Comments regarding Burgess Seed

Do not buy from these crooks or their affiliates in Bloomington, IL! I purchased a large order of fruit and nut trees. They shipped in a flimsy plastic bag with staples at the top. Everything was bone dry. Some trees did not have roots. The pruning was more like shredding. They did not fill my order with the correct variety even though it still showed in stock when I received my order. They decided to ship over a weekend instead of during the week so the order took longer in the hot truck. Trees were missing bark. There is zero customer service as far as a manager just a general email. They made me pay shipping to return this broken order and subtracted "shipping + additional handling" which was twice as much as I paid to send back at the same method. I have done business with multiple online catalog and local companies including stark, gurney, lowes, Home Depot, tractor supply, local nursery and more. Burgess is the worst place I have ever done business whether it be for my yard or anywhere. Do not waste your time or hard earned money because they have no problem taking it from you without giving you product.

I placed three different orders with Burgess Seed Co. back at the end of may. I had read a lot of reviews and was shocked at how many negative reviews people were posting. I stayed unbiased, waiting for my order to come in so I could make my own judgements. Needless to say within a two week time period my orders come in. Now I'm going to tell you exactly how the looked when I received them. The orders were inside solid green shipping bags, these weren't flimsy. Each plant was individually protected by a cardboard pouch, neatly stapled at the top with tags for identification. Now my order included climbing vine, bushes, container plants and such. How thrilled was I when I saw how lush and green my plants were! There was no mold or broken plants. They didn't look like twigs either. Overall I am completely satisfied. You get exactly what you pay for, these plants wer e cared for and shipped appropriately. Any mishandling happens between your postal service and delivery. I will continue to order from Burgess Seed and I recommend that you give them a chance too. They were prompt to answer any questions that I had, and were never Impatient with me. Thank you for making my experience pleasant and hassle free!

I placed an order through this website before doing research on it. If I had, I doubt I would have ordered anything from them. That being said, my partial order arrived 17 days after placing it. I ordered mosquito "shoo" geranium (4), 1 orange velvet rose, 6 sub zero ivy, 1 stevia sweet leaf, 2 Tahiti sunrise dahlia, 1 pack of large gourd seeds & a pack of sponge (luffa) seeds. (The seeds arrived separately a few days later.) I took pictures of the order when it arrived, my fiancé was cracking jokes.."if I knew you were paying for twigs & dead weeds I would've brought you a truck load for free.." That being said, the plants did still have a little life in them. I soaked them all for 6-12 hours (depending on its condition) in water with some miracle grow all purpose plant food, before even attempting to transplant or plant anything. I wish I could add pictures to this to show the order & now (a 2 months later) of how the plants look. The geranium, stevia & velvet rose all lived & are doing well. The seeds are growing fine. Out of the 6 ivy, only 2 are still alive, but haven't shown more than an inch of growth. The dahlias (which came in the form of dahlia tubes) still to this day have not shown any sign of life, not any sprout.

The orange velvet rose had its first bloom a few days ago, & looks nothing like the picture. It looks more like a very light pastel colored small hybrid tea rose. And it's not much of a climber.

For the $40 something plus shipping I spent, I'm ok with that, because, well, you get what you pay for. I do not suggest ordering from this company unless you are fairly experienced when it comes to gardening, because the plants you receive are not strong & "ready to go". They require much attention for the first week or so.

I have not attempted to return or exchange the items that died, I see it as a waste of time considering the ivy was around 6 for $7. & the dahlias were 2 for $5.

Would I order from again? Maybe.. 70% no, 30% yes.
Would I tell a friend to order from them? Most likely not, unless your on a serious budget, have a lot of ground to cover & have a green thumb.

If you do order from here, don't order exotic delicate or unusual items. Stick with the basics & you might end up ok.

Now, from my experience, all the packaged seeds I received are growing great.. Including the free ones I received. So seeds are safe from here, but most likely cheaper at your local nursery after adding their flat $10 shipping to your order.

Bottom line is I think this company is legit, just poorly managed/owned. Buy using common sense & be ready to put your green thumbs to work in overdrive when your order does arrive.

I wish I had read this site PRIOR to ordering from Burgess Seed & Plant Co! In the UK, from where I hail, this company would be out of business for misrepresentation!

Along with others, I see, I was lured by their good-looking Garden Catalog and good prices, so without hesitation I bundled an order together totalling over $100. I was appalled at the quality of the plants I received and irrespective of whether they were in dormancy or not, seeing the results of money spent on dismal 'twigs', was very disheartening. I emailed my disappointment and was given the standard reply that the plants will grow during Spring. Reluctantly, I agreed to pursue the cultivation and I actually gave them better treatment than one would if I had received outwardly, healthier looking plants.

I have to report that NONE of the plants grew at all!

Again I pursued the company by email and was informed that if I returned the shipping label, replacements would be made available.

The subsequent Credit Note was for less than I had spent but at least it was something. I subsequently re-ordered shrubs to a bit short of the Note's value and included $5 bill for the remainder, as I was wary about giving credit card details now that I had experienced this disappointment.

Most of the replacement shrubs are now growing but they weren't what I had wanted initially and as a matter of fact 6 Hemlock plants from this replacement order, arrived as leafless brown twigs, so out went another email with pictures.

Initially, they agreed to offer an exception to their standard policy and offer replacements for the Hemlocks but, however, later retracted their response as I couldn't give them a copy of my credit card details for the order, or a crossed cheque as proof!

For anyone reading this post, my advice would be to spend a bit more on QUALITY plants from the likes of AdvancedTree.com or Arborday.org and resist the temptation to do business with Burgess!

