of waiting. Waste of time, material and effort in planting a rose. I probably will think twice next time when I order Michigan bulb. But I have to admit the price is still attractive to me.

I placed an order with Michigan Bulb on 3/7/06.
For some reason my Credit Card didnt go through when they shipped my order, but they shipped my order anyway, which I thought was very nice of them.
My credit card did go through fine when they tried again, but they did accidentally charge me twice, which they fixed in about a week, and was faster than I expected, and for the mistake they sent me a $10 gift certificate. That was also great and I am very pleased.
I ordered 3 Blue Ice Phlox, they havent done anything since I have planted them, but they were alive when they arrived and I planted them, Its probably too soon, I am not worried.
I also ordered 2 Butterfly and Hummingbird Gardens, all the plants were alive when recieved, the only thing I didnt get with that was a diagram on how to plant them, like they looked in the picture, but I printed out the picture online and tried my best. I see they dont offer the diagram anymore, so maybe they ran out.
Overall my experience was positive. Customer service was very nice when I called and my plants are great! I am a very Happy Customer!
I will order from Michigan Bulb again.

I have placed five orders this year with this company. I have received almost everything in just a few weeks time. Everything has been in perfect condition. This has been the best experience I have ever had with mail order plants. I had made a mistake on one order, and gladly changed it for me.

In November last year I order 48 snow in summer, 3 gallardia,12 widow's tears.All plants arrived well packed. Widow's tears and gallardia arrived as bare root plants as stated. The snow in summer arrived insmall 6 pack containers, which was fine because for the price I expected small plants. However, when they were separated several plants were mere hair threads of plants. I planted them any way and waited.This spring only 3 out of 48 came up.In addition, very few of the widow's tears showed any signs of life, and the gallardia didn't come up at all. While this was extremely distressing I still give the company a positive review because the customer service is fantastic! 2 days after receiving my email I received an email stating they would send me a complete replacement shipment! And they were true to their word! I received a complete replacement for all plants in about one week that were in beautiful shape! I have recommended them to several gardeners where I work. I look forward to buying from them in the future.

I ordered from Michigan Bulb last year before I saw this site. I have not had the experiences that many others on this site have. Last year I ordered Stella D'Oro daylillies, fiesta daisies, shasta daisies and painted daisies. Honestly, when they arrived, they looked half dead but I decided to plant them anyway. The daylillies bloomed nicely. Out of the daisies, only the shasta and fiesta daisies bloomed that season. I decided to wait and see if things would be different this year before I would ask for a replacement or refund. I'm glad I waited. As of today, the painted daisies are in full bloom and very large and healthy. The shasta and fiesta daisies have all multiplied and have several buds all over them. They will be beautiful when they bloom in the next few weeks.

I decided to take a chance and place another order. This time I ordered black eyed Susans, dwarf asters and shasta crazy daisies. The daisies and asters were healthy looking. The black eyed susans looked kind of tired, but they had healthy looking roots. I planted everything on Monday, so I'll have to wait and see if I have success with this order.

Overall, I was pleased with my experience with Michigan Bulb.

This was my first time ordering from an online company, and I am for the most part happy with the experience. I placed an order for 36 Mixed Variety Hosta. My order confirmation was somewhat confusing, as it stated an order for 12 Hosta. So I contacted the company by phone and was told the plants (bareroot) were in packages of 3. The representative was both knowledgeable and courteous. The estimated shipping time was a window of 2-3 weeks. When the shipping date was a few days away, it was pushed back another two weeks without anyone notifying me of the change. However, I am happy to report that the plants actually arrived within the original time slot given. All have been planted. Of the 36, about 3 have not yet produced, but the others have grown quickly are looking quite healthy. My only disappointment is that there does not seem to be much variety in the "Variety Mix". It may be too early to tell as the plants are still young, but so far it looks like I received only two of the four possible varieties. I would not hesitate to order again from this company, as I am happy with the customer service, pricing, packaging, and delivery time.

I received a 'Golden Showers' rose, DOA two weeks after it was shipped. I email-ed customer service. They responded within a day, and reshipped within the week. This time, I received the replacement five days after shipping, in excellent condition. The description said '#2 bareroot', but I must say, they looked like '#1' to me (even the dead one). Great value for the money, and efficient, courteous customer service. Would definitely order again.

All I can say is......the part I received was alive...tiny little junipers with stems about 2-3 inches long.....for over 5.00 a piece......live and learn.....all I know is that they are digging their own grave by deceiving people and not making satisfying their customers their number one priority. Id hate to reap what they are sowing.......literally.

