Comments regarding Burgess Seed

I can't say any thing good about this company. I ordered plants that were advertised as field ready and recieved seedlings. The plants were supposed to be 8-15 inches and only 7 of the 48 were longer than 4 inches. I also ordered some trees and two of those were broken inside the bag. The other two were twigs, and I mean that in the sense that they were completely dried out. I soaked them in water for 4 hours and then planted them and they died. This was the replacement order from what I was sent last year. The original was the same thing only a year earlier. Of the 48 plants that I recieved this year only one is still hanging on. The free gifts were totally not worth bothering with either. Shopping this company is like throwing away money.

Took about 2 MONTHS to arrive, not two weeks. And only arrived after I sent an email asking when it was going to be sent - AMAZINGLY enough, it was just being shipped that very same day!

The seeds have been ok. The cuks and the melons seem to germinate, but of the two kinds of basil? Nothing. What ever. I can buy more seed at the local store and start over.

The real issue is the raspberry plants. They arrived completely dry. Crushed. Broken. Tied together and tossed in a shipping bag with no moss, no nothing to protect them. They were dead twigs. I trimmed them, soaked them, planted them in conditioned soil... and big surprise, a month later, guess what I have.

Dead twigs.

Be advised that Burgess was once a good company. But it has been sold and resold until only the name exists. It is part of a conglomerate of 10 companies, none of which is very reliable.

I placed an order for about $50 with Burgess, and they immediately billed my credit card. I should have been suspicious right away when they didn't send a confirming email. (How many web-sellers don't send a confirming email?) Two weeks later, having heard nothing from them, and having received nothing from them (other than the debit to my charge card) I thought to research them. (shoulda done it sooner, I know). When I discovered all the bad reviews, I contacted Burgess & demanded to either get confirmation of shipping, or to have the order cancelled. They responded that they didn't know whether it had shipped but said they'd "try to" cancel the order. Eight days after I cancelled the order they shipped out a small fraction of my order, and issued a credit for about half the cost of the entire order. I contacted my bank (cr card co) to dispute the charge, and my bank contacted Burgess. Burgess refused to fully refund my money. Now I'm stuck arguing with my credit card company. In my opinion, Burgess engages in deceptive practices, at best. Don't be fooled! Buy from someone reputable.

add me to the list of unhappy customers!..Ordered a number of plants late march and as I live in Florida was concerned they be shipped early spring...they assurred me via email that I would receive my bulbs and flowers .....yep....you guessed it...still waiting...when I try to contact them via email, I get the standard "we will ship when it's time".....IT'S TIME!///Never again...I have written off the money (close to $l00) and have bought more plants locally .....I think because of the "Burgess" name which I confused with the "BURPEE" name...more people order from them .....plus their catalog is lovely.....Now, if I could only plant the CATALOG... diane

I placed an order 6 weeks ago and heard nothing. I finally called 4 weeks later and they still had not processed the order nor contacted me. They finally processed it but after another 2 1/2 weeks it has not been shipped. When you call them they are extremely cold and lacking in any real customer service. This company needs an overhaul. It is amazing that they are still in business as they cannot seem to respect their customers nor ship out their orders in a timely manner. Most companies I order from ship within 1 to 2 weeks. Unbelievable!

The bill you immediatly, and it has taken over 1 month for the order to arrive, but it arrived in very good conditon with a full root system,. It is now up to me to ensure that the plants grow.

What was I thinking? I knew of the Burgess reputation from here and elsewhere. About 9 years ago I ordered some hybrid poplars from them and was satisfied. This year I decided I wanted some more as well as some hybrid willows. I'd already placed my orders for other bareroot stock so I figured I'd give Burgess a shot again. Simple order, popular stuff, past the peak ordering time (April 18) I'd think - should be easy right?

It's been 3 weeks. No communication from them. No trees. Just consider me one more dissatisfied Burgess customer.

So far, my experience with Burgess has been mostly positive. I had placed an order, sometime in early March, and like others, was charged right away. Of all the trees I ordered, all but 2 had a good root system. The 2 that didn't did have roots, but didn't look anywhere as good as the rest. The only problems I had with my received order was that the Grannysmith apple tree was dead, and the "pink lemonade" blueberry bush is very small, and even though I planted it in a larger pot, the leaves are starting to dry out. Everything else was received alive and in good condition.

I have yet to try and get a replacement for the Grannysmith, but I will update with my experience when that happens.

