Comments regarding John Scheepers, Inc.

Every fall for many years I have ordered bulbs from this company. Almost without exception there bulbs have been healthy, properly identified and packaged well. They have a huge variety of beautiful bulbs along with some unusual ones too. I just planted my recent order from them and and am very satisfied with the experience and this company.

They are the only bulb company charging a tariff on their bulbs. They charged me a tariff when no other company in the US did

I had many years of good experience with Scheepers so when I moved and started new gardens I ordered from them again. Some of the daffodils I planted my second year had yellow leaves and flowered poorly, but since I’d purchased from several sources I couldn’t be sure they were Scheepers. ALL of the daffodils I planted in fall of 2023 were from Scheepers and well over half had leaves that turned yellow and then brown before even flowering. They were diagnosed with leaf scorch by a local university. I emailed Scheepers and was told their president would respond when she returned from travel. The next time I emailed, I was told their horticulturist would respond. It’s been a month now and while they’ve sent me their latest catalog, they haven’t offered any response about the fungus-infected bulbs they sold me.

Received my bulbs when they were promised and they were all plump and firm bulbs. Very pleased with my order.

"Every fall for many years I have ordered bulbs from this company. Almost without exception there bulbs have been healthy, properly identified and packaged well. They have a huge variety of beautiful bulbs along with some unusual ones too. I just planted my recent order from them and and am very satisfied with the experience and this company."

I am an experienced amateur gardener living in Central PA. I have a very large woodland garden. In Sept of 21 I bought a large number of fall planted spring bulbs from John Scheepers. These arrived in good order and were planted immediately. I contacted the company in June to tell them that many of these bulbs failed (e.g 4 of 30 allium azureum sprouted). On June 8th 22I received an email from Gail asking a multitude of questions which I answered.
On June 22 22 had heard nothing back and contact them again. I received an email that day stating that my report was forwarded to the owner, and that they would get back to me once he/she responds.
On July 15 2022 I emailed back stating that I was unhappy with the lack of responsiveness.
As of today August 6th 22 Ive received no response.
Needless to say I am disappointed in the lack that response and will not be purchasing from John Scheepers in the future.

Recently ordered 3 Magical Touch Amaryllis, arrived on time and the bulbs were huge.

Bulbs are blooming at this time, 2 of the 3 have put up 2 stalks, the last one has 4!

Very pleased with their product and service.

I’m very disappointed in the quality of the bulbs I received.

I’ve worked in the fine garden maintenance and care profession for over 20 years, Throughout that time people spoke of John Scheepers as a reputable online source for bulbs. These opinions didn’t sway me to order from John Scheepers since I had a local independent business where I could go to for all my bulb needs.

When the owner retired : ( and COVID directed where and when I could shop I decided to order online.

I opened the bag with the A. ‘Schubertii’ immediately and left the two other bags unexamined until planting time.

One of the ten ‘schubertii’ was withered to the center. The others looked grey, the root end was weak and not vital feeling and the bulb shed more papery skin than I think a good bulb should. Though I was disappointed I decided to give them a try.

I emailed the company with an FYI about the dead bulb. At that point I said that I believed it to be an exception and not to worry about it. I thought of taking pictures but my house is undergoing a major renovation and I’m short on time and long on environmental chaos.

When it came time to plant I took a closer look at the texture and weight of the ‘Schubertii’ bulbs and could see that the quality was below average. All the bulbs were light weight and dry feeling. I’ve planted plenty of alliums and already have these growing successfully in my garden so I know how the bulb should look.

The other items in my order, galanthus ‘elwesii’ and allium ‘azureum,’ were also a poor quality. Some were withered, several were sprouting like stale garlic cloves and many were squishy. I decided not to plant the ‘azureum’ because the chances of a good bloom are very slim and I didn’t have time to waste. I’ll test my assessment and pot them for a spring/summer bloom and see what happens.

I don’t know why Sheepers bulbs were such a poor quality but I know I won’t order from them again. There are too many other quality places to buy from where customer satisfaction matters.

