Comments regarding Direct Gardening

Direct Gardening is affiliated with Burgess Seed, Kelly Nurseries and 8 or nine other suppliers. I have ordered from Direct with poor results. First, they billed me in February for plants that were not to be shipped until late April; a violation of both law and their credit card agreements according to the credit card company. Most of the plants were dead or dying on receipt. The plants were too young and too small for mail shipment. I compared the healthy plants to Home Depot and Lowes who carried the same plants I ordered from Direct, and I would have done much better at Home Depot for a couple of dollars more; larger, older and healthier plants. While any company can have problems, Direct is different in that they totally ignore your complaints. You don’t exist if you complain. You will get no satisfaction from these people. There are hundreds of complaints on the web with similar experiences. I would strongly recommend anyone who has a problem with any of these companies file complaints with the Bloomington IL BBB. Stay away from Direct and all of the affiliates; avoid like the plague!

"

We do have a guarantee we wish the customer would utilize. The customer could also choose to get a merchandise credit or other plants/hard goods/seeds in place of the ones originally ordered. Please see our posted guarantee. We do stand behind this guarantee.


"

I placed an order with Direct Gardening in March, actually I placed 2 orders in March, both orders arrived in April.
I ordered a total of 48 douglas fir trees which are browning, but still alive! 6 Hummingbird vines that are doing great, 2 weeping willows also doing great, 50 Liatris bulbs already coming up.
The only things that didnt look good on arrival was my Royal Empress Tree which has since died and my 2 red clematis also dead.
I sent out my packaging label and a written request for replacements today and I have confidence I will get great replacements in return! My only concern is if something else dies I dont know how I would get a replacement since I have sent them my original shipping label already. But that I will deal with at a later day if I have to.

I have only placed one order with this company.
I received part of my order before discovering dave's garden page.
It was 3 irish moss "potted plants". The pots were one inch square.
The best of the three was a soggy smashed up bit of growth about the size of my fingernail. And I have small hands. It was so wet and smashed it was almost unrecognizable. The second was the same only half as big and the third pot there was nothing recognizable as a plant.
To get a refund I am expected to repackage this mess and make a trip to the post office to send it back, then wait for my refund. By the tone of other feedback on this page about this company it will take six or eight months.
They will not let me cancel the rest of the order over the phone, I must write them a letter of explaination.
Unfortunately I did not discover this forum until after I had
placed an order with this company.
If I had not read the reviews on this page I would probably have waited for the rest of the order and hoped the initial delivery was an unfortunate fluke, but according to what others are saying on this page it seems to be typical of their poor operations.
I highly recommend you shop elsewhere and check the list of the best 30 companies that is found on this site,
such as Antique Rose Emporium, which is an excellent company.

"

We are sorry to hear that some of the customer's plants did not arrive in good condition. We are happy to hear that the customer is planting most of them and giving them a chance. Many of our plants are shipped bare root and can appear to be "dead" because they are dormant. However, if anything does not leaf out, we can issue replacements. If the customer would prefer to have a refund, he can send the plants back instead of planting them along with the original shipping label. We can then keep the label on file for any that might need replacements in the future."

In March I ordered 3 Snow in Summer, 30 Walk-On-Me thyme, 2 lilacs, 4
creeping wintergreen, and a Mint Mix Collection (free gift of bulbs was included too-- disclosure). The order came in mid-April and my husband and I tried to plant the order immediately. I say tried, because the 30 walk-on-me thyme came as dried-up tangled messes-- it was not possible to tell how to plant this ground cover. Only 3 wintergreen came, the lilacs were mere sticks, the snow in summer were pathetic seedlings that proceeded to die after being planted, and the 3 mints in the collection came totally dried up. Oh, and free bulbs? Moldy, totally useless. I returned the label and disputed the charge. Today the label came back to me from them, with a note asking for the original label. Just yesterday I had a long conversation with my bank about this charge, and my final position is this: I do not want replacements ffrom this company nor shall I ever do business with them again.
I have a newly landscaped yard for which I needed many plants. I ordered from Nature Hill, Dutch Gardens, and Nantucket Hydrangeas at the same time as from Direct Gardening. The plants came in very good to excellent condition. The David Austin rose from Dutch Gardens was a little slow to start; when I wrote asking about babying it, they sent me a new one in case it was not the healthiest specimen. All of these plants are now growing robustly, and it is not yet mid-May.
I have been visiting my local gardening center, and although I paid more for the mints, and for ground cover, I have beautiful, healthy, vigorous plants that started growing almost immediately after planting.
I wish I had checked this forum sooner, I would have avoided not just a costly error, but the hours spent with my husband planting what amounted to dead stems.

I recently bought 10 hybrid willows from them and they arrived looking fresh and so far they have taken. They are growing pretty well, but last year I bought 10 others that arrived dead looking or "dormant" as they say and I planted them anyways and they never took. The jury is out.