Of course, I was like others and placed my order BEFORE I researched the company. After reading all of the negative reviews, I'll be very hesitant to place another order with them next year, and consider this order to be my "beginners luck".

Posted on May 4, 2010, updated May 7, 2010
Last year was the first year I planted anything in my yard, so you might say I was a mail order "virgin". I ordered all of my order from Burgess. Things took a long time to arrive (months) and customer service was always helpful in explaining that they shipped according to my location planting schedule. I ordered an empress tree, 3 hall's honeysuckle, tomato plants and various other things. The empress was a moldy hand full of roots, the honeysuckle was hopelessly dried out and the tomato plants looked like they went through a tornado in transit (broken off and soil inside the bag, but no longer in the pot around the roots.I planted all of it, but nothing happened. I ordered replacements for all-via the "guarantee". The second empress was just as bad and didn't grow. The replacement for my 3 honeysuckles was 1 plant and it did indeed grow. The tomato's arrived so late that I had gone to the local stores and bought replacements and gave my mail order ones away.

Anyhoo.....fast forward to April of this year. I was silly enough to place another 2 orders, one week apart. Over $200 worth of plants, seeds, bulbs. I sent an email off to them 3 weeks later (as you know, the web site says 1-2 weeks processing). The kind responder online said it was in their shipping department and would ship anytime (I'm not clear on if this means it will ship soon, or anytime they get around to it). A week later I called, as I would like to be home when the mail arrives so they won't bake all day in the sun. The service rep told me that my order was "being processed" and the ship time is 2-4 weeks.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch....my plants look wonderful! But, those were the ones I bought from the local stores. So, if my plants are growing just fine and I bought them locally (I've had them in the ground for almost a month now), why does Burgess hang on to my money AND my plants. Obviously it is within my local planting time. I ordered a smaller order from Gurney's on the same days and I got them a week after I placed my order.

A quarter pf the plants I ordered arrived dead.... half of them did not make it through the winter.... I will not be ordering from them again.

I ordered three plants (two hazelnuts and one walnut). Only the walnut lived ... although it arrived with barely any root.

Posted on April 26, 2010, updated May 2, 2010
I ordered two "Populus" trees from this company on 03/26/2010 and I received them today on 04/26/2010. After ordering, I went and did some research (I know I should have done my research first!) and found out that this company had a multitude of negative feedback. After about two weeks from ordering, I called to find out about my shipping status. The people to whom I spoke with were very nice and answered my question. Anyways, I got the trees today and they arrived in a red plastic bag. The bag itself was large and cold. After opening the bag I found two 'sticks" with a complete root system. The roots themselves were moist and in good shape. I was happy to find out that the buds were swollen and leafing out. Some of the leaves were black and I suspect they experienced a frost. But most of the small buds were bright green. I have the roots soaked in water and ready to go as soon as I am done typing this. So in conclusion, the plants are of good quality and their customer service was great. The only downside of this company is their shipping. They take forever to ship, I should note that the package had an agriculture pass/permit. So that might explain the long delivery time. I will post a link with pictures.

I finally got through to this company by phone after trying for a week and only getting a busy signal. They did not respond to my emails. I was just trying to find out if my order was being shipped. I have waited the two week processing time and wanted to find out if the items were shipped. I was told that they would be shipped in 2-4 weeks. I did not know that there would be a 2-4 weeks shipping process before the items would go out and asked where that was stated in the order form. They did not have an answer to that. I will give it another week and see what happens. After that, I will cancel the order. Will keep everyone updated on the outcome. I will never do business with a company like this again.

3/5-Ordered 24 Fairy Roses. Arrived 4/2. All 24 are over 1ft tall, and very full already... 3/28- Ordered 6 Red Rugosa Rose Bushes which arrived 4/20,(just 3 days) all about 18" tall, and beginning to sprout this morning.I know, I may be pushing my luck, but so-far-so-good. I guess I feel that for so little spent, it's just a gamble,considering all the negatives to see if I win, or lose.

Posted on February 8, 2010, updated April 20, 2010
I ordered about a dozen assorted fruit trees from Burgess in early 2009 and despite the fact that they arrived when I was out of town for a few days (Mid March) I promptly set them in buckets of water when I returned for about six hours and then potted them up in 2 gallon pots, they all survived and leafed out nicely.