Ordered some seeds, and Two Pecan Trees

Seeds came(not planted), then waited, and waited and waited for two sticks. I already have 40 pecan trees, so, this is not my first time with pecans. This is my first time with low expectations being met. I knew they were going to be small, root is included in the measurement. The two sticks arrived, and were already dried out. I followed the directions, then watered them for two months.

What a waste of my time. The first one broke off at the ground level. OK, I still have one. 50% is good, right? Then, after so long, I have to see that the second pecan is not alive.

Thanks for: 1) wasting my time ordering, 2) wasting planting a dead stick. 3) wasting my time watering. 4) Sending back a package slip. 5) Wasting one year of growth. 6) knowing that if a replacement even comes, that it is coming from the same place.

There is always " Next Year" since this is the Year of the Snake.

If you offered a 100% refund, you would go out of business.

Please explain how this is a good experience, in any way.

I went through HELL with this company, absolute HELL- and over one tree! My order was incomplete and missing one tree. It was difficult to contact a live person about this but I finally got a response that the order was complete and they were not going to send me a replacement tree. So, basically they were calling me a liar. So I contacted the BBB and Burgess responded that the order was complete and they were not going to send me a replacement tree. So I started a charge back on my credit card. My credit card company made a mistake and did a charge back for the entire order. So Burgess sent my CC company copies of my email to them stating that I was only missing ONE tree. I contacted the exact person I spoke with at my bank (I live in a village and people know each other). The gal at the bank apologized and stated that she filled out the paperwork wrong. By that time, Burgess stated that they would send a replacement tree, which they did but by this time, it was way too late in the summer to plant a tree. The replacement tree I received wasn't fit to plant. It was small, with a damaged root system and broken and dead branches. Looked like they pulled it from the compost heap. It didn't survive the winter. I will NEVER order from this company again and I would advise anyone to avoid them and the other companies too. Just go to BBB and see all the negatiev write ups on them and their other companies. No customer service. Their reps act like they just took a beating and you're trying to pour salt on their wounds. Even today I cannot believe the way I was treated.

"On May 28, 2013 2:26 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of this customers experience which sounds as if it was compounded by the bank. If their is an error in shipping we gladly fix this error. We take pride in our customer service and apologize for any inconvenience this has caused."

Burgess Seed & Plant Co. is a total fraud. The only good thing about them is that they have beautiful catalog and attractive prices. But don't fall for it. Even with their low prices you will lose your money and time.

In 2012, I ordered plants for more than $160 and most of the plants were delivered either dead or mislabeled. For dead plants I requested a replacement, and they sent me again dead plants. For mislabeled plants (they sent me ostensibly black currants but the plants were anything but.) After much back and force e-mailing and sending them back the plants they seemed to agree that the plants were not the black currants and issued a replacement certificate for $25 which stated that it must be used “during the next regular season”.

When I placed my new order for $24 for 2 plants this spring with this replacement certificate they sent me 2 dead dried plants (the plants were sent in a soft plastic envelop without any bending protection, so one of them was broken at the root, the other one did not have root at all, just a dry stick).

After I contacted them about this, their reply was “The 1 year replacement guarantee is valid for 1 year from the receipt of the Original PAID order, and does not extend with issue of replacement.” That concluded their customer service.
So their replacements has NO GUARANTEE, therefore they can and they do ship any garbage to you in a soft green plastic envelop.

I use mail orders from various nurseries for many years, and most of them are good or excellent. But this company, Burgess Seed & Plant, is just as horrible as it can get.
Avoid Burgess by any means. Their plants are horrible, their customer service is awful and their no guarantee replacement policy sucks as well.

These guys should go to jail for they are defrauding thousands of gardeners. Stay away from Burgess Seed & Plant Co.

"On May 28, 2013 2:14 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of this customer’s experience as we do take pride in our customer care. We do have both a refund and a replacement guarantee which is clearly posted on our website and we stand behind them. "

Beware of their guarantee. They will not honor it unless you retain the original shipping label. This is a company policy designed to avoid the guarantee since few people probably retain this and there are multiple other ways to prove the purchase. I e-mailed from my original sales receipt e-mail. Burgess responded:

We are sorry to hear of the problem you have had with your plants.

Our guarantee regarding replacement is as follows:
If any item you purchased from us does not live, or if you are certain that
your plants are dead, for a FREE REPLACEMENT just RETURN THE ORIGINAL
SHIPPING LABEL along with your written request within 1 year of receipt.
Replacement guarantee is VOID unless the original shipping label is
returned.

Therefore, for replacement, as required by the guarantee and to expedite the
handling of your inquiry, please return the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL from the
package. The original label contains all of the necessary information needed
to efficiently process your adjustment and it acts as a sales receipt.
Please include a full explanation of the problem by item name and quantity.

"On May 28, 2013 1:46 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We do have a refund and replacement guarantee and we stand behind them. Our guarantees are clearly posted on the catalog, website, even on the label itself.

A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information. "

I read a lot of negative reviews but I really wanted cheap trees so I decided to risk it. I placed my order in early Feb. My order arrived in early March. It consisted of many sticks with roots. Each stick was clearly labeled so I would know what was what.

I didn't know where I wanted to plant my trees and I had read so much about trees never growing so I decided to just plant them in a bunch of pots for now.

After a few weeks the first trees started growing leaves. Slowly several more of the trees began to show signs of growth. Many did not. By the end of March, 6 trees were still sticks and 4 had sprouted. By mid April 2 more trees had sprouted. By last week 4 trees still hadn't done anything and I told my hubby it was time to forget it. But I was busy and didn't have time to through them out. Yesterday 2 more trees were showing life!