I've been shopping with John Scheepers for maybe 10-12 years now and usually purchase anywhere from 400-600 spring bulbs from them. They deliver when requested and respond promptly to inquiries. During the last two fall planting periods, I noticed that 10-12 of the tulip or daffodil bulbs in several of my bulk orders were rotten; not a huge amount, but disappointing and also new -- this had not happened previously to me. This fall, upon receiving my order, I immediately checked the bulbs and found 10-12 were rotten. When I asked for replacements or a refund, Scheepers sent me a refund of $1.98. (I'd have preferred the bulbs). When I tried to order additional Camassia and Hispanica excelsior bulbs this November, Scheepers processed the order and sent the former but included a notice saying they would ship the latter only if they had enough product in stock. Since then I have heard nothing from them so I am assuming the answer is no, but it would have been nice if they had followed up via email to confirm one way or the other. For the most part, I'm usually satisfied with their bulbs as they are bigger and healthier than other companies. I am simply lodging this comment in order to caution others to check their bulbs upon receipt and to not expect to be able to obtain additional bulbs late in the season.

I have mixed feelings about this company, hence the neutral rating. I emailed their customer service twice in an attempt to change my order long before it shipped, but no one ever responded and I received the original order. The narcissus and muscari bulbs were fine but the hyacinth varieties I ordered had more bulbs with V cuts in the outer layers than any of the other 4 companies I ordered hyacinths from. I'm not sure if this will effect flowering, but I found myself searching for intact bulbs to put in my pots and then hiding the cut ones within larger plantings. I might try their daffodils again next year but will order hyacinths elsewhere.

This is our go-to bulb company! They have beautiful bulbs, accurate descriptions, and fantastic customer service. We've spent thousands of dollars with the company, and it's been worth every penny!
Thank you John Scheepers!

Ordering from John Scheepers over several years I have always received timely delivery of big healthy bulbs. Once I thought my order had come up short. I later discovered the "missing" bulbs in my garden shed. My bad!
My only disappointment was a planting of Pagoda Erythronium which didn't emerge in spring. Scheepers was quick to issue a credit toward future purchases.
I am happy to recommend this company.

I have been buying both spring and summer bulbs from John Scheepers and Van Englen for close on 20 years. After buying from others, I started comparing bulb size, and quality of bulbs, etc and found that they always seemd to be a bit healthier looking, a tad bigger and always packed properly. I do buy from others for some speciality bulbs that John S. do not carry and sometimes scale back my order with John S. But every time I stray, I come back and always when doing a bigger order of say 200-300 for a new planting I go straight to Van Englen. The only problem I ever encountered was when I had some e-mails get lost on my system and I did not print out my order so I forgot details. I called CT and despite being "ordering" season I got quick response.

After ordering from another bulb company for many years, I decided to try Scheepers for a fall 2019 bulb order because their prices were more reasonable. Among the six different types of bulbs ordered was Narcissus 'Misty Glen' which is described by every seller as being all/pure white, and it was for a white-garden area. When they bloomed they turned out to have a very pale yellow cup. Do they look white from the street, 40-some feet away? Yes, but not from the white garden planting which is along the walkway to the front door. :-( So I suspect that what I got might not be Misty Glen. Another disappointment: Out of the 50 eranthis bulbs I received, only 10 of them came up. All planted promptly and not ravaged by any "critters" either. Three of the other bulb types did come up as expected, and I am awaiting the flowering of the sixth which I hope is the color that I ordered. But overall, I am disappointed.

Couldn't be more pleased with John Scheepers. I've ordered bulbs from them multiple times and never had a problem. They always arrive boxed and labeled and in perfect shape. No shenanigans. The amaryllis and paper-whites have all been superb and bloom like champions. Huge healthy bulbs. Great catalog. I love the selection of unusual amaryllis such as the miniatures and cybisters. The daffodils were enormous and last year came up through the clay in spectacular fashion. I will update in a few months to see how this year's tulips and daffodils do.

