Comments regarding Bluestone Perennials

Excellent communication, both via e-mail and phone, on two separate orders. Items delivered when requested and in perfect condition. I'm very happy with the service I've received.

I ordered from this Company for the first time in the spring of 2008. The plants arrived in great condition. I planted them in quick order. It is now early November. All of the plants grew well over the summer. I am going to order from the Company again this spring. The Company needs to be congratulated for providing an easy-to-read sun/shade and flowering time indicator for each plant shown in its catalog which REALLY helped me to plan my garden. I have already given the catalogs to three other neighbors.

I am new to mail-order gardening because I usually buy plants at local retailers like Lowe's or local garden centers or plant nurseries. Read the reviews on DG and decided to buy 2 clematis plants. The plants arrived in excellent shape, very carefully packed with clear labels. Healthy looking plants, with good, developed roots for plants shipped at that size.
Will look forward to seeing them grow.

I just received my first order from Bluestone and I was impressed with the super fast shipping and the plant quality, even if they're on the small side. The plants were on sale for great prices and I was very impressed with price of shipping compared to other places. I purchased 7 ornamental grasses and the plants were packaged carefully and look very healthy. They were all neatly trimmed and I can't wait to get them in my gardens and watch their progress next spring and summer!

I needed some tulip and daffodil bulbs to fill out some beds I had prepared this summer. I usually order from another company, but it was late in the season and I didn't want to wait the inevitable 3-4 weeks for the order to ship.

I decided after reading all of the terrific feedback on this company that I would give them a try. The bulbs were shipped quite quickly and the quality was excellent. I had a customer service question and I was happy with the way that was handled, also. When I needed a few more bulbs I gave then another order which was again filled exceedingly quickly.

Their reputation is well-earned, and they will be the first company I check with in the future when I needed something else.

I ordered from Bluestone this past spring, and placed a larger order with them for this fall. While the prices may seem a little high for smaller plants, Bluestone makes up for this with coupons (I ended up saving $40 on my order between coupons and a catalog code), specials on their website, and plants that hit the ground running - I can't believe how well my delphiniums and potentillas are doing this late in the year!

I plan on continuing to order the majority of my perennials from this company.

Love these people. Everything you order arrives in a timely fashion, is well packed and the plants are in great shape when they arrive. I've ordered probably 100+ plants from them in the past year and am completely pleased with every order I've done. Would highly recommend them.

I placed an order with Bluestone at the start of the summer, and I've been pleased with the plants during their first year. All of them arrived healthy (though) small, and they've thrived since then. I lost one sambucus - it was a little mangled and wilted when it arrived, and it didn't do well in the summer heat. Bluestone was happy to offer a replacement. This fall, I placed another order, in preparation for next year. The plants arrived quickly and healthy, and I anticipate that they'll do well.

The drawbacks: plants are small, and the prices are a bit high. If you can find the same things at your local nursery, you're likely to get better value. (Of course, if you could find the same things at your nursery, you probably wouldn't be shopping online.) You shouldn't expect the plants to be ready to put on a display in their first year.

The advantages: excellent selection of perennials, healthy plants, no mistakes in the order, and great customer service.

My first time ordering from Bluestone, and I had a good experience. I ordered gaillardia and some delphiniums. Most of the plants come in a 3 pack, which is a good price for 3 plants. They were fairly good size with good foiliage. I also ordered my fall blooming bulbs which where of good quality and arrived in a timely manner for planting in time. I would not hesitate to order from them again.

Great plants. I will order from them again.

I received my order from Bluestone a week ago. This is my second time ordering from this company and I'm a satisfied customer. I ordered two of their preplanned gardens, which are a great value. The plants were shipped in great condition and shipped quickly as scheduled. I highly recommend this company to others and I will order again.

I have been ordering from Bluestone for quite a few years. Unless you are very picky, or are used to paying lots more money & expect bigger plants, you can't go very far wrong with them.