I think people who write the bad reviews about trees being dead don't think about the different time periods for different types of trees. I bought two of each tree type and each type is sprouting within a day or two of each other. It has taken two months for my lily of the valley trees to sprout! And I was sure they were dead. I am so glad I didn't give up. The only two trees to not sprout out of my 16 tree order are my red buds but I will not give up.

I wonder how many of those negative reviews just didn't give their tiny plants time to wake up. I love my trees and the ones that have started sprouting are now growing like crazy! I would absolutely order from them again.

"On May 28, 2013 1:43 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

Thank you for your post! We are happy to hear that your trees are thriving! Happy Gardening!"

I placed an order on April 18th for 23 plants. Its been over two weeks now, so I decided to give Direct Gardening a call to see if or when my plants would be shipped. The line was busy, I called several more times at different parts of the day, the phone line always busy, so I tried calling Four Season's Nurseries phone number instead - again, the phone line constantly busy. I've emailed them as well, and yet to receive a response. If they do not get in touch with me by Friday, I'm calling my credit card company and filing a dispute. Whether or not I receive my order, I will not order from Direct Gardening or Four Seasons Nurseries again.

"On May 28, 2013 1:39 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information. We do hope to hear back from the customer as we would like to help resolve this problem."

Our order arrived in the time line stated, the plants were in excellent condition. We were very pleased with the service and our order... Great Job !

"On May 28, 2013 1:38 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

Thank you for your post! We are happy to hear that you are pleased with your order. Happy Gardening!"

I ordered 28 plants and 1 pack of seeds, totalling over $79. I did receive the pack of seeds. However, it is now May 3 and I have still not received any of the plants. I have not received ANY status updates, anticipated ship dates, tracking numbers, etc. Nothing. I have contacted Customer Service twice, and the only thing they tell me is "soon" and "in time for planting in your area." Well - planting time in my area is almost over! If the plants arrive and in good shape within the next week, I will consider updating this review. Either way, I will NEVER again order from this company. At this point I'm hoping that I didn't lose $79 for non-existent products!

"On May 28, 2013 1:37 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of this problem. A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information"

I ordered 54.00 in plants (including their 9,99 shipping) and received a giant green unpadded bag with my order in it. Needless to say many of the 'dormant' branches were broken, their idea of a 1-3' tree is a single stick smaller than a pencil, and my rose bush (again the few branches were no bigger than a pencil if even) was bare root but enclosed in a non-vented plastic bag in itself that it's molding.
Today I emailed the customer service department and am awaiting their reply. The fact that their return policy requires the ORIGINAL shipping label is insane - they have all orders on computer - they KNOW who ordered what. What happens if I were to return the label now and then later this season I have problems with a different product from this same order ? I would no longer have the label!

The order I got I will plant in pots with good faith............but not feeling too confident. For $9.99 they could afford a box!
Stay tuned for further developments

"On Apr 30, 2013 1:25 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of this customers experience. Of course if any item is received not as advertised we would be happy to issue replacement.

Once we have received the original shipping label we do keep it on file for the duration of the guarantee. Should any of the remaining plants need to be replaced we would simply need to be contacted.

A customer care representative has contacted this customer to see if we may be of assistance."

Received my plants several weeks ago, soaked according to directions and planted in potting soil. They are growing well and greening up great! Lots of new leaves! I will be ordering again! Thank you Burgess!

"On Apr 30, 2013 1:18 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

Thank you! We are happy to hear that your plants are thriving. We look forward to being of service in the future!"

Horrible company. I ordered a Dawn Redwood from this company and it came in a red bag with completely dried out roots. To top it off they had packed starter fertilizer (another part of my order) in the same bag, which had spilled out and coated the roots. How can a respectable company send bare root trees with no packaging material to hold in moisture? Don't they care about their product at all?! Needless to say I'll be asking for a replacement until I get one that might actually grow.

"On Apr 11, 2013 2:06 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of the problem with this order. The bare root items are dormant when shipped which is why there is no moisture or soil around the roots as this is not necessary.

We have contacted this customer via D-mail to see how we may be of assistance.
"

Ordered 2 cherry trees&10 asparagus plants. Trees arrived bare roots dry as a bone. 1 tree was as thin as a broom straw not as advertised. Asparagus plants had green mold. Reported this to customer svc. Told I had to send back shipping label to get replacements. Am in the process of canceling another order. Said it would take 2 weeks to cancel my order?? If they stiff me we will meet in small claims court no matter what it costs me. After reading all the other negative comments about this group of companies you have nobody to blame but your self if you order from them!!!

"On Apr 11, 2013 2:08 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information. We do hope to hear back from the customer as we would like to help resolve this problem."

