Comments regarding Swallowtail Garden Seeds

I am very happy with the germination and subsequent growth rates for the seeds mentioned here:
CAPE DAISY, ORANGE, CLARKIA, DOUBLE MIXED,
BROWALLIA, MARINE BELLS, CHRYSANTHEMUM, SINGLE MIX TRICOLOR, COMMELINA, SLEEPING BEAUTY , LARKSPUR, GIANT IMPERIAL CHOICE MIX , MIMULUS, MAGIC BLOTCH MIX, , SNAPDRAGON, AROMAS HYBRID, FRESH LEMON MIGNONETTE , WALL ROCKCRESS, ROSE DELIGHT, DIASCIA, DIAMONTE MIX, DIANTHUS, GIANT CHABAUD MIX CARNATION,service was prompt and they have a nice selection.

While I think their shipping is a bit on the slow end, I love their seed selection and I have had wonderful germination results with almost everything purchased. I would definitely buy from them again, though well in advance of when I would actually need to plant the seeds.

I am from Malaysia. I order my seed on 30th march despite not knowing wheather they ship worldwide or not, by 12th April I receive my seeds. I certainly will order from them again since the service is excellent and they have many variety of seeds . Congratulation and keep up the good works.

I've ordered seeds from Swallowtail for several years, ,as I was drawn to their site for the great variety (especially coleus -- look at how many they have!!!) Great seeds, great variety, and I've had incredible success with germination too. This year I ordered seeds in February, most came quickly, but a few packets were backordered. After a month I emailed them to ask the status of the backordered seeds. I immediately received an email AND a phone call with an order update, an explanation, and seeds were here within 3 days. They obviously felt that their customers matter and are important to them. Do not hesitate to order from Swallowtail. They are a great company, they will back their product, and they communicate quickly. Their seeds are also wonderful (did I mention they have lisianthus too? I think I had a 95% germination on these!)

Posted on March 6, 2012, updated March 7, 2012
Posted on February 14, 2012, updated March 6, 2012
Posted on February 14, 2012, updated February 14, 2012
I ordered two small packets of geranium seeds from Swallowtail in December (2011) and started the seed in early January. I did all the right stuff: total darkness, sterilized planting medium; adequate moisture; and bottom heat. The seed only germinated at 32%!

I called Swallowtail in late January and reported the bad seed. They offered replacement or full refund. I took the refund when the customer service agent somewhat snottily informed me the seed was good, as all their seed was tested at 90% germination or above.

A bit incensed, I wrote the owners that day, but have had no response. So...I'm just now posting extremely negative feedback here on Swallowtail.

After three weeks, no refund has been posted to the credit card I used.

Bad seed. Snotty customer service. No refund.

I think I'm done with Swallowtail Garden Seeds.

Steve Wood
Senior Gardening
//www.senior-gardening.com

"On Mar 7, 2012 2:42 PM, Swallowtail Garden Seeds responded with:

As SeniorGardening reports above, “the credit card company has 30 days from the request to post the refund.” We contacted all the proper sources, including the customer’s personal credit card company, to find that the refund of $10.43 was given on 2/14/12 and posted to their account on 2/22/12. "

THE best selection (and quality!!!) geranium seeds in the world! I've had E X C E L L E N T luck with this company for 2 years now. Almost all seeds come up, quick shipping, easy to understand instructions. Wish I could say the same of Park seed with their crazy gold wrappers and generic instructions. ST is THE best and a great web site! Thank you for great products!!!

This is the second year I have ordered seeds from this company. They send the seeds promptly and they sprouted at least as well as the ones from the "big" companies, if not better. They have lemon cucumbers and annual milkweed that both grew great in Ohio.

I ordered seeds from Swallowtail during summer 2011. I haven't tried all of the varieties yet, but the ones I did plant have done very well thus far. I grew Valerian, Scabiosa House Hybrids, and Apache something Agastache, and Marvelous Marble Coral Bells. What matters more to me than how quickly I get an order confirmation is how well the seeds perform. I'm pleased to say that my seedlings have become nice, small plants in what I call my nursery bed. I lost a few to chicken trespassers, but the survivors are quite vigorous. I'm looking forward to seeing them bloom either this year or next. Since they're perennials, I'm in it for the long haul with these plants. I would definitely order from Swallowtail again.