"

We are glad to hear that this customer's willows are doing well from this year's order and sent a d-mail reminding him of our one year replacement guarantee that he may wish to utilize on last year's order."

After reading most of the negative comments I am beginning to think I made a huge mistake. I am starting to have some of the same problems that most of you are stating. Here is what I am experiencing so far but I will keep you posted on how it goes....

I place an order for two trees on 4/10/2006 for a total of $47.85 and my credit card was charged on 4/11/06 and processed on 4/12/06. I called customer service on 4/28/06 just to see how long it would take to get my order, the representative was very rude and abrupt but said they started shipping May 1st (3 weeks to process the order and two weeks to ship)...hmm, it sure didn't take them that long to process the payment...anyway, i asked her before she hung up on me if that meant my order had been processed and would be sent out on May 1st, she said yes and hung up. Yesterday, May 8 I sent an email to customer service requesting an update and possible ship date, I included the order number, my name and home phone. To their credit they emailed me back today, May 9th but they asked that I email the name and address of where the order was being shipped so that they could access my account and include the messages already sent so they would have all the information. I am now waiting to see what their response will be, I am unsure of why they could not access my account by the order number but it seemed odd. Its now been exactly 1 month since my order and charge to my credit card....if this company behaves the way many of you have experienced then I am in for a frustrating few weeks. I am hopeful that things will go well and Direct Gardening has listened to you all and corrected their mistakes, if not then I will do as many of you have and act quickly to hold them accountable. I will keep all of you posted...thanks, Lisa

"

We sent a d-mail to this customer on 5/10 asking for additional information so that we could check on her order for her. We also are very concerned about the treatment she received over the phone and requested additional information in order to learn whom she spoke with. We are glad to hear that she has now received her merchandise and reminded her of her one year replacement guarantee.

"

I ordered 6 empress trees and 2 weeping willows. I planted all 8 trees the day they arrived (late March or early April). All are growing and doing great. I would definitely buy from Direct Gardening again.

I got my order today that I placed more than a month ago and everything seemed fine. My freebee (stargazer lily) was moldy but that seemed to be the only problem. All the bulbs seemed healthy and my Oriental Poppy roots were big and healthy. So far so good...I hope everything comes up well!

I placed a large order with Direct Gardening via their website. I added a few plants to my order via phone the following day. Then I found this site and I was extremely nervous after reading the reviews, but I was willing to take a wait and see approach.

It did take a while to receive my plants, but 'Express Shipping' was not an option and for $8.95 shipping, I wasn't expecting it. It took 3 weeks to the day for my order to be processed and another 3 weeks exactly to receive 3 out of 4 of my packages.

My 'Herb Collection' was shipping on the 12th of April and has yet to be received. I was told that if I do not received it by the 12th of May, they can trace it per USPS policy. That is fair in my oinion.

I received the other 3 packages yesterday:

One box had 2 small containers with the Passion Flower vines I had ordered. One of them had 2 vines in the same contaner so I got 3 for the price of 2.

The first green bag we opened contained all of our vegetables and free gifts. We won't know how the bulbs fair for a while. The 9 Walk-on-Me Thyme are all healthy & beautiful. The 10 asparagus were all healthy with HUGE roots systems. Only one of the 50 Stuttgarder onions was bad. The garlic sets were healthy. I ordered 15 blue potato (seed). I received 18 of them. They are all tiny and none had any eyes. Not like any seed potate I have ever used before. I planted 11 yesterday. If they grow, I will be happy. If not, I am only out $4 and I won't get potatoes from them again. Overall, I am satisfied with the contents from this package.

The largest green bag had all of our shrubs, trees & bushes. I was concerned because there was a small hole in the bag where one of the shrubs was sticking out, but they were all the height stated on the website and look healthy. We had ordered 36 Purple Leaf Plum Hedges. All of them appear to be healthy. One fo these is missing all but one root. We are currently babying it and hoping it will survive and can join all the others , but the odds are against it. The 2 Hansen Cherry bushes, 3 Mock Orange, 1 Dwarf Granny Smith Apple, 2 Manchurian Apricot, 1 Sugar Sweet Cherry, 1 Black Tartarian Standard, 1 Dwarf Pear (5 on 1), and 1 Dwarf Nectarine all have a healthy root system. We had ordered 6 grape vines, 2 Catawba, 2 Niagra and 2 Concord. We received only 1 Catawba, but we got 3 Niagras. Since we got 6 overall and they all looked healthy, we aren't that bothered by it.