The only warning that I would give is that they put nylon tape ID tags on the trees that need to be cut off, if you don't they will constrict the tree as they start to grow.

I just ordered a dozen more assorted fruit trees from them and I'll update in about six months with the results.

For the price, they are generally good plants.

ALWAYS research an unfamiliar company before ordering from them...I ALWAYS did in the past, but this one I didn't! Murphy's law has all rights to me now.

I placed an order with eburgess.com for $49.71 on 4/10/2010. The order confirmation email was sent quick, but was lacking the usual info a reputable company includes, such as link to an order status page or account information. I decided I better read up on burgess and it's unbelievable what I found here and other sites! I tried to be optimistic about my order, thinking I might be one of the few "lucky ones" that have posted here. Well, 2 days later my credit card was charged the full amount so I "assumed" the order had shipped. I never received an email to that effect, so on 04/19/2010 I sent burgess an email asking what the estimated ship date would be. Response on 04/20/2010 was:

Thank you for your email. Your order is currently processing, which typically takes 1-2 weeks. Upon completion your order will be scheduled to ship based upon plant availability and weather.

OK - I understand my order is processing. That is hopefully a given since they charged me for it a week ago. All I wanted was an ESTIMATED ship date. Is it going to be 1-2 weeks, or will it be whenever the stuff that was supposed to be in stock is in stock? Is the weather between here and there below freezing...does anyone really understand the simple question I asked?

I called burgess immediately and spoke with a company representative. I explained my situation and was told "It says on the website you will be billed immediately". I told her "that's my mistake...I didn't see that, when will my order be shipped" and she said something like "it typically ships in 1-2 weeks". I asked to cancel the order and was told I had to send a letter asking for that in writing. I asked if she meant an email and she said "No". Are you serious!!!??? I ordered using the latest technology...but have to cancel using the post office? I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told she would tell me the same thing. I informed the rep I wanted to hear it from her supervisor then. When she answered I re-stated the situation. After some discussion she finally said I could request this cancellation by email, but she couldn't guarantee it would be canceled before the shipping dept received the notice. I asked if they had contact with their own shipping dept and she said they didn't! After voicing my opinion to her on the organization of their company (or apparent lack of) I told her I would send the email requesting cancellation AND file it with my credit card.

So far almost everything bad I've read about this company has happened. I guess in a few weeks I'm going to receive the standard green bag of dead and rotten sticks, then be hit with another credit card charge for the full amount. I will NOT say "avoid this company at all costs". I WILL say, before ordering PLEASE do your research homework on this company and all of its alias names! If you would like to use one of these companies after researching, there will be a vacant spot here for your opinion.

I ordered 108 dollars 4 fruit trees and some 3 blueberry from them in Jan 2010. (charged my credit card the next day) I got the red trash bag with plants in it April 13th 2010. The guess they are fruit trees none have any branches and one has no roots (none at all) I emailed them to say if your going to ship trees with no roots you should put some broken roots in the bag so it looks like fedex broke them in shipping. They copied and pasted a copy of there 1 year guaranty. Ship the shipping label and a note back and they will send me a new tree. but you can not send a copy of the label so the guaranty is only good on one thing in the order. The rest of the trees could and probably will die in the next few months because they were shipped dry roots (bone dry) so if I send the shipping label for the rootless tree I am out of luck for the rest of the order. I will never order form them again, even if the trees with roots do grow it will take 5 plus years to get fruit.

I wish I had known about this site prior to ordering from Burgess. SOME of my plants arrived today, and they are in horrible condition - Bare roots and half dead. Mold is on one of the bushes, which doesn't look as though it has enough viable roots to take. They're all dried up and brittle.
Don't waste your money.

I ordered an Almost Black Rose, and 2 Elderberry bushes from them. They arrived today and are in good condition. Burgess notified me that my order would arrive the first week of April and here it is March 31 and my plants are here. I am happy with Burgess and will order from them again.

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THESE COMPANIES TO ANYONE.

I have placed 3 orders over the last 5 years. To date they owe me $112.53 in replacement plants. Most received orders were dead or moldy. I had to go through BBB to get this credit. Now, just today; I received a postcard stating that I HAD WRITTEN TO SAY THAT I WAS RETURNING THE ORDER. I NEVER RECEIVED THE ORDER!!! Looking at the postcard, they have blended my P O Box with my street address. They are in different cities!!!! They have sent my orders correctly over the last 5 years. NOW THEY DON'T HAVE MY ADDRESS???