Posted on February 9, 2012, updated February 10, 2012
On December 31, 2011 and January 24, 2012 I placed orders with Swallowtail Garden Seeds for USPS international mail delivery to Colima, Mexico. Both times, I received confirmation of my orders and on Jan. 6, 2012 my credit card was debited for my order of December 31. On February 8 I emailed this company requesting information on the status of my orders. On February 9 they responded that they don't ship orders to Mexico (the excuse being that they have trouble with orders to Mexico), although both orders had been confirmed and my credit card charged. So, more than a month after my first order and 2 orders confirmed I learn (only because I requested information from them) that my orders are not able to be processed. I've been ordering seeds from various vendors in the USA for 4 years and have received everything I've ordered via regular mail so I am not convinced of the validity of their excuse. I think this issue goes beyond shipping international orders. I think this speaks to irresponsible business practices. Unless a purchaser is desperate for seeds that SGS has that can't be found anywhere else, I would suggest purchasing from a more responsible vendor.

"On Feb 10, 2012 12:24 PM, Swallowtail Garden Seeds responded with:

We are sorry that there has been a lot of confusion regarding this customer’s experience. Her situation has been thoroughly researched and below is what transpired:

On 12/31/11 she placed and order online which was acknowledged with an automatic email back to the customer. On 1/1/12 we sent her an email stating our hesitancy in shipping to Mexico. Here is a copy of our email to her:

Dear xxxxxxx,
Thank you for your order and interest in Swallowtail Garden Seeds. We do ship all of our items using the USPS however, we have had some trouble in shipping seeds to Mexico. This shipment will be at your own risk. Thus, we cannot be held responsible for any lost or confiscated merchandise. Prior to shipping your order, it is required that we receive confirmation from you agreeing to these terms. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Best Regards,
Sandy
Swallowtail Garden Seeds

On 1/1/12 we received this response from her:

Thank you for the note. Yes certainly, I understand that if the order does not arrive, it is at my loss. This is always the case and has been for 4 years now. I have ordered many seeds from vendors in many parts of the world and the shipments have always arrived in good time via airmail international shipping. Colima especially, has the most excellent mail service. I know the postal carrier here and they know me. I hope this note suits your purposes and if more is required, please let me know. Regards, xxxxxx xxxxxx

Given her acceptance, we processed her payment and shipped her order on 1/17/12, via the USPS. In tracking her order, we see that the last activity the USPS has for her package is that it was scanned in Los Angeles on 1/18/12, the last stop before a package leaves the U.S. and is shipped to Mexico.

Our number one goal is to provide every customer with exceptional service and complete satisfaction. In this case we followed the customer’s wishes and she was not satisfied. We went above and beyond by providing her with the full refund of $11.42-–even though she agreed to the terms of this shipment being at her own risk. We can’t imagine what more we could have done to provide this customer with a positive experience and this disappoints us just as much as it does her. If for any reason our customers are not satisfied with their experience, we are always here with open ears to listen to their thoughts and resolve ANY situation to their satisfaction.
"

I ordered from Swallowtail Seeds in 2011 and 2012. Germination has been excellent so far. The order arrived within 5 days of ordering. I am not happy with their email responses. I contacted them twice with questions, with no response.

I have placed two different orders already this year. Both arrived super fast and complete. The best part was the free shipping! I already have some "slow growers" going and germination is good. Thank you Swallowtail for a great web site, loads of choices and easy ordering!

I recently ordered $30 worth of annual seeds. The shipping was reasonable and quick. I received exactly what I ordered. Good experience and will buy from again.

First time order with this company. Came across it online while searching for seeds. Website is easy to navigate and prices are reasonable. Fast shipping (process and delivery took less than a week). Will do business again certainly.