I ordered from directGardening on June last year. As following plant below
The following items were requested on 6/30/2005 5:10:33 PM:

Item # Description............................. Quantity Price

6826 Butterfly Plant, Orange Glory 3 $4.95
6755 Daisy, Shasta 4 $2.50
7217 Geranium, Hardy Pink 2 $2.96
7216 Geranium, Hardy Blue 2 $1.96
4113 Gladiola, Winter Hardy 20 $3.51
6837 Lily, Torch 8 $4.85
3241 Coreopsis, Sunburst 1 $2.95
7635 Astilbe Sampler 1 $6.95
7899 Spring Starflower 20 $4.95
7820 Iris, Eye of Tiger Dutch 10 $3.95
7587 Butterfly Bush, 3-N-1 1 $5.95
7306 Hummingbird Vine 2 $3.98
6213 Liatris, Blazing Stars 50 $3.00
6231 Lupines, Russell 6 $5.96
6285 Vine, Yellow Trumpet 1 $4.95
7017 Hydrangea, 3-N-1 1 $7.95
7993 Hydrangea, Kaleidoscope® Homigo 1 $9.95
8654 Free Asiatic Lily 1 $0.00
Free Gifts as Earned Free

Sales Tax $0.00
Packing $7.95
Total Charge $89.22

All most all of the plant rotten and moldy in the bag. I ask for replacement and they said I need to send the package back. I sent package to them and about 2 monthe later got the replacement which come in the the green plastic bag same way with no other protection. Basically the plant all dead from the heat and from mailing process handle. I try to put them on the ground anyway and have a hope of growing but most of the plant dead.
So I have to sent them the package which I still have them. I request some of the plant for replacement on March ( Actually all of their palnt dead right now.). 2-3 weeks pass. I call them about my replacement they said the never receive anything from me. I have the tracking # which was delivered to them on 3/18. So they said please wait about a week. In about a week I receive envelop from them said I need specific what happen to the plant and what is the problem. I forget to mention actually I already include the letter on the package at the fist time that the palnt is die. I don't what else they need me to say. Since I already lost that postage sent to them at the first time so I try again include in my letter specific all the palnt is dead. The package I resent to them again delivered to them on 4/22 but I did not get any contacting from Direct Gardening about my replacement. I do not have any hope with this company and loss my mind. You will lost your money, Time, and lost your mind with this company as I already did lost my $89.22 with 2 time postage sent package back to them and also many times of phone call and talk with their rude customer service. I will never order from this DIRECT GARDENING again and will recommend everyone not to do business with them. You will be sorry to order from DIRECT GARDENING.

PigletLuvGarden

"

A d-mail was sent to this customer on May 4, but we have yet to receive a response. Our one year replacement guarantee does not require that the plants be returned if they have died. We need only the original shipping label and a list of what is dead. We have been able to locate this customer's account even though she has not responded to our d-mail and found that she requested a replacement for about half of the order last September. We have processed a second replacement recently for the items that she requested. "

Sadly, I am happy to find this forum. I thought maybe it was just me! I had previously ordered online from a fuschia company in Washington state and had well-wrapped, small plants arrive safely and quickly, with EXCELLENT and FRIENDLY e-mail communication. I followed the directions provided (leave plants inside for a few days to readjust before planting, etc.), and they are thriving so far.

I ordered from directgardening at the same time and expected the same. My bad! When I called to check on delivery dates (hoped to be home to receive the package), they acted like I was insane to expect to a realistic delivery date. When the plants finally arrived, it was a total disappointment. Two came three weeks later - rotted! - and others five weeks later, into the planting season, and were baggies full of roots, which would have been fine a month ago, but at this point, it is too late for my needs. Roots in late March are fine, but now I need small, already growing plants!

I intend to ask for a refund or to get my credit card company to stop payment. The website was very misleading, and from now on, I will only buy from places that actually have their own greenhouses. I am more annoyed about the time wasted on my part - choosing, waiting, picking up the tiny little plastic package at the post office, and then planting things that it seems will likely not grow - than for the $ spent. And annoyed at being mislead. And to think that someone is apparently going to some effort to put these plants into little bags. What a waste of time, effort, and money.

"

A d-mail was sent to this customer on 5/3/06, but we have not yet received a response. We do not understand from the posting why they believe our website is misleading. Nor do we understand why they think bare root perennials cannot be planted in New York in April. April is an ideal time for planting bareroot stock.
Our guarantee is clear on our refund and replacement procedures. For a refund, the product simply needs to be returned within 14 days of receipt along with the original shipping label.
In addition, we would like to mention that we currently have over forty greenhouses and continue to add more every year
"

On March 29th I placed an order with Direct for 163.00 in trees, shrubs and flowers. On April 8th I wrote inquiring as to the status of the order. I received a response on april 10th telling me it takes one to two weeks for processing and my order would be shipped when ready. Okay. Now on April 25th I again inquire about my order and am told that my credit card was declined and that I had been advised on April 6th.

Yes, I did accidentally use an old card, but they could have let me know so I could use a different card. Instead they pretend to have told me it was declined four days before telling me it was to be shipped. It's just telling that they lie about their mistake rather than apologizing for it. I wish I'd checked them out before I placed the order. Buyer Beware.

