Comments regarding Bluestone Perennials

I have never left feedback about a company before, I've always thought that if I ever did it would be because of a negative experience. I'm glad to say that Bluestone has impressed me so much that I'm leaving positive feedback!

There was some confusion about a couple of orders I made this winter that were being combined. I used a lot of coupons and by combining the orders, I lost some of the coupon value. I wrote to customer service, and someone named Pat credited me for the repeat use coupons. However, I realized that an order that I cancelled was included in the order. I called their customer service department and actually spoke to Pat!!! A real live human being was talking to me and being very pleasant!

Not only did Pat fix the problem, but she also gave me credit for my inconvenience! Will I order from Bluestone Perennials again? You betcha!

I've ordered from Bluestone several times over the years. The plants always arrive in itty bitty containers, but they are healthy and thrive despite looking puny out of the box. If you are expecting big lush plants, I'm not sure you can get them from mail order at all, but you won't get them from Bluestone.

With that said, I think they are a tremendous value. Most of their products are in 3 packs. Compare their prices and you will be impressed. They always have some nice half-price specials and their sales and coupons can save you a fortune.

I received my first Bluestone order last week...and given the rave reviews I am very disappointed! These are THE smallest little weak plants I have ever seen...I am giving them a neutral since I don't know how they will respond to my email. Will update my feedback when I hear from them.

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We are in correspondence with robcorreia and have offered to reship or refund (either option in part or in full) according to her wishes. We are grateful that she was in touch so that we can make it right."

I order from Bluestone every year at least once -- usually in spring and again in fall. I've always been completely satisfied -- never a bad plant in the bunch. Four years ago I moved into a house on a very large, mostly sunny piece of land where almost nothing ornamental was planted. I have been busily filling in the bare lawn with trees, shrubs, flowers & grasses, and have ordered heavily from Bluestone because it is affordable to order in large quantities from them. The plants are always very small but they're healthy and they have consistently done very very well. Buying large quantities of plants from Bluestone at low prices is the only way I could have built such a thriving garden so quickly.
Some shrubs in particular were ridicilously tiny when I first planted them 3-4 years ago but are big and thriving now. Physocarpus and calycanthus were depressingly tiny (4 - 6 inches) when I planted them in spring 2005. I thought they would never fill the space they are in. Now they're both over 6 feet tall.
Half a dozen delphinium I planted that spring have been thriving wildly since and are the envy of everyone who visits. I'm told Delphinium can be tricky to grow but the Bluestone delphs have been coming up like weeds for me since I planted them in 05.
I could go on and on with success stories.... The point is the Bluestone plants are indeed small but the prices are very low. If you can be patient they're definitely worth it.
Only thing I don't like about Bluestone is the packing -- they pack with styrofoam peanuts that are a wasteful and a pain to deal with. Bluestone will credit you if you send them back for reuse but that's an annoyance as well.

Great plants and wonderful people to deal with. I've been buying from Bluestone for many years and have always been treated fairly.

In recent years they have been selling spring-flowering bulbs. If you have lots of space to fill and like surprises, this is one of gardening's great bargains. At the end of the fall season, they heavily discount their leftovers to blow them out the door.

I've received all top-quality bulbs in excellent shape for a fraction of what I would have paid if I had ordered them early. If you get something in the assortment that you really hate, you can always gift it to a gardening friend.

If you live in an area far enough south so that you can still plant bulbs into December, I urge you to take advantage of this great deal.

This company delivered the healthiest plants at a fair price.
Their catalogue is lovely with a lot of information and a personal
touch as well.

This company is wonderful. A few of us pool our orders to save on shipping. We love ordering from them. Keep up the great work!

Bluestone is great for those tiny tigers-in-waiting that you can't get anywhere else. Are the plants small when they arrive? Yep. Do they survive and even thrive if you do your job as a gardener/plant steward? Absolutely.

To all the people who give up on the little plants you buy from bluestone.. Yes they are starter plants..Instant gratification does not come from these prices.. What you get are babies you watch grow.. 1st year they sleep, 2nd year the creep and 3rd year they leap.. I just went to my garage..I had alot of plants that I bought at the end of the year and thought what did I do.. waste my money..? I have growth on most of the babies that I thought died.. Plants sometimes get mistreated during shipment but that I have plants starting to leaf that have not been water or near sun for 8 months is a strong testament of bluestones stock....Thank you bluestone for the great treasures..
Carolyn from fairview, tn

I live in Northern NH and love the online custom plant search! Of all the plants I have purchased over the past three years only one group of plants has not lived and was replaced with ease. I always seem to receive my order at the perfect time for planting and I found them because of this site! Thanks!

