Comments regarding Bluestone Perennials

This is the third year I've ordered from Bluestone. The plants arrived in great shape and were good sizes. Some bushes are pruned before shipment (too big otherwise) , and leafed right out once removed from the packaging and watered, before I could even get them in the ground. Good online catalog, nice system where you can save your cart to work on more later, etc.

I'm consistently impressed with the quality and packaging. It takes a while to extract the plants from the peanuts, but they come out great. Peanuts can be recycled (they provide a number where you can find recycling places, or you can ship the packaging back to them in return for free shipping on your next order). They also give you some nice coupons for future orders.

I ordered from a few other places in the past; Bluestone is far better.

I placed several orders between January and February. My plants arrived the second week of April. With the exception of two plants, all were very healthy, green, and some even had buds. I contacted Bluestone immediately about the two plants that didn't survive shipment and I was sent replacements within one week at no additional charge. I am very pleased with the quality of plants and the customer service I have received from Bluestone both prior to, and after, ordering. I would recommend them highly to anyone looking for establishing healthy perennials, especially some that are difficult to find locally.

I was very pleased with my order ,the size and how healthy looking my plants were when they arrived.

Plus you order early and you get an extra discount.

I will definately order from them again, with pleasure.

This winter I placed an order with Buestone for five different perennials(Stella lily, Dianthus, Hibiscus, N.E. Aster, and Phlox). Great communication, very healthy plants, and they were sent exactly when they promised for my zone! The plants arrived via Fed Ex which I believe makes a difference.

I am impressed especially after recieving an order of almost dead plants from a different company. I would feel confident ordering again from Bluestone.

I ordered over $100.00 worth of Hostas from Bluestone. Everything was shipped well, and the plants arrived appearing healthy. The only problem was that some of them had slugs!

I promptly emailed Bluestone, and to my surprise they emailed me a response within 24 hours. They offered me a full refund or some extra plants. Well, since the plants were healthy (aside from the slugs) and they were so courteous, I just accepted some extra plants. They weren't Hostas, but they were some other shade loving plants (some of my favorites actually).

I would do business with them again because their plants are packaged well, healthy, and they do try make sure that the customer is satisfied.

Great company--very nice healthy plants, they quickly arrived when I asked them to be shipped and the company is environmentally correct--I love the fact you can send back the peanuts they are shipped in and get credit for the next order.

I have put two orders in to this company and have now gotten both of them. I was very pleased with the whole experience. I ordered on line on a very easy to understand web site, at the time of shipment I was informed of the day it was shipped and was therefore able to figure when to expect the plants and the plants arrived in beautiful shape. They were actively growing, seem to have very good root systems and were still moist. My second order was all of plants that had been put on sale and I figured they might be seconds. No way. They were as nice as the first bunch. I will definitely be purchasing from Bluestone again. Dotti

Just planted my first order. Plants arrived in the stated timeframe, were packed well and all intact. The hostas were very well rooted, with 2-3 eyes in each pot, heucheras also have good root systems, and japanese painted ferns tiny, but doing well. I am very pleased and will definitely order from Bluestone again!!!!!

I ordered three difirent plants from Bluestone the early March and received confirmation they would ship in April. My plants arrived yesterday and WOW! One of the plants was a siberian iris, buter and sugar, which I bought to replace one I bought last year from another company. It was not nearly as expensive as the one from the other company and it arrived in a pot with green shoots already coming through. A far healthier plant than the mush I received from the more expensive "premier" garden company. I also ordered a coral bell and 3 Columbine, Tequilla sunrise. They are incredably healthy plants and a good size for the price. I am definatly putting Bluestone on the top of my list to order from again.

I'm almost embarrassed to say I have not left
a feedback before, but have ordered from
Bluestone several times over the past few years.

As a more experienced gardener, I know what is
typical of mail ordering plants, what to expect and
how to care for the plants properly upon their arrival
to ensure they thrive. Bluestone includes a
Step-By-Step care booklet with plant orders, so
even those new to gardening will do fine.