"

We did notify the customer that the charge card was declined on April 6 through an email. The email let the customer know that the order had been canceled because the charge card had been declined, but that we would be willing to try again if they wished to replace their order. "

Plants and bulbs received from this company (for more than $150) had as much chance of survival as turtle eggs. They came in dry and dead. It seems that in order to make sure nothing survives, the company wraps everything in dark plastic without further protection. Anything that would still be alive is finished up by heat and the mail carrier fitting the bag in the mailbox. It's more than a waste of money, it's a waste of time and effort, and the frustration from getting no results. On the other hand, everything ordered from Brecks and most things from SpringHill survived.
I had some replacements, but they were in the same state.
The bulbs are as tiny as marbles. Some plants have bugs.
Save your money and time and go to a company that cares about quality.

"

A d-mail was sent to this customer on 5/3/06 offering assistance, but the customer has not yet responded. Typically the bags we ship in help to hold in moisture. All mail order businesses, particularly those of perishable stock, deal with the difficulty that product can encounter difficulty in transit. However, the plants are covered by our one-year guarantee. We do stand behind this guarantee and would be happy to send replacements or merchandise credit for any items that do not survive.

"

My wife purchased two trees for me last christmas. She ordered two pomegranate trees. Both were sent bareroot about two feet tall with no leaves. I planted both and they survived, however they are not pomegranate. Once they leafed out they magically became sycamore trees!!

"

We believe this customer has our company confused with a different company. We have never carried either pomegranates or sycamores, so the customer could not have ordered from us. We have d-mailed asking for more information.
"

So far my experience has been negative, may upgrade if they get their act together but won't be holding my breath. This is my order:
The following items were requested on 3/23/2006 11:26:32 PM:

Item # Description............................. Quantity Price

6924 Fern, Christmas 2 $3.75
7596 Astilbe, Lavender 3 $6.75
5572 Wintercreeper, Purple Leaf 6 $5.25
5103 Walk-On-Me 18 $9.00
5782 Lily, Japanese Hardy 2 $2.96
7439 Rose, Hybrid Bargain 2 $4.75
3704 Perennial Bargain 1 $9.95
6700 Crownvetch 4 $2.79
7216 Geranium, Hardy Blue 3 $5.75
6021 Bleeding Heart, Zestful 3 $9.95
6201 Butterfly Bush, Mixed 2 $2.96
6755 Daisy, Shasta 4 $2.50
6936 Cauliflower, Snowball 1 $1.25
7353 Hollyhock, Miniature 2 $2.95
6155 Pea, Sugar Snap 1 $1.10
Free Gifts as Earned
Free

Sales Tax $0.00
Packing $8.95
Total Charge $80.61

Quite the bargain, but wish I'd seen this site prior to ordering. My emails for shipping date/status go unanswered and 04/21 I recieved a video cassette-sized box containing the 2 hollyhocks in 2 plastic seed-starter containers. Tiny (miniature, ha!), but I can live with that. What is annoying as heck is the waiting on an uncommunicative company. Yes, I'm aware of all their fine print and conditions and that you get what you pay for, but the "GETTING" needs to happen. I'm prepared for dinky leftovers from wholesalers or whatever, as long as they're alive, but so far, this will be my last order from these clowns. Heaven help them if I get a bag of dead stuff.

Last year, I ordered 12 Rosa Rugosa and 10 of them died. I returned the shipping label as per their policy and requested 10 replacements. Although I did not receive them until this spring, they sent 12 new roses, and so far, all of them are doing well. In a separate order, I ordered a Pink Freedom rose last year, and it is doing fine.

DirectGardening are Horrific Rip-off artists. Can't believe they are STILL in business defrauding the public. These people should be shut down now as they ship plants that are either rotting or dead. The catalogs from all their sister companies don't even enter my house any-straight into the recycle bin. Save your hard earned money and time trying to get your money back from your credit card company and buy from a reputable company. Personally recommend Bluestone Perennials, Musser Forests or others as recommended.

"

We do stand behind our guarantee. We have contacted this customer regarding his order.
"

As a buyer of mail order plants one must always beware. As the saying goes, "You get what you pay for". To ship live plants packaged in a manner that insures they get to you in premium quality costs more. The truth is that when you order from Direct Gardening, whatever name the company uses, you are going to get small bare root plants in bags. It is unfortunate that most of us trying to save a buck have found this out only after receiving our orders. I have had great success with the shrubs, roses, and blubs that I have ordered. The bulbs are much smaller than those you would receive from Brecks or other mail order companies and the shrubs are generally 1-3 foot sent bare root in a bag. I have not always had time to plant them right away when they have arrived but have been able to but them in a bucket with a mixture or root starter and water for several weeks until I got around to planting them. I think this has actually been a benefit to the plants and me, being that the plants they send are often dried out, it gives the plants the much needed moisture they need and allows me to see which ones show signs of life as they start budding out so that I don't waste time planting something that is already dead. I WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING OTHER THAN SHRUBS, TREES, OR BLUBS FROM THIS COMPANY. It has been my experience that the other plants cannot survive the manner in which they are shipped. I have ordered three or four times and only had trouble once getting a refund in which case they gave me a gift certificate instead that I didn't want or could use at the time but didn't feel it was worth disputing.