I ordered from this company based on the wonderful feedback listed here on the forum. I placed a large order (for my budget anyhow) in the amount of $160. I anxiously awaited my order and when it arrived I was devastated. The majority of the items were broken and/or dry and black. There was also a green film on all of the soil. It just so happened that the order arrived the day after I had visited another nursery and purchased two of the exact same items. The nursery items were much cheaper and at least 3 times bigger than Bluestone's. I sent an e-mail and then ended up calling and speaking with Pat. She was extremely friendly and apologetic and said that she would credit me for half of the total and reship the order. She advised me if I was still not happy after receiving that order, she would go ahead and refund the remaining amount. I felt relieved and went ahead and planted the poor, helpless plants in hopes of saving some of them. Surprisingly the columbines actually grew - not very well but they did survive. My replacement order arrived in a little bit better condition but not the greatest. I went ahead and planted the items and watered and waited. A few of the plants, such as the asters, did well. None of them thrived as most of my nursery items did. I did not contact Pat again as I felt bad about the whole situation and didn't want to be thought of as a "bad" customer.

I have used their catalog and the plants are fabulous - strong healthy and take off like crazy. If something from them doesn't grow, odds are that it is the fault of the gardener who put them in the wrong site, wrong soil, didn't water enough or didn't prepared the soil. We are in a tiny 6B zone surrounded by Zone 5. (Shore of Lake Michigan in the middle of huge sand dunes.)

We were in Cleveland Ohio last August and I succumbed to the temptation of visting the nursery which is about 35-45 mintues east of Cleveland just off the interstate.. I ended up bringing back over 37 new varieties of plants. If you can get to the nursery, do it. The catalog prices are very good but if you go to the nursery, the prices on site are about 33-40% of the catalog and you can buy the plants in quantities of one, two or whatever you want.

You can't go wrong ordering from Bluestone. The three packs of plants they offer are a steal. Although they are smaller pots, you get healthy plants and they establish quickly. The premium pots for single plants are good sized and are a bargain for the size as well. I purchased 2 eryngium "Sapphire" in the large pots last spring for less than what another company was asking for one dinky 3" plant.
I have a lot of experience with this company and would not hesitate to recommend them, especially to people on a limited budget.

I have had wonderful experiences with Bluestone. I have ordered plants previously in southern CA and they all did wonderfully...seemed like you could put a dead stick in the ground and it would grow there :). Last year we moved to Texas outside of Dallas, dug some new beds, ordered and planted plants and waited for everything to grow. Then it rained. And rained. And rained. Record rainfall, infact. And not suitable for the kinds of plants I ordered. Bluestone replaced everthing that died, no questions asked. Some of the plants that did grow, turned out to be shades off of what was in the catalog (I don't like orange) and they replaced them too! I couldn't be more pleased with this company and will definitely order more this year! Just about all the replacements are looking great even now in February (mild winter) I can't wait for spring!

I have ordered perennials AND shrubs from Bluestone in the past 3 years. I believe they package great and each plant/shrub I received looked wonderful out of the box. The plants have grown very well and have decided I will NOT order from anyone else but Bluestone. I just think they are a great company. My only wish? More than just one order form in the catalog. I'm always finding new places that could use a plant or a shrub.

A great place to buy plants online at great prices. Watch for there seasonal specials for even better deals of 10-20% off. They send very healthy, but smaller plants that I have had great success with. I've had plants that didn't survive and all it takes is a simple email and they ship out free replacements. No questions asked. They don't have the a huge inventory, but it's a great way to buy things that my local nursery doesn't carry. The shipping, packaging and delivery systems work very well. They do charge your credit card ahead of time, sometimes months ahead of your order. But they always deliver healthy plants and back them up with a great guarantee so this doesn't bother me much.

I placed an order this past summer - 3 different campanula varieties as well as a rudbekia. The plants weren't exeptionally big, but they show you the size of the plants to be shipped in their catalog so there was no real surprise there. All arrived in good condition and on my requested delivery date (September). I love to do my planting in the fall and don't ever "expect" to see growth on the "newly-planted-getting-ready-for-dormancy" plants ordered from any mail-order company (in fall). However, 2 of the 6 campanula "birch hybrid" actually bloomed in October!!! Also, 1 of those birch hybrids looked a bit damaged upon arrival. I immediately called Bluestone and they said that if it didn't fair over the winter to give them a call and they'd replace it. I won't be calling b/c that particular plant ended up recovering beautifully just weeks later! Thanks Bluestone for a very nice experience!

I have been ordering plants from Bluestone Perennials for seven years. I am very happy with this company. The plants triple in size the first growing season and when I have a problem with one they replace or refund me. I have told all my gardening friends to check them out. My plants always arrive in good condition and they have a recycling program for their shipping supplies. I will continue to use this company for years to come.

