Comments regarding Bluestone Perennials

Posted on November 20, 2009, updated November 20, 2009
Posted on July 01, 2001, updated November 20, 2009
Sorry to have some negative feedback on this company. I ordered 3 - 6 plant collections of the chrysanthemums (one football mum collection, one large flowered garden collection, and one spoon & quilled collection) last fall for shipment this past spring. Each plant was supposed to be a different color, kind, etc. Of the eighteen plants, all but 3 of them are the same yellow mum!! They had the different labels on them, but were not what the labels said! I called and they said they 'didn't know how that could have happened' (I do...shoddy quality control) and offered to send more next spring. I had looked forward to these plants, and am still quite upset about it. I had several other plants that arrived and were mislabeled, but nothing of this magnitude. If the replacement mums aren't correct, I won't order from them again. [update 8/24/2002] received the supposedly correct chrysanthemum plants earlier this year that they promised to send me and they still managed to send me the yellow mums!! This after my begging them not to send me any more of the yellow ones!! I just give up. I will not order from them again. In my opinion, a company should have someone in charge of Quality Control (or whatever they care to call it) to make sure a customers' order is correctly filled! Care should be taken to ensure that correct labeling is used, the descriptions are accurate, and that the plants are what they are supposed to be! Thanks for letting me vent.

I ordered from their fall sale. Everything was good - I ordered both bulbs and a lavendar. I'll reuse the peanuts by putting them in the bottom of a large pot.

It is with regret that I post this negative, because for the past few years, I've had good results with this company.

This year, I ordered several phlox paniculata and a boltonia. The order was placed in July. I received notice that the plants would ship in early October.

In mid September, I received notice that my order would ship about three weeks later.

When my order arrived, only the boltonia were in the box. The receipt said my plants were backordered and would be sent in spring.

I called Bluestone to say that I did NOT want them to keep my money til spring. They said they would issue a refund. But I told them that this was very disturbing to me, because I ordered early, and was never told there would be a problem. At this late date, all other good sources of the plants are sold out. They apologized.

I feel like they were trying to force me to get the plants from them in spring, since they didn't let me know the plants were unavailable until the last minute. This is not the way to do business.

"On Nov 13, 2009 3:21 PM, Bluestone Perennials responded with:

Please accept our apologies for this very unusual situation. We had an unexpected and immediate problem with our entire Phlox crop and had to stop shipping them. Unfortunately, this resulted in some disappointment for our customers. There was not enough time left in our season to reship, so we were forced to backorder to spring. The last thing we wanted to do was send a substandard plant. Add to the situation that we had posted many of our phlox as specials, and it made for a really tough situation. We do everything we can to avoid a situation like this, but occasionally we are thrown a curve-ball that can come from any direction, including Mother Nature. Again, our apologies, Bluestone"

This company is great for standard perennials. The plants are small but strong and healthy, and thrive once set out in the right locations. My first order was small and the package arrived in a jumbled-up mess of emptied pots and dried-out plants. I complained and they quickly sent the entire shipment over and everything was perfect. Since then, I order regularly in the spring. I'm a happy customer for certain!

Recently placed my very first order with this company and was absolutely thrilled with the experience. I received my little lovelies just today and they were well packaged and looked very healthy. I will absolutely order from them again.

I am so happy with this company. On Sept 22, I used their website to order crocus, lily, and tulip bulbs. I immediately received a confirmation email. Two days later, I received an email that the order shipped. The next day, I received the bulbs. Everything was just as ordered and expected. Already started planting!

I have ordered from Bluestone before and have not had any problems. I placed my order on Aug 13th and had to email them about the delivery time. My order arrived yesterday in excellent shape. A little dry, the daylillies were average size. I have been well pleased with Bluestone. I will order from them again in the future.

