Comments regarding Gilbert H. Wild and Son

Called and purchased about 22 daylilies from this company about three weeks ago. Years ago I purchased from them had great success. I asked , at the time of the order, if they would make sure that I get what I order and the order taker said no problem. I went on line and saw this thread and some of the negative comments that I read about Gilbert and Wild. So , I emailed them and asked them if what I read ( the negative stuff) would happen to me. I was assured that it wouldn't. Well......... I got got my order two days ago. The plants were dried up and barely alive. VERY VERY few double and thriple fans as was promised in their brocure. Four of the plants were mush. A great deal of them had mold on the roots from their storage over winter ( they must dig these in September). That's over eight months in storage. One plant was wrong and they failed to ship another. NOW I am really doubtful about my second question to them , whether they will come true to color!!! These were for a friend , a neighbor, who works for a very large garden magazine. He and his wife picked out the colors. When I called the order department , the lady there mentioned that I 'might get replacements in a week' . I said that I was dissapointed and she said that I would have to pay another shipping charge for the replacements. Imagine having to pay twice to have the order right. I refused that offer. She then asked me to send the bad plants back ( shipping at my cost) . She didn't get it. Anyway , I finally talked to Gary there and he offered to refund my money. I said that I wasn't trying to beat them out of anything, only wanted what I paid for.I asked him to work with me, if I keep the plants and get replacements and they actually turn out to be what the labels say they were supposed to be , etc. I am debaiting asking for my money back and will call them today. And yes, I will probably pay for the shipping to get the plants back to them. This forum has great
value. I wish I had read it before my order was enroute.

In the spring of 1991, I placed my first daylily order with Gilbert H. Wild & Son, Inc. Since then, I ordered many times from this company and have been well pleased with their healthy plants, service, and prices.

However, this spring, upon receiving the twelve cultivars that I ordered from their "2004 Daylily Surplus Sale" flyer, I was dismayed to find that this shipment of plants was not the same caliber as I had always received. These plants appeared old; as though they had been dug for a long time and segments of the root system on several of them were mushy although the crowns of all appeared satisfactory. Particularly puny were Siloam Irving Hepner and Siloam Virginia Henson, both of which I planted in a protected area instead of my daylily bed. Notwithstanding their enervated condition, all the plants appear to be thriving and it is my hope that all are correctly labeled since I'm reading where some customers are justifiably displeased to find their plants mislabeled.

Thus far, there is no apparent reason why I should refrain from ordering from Gilbert H. Wild & Son, Inc. Perhaps this order was less than desirable due to unforeseen circumstances, or perhaps part of the problem could have been with the freight service.

Ordering from this company rests with the discretion of the buyer; nevertheless, Gilbert H. Wild & Sons, Inc., should be attentive to the complaints it is receiving from a disproportionate number of dissatisfied customers.

My order arrived today and I felt it was a poorly packed order. The order was daylilies and one hosta. The daylilies were almost smashed and the hosta looked like a chopped string mop. Considering having shipped hosta myself, I find the one I received unacceptable. They are all soaking in water, and I have hopes they will survive and grow once in the ground. I have not contacted the company as the order was small and it isn't worth extra shipping costs to ask for a replacement for any of items.

I was a little "iffy" about ordering from Wild's because of some of the negative comments, but I just received my order of 36 daylillies and I am very pleased with the big, healthy roots. Everything was carefully tagged and well packaged and arrived in perfect condition (at fantastic prices!) And they threw in a bonus plant! :) I plan to place more orders with them in the future and would recommend them to others. Happy Gardening!

In the spring of 2003, I ordered several hundred dollars of nursery stock among which were Asiatic lilies, I ordered fifteen different colors. These were planted very carefully with garden tags to identify them. Of the fifteen lilies I ordered, eight were the wrong color. (This is not a good score.) So I wrote them and told them I had received the wrong colors and tried to describe what I had received. They wrote back and said they would replace some of them. Others they felt were Ok and would do nothing about. I was not happy about this and called them on the phone to try to resolve the issue. I tried to explain that my descriptions were poor but was cut off. They were extremely RUDE, I was told that the colors I received were close enough. I never received any replacment lilys. To be blunt their customer service stinks! What ever happend to "The customer is always right" It seems to me that Wild & Son is more interested in making money than in having happy customers - Apparently they have so many customers they feel they can lose a few - Order your Lilys someplace else.
Signed - Burnt

Let me sum it up:
Over $300 dollar daylily order
Most extremely small
Some now 3 years old AND STILL HAVE NOT BLOOMED!
Many rotted and moldy--falling apart
Rude and ignorant customer "lack of" service
Failure to replace
About $100 dollar iris order:
Multiple fatalities by next spring (yes customer service, I do know how to grow iris!!!!)
Failure to replace
Come bloom time most were MISLABLED (yes I am meticulous about labeling as I plant)
Catalog goes right into the trash every year now.