Well, I was very ready to write a negative response as I was waiting for the second half of my order after reading all of the experiences here. I was actually pleasantly suprised by my outcome, however. I had ordered 9 Hemlock Hedges to create a "30 foot" as per their advertisement hedge between our yard and our neighbor's to set up a line for our children to be more aware of, and to block us more from our neighbor's dog, who barks at us constantly if we are outside playing. I have 3 small children, and the Hemlocks were stated to grow 3 feet the first year, which is the sole reason we purchased them. Well, out of the 9 plants, only 3 have made it. We've had alot of rain the past week, and I haven't been able to check on them in that time, but the 3 remaining were doing well. I contacted MB and they have sent me a replacement certificate to wait and buy again next year or reorder something different as they are out of the Hemlock. I was disappointed in that, but I sent my first email just a few days ago, had great response, and just received my replacemenet certificate today. I would have been happier if I could redeem it online as I like to do most of my business, but I can deal with snail mail. I also received the second half of my previous order, 3 bee balm and 3 sweet peas. They look rather good. They were in the mail for a week, which I was concerned about, but to my amazement, the soil was still very damp and the plants nice and green for the most part. All in all, we've found a cheap fence that will replace the hedge we wished to have, and I'm going to dig up the scraggly 3 remaining plants and pot them until they're larger, then I'll place them in a different part of the yard where we were also considering placing a fence. I am not happy I didn't get my hedge I so wanted, but I must say I was treated fairly, in my opinion, in light of the circumstance. I don't think I'd ever buy anything big from them again, but the cheap stuff that's on sale, I may try. (I can never pass up a good sale!!)

For the money... their specials can be very good. I ordered a mixed hosta collection, sea hollies and some lentil roses. So far, most of the plants are coming up. I have been watching patiently for all the lentils, but at least half seem MIA.

I checked again what it cost, and decided that even if half the plants do well, it was "mostly" worth the cost. I wouldn't order expensive plants from them, though. I think they tend to be small, and there are better mail order services for that.

The buy 3 get 3 free deal is worth it. I placed my second order.

I have filed this one under the "filler" category. Good when there is a sale, but not worth full price.

This was my first season of ordering plants on line, and I ordered from several different companies. By comparison, Michigan Bulb was my least favorite. One order was shipped twice, and of course I was charged twice, but the prices were reasonable, so I decided to keep the plants. I found some mold on some bulbs. I followed directions for bareroot plants, and have had a mixed bag of success, and I am disappointed in the size of some of the bareroot plants, in particular daylilies, for the price. A full fan or two can be bought locally for the same price MB charged for a little snippet. The usual "sturdies" like hostas, are doing fine. I am labeling new arrivals into my gardens, and coding their source. At the end of the season, I may write an update as I have faith!

I ordered 4 Red Creeping Phlox. They arrived mouldy. I planted them anyway to bring them back to life but they all died anyway. I've since canceled the remainder of my order and am awaiting their reply.

Their website states that they only send out healthy bulbs but don't believe it.

I ordered nearly $500 worth of plants from this company. The most recent shipment, which (finally) arrived today, had several dead plants mixed in with the nearly microscopic few live ones. I'm not sure whether the peony is alive; it's hard to tell with a 2" (yes, literally 2" - I measured it) dead-looking stick. I've cancelled all the rest of my order and will now do business only with Bluestone Perennials.

May 3, 2006:
I recently contacted The Michigan Bulb Co. because they advertise that their plants have a "lifetime guarantee".
I emailed them that I had bought several plants (54) from them in 1999 and although I am an avid gardener, none of their plants were still alive. They promptly emailed me back to explain that the company was bought out a few years ago and had no records going back that far. She was nice enough to add that if I had a receipt, she would be happy to send a credit. Well, I faxed a receipt to her and a few days later I received a $200.00 credit.
I was AMAZED and plan to deal with them in the future!!!

I'm an avid and experienced gardener. I receive almost every catalogue imaginable, and when i received an offer from MB for a "double brugmatsia (angel trumpet)" I jumped for joy! I'd never seen a double before and the photo was phenomenal. I've been able to over winter brugmatsia here and have quite a collection thought this would make a wonderful addition. I ordered on February 9. While I was at it, I did a bit of extra shopping, ordering the gala rose collection and several other perennials. Not ever having ordered from a catalogue before, I was expecting something REMOTELY like what I saw in the pictures, i.e., something that would bloom that season. Well, I started tracking my order so excited to be getting new stuff. The roses shipped first. They showed being delivered to the "sortation" center, and then sat there for THREE WEEKS. The computer tracking gave a number to call, which i tried several times and it just rang and rang and rang. I called MB on 4 separate occassions to find out what the problem was. Each time, I was greeted by a customer service rep who sounded as though I interrupted their nap time. "Once it leaves the warehouse, we can't do anything" "No, you can't cancel the order. If it's dead when you get it, we'll send you another one" "I don't really know when it's going to be shipped"... At that point I started with the emails and cancelled the balance of my order. The brugmatsia was a separate order and I wanted one so badly that I just hoped for the best.
Needless to say, the roses finally arrived 4 weeks after leaving. The box was badly damaged, the bare root roses were thrown in there with nothing but a few scraps of dried newspaper! I wanted to try and save them if I could and put them in the ground the same day. Nothing was bringing those babies back. They did refund my money (I guess the squeaky wheel gets the grease)
The Brugmatsia finally showed up after having been on back order for 6 weeks. 2 little bitty sitcks for $20. The garden center now has bunches of them, fully leafed out about 3 feet tall for $20.
What a nightmare. Spring Hill Nursery was a bit better, I did get the plants in a timely fashion, and they were all alive, but you needed a microscope to see them.
I will NEVER, EVER order plants by mail order again!