As many other people have said, the only downside to ordering from them is their use of the plastic peanuts. Arrgggh, I hate those things!
(If anybody from Bluestone reads this, please, please consider using something besides the peanuts. If you did, I would probably have you mail presents to friends. But not with those awful peanuts.)

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Yes, we do read these - we love Dave's Garden! We have tried every alternative product developed and none have worked as well as those darned peanuts. We are evaluating several new ideas for next year, but until something comes along that doesn't dissolve in the box or harm the plants, we offer our Recycling program. Send the peanuts back and we will send you a certificate for free shipping on your next order. We reuse your peanuts in another shipment. Also the peanuts we use are made from 100% recycled material and are CFC free. "

I have been doing business with Bluestone for at least 10 years. I have never been disappointed. They are always reasonably priced, fill your order quickly, and send replacements if something fails. I have ordered from a lot of online vendors in the past 15 years and Bluestone is hands down the best.

I ordered a fair number of plants from this company and all except one arrived in great condition. The tiarella I ordered did not look as good when it arrived but I suspect this was because of shipment shock. It did well once planted in the ground. I will order from this company again.

I recently placed a couple of orders with Bluestone. One order arrived this week, and to say I am very pleased would be an understatement. The plants were well packed, nice size and healthy in appearance. One plant did, however, suffer from either packing or in transit. I emailed them including pictures of the plant in question and in less than 24 hours had a response from Pat telling me they will be shipping a replacement next week. Definitely a company I will be ordering from again in the future. Good product + great customer service = one great company!

My heart sank when I received my order. Now, just 3 days later I am ecstatic! I have 23 beautiful new plants.
It is really hard to decide when to receive plants here in New Mexico. Our high desert can have 24 hour temperature fluctuations of 40 to 50 degrees in the spring and fall. First frost can come as early as October or as late as December and last frost could be in February or May! I asked for my shipment to arrive the week of September 1st. We had cool weather all week except the day the plants were to arrive. Fedex usually delivers to my home around 1PM but that day it was 4:45 PM so the plants spent the whole day on a Very Hot truck.

The plants were very warm and wilted with a capital W. The soil was dry. I thought all was lost! I followed the instructions that came with the plants, watered them well and put them under a tree. Amazingly by the next morning all but one plant had completely revived!! I waited till cool evening to plant. Just one plant is a goner but the others are incredible. So far there has been NO transplant shock. The plants are lush and green, I don't think they would fit in the box they came in anymore. The roots on these plants are outstanding A+++ and that makes all the difference. The packing was fine but I wonder if something could be done to help the soil stay moist a little longer.

Thank you Bluestone, I can't wait to see these plants next year.

I love bluestone. I have been ordering plants from them for over 10 years and they are still my favorite mail-order company. The plants are on the small side, and they don't have many unusual varieties, but they are healthy and the prices are good. In the rare cases I have had problems with the health of the plant they have replaced or refunded it immediately, even when I told them I wasn't sure whether the death of a plant was my fault or not. The plants always arrive quickly (or whenever you say you want them to arrive), and I can't think of a single time that a plant was canceled after I ordered it. They have great sales at various times of the year, and nice discount coupons that arrive with every order. And the staff is very friendly by email.

This is the second season I have ordered from Bluestone and I L-O-V-E them! I order a lot of planting materials each year from a few choice companies, and Bluestone is on the top of my list every year.

They have excellent sales, good regular prices, high quality plants and excellent customer service. They are extremely proactive with their orders. I usually wait for online specials and I have been known to place several orders a month. If the order has not gone out yet, they will add the subsequent orders on to the orginal order so everything comes at once and they don't add on subsquent shipping charges.

I will continue to order from them for years to come, i just love them.

The rating of my experience is negative because the issues I experienced are enough to make me pause considerably before ordering anything else from Bluestone Perennial. Not every aspect of my experience was negative.