I ordered sale peonies last fall, almost all bloomed this spring. Beautiful, very happy with size and quality of rhizomes.

Have ordered several plants from this company (mostly peonies), and I've been pleased with all the plants. The prices were very reasonable, and the size of the plants were nice. The sales are especially good to buy from. Will be buying from again!

I ordered some daylilies and hosta from this company. The prices were quite reasonable and the plants are very healthy looking and large. I was also most impressed with the packaging and labeling. And, they sent a bonus daylily! I will order from them again.

I just received my order of herbacious peonies and daylillies. I was worried as this is my first time dealing with the company. No worries. The peonies were quite large with many eyes, juicy roots, well labeled, and arrived at the perfect time for me to plant in my zone. More than I expected! The daylillies were the same. The most expensive one was smallish, so they sent two! The others were larger than what I get in 1 gal. pots around here. They also sent a bonus daylilly, not my favorite color, but a new gardener friend will love it. No mold, no rot. Just good plants. The shipping and tracking was great, I knew when it was sent, and it got here the next day. I will definately order again next year. Incidently I bought 7 peonies and 3 + 1 bonus day lillies.

I always do a small order first to "test" the company, that way, if I'm disappointed, I don't end up losing too much. I ordered 6 daylilies and 4 Iris from Gilbert H. Wild and sons. I'm very happy with the Daylilies and Iris I received from them. Daylily divisions were very large, as well as the iris rhizomes. Their sale prices are enticing, and I hope to have more pleasurable experiences with them in the future.

I ordered sale daylilies from this company in August, they arrived limp, and quite brown. They were double fans as promised. I did not think they would live. I soaked them and then planted them.Presently all but 1 show new growth and are looking pretty good. Will change this comment to positive if they bloom as described. They were only 3 to 5 dollars each.

This week I received a large re-blooming Iris order. Each of the 33 Iris plants were large and in great shape. This was the fifth order I have placed with Gilbert H. Wild and have experienced no problems. With each order, I am always surprised by the size and quality of the plants. This spring I planted well over 100 daylilies. All are alive and putting on a great show in my yard today.

After reading several negative responses on this web page, I wanted to post a positive listing.

Like pretty much everybody out there, I was attracted to Wild's by the prices and ordered one of their pre-season sales, 17 daylilies. Figured if it seemed too good to be true, then it probably was, but at the prices, I could learn by my mistakes. It was late in the daylily shipping season (ordered in mid-April). Received my daylilies promptly, packing fine, size of plants great, BUT they were dried up and yellowed, some moldy. Looked as if they had been sitting in some bin waiting to be shipped. Still, I planted them right away and fortunately it rained for about a week afterwards. I lost two (Custard Candy came very small and marginal and Siloam Fairy Tale that looked fine for a month or so and then failed -- go figure), but the others have done very well, Jolyene Nichols gorgeous, also El Desperado, Wineberry Candy, etc.
One further caveat, at least one of the daylilies was not what it should have been -- Love Those Eyes turned out to be a big handsome orange, not the yellow with dark eye zone it should be. Not sure on Strutter's Ball either.
My mom and grandmother bought from Wild's at least twenty years ago. Overall, I would buy from them again if they had a plant I wanted at their bargain basement prices, and after reading the comments here, I'll probably try their peonies and lilies.

I ordered five daylilies and one asiatic lily. The daylilies over all were very nice sized and in rather good shape. So were the asiatic lily bulbs (3 of one kind). One daylily however failed to grow, so I emailed the company to see if I could get a replacement. I received a response the same day and will receive a refund.

I was surprised to receive the bonus item for the asiatic lilies since I only ordered one asiatic lily. So by ordering 3 of one kind, I received 3 of another kind free. There was also a bonus item with the daylily purchase.

I thought I received my order at the right time too.

I will probably order from them again.

I haven't ordered from Wild's since 1995. During the years 1990 to 1995, the shipments I received varied widely in quality. One year, the plants would be absolutely fantastic, and the next year hardly worth tossing on the compost heap. I visited Wild's in Sarcoxie during that time, and the plants I purchased on site (unnamed seedlings, mostly) were a fantastic value and fantastic plants. It was also a great excuse for a day-long road trip. I understand that there were management changes during those years, and that there may have been changes since 1995.