"

We encourage customers to try our full product line. This would also include our seeds, hard goods and perennials. All of our plant material and seeds are covered by our one year replacement guarantee."

I purchased five trees and fourty shrubs and about One Hundred ground cover plants from this copmany ! It was the first purchase from them they were very helpful! I orderer in october 2005! They sent me a e-mail to confirm my order and a shipping date around the end of March and the beginning of April! I e-mailed them around the end of March to get a around about time to expect my plants! They e-mailed back the next day and stated they had been shipped and I could expect my order in 7-14 days! My oder arrived in about 9 days all the plants were health and the size I expected for what I payed! The were all alive and are doing great!!! The planting instructions were very handy and easy to understand! I have order from many other mail order companies they were alot better to deal with then some of the other mail order companys! I will order from them again!

I placed an order for 10 Redbuds and 10 Rose of Sharon in 2004. They were small and had little root systems, but they all survived my planting skills. I've since moved and missed my plants. Being so impressed with my previous purchase from them, I placed another for 12 more Rose of Sharon and 2 Weiglas. They arrived today and I must say I'm 100% satisfied, even if I have to wait a few days to plant them. Not one is under 3 feet tall and they all have wonderful root systems. I have no doubt that they will flourish. I must give them my kudos even if everyone else does not. Thank you so much!

Placed order on or about 11/13/05 for 1 brug and a package of Brandywine Tomato seeds. They charged my Visa on 11/15/05 for $15.95. Approx 10 days later, I received a postcard stating that my order would not ship til Spring 2006. I immediately cancelled the order via email. On Dec 3, 2005, I received from them a padded envelope, shipping label stated Brandywine Tomato Seeds. Inside there was no packet of tomato seeds of any kind, only their advertising material and a package of grape hyacinth bulbs, which I did not order. I immediately called them and was told I needed to send back the shipping label in order to get a refund. I sent that back to them on 12/6/05. About a week ago, I called them again and was told that they didn't know if they had received my shipping label back and that since there was nothing nt he package and I hadn't requested a replacement, I really didn't need to return the label. I told them I was instructed to do so, and I wanted my refund NOW.

I have at least 10 emails that I have sent to this company. When I first cancelled this order, they stated it takes '30 days to process refunds'. Then, later, it became, ' your request is being processed, please allow sufficient time".

Well, the bottom line is, they can't charge the card until they ship the product. They charged me on 11/15/05, sent me a postcard on 11/23/05 stating nothing would ship until Spring 06, shipped me an empty padded envelope on 12/1/05, which I returned to them on 12/6/05 (including the bulbs that I didn't order) and on 12/26/05 I am still waiting for my. $15.95 refund. My last email to them stated if I didn't have my refund by 12/28/05 I would file complaints with the FTC, Illinois Attorney General, the BBB, the US Postmaster, and anybody else I thought of. I intend to do all of that.

The order arrived when they promised. But I found out too late that the company was having problems. As soon as I read some of the posts on this webpage I went back and checked my credit card statement - they had doubled my order and they had charged my credit card twice! When I called them the customer service representative was rude and not helpful - she claims that I submitted 2 of the same exact orders and that is why I was charged the same amount twice.

The plants are small - many had branches broken off. I was missing one bush from my order. I am never ordering from them again.

I ordered some plants for a friend in February of 2005. We are in New Hampshire and plants should be delivered here between the middle and end of May. Mine were delivered in the beginning of April and mostly dead. I tried to save them but didn't want to bother with customer service since I didn't pay that much for them and I figured I was taking a chance with this company. But they all died and I definitely won't order from any of these companies associated with this one again. I'm glad I'm on this site now, saves me the hassle and frustration.

BE WARE THIS COMPANY THEY HAVE 9 DIFFERENT NAMES
I FOUND THIS OUT AFTER I ORDERED AND STARTED RECIEVING ALL THESE DIFFERENT CATALOGS BE CAREFUL WHO YOU ORDER FROM THEY ARE BY FAR THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER ORDERED FROM

