Comments regarding Gorge Top Gardens (also dba perennial-gardening.com)

Most of my plants were alive upon arrival, but most were extremely rootbound and squashed. The echinaceas and adenophora were an exception; small but healthy. I hope they are the variety I ordered, as they haven't bloomed yet. Two of the 3 irises were virtually dead upon arrival and expired immediately, the asclepias was dead and rotted. The gaillardias were a different variety than what I had ordered (the plants were mislabeled; it was not a substitution). The other plants were alive and are growing slowly, but they are very puny. I will never, ever order from these folks again. I strayed away from my usual tried-and-true nurseries because I got greedy about those bargain-basement prices, but given how much of the order was unusable or puny or mis-labeled, they were a waste of money.

In March I ordered a David Austen rose, to be sent week of April 11 ,I received an order today,3 miserable little roses,not at all what I had ordered.their excuse ,CROP FAILURE .I'm already upset,so now I go to their website and what do I see,the very rose I had ordered . I have called this company numerous times also Emailed them and never had any answersYou know,there should be something a person can do.I would tell anyone to stay away from this company.Guess I learned a lesson ,one which I will not repeat

I ordered $90 worth of plants. They shipped later than expected, which was fine. The problem is that I never received the order!! I've tried for 2 - 3 weeks to contact them (including their supposedly Live customer service rep, which is always offline so all you can do is send a message). All of my emails have been completely ignored. I finally gave up and filed a claim with my credit card company. Hopefully they'll credit my account. I doubt they'll be able to reach Gorge Top either.... I don't see myself ever ordering from here again. I agree with the others - sure, the prices are great but who cares if you never get your merchandise!

I placed my order in February, $90.00 worth of plants. It is now June 3rd, have not received anything. I have sent e-mails that have gone unacknowledged. I have called several times and was only able to leave one message because the voice mail box is always full. Still have not heard anything. I will never order from this company again. I have never had such a bad internet experience before. I am afraid I am out $90.00 now, since my card was billed when I placed the order in February. I will make sure no one that I know will order from this company!!

I ordered plants early but closest shipping date was week of 5/22/2006. They shipped out the Friday before the long weekend and arrived here a bout a week later. The plant quality was terrible. Brown leaves no leaves on one of the delphiniums. I called but was unable to get through. I consider it a waste of money and will not do business with them again.

Like others, I am disappointed with the lack of response and customer care from this company. My plants were shipped two weeks late. My credit card was charged immediately upon placing an order. I became concerned that I had been scammed when emails to the customer service department went unanswered or acknowledged. I finally received notice that my order had shipped. The order took 7 days to get to my home. The poor plants had turned absolutely yellow from a lack of light. They were packed in wet newspaper that had almost dried out. I will not order from this company again. I will pay the slightly higher prices for better plants and customer service elsewhere. This is not a bargain when you consider the lack of respect for the customer and the product.

I HAD NO TROUBLE AT ALL WITH THIS COMPANY. PLANTS WERE LARGER AND IN BETTER SHAPE THAN I'VE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE IS THE NORM BY OTHER ON-LINE BUSINESSES. ORDER CONFIRMATION AND EMAIL OF SHIPMENT DATE WAS ALL THE CONTACT I HAD WITH THEM. WOULD AND WILL USE AGAIN.

10 days late in receiving plants.
Imposssible to contact. Phone voice mail no help as mailbox was always full.....msg says to try your call later. For a full week there was no answer.
Their on-line help was never attended.

No response to e-mails.

Watch out for this vendor.

I am so upset with my experience with this company. I wish I had seen these reviews before I ordered with them.
I placed my order over a month ago. My order so supposed to be shipped 3 weeks ago. I have emailed them several times with no response and tried to call but the voicemail has been full (of complaints I'm sure). I emailed to cancel my order because I couldn't get through on the phone and several days later got shipment notification from UPS. This is a 3 day weekend and my plants will be in transit over a week (mostly in Texas heat). I expect that they will be in bad condition when I get them. There are other companies with a similar selection of plants but much better customer service. The prices are good but at the sacrifice of service. Please be very wary of ordering with Gorge Top Gardens.

The plants I received were in excellent condition when they arrived. I will order again from this company.

While I agree that the lack of speedy communication and email response is an issue with this company, I received my product today ($80 worth of plants) and I will definitely be shopping with them again. When I didn't receive notice that the order shipped on the date expected, I did email them but never heard back. A few days later I checked the website and saw a notice that they were running behind so I waited a bit. Within a week of the expected shipment date, I received the email notifying me of my shipment. The plants arrived within a few days of that email and were packed well, and are large and healthy plants. I am very pleased. The price is right, and the variety of plants that they have available is awesome. I will definitely be shopping again.