Ordered a combo box of giant alliums. They were costly bulbs because of the size. They were packed well and timely shipped. Bulbs were in excellent condition. Was an impulse buy I see now these types aren't a fan of GA climate. I see them coming up now but if they don't make it I won't be replacing them next year.

Since 2012 I have ordered daffodil, lily and other bulbs from Scheepers. My recent order, received today, December 26 2018, included a bag if 25 butterfly mixture narcissus 8741 (catalog #) and two other varieties in packs of 10 each. I opened the net sack with the 25 bulbs and separated them. Some include double nosed bulbs and some included a mother bulb with two, three and four baby bulbs from that parent attached. When I finished separating and counting, I discovered I had received 63 separate bulbs for the catalog price of 25.
Boys and girls, can we discuss "satisfied customer"?
Let me passionately, powerfully and vehemently recommend you study other vendors and then return to Scheepers to select and purchase daffodils, narcissus and any and every other offering in their extensive and breath-taking catalog. Thanks to the growers in Holland and all the folks at Scheepers who prove they respect and appreciate their customers by offering, healthy, vigorous, outsized and jaw dropping bulbs. Jim Martin Scott Louisiana December 26 2018

I ordered 265.20 of seeds after hours, so no conversation or chat options. But I DID send 2 emails, questioning the date of the seeds (last year's or upcoming season's?) and the cost of shipping - 10% of order. Not so bad for $10/20-worth. But a *small* box of seeds that I would spend about $5 to ship was ***$26.52***

Emails remained unanswered, so I was forced to call.
"It says so on the website" was the ONLY company response - from line staff and from supervisor. If I had ordered $500, fit in the same box, they would charge $50 to mail!

Furthermore, seeds arrived totally undated. Nothing on the package about "packaged for" or expiration date - it does say "good for 2 years" or "good for 1 year" but does not disclose any actual date. I was told I should write on the package so I would know. And only "what kind of company do you think we are" when I asked which season they were packed for and how to know.

I will *never* order again from these folks. They made at least $20 to ship that package which are not cheap seeds! No "sorry," no "yeah that's high," NOTHING.

There's an old adage, consistently true - a satisfied customer will tell a few people - but an angry customer will tell 10 times more!

Posted on October 20, 2013, updated December 17, 2016
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Posted on October 14, 2007, updated October 9, 2010
I just received my tulip bulbs. They are gigantic, much larger than anything i've ever bought in a local nursery. They were well packaged and arrived when they were supposed to. I can't wait to plant them. Thanks, John Scheepers!

Posted on October 14, 2014, updated October 23, 2016
I received my order from this company today and was very surprised at the nice big, healthy bulbs. These have got to be the biggest bulbs I have gotten anywhere, huge firm bulbs look freshly dug. They were packed in vented plastic bags with peat moss inside. Very nice and dry.
Thank you!

Last season I Received late season Tulip bulbs that were shipped in plastic bags and were molding upon arrival. I sent an email and there was no follow up. I did not order from them this season but ordered their site Van Engelen. Although slightly better there were some bad bulbs and they did not respond either.

About a decade ago I ordered about 500 bulbs from Scheepers - premium tulips, daffs, croci, chionodoxa, and some woodland bulbs. The bulbs they ship are large and fresh and did well; most of the bulbs, including the tulips, rebloomed perennially even though technically they weren't guaranteed to do so. But come spring, I discovered that several of the drifts of tulips I'd planted were not what I'd ordered. They were green-flowered instead of purple. I called Scheepers, and I was pretty ticked off. (All that work and anticipation, and then the wrong thing.) They volunteered to replace the bulbs the next fall, but I declined because I was frustrated (green-flowered tulips just didn't do it for me!) and I didn't feel very trusting about them at that point.

In 2015 I placed an order again with Scheepers, having forgotten my negative experience a decade before. I received a telephone call when they received my order: did I know that I had a $75 credit because of their mistake many years earlier?