I am giving this company a positive review for the moment. I was very hesitant after seeing the other reviews on this site. Their website was easy to navigate, prices are fair, selection is good. I places an order this year. I got most of my order on the first shipment. One item had been back ordered. It quickly arrived just after the initial shipment. I will update on germination rate in the spring. So far, so good!

I can not speak to the quality of the seeds, yet. But the web site was easy to navigate, selection was excellent, prices competitive and shipping cost reasonable. My order was shipped extremely fast and complete with no out of stocks or substitutions. Over all this was a great experience and I would recommend this company. I am already working on my next order.

This past summer (July 2011), I had bought 3 packets of their strawberry seeds. The shipping cost was reasonable, spent about 10 dollars in all. The strawberry seeds after a month of stratification in the freezer were planted. A very good germination rate. Have recently transplanted them into bigger pots. Swallowtail is a nursery who you can trust.

Posted on December 6, 2010, updated November 6, 2011
Posted on November 6, 2004, updated December 6, 2010
Great service & a very nice selection of seeds. I will definitely order from them again -- in fact , I'm about to go to the website right now to make a wishlist for spring 2005.

Hollyhocks are fabulous. Very nice selection of other perennials. I had good to excellent germination from everything I received from Swallowtail in 2004.

Ordered multiple seed sets from them and had varying luck with germination rates. Some were notoriously difficult plants to germinate, so I'm not overly surprised at my low success. My only issue was that my tomatoes seeds where subbed, Russian black for Cherokee Purple. On the west coast that may not matter, but in the south you gotta get a heat tolerant variety.
The customer service was helpful and friendly so they get a neutral.

What a wonderful company! The website is easy to maneuver and the seed selection is fabulous! Their shipping costs are the lowest I've seen in the industry.

I talked to a very nice girl on the phone when I placed my order. She was very helpful with suggestions for my climate zone. I received my order promptly-just in time to plant! The instructions and descriptions on each packet really helped a "beginner" like myself!

I will definitely be using them for all of my gardening needs. There is nothing better in a company than the combination of low prices, accessibility, and excellent customer service. Thank you, Swallowtail Garden Seeds!

~Lily from Lodi, CA

I had a good experience with my order - it was processed in a week, took another week to get to WV from California (typical), and the growing information on the packets was very helpful. I will order from them again. (They gave me a tracking number from the Post Office, but the day the seeds were delivered the USPS still had no record of actually handling the package, so don't go by that.)

Posted on March 27, 2011, updated April 27, 2011
I ordered three packets of tomato seeds. 22 days later I received ONE packet, and an enclosed notice stating that the remaining 2 packets were on back order. Prior to receiving seeds, emailed company twice, and called once, asking when the seeds would arrive, and expressing annoyance with long wait. Never received a response. With receipt of single packet, they deducted the cost of shipping due to the back order. This is seedling time, it's almost too late to start the seeds I received, and the back ordered seeds are useless for this year. I will ask for a refund, don't want the back ordered seeds. Don't want to support this company. Seeds and plants are subject to growing seasons. All other seed and gardening catalogs I've ordered from respect gardening timetables.

"On Apr 27, 2011 2:53 PM, Swallowtail Garden Seeds responded with:

During peak season, we are inundated with emails that range from the simplest questions to the biggest issues--and they come in 100s at a time.

On our web site we direct customers to call us on our toll free number with any time sensitive issues because we do not want what happened to this customer to happen at all.

We are not aware of any messages left by this person on our voicemail.

We have refunded this customer the entire amount of her order.