This catalog is the nicest of all the mail order catalogs I have received (8-10 total). The pages are sturdy, photos are colorful and the unique selections are intriguing. The layout is well done. By looking at the catalog and the prices, I got the impression that this company is the "Top Dog" of the general perennial mail orders. The prices were higher and the discount offered lower than most other catalog companies but I figured it was because they are good!

Because of cost, I paired my choices down considerably to four different plants. When they arrived on May 15, 2008 I was disappointed with the packaging. The plants were in a regular container as if they were sitting on the table in a regular garden center with only the base (dirt and roots) contained. The foliage was unprotected. There were peanuts in the box to fill in the space but these also seemed to cause damage to the foliage during shipping. One daylily looked terrible. The leaves were bent and torn. The plants were very tiny as I guess is normal for mail order. But still to pay that much money to get what were practically seedlings surprised me.

I bought two of the same daylilies; one for me and one for my sister to give her as a gift. I knew she would love the colors of the “Always Afternoon” daylily. Hers bloomed. Mine has not and tomorrow is September 1 so I don’t expect it to bloom for me this summer. The color on her bloom was not at all what the catalog looked like. In the catalogue, it appeared magenta / bright pink (raspberry pink is the description) with a yellow throat. This was more like a muted, dirty pink. I got it for her because she loves bright colors so this was very disappointing. I loved the colors shown too but expect mine will also be a dull, ugly pink.

I bought two types of Anemones. One set of three was supposed to be pink. It started blooming recently and they were white! I checked my order slip and it was correct. The order was for the pink one. The containers must have been mislabeled or someone grabbed the white accidentally when selecting my order items. I called the company and they were nice. They are sending me pink ones at the next ship date in the Fall. I am waiting on the other set of Anemones to bloom. They seem to be growing new and bigger foliage. We’ll see how the blooms go.

The last of the four selections was a Clematis, ‘Arctic Queen’. I don’t know what to expect here. I have never had a Clematis. But it really hasn’t done much all summer. There are very few, small leaves and the vine has reached about 10 inches on the trellis. There are definitely no flowers but I will wait to see next summer. The catalog says bloom time is May to August on old and new growth so I would have expected something. It would be helpful if the descriptions told you whether to expect a bloom the first year or not.

Sorry this is so lengthy. I love the selection at Bluestone Perennial. They sell flowers that I don’t see elsewhere and because of that and other positive reviews I see here at David’s Garden I may try ordering from them again. However, I had shortly before this received an order from another major catalog and was thoroughly impressed with their packaging and plants. If I buy again from Bluestone Perennial it will be for something I can’t find elsewhere but still want to have. I will keep that to a minimum until I feel reassured that I am getting quality shipping and plants.

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I am glad that most aspects of your experience were positive, and I am confident all will be well with your replacements. Don't ever hesitate to call right away if your shipment arrives in poor condition - we will reship immediately. We appreciate the feedback on the Hemerocallis description and we will look into matching up the catalog to the bloom. Also, regarding the Clematis - some can be slow to establish, but if yours still does not meet your expectations (even next spring), please contact us for a replacement. It sounds like it is coming along now, and it should be great next spring."

Orderred a clematis this past spring. Great packaging, fast shipping. Healthy.

Will order again.

We ordered clematis (Princess Di) and Becky shasta daisies. They arrived promptly and in excellent shape. We definitely plan to order again from Bluestone!

I have ordered from Bluestone for about three years. Their plants are always in good condition and they do bloom the first year. I bought siberian iris from other mailorder sources and none of them bloomed the first year, and still have not bloomed, after 5 years. The siberian Iris I bought from Bluestone took off in the spring and all had bloomed by the
summer. I was ecstatic!

The 1/2 price sale is like Christmas...