The honesty of this experience, and the company's willingness to make good on an error, even many years after the fact, was impressive.

The quality of what they ship, and the customer service they provide, are exemplary.

Posted on June 3, 2013, updated November 4, 2015
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Scheepers is my absolutely favorite bulb company. Their prices are excellent (for the great quality you get), the selection of daffodils and tulips is huge, the bulbs are big, and they've never failed to bloom for me - usually for many years. I also like the color catalog - very nice with some of the more unfamiliar bulbs. I only wish they had a better selection of fall-blooming bulbs and some of the older varieties of daffodils (like 'Geranium', which they never seem to have) - if they did, I'd never buy fall bulbs from anyone else

My preferred sight for bulbs. They have an enormous selection, especially of the odd types that I didn't even know about, give lots of detail about each type of bulb, often have the best prices, and definitely send tthe best bulbs I've ordered, both large and healthy. The color on the web sight is reliable. The bulbs are well packed and arrive at the right time for planting. I usually have a large order with them every year and have never been disappointed.

Last fall, I ordered 20 split corona daffodils, "Mondragon" as I am fond of split coronas. What came up was not a split corona, "Mondragon" but a large capped daffodil..I phoned to complain. and was told to send a photo which I did...as they would have to consult with a horticulturalist...I phoned back the next week and they gave me a choice of a refund or to order again the same daffodil in the fall. I chose the refund..But when I asked the name of the daffodil which came up, they could not tell me..I now have 20 daffodils whose name I do not know...Very disappointed...

I ordered tulips, daffodils, and grape hyacinths from John Scheeper Inc. and was very pleased with the quality of the bulbs. They were delivered at the right time for planting.

Good customer service. We ordered bulbs for a couple clients, and they were able to accommodate our planting schedules. Communication was prompt and clear.

This was a blessed relief when compared to previous experience with other companies.

The bulbs I ordered for my own garden last year performed beautifully, except for some of the tulips, which the squirrels reported as delicious. (Evidently yellow ones are tastier than red.)

Posted on November 29, 2013, updated October 22, 2014
Posted on October 9, 2012, updated November 29, 2013
Posted on November 6, 2011, updated October 9, 2012
Posted on November 11, 2010, updated November 6, 2011
I ordered a large number of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, amaryllis and smaller bulbs. The shipment arrived well packed with good sized bulbs.

I've ordered bulbs from this company twice, and have been pleased both times. The bulbs were huge, firm, and healthy when they arrived. They flowered beautifully. The amaryllises each sent up two or three flower stalks, each with four to six huge flowers on it, and nearly all of the daffodil bulbs sent up more than one bloom. I planted 30 King Alfred bulbs in one area and counted over 50 flowers.

Will continue to use Scheepers as my bulb supplier!

I ordered several amaryllis bulb gift kits. One of the bulbs was beginning to rot. Contacted customer service, was asked to send a photo. Received a replacement in plenty of time for gift-giving. Also ordered one of their amaryllis collections to keep for myself. Bulbs are huge and healthy, and growing robustly- can't wait to see the blooms. I will use this company again

I ordered Darwin Tulip bulbs in the Fall 2012. They were huge. They all came up. They were magnificent - beautiful colors, large flowers and sturdy stems. I hope they repeat.

I ordered a bunch of Daffodil bulbs last year from John Scheepers and only a few came up this spring. None of them bloomed. I contacted customer service, and was told I needed to answer seven detailed questions first that, as others have mentioned, would be referred to their horticulturalist. I took the time to comply, thinking they must really want to know what went wrong. Their final response was, "It appears that you used compost and other amendments in the soil, as well as planted the bulbs in a mounded bed. The amendments added burned the bulbs and roots. If the bulbs did survive that damage, they rotted due to the mounded bed and irrigation system."