This is the same course of action we take for anyone who contacts us by phone during our staff assisted business hours of 9:00am to 4:00pm Pacific Time, Monday through Friday. Our standard practice is to resolve any issues, to the customer’s satisfaction, as soon as possible.
"

It takes a lot to push me to make the effort to go and make a comment about a business, but Swallowtail really deserves some serious criticism. First, they billed me for items that were out of stock/discontinued, no longer available - even though they let me place them on my order. Second - they sent me what they called a "free gift" to replace the seeds that weren't available - these seeds were the same except not the color I wanted - and not even close. What really gets me is - how are these free? This "free gift" is to replace the seeds they billed me for but are not available - how is that free? How about keeping your seeds and refunding the charge!! The worst part is that I spent $140 with their company and the seeds that they DIDN'T have were the ones I really needed the most..Also - other comments on here about not being able to get ahold of these people are accurate..NEVER AGAIN.
Faye Martin, Novelty Ohio

"On Apr 26, 2011 8:34 PM, Swallowtail Garden Seeds responded with:

We are really sorry to hear this person has felt this level of frustration and disappointment. It is possible that we charged for an item we didn't have in stock, given the high volume of orders this time of year. However, it is our policy to refund an item in full, and we frequently provide a free gift as a show of good will.

We invite this person and anyone else who feels like our performance has come up short in any way, to call us on our Toll-free number: 877-489-SEED (7333). Customers who have done this have always found we fix their issues to a degree far beyond their expectations.

Our products are unconditionally guaranteed, and we are absolutely dedicated to each one of you having a positive experience with our company. If you give us a call and give us a chance, we promise to turn what may seem like a negative situation into a positive situation. We are not immune from making mistakes, but from our years of seed-selling experience, we have become exceptionally good at fixing problems, once given the opportunity.

Please, let us surprise you with our generosity and good nature. Give us a call.

Ordered several packets of seeds and they arrived in a timely manner. All the seeds I have tried so far have all had good germination. I have no complaints and I will order from them again.

i have ordered 3-4 times in the last 3 years and received good quality seeds in a timely fashion. i am always happy to see some of the flowers that i cannot find elsewhere. i generally order early in the season (Dec or Jan), or in the fall.

I placed two fairly large orders with this company this year and ($150.00 and $75.00) and both came fairly quickly within two weeks of ordering. The seeds all germinated quickly and I now have a garden full of seedlings. The only seeds that didn't grow were the five types of coleus I ordered - but possibly I did something wrong with those? Everything else looks great.

Ordered from 3 other suppliers from across the country days after ordering from here and recieved my seeds. Have not heard anything from this company other than taking my money and not answering my phone calls or emails.

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME HERE.

"On Mar 29, 2011 10:21 PM, Swallowtail Garden Seeds responded with:

2011 has already been an amazing season for us. After implementing major changes in the last half of 2010, we are currently on a pace to post our biggest sales year in our 13 year history, sometime this April - in just the fourth month of the year.

We have filled well over 7,000 seed orders from January 1, 2011 through the end of March, 2011. A handful of these thousands of gardeners have commented here on this site, many positive, a few frustrated.

For those who are frustrated, we are truly sorry. We do regularly waive shipping charges, give free gifts, and generally do everything we can to make your experience positive. If we fail to satisfy, it hurts us.

The posts here are anonymous, so we cannot comment on any situation in particular, but we can say that we are not aware of unreturned phone messages. I know personally, that we have talked to many of you, multiple times per week, as you plan your seed order.

And please, before you take it for granted that we are difficult to reach, call us using our toll free number 1-855-726-SEED (7333) and decide for yourselves. We are in the Pacific Time Zone, and our staff assisted phone hours are 9am to 5pm. I think you will find we are easy to reach, eager to help, and if you should find it necessary to leave a phone message with us, it will be returned promptly, during our business hours.

We don't take people's money, we are about providing a valuable service, in a professional manner. If you ever feel we have not lived up to this standard, any customer can call us, and money spent will be promptly refunded, and you can keep the seeds, as a gift from Swallowtail Garden Seeds.

We have found that selling seeds is a poor way to get rich, but a rich way to live our lives.
To all of you who have sparked our growth, and raised our optimism for the future, thank you. What you have done for us is beyond words. If it isn't always perfectly clear the way we feel about you, then I am so sorry. We care deeply about your experience with us, as well as your success and joy in the garden.

