Comments regarding Jackson & Perkins

I ordered a bunch of bareroot roses March 2007. Most did fairly well but a couple didn't do so well. I complained about one of them when the others in the same bed were growing vigorously while it lagged behind and looked so weak. Their reply was that I had not given the plant sufficient time and that I should give more time for it to grow. OK, so I did this and sure enough it is now doing great. The other rose that concerned me meanwhile had virtually stopped growing and remained with only shoots of two or three inches all summer, so I decided to tell them about this and they replied that I was too late reporting this so they could do nothing about it now. That was one rose out of a total order of around $300 and they will not replace it for me. So all I can say is GOODBYE to the Jackson and Perkins Company

Ordered 1 'Outrageous', 5 'Crackling Fire', 3 'Hot Tamale' and 5 'Tropical Twist' roses. They arrived days after scheduled, and after planting, 1 'Hot Tamale' and 1 'Tropical Twist' have bloomed... white and pale pink, respectively. They should be orange/apricot shades.

I called, and they offered to replace the 1 of each that has bloomed the wrong color, but container rose complaints must be placed within 30 days, I believe she said. The roses have been cut back (prior to shipping) and I will likely not know if they're the right ones until spring. So, I was persistent and they will replace all 'Hot Tamale' and "Tropical Twist' but they won't be shipped for 11 days. I had her make a notation in my file so I can have replacements for the others in spring if they are wrong, too.

50% mislabeled plants and having to wait for 2 weeks for the right plants to arrive is disappointing, to say the least.

Wonderful customer service. I had two roses that did not make it last summer and they replaced them this last spring. I ordered several roses this last spring and have been pleased. My David Austin roses have been wonderful that I ordered and I will order more for next year.

Purchased two paper potted J&P Roses (a tea rose -black magic and floribunda-honey) at my local nursery, they have adopted wonderfully. Just stuck them in the dirt like the directions said. How easy can that be! Whereas some of the other roses (non J&P) are turning out to be rather skimpy and not so vigorous. I'm very pleased with my two J&P purchases. I will definately buy more.

I ordered six Roseberry Blanket groundcover roses from J&P this year. They were advertised as being a blackspot-free variety, and this was my number one criteria. So far, I am not disappointed--the roses have grown beautifully, and have not had any blackspot, only a couple of yellow leaves here and there. The repeat bloom is outstanding. Roseberry Blanket is a compact low growing variety that doesn't take up much space in the garden. I grouped the six of them around my gate so I would have permanent color, but not something large and overgrown that catches at clothing, etc, as you are going in and out. The bare root roses I received were moist and healthy. I knew upon receiving them that this was top quality nursery stock, shipped at an appropriate time. If J & P carries a rose variety I want, I will not hesitate to order, because I believe the quality will be there. J & P is an American institution (for roses, at least), and I believe the company is still upholding the tradition... They carry tried and true roses, plus many new varieties bred by Keith Zary, their star hybridizer, plus other worldwide breeders such as Kordes and Interplant. Of course hybrid teas are the number one focus, but other types are represented too, such as David Austin English roses, groundcover and hedge roses and a few OGR (Old Garden Rose) varieties. I also like the fact that more and more of their roses are 'New Generation'--grown on their own roots, instead of grafted, which can offer healthier, more winter hardy plants. All in all, a top nursery source for me.

I just had the best experience with Jackson and Perkins. I had bought 10 of the white simplicity roses earlier this season, and 4 did not make it; also one from the EASY TO GROW SHRUBS collection had given up the ghost. It was probably our weather- we just had that kind of spring. They replaced them all, though. No back and forth, just ok, we'll send out replacements. Very nice customer service, I really appreciated it!

The company stood by what ever they say, in their advertisments, I had no problem replacing a plant that didn't grow.. I received as a gift 2 rose trees. One died, they sent a replacement. Would recommend to anyone.

I have placed a few orders with this company. Ultimately, I have ordered 10 roses in all. 4 did well for two years and this season, developed black spot. Not their fault. 5 more - 1 climber and 4 bushes, and doing great!