I was very dissappointed with the lack of service. I wish I'd had a wonderful first experience as the other people below. I placed my order in March 2006. I ordered a lot of plants for Mother's Day gifts. I selected for my order to be shipped the week of April 17,2006 My credit card was also charged immediately. I called 5 times only getting to leave a message 1 time the rest of the time the machine was full. I sent several e-mails asking about my order . As of today I haven't recieve any response at all from them. And yes they still have my money. I don't know if I'll ever get my money refunded. But worse than the money Is the fact that my Mother and the others were dissappointed also with not getting their gifts. Wish I'd seen your site before ordering. We'll see what if anything from this point happens but it's not looking favorable for me.

Dealing with Gorge Top Gardens was the worst Internet experience of my life. Last year, I ordered my Mother some lavendar for Mother's Day. It arrived two months late and was so dead it had bugs crawling in it. She shrieked. She still hasn't forgiven me. I wrote an e-mail describing the situation and asking that it be rectified, but received no response whatsoever. I wasted over 40 dollars to insult my Mother on Mother's Day, and even a year later she recoils when she thinks of the gift I gave her last year. You should be ashamed of yourself and you should reply to unsatisfied customers in an effort to avoid so many negative comments. Based on what I've seen here, you should go out of business -- soon -- and if there's anything I can do to help that happen, I will. I've mass e-mailed over 10,000 people in my database not to use your business and will continue to do so until and unless I find some resolution to this matter. It's company's like yours that give the Internet a bad name. And never again will my Mother love lavendar the way she used to. Thanks a lot.

I ordered multiples of 7 plant types, for a total of 30 plants. I only received 1 of each type - 7 total plants. Even that was 2 weeks late. I have left voicemails (though box is usually full), have sent multiple emails, all unanswered. On advice of card company, I will now send registered email notifying them of my intent to file a merchant claim for chargeback.

BUYER BEWARE. There are plenty of reputable companies - I didn't do my due diligence or I would NEVER have used this company.

I received all my plants in a timely manner. The hollyhocks were very healthy and are thriving. The clematis are starting to sprout up nicely.

I recieved my 2 orders this week which consisted of many plants. I was very impressed with the good condition of many of them and only had to ask for a couple of replacements. I will be doing business with this co. again.

GorgeTop is receiving a negative at this moment due to the fact that they can charge your credit card immediately, but they don't seem to be able to refund money due to crop failure any time soon. Why is this? They have known for several weeks that their Heuchera had crop failure, but no credit to my card.....
Unfortunately I found this website too late as I never would have ordered from a company with such a mediocre rating.

Fantastic plants at a great price. The plants were big and healthy with strong root systems. I will be ordering from them again for sure. Great email response and fantastic customer service.

I was hesitant about buying based on so-so reviews. My experience was great. The perennials are extremely well developed with substantial root systems. Packing was done with extreme care and not one leaf in two boxes of perennials was so much as damaged. Usually I pot up mail order plants and nurse them along so they recover before the go in the beds. No need here - plants went directly in (except clematis which was a little skimpy) the beds and are thriving. Shipping was right on time and e-mail communication kept me informed. At least half of my extensive gardens has come through the mail, and these plants are some of the best.

Order was placed in March and credit card was charged in March before items were to be received in April. Most garden mail order companies will not process the credit card number until the items are sent to the customer. As of today April 25th, I am awaiting an e mail from GorgeTop to correct the substitution that was made by them on not sending me Heucherella 'Stoplight'. I believe I was sent Heucherella 'Kimono' instead. I want to return those plants and obtain a credit back to my charge card. When I called their phone number, their voice mailbox is full and no one answers the phone. If I don't hear from them within a few days, my credit card company will be contacted so that the dispute process may be started by the credit card company. Would I order again from this company? As of right now, no!

Good prices and reasonable shipping charge for varieties that are up to twice as much at other places. Plants arrived in great condition despite a 5-day (trackable) transit period through UPS. Received email notice when plants were shipped, which is exactly the time period I requested when placing the order. Knockout roses are on the small side, but very healthy and I'm sure they'll catch up quickly (these are 2-3 times as much at other places). Yes, the "half-price sale, could be ending soon!" seems to be a gimmick since the "sale" has apparantly been going on for several years, but I have to admit, it got my attention. Got coupon for free shipping on next order ($10.75 value). Will certainly buy again.

