Comments regarding Bluestone Perennials

I ordered from ths company and am completely pleased. Not only did they send my order quickly but they also shipped UPS unlike other companies I have ordered from. Their plants especially the Silver Lace Vines I ordered looked great. I will definitely purchase from them again.

I have purchased plants from Bluestone for years and years, and have found their descriptions in the catalog accurate both in terms of the plant and the size of the container in which they will be shipped. They also allow me to choose, if I want, the week during the spring when the plants will be delivered. But what I most appreciate about Bluestone is the customer service. No company can be right 100% of the time the first time, but Bluestone takes prompt action to correct a mistake or supply a replacement when requested and have been proactive when they find that they cannot deliver something I ordered. Prices are fair, too.

I ordered alpine snowcap, toad lilies, and mixed purple tulips in Fall 2006. The prices were very good, and the plants arrived timely and were packed well. The tulips were plump, firm and very healthy. There was no sign of fungus or any disease on any of the bulbs. The tulips have just started poking through the soil, but every single one of them is coming up. The foliage is very firm and healthy, and I look forward to their beautiful blooms in the next couple weeks. It appears that one of the three alpine snowcap did not make it through the Winter, but that has to be expected with plants. The toad lilies will not be back up until later in the season, but I expect they will be fine.

I will certainly order from Bluestone Perennials again, and I recommend them to all my gardening friends!

I am sorry to say my experience with Bluestone was not a success. It started badly with the shipping. I rec'd my order with tons of those annoying peanuts and hardly any packing. It really looked like someone had taken very little care in the packing process. Some of the plants were too tall for the box so the packer just "shut the box" and the tops of those that were tall were all broken. The tall plants were things like astilbe that don't have a lot of leaves to spare to start.
Additionally, the plants arrived very dry, some of them appeared quite stressed by the journey. I watered immediately and they did recover but with yellowing to some of the leaves. When you add the damage in packaging to the lack of water issue, it wasn't a really good start to the whole thing. I planted immediately due to the fact that most everything was pretty potbound and wouldn't hold water for more than a day.
A few things died right off and the rest lingered for a couple of years before finally becoming the normal sized plants I would see at the local garden center. The ones that have survived I guess I would consider successful but it just took so long for them to mature that it kind of took the fun out of it.
Although their pricing is very good, I do think you get what you pay for and the condition of the order on arrival was a real setback for me. In fairness, I did not contact Bluestone to complain as I really didn't want more broken plants and I was not confident that I would get anything else. The value of the order was not significant and as with most gardeners, I was really just disappointed that I couldn't really enjoy these plants in my garden as I had hoped.
I have not ordered again for this very reason. I can deal with the plants being slow to mature or small if it's at a reasonable price but damaged, broken etc. just isn't right.

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We are saddened and frustrated that beachrose did not give us the opportunity to make this situation right for him/her. A couple of things come to mind - the shipment may have been too long in transit with the shipper, causing the drying and yellowing. Even though we have very little control over the shipment once it leaves here, we still honor our guarantee. On our end, we make every effort to ship our packages to arrive on a timely basis. This sounds like a problem that occured last season (or even earlier) but we hope beachrose will be in touch and give us the chance to repair our reputation in their eyes, Bluestone."

I think this is my 3d or 4th year of ordering from Bluestone. I don't mind getting small plants for a very good price, and helping them come along. And they do come along. I've only lost two plants, and that was from planting them in the wrong place (too dry). Last year I ordered a campanula that,upon blooming, seemed not to be the variety I ordered. I emailed them, described the blossom, and they promptly sent another without question.

Every shipment has arrived with the plants in good shape. One shipment even sat on my porch for several days because I was away and the plants recovered quickly.

Order 3 bags of bulbs and one of them was the wrong kind. Call company and they sent new ones out quickly. Have ordered before and will order again. Good service.

I have left bluestone plants growing in 3 Philadelphia houses, 2 in CHaddsford, 1 in S.C and finally again in Wilmington Delaware. They're small, yes, and that's why they're so relatively inexpensive. But by the second season they always are doing great. I rarely take advantage of the FANTASTIC unparalled guarantee 'coz I usually feel it's my fault the plant died. The few times I got a bad plant it was promptly replaced. Bluestone also keeps up with most new trendy plants.

I wish I could afford to load my gardens with nothing but full grown plants from fancy nurseries but I can't so Bluestone is in it's 20th year of gardening partnership with me.

I have received 3 seperate shipments from this company so far... all last year and I was very pleased with how it was packaged and the condition in which the plants arrived. I am always amazed that none of my plants are dried out and the soil they are in is still moist. I like their prices and the discounts they give as a returning customer. Yes, some of their plants are small but at least they are alive and green. I would rather receive a small plant that is healthy and green than one that is twice as big and dried out and half dead. I just placed my 4th order and I know it will be just as good as my 1st. I highly recommend this company.