The plants I have received have always been well
rooted and healthy. Though three Malva seemed
a bit disheveled, a good watering and a rest after
such a trip, and they bounced right back to life.
Who knows what the delivery guys do with those
boxes. ;-)

For me, Bluestone has been a reliable source.

Two green thumbs up for you, Bluestone!

I am very impressed with the plants I have received. They are packed very well, and they took right to the pots I planted them in.

Great selection and great prices on the collections. I ordered the astilbe and heuchera collections, as well as some ajugas, painted ferns and violas. The plants arrived last month healthy and completely undamaged, even though they were small. The plants have all grown significantly since I planted them and look just great.

I just received a huge order today and I am more than pleased. Nothing looks damaged, packaging was even too good.....:) Can't wait to get them all in the ground!

I love this company. They are reliable and great quality plants w/ great root systems. Great prices whenever there is a sale or deals. I'm a repeat customer and already mulling through the catalog and seeing what I will get next. I especially like their honor system of returning the packaging for recylcing. When I lost a plant they immediately sent a new one. I like that when you order, most plants is in multiplies of 3's.

Received my order today from Bluestone. The shipping was quick and reasonably priced. The plants look very good; they were not even wilty.

This company really strives to please there customers and will do anything to make them happy. I ordered around $50 worth of spring bulbs and 50% of them didn't come up. They reshipped my whole order in it's entirity for no charge!! Now that's excellent customer service!!

I just received my order from Bluestone a couple of days ago. The plants arrived on time, were carefully packaged, and were much larger than I had anticipated. Each plant looks supremely healthy and vigorous. Bluestone included a variety of discount coupons with the order.

The plants I selected were quite a deal -- all 1/2 off, which offset the shipping charges that ordinarily keep me from ordering many plants by catalog. Based on this experience, I will certainly order additional plants from Bluestone as my budget permits, and I will definitely recommend Bluestone to others.

I have been a customer of Bluestone for 3 years - I have ordered at least $100 worth of plants every spring... and my biggest disappointment is that I lost over 75% of every single order. The first year when it happened, I figured it was my fault, maybe should have been taking better care of the plants (who were all tiny and beat up), but when it happened the second year and then this winter again ... no more Bluestone for me.

Probably the weirdest part of all is that I plant in groups and with the same conditions, yet one plant survives and one doesn't. I shelled some hard earned cash on the Lenten Rose, which I love and planted 3 last spring. Now is almost spring again and I have one left and it doesn't have much life in it. Overall, in my gardening experience, I have never had such a high ratio of plants dying, that I had with all my orders from Bluestone.

I ordered a Black Beauty Sambucus in February, to be delivered in May, so I'll post about the actual plant when it arrives. However, my shipping address didn't get transmitted in my email order. A very nice customer service lady called me and left a message to let me know. Although I didn't call them back for over a week, they knew exactly why I was calling and the person I spoke to was able to take my details quickly and cheerfully! I hope the plant is as good as their customer service has been so far.

I placed an order with Bluestone last May during their end-of-season sale and was extremely pleased with the perennials that I received. I ordered several Achillea and Aquilegia and the plants that arrived were all very healthy and with excellent root systems. The plants were well packed and did not appear stressed or damaged.

The plants all thrived throughout the summer and I am looking forward to this spring to see how well they survived winter. I really like ordering plants from a company that both offers a wide selection and solid guarantee.

I would recommend this company to anyone that is seeking unique plants that their local nursery doesn't stock and is willing to spend a little more for quality.

Great catalog and website. Nice to see so many positives. Gave me the confidence to order from an online source. Overall a very good experience.

I have ordered many times from Bluestone and I am very satisfied with their services.I especially like their policy that if you return the packing peanuts to them,they will provide free shipping for your next order.Also,the plants they ship are very healthy.

What can I say? Simply the best mail-order source for perennials in every way -- plant selection and health, customer service, price. Have ordered from Bluestone many times and have never been disappointed. Highly recommended.

LIR

After reading the reviews of this company, I decided to request a catalog and place an order to replace several plants that died/arrived too late, etc., from another company. Not only did I receive a catalog in a timely manner, Bluestone included a discount coupon. I thought that was a nice surprise! I ordered two June Hostas, six Blue Fescue and one Dwarf Burning Bush. I requested an early April shipping date.

