Comments regarding American Meadows

Posted on April 29, 2013, updated May 23, 2013
I ordered 40 perennials and 9 bulb type plants. due to the tough
winter i asked them to push my order back a week or two which they were efficient in doing so, packaging was very good. I understand AM is a bit less costly than other online distributors
but it shows, about 80% of my order was was what i expected in good condition. i do believe they have some quality control issues.
in ordering multiples of the same plants size and quality varied,
some were just chincy, and hard to judge the few dorment plants at this point. i,m going to give a neutral on this order but most likely will change when i see how the plants perform

"On Apr 29, 2013 8:13 AM, American Meadows responded with:

Dear dmshrike,

Thank you for your large order. Although we make every attempt to ship all of our plants at the same state of growth, the reality is that there are inevitably certain plants that come out of dormancy faster than others.

Please plant and care for all of the plants that you received and give them several weeks. With the weather you're due to get in NH this week, you should see strong results. As always, if you're not happy with how they turn out, we guarantee your satisfaction.

Happy Spring,
Ethan Platt
President | American Meadows "

Posted on May 6, 2012, updated May 9, 2013
I ordered bee balm, cardinal flower, wild larkspur, james kelway daisy and crocosmia bulbs.
All the potted plants were small but very healthy looking with great root systems. The bulbs were very firm - some had a little mold - never ordered crocosmia before so I do not know if that is normal. The bag of bareroot larkspur was an bag of nothing but peat moss. I sent an email complaint and in less than a week I had a replacement. the roots were very small.
Overall good potted plants and good value.

Bought weeping love grass seeds,followed the directions,7 weeks no germination,contacted them,and received a response very quickly ,and was told they had 100% guarantee,or refund,but they would like a picture of proof,which I could understand,so I sent picture,within just a few hours,week has gone by,not a word back,sent another e-mail requesting another try of seeds,still no reply,mind you,I have water twice daily for seven weeks,time and cost of watering,trying to germinate the seeds.Now I know they have had time to read my e-mails,and it would take less than a couple minutes to answer,whether they will send refund or seeds,so I can get on with my project,that I have been working on for over 7 weeks on my landscape,as a greenhouse owner my self return visits is over 50% 0f my business,so prompt response was very much essential for my company,last thing I would want would be to ignore the problem,I have read all the responses here on Garden Watchdog,and it seems they ignore the follow ups on all the cases reported here,I also know this is a busy time for them,but your first costumer is your job to take care fast as possible,if you want repeat customer.

"On May 6, 2013 1:39 PM, American Meadows responded with:

Dear Don,

I'm sorry that you didn't have success with your planting and that you were not satisfied with our responses to your inquiries.

You have been speaking with Mike, one of the owners of American Meadows and an authority on seed for over 20 years. I reviewed your correspondence with him and see that your initial inquiry came in on Tuesday 4/30 at 1:30 in the afternoon. Mike replied at 8:30 that evening, mentioned our guarantee and asked if you could send photos. We do not require photos as proof - Mike simply wanted to see the planting and area so that he could offer more informed advice.

After sending the photos, you requested replacement seed on 5/2 (last Thursday). We entered the replacement order that day and it's due to ship to you today (Monday). That's less than a week from your initial inquiry and your replacement shipment, including the back and forth while Mike tried to assess your situation. I apologize that did not meet your expectations, but as you point out in your post, it is a tremendously busy time of year for us and we make every effort to respond to all of our customers in a timely fashion.

Best of luck with your replacement.

Sincerely,
Ethan Platt
Presiden | American Meadows"

American Meadows really got me started into gardening in 2012. Their website is not only good for ordering quality items, but also for planning a garden. You can use the filters to suit your ideas.(sun or shade or flower colors) I especially like to search for certain flower colors and really appreciate this feature. I ordered five types of spring planted lily bulbs which all thrived and bloomed exactly like the picture on the photo tags. I also ordered a phlox David, which, although quite small, still managed to produce an amazing number of stunning white flowers. Everything thrived despite the long hot East Coast summer. In the fall I ordered 188 crocus, tulip, and daffodil bulbs which all are beautifully blooming this spring. I also planted a Colchicum, which quickly produced an amazing number of flowers for a small plant. Everything was packaged and shipped correctly. Excellent customer service.