I don't know if I'd order from them again, but it seems the bad plant years coincide with bad weather years. I won't be ordering for a while in any case because I'm out of room for daylilies and peonies, and I'm hard-pressed to find more room for iris or hostas.

I had a very disappointing experience with this company. It began with problems using their shopping cart. When I called to ask about it, the woman in customer service was very short with me. I ordered a dozen daylilies anyway and received small, moldy plants. One was completely rotted. Another was a substitute that I didn't want. I had been told everything would be available. Many were sale plants, but several were not, and they were no better than the others. The bonus plant was two fans of the cheapest plant available. On the bright side, it appears that all excepted the rotted plant will grow.

I have ordered from Gilbert H. Wilds several times in the past. To start with I was receiving excellent service and plants. The last couple of years I have received moldy and half dead plants. Several have been labeled what I had ordered but when they bloomed they were something else. I wish Wilds would get their act together. They have beautiful new introductions every year but if you don't get what you order, what is the point of ordering from them? I would rather pay more and get what I order and healthier plants.
Donna Sandlin

Great company! My stepmom has been ordering from them for years with no complaints, so I placed my order with hers this year. The daylilies that I ordered were much larger than expected and in great condition. She ordered the grab bag hostas too. We were so pleased that we ordered more daylilies and hostas a couple weeks later. Everything is doing quite well. I would highly recommend them for price and quality.

I placed my first order(one of the daylily specials) with this company in February(2003) and received it in mid-April. I was more than pleased with what I received. Forty nine of the 50 plants are growing like gangbusters. One plant rotted before it reached me and I just submitted a request for a replacement. Instead of getting one fan, I got clumps. I would order from them again.

You get what you pay for. I ordered for the first time several varities of the "pre-season" daylilies. They are so cheap because they are dug in the fall and stored.
They weren't the greatest looking things but are growing.
Know what you are getting, read the fine print!

Their best selection of daylilies is available in the spring, but fall is the best time to plant daylilies in my climate. Not knowing that, I bought a few from them and half of what I bought did not survive the summer.

I have been ordering daylillies from Wildes for over 10 years. I have never had any issue with the company that was not resolved to my complete satisfaction. I have well over a hundred daylillies on my property, and they are simply awesome when they bloom. Last year I ordered 5 peonies that all bloomed and were quite nice - this year I expect even better from them! The daylillies grow quickly and I have divided a number of them to give to friends and family. The end of season sales are fantastic - the size and quality are the same as at the beginning of the year. I will continue using Wildes exclusively for daylillies and highly recommend them to anyone starting out to collect daylillies!

I havvve ordered from this company for 25 + years and have always been satisfied

I have ordered from this company several times both hostas and daylilies. Each time I have received good stock and have yet to lose one of the plants. I was surprised how well they have done the first year each time. I will continue to order from them in the future

I ordered about 10 daylillies from this company last year and was very pleased with the results. I also ordered a peony which I just planted last fall.

This company seems to be one of the best in terms of quality and price on their daylillies. I have never tried their hostas or lillies though.

I ordered The bargain priced Asiatic Lilies of 25 for $12.95. A nice assortment with only one I didn't paticulary like but that is because I just didn't like the color. The bulbs were all large and all bloomed. My friends are anxiously awaiting them to spread so they can have some of the colors. The other individual Asiatics were great also and still reasonably priced. The Oriental Lillies were spectacular and since those are generally just an annual here I would have been disappointed had they not bloomed so profusely. I recomment the Lily Bulby from this company highly.

I've always had good luck ordering daylilies from this company. Each and every order I've recieved has bloomed the first year. Even when I didn't plant them for over two weeks. Can't be beat for the price.

I say, "you get what you pay for". With Wild's, the prices are low, so I don't expect the daylilies I order from them to be bursting into bloom rapidly. I've never received any dead ones from them and I ordered at least twice from them last year. I have an order in now for shipment in March--cultivars that I hadn't dared hope to get this year because of their cost at other daylily sites. I'm looking forward to receiving them and will post feedback if it is not exactly what I expect--plants that are quite alive, but small. I do wish that everyone had had my experience with them and am glad to have them supplying daylilies.