ORDERED PRE PLANNED SET UP. ARRIVED ON TIME. I PLANTED RIGHT AWAY. PLANTS WERE SMALL BUT ALL HAVE THRIVED PERFECTLY. I HAVE BEAUTIFUL BLACK EYED SUSANS AND ALL HAVE DONE VERY WELL. THE PEANUTS IN PACKING IS A NUISANCE BUT I UNDERSTAND THE REASON FOR IT. I WOULD ABSOLUTELY ORDER AGAIN!!!!!!

I have only good things to say. All but one plant grew immediately and it was replaced within a couple of days and is now flowering beautifully along with all the rest. Regardless of their size upon arrival, they've all matured into gorgeous flowering specimens. The service was gracious and I will definately order again. They were also very patient with me and my numerous calls. I can't wait to get my Fall order! Thanks so much, Bluestone.

I have purchased both Lupines and Delphiniums. Both came well packaged with directions. Plants are doing very well.

Last year I purchased Honeysuckle plants and these are doing fantastic.
I would very much recommend this company.

A pleasure to deal with! I ordered plants from them for the first time and they were all beautiful,healthy plants. I never recieved my some of my plants and the customer service rep was a joy to deal with! They replaced my plants,no questioned asked-I will certainly continue to do business with them-wonderful company.

I ordered from Bluestone - A) Because their rating is consistently one of the highest - B) My neighbor had a 20% off coupon and it appeared to be a good chance to try them - I was not disappointed!
I was very impressed by the healthy plants they shipped and the specialized packing each received - we actually saved a few little packing containers because they were unique in our experience. My Dragon Garden is going great guns - my hosta are beautiful and I even received several free bonus items, one of which will become a staple in my flower beds. Last year, my experience with Direct Gardening was utterly miserable! So, I am happy to say Bluestone was the polar opposite. I won't hesitate to recommend them to others.

I have ordered from this company for several years, always with good results. The price is extremely reasonable, the plants healthy, and the service excellent. Often they also offer specials and coupons, which makes their prices even better. In the past few years this company has discontinued some plants that I wanted to order and upon inquiring, they give me information on other mail order nurseries who would have what I was looking for. So, for me it is all positive, and I have and would suggest Bluestone to anyone wanting to order plants through the mail.

I ordered three Gaillardia 'Tokajer' in January, and received them in late spring, pretty well packed, but a little smashed. Certainly in good enough condition to grow well, though. BP's plants are small, but the price is right, so I took the little plants, potted them up right away, then, eventually, moved them into the garden in ideal conditions. They grew wonderfully, but, alas, it soon became evident that I had received the wrong plant. They shot up about 4 ft (too tall for Gaillardia) and I kept trying to identify them, assuming they were some other cultivated plant......until it became clear that they were a common weed that I see everyday on the side of the road!!! I contacted BP by email, then phone, (they had not replied to my email after 48 hours, though, as it turned out, they had already taken care of the matter) and they have promised replacements, but as it is midsummer, and they are no longer shipping, I will miss a whole season's growth. I monitored these plants CLOSELY, each day (this was a plant I really wanted)--the weeds were clearly in the pots upon delivery, one per pot, right in the center. There is absolutely no way they were introduced at my house, or that the pots contained the correct cultivar. On the plus side, I did get great customer service....but shipping weeds....clearly a quality control issue!! Especially with an early-in-the-season order...

I wish there was a star rating for a positive experience. If there was, I would give bluestone a 3-3.5 out of 5 stars. I've order from bluestone twice--both during their big spring sale.

Their 50% off sale can't be beat for value and selection. The plants are tiny and most of them have arrived fairly ugly looking. I'll put it this way--if I saw these plants at a garden center I wouldn't pick them out of the flat. My first order the asters Iooked like they are on their last legs and I requested a replacement. They are EXCELLENT about replacement--but you will have to wait for them because they will not ship until the heat of the summer has past. (Excellent practice in my book)

I've not lost any of the plants--even the nearly dead leafless ones have been resurrected with a little care. All have done really well after a year settling in. Their prices on clematis are EXCELLENT and these looked especially healthy of the bunch I ordered this spring.