This was my second order with AM. As before they sent an email upon shipping, and the order arrived the next day. Perfect condition and correct. A quick glance at the Oriental lily bulbs, and they are large and fresh. When I placed the order, they emailed it back with my confirmation which helped to refresh my memory and not double order.

My fall order was mostly allium bulbs. They arrived in good order, and they all seem to be coming up. They are all new varieties for me, so I know what to look for.

The reticulated iris bulbs were planted and bloomed exactly as expected.

I ordered this Spring (2013) some seeds and a set of onions. I was at first disappointed because the one packet of seeds was very small (only 5 seeds!) for their organic beans. The website did not list a seed number but even so I thought this was a bit small. I emailed them through Dave's Garden and was very impressed with their promptness in responding. They didn't brush me off and they sent me some extra seeds since the site had not listed the number per packet to expect. (I had also received a very small packet - there should have been more seeds in it.) Overall I was very pleased with their customer service

I ordered 1 purple shamrock bulbs(10) on march 11, 2013
as of April 4th and now have had to email them. I have not recived the bulbs. also no email from them staying why this order is taking so long to complete Not happy

"On Apr 4, 2013 7:48 PM, American Meadows responded with:

Dear girlfeia7,

I'm sorry for the confusion with your order. I've looked into it and see that you emailed us today at 3:55PM asking about your order status and we replied within an hour.

To elaborate on what we mentioned in the email, our default shipping schedule is based upon historic spring ground temperatures. Because we guarantee all of our products, we ship bulbs and perennials when it's appropriate to immediately plant them in your area. If you visit http://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soiltempmaps.aspx, you will see that as of today, the ground temperatures in your area are still in the mid-30's - much too cold to plant tender bulbs like purple shamrocks.

Our Shipping Information link (found at the bottom of each page on our website) provides further information and you were presented with the scheduled shipping week of April 22nd in the checkout process and again in your order confirmation email. I asked our customer service department to resend you that email for your reference.

If you would like your order earlier, we're certainly happy to send it, but would strongly advise against planting in your area until the end of April.

I apologize if this wasn't clear when you placed your order. Please let me know if there's anything we can do to better rectify the situation.

Sincerely,
Ethan Platt
President | American Meadows"

I placed an order for a pound of seeds and received it in 5 days- that's pretty good service in my book! Nothing else need be said.

I recently received my first order from this company, and I will not order again. The order was for several "bare root" iris cristata plants. What I received was tiny sections of underground runners, 2 to 3 inches long, with one or two very small nodes on each. These little wisps were so small I at first thought they had forgotten to put any plants in the peat-filled plastic bags at all. I often plant bare root plants, and am used to dealing with small starts, but I am highly skeptical that these tiny fragments will produce usable plants.

"On Oct 5, 2012 4:03 PM, American Meadows responded with:

Dear Karensmith7,

Thank you for your feedback. You purchased one of our woodland wildflower offerings. Some of these are rare, hard-to-find varieties that we offer for those seeking these specific species. The root systems that you received are 2-3 years old and although they may be small, they're 100% guaranteed.

These delicate root structures can sometimes take several seasons to establish themselves, but we have an excellent reputation for our woodland wildflowers.

Our customer service team has called and e-mailed so we look forward to discussing with you further.

Thanks again for choosing American Meadows as we appreciate your business!

Thank you,
Ethan Platt
President | American Meadows
"

I am very disappointed in American Meadow and I will never order anything from them again. First it took almost 4 weeks until the order arrived. I ordered one Forsythia, Hollyhocks and Lavender. The Forsythia was a joke. It was very tiny and half dead. I sent them a picture and told them I want the money back since the plant is way overpriced and it died finally after I planted it. (They wanted $21.42 for it). First they told me, I should wait a few month.They did not want to believe the plant was dead. After threatening them with the Better Business Bureau they finally gave me the money for the Forsythia back. Now, 3 month later, the Hollyhocks and the Lavender did not grow at all. They are still very small and it doesn't look like they ever will grow. It was a big waste of money.My advise: Stay away from this company.