If I had seen these plants in my local nursery with a FREE tag on them, I still would not have bothered to take them home. Upon receiving, I immediately followed planting instructions. I have a greenhouse and am no novice to keeping plants alive, but I cannot resurrect them when they arrive dead. My silk tree was 2 feet tall, a brittle dry stick with no green under the bark at all. My Thailand Giant was a withered stalk about 3 inches tall with a dead leaf on it. The Hybrid Poplars were about the only plant ordered that grew a leaf at all. All bulbs (ranaculus and windflower) are dried up, altho when planted a few sent out one exploratory green stem, so we will see what happens with them. The Christmas Cactus will probably make it, but is only 3 inches tall, withered and half the plant was pulled out of the dirt and cant be resurrected now. The Queens Tears was 5 inches tall, but all the ends of the leaves (this is an aloe-type succulent) are brown and rotted. In short, I would never ever deal with this company again. You can get a full refund if you return it all in 14 days with the original shipping receipt/invoice, at your own shipping cost. Their shipping is outrageous to begin with, sending dead plants in plastic bags to Arizona is ludicrous. Otherwise, if you want replacements, get ready to wait for a year. My last complaint is this: THEY decide WHEN they will ship you what you ordered. So if you are like me and want to start plants early in your greenhouse, forget it. They will ship when they want to ship and that is the end of it. Based on that alone, by the time they sent me my plants, it was already too hot to even have them outdoors, with highs in the mid-80s. Live and learn- buyer beware- don't be dumb like me!

im new here and people on here might already be too late for advice but if u look around virtually ALL of the nurseries hug the 50/50 live/ die sorta rating. ive been transplanting for a long time and u cant win them all no matter what. im gonna purchase some trees from burgess that i cant get locally and talked to them on the phone about some of the issues and i think most of it is the sending via USPS. i asked and she said i can request it be shipped fedex, its worth the couple extra bucks $11 to be exact... that way it gets some breathing room and actually gets there within 2-3 days for most and DOESNT stay baking in yer metal mailbox all day or weekend til u get it! ALSO>>>>>> i was at walmart today and saw an awesome product i never saw. prior to this its all kinds of plants in bags of dirt. rootings and flower bulbs. most were 2-4 of whatever type for $5.98. 3 hosta roots for $5.98 right off a warm shelf IN dirt i think is a no brainer. not worth it to go to wholesale mailorder when can walk right over to walmart and look at it. some of the flowers had nice green healthy blooms on them. well i thought they looked awesome and wanted to pass that on and if yer thinkin of buyin go there first and then like me try out a smaller order at the online sites to fill in the spots u want with more rare plants not available locally. GOOD LUCK and dont take it so hard when things dont live. just try again, noones really to blame for mother natures frailty!:) plus u have to be like me when it comes to gardening and really baby the things and have lots of free time for coddling....sometimes its a task that should only be attempted by the retired!:).......scot

I ordered some blackberry and blueberry bushes, and a couple of trees. They came in a giant red plastic bag, shipped via Federal Express. They were dry as bone and they are so brittle, I do not think there is a bit of life left in them. It is very sad, that I wasted my money on this company. I wish I had found this site before hand. I sure wouldn't have ordered from them.

"On Apr 11, 2013 1:51 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

Many of our items are shipped bare root and dormant as this allows them to be transplanted with much higher degrees of success. They are in a dormant state just like during winter with no leaves. It does not mean they are dead, but since they are dormant, and not leafed out, people unfamiliar with bareroot nursery stock may they mistake them for dead. We suggest soaking in water overnight or for a few hours before planting. Then keep well watered after planting and within 6 weeks of warm weather, the plants should break dormancy and show signs of life

We have contacted this customer via D-mail to see how we may be of assistance.

"

I ordered 3 gardenias, "Summer Snow", from Burgess. The hybridizer referred me to Burgess. After I completed the web transaction, I was informed an order may take 10 days to ship. A few days later, my local nursermany was able to secure 1 gallon sizes and contacted me. I sent an email and a web inquiry to Burgess asking if I could cancel. I was given a run-around for about 5 days, no person identified themselves, they always remained anonymous and referred to other departments. Finally when I pressed the matter I was advised that it would take up to 2 weeks to cancel if, and only if, they had not shipped. Finally I received an email saying that the items shipped.

They arrived today, Thursday, they were shipped by U.S. mail last Friday. What I received are basically newly rooted cuttings in 2 1/2" pots. Their leaves are bright green and look professionally cultivated, but they are about as fresh from the rooting bench as one might dare call a plant. One even had a bud on it that was about the size of the 2 leaves accompanying it -- no doubt the bud from the mother plant this cutting came from, it's as if somebody plucked a bloom and popped it into the 2 1/2" pot to root.

I think they are rooted, time will tell, I don't want to disturb these fragile newbies. It will probably take a good growing season, e.g. March - November, to get these to blooming size.

My feeling is I was ripped off. My time is best spent trying to help these fledglings along.

Their web site should have indicated these were newly rooted cuttings. I'm afraid to even touch the soil just in case they rooted during their 6 days in the U.S. Mail.

"On Apr 11, 2013 1:45 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear that we were unable to catch and cancel the order before shipping occurred as this can become difficult if the order is already in the shipping department. We do hope that the customer decides to keep the order as we are sure it will flourish, however if decided, we do also have a refund guarantee.

Many of our items are bulbs, bare root, or starter plants which is why we are able to offer them at such a great price!

"

on my previous post they said this customer was contacted, that is not the truth , no one called me or e mailed me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I sent the raper in months ago and did not get a responce yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of the many plant, tree, and seed co i deal with and have delt with this is by far the worst co , please save your money and go some where else !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the hassels will cost you a bundle in time and labor and time is money

"On Mar 11, 2013 3:14 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We do show that we tried to contact this customer via Dmail on August 27th and received no reply. We do hope to hear back from this customer as we would like to resolve this issue."

I had placed an order with Burgess late winter/early spring 2011. I figured since the company was only half an hour away from where I live that it would be great to support a local business. I had ordered three lilac bushes, a rose bush, a shade perenial package, plus free items. I planted all of these according to the instructions and NONE of them grew! Not even a seedling from the free seeds! Even though I had only spent about $46 I was and still am very disappointed. I emailed the company regarding this and received no response. I keep checking every year to see if maybe they just needed time but nothing so far. I even have some of the free seeds that they sent me left over and tried planting a few weeks ago in my greenhouse with no success.