Posted on February 13, 2010, updated March 27, 2010
Posted on February 13, 2010, updated February 13, 2010
I have been ordering fruit trees and plants from Burgress for over 8 years. Every fruit tree that I have received has been true to name, healthy, and well grafted. In fact I have never had one of their trees fail to thrive and produce fruit. It's true that their stock is small but always alive and well grafted. For the money that you spend it is a very good investment. I have also ordered from about every high dollar company with some good luck and not so good. I've alway's believed that with Burgress you get the best deal for your money and everything that you order is exactly what you get no mistakes.

This company has gotten so big it no longer will allow anyone contact with anyone other than an answering service. Plantron Inc owns several catalog companies all owned by Richard Owens of Bloomington, Illinois. I was told that when you order that plant order is sent to the grower ...... so if you order 10 different things it can go to 10 different growers making it now almost impossible to cancel or change an order as it is NOT necessarily grown from the catalog address . This company and all other Planton/owen companies only allow the consumer access to the answering catalog people. There is no access to the billing, credit, shipping ,officers,owners,growers, inspectors , customer service and all has been hidden from the consumer . You will go crazy trying to find them and many a gardner has with no sucess. They get their money pronto but trying to get yours back for whatever reason is similar to trying to get rid of japanese beetles and quack grass......... beyond frustration ........... they just don't care . Years ago they did but those days are over . I remember in 80s and 90s talking with these owners and getting service and honest answers about plants but no more. I will never again give someone an order that is not the grower or owner and does not have a shipping or billing department. In the meantime I will continue to send my 2 emails and my 2 phone calls a day until I get my $200 back for an order that was placed and paid for in 1 day and then I had to cancel the next day due to incorrect catalog information. By the way this Richard Owens is the same man who on 2/25/10 claimed that a $4.5 million loan he had in his name was a forged signature ........... the bank says yes it is his signature and pay up......... It is in the news Google it ..........

I ordered 87.00 of plants from Burgess. 2 Mosquito shoo geraniums were DOA. 6 Black Eyed Susans DOA. 4 Willows DOA. 50 Periwinkles DOA. 5 Halls honeysuckles DOA. 6 Rosa Rugosa DOA. Spirea dead. Persimmon dead. Stargazer Lilies so small they only got 6 inches tall and didn't bloom. Daylilies tiny and dry. etc, etc. etc. Wish I had seen this site before ordering. Was about to order from Kelly when I saw its the same company as Burgess. Never again.

Like all private (non-government) companies, Burgess has a business model which is designed to sell their products, cover their overhead, and return a profit to the owners. It surprises me that people evidently expect to recieve a high level of customer service and first-quality plants when Burgess' prices are so low. Clearly, with average prices (in my orders) less than $2 per plant, something has to be sacrificed to make this business model work. Some plants in some orders will not be in perfect condition. Some customers will not recieve excellent service.

This is my second year ordering from Burgess. Last year, I felt that the shipping time that Burgess chose was arbitrary, and not related to actual weather conditions in my area. However, I was not surprised by this. I prepared my planting areas in advance and mulched them over until the green plastic Burgess bag appeared in the mail. I planted everything the evening it arrived. I worked past sundown to do so. Some of the plants I ordered failed completely. Others have thrived. Overall, considering how little they charge, I got good value for my money. 25 strawberry crowns, a damson plum, another fruit tree (it arrived dead and I have forgotten what it was) 3 monardas, and several flowering/vining plants for less than $40. The strawberries alone were worth the money. They have performed beautifully.

From a practical perspective, if I wanted 100% perfect performance, I would not have gardening as a hobby. I am prepared to accept that Nature may send mid-summer storms that will destroy my vegetables and flowers at their peak. In the same way, I am prepared to accept that low-priced mail-order plants may arrive in less than ideal condition. I would recommend Burgess to anyone who shares this perspective.