I would never order from bluestone at full price, but during their big sales, I would highly recommend them.

I just got lupines from Bluestone (on sale) and was very pleased with the size and condition. Delivery was very fast too. I will certainly order from them again.

I recently received my order from Bluestone. Although many of the plants were on sale, they were sturdy and took off as soon as I got them into the ground. I also appreciate their concern for recycling packing products.

I ordered a pre-planned garden from Bluestone Perennials, which arrived in early May. I followed their instructions about letting the plants rest before planting and eventually got them into the garden about 4 or so days after delivery. These plants are of the highest quality and very vigorous growers. I am 100% satisfied with their products and would definitely buy from them again and recommend them to other gardeners. It is now less than two months since planting and most are in gorgeous bloom and filling in beautifully. I can see that by the third year, I will already be dividing and sharing!

I decided to try Bluestone Perennials when they had their half price sale recently, and I must say I am happy with the quality and size of the plants that I received. I purchased daylilies and a few other plants. Daylilies are 1 and two fans, but for the price they are well worth every penny. I also liked the prompt shipping and communication from the company. I plan to order again when I need more plants.

I placed a small order for 6 plants during their half-off sale. The plants arrived when Bluestone said they would and in nice condition. This company has prompt and hassel free service!

A very new gardener here who just ordered the shade garden package and have been very, very happy with my experience with BP. Haven't yet put the plants in the newly created bed. As mentioned in other post, the sweet woodruff, in particular, is beautiful and, after 4-5 days on my patio, loving life. Plants arrived extremely promptly, packed with care (re: plastic peanut complaints-- the company now has a very well explained method in place whereby you may return them for reuse; seems they have been listening to customers' comments), soil still damp. When I emailed them yesterday that, after a few days on my porch (which they reccommend), that 1 forget me not plant had died and 2 others were looking sickly, they immediately responded today, without discussion, that they'd replace them and to expect new plants next week. I appreciate the chance to buy smaller plants at an economical price (plus which, even in the week since they've arrived, I see noticeable growth-- the Laminium shell pink is already maybe 10-15% larger!)

I rarely leave comments/feedback for retailers, but have been so happy with the (relatively rare) high standard of service with this company that I decided to post.

Great company to deal with--I placed several orders over the last couple of years. I love their early-bird specials, half-price sales, and incentive coupons, but what keeps me coming back are their healthy plants and consistently good service. The plants are always packed well and arrive when Bluestone's email says they will. I have only had one 3-pack fail to make it (an herb), and Bluestone immediately credited my account. I always follow their care instructions and the plants always do well. My callicarpa is amazing, and the hardy gardenia (which arrived with no buds) is blooming and has four more buds ready to bloom (the fragrance is heavenly). I have also ordered: mock orange, Leycesteria formosa, caryopteris (Longwood Blue), wintergreen, aquilegia (several), cardinal lobelia, clematis, phlox subulata, dianthus barbatus, tricyrtis, asters (purple dome), and several groundcovers (plus the bonus plants). This is my favorite mail-order plant place. I _trust_ Bluestone.

I can't say enough good things about this company. I have been purchasing from them for years and have never had a problem. When they recently had the half price sale, I purchased several plants. I called to tell them I had lost several and without any hesitation at all, I was told the replacements would be sent out immediately. I highly recommend them.

I haven't ordered from Bluestone in about 2 years, since I really haven't been adding to my perennial collection. I recently placed and order and was a bit underwhelmed with my purchase.

Price was always their biggest advantage for me. Their plants have always been somewhere between seedlings and plants. They always arrived a little beat up, but usually did well once planted. I was always willing to accept the small size and condition since they were a bargain.

I just ordered from them recently during their 50% spring sale. Seems like prices have gone up. Full prices were in the $8 - $14 range, which is higher than I remember. Even at 50% off, I don't think the value is still there. The prices have moved to a point where I expect a little more size/quality.