My last was a double delight tree rose. It arrived, had what appeared to be live shoot waiting to grow.. I planted it according to direction and it never grew. I sent an email to the company telling them what had happened and asked for a replacement. They replied that they were out of my variety and issued me a complete refund - for the entire amount.

I would order from them again if I had the space to plant their lovely roses!

I just received three different orders from Jackson and Perkins, totalling 10 rose bushes and a clematis. Additional items will ship at the appropriate time. My plants are in excellent condition, and we are thrilled! No complaints here. I've already ordered more plants this evening (after inspecting my order this afternoon). I'm picky - and don't mind paying good money for quality. That is why I pick Jackson and Perkins. I know that I'm getting only good plants. If the plant dies after 60 days, it's a grower's error - not their's. The warranty you get from Wal-Mart is one of the reasons their prices are actually NOT cheaper (they have to cover their losses somewhere), and their plants are second-rate many times unless you get lucky and catch a new shipment before an inexperienced employee can mistreat them. On a price note - I paid more for a rose at Lowe's than I would if I had bought the same rose through Jackson and Perkins (the one at Lowe's was from J&P). The shipping is extra, but with my coupon, it's about like breaking even and at least the J&P shipped plant is healthy while the one at Lowe's usually have been exposed to extreme heat (sitting out on the asphalt with little to no water).

For serious rosarians, you can't beat the quality of a plant obtained directly from Jackson and Perkins.

I ordered bare root roses and essential patio pots from Jackson & Perkins. The pots were a size larger than what I had ordered on the telephone. They were not only taller, but they were wider, and are too large to fit on my patio.

I have called Jackson & Perkins almost every day for the past two weeks trying to obtain call tags so that UPS could pick up the pots. UPS will charge me $220 to ship the pots back to Ohio - which is more than the pots cost. My only choice is to throw the pots away.

I would never do business with Jackson & Perkins again.

Sherrie Auhll
AuhllAssoc@aol.com

I just called Jackson and Perkins to let them know my trees did not make it during the winter and we had a mild winter here.
They told me they only have 60 day warranty on all products.
I was very disappointed as all other nurseries in our area all offer a one year guarantee for all shrubs and trees. Even WalMart has a guarantee.
So needless to say I will no longer order from this company again. One strike and you are out in my book.
I have ordered many products from this business and have been generally satisfied until now.
As a master gardener and member of the garden writers associaton I will be spreading the word on this poor service.
I also write for newspapers and the Arboretum magazine.
I would suggest if you are ordering any type of trees or bushes or even roses for that fact. Make sure you know that after 60 days you get no warranty on a product that does not perform for you after that time has expired.

"

We are sorry to learn that your roses failed to repeat last year’s performance. Occasionally, plants that have flourished previously are damaged during the winter, in spite of reasonable protective measures. We share your disappointment, but count on your understanding that our guarantee has expired."

I ordered 3 climbing rose bushes this spring from J&P.
I received very sturdy, large bareroot bushes. I was impressed at the size of the plants. All 3 are doing well, and one already has buds on it. I wouldn't hesitate to order roses from J&P again.

I have ordered several times from J & P. My order always arrives quickly and well packaged. Last year I bought a set of 3 Baby Blanket ground cover roses. I guess my stuff was on the last UPS order of the day but when my roses arrived they seemed pretty hot and bothered (almost steamed alive). 1 month later one of the little rose bushes ( these were sent in little pots, not bareroot) had died. I let J & P know and they immediately sent replacements for all three even though I let them know it was only one that died. All 5 plants are doing VERY well still.
Recently I bought a set of 5 Cherries 'n Cream rosebushes. They arrived in beautiful shape, the canes just aching to start producing leaves. They seem to be doing just fantastically and I can't wait to buy more!

I received three bare root David Austin Roses about 2 weeks ago. I soaked them overnight and put them in pots as soon as I received them; They are sitting on my patio right now; all three have leafed out and are producing wonderful fragrances at night. They should be in excellent shape when I'm ready to plant them in the ground next week.