I ordered 170 daylilies from Wildes, I was so excited, to be getting so many at a price I could afford. I spent over a week getting the holes dug and amending the soil, planning the garden. When they arrived I wanted to cry. Moldy, extremely small, and 40% of them were dead. According to the dig date they were dug and left out for 8 days before being sent, plus they had been in transit for 9 days with UPS. When I called to complain the owner was very rude and said I was the first person to ever complain and I know that is certainly not true. I will never ever buy from this company again no matter how low their prices are. You get what you pay for.

I ordered a lot of lilies for my mom's yard last year, filling out all of the details for her address in Connecticut, and then my billing address in Washington state. The bulbs arrived in WA in early spring. When I phoned the company and explained what had happened, they told me to mail them to her and they would reimburse me for the shipping. I questioned sending them to CT as it was still snow covered there, but I was told it would be fine. Odd, I thought, but I shipped them to CT, faxed the company the receipt from USPS, and did receive a check for the shipping. What my mom received was a box full of slimy bulbs, obviously harmed by cold weather. When I tried to contact the company for a refund or replacements, there was silence. I will _never_ order from this company again.

I have tried Wild's twice. The daylily fans are very small. In order to get a good start to any cultivar, I had to request several orders of any one cultivar, so I'm not sure I saved any money. In this last shipment, the fans were so small and beaten up, that I decided this would be my last order. The clump eventually recovers but it takes a while to get decent bloom. I would rec to use them only if the daylily budget is so small that one has no choice but to go the economy route and if one has the time to wait for the plants to bloom.

I have ordered from this company for the first time this past spring. Good prices and the stock sent was lovely. They included a bonus daylily--not a color I would have picked but still very lovely. Not a fancy catalog but a nice variety of certain plants. They seem to specialize in offering many varieties of certain plants rather than a one or two varieties each of lots of different plants.

I will probably try them again when I want one of the types of plants they offer. I likely won't need a lot more daylilies, but if I do it will be the shorter ones which I like better than the bigger ones.

I'm glad my coworker suggested them.

I made my first (and last) purchase from them in May - emailed and asked them not to ship during a week I'd be gone and received an email back stating that they would make sure not to ship during that week. When I returned home, the daylilies were waiting - they'd been shipped exactly when I'd asked them not to be - arrived mid-week while I was gone. The daylilies were moldy and wilted, very small. I called, asked what had happened, no one could tell me, nor did they offer an apology. They said they planted moldy plants "all the time" and mold wasn't a problem. I tried emailing the man who had assured me of the shipping time - received no response. Most of the daylilies are doing alright, but they are smaller (having been planted in May and had the whole summer to grow) than plants I ordered and planted in late August. Their customer services leaves much to be desired, and although their prices are low, I'd rather spend a little more money for a much larger and healthier plant.

I have purchased from this establishment for over forty years and have always been satisfied. I again ordered bulbs this spring on a whim, and the lilies I received were wonderful as were the surprise bonus lilies. All bloomed and did marvelously. I think Wild's do a first rate job!!

I too USED to purchase from Gilberts and I just got the worst plants-complained and was sent MORE dead plant- I said- HELLO these are dead-they say-oh we just cannot satisfy you-I say excuse me I just want plants that are alive-they say-oh this is way to much time to spend over a couple of daylilies!!!! So I guess they view customer satisfaction as a waste of time!

with so many positive comments...maybe it's me. I ordered specific daylilies on sale..6 of 12!! Died immediately. when I called; they responded they would not refund; but would take the price off my next order.not a good experience.

Got peonies from them last fall - very good sized, healthy plants, they all grew well and half of them bloomed nicely this first spring. Super variety, excellent prices. Also got hosta grab-bag - again, many more plants than promised and they are generally doing ok, some are still tiny but didn't expect too much from planting them in mid-summer and barely watering them. Prices, again, very very low.
I'd always use them for peonies. The very best rivals (Van Engelen) have slightly better prices on hardy lilies, and more variety.

Have always been pleased with this company till now. Placed an order for their Hostas by the handful. They advertise these as #1's with 2-3 growths. Since I ordered 100, I emailed an enquiry as to the selection, I didn't want 15-20 of 5-6 varieties. I was assured this would not happen, the most I would get would be 5-6 of each variety. When the plants arrived, I found that 80% were single growth plants and what I received was 20 or so of about 5 varieties. When I emailed them over this problem, all I heard back was the sound of silence. I hate to be lied to and I hate it even more when a company resorts to false advertising. I will not be buying any more plants from this company, it appears their integrity has flown out the window.