ROYAL DUTCH
BURGESS SEED AND PLANT COMPANY
RICHARD OWEN NURSERY
FOUR SEASONS NURSERY
HOUSE OF WESELY
INTER-STATE NURSERY
KELLY NURSERIES
FARMER SEED AND NURSERY
HONEYCREEK NURSERY

being the skeptic that I am, I am glad I only placed a small order with this company in april just to see if thing were ok, I wish I would have known about this sigh then I would never have ordered. I ordered 6 hummingbird vines, 3 double pink columbines and 3 current bushes. When I recieved my order, eveything looked dead except the current bushes which were very small but at least they had some roots and the stick had some life to it. The hummingbird vines which is what I really wnated were just sticks about 6 inches long I couldn't even tell which part could have been the roots. the columbines were roots but they were moldy and didn't look like they would make it either, I called the company and they told me they were dormant and were suppose to be like this and to plant them any way. I have dealt with dormant plants before, but they insisted I didn't know much about plants. So I planted them any way, and called them several times to let them know they were not growing, they kept telling me I had to wait for 6 weeks to get replacements. As soon as my 6 weeks were up I returned my original packing slip which I kept only because the plants were dead when I recieved them. after about 5 weeks I recieved my replacment hummingbird vines and columbines, (by the way the current bushes are growing very well will have to see what happens over this winter. This site has me a little worried about them now) the replacerment columbines were not in very good shape but at least they are alive and I believe I can nurse them and get them to grow, however out of the hummingbird vines 5 were again nothing more than dead sticks, and one had a tiny bit of a root and a stick that looked alive but dormant. It has been a week now and I think the columbines may come through, the one hummingbird vine is getting some buds on it, but the other five still look like dead sticks and yes I planted them just as last time in 6 weeks I am going to send my replacement packing order back to try for the other five vines along with a letter to see if I can maybe get some seeds instead I believe I would have much better luck growing from seed instead of trying to get a stick to grow.

I definitely will never order from them again

I am very disappointed with both the quality of plants and the service provided by this company!!!!!!!!!!

On March 16, 2005, I placed an order for 2 Elephant Ears, 2 Kiwi plants and 2 shell plants. The order arrived in early April. In the initial shipment 1 kiwi plant and 1 shell plant were dead. The second shell plant was in extremely poor condition (it subsequently died). I did not receive the Elephant Ears.

I called to speak with customer service. This representative was unfriendly, asked how I knew the plants were dead, and suggested I try planting them even though they were black and shriveled. I assured her that I was confident they were dead and asked if the company could send replacement plants. She informed me that I needed to write a letter and send in shipping labels in order to get a replacement. Though I feel it is onerous to require so much work from a customer to correct a failure by the shipping company, I complied as I wanted to receive my replacement plants. As for the Elephant Ears, I was told they were out of stock and would ship when available.

Within the month, I received the replacement Kiwi plant. This was fine (but has since died).

Last week, I received a package with 2 Elephant Ears. One of these was in poor condition and one was in moderately poor condition. The second package contained only one shell plant. This was dead.

I again called customer service. I indicated that at this point, I was so fed up that I wanted to receive refund for the 2 shell plants that I have never received (alive) and 1 of the 2 elephant ears. Initially I was told that I could not receive a refund as it was past 14 days from my initial order (not my fault). I spoke with an assistant supervisor, who indicated that I could get a refund for the dead elephant ear if I sent back the nearly dead plant. She indicated that I could not get refund for the shell plants as I had already requested replacement.

At this point I was not willing to spend money on shipping back dead plants. I already am spending more money and time than I feel is reasonable writing letters and sending back packing labels.

I spoke with customer service again and was told that I should write a letter to the company president, Ms. Avery and return my shipping labels. I did this on June 14th and have still had no response.

In the past, I have dealt with numerous other online gardening companies and never have I received plants in such poor condition, nor had to jump through so many hoops in order to receive replacement. In addition, never has an order been so delayed as it is now over 4 months since I placed my original order and I still have not received the full number of plants.

At this point, I am not sure how to proceed, but am thinking of contacting the credit card company as I have been charged for items not received.

DON'T ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY! I would not have ordered from them had I seen this forum first.

I placed an order with Direct Gardening in April 2005. I had to call several times to check on when they would be shipping my order. I could not get a straight answer so I finally told them to cancel my order. Suddenly they said the order was being 'processed' and couldn't be cancelled.

When I finally received the order I was extremely disappointed in the quality of plants I received. They were so tiny it was hard to keep track of where they were once they were in the ground. And it turned out that most of these teeny-tiny plants wouldn't grow.

So I emailed and made more phone calls to Direct Gardening to try to get a refund. They said I wasn't eligible for a refund because I hadn't saved my original shipping label (it never occured to me to save the shipping label). They claimed they would give me an exchange if I sent the plants back along with a detailed letter explaining exactly what happened. They also wanted me to send them a copy of my Visa bill that showed my payment to them.

So I jumped through all the hoops and did exactly as I requested. And I never heard back from them.

So I called them and emailed them several more times to find out what the status was on my exchange. A very rude customer service rep told me they had no record of receiving my returned plants or my letter. She said I probably just needed to wait longer to see if it would eventually get 'processed'.

I emailed the company yet again on July 8, 2005 and told them I was tired of waiting and getting the runaround and that I was going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I received an email reply from Direct Gardening just today. They claim they never received my letter, my Visa statement or my returned plants and, basically, they didn't plan on doing anything to fix the situation. So I WILL be filing a complaint against this very questionable and most unprofessional company.