While I agree that their catalog is educational, I cannot agree that getting very small perennials in return for performance is a good trade off. The perennials I purchased in the spring of 07 arrived in fine condition and were thus planted very soon after a few days to get them accustomed to the climate here. However, these plants just sat in my Zone 5 garden all summer with very little evidence of growth, much less evidence of thriving. I am now worried if they were strong enough to withstand our 0 degree nights this January. This company would benefit from being more straight-forward to customers about the size of the plants purchased or offering larger and stronger plants to begin with. I do not like waiting for two-three years for a plant to make its presence known in the garden.

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Dear SantaFeTrail,
Are other plants doing o.k. around the ones you received from us? It is unusual for our plants to just sit after planting. If they did not normally perform superbly we would not still be in business. We are concerned that you might have a soil problem. Rest assured that all our plants are 100% guaranteed. We will contact you directly.
P.S. To others wondering what size plants we offer, we do picture them on the inside front cover of our catalogs, and list them online in our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section.
Thanks for allowing us to address your concerns,
Bluestone Perennials
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I lived in a northwestern suburb of Chicago for 12 years. During that time 75% of my garden came from Bluestone Perennials. Their catalog is very informative, telling you what the plant needs in way of sun/shade, moisture, climate, soil etc and describing its attributes without too much hyperbole. The plants are smaller than you get from a nursery, but you get 3 plants for $13 instead of 2, and I think that smaller plants settle in better and do better in the long run. The plants arrived in good shape (the one exception was a box that sat in the post office over a very hot Memorial Day weekend). They are a great guide to plants that grow well in the Midwest!

I have ordered a variety of plants and bulbs from Bluestone during the last few years with excellent results. Both the paper and online catalogues are quite detailed, but I usually order online. The packing and shipping are great. A few plants in the online catalogue are described in text, but are marked as picture "not available." If I am interested in an unpictured plant, I look up the picture somewhere else, then return to Bluestone to order. The plants are small, but so are the prices, which means I can buy more plants for the money. Small plants grow into big ones, and Bluestone's have always grown well for me.

Bluestone Perennials is a great company to work with. They have a fantastic website.
I placed three different orders each worth about $100 this year.
1) Collection of 25 Hosta plants in spring
2) 3 Mum collections(button, cushion and daisy kind)
which included 18 plants of different colors.
3)And fall planting bulbs. I just loved their Hyacinth collections.

Hostas and Mums were extremely small when they arrived but they quickly grew and flowered for the whole blooming season.
Now Im eagerly looking forward to see how Hyacinths will bloom next spring.
I get their catalog once in a while in mail and love the discount coupons which arrive with the catalog and also with the order. I'm delighted to see that they have introduced hardy Hibiscus this year. Im looking forward to ordering these next year. I'm also excited to buy Lychnis Chalcedonica from Bluestone next year.Overall a great company to deal with.

Bluestone is a wonderful company with excellent prices, and above average customer service! I have ordered many plants from them and also work at a nursery that orders from them. Of course, once in a while ...well, exactly once for me...there is a problem, but that is to be expected when you are dealing with living things AND they are terrific about fixing it! You can be entirely confident when dealing with Bluestone.

sent my first order this fall, plants were green, healthy, well packaged when received. planted within 3 days they seem to have started well. I have recommended them to friends and passed my extra catalog around locally. I expect to order again in the spring. having gardened for 50 plus years I'm careful about zone recommendations and try to select plants that will survive in my area, I thought their descriptions were pretty close to my actual gardening experience.

We order many thousands of tulips of daffodils from a variety of companies. This year unfortunately, Bluestone had the worst bulbs of the seven vendors we did business with. Of the 248 tulip bulbs we ordered from them, 60 were rotted and moldy. We have notified the company by e-mail with photos attached. We had poor results with moldy perennials that we had ordered some years ago but from the other testimonials, it sounds like their perennial plant quality is much improved. They need to do some real trouble-shooting on their fall bulb quality however.

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We have been in contact with seagardener and issued a refund and an apology. Never hesitate to contact us with a problem. Bluestone"

I've placed several orders with Bluestone this year to fill my new flower garden in my backyard. Most of the plants they've sent have been doing great. A few died, mainly because of underdeveloped roots. I called about these and they didn't hassle me and will be sending them in the spring.
All in all, they are the best mail-order nursery I've dealt with.

I ordered some bulbs on Saturday via Internet. I received a confirmation email advising my order would be processed on Monday. By Tuesday, my bulbs had been delivered! Wow! Great, fast shipping.
The custom search feature on the website is very helpful as well - you can search for a plant by the features you want, so if you want a plant with pink flowers that is less than 18 inches tall and blooms in mid-summer, and can be planted in clay in full sun, you can get a list of the plants they carry that will meet your criteria.

I ordered three perennial collections from Bluestone: shade, sun, and butterfly/bird collections. All arrived healthy and seem to be very happy in their fall beds.
I also received free shipping on this large order because I had returned my previous smaller order's packaging to Bluestone for recycling.
I will order from them again.