I received an e-mail confirmation within 48 hours with a guarantee of shipping in early April, as requested.

I am very excited to receive my order and see how things turn out. So far, I'm rating them "Positive" due to their quick turnaround, discount coupon & quick response. (I can't say this about some of the other companies I've ordered from) I will update my info once the items arrive and are planted.

I have always had good experiences ordering from Bluestone Perennials. They offer a lot of unusual varieties at an amazing price. The plants are very small when received but grow well and are a great value. The packing is done with 'peanuts' which seems odd but doesn't hurt the plants any. When I received my first order 3 years ago in the spring, some of the little plants did not look very good, but after a day or two of TLC, they did fine. The plants in fall orders tend to be bigger. I would recommend starting a 'nursery bed' for most of the plants until they increase in size. I have lost plants due to throwing them right into the location planned for them, and having them overshadowed by neighbors or forgotten by me during dry spells. I saw a note on the Victory Garden website stating that they order a lot from Bluestone, and get the order delivered a month or two early, and repot in bigger pots and grow them in the greenhouses for a couple months before planting. (Nice if you have such an option...)

I ordered approximately 30 plants a couple of years ago, and have been happy with them. One three pack of globe thistle did not look so good. I called and told them that one of them looked like it might make it, but the other two were definately dying. They sent two replacement plants in the spring, which were bigger than the originals had been.

Ordered several rose of sharons, hydrangeas, and plumbago from this company, and will state that the plants are rather small, but do have good root systems and grow well. They seem to offer more for the colder zones, but even deep south gardeners should take a look here. The prices are quite low. Will definitely order again.

Just placed my 2006 order today for about 300 plants! Had an absolutely fantastic experience with my 2005 order. By the end of the growing season, the plants had increased 2-4x in size. Great quality! Highly recommend doing business with Bluestone!

I have been ordering from Bluestone for nearly 20 years and have always received exactly what I ordered. About 7 years ago I ordered 6 blue rug junipers for my front border...they were approximately 6 inches around when they arrived....small but very green and healthy! The past two seasons I have had to cut them back to keep them from covering the front sidewalk as each juniper is at least 6-8ft ft in diameter....I have always been extremely pleased with both the products and the service....you can't go wrong ordering from Bluestone!

I ordered about $200.00 worth of assorted perenniels last spring. I was disappointed by the small size of the plants I received and concerned that the packaging seemed inadequate... some of the plants had lost most of their soil from rattling around loose in the box and the tops of the plants were bent and battered. However, I understand that small plants are often the fastest to take hold so went ahead and planted... Unfortunately about 35 to 40 % of the plants failed to thrive out right. Some are still struggling and some did very well. I have not contacted the company yet but plan to tally up my losses and request replacements this spring. I hope to change this report to positive then. I still have a concern about the miniscule root systems of the baby plants I received originally and do not feel that type of quality is what I would expect from a "Top 30" company.

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We look forward to hearing from you, and will happily replace the plants that did not thrive. You should not hesitate to call immediately if plants arrive in less than satisfactory condition or have slipped past our packers with undeveloped root systems. We will reship immediately. I do hope you will give us the opportunity to make amends on your past order. Bluestone."

After ten years of ordering perennials from this company I have always received the varieites I ordered and all have been in good condition. They are the only mail order nursery that I can say this about.
Wally Eberhart

I'm a new gardener; I purchased a house 3-1/2 years ago with a huge empty yard and that is when I started flower gardening. I have ordered hundreds of dollars of flowers from Bluestone Perennials. And I continue to order from them on a regular basis. Almost invariably their prices are the best for perennials. Their service is excellent. And I have found their products consistently reliable. No one can expect all plants ordered to survive. There are just too many variables. Which is why many companies only guarantee the condition of the plants upon arrival.
At Blustone they do not have a time limit on when I can request replacements. So often with perennials, they may appear to die back the year they are planted but then return the next year. By not putting a time limit on replacements I can wait and see if the plant comes back the following year before requesting a replacement. Conversely the plant may thrive the first year and not come back the next. No matter how many orders are involved or how many replacements, or how long it has been since I ordered, Bluestone has ALWAYS replaced any plants that I requested replacements for. In a way they are almost too fair to the customer. There are times I know it was my fault the plant died and I won't ask for a replacement, even though I know I would get one if I did. I highly highly recommend this company. Great prices, excellent service.