I've order dozens of roses, bulbs and plants from J & P. I'm a rookey gardner, yet even with my lack of experience, my garden looks like a professional's. When a rose bush didn't make it through a rough winter, J & P replaced it after I called. My irises are stunning this year. My confidence in gardening is growing and I'm trying new plants, including a butterfly bush and blue monkshood (which is on the endangered species list). I only buy from J & P. They're terrific and stand by their guarantee.

my roses from last years order are doing great and the ones from this years order, also great. i don't like that they are grafted on dr.huey, which means for florida, they likely won't live a very long time, but i'm ok with it.

a note to thesplitter in the last review. we can't give thoughts to your problems in the watchdog. i suggest the forum, "garden talk".

I recently found out, from Jackson and Perkins themselves, that they do not stand behind their products when sold at other outlets such as Costco, ect. Even though they carry the Jackson and Perkins name, thats all they carry. Then to top things off, when I attempted to resolve this with them, they sent me the email below which the "customer care" person intended for soemone within their compnay

-----Original Message-----
From: Customer Support(Medford) [mailto:custsupport@HarryandDavid.com]
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 2:57 PM
To: XXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: RE: Jackson & Perkins- customer service-Johnson

I almost feel like doing a gratis but need your opinion?? I am not sure that anyone gives a rip about this disgruntled customer, your thoughts?
thx -

I have ordered a couple times from Jackson and Perkins. The first was my first experience with bare root roses -- and I'll bet you all know what my first thought was when I opened that box! But I followed their directions, and what looked awful in the package is now about a 18 foot tall climbing rose covered with the prettiest pink roses I ever thought I would ever grow! That is until I went back for one of their beautiful hybrid tea roses -- great selection and great quality!
Thanks!

i ordered rose trees & roses all arrived in beautiful condition & are planted & budding out fine while having to pay s&h is still far less expensive than purchasing from nurserys in area for the product can't beat the price & they have best roses anywhere

We've dealt with Jackson & Perkins for about two years now, and have purchased six rose bushes. One died (my fault, wifey has yet to forgive me...) but the other five are flourishing, flowering and fragrant. I think proper planting is the key. As far as the communication issues are concerned, they have e-mailed us each time we've ordered, and we've always gotten what we've ordered. Yeah, a little pricey, but worth it!

I used J&P's website to cash in a ten dollar gift card (from last year) in January. I ordered 20 Asiatic lilies and had to pay 6 or 7 more dollars to have them sent. They arrived today when they said they would, and the bulbs look fine. They never e-mailed to say they received the order, which I thought was strange, but my e-mail hasn't worked for a week or so. I'm going to give them a positive; the bulbs arrived cool and alive, and if they don't look great this summer, I'll come back and change the rating. Their stuff is pricey, but since it was a gift it didn't really matter.

I also got a dwarf Alberta Spruce as a gift for Christmas, and one that was being abandoned in the office. Both are still alive; so far so good.

The neutral rating is for overall experiences over the last few years. I'd rate more towards negative though for recent plants. Two seasons ago I ordered six "Darkness Visible" delphinium, which came to me as nothing much more than newly sprouted seeds. Very young plants without substance. Two years later, none made it.

This year I ordered a Laura Bush rose, which came with severely chopped roots on half of the rose. It was as if half the roots were sheared off at an inch, and the other half were ok. It graded out as a number one, but still a small 1, versus what I've come to expect from other vendors.

2 out of 10 roses that I ordered from J&P survived in the past. About 4 years ago, I ordered an arch and 2 Stairway to Heaven roses. Only the arch survived. Even received a replacement rose and that, too, didn’t make it. Had 4 groundcover roses (dead), a Ronald Reagan rose (dead). Ordered 2 Veteran’s Honor tree roses 2-3 years ago and they are beautiful (with a stringent Bayer Disease Control regimen). Don’t ask why (maybe because of their beautiful catalogs), but I just ordered 6 Garden Ease Roseberry Blanket groundcover roses and they arrived on 2/23/07 in great condition. But now I am worried. As with all other roses, I followed planting instructions to the tooth but did I mention that only the 2 tree roses lived? I think that J&P roses are too pampered in green houses and when they are planted in the real world, they are not hardy enough to withstand outdoor conditions and don’t make it. Time will tell with the Roseberry Blanket roses.