Great website, easy to navigate and very helpful info on all the plants. Will order again very soon!

In 2006, I inherited my parent's home in Minnesota and was looking forward to planting my garden this spring. I spent hours looking over the various catalogs that came and ordered from about five different mail order houses. Sure wish I had known about Dave's Gardens and the reviews before I placed my various orders. I was so disappointed in most of the vendors that I almost gave up ever ordering mail order for plants. That is, until I ordered from Bluestone! The plants were so fresh and so healthy that they looked better than if I had purchased them locally. After I planted them (I got 3 Elfin Thyme plants), they established almost immediately and even though they were supposed to bloom early in the spring (and I got mine in June or July), they still bloomed. They have remained green and vibrant all summer (and we were in the second year of a drought here in Minnesota). We are now heading into winter and these plants remain the most successful plants I ordered last year... already starting to spread. I will be placing most of my next year's order with Bluestone Perennials.

I ordered several daffodils and crocus from their specials (1/2 price sale) page. The daffodils were decent size and firm -no problem there. However ~ 40% of the crocus had some level of rot. To be fair I have not contacted Bluestone yet, and I am sure they will address the issue. However, I have ordered from them several times previously and their quality has been perfect so my expectation of them is high. This order was a notch below their usual quality.

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I hope 2862scooter will be in touch with us. We would gladly reship or refund. We check all the bulbs as they leave here, but the unusually warm temperatures this fall did cause some occasional damage during transit. "

I received bulbs at the exact time of planting and they were the healthiest I have ever had. I have used this company before and they have always provided excellent service and products

I have been buying shrubs from Bluestone for few years and have been very happy w/ my experience. The shrubs are small but establish very quickly. If there's ever an issue, their customer service is superb. My order this spring was the best yet. Daphne Carol Mackie has done just great. It flowered and then put on lots of growth in the summer - the varigated leaves are just cheerful. I now prefer to browse their catalog in the comfort of my home rather than going to different nurseries to track down the plant I want.

Adding to Bluestone's many, well deserved accolades: I love this company! I first ordered form them 8 years ago, and since then I've placed 5 or 6 orders. The most recent order arrived 2 days ago: beautiful sea hollies, heucheras, penstemons, and loads of allium bulbs. The were perfectly packaged, and came out of the box fresh as a daisy (so to speak). I'll plant them in 4 more days, when the beds are prepared. These plants are very small when you get them--they come in the little 6 plastic six packs. But the first garden I planted (8 years ago!) with Bluestone perennials was lush and mature looking within 2 years. The plants came well rooted, like my previous purchases, so I expect them to take off just as well, after settling in over the winter.
Bluestone's prices are great, and you can recycle the shipping materials by returning them and getting a discount off the shipping on your next order. All in all, great company, great plants.

I ordered 6 Geranium Johnson's Blue plants on 9/17 from the website and they arrived on Friday, 9/21. Plants are in good condition and ready for planting. This was my first order in a few years. I remember from my earlier purchases how good their service and plants were. Nothing has changed. No hassle, excellent service and value. in addition, I believe, their FAQs is one of the best. It answered all of my questions.

I will buy from them again!

I had never ordered plants online before, but wanted to try. I read a lot of positive things about Bluestone on this site, and chose to order from them.

I was very pleased with the condition and size of the plants I received (hostas and astilbes). They were at my door within a week of ordering them, and all in good shape. I have since placed another order with them! I would highly recommend this company.

I give them a 8-9 on a scale of ten. This fall I ordered Thrift, Sedum & Poppies, the Thrift & Sedum were good, the poppies were poor quality . So I called them and they were more than happy to send replacements - which look like I expected them to look.

I received my first order from Bluestone today. All plants arrived in excellent condition. The plants were also slightly larger than I expected. Prior to receiving my order I called a couple of times to ask questions and add to the online order. They had/have outstanding customer service both before, during, and after my transaction was completed. It is no wonder that they have such a high rating and they have more than substantiated their reputation with me. I will be a customer with this company for a long time to come. Highly recommended.

-John
Oxford, Ga

I just received my first order from Bluestone Perennials. The plants are wonderful and larger than expected. The condition was perfect. I have ordered many plants on-line and these are definitely the best. My favorite used to be High Country Gardens, but I ordered from Bluestone based on comments posted on this site and am very glad I did. They will get many orders from me.

Ordered one plant as a test. It arrived 8/27/07 or so in great shape, and was healthy. Size was larger than anticipated, as some of the posts stated small plants. I am very happy with the plant, it is a great addition to my garden. I would order again. Packing peanuts are not the easiest to deal with, but it seems to protect the plants. Would rather deal with peanuts, than a ruined plant.