"On Jul 25, 2012 11:45 AM, American Meadows responded with:

Dear Kraeutertrulla, We're sorry that you were not satisfied with your experience with American Meadows. We work diligently every day to meet the needs of our customers and for over 30 years, we've been one of the most trusted names in mail-order gardening due to our quality products and dedication to our customers. In your case, we failed and I apologize.

We ask all of our customers who have concerns with the live plants they receive to plant them anyway, care for them, and give them several weeks. Many of the plants we ship arrive dormant, but we only sell products with proven success records via mail order. Per our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, we've refunded you for your order and wish you the best.

Sincerely,
Ethan Platt | President"

I've placed 2 orders with American Meadows. The first order was shipped promptly and all arrived in top condition.

My second order also was shipped promptly and all arrived in top condition. However, when one of my items started to bloom about a month after planting, it was clearly not the plant variety I had ordered. I emailed American Meadows with a detailed explanation (I didn't have the order number because a month had passed), they responded w/in 24 hours and apologized, asked if I could send a pic so they could see it. I emailed them the pic and they responded the same day admitting there was a mistake and again apologized. They offered to send a replacement or offer me a refund. I told them that as long as the plant I wanted was actually available that I would like it shipped to me. They did, at no charge. When I received the new shipment (again, very promptly and in good condition) the plant was already blooming and actually labelled -- but it was the wrong plant variety, again.

When I called them to let them know, they were very pleasant, very apologetic and said it was probably a warehouse issue and that the plant I wanted was no longer available. They refunded my money (credited my acct) the very next business day.

Was I disappointed? Yes. But the customer service I received in regard to the problem was EXCELLENT on all counts. And I cannot fault them. Things happen. So I would not hesitate to DEFINITELY buy from them again.

I have ordered bareroot hosta 3 times this season. Each time the plants leafed out quickly. One of the hosta was not the correct variety & was quickly replaced with another bag of 3, not just one. I was more than pleased. Also have ordered some plants in pots, they came in good condition and are thriving. I just wish they weren't sold out of many of their spring plants. I will know next year to order early.

Over the past three years, I have ordered quite a few (potted) plants from American Meadows.
I have always found the plants were exactly as advertised, and arrived in good condition. You have to understand what your buying, starter plants.
On the other hand I have had no luck with there bulbs and bare root plants.
In my opinion, if that's what your going to buy, perhaps you might be better served looking els ware.

"On Jul 2, 2012 12:46 PM, American Meadows responded with:

Hello Yumabase,

Thanks for the post and we're happy to hear that the potted plants you received from us are thriving.

We’ve been working with gardeners across the country for over 30 years and all of the products we sell are 100% guaranteed. If you're not satisfied with anything you purchase from us, let us know and we'll fix it!

Thanks again and Jessica from our customer service team has reached out regarding your order.

Happy Gardening,
Mike Lizotte
"

AMDG+
Since it's late in the season, I was a bit wary of ordering, knowing that the plants I would receive would probably be the last on the shelf. Further, it's been incredibly hot here and I was taking a chance that the plants might dry out in shipment. I was astounded when perfectly healthy plants arrived two days later, in pots that were still moist. The packaging was so secure that a truck could have been driven over the box without doing damage. What great service--this nursery goes right to the top of my list.

Well, I will not go into a lot of detail just so I can be attacked by Lizotte. I have read comments over the past three years where the customer is always the blame, the customer is always mistaken, the customer is always dead wrong.
The point is that no one wants to take a chance on going through this if or when they have a problem. I email you a picture and you send me a refund or a new plant. Simple!
I do not expect to go back and forth with you for three or four weeks about what is a dead plant. I do not wish to be treated like I am stupid and do no recognize a dormant plant.
This whole ordeal was over 13.00. I wonder how you treat people who have a big problem. This should have been a slam dunk, just issue the refund. But this company wants to play the blame game and wants to win, this is more important than good customer service.
I will not do business with this company again, I was happy to finally get a refund but an apology in the beginning would have made all the difference, you do not have to run your customers down like you do here on watchdog, it's rude!!