In Jan. 07 I sent in my order with what I thought was full payment. Three weeks later I recieved a bill for $3.04. I called customer service to see why I was being billed when I sent in payment.I was told it was for sales tax. ok fine I understand charging sales tax but here in my michigan we are charged a use tax on our state income taxes to cover sales tax on mail order purchases.So I wanted to know why they collected sales tax here. I was told the person who would need to answer tax questions didnt take phone calls and I would have to submit a request for them to return my call.First off I felt this was really bad service policy and second it has now been two weeks and two more phone calls later and I have still not heard from them.I'm not worried about the $3,in fact I just mailed it to them. My negative rating is for poor customer service.

Last spring I ordered 6 yellow "simplicity" shrub roses from J&P - the only thing that was "simple" was killing them. I planted about 6 others from Chamblee's at the time time, and ALL of them are fine. J&P, as I recall, used to have a really good guarantee, but now it's limited to 90 days, which was just enough time for these shrubs to drop dead - from what, I'll never know. Poor quality, I suspect. From now on, I'm ONLY ordering roses from Chamblee - J&P is just too big and commercial, and can't possibly care as much about plant quality as a smaller specialist.

I placed a few orders with J&P, but I stopped about 5 years ago. My last order included a bareroot "chilean mandevilla", which I was very excited about having. When it arrived, I planted it at the appropriate time, and I was delighted to see it take off---until I realized after a few months that it was an ordinary Home Depot variety weedy jasmine that (if I had wanted it) I could have bought for $5 instead of the $15+ shipping that I paid.

When I notified their customer service about the error, they gave me a $5 credit on my next order. Whoop-dee-doo. It took me the next 4 years to eradicate the plant.

In the same order was a blue and white spotted cranesbill, also bare root. When it bloomed, it was also not the one I ordered, and also WAS one I could have bought locally.

Pretty as their catalogs are, I swore I'd never order anything from them again.

I've bought three roses from Jackson Perkins through a local nursery. I really think that how the roses turn out depends as much on the nursery care as the company they bought them from. I noticed here on the ratings that someone bought them from a nursery and paid $30 for them. Too much. I bought mine for $19.99 and if you check the price in their catalogues, you can tell how much a nursery should be charging. Plus the nursery I bought them from is well known here and takes excellent care of their roses giving them water several times a day and plenty of full sun. They must have had about fifty roses on the lot and every single one of them was from Jackson Perkins and all were blooming huge and very fragrant. Also, weather has everything to do with it. Here in the Northeast I've lost quite a few roses in the past that did well for many years and then we had such a tough winter it just did them in. Roses are a tough plant to count on and you've got to be ready to see them die. I give mine plenty of rose food and I plant them in the front of the house where it is more than 8 hours of full sun a day and they're in very good soil. So far I had good experiences with this company but not from ordering direct from them. I saw the plant up close and fully grown first.

I ordered several nepeta plants and dutch iris bulbs. They were delivered promptly, so I was excited...until I opened the box. The nepeta plants were completely dried out, and literally did not last two days.

The bulbs had been sent in a different shipment, but much to my horror all the bulbs were INFESTED with dead or dying aphids!

The only reason why I'm not giving a negative rating is because of the extremely friendly and apologetic Customer Service woman I spoke with. When I asked if I should ship them back to the company, she told me to just throw them in the trash. She gave me a refund and offered a 20% discount on my next order (which I turned down). I will not order from them again, and I've stopped their catalogue.

I moved into a new home behind schedule, and placed my order (15 roses) in June, very late for this zone, so planted the bare roots in difficult (hot) growing temps. All but one leafed out very quickly, and when I thought I had lost the one, it suddenly burst into leaf and is still blooming. I've had tons of blooms throughout this unusually hot sticky summer, and am still dead-heading and getting buds in October. I have ordered from them before with equally good luck, and in this hot humid climate, am especially pleased that I can trust them when they say a rose is resistant to mildew and black spot. (I order floribundas, and have not sprayed a drop of anything all summer.) I will use J&P again next spring.