Don McCulley (Owner)
Swallowtail Garden Seeds


"

I was angry with this company a few years ago and vowed never to place another order because I recieved what I thought was a rude response to a problem with their seeds. They were getting a number of negative comments at the time and I figured maybe they were going through some internal company problems. Then this year I wanted more Great Red Poppy seeds and I was having trouble locating them elsewhere. So I placed an order. The seeds came within the promised shipping time and contained the correct amounts of seed. The germination rate was nearly 100 % for Great Red Poppy, Origami columbine, Rudbeckia Cherry Brandy and Prairie Sun, Delphinium Astolat, Dianthus Sooty Sweet William and Black King Carnation, Painted Daisy, and Echinacea Yellow coneflower. The germination rate was not so good for Echinacea Powwow Wild Berry and Delphinium Blue Jay. However, in my experience sometimes 'blue' delphinium seed are a little bit trickier than some of the other colors and may be slow to germinate, and maybe the wild berry echinacea is the same (they gave me a few extra seeds of those). I have a large property with many different types of gardens and I propagate and grow many from seed. I would use Swallowtail again for the selection and the quality of their seed. I'm glad I gave them another try.

I was leary about ordering from Swallowtail Garden Seeds given the LARGE amount of negative feedback they received here on DG. However, recent feedback seems to reflect a turnaround in how this company handles their business transactions. Given this, I thought I'd take a chance, as they offer a nice wide variety and have great prices.

I ordered several varieties of seed the second week of Feb. last month. I received my order about 2 weeks later with a message that 2 of the varieties were backordered, but would be sent out in 3 weeks. Those 2 packets arrived today and all is well! Germination and quality remain to be seen (I'll update later next season), but I am satisfied with this company so far.

I've ordered from Swallowtail now for several years. It has always been a positive experience. I usually buy herb seeds.
The bulk pricing is in a separate section, and offers great bargains.

I highly recommend them.

I will order from here again I'm sure. The seeds came pretty quickly and the few I've started indoors have all germinated and much sooner than they say they should. So at the moment I'm quite happy with this company and would recommend it to others.

I was nervous about ordering from this company due to the rating. However they have seeds that I wanted that no one else had. I ordered anyway and held my breath....
The order arrived when they said it would and everything looks great! I will be planting my seeds soon and let everyone know how it goes. I will change my rating if I have poor seed success since I am usually pretty successful in all but the trickiest seeds:)

I received my seed in a timely manor, and it was well packaged.They have some harder to find seeds at good prices, I would definitely order from them again.

Last season I placed an order for a variety of heirloom tomatoes. After several weeks my order didn't arrive, apparently lost in the mail. After contacting Swallowtail, they reshipped everything PLUS refunded my money (which I really didn't want).

Due to my getting the seeds in late (short season in Chicago) I had very low yield. At the end of the season, I cut off one vine and transplanted it to a 5 gal bucket and it is thriving in my back room with LED grow lights! I plan to start new cuttings for early planting this spring, and resow all of the varieties I bought.

The Hillbilly variety was the best tomato I have ever tasted!

I stumbled upon Swallowtail while doing a search on border dahlia seeds since none of my tubers survived winter storage. I grow for several gardens and garden group sales so it is imperative that I have border dahlias! I was delighted at the varieties Swallowtail offers and love the free shipping on orders over $30.00. I found the website easy to use and they gave me a shipping date. I am eagerly awaiting my order and will let you know how it turns out.

Posted on February 18, 2005, updated January 28, 2011
I just read a comment about this company today so I looked over their website and placed an order. With the selection they have and the reasonable prices I am sure this will become one of my favorites. Some places charge quite a bit for shipping, but the shipping with Swallowtail is free!! I especially loved the selection of petunias. I don't like mixes that most companies have because I don't want to germinate 100 seeds and not know what the colors will be. Most of them wouldn't be blooming by the time they were planted so planning a garden would be more difficult. They have lots of one-color selections that are beautiful. I also found a zinnia that I have wanted for quite a while. I have only seen it offered by one other company and they wouldn't ship to the USA. Swallowtail's website is very easy to use. I can't wait to get my seeds.