There are plenty of great gardening companies doing business on the internet. Why risk doing business with this one?

I ordered a Citrus Trio collection for $12.95, and after reading all of the comments on this site did not feel very good about ordering. Well, they came in yesterday and were in great condition, several leaves on each, and looked healthy, not even wilted! Sure they may only be 6 inches tall...for for the money they will grow. I still haven't gotten my second shipment, several trees from them, I hope that they are in as good condition as these were.

I had a small order and received it in 1 1/2 wks. Can't wait to get them planted. Everything looks fine. I was really happy with the get the second plant for 1cent sale although I only needed one.

I found the directgardening.com site through a full page ad on the back of the Missouri Ruralist, so I was surprised to be so disappointed with their plants. Besides the live plants being the tiniest shoots of a plant when they arrived, they did look healthy on arrival, so I told myself, well, even though it is only one HAIR of pampas grass, it is STILL pampas grass, and with my attentive care, in a few years it will actually look like something. I am an avid gardener who enjoys much success at gardening, but only a good 60% of the plants have survived. Only half of the bulbs came up. Many of the plants lived for a while before giving up the ghost. I ordered nearly $200 worth of plants from them and there is a one year guarantee, but I haven't dealt with trying to get new plants from them yet. I may just chalk this one up to "buyer beware" and remind myself to read online reviews like this site before I spend my hard earned money on such disappointment.

I ordered some plants from this company in early April and paid via Credit Card. It took several phone calls until I could move them to give me a shipping date. The plants finally arrived in early May. They were terrible. They were dead, not dormant, but dead. In addition, I ordered lilac plants, among other items, and instead I was shipped hazelnut trees (which I didn't order.) They arrived in a green garbage bag, thrown together. The tops of the maples had been broken off. The stems of all of the plants were brittle and the bark hard and dry.
I immediately called them and told them that I would return them. I was informed that they would inspect them and then issue a credit on my card. The USPS verified that they received my return on May 20, but this company tried to deny receiving them. Finally someone admitted it, and stated that they would have to look at the plants before issuing a credit. It took several tries and to date I have not seen the credit on my CC. This company told me that they issued the credit in early June and I am waiting to see that statement.
Beware of these people. Don't buy from them.

Order about 2 weeks ago and received all my plants. I have no Problems with anything.
Packing was in small plastic bags along with a few small trees wrapped in a big green bag. The roots didn't have any special protection but I don't think That would be to much of a problem.
I planted everything the day they were dropped off and I already have most growing. Hosta's, elephant ear, rose trees. My ground covers haven't shown signs of life yet but they looked in good shape when planted. Walk on me, red sedum and crownvetch.
Over all everything looks like what it should, billing was correct, shipping was about 2 weeks from order to delivery. I couldn't ask for more.

In case your wondering I live in zone 8 almost 9 so I'm well into my growing season. I just had some blank spots around the yard and wanted to try some stuff. Next year they should be going strong.

I placed a large order with Direct Gardening, then thought I better do a little checking around. Found these reviews and thought I better start off small, see what comes of that. Called to cancel my order 90 minutes after placing it. Was told that the order was "in proccessing" and to cancel I would have to write a letter. I asked if I could get a number to speak to someone directly and was told no, I needed to write a letter. I then asked for an email address to send my request to. Yeah, they don't have one of those either, just send a letter. I Don't think I'll be doing business with someone that requires a letter to cancel an order less than 2 hours after it was placed. I mean, really, an online retailer that requires a letter?

I have read many comments, but decided to move foward with my purchase, with the belief that most of the negative comments had to do with high expectations of people getting full grown trees in bloom shipped to them via mail.

So - to help everyone out - I am creating a section on my webshots picture storage site to show what arrived, how it was shipped, and how well it is growing. I will do my best to keep up with this.

Please - sign the guesbook to let me know you are actually looking at these pictures for help. If I do not get any entries in the guestbook, I will probably not keep up with the pictures.

Also - feel free to e-mail me for more info @ cfry01@hotmail.com.

Location of pictures are at //community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=viewall&albumID=364815342
or //community.webshots.com/album/364815342ruuKHP
or you can search for my username (Cfry01) at webshots.com

I ordered quite a few plants from directgardening.com before reading any of the comments on this site. Many of the plants I received were in visibly very bad condition:
The 48 "walk-on-me" plants were microscopic, and they all looked practically dead (completely dried out, with almost no roots). I planted them anyway (spending a lot of time), but now, about 4 weeks later, only 3 are alive.
Of the 36 irish moss I received about half were almost rotted (and the rest were very small) when I received them. About 4 weeks later, less than half have survived. I ordered 24 of the exact same plants from Spring Hill Nursery at the same time, and I received beautiful plants, all of which have survived (so the problem is not due to my treatment of the plants).