I have been ordering from Bluestone for more than seven years. Their plant sizes (and prices) used to be small, but they have both grown bigger lately. Nevertheless, they have almost always performed well in my garden. Generally it takes a year's growth before their perennials are the same size as plants from a local nursery (which cost twice as much).

Their flowering bushes generally take at least two years to reach nursery size and put on a good show, but then the nursery plants cost much more.

Only once did one of their plants arrive dead and they quickly replaced it. I recommend them highly (if you are patient enough to wait for their plants to grow out!).

I have been a long term customer of Bluestone. For many years they have offered excellent, albeit small, plants at excellent prices. Even though the plants are small, when well grown subsequently in pots or in the ground, they have performed admirably. My complaint with them now is that their prices have become unacceptably high. Without any indication that they have increased plant sizes (I don't think they have), paying $4-5/plant for 2" pots for mainly common perennials is unacceptable to me. As a long term experienced perennial gardener, I would certainly look elsewhere for most plants. I hope some feedback to them would lead them to consider reducing prices or holding them steady at the very least in the coming years.

I had ordered a Silver Lace Vine the previous year from another company I won't name and it died quickly. I ordered one this last spring of 2006 from Bluestone Perennials and although it didn't grow the amount the first year everyone states it does, it is healthy and growing well. The only thing I don't like about this company is that they are very expensive. Otherwise, pretty darn good.

I've used them for the last 6 years and each time I have received excellent plants in excellent shape at reasonable prices. The plants always grow for me and I have recommended them to many of my friends. So far as I know, they, too, have been satisfied.

W. L. (Bill) Hodges

I have the good fortune to live about 30 minutes from this nursery in Madison Ohio. So, I have purchased directly at the site, but I also asked for a tour as I was curious about how exactly they prepared their plants for mailing. I was VERY impressed. Seems like a family-run nursery and everyone was incredibly nice. I'm very sorry for those who have had negative experiences - if you have not, please contact them with your concerns. They seem like the type of business that would want to accomodate in any way they could. By the way, the nursery was clean and orderly. The plants were freshly dead-headed or dead-leafed every time I've visited. I've also e-mailed them with questions and have always received an informative response to my query about how to plant something, or should I expect flowering this year or next, etc. I hope you find this helpful - from an "on site inspector!!"
Barb from Willoughby, OH

Bluestone has very reasonable prices and I'm impressed with their customer service. I've ordered several times from them, buying bulbs and live plants. On my latest order, I received 3 mystery plants instead of 3 sedges. I phoned about the mistake and the representative told me they would ship out the correct plants right away and said I could keep the incorrect plants. The sedges came a week later. I sent them a picture of the mystery plant (to find out how to care for it) and they emailed me the same day with an identification.

Very positive experience!

The pricetags are small because the plants are small.

Bluestone sells really are tiny, but in my experience very healthy, plants, usually sold in packs of three. My strategy for dealing with this is to order and plant in the fall, giving the plants time to catch up to the larger, more expensive plants sold elsewhere.

The packing is pretty good, but the plants do sometimes look a bit beat up when they arrive. However, nothing I've bought from Bluestone Perennials has ever failed to thrive.

Made two orders in the fall of 2006. Both orders arrived at the time promised and in good condition. Some of the plants were already dormant, but Bluestone included a note to contact them in the spring if there were any problems.

Placed my first order with Bluestone a few weeks ago. I was very satisfied with my order. I received it quickly, the plants were healthy, and they were packaged with care. Will definitely order again.

I ordered from this company for the first time during their 50% off sale. The 3-pack plants are small, but healthy. Shipping and tracking numbers made it easy to know exactly when my plants were arriving. All plants I ordered are doing well. I'll use them again.

I am satisfied with the plants I've purchased this fall. Although they are small, I feel they will get a good start establishing a strong root system this fall. Just went out to check on them this a.m. and was shocked to find the coroepsis Early Sunshine with a bloom!..I did have one plant in one of the three cell-packs to croak within a few days. Bluestone Perennials replaced it promptly. The planting information sent with the plants is a reassuring comfort to this beginner gardener.

I have been buying plants from Bluestone for years and I at last give up! I hate the peanuts they pack in. They are wonderful at repacing plants but the new plants are just as tiny and abused as the ones they are replacing. I loose more than 50% of what they send me. I put all of their plants in a nursery row in my veggie garden for a season and still many do not make it.

I ordered some bulbs from them in early October, which is a bit late, and was very pleased with the shipping speed - they arrived in a few days! Their selection of bulbs and prices were also good. The only negative thing is one package had fewer bulbs than advertised - 17 instead of 20. It was a prepackaged pack though so I guess this is not their fault.