"On Jun 19, 2012 2:10 PM, American Meadows responded with:

Dear virginiarose,

I'm sorry that our hibiscus did not meet your expectations. It's one of the plants that's best shipped trimmed back close to the soil, but quickly thrives when transplanted. Here's one of our customer reviews on the Lady Baltimore that you ordered:

"When I got the plant, it was tiny. Only a few inches high. I was not impressed. However, when I transplanted it into a one gallon pot, I noticed that the root system was very large and dense. Incredibly, it grew to 24 inches high within four weeks, and I had to put it in a 6 gallon pot. Then it grew to 42 inches (about full size) at 7 weeks old and started to flower. I counted 35 flowers over the next 3 weeks or so! Then it rested for a few weeks. Now at 11 weeks old it is 45 inches high and has the start of about 30 more buds showing! (This is August 9.) I've never had a plant do this well so soon. And the blooms are huge. I call it my "plant from outer space." Highly recommended. "

As always, we fully guarantee our customer's satisfaction and our records indicate that we credited your PayPal account on June 14th.

Best Wishes, American Meadows
"

Posted on June 13, 2012, updated June 13, 2012
My advice is DO NOT ORDER from American Meadows. I placed a large order on 5/3/12. They said they would ship in 4-5 business days. 2 weeks later no plants had arrived but I got a call from their company saying many of the plants I ordered were not available. They said they would credit my account and ship the rest that day. By 5/30/12 no credit and no plants so called them again and they said they would do both. By 6/12/12 no plants had arrived and my account had not been credited. I called them and talked to a representative who said that the people who I had talked to just had not put the credit through and did not ship the plants and that it was "human error." She offered to credit my acct. that day and express ship the few plants they did have, from my order but I asked her to credit my acct. for the whole order as I don't want or need to or have the time to have to work hard with a company to see if they are doing what they said they would do, call them back numerous times, etc. I don't know how they stay in business, but they were not reliable in any way, with my order.

"On Jun 13, 2012 2:07 PM, American Meadows responded with:

Dear Suepap1,

I dug into this situation and your account is in fact correct. There were items on your order that did not automatically shut-off when we ran out of inventory and and for some reason, our contact and refund systems broke down. Although I haven't been able to pin-point exactly where we went wrong, there's no excuse for not correcting this problem in a timely fashion.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I know that my business partner has reached out to you to apologize in person, but I wanted to also assure you that this was a very rare occurrence. We take great pride in making gardeners happy and I'm sorry that in your case, we failed.

Best wishes,
Ethan Platt, President, American Meadows

I ordered the following for this spring and so far everything has taken and is growing rapidly. They sent free wildflower seeds which was a nice touch. I like their website and find it easy to navigate, their email notifications are accurate and prompt, their packaging was good. I have an order in for the fall and am looking forward to receiving it. Will order from them again for sure.

Dill Seeds (Packet)
Curled Parsley Seeds -
Sweet Basil Seeds - Packet (Packet)
Louisiana Iris Sinfonietta (Bag of 3)
Biltmore Estate Dahlia Jamaica (Bag of 2)

Bought 3 Annabel Hydrangeas from the company. The plants were packed well. But within 2 weeks of planting, they are all brown. Not sure if they are truly dead yet. I used the recommended planting instructions that came with the plants.
I contacted the company a few days ago and I am not sure of getting an answer. I heard this method of posting a negative answer gets results.

"On Jun 3, 2012 9:46 PM, American Meadows responded with:

Paulng, All of our products are guaranteed. I'm not sure how you contacted us, but during the spring busy season we strive to reply to all contacts within 2 business days.