I was very skeptical about the low prices of this company. My grandmother has used them for years and she is about the pickiest woman I know when it comes to plants. She said she never had a problem with them in all of those years, so I placed my first order in March. My order took about six weeks to arrive, and when it did, it was in a green plastic bag. I did not think anything of it, because of what my grandmother had told me. All of the trees looked like sticks. It was startling, but we planted them and four weeks later, every (for the most part) was alive. The exceptions were all butterfly bushes and honeysuckle. It did not do anything. If it does not come up before the year warranty next spring, I will send them back. Also, the perrenial bargain was no bargain at all. It was very dissapointing for the money I paid. Things I was extremely pleased with: hybrid lilies, weigela bushes, rose of sharon, and the arbovitaes. I may need to add a few things after this long winter ahead of us, but I think if I mulch well eveything will be fine in the spring. I will definitely use them again!

nicely packaged - i look for companies that have quality packets - a good seed will always be packed properly - so says packetpete

We placed an order from this company on July 30th of last year. The order was for 136 assorted trees, a total of $202.82. We waited patiently, as these were cheap trees, as we fully expected they would ship near the close of the planting season. One shipment of a few trees arrived in September, but come late October, we still had not received most of our order, though my credit card had been billed on August 1st.
Most of our trees arrived in early November, later than we would have hoped, and in really sorry condition, completely dead-looking.

We were disappointed with the late shipping and with the apparent size and condition of the trees, but we planted them into a nursery bed upon arrival. To date none have shown any signs of life, all 136 trees are dead. We find it truly incredible that this would have happened had Burgess actually shipped us live healthy trees, we have a lot of experience with small transplants and cuttings.

Come the beginning of June, we called Burgess to try to resolve this problem, since none of the trees leafed out, or even greened up the twigs, and was very disappointed by their response. We were told that I could not have a refund because we had planted the trees rather than return them within the allowed 14 days. We had planted the trees because we didn’t want to lose the entire growing year and yet lost it anyway. I asked that we be placed at the front of the line for first shipment of the replacements so we wouldn’t lose a second season, and was told that they couldn’t do that and that some of the trees might already be sold out. We asked for a refund, and were refused.

We went through several phone reps and their supervisors, and eventually asked to speak to the owner and was told that he does not take phone calls, that I would have address this issue in writing. We did this, and received on letter with an unsigned note saying 'send original packing labels'. (We had enclosed photocopies with our letter, as well as copies of our order, credit card billing statement, and photos of our Burgess trees planted in our beds, not living.)
We sent them all of this information again, with the original shipping labels... that was one month ago, and we have heard nothing.
We ran a report on Burgess through the Better Business Bureau, and found they have HUNDREDS of complaints, and a D rating! If only we had known this before, it seems as though it's a company practice to defraud their customers. They are basically immune from credit card chargebacks because of the timed nature of plant growth and shipment, and they have many, many different company catalog names, so that the unwary might order again, even after having been ripped off by a different division before.

They don't seem to bother about responding to their complaints here, or at the BBB. No plant, at any price, is worth dealing with these people.

Wow! I am surprised at all the bad experiences! I just received my second order from Burgess. The plants look better than I imagined they would. I ordered 60 Arborvitae and 6 "Walk on Me" moss plants. I admit the Walk on Me plants are dry and brown, but this is explained in the catalog and on the website. They are not dead, but dormant. Anyway, the things that people seem to be complaing about are all described in the readings. So, I'm puzzled. Anyway, I am happy and will order again. By the way, my trees from my first order are doing well. Thriving actually. I did have some casualties with the Periwinkles, but am confident about receiving replacements. Also, I left them out of the plastic for a couple of days because I was interrupted during planting, so that could have been the problem with some of the Periwinkles. Get your stuff in the ground asap or store in in a cool place in the plastic until you can plant. Also, shipping in plastic is wise because it keeps the moisture in the plant and is also super inexpensive for us buyers. Well I think I've said all I want to say. Give them a try.

PS The free gifts are great! I received 3 ranunculus, 3 wildflower, 1 packet tomato seeds, 1 packet huckleberry. Excellent!

I purchased an 18 plant shade garden from this company. When it arrived, it looked like dead twigs and roots. I emailed them of the problem, received a form letter response and then nothing. We planted the material we received and took pictures the first two weeks. Nothing. Five weeks into this, we have eight struggling plants after much loving care, organic mulching (we make our own mulch) watering, there is no sign of the remaining plants. I don't think they died, I think they were already dead when they got here!