I called to order some bulbs that were on special twice. Customer Service was polite and shipment was extremely prompt. However....

There always has to be a however I guess. I have previously purchased these same bulbs from another company, who I might add has not the rating that bluestone has.

The bulbs I got from bluestone were about 1/3 of the size of the prior bulbs I have gotten . The other disappointment was that these are prepackaged bulbs like the ones you buy at walmart. If I wanted walmart bulbs I could have gotten them from walmart and avoided a shipping charge.

I bought thinking I was going to get a superior bulb the size of which Im used to receving.

My rating is neutral for now, we'll see how these bulbs do but generally bigger bulbs give nicer flowers and these were nothing I couldnt get at a local store.

Yes, the plants are small when you first receive them. However, they are very healthy and much less expensive than larger plants from other nurseries.
I bought one of the pre-planned gardens last spring and every plant survivied and flourished.
Of the plants I ordered during the summer, one species did not make it but Bluestone promised to replace it free of charge next spring--no hassles whatsoever.
My fall order has just been planted so I won't know how everything fares until next sprint. However, the bulbs were healthy and instructions were with the packaging--more than I got from a more expensive "specialty" bulb place.
Plant according to instructions, be patient while the plants esatblish themselves, and you won't be unhappy with Bluestones products.

Ordered gaillardia 'Tokajar' from Bluestone this spring along with a few other plants. All did great - except when 'Tokajar' bloomed it looked like another cultivar. I e-mailed Bluestone about the problem and offered to send a picture. The next day I received an e-mail from "Pat" apoligizing for the error and telling me that 3 new plants would be sent. Within less than a week I received the new plants - all small although well rooted. I'm putting Bluestone at the top of my list for customer service (and nice plants too).

I took a 65 mile trip two weeks ago to Bluestone Perennials and saw so many beautiful plants. Yes, as plenty of customers have commented they do sell small plants in their 3 pks. However, you can not get the variety by shopping at local garden centers. I'm very pleased with the plants and bulbs that I purchased and plan to make another trip in the spring. If I lived farther away I would not hesitate to order from their catalog. I highly recommend Bluestone Perennials!

I ordered from Bluestone the first time because I received a coupon for 20% off my first order. The scabiosa japonica was flat and shriveled up, the buttered popcorn ranunculus had absolutely nothing green on it, and the phlox was tiny, but green anyway. Oh, and the aubreita novalis was backordered, but I was charged for it nonetheless. Their website attempted to charge me more shipping than I owed, but when I called, the customer service reps were more than helpful. Also, they agreed to send my order early when I called to tell them I was going out of town. Like I said before, customer service was great, but I am a little disappointed in the quality of the plants that I received.

Bluestone was the first online nursery I purchased from. I recieve my package weeks after ordering. I ordered bulbs and perennials. I asked to have the perennials and fall blooming crocus shipped separately (I offered to pay more for this service). Everything was sent together. The heavy bulbs destroyed the plants in transit. The poor plants looked horrible upon arrival. I have since found other online nursuries (Evergreen) that have better prices and larger, healthier plants and less expensive, but still great bulbs (Brent and Becky's Bulbs). Do your research and shop around before buying.

Love these guys!

I ordered a heuchera collection, and all 6 plants arrived in great condition. The prices are fantastic!

They offer great deals on bulbs, so I ordered a lot of them (couldn't resist the prices!). The bulbs arrived in great shape; no mold or soft spots anywhere. And they are good-sized!

Bluestone, you're my favorite online nursery!

What can you say about Bluestone, their prices are almost enough to sell me right there. Their website is well organized, I made extensive use of their lists of plants for different situations. I placed a fairly large order and the condition of the plants was great. I loved the extensive literature they included and the coupons. I will definitely order from them again.

I've had extraordinary service from Bluestone. A couple years ago I placed an order for over $1000...received it promptly and planted it. Frankly the order was so big I question how well I was able to care for all the plants. In fact, most of the asters and several other plants died as the summer season came and went. I accept responsibility for going on vacation, not watering properly and not spraying for spider mites.

The following year I placed another order because I was so impressed with the health of the plants I had received the prior year. I spoke with a gentleman about the order and, frankly, mentioned very casually that i had lost a large portion of the previous year's order. He VOLUNTEERED to replace the order and I received it 8 days later. I was embarrassed and stated that the loss was my fault...that the plants were perfectly healthy but Bluestone replaced my dead plants. That is customer service!

The new order plants were healthy, well packaged and arrived promptly. I've never dealt with a company through the mail that was so concerned with customer satisfaction.