"On Mar 11, 2013 3:22 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of this customers experience. We do have a 1 year replacement guarantee and do hope that the customer took advantage of this guarantee. A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information."

I will never order from this company again. The asparagus crowns sent to me looked questionable, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and planted them anyway, following the instructions to the letter. Nothing ever came up. When I sent back my label (a requirement of getting them replaced) I was sent a bag of nasty, moldy crowns that clearly belonged on the compost heap, not in the garden.

Also, my first order of paw paw trees had no visible root systems, but I planted them anyway -- again, giving them the benefit of the doubt. Of course, they never leafed out and were probably already dead when I planted them. They too were replaced -- but the replacements not only had no visible roots, but one was so long dead it was actually brittle. When I complained a second time, I got no response. This company obviously does not care about plant quality or customer service. From now on their catalogues go directly into the recycling bin and I tell any gardeners I know to steer clear of them.

"On Mar 5, 2013 4:09 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information. We do hope to hear back from the customer as we would like to help resolve this problem."

Strongly advise against buying from Burgess.

Last year I ordered several rose plants, the shipment came 3 months late, with 2 of them near dead. The size of these rose plants was less then five inches, very difficult to plant during hot summer. The replacement came - what a joke - even in smaller size, around 2 inches tall and near dead !!

Their replacement policy has plenty of fine print, you have to keep original labels. I did not follow up with their custumer service anymore, it would be a waste of time. I wish, Illinois Attorney General would take a good look at Burgess misleading advertisement policies.

"On Mar 5, 2013 4:12 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of this customers experience. Our guarantee is clearly printed on the website as well as all of the catalogs and we do stand behind this guarantee. A customer care representative has contact this customer for further information."

Posted on February 25, 2013, updated February 25, 2013
Posted on February 25, 2013, updated February 25, 2013
I could write a long essay on all the Plantron Group Companies...Scrolling down over the long list of negative comments below, my experiences were basically similar...Rotted material, repeat shipments of dead/rotted material, grey mold on roots, the exasperation of trying to get hold of a live person on the phone, long busy signals, etc...all finished out with the nuisance and discouragement of having to send back that mailing label and wait and wait and wait with not much assurance that the situation would be any better around the second time...or third for that matter. I have received entire bags of decaying putrid mush (for elephant ear bulbs) only to have them replaced with a second round of decaying, putrid white mush. Finally, the situation did get resolved...way late in the season I should say.

The crowning insanity occured 2 years ago when some Chesnut trees that I bought from them (nearly a decade back now), finally nutted for the first time...AND: after the Long wait they weren't chestnut! Great! Kind of late to send back that mailing label now isn't it!

Conversly, I have had some success with some of their stuff as well.

Generally I would say that mail order plants are for Experienced Gardners ONLY to start with...beginning gardners should never start with mail order material.

Mail order material is best bought in the Hundereds...not just one of these, one of those and one of that...my best luck from single plant mail order has been from Spring Hill...their packaging is superb...but their prices are also much higher.

Unlike many of the previous commentors, I probably spent several thousand with many of the Plantron Group Companies over about 6 or 7 years, because I finally learned: How to order, What NOT to order, and What to expect...I would temper my purchases with these companies with a less than 50% Success Rate right from the outset.

Forget about ordering delicate little Astilbies, Dicentras, Lupines and stuff like that...your success rate here will be less than 25%. Amazingly, I have had some of their Cheap Grab Bag assortments to yield some incredible results also: Some of the Best Globe Thistle, Kniphophia, and the tallest Yarrow and Liatris I ever saw came from these assortments. Bulbs mostly come through OK...also don't forget that some of these teeny little mail order Bare Root jobs are often best potted up for a year and set out next year.

I have never seen the Great Gunnerra survive no matter how many I ordered...I would love to hear others stories on that one!

Forget about the 5 in one Jobs also ( Fruit cocktail Tree, etc)...the grafts are set too close in, and what eventually happens is 2 Dominant Species crowd out the other 3 and you end up with a 2 in one Pear, or Apple. These little trees are Bud Grafted, and they more often fail than not...ALSO: If they do not have a photograph of a living specimen of this tree in their magazine, and have to resort to a cartoon drawing (like the one of that little boy with the Apple Basket under the tree) to serve as an illustration, then it probably means that they couldn't get it to grow either. I currently have one of their 5 in one pear trees, with 2 dominant limbs, a 3rd sickly one that is never going to fruit, and the othes are now a distant memory. They are actually grafted about 7 times or more, in case you have never seen the actual thing.

As the reader may have already surmised, at some point I just gave up and quit ordering from all of the Plantron Group of Companies.

"On Mar 5, 2013 4:07 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of this customer’s experience as we do take pride in our customer care. We do have both a refund and a replacement guarantee which is clearly posted on our website and we stand behind them. We are affiliated with other companies but these are separate companies.

A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information. We do hope to hear back from the customer as we would like to receive further information."

Just last week I placed an order with Burgess and have been very happy with their Customer Service. I am looking forward to the receipt of my plants at the appropriate seasonal time and will update at that point.

I was looking to save money. I ordered about 140.00 worth of plants a yr. ago from this company.-big mistake! Everything came late, some had roots some didn't there were moldy plants and dried up tangled mess of walk on me plants and dried up perwinkle plants.Soaked most in water hoping some would survive. Planted what I could.
Out of 100 plants, trees and shrubs, about 30 made it. I mailed back my shipping label to get replacements-which arrived 7 wks later in the dead heat of summer. They were moldy, and rotted, and did not grow. Instead of re-ordering I chalked it up to experience. Tired of sticks, mold, and dead tangled messes. You get what you pay for. Will never order from them again!