Gorge Top Gardens has been a pleasure to do gardening business with for the past three years. I have ordered several hundred dollars worth of plants from them and have no complaints to this day. Their bare root plants are often so big that I am able to divide them before planting so its like getting free plants and as someone else has said Gorge Top Gardens prices are fantastic. I noticed that this site has not updated the web site address for Gorge Top - the old one is no longer online. The new address is gorgetopgardens.com the old site did not have the word gardens in it. I do recommend this company and will order form them again.

I ordered from this company for the second time last year and am planning to order again this year. The quality of the plants I purchased where far better than I expected having been disappointed by other mail order nurseries. The thing I love the most are their prices. Almost half of what some other companies charge. Last years order did arrive a few days later than I had expected but other than that I had no problems.

I placed an order in April of 2005 as a gift to a friend, who is a master gardener. A dried package of peonies was received and planted immediately, but nothing ever grew throughout the spring or summer. I have emailed Gorge Top several times and get NO response. I have dialed the telephione number given several times and again get no answer of answering maching. After 3 months of trying, it is apparent thay do not want to hear from me, much lees give a refund or replacement.
Joan Hano, York, PA

I ordered from them on 6/4/05 and have not received my plants yet. I have called six times and emailed a dozen times and got no response.

My credit card was charged on 6/07/05 so I called today and asked my bank to reverse the charge.

This is too bad because my order in early Spring was very nice. How does a company have so little regard for its reputation.

I placed my first ever online plant order with this company on May 22 because their pricing looked great and their website exclaimed that it was the last day of their 50% off sale (I felt so lucky to have found it in time). I thought that their website was very user-friendly and well-organized.

The next day I found Garden Watchdog and became wary based on their reviews. I had also requested a small change to my order (swapping one plant for another) and hadn't gotten a response, which sent up another red flag. The following day, I realized that their 50% off sale was no sale, just a pressure tactic (it appears that EVERY day is the last day of their fantastic 50% off sale). I then emailed their CS and requested that my order be cancelled, and indicated the reasons why I did not feel good about ordering from them (I tried calling their toll-free # first, but of course, got a recording saying that they are too busy to answer the phone).

SEVERAL days later I got an email saying that they had made the plant change to my order, then got a second email indicating that they just saw the request to cancel the order. They asked for a reply to confirm the cancellation request, which I promptly sent. Then my credit card bill comes. THEY CHARGED ME! Almost $140 for an order they never shipped, nor would they ever ship. An order that was cancelled less than 48 hours after it was placed. To their credit, they did refund me the $4 difference for the plant switch I had asked for. I waited, but no subsequent credit came. I tried calling (left a message) and tried emailing as well. I stated both via phone and email that if I did not get a PROMPT response indicating that they had refunded the charge, I would have to place it in dispute with my CC company. Several days passed and I placed the charge in dispute. A couple days later I got an email from GT apologizing for not replying sooner and stating that they would refund the $ "later that week." As far as I know, they never processed the refund (and it's been a month), but now the CC company is taking care of the issue.

I would never buy from this company, regardless of their plant quality. Their business practices are shady to say the very least.

I placed my first order with Gorge Top in early May, 2005. It was their half price sale. My order was for Hosta & Ferns. I did not have high expectations considering I was buying their "leftovers". They arrived in a timely manner on the day that they said they would. I was thrilled with the packaging. The sawdust and newspaper had kept everything moist and in perfect condition. The size/quality was even better than I'd hoped for.
My friend saw my plants and had me immediately place an order for Hostas and Ferns for her. They too arrived on time and in superb condition. The plants are rapidly growing for both of us and we will surely be ordering from them again next year.
Here is the amazing part....I had tossed my box of packaging material into the garage and yesterday started dumping out the packets of sawdust when I found a Hosta that I had missed down underneath everything. It was still damp, but looked healthy. This afternoon the white sun deprived leaves are turning green! This has been laying in a box for over a month now! Will I order from them again? You bet!

Took advantage of their sale prices and ordered bleeding hearts and daylilies. Big daylilies; average sized bleeding hearts (big for the price, though). All are coming up now. If only the squirrels would stop digging up the daylilies...

i placed an order that was due the week of 05/03,14 days after due date still no plants.yet this co charged my c.card and insists they will not issue refund until i return the plants.thisis the worst internet experience ever for me.back and forth emails do no good,it is as if the left and right hands belong to different people.by the way,they charged my card 14 days before they allegedly shipped the plants.my last email to them as one other asking for specific shipping info has gone unanswered for 3 days.i will let my card co . deal with this charge.my advice is ,"buyer beware".

Had a pretty good experience with Gorge Top. Prices are very cheap (2 hollyhocks for $6.50; 5 liatris for $5.00). My one disappointment was with the clematis that I ordered. It was the most expensive item in my order and when I took it out of the bag of wood shavings I thought it was a joke. It was a puny, runt of a plant, barely 5 inches in length from the top of the plant to the bottom of the roots. But I planted it anyway and it is growing just fine.