The bulbs did not rot, and I told them so twice before getting their final answer, but I don't think it would have mattered what I said. I dug a number of the bulbs up, and they were not rotted or mushy. I had used well-decomposed homemade compost made from plant matter only (not the manure compost they recommend against). I added a bit of popular garden fertilizer to the soil (not the exact formulation they recommend and I didn't leave it on the surface but mixed it into the soil - apparently a bulb killer from their perspective). I have an irrigation system and some, but not all, of the bulbs were planted in a mounded bed, so I guess it was all my fault. Scheepers said my "improper planting environment" precluded me from any refund. They did offer a partial (less than half of what I paid) "house credit."

Funny thing was, I was about to just write the whole thing off as weird weather this year, when a gardening friend suggested I contact the company and see what they would do for me. I was left more frustrated by Scheeper's response than I was by the non-blooming bulbs.

I ordered tulips and daffodils two years ago through the John Scheeper's website. I am still relatively new to gardening and was extremely happy when these gorgeous flowers popped up two springs in a row now. I just put them in the ground with, I don't even know what kind of soil, threw some mulch over them and that's it! I've received a ton of compliments on them as well, which I've taken 100% credit for, of course. I will be ordering more this fall (especially the Foxtrot tulips!)

I placed a large order with Scheepers in fall - lots of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, and some minor bulbs. Everything came up and we had a beautiful spring show! I was very pleased with the quality, selection, and pricing of their bulbs.

I order A LOT of plants and bulbs and the like on-line, as I have MANY flower gardens throughout my yard/property. John Scheepers totally did me wrong when several of the Eremurus (desert candles/foxtail lillies) that I ordered - and paid a lot of money for - failed. Even though I made well-drained loamy soil by adding sand and a good humus mixture, covered them with only a few inches of soil and planted them in a very sunny area, I had TWO sets of the rootstock fail on me two years in a row. When I called to complain, I got the run-around. When I wrote e-mails about the problem, they got an poor attitude with me and actually accused me of trying to get over on them just to get some free replacements sent to me! What nerve. I will NEVER deal with this company or its affiliates again. VERY, VERY POOR CUSTOMER "SERVICE".

As a company in business for years, I would expect this company to ship seeds at the posted rate. I had to pay extra to the postal service to have my order delivered. Figure out how to lay the seeds flat - WHATEVER. I paid the extra postage due because I thought it was from a seed trade - desired seed trade...not a seed order for which I had already paid postage - quite a bit for the seed order total.

If you decide to order from this company, be prepared to pay extra postage to receive your order.

Ridiculous. And from the seed list that I ordered, not worth the extra postage.

GREAT AMARYLLIS BULBS!!

At the recommendation of a gardening professional, I ordered three amaryllis bulbs from Scheepers.
The bulbs were huge and extrememly healthy,
I could not have been more pleased.
They have a great selection of bulbs and the prices are very fair for the size and quality.
Will order again!

This fall I ordered their Camassia web special, two shades of lavender and blue, and white. The bulbs were shipped promptly and were healthy and a fair size, although never having seen them before I'm not sure what they're supposed to look like.

I'll follow up with a review when/if they all sprout next spring, I can't wait to see this flower in person. Looks like delphiniums on steroids!

I ordered 4 peonies - bare root. Today I received my order.
First, the box was damaged. Also it was not the correct size to begin with to ship any bare root plants in and provide packaging to protect the roots. The box was very small and the bare roots were jammed into the box.
I inspected each of them and found that instead of 3 to 5 eyes, they had 1 or 2 eyes. Not acceptable and these should have been inspected before shipping to me.
I've contacted Scheeper's customer service via email to ship these back to them and get a refund.
Very disappointed.

Bought lily bulbs from Scheepers that were supposed to be fragrant. The website said they are "intoxicatingly fragrant." I planted every single one by my back porch so we could enjoy the fragrance. The lilies have absolutely no fragrance. Called Scheepers and they said that this particular lily has no fragrance. I informed them that their website said that this lily is fragrant. As the website was incorrect (acknowledged by them) I asked for replacement lily bulbs that are fragrant. Even after acknowledging that their website was inaccurate, they refused to give a refund or replacement.