"On Feb 13, 2013 10:37 AM, Burgess Seed responded with:

A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information. We do hope to hear back from the customer as we would like to help resolve this problem."

I ordered on Aug 17, was told all the items were in stock and would be shipped in Sept. Which is when we need to receive items in Montana. When they did not arrive in Sept, I called in Oct and they said they were scheduled to be shipped out before Nov. 1. After talking to them on Nov. 5 they still had not been shipped and no one including the supervisor could tell me if my order would be filled on their last shipping date in 2 days. They couldn't tell me availablity and they said they couldn't contact anyone to find out if my items were even available. I have canceled my order and was extreemly disappointed in the service and how the supervisor was incapable of doing anything useful. You can't even cancel your order over the phone. But they can take your money over the phone!

Most reputable companies ship according to zones knowing that Zone 3 gets snow early and keeps it a long time. Burgess also charges upfront, instead of when they ship the items like other companies. I guess it's just as good to buy from Lowes or Home Depot, they have a one year replacement policy too, and you get to see the trees before you buy.

"On Nov 6, 2012 8:57 AM, Burgess Seed responded with:

It does state the following on our website:

"Please allow 1-2 weeks for your order to be processed. We will then ship based on weather and availability of the plants. We continue to ship through the summer months as much as possible. Most bulbs and perennials are usually available by September. Some deciduous trees and shrubs are not available until October."

A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information.

"

I placed my order on Sept 19 and was charged right away. I called their toll number for an update and they promised it was shipping shortly. When October 5 came and they told me it still had not gone out, I emailed to cancel my order. They did not answer the email so I called to confirm the cancellation. The agent advised it had shipped on the 5th despite their email to the contrary. They shipped the plants in a bag (which took a week via USPS). I have to say these are the most pitiful plants I have ever seen. Avoid these guys like the plague! Save yourself the time and trouble.

"On Nov 6, 2012 9:03 AM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of this customers experience. We do have a refund and replacement guarantee available. We have contacted this customer via D-mail to see how we may be of assistance."

I placed an order with eBurgess on 7/1/2012, emailed them on 7/13/2012 for a status update and was told that my order would ship at any time, I waited until 8/12/2012 to to email them again for a status update and received a reply as follows;

"Thank you for your e-mail regarding your order. We have checked on your
order and found that it is currently in our shipping department and
scheduled to ship at any time. Please allow time for delivery once the order
has been shipped."

Fast forward to 8/26/2012.....still no product, I did not receive my order, but I did receive a catalog....two months and nothing but a catalog ....hmm, don't think I have any motivation to double down on a very bad experience!

"On Aug 27, 2012 12:34 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of this customers experience. A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information. "

This is my first time ordering from any mail order/internet gardening site. After finding this site and reading all the negative feeback I was feeling discouraged about my two orders totaling around $180. The two week processing time came and went, I waited another week before calling, got a friendly CSR that informed me that shipments were being delayed because of the heat wave, this sounded reasonable. After another week my first package arrived. As others have said, the packaging is pretty sorry looking, and the sticks with roots looked pretty sad. My wife and I immediately planted everything as directed, and soaked the sticks overnight and planted the next day. Approximately four days later the order of fruit trees arrived, I was not there to witness the actual packaging but when I arrived home in the morning I was unimpressed with the purchases I'd made sitting in the bucket of water, but again we planted the trees as instructed.

It has been about three weeks, two (of 6) of the hydrangeas (which arrived potted) don't look as though they will make it. The blue festuca grass (3) does not show any signs of life. The two ferns and the daylilies from the color in the shade garden have done nothing so far. I bought the dwarf fruit tree trio, the only tree not showing leaves is the pear, but it is still green under the bark. The two cherry (trees/bushes) have shown the most growth with many leaves. The silk tree has one small green growth at the base and I'm hopeful as this was the largest stick I received. Everthing else from the shade garden has come up nicely, the ground cover rose has a great deal of new growth. The mock orange (2) while not getting any larger has green buds, and some leaves everywhere. The two lilies I purchased have come up although I'm not certain if they will bloom this year.

While I was put off by the slowness of the transaction, in this day and age we are so used to instant gratification with our purchases. The condition of the plants when they arrived was scarey. A lot of the plants that I bought, I have not seen anywhere else locally, and definately not at that price. Yes, it will be a year or two before some of my plants look anything like the ones in the catalog, but I was not expecting to get full grown plants/trees in the mail. I kept my shipping labels and I have every confidence any plants that do not make it through this winter will be replaced, maybe not as quickly as I'd like but I think gardening is an exercise in patience.

Another thought, I did buy some lily bulbs for my wife's birthday in May, during a QVC moment of weakness. 25 Dutch Master Grower bulbs for about $35. The bulbs arrived in a bag, inside a box. they were planted as directed 20 of them came up only about half of those ever bloomed. I complained and was told I would get 5 new bulbs. Three weeks later I received another box of 25 bulbs. I did not want to have to plant 25 more bulbs and frankly that was more than would fit into the area I had set aside for them. I planted them anyways and again only about 20 came up and fewer than 7 will bloom before winter. None of the blooms were anything like the ones on TV. I paid much more for these bulbs up front and my results with them is not as good as those with Burgess, so far.

I got a tricolor brugmansia 1 years ago and it is a big gorgeous plant now!