As for your plants, please don't give up on them - keep watering them regularly - often plants will lose some foliage with the shock of transplanting. That said, we always stand behind our products and will be contacting you to discuss options.

Best,
American Meadows"

Ordered clematis. Came as 2 for 1, so got 6 in total. Nicely packed in 3 inch pots well held within cardboard box designed for the pots and designed to hold in the planting soil. Very nice top growth and roots to the plants. Quick shipment. They tossed in some Siberian iris for a bonus.

I returned to their site to place a larger order yesterday, after receiving my first shipment. The plants were all very healthy and thriving. I loved the careful packaging, and was stunned at how quickly the order arrived.Their prices were very reasonable too. I'm impressed!

I received my first (small) order from American Meadows and the experience was not only a positive one, but all around, one of the best in years. Service was very, very fast and the plants arrived as fresh as if they were dug up this morning. I am very pleased. I not only recommend them, I will be ordering from them again.

I put in an order for 2 peony roots (an itoh and a herbaceous variety ) in January. I received them in late April. They looked sort of small, but I soaked them in transplant solution for an hour and planted on the same day. After three weeks, they're about 8" tall now, and look really healthy. Overall, it was a good experience for me.

Posted on April 29, 2012, updated May 3, 2012
I ordered from this company and when my hydrangeas arrived, I found them with brown leaves curled up and pretty much DOA.. I emailed the company twice and have yet to hear anything from them, surprised?, not really. I found them to be in great company with Cottage Farms. They promise you anything but if there is a problem, they don't care to know you.
A lesson well learned, buy local people.......

"On Apr 30, 2012 3:20 PM, American Meadows responded with:

Dear Catsumrs,

Thank you for your order with American Meadows.

I apologize that your Hydrangea arrived to you in poor condition. It looks as though one of our gardening team members has responded to your emails that you sent on the 28th. As I’m sure you can imagine, April is our busiest month of the year and we strive to return every message within 48 hours.

We have been serving gardeners for over 30 years and pride ourselves on exceptional customer service and 100% customer satisfaction. As stated in the email that was just sent over, we are more than happy to honor our guarantee with healthy replacements or a full refund. Please write back to us at your convenience and we can work together to make sure you have healthy Hydrangeas to plant!

Thank you for your business and feedback. We really appreciate it.

Mike Lizotte
Managing Partner - http://www.AmericanMeadows.com

I placed a sizable order for several perennial plants and dahlias earlier this year. They arrived exactly when I was told they were and the plants were in snug in their packages and in very good condition; most were just coming out of dormancy and leafing out. Thanks, American Meadows - great job!

Responsive chat service helped me choose the best seeds and quickly got me to the checkout. This non-gardener appreciates it!

Today I planted 12 tuberous begonias from American Meadows. Three each of scarlet, pink, yellow and white. The tubers were very large, firm, and healthy. Just beginning to show signs of life as I tucked them into the sun-warmed potting soil this afternoon. I know to be patient with begonia tubers, but I look forward to seeing their beautiful blooms this summer in my large front porch flower pots.

Having never ordered from American Meadows, I decided to try their services by taking advantage of a no shipping charge promotion they were offering. After placing my small order on their website, I received a prompt acknowledgement including a delivery time. At the appropriate time I received a second email advising me of shipment. The package arrived containing full, healthy plants with well established root systems in excellent, easy to open, secured packaging. As an unexpected bonus, the package also included several packets of wildflower seeds and a discount coupon for a future purchase. No company could possibly have provided better service or product. I will order from them again.

I've ordered from this company several times over the years, and I'd give them four out of five stars.

For seeds, they are the first people I go to. Great prices, seriously awesome results. Hands down, the best.

For live plants, my experience was a little mixed. Their shipping is fast, but their packaging could be better. Their prices are great, but their quality control could use some work (got slugs one memorable year). Some of the best plants in my garden came from here, but I've had to request replacement plants more than once. On one hand, they have the nicest and most helpful customer service people I've ever talked to. On the other hand, I've had to call them a couple times.