To be one of the top-rated companies on this site, I was rather shocked when I received my order. The plants were smaller than I expected, root-bound, and worst of all most of them were bone dry and severely wilted. You would think that this company would water the plants before shipping them and wrap them in a way to prevent them from drying out. I received these plants two days after they were shipped so they should not have looked as bad as they did. I immediately transferred the plants to larger pots after receiving them and watered them thoroughly. By the next day their appearance had improved and they looked even better the following day. I plan on planting them within the next week into the ground. All of the plants appear as though they will survive. However, I think I will try a few more companies for future purchases of perennials to get a fair comparison to the perennials that I received from this company.

After reading so many positive comments, I decided to order a catalog, then ordered one of their border collections, and other plants. They came when expected, last spring, but due to cold weather, I had to wait a week to plant. I followed their instructions, and all plants survived the planting. Now it is fall, and I am so pleased with the results! Only 3 of over 100 plants did not survive the dry summer (and I think it was my fault). Right now, the asters are the star of my garden. Over 3 feet tall the first year planted and loaded with thousands of dark pink flowers. By buying the collection, I could try flowers I was unfamiliar with. Now, I am planning my purchases for next spring to fill in the holes in the rest of my garden. Don't worry about the initial size! If you have properly prepared your bed, they will grow!!!

I was initially disappointed when I placed my order in late July and received an email that my plants would not ship until "early September" but since there were bulbs included in my order, I assumed this was normal. I called on Sept. 8th and was told that my order would be shipped "probably tomorrow" and I would receive an email with tracking info. I called again on Friday since I did not receive an email and was told that the plants had indeed shipped and would be delivered that day. My excitement quickly faded when I opened the box...most of my order had not shipped (bulbs had not come in from Europe and would not ship until late Sept.), one plant was backordered and would not to be shipped until "Spring 2010", plants were SMALL, and most were root/pot bound. I called immediately and a very nice person offered to return my money and cancel the remaining order. I chose to wait to receive the bulbs after she assured me these items would ship no later than Sept. 22nd, but I did cancel the one backordered Spring 10 item. As far as the plants that were pot bound, I decided to wait and see how they did as I had already planted them.
This is my first experience with ordering from this company and though customer service is very helpful, I would not order again as it takes forever to receive very small plants. Not a good value.

"On Sep 18, 2009 10:05 AM, Bluestone Perennials responded with:

We have been in touch with the customer directly and are working to resolve her concerns."

I ordered during the spring sale and was initially disappointed. My order was for 15 plants. I received a shipping email on Friday that my order shipped. Shipping on a Friday still seems idiotic to me, as the order sat in a mail truck or mail warehouse during a hot weekend. Shipping on Monday would have delayed the order by only one day and the plants would not have been subjected to the mail storage. Someday I'll let that go. The plants arrived and some had wet, rotten greenery - like when you store lettuce in a plastic bag and it goes bad. Upon contacting BP, I was informed that they would replace any plant that died. I immediately planted and trimmed off all rotten growth. I now realize I should have waited a bit to plant, but I put the plants out on a hot sunny day. Every plant is now healthy and showing substantial growth. Not all have bloomed, but the plants went through a lot of stress, on BPs and my own part.

Unhealthy plants would not have survived. I will definitely buy from them again and upgrade the shipping to expedited service. I am certain these plants would all have looked fabulous if they had not spent days in hot, idle transit.

I was disappointed with the health of the plants I received: they did not look good and despite lots of TLC, 2 of the 5 I ordered have died. I will not use this company again.

"On Aug 24, 2009 4:00 PM, Bluestone Perennials responded with:

I hope you will give us the opportunity to regain your trust. We are now shipping for fall planting, and could get some replacement plants out to you right away at no cost. Your original purchase was guaranteed, and if you will be in touch, we will reship or refund - which ever you prefer."

I ordered Bluestone's 'Perennial Starter Garden' and 3 Coreopsis 'Creme Brulee' in May of this year. This was my first mail-order purchase of live plants and my first purchase of perennials as well. About 2 weeks before I ordered, I tilled the soil and added organic compost as suggested by Bluestone and a few books I had read.
When they arrived, my first observation was that the plants were very small but healthy. I planted them about 3 days later spacing them as stated on the plant tags. I thought they looked sparse (but again, healthy) and hoped they would fill in.
It's now August 9th and they are thriving way beyond my expectations. 54 plants were delivered and 54 plants are alive! I can't wait to see them next year.

