Comments regarding R.H. Shumway Seeds

I ordered from them early in January, I received my canceled check. But no seed. I tried calling them and found their phone is disconnected. I think maybe they are out of business and are still taking money. Their web page is still on line and I'm sure you could order seed from them and they would take your money.

Good customer service, offers old varieties, not overwhelmed with new "experiments". Also wholesale possibilities.

Good germination and quality plants.
Wide variety of open-pollinated.
Enjoyable catalog to read, great old-fashioned look.

Looks like they finally got a website you can order from online, too.

I made my first purchase from R. H. Shumway last year (Spring, 2001) and it will be my last. I was extremely disappointed with the alstroemeria (Peruvian Lily) roots I ordered. I gave them to my mother for Mother's Day and was embarrassed when she opened the package and it looked like all it contained was several envelopes of straw. There were no cultural instructions at all with them. Since neither of us had ever grown them before we didn't know what to do. As it turns out, we should have soaked the "straw" in water to rehydrate the roots before planting. None of the poor things ever came up. I also purchased several packages of flower seeds and they had only very general cultural instructions with them. The "hummingbird plant" never came up but the asarina vines did germinate. Unfortunately, since I was late getting them started, they never bloomed for me.

A great company that sells mostly heirloom and OP varieties. Probably one of my favored businesses to deal with. You should at least have them send you their catalog, it comes out as an old-style magazine with only black and white pics and drawings. (Only a few yrs back did they start adding color to the cover.)
Shumway's is a good place to buy not only small packets of seeds but you can also buy in bulk and save $$$. (A good place to order from if you want to get together with your neighbors and buy quantity.)
Altho Shumway's does not have a toll-free number you can place your order thru Horticultural Products and Services...they handle Shumway's orders and have a toll-free number.

We have been Shumway customers for several years now and they are without a doubt my favorite seed supplier. Good quality, germination, etc. and NEVER a delivery problem. We live in west central Minnesota with a short growing season and have excellent results with Shumway.

I have never had a problem with either the customer service or quality of the seeds from R. H. Shumway.

Glad to know that there is somewhere to complain. This is my second year to order from Shumway and I will never again order anything from them. I placed my order in January and at the end of February nothing had arrived.I tried to call them by phone and they do not have a toll free number, but worse, the phone was always busy. After several days of calling at different times and always getting a busy signal I finally go through. The lady on the phone then could not find my order and told me that there was no way she would be able to trace my order because the computers were down. She asked my to check my cancelled checks to see if they might have cleared the bank!! I couldn't believe my ears! When I told her that it was the responsibility of the company who took my money to keep up with the order and send me my seeds, she relented and gave me a 1-800 number to phone back in a few days when the computer problem was fixed. When I attempted to phone the 1-800 number in a few days, it was always busy. These folks could buy an answering machine at a yard sale! Anyway, after finally getting through on one of the phone numbers, I talked to someone who found my order, but it hadn't been sent out. I cancelled $50 of the order, and have just now received my money back -- and it is May. There really should be a warning on the catalog of RH Shumway; the company seems to be run by very unprofessional people and don't expect to get a delivery of your order unless you demand it.

Shumway seeds are most reasonable - the problem - slowest delivery of any catalog seed company ever - pasture mix delivered in middle of summer drought was ordered in early spring.

Their catalog is charming, but low on information (no zones, for instance). Germination success was a real mixed bag on the one order I placed with them (Winter '98), with at least a third of the varieties not germinating at all (the worst success I've had with any ordinary seed company). But they're fairly cheap, so I might consider ordering from them again if they have something interesting.

Good prices on seed, good service. I never got to plant these seeds on time, so if they don't grow, I suppose that would be my fault.

I have been ordering from Shumway for several years - I started ordering from them because they are one of the few companies that has the EH hybrid sweet corns as well as some old fashioned things like Flat Dutch cabbage. You get a lot of seed for the price and I have had good luck with their seeds.

Their seeds are the only ones I have ever had trouble with. I was planting a lot of How Sweet It Is corn so I ordered their commercial quantities to save a little money. The seed, all 7 pounds in two shipments, had weevils. It didn't germinate, or grow, the way it should.Flower seeds I ordered didn't even come up.

I ordered from both R.H. Shumway and Totally Tomatoes this year. I called one of the numbers and they took both orders. They had to place each order separately in the computer (two shipping fees) with separate credit cardauthorizations. They are in the same building and the first company rep just walked the second order over.I ordered seeds only and they came within days. One order took a bit longer than the other and when I called they were able to look it up and tell me exactly when it had been shipped. Customer service was very nice and even phoned me when they ran into a snag with my credit card. Since it was a debit card I had a daily limit, which I had hit making another purchase. They were able to follow my request to just wait one day and try again. No hassles.The seeds came in padded mailing envelopes. The packages were well marked with generic planting instructions (i.e., for "tomatoes" or "annual flowers" but not for the specific item unless it varied from the norm). Since it hasn't been that long, I can't say how good the germination rates are but some of them look good so far. At least one of my packages was slightly short-changed, but otherwise they appear to be at the exact count.Prices run around $1.20 to 2.00 for a package of 30 or 100 seeds (not sure why they do those numbers). Shipping and handling is under $2.00. Plant descriptions are decent (although there is no information about West Coast growing) and most things are illustrated with either a color photo or a B&W drawing. They sell some plants and roots also but I haven't tried them.

The Schumway catalogue is ENORMOUS! Literally. It is the size of a small newspaper! The illustrations are hand drawn in an attractive, old-fashioned style, some might be from an original seed package. This catalogue also offers large amounts of seeds, upon request. Their flower seeds have a volume discount: if you order a certain number of packets, you get a certain amount off the price. My only complaints that their delivery is extremely slow. I never order anything that I need to get started by the end of March.