Received plants today May 11,2005 which I had ordered on April 24,2005. The delivery week was chosen by me. I ordered 81 plants and they were beautiful, large, and fresh looking. I am completely satisfied with the service, plants and price.

Ordered 8 Shasta Daisies in early March and recieved them last week of March. When I recieved them I was alittle worried with the packaging and some dead leaves, but all 8 are thriving quite nicely now and all greened up. Overall I am pleased and am gonna order some Monarda "Snow white" from them. I will throw up another comment when I recieve them.

I just placed my fourth order with Gorge Top Gardens. This will make the third season I have done business with this company and I have been satisfied with all of my orders. I have been gardening for over 20 years and have ordered from countless other mail order nurseries. The plants I have recieved in the past rate right up their with those higer priced nurseries such as White Flower Farm and Wayside Gardens. I have ordered over 50 peonies from Gorge Top and hane yet to loose a single plant. Other plants I have bought include Delphiniums, Foxgloves, Dianthus, Coneflowers, and Geraniums. Plants are always packaged securely - something other companies fail to do on a consistant basis. I can not comment one way or the other on their customer service - I have only communicated with them a few times via email and have never had a reason to call. I am very excited to get my plants again this spring and will let all you guys know how things turn out.

I must say I was more than pleased with Gorge Top Gardens. My husband and I own a Bed and Breakfast and have spent the better part of the past 12 years planting perennial borders. We have ordered plants from numerous nurseries (mail order and over the internet) and I must say our order from Gorge Top Gardens put the other companies to shame. The size of the plants we recieved (all bare root) where three to four times bigger than what we have ever recieved from other nurseries. Our order consited of mainly Daylilies but we also ordered Monarda Blue Stocking, David Phlox and a Clematis (can't recall the variety) The Daylilies where very generous 2 -4 fan divisions and all bloomed in their first year. The Monarda exploded. In just a few months it look like it had been growing in the garden for at least a year. The Phlox spent a good part of the growing season getting established and sent out a couple of pure white flower heads in late July. The clematis did grow it just did not bloom. I am hoping that it will bloom this spring .... maybe then I can remember what variety it was. I must say in closing to read some of the comments on here it sounds like we dealt with two different companies. I will be ordering from Gorge Top Gardens again this spring as we still have beds to fill.

I was very happy with my experience with Gorge Top Gardens. I am very new to gardening and was a bit hesitant to order plants over the net. I was a bit surprised with the bare root plants as I had never seen plants sold that way. Everything I planted did very well and all bloomed with the exception of a geranium ( can't wait for this spring to see it) I will be ordering more this spring.

Order Date: 03/15/04
Order Number: yhst-6301896609263-818
Shipping Method: USPS 3 Day Priorty

1 Phlox 'Franz Schubert' 2.99
1 Gailardia 'Fanfare' 4.00
1 Phlox 'Ping Pong' 3.50
1 Buddleia 'Royal Red' 2.99
1 Clematis 'Belle of Working' 3.95
2 Crocosmia 'Norwich Canary' 2.00
1 Delphinium 'Sunny Skies' 2.99
1 Geranium 'Claridge Druce' 2.99
1 Monarda 'Snow White' 2.99
1 Phlox 'Eva Cullum' 2.99
1 Clematis 'Helios' 3.95
Subtotal: 35.34
Shipping: 10.75
Total: 46.09

I would have to say, that the condition of the plants I received were atrocious! Completely wrapped in plastic in wood shavings.

I have already e-mailed you on a couple of occasions, in which you have never replied, explaining that the plants I received were NOT the plants I ordered. Non of the phlox came true to what I ordered. They were all white, which I already had. The "Royal Red" Buddelia turned out and did grow, but was a Honeycomb yellow. Clematis were small and promptly died the very day I received them, Monarda proceeded to sit there and never bloomed, then died. The Crocosmia died that very same week. Forget the Delphinium 'Sunny Skies'! I think it was dead when I opened it. It certainly had no leaves other than brown ones, but I tried to plant it anyway. The only plant I got from you that did perform, was the Gailardia "Fanfare". And if you have ever transplanted those, you realize how hard they can be to become established. Therefore, I do not think it was my gardening expertise that was lacking here.

Since I have not received a reply from you, I must ascertain that you do not care that your company is begetting a very bad reputation. I, along with several of my friends that have bought from you, also, will be leaving negative feedback on Garden Watchdog to warn others of your company.