Look at these Before & Afters.
[HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com]

I've ordered twice from Bluestone, taking advantage of their late spring half-off sale, and have been very pleased with their plants. Shipping is fast and well-packaged, with helpful gardening instructions and detailed logistical information. All the plants I ordered are thriving in my garden, and some are neat varieties that I got at good prices. However, I do wish they offered single plants for some of their stock...often the only option is to buy three packs. Sometimes, that's great--especially for groundcovers and massing perennials--but not always. But overall I am really happy with this company and will continue to order from them!

This was my first experience in ordering plants from a catalog. Everything I ordered arrived healthy but the plants were pretty small. Maybe this is normal when ordering like this, and I somewhat expected it, but I was just a little surprised at how small they really were. But eveything lived and is growing and very healthy looking. I would recommend this company and will probably buy from them again. This website helped me choose Bluestone because of the good ratings.

Ordered from Bluestone for the first time last month. Purchased several butterfly bushes, spireas, and tall phlox, all on sale at the time.

The box which housed the new adoptions contained an excessive amount of foam peanuts, making retrieval of the plants cumbersome (be sure to do it on a windless day, unless you want your garden to have a fresh layer of foam mulch). But I won't complain too much, as the plants arrived without handling-induced damage.

The shrubs were cuttings and a decent size, in surprisingly shallow pots. They seem to have had some pruning done before the trip. Slow release fertilizer tablets were provided for them, which is a plus. Despite being planted in early Summer on southern exposure, the shrubs showed no signs of stress after a mere week of careful watering, all displaying enthusiastic new growth along their manicured branches. Very pleased by the shrubs.

The phlox on the other hand arrived looking uniformly less impressive, with much wilting and some other physical damage (ironically, they came in much deeper pots than the shrubs). But they too have transplanted successfully... not quite impressive specimens yet, but green and sturdy enough to allay worries about their short-term survival.

Based on this single experience, I might be slightly hesitant to order tender plants, at least until the phlox pass the test of winter. But I would have no reservations whatsoever about woody plants. The performance of the butterfly bush and spirea has been superb thus far, delighting in both the briskness of growth and tolerance of heat.

I ordered eleven hostas from the half off clearance sale at the end of May. One was out of stock when I order was filled, but my credit card was never charged. The plants were shipped FedEx and arrived quickly. Although they'd been packed in peanuts, three arrived with significant leaf damage. I emailed Bluestone and received replacement plants within a week. I'm happy to say I would order from them again.

I ordered from this company and was very pleased with thier plants..

I have nothing but good things to say about this nursery. I have been doing business with them from years & have had great success with their plants !!

I placed three orders from Bluestone Perennials recently, and was very happy with the quality of the plants!! They were well- packed and very healthy upon arrival. They were very good about emails confirming my orders and on letting me know when the orders were shipped. I have ordered from them before and have never been unhappy about their plants. I highly recommend this company. Thanks for doing such a good job Bluestone Perennials!!

I am a new customer to bluestone this year. The many plants I have ordered have been beautiful, healthy plants. You would never even know these plants had been shipped, they looked like they just came from the nursery. I have been more pleased with these plants than those from any other mail order nursery.

I considered a neutral rating, but when I add everything up....it's lookin' like a negative. I have ordered perennials and shrubs from them for the last few years, but stopped. I agree with many that plants are usually quite small, some are close to dead, badly packaged( BIG box (filled with those eco- problematic peanuts) . Many times I've had to nurse plants in pots before I plant them in the ground I justified all the trouble with the fact that the prices were quite good, and selection was wide, The biggest problem is that half of the stuff doesn't come up the next year!!! If I added up all the lost plants, I've lost a lot of time and money!

"On Jun 29, 2009 4:15 PM, Bluestone Perennials responded with:

We are sorry to hear that your plants have not been arriving in good condition and struggling with wintering over. Our plants are guaranteed, and if you would like, we would be happy to reship or refund at your request.