Since then I've noticed the Bluestone catalog has increased its offerings and I hope that means the company is prospering as it should considering their attention to customer needs. I'm pleased they are doing well and wish them the best of good fortune in the future.

I have been VERY well satisfied with Bluestone Perennials. I'm an experienced gardener and I have ordered from almost every company out there in my 30 years of gardening. I HIGHLY recommend them for spring and fall planting. They will tell you that they raise their own plants, and their plants may be a little smaller than some company's. But the plants are ready to grow, are less expensive, and some of their plants are bigger than what you expect. Bluestone's are also " true to type" which is a problem with most other mail-order companies. You know how frustrating that can be when your carefully tended plant ends up being the wrong color! I love this company and will continue to promote them to friends and family. (Postage is free when you re-cycle their packaging!!)

I received several plants from this company in the spring. Now that the season is almost over, I can sincerely say that I am very pleased with the outcome. All of the plants did excellent , with the exception of a few I may have planted in a bad location. Even those tried. I will most definitly place another order next spring.

I had almost given up ordering plants from catalogs until I was introduced to Bluestone. The plants arrived alive, healthy, potted, and VERY WELL packed. I also appreciate the styrofoam peanut recycling program. I won't order from anyone else.

Bluestone has good plants (many that I can't find locally) and great customer service. Due to a sudden death in the family, I had to be out of town right when my huge spring order was due to arrive. By the time I thought to contact Bluestone to try and put a hold on my order, it had already shipped--but Pat at customer service offered to replace any plants that might not still be viable when I returned home. When I finally returned home, my Bluestone boxes had been sitting outside on my doorstep, during an early heatwave, for at least 4 days--but most were fine. They kindly replaced all the plants that either died or were iffy, even though they clearly had no responsibility to do so in this situation (which had nothing to do with them). To me, the extra mile that Bluestone is willing to go in customer service and in guaranteeing their plants more than makes up for the smaller size of their plants--which always catch up in one summer, anyway.

I have ordered many items from Bluestone over a 5 year period. Every item recieved was well-packaged, arrived at the appropriate planting time for my zone and every single plant has thrived in my garden. This is a phenomenal record as compared to the long list of other online nurseries from whom I have ordered plants and been dissapointed in either the product or service. Bluestone, to my knowledge, has the widest selection of plant species. They are the best.

Add me to the list of satisfied Bluestone customers!

I'd heard about them before, but was leery of the very small plants they were reputed to send, until my sister, newly "into" gardening, gave me her own positive review. So I tested them out last year with a small online order: a 3-pack each of mums, creeping phlox, heucheras and groundcover potentilla. Yep, they were pretty small! And one cell of each, except the phlox, had a particularly runty specimen, which I called in about. They promptly sent satisfactory replacements. By the end of that growing season, all were healthy and blooming.

The following spring I was happy to receive their color catalog, and placed a substantial order, taking advantage of many of their included and prior coupons, as well as FREE shipping from having mailed back my styrofoam packing peanuts, a marvelous program that incidentally saved me several dollars. (I found it a good incentive to order more, rather than less!)

This time I dared to try some of their shrubs. The daphne was considerably smaller than advertised, and I was told it was not in fact home-grown, like their other plants, and they'd had trouble with their supplier. They gave me the option of an immediate refund, since they had none larger to send, or I could try growing it on and call back for a refund if I was not happy with the results. Well that bitty little thing gave me several sweet florets of bloom, and continues to hang in there, so if it lives through the winter they will not be hearing back from me on that account! The laurel they sent was also a little too small, with blackened leaves, and looked about to die, so they sent a healthy replacement, which is doing splendidly, while the original yet lives, if not so robustly. Four other shrubs were perfect, and I was particularly impressed with the size of the deutzia. These all came with the added bonus of a fertilizer plug, a pleasing surprise!

I had no quibble with any of the perennials I had, though I discovered on planting my 6-pack of football mums that one of them was a long dead twig, only I hadn't noticed when I first unpacked them because the rest were so well-grown that the cell was completely hidden - so I can easily forgive the packers for missing it too! The replacement was prompt, and I cannot now tell which one came later.

Everything has grown beautifully. I am looking forward to doing business with them again. (After I ship back my peanuts!)

Love these guys! All plants arrived healthy and well-packaged, and are doing spectacularly well--as well as any I've bought at a nursery. Definitely ordering from them again.

Further, they are firm believers in recycling: they provide a return shipping label for you to send their packaging back for reuse, and, while you have to pay the postage on it, they credit you for the postage plus a little on your next order. Check them out!

All my plants arrived healthy and are growing great. I admit they were on the small side, but they have quadrupled in size since planting them.

Plants recieved two days after shipping all are doing woderfull. Will buy from again.