The rest of the plants were in variable condition, but I have been able to get most of them to grow.

When I called directgardening to tell them about the problems, I was told that I had to provide "proof of purchase" in writing (even though I ordered online and have a confirmation email from the company) before they would even consider reimbursing me.

All other online gardening companies I have dealt with (Gurneys, Michigan bulb, Spring Hill) have simply confirmed my order number when I called them and replaced the dead plants without any questions. I will definitely not deal with directgardening any more, and cannot recommend them.

In March I ordered about 40 plants from Direct Gardening, before reading the comments on this website. After reading the comments here, I crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best. I received the plants on May 12th and I was so disappointed. They came in a green garbage bag. When I opened them I was shocked at the quality of everything. 10 strawberry plants fit into a bag smaller than a sandwich bag. The two cherry bushes were 2 foot sticks, with almost no roots. The rasberry bushes were covered in mud and therefore so was everything else in the entire green garbage bag. The entire bag had a rotting smell. I decided to return everything within the 14 day period and take it as a lesson learned. I would definitely not recommend ordering from this company.

I ordered a couple of complete gardens from Direct Gardening. The next day after ordering them on-line I realized that the plants in the order were not what I needed for the areas I was planting in. (I had gotten exited by the lovely pictures). I called their customer service and was told to write a letter to cancel my order. I wrote the letter, and thought nothing of it until two months later when my credit card was charged and the plants were delivered. I was in my yard when the postman came and delivered the one green plastic bag which supposedly contained over 25 plants and he offered to return it to the company (refused delivery). I then contacted the company numerous times and was given a runaround for months, stating that I should have done this, I should have done that, the post office doesn't actually return refused packages, and so forth. Finally, after writing the better business bureau, (Better Business Bureau of Central Illinois - 112 Harrison, Peoria, Illinois, 61602, you can contact them online also) I was refunded 84% of my purchase price, minus the postage and a packaging fee. I am definitely not satisfied with their service and would not encourage anyone to order from them.

Having read all of the negative reviews about Direct Gardening, House of Wesley, Burgess House, etc., I placed an order with Direct Gardening anyway. I actually did not really expect to receive a viable plant, but my curiosity about the Fruit Cocktail Tree overcame my common sense! Since I would only be out $20.00, I went ahead and took a chance and ordered it about 2 weeks ago. Surprisingly, the tree arrived today--two weeks after it was ordered. It came wrapped in a plain green plastic bag. Actually, it was not wrapped at all. Just thrown into a light-weight plastic bag with no other protective packaging insde of the bag. The roots were not wrapped or protected in any way. The tree is about 3' tall. It is a skinny, dormant stick of a tree. After inspecting the little stick, I am very doubtful that it is a fruit cocktail tree at all. It has one single graft at the base of the tree and no branches at all. I have a few dwarf apple trees that I purchased from other online nurseries and each has a branch or graft representing the different varieties of fruits the tree is expected to produce. I immediately called the company to question this, and the phone has been busy for a good long time. I sent them an e-mail and am awaiting a response. I will be surprised if I get any response at all. I am going to plant the little stick after some doctoring and see what I get from it! I will update this review if and when I hear from the company and after I plant my little stick! My advice--if you don't mind gambling a little money for something you just can't resist, go for it. Just don't spend much or expect much. It's kind of like pretending you're at the slots!

I placed a small order with Direct Gardening for one golden chain tree and two butterfly bushes. They arrived in an envelope! I followed their directions exactly, but am sorely disappointed. The golden chain tree "stick" now does have some green on it, but the two dried out, brittle butterfly bushes are definitely dead little "sticks". I'm heartsick and will never order from them again.

I am giving a conservative positive rating at this time. I did received an email indicating the week of shipment & an estimate of arrival. Most of my plants did arrive within 2 weeks of placing the order, and many were in good shape as well as individually packaged for shipment. However, I have issue with their green garbage bag shipping "container?" Due to the lack of protection my lilac bushes, trees, and honeysuckle suffered some major abuse during shipping so each arrived broken, but salvageable (hopefully). I'm not a great gardener but I think I'll be able to nurse them along!

Now for the "conservative" part...After unpacking & searching, I found that I was missing a hosta. I called DG and was told that I needed to mail a letter along with the original packing slip. OK, easy enough, but what if I have problems with other merchandise? The attendant said they would keep the slip on file? Considering other comments on this company's approach to customer service, I will probably eat the cost of the hosta in order to keep the packing slip. The rest of my order was significantly more expensive than 1 hosta and I'd rather have some "insurance" on those plants! Please keep in mind that this is my decision, it is not that the company refused to make things right. My other caveat to keeping a positive rating would be the timely arrival of the rest of my plants!

Overall, the prices are in line with the merchandise received. If you can afford better quality, I'd suggest doing so. If not, DG is a good option.