1. trying to get through to make a complaint is almost imposible. 2.this is my second time ordering from them,was not real happy with my almond treesthe first time, the roots were broke off at about 3inches and 5inches. so like a fool I tried again telling the lady about it ,she said she would make note of it. once again the root was missiing. I have a small nursery and tryed to save it but to no avail. 3.this time I bought a gogi poted to do cuttings , the pot was crushed ,the stem was about 3 inches 1 bud and no roots, although I was able to put hormones on it and root it in my green `house. but for ten bucks the plant should well rooted. 4. out of 6 pecan trees all planted in my nursery in 5 gal buckets with pro mix only 2 broke dormency. 5,the same with the 3 papa trees planted in buckets with pro mix none broke dormency. 6.There prices sound good but when you consider the size and lack of quality its just as cheep to go to the local nursery and get a potted plant you know is alive !! 7.The one thing that I have bin pleased with both times is the chestnut seedlings they are of a good quality and price.

"On Aug 27, 2012 12:26 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

A customer care representative has contact this customer for further information. We do have a 1 year replacement guarantee on all of our plants and do hope that the customer takes advantage of this guarantee."

I ordered plants on June 26, 2012. The company website says the delivery time is two weeks. They charged my credit card on the day I ordered the plants.
Two weeks passed but my plants did not arrive. I contacted the company and they said shipping had been delayed but they hoped to begin shipping again the following week. Three weeks passed with no notification and no plant delivery. I ordered the plants with the anticipation they would arrive in time to get them established before I left for vacation. On July 20, 2012 I contacted the company and ask them to cancel my order and refund my money. Today is July 31, 2012 and I still have not received a refund. I would stongly recommend against ording from this company!!!

"On Aug 2, 2012 2:37 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

It does state on the website to allow 1-2 weeks to process an order. The orders are then scheduled to ship based upon plant availability and weather. This information is also printed on the order confirmation. We do continue to ship through the summer months as much as possible but do sometimes halt shipping due to the hot weather. We have been watching the weather closely and there were a couple of weeks in July we were unable to ship. This is to ensure your plants arrive in the best condition possible. A customer care representative has contacted this customer for further information."

I have been not only pleased but somewhat amazed at the plants I have ordered from Burgess. Especially noteworthy are the Rose of Sharon trees I purchased for about $2.50 each. They have been planted in my smaller garden less than 6 months and today, two of the plants are covered in a mass of double purple blooms. The other two plants are begining to exhibit a plethora of buds.

My Sugar Sweet Cherry has also performed well above all expectations and has grown over two feet in less than six months.

I did receive a damaged climbing rose (the tap root was broken in shipping) and immediately got a healthy replacement. It too is growing at an astonishing rate.

I don't think you can find better values by mail/internet than with Burgess!

The Good News:

I placed a large ($300+) order, which included over 250 plants.

The order came in 2 separate packages, approximately 2 weeks apart. I was able to plant the plants in the first package right away, and most of those did well. The second package came just before we left town. While we were gone, there was an unexpected hot spell, and even though I had heeled in the plants, many of them had dried out.

We still had to dig holes and make gopher cages for the 100 burning bush plants, which were our top priority. It took another week for us to get all of the plants in the second package planted. By that time, some of them had passed the point of no return.

We planted them anyway, knowing that we wouldn't really know the status of them until we had tried.

After 6 weeks, we counted it up. We had lost 38 out of 100 burning bush plants, 7 out of 12 lavender, 1 banana, both elderberries, 1 hosta. Actually, that's not a bad percentage, considering the circumstances.

Since I felt it was mostly my fault that the plants had died, and since it was now getting to be pretty hot weather, I emailed Burgess, letting them know I was planning on purchasing new plants to replace the ones that didn't make it, and asking if it was too hot to plant now.

They responded that if I had the original shipping label, they would replace the plants free. I hadn't kept the original label, and again, told them I was planning on purchasing the replacements. They offered, on a ONE-TIME basis to replace the plants using an alternative method of actual purchase evidence.

I thought that was EXTREMELY generous, considering that it was (mostly) my fault.

I also find their prices to be extremely good. I would guess that for the most part, it's because these are shipped as bare-root plants. As long as you're prepared to deal with the plants as soon as they arrive, this is an extremely economical way to buy plants.

And now, the Bad News:

Yes, it was a long time from the time I ordered until the plants were shipped. The web site said 2 weeks, and I think that's probably because it may take that long to actually dig the plants and get them ready for shipment. But that's still a long time to wait, and since the plants were shipped in 2 separate packages, the 2nd package took even longer.

There was no notification of when the plants were shipped, so I wasn't prepared for their arrival. I think it's very important to send an email when they're shipped. With any of the major shippers, it's very easy to do that.

Yes, some of the plant roots looked moldy. It's very hard to tell if that was due to the specific circumstances that my plants encountered. I really don't know if those were some of the plants that didn't live, because we went ahead and planted everything.

One of the plants that I ordered were 'out of stock' and they replaced them with a different plant that I knew nothing about, without asking me in advance. I would have, instead, asked them to cancel that part of my order.