We have tried many other methods of shipping, but those darned peanuts work the best. We offer free shipping on your next order if you will send the peanuts back to us so that we can reuse them (to be environmentally responsible). They are themselves made from recycled material.

Wintering over can be difficult some years - we have a discussion of drainage and mulch in our FAQ section on our website. I hope you will be in touch."

I have always been happy with my plants from Bluestone. If there is a problem with a plant, they are quick to replace it or issue a credit. I find most of their prices reasonable.
Yogijoan

I stumbled upon Bluestone Perennials while surfing online several years ago and am glad I did. Their plants are tops, their customer service unbeatable, and replacement for "no shows" the following year (no questions asked) is hard to beat. Compared to the prices at Maria Gardens or Petitti's (around Cleveland), Bluestone is a bargain.

I have ordered plants from several lousy companies (Spring Hill Nursery and Michigan Bulb, to name a couple) and have received nothing but a stick and a couple of roots that they call plants. Not only did they not come up the following year, but their policy on returns is to send a certificate to reorder from the mail catalog. "Didn't grow the first time, so why should I reorder?" I thought .

Living in NE Ohio, I plan on visiting their greenhouse this summer as I am really curious to see all the goodies they have.

Again, a wonderful company that I have recommended to people several times and will continue to recommend in the future.

I ordered from Bluestone because of a friend's recommendation. Their plants are terribly overpriced--$7.50 for three blue dianthus!!! They had a half off sale--I ordered $l46 (plants and shipping). They had a lot of plants I couldn't find in my area. When the box arrived and I opened it I was shocked at the condition of the plants--they were shipped in styrafoam peanuts!! Either the plants were very, very small and half dead or ripped apart by the crummy packaging. I called and complained--Bluestone said they would credit my credit card and to keep the plants. To-date they have not credited my card. They did not ship large, healthy, robust plants--they're half-off sale is a rip off. They already charge WAY too much and half-off is still TOO much for the quality I was shipped.

I will never, never order from this company again.
Jaylee

I ordered from Bluestone two years ago. I admit I thought the plants looked awfully small, but I had looked at others' reviews of this nursery and was expecting smallish plants.
My plants have flourished--nepeta, campanula, anemone, daylily, and others. They're huge plants--the kind they photograph to show you how beautiful the plant is--and have exceeded my expectations.
Good job, and keep it up!

I've placed several orders from BSP and although the plants they ship are not that large, they seem to do great the second year. I planted some Plum Pudding Heuchera last fall and they almost tripled in size this spring. This year I requested they move my ship date twice and it was no problem. They did make a mistake with an order (they sent the wrong ajuga), but I had an e-mail back within 24hr and the new plants within two weeks . They might not have the biggest plants, but they're healthy, grow well and their customer service is tops. I will definitely be ordering from them again.

I am a long time (30+ years) organic gardener with extensive experience growing perennials and shrubs. I decided to give this company a try for some of my current garden plant needs, considering all of the glowing reviews it has received. Unfortunately, my experience has not been in line with that portrayed by others. I recently placed three different orders with this company for a total of 84 plants - predominantly hostas, ornamental grasses, siberian iris, flowering quince, viburnum and coral berry. The plants which I received were mixed in terms of quality, size and vigor. About 50% (mostly the hostas, viburnums and about half of the flowering quince and coral berry were decent (though very small) plants. The remainder, especially the grasses, iris, and the other half of the flowering quinces and coral berries were very pathetic anemic looking plants that looked like they were end of the year left-overs at best. The grasses were mostly pots of brown stems and a number of the flowering quinces were small branch scuptures with very few if any leaves. I did contact the company on the first order that contained the siberian iris and hostas and they sent replacements for the poor plants contained in that shipment. I have not followed up on the subsequent orders simpy because I do not want to complain any more or have to request replacements for every order I place. Very disappointing after having researched alternatives and choosing this company based on all of the positive reviews contained here. Definitely time to try a different source for my future plantings.