I'm a new gardner and ordered tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths from Bluestone. They came quickly and appeared to be in good shape. Part of the order was missing, and they replaced it immediately. Planting directions were good. if stuff comes up next spring, I'll be a customer for life!

I have ordered several times from Bluestone and always have been well pleased. I ordered fall bulbs and received a substitution on the order without any acknowledgment that it was going to happen. I called them and they not only let me keep the substituted bulbs, they sent repalcements that met my color, bloom time and number of bulbs that were missing to complete a color scheme planting as well as 2 other generous packets to say "sorry" for the mix up.
It doesn't get any better than that for customer service and responsiveness.
I'm a Bluestone customer for life!

I've ordered twice from Bluestone, and both experiences were positive. The plants in the first order, earlier this year, were larger than what I got in my fall order, but they were still quite nice. One was of the wrong variety (I ordered dwarf and it was regular), and they will be shipping replacement in the spring. They offered a refund or credit for something else, but I still want the plant, so I opted for the replacement. The things I ordered earlier in the year have all done well. Quick to ship, too.

Very quick shipping (I ordered during the fall shipping season). The bulbs were all discounted by 50% and unlike some other companies that have made the impression that the clearance bulbs are seconds and poor quality, these lilies were all very big and hydrated. The columbine were very small, however, and as I am in WA, I worry that they will not do well as the normal first frost is only a few weeks away... Waiting for the end of season sale made the small plants a better value, but I would rather have paid the same amount for one big plant, rather than 3 small ones! Still, I will order from them again and would recommend.

I have left many comments on this forum and this is the 1st negative. I placed 2 separate orders with this company. When the plants arrived they were incredibly small, I would have passed them right by had I seen them first in person. Also they were supposed to ship in the fall, I received them early Sept. with temps. regularly in the high 90's here. The bulbs they sent are nice, but were also sent way too early. I didn't contact them b/c after reading all the wonderful comments here I thought the plants would live. I didn't save my receipts or shipping labels which was my mistake. I wasn't even going to leave a comment but it was so disheartening today when I tallied up everything that has died and to think of all the hard earned money I wasted on this company. 3 astilbes, 9 asters, 6 eng. daisies, 3 gallardia, 2 of 3 jap. painted ferns, 3 gypsophilia--all dead. I ordered about the same $ amount from Plant Delights, Big Dipper and Park's and all theirs are thriving. What it boils down to is Bluestone's plants were too small and sent at the wrong time. I am not trying to discourage anyone from using Bluestone, all these poeple that are happy with them can't be wrong. I'm probably 1 of 100 people who got bad plants, but it still doesn't feel good to be that one.

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Bluestone here: I hope admodeva will contact us that so we can have the chance to make amends. Should they contacted us, we can use their customer record to issue a refund or new plants. Paperwork is not required. Alabama can be a difficult area to garden with perennials due to the humidity, and our help desk can help admodeva select plants that are better suited to the AL climate. Our catalog also indicates plants that are suited to the deep south. Our bulbs are shipped when they come in from Holland, and can be cold treated to delay bloom time in the south. A later shipping date can always be requested, but due to our weather here, we usually have to wrap things up in late October. We would welcome the chance to correct the dissatisfaction that admodeva feels. Bluestone"

I just received my fall bulbs and they look great. I bought the special 1/2 price ones, so I didn't know what to expect, but they appear fresh and top quality. This was my first time ordering from them and in the package was a book of coupons for future orders....I will definitely be using them.
My order arrived very promptly and was complete. Very well packaged too.

I have ordered from Bluestone Perennials for two years now and have been nothing but impressed...a landscaper suggested them to me...was leery re: mail order but their prices are good, plants healthy; great bulbs; and FABULOUS customer service. I will continue to order and have shared their info with MANY of my friends. May their business grow and prosper!