I would like to inform you that you are one of only two companies I used my credit card with to make a purchase during this month. While not accusing anyone, I would like you to know my card number was picked up very recently, and used fraudulently, causing myself a lot of anguish, and other associated difficulties.

Consequently --- after thorough research to prevent this problem in the future I have since learned the only safe 'firewall' to order on-line is with PayPal (where the only payment information and funds a vendor receives for the order is directly from PayPal, nothing the customer uses with PayPal to satisfy the financial obligation is shared with the vendor)

This means no customer credit card information would be accessible to any of an on-line vendor's employees thereby absolving them of any suspicion of an employee maliciously using a customer's card number.

Because of this problem, I will no longer be ordering from any company that requires my credit card and does not have PayPal as an option for payment for the purchase ... Sorry, but it is simply too much of a problem for this customer when someone obtains card information and uses it maliciously.

thanks

RGT

"On Sep 17, 2010 9:30 AM, Swallowtail Garden Seeds responded with:

We at Swallowtail Garden Seeds have been doing business for 11 years online without even one incident of a customer's credit card being compromised in any way. To suggest (even with a good heart) the way we collect credit card information is not a best practice, or could be unsafe is not accurate and not fair.

We hire top industry consultants to secure our shopping cart and our shopping cart is certified as safe by GoDaddy.com. Other sites that use GoDaddy.com to review their safety include Eddie Bauer, Jenny Craig and Cold Stone.

I know this customer has their heart in the right place and is attempting to pass on useful information. But the comments read (unintentionally I am certain) like a PayPal advertisement. PayPal is an option, perhaps a welcome choice for some people. But it is not the only safe method of purchasing over the internet. The way we secure our shopping cart, and your personal information once it is in our hands, has been, remains (and because of our dedication to your safety), will always be impeccable.





"

I usually order some seeds from them every year. I love how they offer some varieties of plants in single colors. I usually order a long time in advance of when I will start the seeds, so I haven't noticed slow shipping. I try to stop buying seeds for the current season at least 2-3 weeks before I need to start them, unless saving them for the next season. Which sometimes I do be sure to get what I want before they sell out. I do find a lot of the seed packets they send have less than or almost exactly, what the seed packets are listed as on the website, but usually they are harder to find seeds that I can't get anywhere else. So I will continue to order from them. I find with a lot of specialty seeds (not just from them)you get lower germination rates, so I just make sure I start all of them. Then I am more likely to have a decent amount of plants. Most of the seeds offered have at least 25 seeds which I find is enough. I mean how many people need more than a half dozen to a dozen of one plant? I order from lots of different online seed companies and there are some things about the catalog, I wish they would change. One is how you can not click on the items in your shopping cart to get you back to the item's product page. I also feel like the catalog takes too long to navigate due to all the plants in a genus having full listings on one long page. It seems to make it take much longer to figure out an order. Then if you don't have time to go through the whole catalog and place the order you lose your shopping cart.

Mostly positive, my one complaint was last couple of years the seed counts were off on some of the packages, a couple here and there is nothing, but if your order a package of 50 seeds and get 12.. thats kind of a bummer, however, they also ran out of one variety and gave me a huge package of another I wanted. So it kind of being a even trade off.

They also have uncommong varieties , not easy to find.

Silverkelt

Great experience. They had the seeds I wanted at a good price. Before I ordered, I was a little concerned that there were several recent negative comments in Garden Watchdog, but I am always impressed when a company steps up and takes care of problems, and documents it here.

I wanted to order quite a few seed packs, and a couple were critical to receive promptly, so I called the company first. The person I got put me on hold for a few seconds while she checked inventory. She confirmed that the ones I needed pronto were available to ship. She also said that they had made a number of changes recently to help avoid back order issues.

I ordered on a Monday and they showed up in my mail box on Saturday. Everything I ordered was there, and the packaging and quantity of seeds was impressive. My order came to only $47 for 20 packs, and I got free shipping (orders over $30 ship for free).

They also have a very nicely designed and user-friendly web site.

I'll definitely order again.