All things considered, I'll keep buying from them. They stand behind their guarantee.

I ordered quite a few fall bulbs from American Meadows back in November. With the warm weather we have been having, they are starting to grow and bloom and I could not be happier with the wonderful spring display! Their customer service department is extremely helpful and I will be ordering from them again!

I ordered Hydrangeas and they arrived packed better than any plant material I have received from other companies. It is truly wonderful to know that your company cares enough to to the job of packaging plants properly. Thanks

Posted on July 19, 2011, updated August 2, 2011
Very nice and helpful customer service.
I recieved my order promptly and they were very well packaged ( Peonies and Begonias) Out of the 15 bulbs recieved , 1 begonia did not have any eyes and 1 peony no eyes ( I don't know the name since it was in the cotton candy mix) BUT I have planted and waiting to see if anything sprouts up.
I do plan to order more items this fall

Purchased many plants, bare roots, and seeds. Wonderful customer service, plants packaged perfectly every time, beautiful results. In spring I planted coneflowers, rudbeckia, yarrow, lavender, Russian sage, catmint, and sedum. They were in 3 in pots. They are now all to my knees and filled with blooms. I will always buy from this company. Smaller plants than from the nursery centers- cheaper too- but always perform just as good if not better than nursery grown plants in gallon pots.

I ordered the Fall Wildflower and Spring Wildflower seeds for my new wildflower bed, and the results have been fantastic. I couldn't be happier. At my SO's house, fewer annuals appeared than he had expected from the Spring Mix he bought, and the Customer Service rep couldn't have been nicer or more helpful when I contacted them. They are sending a replacement pound of seeds, and I'm left with a very positive impression of this company. I will certainly order from them again.

This company is awesome! Many items that I've ordered through them immediately took to and thrived in our garden and what didn't, they either replaced or refunded promptly. I've e-mailed them questions which they thoughtfully and promptly answered. I will continue to buy from American Meadows with confidence.

I can't speak for most of their items, but I bought several iris rhizomes from them and they are doing well. I placed two orders and both arrived just fine. The prices were excellent as well; the plants were on sale.

I ordered several bare-root astilbes, monkshood and lilies from American Meadows as a first time customer. The astilbes are growing well as are the monkshood. I have yet to plant the lily bulbs but all had new growth on arrival and are "thriving" in a shallow container of water anticipating planting. I was very pleased with the quality of the bare-root plants and the quick service.

Posted on July 30, 2007, updated June 14, 2011
I ordered two bags of white glads, two bags of Biltmore Estate glads and 4 Akita dahlias.

All are up and doing well. I tracked my shipment all the way from VT to CA via UPS website.

All items were shipped the day after I ordered them. I can only say good things about American Meadows- + they gave me some bonus seed packets!

I have ordered frpm American Meadows for several years. I have always been happy with what I recieved .I mostly order their lillies & some perenials. Last fall I ordered some bearded iris. None of them survived the winter. I have been growing iris for a long time, so I don't think it was me or my beds. American Meadows was happy replace them. The oriental lillies I buy from the are of very high quality. I also orderd some columbine & foxglove. The live plants mad it to me happy & healthy.I will continue to order from American Meadows. They stand behind what they sell.

Fantastic company for both bulbs and for seeds! I took advantage of the bulb sale recently and was amazed at how healthy and size wise the lily bulbs were. They are coming up nicely. The seeds I ordered were the midwest wildflower mix, all perennial mix and purple conflowers all 1/4 lb all seeds with no fillers! Also ordered hummingbird and butterfly mix, daisies and veggie seeds (for the fall season) as well. I planted the single flower species and flower mixes then came all the rain. I was skepical and had some wash into the grass. A few days later half of them had germinated (some of the seedlings are bunched up and I will have to divide sometime later) and now almost all have germinated even the coneflowers! I did have to cover the seeds with bridal illusion because I caught some sneaky birds eating them. For value and quality you can't beat American Meadows even scored free shipping for orders over $50.00 and used a coupon and saved more. Thanks guys!