I used this company once before about ten years ago in another state and had the same problems and then just forgot about it. I know forgive and forget is a good line but I just forgot. I think live and learn is a better adage and now I have learned. Penny Jones

I have to say I havent had any problems with this company. The plants I ordered are doing well (Almost Black Roses), and I even had to email them about something, and got a quick reply. They even gave me some tips about bare root planting. I was surprised on how they were shipped. They came in a blue plastic bag. My Amazon orders dont even come in plastic. Not sure if thats how they keep their prices down. They have some of the best prices I have seen, but after reading all these reviews, I doubt I will purchase again. So I checked neutral instead of positive. I would say, purchase at your own risk. Sounds like luck is all it is when it comes to dealing with them.

BUYER BE WARE.I ordered two trees and a blueberry plant from Burgess. They were planted following their instructions. Only one tree lived and the other two are now in my compost pile. I contacted Burgess but because it was after the 14 day return policy (I couldn't plant my trees until after that time anyway because of my frozen ground) they will not refund me money for the tree and blueberry. I was told if I returned the shipping label and a list of the lost items they would replace them. But I did not save the shipping label so now I have no chance of getting any kind of compensation. I just wanted to warn other gardeners that might not know to not waste they time and money on any of their companies. They go under several different company names and they have several hundred complaints against them to BBB of Illinois.
Burgess Seed aka House of Wesley, Inc Additional DBA Names: Richard Owen Nursery
Farmer Seed & Nursery
Four Seasons Nursery
Inter-State Nurseries
Exciting Gardens
Royal Dutch Gardens
Honeycreek Nurseries, LLC
Kelly Nurseries
Plantron, Inc.
Burgess Seed & Plant Company
Direct Gardening.
(Burgess Seed)

Not really a bad place to buy plants. Certainly not a bad place to buys seeds. And you have to realize the depictions of the plants in their catalogs are what the plant will probably look like fully grown....which could take as little as a few months or as long as two years. My advice to those who want instant gratification....get thee to your local nursery. They have a plants in a variety of sizes of maturity including fully mature plants and trees. Now.... if you are in the stages of planning and starting from scratch, you're experimenting with color or whatever and you dont have to have that garden right this minute, then internet nurseries like Burgess are a good bet. For instance, I always buy big healthy tomatoes from any local nursery, but I always leave room for a Burgess, Gardners Choice, or Direct Gardening plant, just to see if I can make it grow to the proportions shown in their catalogs. So I would say, for the most part, my experiences with Burgess have been positive.

We ordered seed potatoes when them came in the mail they were nothing but a runny smelly bunch of mush.said they will give us a refund when we send them back.we refused and told them we would send the shipping label back as we would get in trouble with post office for sending liquid rot back in the mail

In February, 2009 I ordered $70.00 worth of plants, roses and other items from Burgess. They immediately charged my card, and when I did not see any plants at the back door, I sent an e mail asking ship / tracking info. "They will not ship until ready, We will advise when they ship" Seven weeks later I found a duct tape sort of bag on the back step with "plants" inside. Poor concept of plants I moaned but went ahead and un packed the bag. I got to plant some of them and now they are all dead. I went back and looked at the paperwork. They state at least 6 times, No return, refund or replacement without origional shipping label" Well the duct tape bag got tossed when the bag was unwrapped.

Now Today I went to The Home Depot and purchased real, live plants for $45.00 and planted them tonight. I sent letters and e mails to Burgess, but I do not expect a favorable response.

POOR way of doing business!


Jeonesborough TN

Like others, I ordered from Burgess before reading the ratings here. Overall, I think I ot what I paid for but there were a couple of problems.

Below is a list of what I ordered and the state of the plants I got

wild ("ditch lily") daylilies - these were great. Got mostly very good size tubers and they are growing like fiends in the pots I put them in--will put out in the garden this weekend.

assorted daylilies - some of these tubers were good size, others were very small and a couple don't appear to be growing--but overall, givemn the price, I am satisfied

Stella D'oro daylilies - VERY disappointing--got these TINY tubers, about half of which are putting up tiny shoots of green-maybe they will survive but I'm sure it will take a couple of years for them to get big enough to bloom. Several (around 3) just weren't big enough to even sprout on their own.

Tophat blueberry - very small and apparently completely dead seeding. Will take years to be big enough to have fruit, if it even survives. Right now it looks completely dead.

Lilly of the valley pips--these are all sprouting except for one.