All in All, with the good and the bad, I would order from them again.

i ordered plants worth$166.80 from this company on 02/17/2012. this was my first time dealing with them. i wish i had taken the time to read this site. i received my 1st package and most of the plants were dead or rotten . i called the phone number many times and got busy signal. i wrote emails complaining about the order and asked to cancel the order completely . they asked me to mail back the package which i did and paid the postage. they did not cancel my order and sent me the 2nd part of the order which was in poor condition . again the same song and dance. i again spent time and money to call., email and paid postage to send the 2nd package back. they finally made a partial refund of$ 87.57 to my account 3 mounts later. today i receive a 3rd package of a rose which is 2 inches tall .!!! are these people out of their mind? How many time should i tell them please can my order? cancel means cance !!!! their customer service representative is not helpful and actually hurts the image of the company. i am still trying to get the rest of my money back. this company is still in business due to people like me who is trusting and thinks companies are trustworthy and honest. soraya burg

"On Jul 16, 2012 11:32 AM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear of the problems with this customers order. We have contacted the customer via D-mail to request further information."

I received my order two months after it was placed. This is by far the slowest and most questionable company I've ordered plants from.

There are absolutely no tracking numbers, customer service is nearly impossible to get ahold of, much less getting a straight answer if you do get a person on the line. I ended up having to resort to their online feedback form and each time I asked for shipping information I was given a vague answer that part of an order had been shipped or wasn't shipped. They wouldn't provide shipping dates, which part of the order was sent out, expected delivery date, etc...

As for the plants themselves, it was a total loss and waste of my money. Everything was either dead, moldy, or damaged beyond repair. I had ordered:

Arrived yellow and moldy:
10 Mixed Color Hybrid Lilies
2 Creeping Phlox

Arrived as what appeared to be dead twigs or bulbs with poor to non-existent root system. Despite best attempts, no foliage or further root growth ever occurred:
1 Persian Lilac
2 Dahlias, Tahiti Sunrise
10 Eye of the Tiger Dutch Iris
2 Red Maples
2 Butterfly Bushes

Severe damage due to poor shipping methods:
12 Douglas Fir Hedges

After trying several weeks in vain to revive these plants, which Burgess insisted were simply "dormant", I sent the original shipping label back with a written replacement request. Its been over four weeks now and I've received nothing but silence from them. I can only imagine that if they did actually uphold their end, I'd probably receive more dead and damaged plants.

For the cost, I'd like to think that they could at least utilize a more reliable shipping method than the U.S. postal service (which kindly stuffed my dead plants into the mail box, for me to retrieve moments later) and a bit more protection than a flimsy green plastic bag (that got ripped apart by fir and maple limbs during shipping).

All in all, I would never recommend them to anyone. They seem to be more interested in making a dollar and running with it than quality or customer service. I'm amazed they've lasted this long with such questionable business ethics.

"On Sep 5, 2012 12:21 PM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are pleased to have celebrated our 100th year anniversary this year and to have been part of America’s gardens and gardener’s lives for so long. We aren’t sure why this customer is saying that they did not receive the order until 2 months after it was placed. The first package shipped in two weeks and the 2nd package in three weeks. Our website from which he ordered does clearly state that processing takes 1-2 weeks and then plants are shipped by availability and weather. We are sorry to hear that some of the items did not survive. However, all of the items are covered by our one year guarantee. We did send a Dmail to this customer and hope they take advantage of our guarantee. "

Thought at first wow this will be great all plants we wanted from one place. But that happiness was short lived once it arrived.
Before reading further read this "Don't buy from Burgress spend the extra monies and you will be much happier."

Most arrived dried and even the horseradish was smaller than a pencil nothing like the roots show in their catalog. also the horseradish was not the same # as the one I ordered.
So we contacted customer service and received plant it it should all grow and the horseradish should be large by fall.
I have grown horseradish before and picked up roots and other plants locally to supplement this batch and all the local items have bloomed none dead.
I have spent double locally and received less but all is blooming and growing well.
But my $75+ order from Burgess approx 50% not blooming.

6814 Phlox, Creeping 5 of 12 dead/brown

6811 Periwinkle 25 of 25 dead arrived as brown sticks have yet to bloom

7394 Bulb Garden, 50 piece Yet to see any pierce the soil surface

7741 Garden, Color in the Shade, 2 blue hostas and 4 trinity and one fern have grown nothing else
2 Regal Blue Hosta (mid summer)
4 Red Trinity Plants (early summer)
3 Mixed Astilbe (summer)
2 Double Blue Barlow Columbine (late spring)
5 Lily of the Valley plants (early summer)
2 Cinnamon Ferns.

6243 Horseradish 3 roots came smaller than pencil have yet to show but others picked up locally have that were planted 2 weeks later in same soil

6853 Freesia, Mixed 24 of 24 have yet to show

7270 Hosta, Regal Blue 2 of 2 have yet to grow but the ones included in 7741 did

6665 Hosta 2 of the 6 have yet to show others are 2-4 leaves 6"+

6755 Daisy, Alaska Shasta 3 of the 8 have yet to show

6298 1 Pkt Vine Peach nothing has shown yet

6702 1 Pkt Trip-L-Crop Tomato 14 plants have reached 2-4"

1281 4 Flowering Shamrock Bulbs 3 of the 4 bloomed

5606 3 Peacock Orchid Bulbs 2 of the 3 bloomed and are 6"+

The guarantee is a joke send back the roots some of which are so small or rot in the year and you send the original label so if you have recevied dead items and send the label I asked them what about next spring when the rest doesn't bloom I won't have the label....no response as of yet.

"On Jul 3, 2012 9:17 AM, Burgess Seed responded with:

We are sorry to hear that some of the plants have died. All of our plants are covered by our one year replacement guarantee for which we do not require the return of the dead plants. Once we have received the original shipping label we do keep it on file for the duration of the guarantee. Should any of the remaining plants listed on the label happen to die we would simply need to be notified. We have tried to contact this customer via Dmail, but have not received a response.

"