We were going to order a perennial border garden online and then I realized they were only 1 hour drive away. SO up we went to Madison Ohio. What an amazing garden center!! EVERY SINGLE PLANT AND FLOWER we bought survived and we bought about 200!!!! That was 3 months ago. We even kept them in the garage for a month since we couldn't plant them after the last freeze.
We are very happy with bluestone and will continue with them. Great customer service!!!!

Bought 3 Stokesias (among other things) last year. They were small plants and at the time I was concerned. But I can tell you they are HUGE now, full size Stokesias, blooming profusely. I am so pleased and plan to order more from this company.

I order from Bluestone's late May sale every year. The plants always arrive tiny and look sad at first glance, but I follow the directions in the package and they perk up and look healthy within a day.

The first time a few plants never perked up, and died soon after arrival. I wrote to Bluestone and they replaced them immediately without any argument. (even though I had gotten them on sale.) I realized later that it was my fault, I had overwatered them. This year, the plants all looked great. I think they were bigger this year too.

Many thanks to Bluestone for their excellent customer service and excellent plants. It is a pleasure to order from them.

I made my first order with Bluestone on March 15th, ahead of the spring shipping date for my region. The order was shipped on April 9th, and arrived about 5 or six days later.
This was my first time to order plants online, so I was really surprised at how puny everything looked when I opened the box. I went ahead and repotted everything the plants are all a great size a few months later. A few didn't make it, but the customer service was awesome! I got new plants within a week of contacting them. I definitely recommend using this company. No one can believe I got my garden in the mail.

Great plants, great bargains, as I bought only their discounted ones - they were nicely filled out, packed well, arrived safely, and are growing happily. I will buy from them again!

I've ordered a wide variety of plants from this company; latest arrivals were some "Bronze Beauty" ajuga which arrived in great condition (and are now attempting to take over a bank in front of my property).
I appreciate their attention to each and every order. I wish there were a better alternative to the packing peanuts; in the meantime, I drop them off at my local pack-and-ship store - they are happy to take them.

I can't say enough good things about this company. I consistently buy & always get great looking plants, I've never been disappointed! I've only bought a few plants at their regular price, most all have been the half off specials. Great bargains, healthy plants, super customer service.

I hope that my review can help some gardeners make the decision to order from Bluestone. I initially heard from this company from a very respectable and knowledgeable gardener who seemed to be extremely pleased with the plants that she had received. I, therefore, decided that I would give this company a try since former sites (mainly springhill) were horrible. I too was extremely disappointed when I first opened up my box to see all of the relatively small and half dead plants. I was soon proved wrong though.
The garden where my plants were going was not ready so I placed the plants on my screened porch, which gets mostly afternoon sun , for a few weeks. Within the week of their arrival they soon began to put forth new growth and soon many were looking very healthy.
All in all I am very pleased with the company, I will agree that the plants they ship do seem to be in bad condition initially, but I was pleased with how the plants preformed.

"On Jun 15, 2009 2:58 PM, Bluestone Perennials responded with:

Thanks for providing the extra TLC! I'm glad to hear the plants revived for you - you did exactly the right thing by them. You are correct that the extra time in the box did not do them any favors. Although we cannot foresee shipping delays, we CAN stand by our guarantee and will reship immediately if your plants do not make the trip successfully."

I have been ordering from this company for a number of years now. The plants arrive in good shape and grow well. Bluestone is a wonderful source of plants!

I ordered anemones last year at the 50% off sale and rudbeckias this year in same sale. 5/6 anemones made it thru winter and are now huge and the rudbeckias survived being left on my porch 2 extra days when I was out of town. Their plants are great and the catalog has a huge selection. The only downthing about bluestone is the styrofoam peanuts they ship with, which are a pain to pick out of your plants. Plus-yeah you can reuse them, but who has the storage space or patience b/c they go everywhere when you unpack and then have to pick them up-I always end up putting them in the trash. The plan to ship peanuts back to company, burns more gas and creates global warming. All the other mailorders have alternate ways to ship healthy plants, bluestone should look into one of these, but their plants and service are first rate.

I have been ordering from this company for a few years now. The plants are always healthy and shipped quickly. I haven't had any problems with my past orders and look forward to future purchases.