Mosquito repellent scent leaved geraniums. I ordered two of thes-ht elaves on both were rotting and black and fell off but one has put out a bunch of new leaves. The other may put out new leaves but I'm not sure it will survive.

shasta daisies - I thought these bareroot seedings weren't viable but about 3/4a of them (maybe more) have put up tiny shoots. With some coddling I think they'll make it but will take a couple of years to become decent sized plants

Mock orange--looked like a dead stick but is now sprouting new leaves. It is a very small shrub but reasonable for the price

White tree peony - I thought this was totaly dead but I can now see a new leaf sprouting so maybe it will make it. Again, it will be few years before it gets to be a size that has several blooms

"Peace" rose - no sign of life so far but I plan on giving some fertilizer and am still hopeful. Root stock does not appear to be rotten in any way.

So, all in all I am satisfied except for the Stella D'Oro lily tubers and the blueberry plant. Ironically, these are some of the things that cost the most. Still, I suspect the cost of shipping to return these would be equal to or more than what I paid so I may not bother to return.

All in all, they provided me a lot of plants for a low price so it's to be expected that those plants aren't huge and are shipped bareroot. Reading the other reviews here, I would say that anyone that does order from them needs to be prepared. You should open what they send immediately and, also immediately, put them in peat pots or trays (or other pots) with potting soil. If you let them sit for any time, I am sure they will rot or not survive. Thanks to the reviews of others here, I was prepared when they came for an evening of plant triage and overall most stuff survived. Still, perhaps I just got lucky too since I did have some things that didn't make it.

I ordered 95.00 worth of trees/hedge and vines on 4/10/09. On 4/13/09 they charged my credit card the order amount but I heard nothing from them about anything being shipped.
Keep in mind that mail order and other businesses are not to charge your credit card till the item is ready to ship.
On 4/17/09 I still heard nothing so I e-mailed them asking if my order was shipped either in part or whole and if not why was my credit card charged already for the entire order. 4/19/09 I received a answer from them saying that my order was in there shipping department but nothing said about any ship date or a word about the early charges to my account. Also no name was put on the e-mail from them - Just said "Customer Service"
4/20/09 I did a BBB search on Burgess and there rating was at the bottom and they had a VERY LARGE number of complaints about Billing, Warrantee, Product quality and lack of product delivery.
4/21/09 I sent another e-mail asking about my order status and again stated that my credit card should of not been charged till product is shipped and only for what is shipped.
4/22/09 I received a reply back and again I just got a Bla Bla about 1 to 2 weeks to process the order depending on weather and product availability. So my real answer was when ever or if I get what I ordered will be when they wish and nothing once again about the early charges to my Card.
My response to this was- I called my Credit card Company and voiced my dispute about the problem of being charged on 4/13/09 and no product or service was provided as of 4/22/09 and explained the e-mails and they granted me instant credit canceling the charges to Burgess. After I hung up the phone I got back on line and sent another e-mail back to Burgess telling them that this is my official Order cancellation notice to them and that I disputed there charges on my credit card removing the charged amount. Then I further instructed them that if they send anything to me that I will not accept anything from them at all. I'll see what happens now and then after file a complaint with the BBB as well.

I placed my order from Burgess in February. I recently began receiving my items. (April)

I have only 2 complaints about them so far.

I was rather annoyed that they did not send me the root vegetables and indoor start seeds when I should have gotten them. I will probably have to deal with digging up potatoes after the fall frosts have begun. But it's not a huge deal for me.

The only other thing that bothers me is that my shipments don't really meet any specific order. I recently received trees and one package of potatoes, but not my other potatoes or onions. Just a little confused about that.

I am pleased with the plants that I have received so far. They are small, but alive and healthy. I can't wait for everything else to arrive. I am grateful for the items I have gotten and the money I have saved by buying from Burgess. (So long as everything turns out.) : )

I will add to this when I know how everything has done.

*Just a note to the "Negative's" that have been posted. If you wanted 100% Grade A Quality~you should have ordered from a local nursery, where you could have selected Grade A itmes, and paid the due cost. You probably should not have ordered from a discount mail-order company where you had no idea what you were going to get.

I bought their handful of hostas special and in the discription they say they send their choice of the varities of hostas. I thought that there would be a variety of plants so I order 16 plants total. When I recieved the plants they were very healthy and nice but they were all of one variety. When I called the company to see if I could send some back and get a few plants of another variety to mix it up a little the operater was rude to me and told me they ship the varieties they want to send. I talked to a supervisor and she also said that they ship what they want. I told her that the discription needs to read they you may get all of one type of plant because the way the discription reads it sounds like you get a mix of plants. I never did get any other varities of hostas.