All of my roses are from J&P. All arrived in excellent condition. I have lost a couple through the years, but due to weather conditions or my own negligence. The roses I ordered this year are true show-stoppers. A great company with friendly people. They make good when there is a problem with their product.

I ordered 7 simplicity roses..none of them survived! I have 3 iceberg Roses they are ok. This year for a Fathers Day gift, to remeber our daughter, I ordered 5 Beloved Red Roses...I now have 3, and only one looks good. They did give me a refund..but I though they were the best!n Service is good but rpoduct disappoints.

I have had several disappointing experiences with J&P. Customer Service never could correct any of the problems and I finally gave up on them and vowed never to purchase from them again. However, this past Christmas, some friends sent us those delightfully colored and expensive birdhouses, (Turret and Victorian). I was thrilled and I could not wait for spring to put them out in my garden. They looked lovely.....for about 3 months! They are now broken, faded, crumbling and warped. Of course, I have no recourse, they were a gift. I complained to the customer service dept. via e-mail but have not heard anything back from them. Buyers please be aware, J&P claim these birdhouses are intended for outdoor use!!!

I have ordered from Jackson Perkins online and by catalog for many years. All of my plants have arrived in good condition and give good results the first year. I have also purchased roses from other online, well-known nurseries with little success. I do not purchase Jackson Perkins from retail outlets as I find the stores do not take care of the plants while in inventory and the plants can be damaged in shipment. Bare root plants have always been the best success in my garden. I have over 125 rose bushes in my garden and 75% of them are J & P's.

I have also ordered many times from Jackson & Perkins, with mixxed results, all depending on the rose itself. The best thing I ever did as to join the American Rose Society where they rate each & every rose. Now I don't buy a rose unless it is rated above 7.8.

This year, I bought a climbing rose trio and two hydrangea trees in the spring. All came bare root. Two of the roses have bloomed (which I was unsure about given they are on a north-facing wall!) and the Zepherine Droughin, while it hasn't bloomed yet, is coming along fine. Good growth on the hydrangea trees (except when the deer browsed them). I'm not sure about their perennials, but these shrubs are working out great!

Ordered an outdoor/garden chair. In its description of the chair online it was stated that it was protected with a polyuthrane finish for outside use.Upon delivery no protecterant finish could be seen. Instructions stated that the paint (no mention of polyuthrane) protected the chair and when not in use the chair needed to stored on a porch or covered area.So here I have a chair for very limited outside use. Called them to complain about the deception. Experienced long waits on hold. Finally told their customer service support wold get back to me and guarantee the protectorant was in the paint! Ha! Never heard a thing!

I too have been buying from J&P for years and I've always loved their roses. I never buy their products from garden centers because they are overpriced and they just don't look as nice as the ones directly from J&P. I am giving a neutral rating because I am judging based on my purchase in my new house, not the old one where I had plenty of sucess with this company. Last year, I got 12 of their red ribbons rose blanket Garden Ease Roses. They were supposed to be all red. They didn't all bloom for me last year (which was fine) because I ordered late in the season. This year, one of the 12 came up pink. How do they pack 11 reds and one pink?

I have ordered roses from Jackson & Perkins for nearly 30 years. I have had very few problems and none that they did not fix. As for complaints of roses dying over the winter, hybrid teas are somewhat delicate in extremely cold climates. Even in hillier parts of Zone 7, it's a good idea to mulch them heavily for winter or use some other form of protection. In Rougemont, I usually put a mound of sand around each one, then raked it away in the spring and maintained a garden of 70 roses fairly successfully for many years.

This year I ordered direct from Jackson Perkins approximately 30 roses, from garden ease to bare-root roses. All arrived in excellant condition and so far are doing well. I would recommend ordering direct versus buying the brand at a local store.