I didn't expect full restitution, as I understand the position you would be in if you were to refund all receipts you sold, but I did expect you to replace the items that were incorrect.

I have bought from mail order, e-mail, I travel to nurseries all over, and since I'm in NC, I was planning on visiting your establishment. I may still just to see what kind of operation you seem to think you may be running.
Once again, I will warn other shoppers away from your company and website.

Wow!I could pretty much "dito" all of the negative responses that I read!I placed a $155 order May 9 during their "one day sale",June 2 I recieved it.$55 worth (that was being generous) of the plants were unplantable.This amount also includes one plant that wasn't sent and another that was stated as being sold out,but not subtracted from my total.About another $50 worth have taken until about a week ago (the beginning of October) to pull through with much TLC.Some did very well,mainly daylilies and what was supposed to be 'Autumn Joy' sedum,but is not.Others,mainly clematis,have grown some,but not flowered (which I wouldn't expect from such a small plant),so I don't know how they will do or if they are what I ordered.The worst part is that I have since found almost all of the plants that I ordered (minus the clematis) at a couple of local nurseries for a third of the price that I spent at Gorge Top ,and the are MUCH happier plants.I wish I had seen them first!
I have been trying to contact Gorge Top for the last four months,but they are unreachable by email or phone.I'm sure that they are not getting or acknowledging these complaints any more than they have my personal ones.I only hope that someone else might see this,and the others,and not order from them.I know I sure won't!

I purchased over $260. in plants from this company. Before delivery I got a prompt reply to my e-mail, ever since I have repeatedly e-mailed any addresses they have and have never received any reply. They put plants in plastic bags with wood shavings and sealed with rubber bands. Is it any wonder so many don't make it. Hosta Loyalist is exactly like Amber Tiara in color and looks like new tissue culture at 1". Hostas Northern Exposure and Spilt Milk are the same but appear to both be H lancifolia. Frances Williams was good size but was disposed of because it is the exact picture of the hosta virus(which I figure they didn't know about). Hemorocallis Chicago Apache has the same bloom as Rocket City. H Catherine Woodbury same bloom as Summer Wine. Sedum Frosty Morn has no variegation looks like Autumn Joy as does S. Matrona. They are good size and blooming, but not what I ordered. Delphinium Sunny Skies appears to be a very small hardy geranium. Veronica Blue Charm is not, but I don't know what, it is small and creeping. DOA's are A. Silver Mound, P. Blue Boy, P. Starfire, B. Royal Red, D.Blushing Brides, D. Pure White, E. Ruby Giant, E. Kim's Mop Head, G. Claridge Druce, H. Stormy Seas, M. Jacob Cline, M. Petite Delight. Some plants are extremely small. Most haven't bloomed yet so who knows what surprises lay in store. I understand mistakes, but not the total lack of customer service. They want you to think the prices are half off for one day only. But have you ever been to their site when it wasn't half off? I am no novice with plants and have taken very good care of them. Hosta Spilt milk is about 2" high, costs $10.50 and isn't even what I ordered. What a bargain! Their site has been down for some time and claim to be having poblems with their e-mail and give another address to which they give no replies. I received over sixty plants thrown into one weak crushed box. Their packing is the pits, as is their customer service, so many plants aren't what they are labeled, most are very small or dead. I cannot give a worse rating than negative or I would. I have never left negative feedback on anyone before, but have given them months to reply. If a miracle should happen and they redeem themselves, I will update this. Save your money and your nerves and go elsewhere.

I ordered an end of the season special in May,2004, 1/2 price off hostas. They were about 2 weeks late in the delivery date estimated when I ordered. When I inquired if the plants had shipped yet I was told that if they didn't come by a date in May to alert them. They would not provide a shipper number and told me the post office was giving them problems. Ok...plausible, I guess. Except when they came and were postmarked after the date I was told I would receive them. Anyway...they eventually showed up, 20 hostas ordered, 19 shipped (they acknowledged they owed me 8.95 for the plant (out of stock). About 16 of 19 survived (I planted them within 2 hours of receiving About 10 plants,I believe were in good shape and worth the $. I've got about 20 hostas in my garden already. Now...they won't answer emails or a request for a refund for the plant not recieved, and the 3 that were dead on arrival. I have ordered a lot of stuff on the internet and have only had 2 bad experiences....this is one of them! I need to contact the local BBB. Maybe this was just a bad month for GT as some other users had some postive comments, but I'm ticked off enough to post this as a warning. My experience with Gorge Top was bad...I would not do business with them again. Like I say...maybe this was a bad month for the business and they'll make it right. If so...I will post the positive outcome. I want to believe the best in folks......