Comments regarding Romence Gardens & Greenhouses

I placed an order for some Proven Winners varieties I could not find locally and decided to try this company. For the Supertunia variety I ordered, all the plants I received were very leggy and appeared weak and fragile. I have ordered this variety online from other suppliers in the past and always received healthy and vigorous plants. I planted them anyway thinking they would take off after planting but that didn't happen and the plants were much smaller and less vigorous than this variety normally is. Since this was my first order, I'm on the fence as to whether I will order from them again. On a positive note, the prices were good and when I contacted customer service to change my shipping date due to unexpected travel, they responded quickly and made the changes I requested.

In January 2025 I purchased petunias from Romance Gardens and every plant died over a 3 week time, The look fine when I received them but slowly shriveled up and died. I wrote to complain on August 13 to complain, including photos and I received this answer:

I'm so sorry to hear your petunias didn't perform well this season! Unfortunately, as all of your orders were delivered 1-3 months ago, based on company policy I am unable to issue a refund. We guarantee that our plants will arrive safely and in good condition, so if there are any problems with them after shipping and we are contacted with photos within one week of delivery, we will issue a full refund or replacement. Since the plants are live and there are so many factors outside of our control, we do not refund after this time period. There are no known issues with our Proven Winner Petunias this year, and we have had many satisfied buyers across the country. Since all 40 of your petunias died, it is likely something environmental.

Again, I'm really sorry to hear about your plants, and I wish you the best. Please let me know if you have any further questions or issues.

Jessica
Romence Gardens Customer Support

I have ordered Proven Winners on line on their web site for about 20 years. They always work!!! This year I ordered them from Romance Gardens because they did not charge for shipping which with an order for 22 plants at $9.99 each was considerable.

I even ordered a few replacements on June 2nd after I had lost so many including Bubblegum Vista Petunias which are pretty indestructible!! They died also!!

And I reordered them again which arrived June 5th. And they died!!

My flowers were planted in various planters not near each other on different areas on our 10 acres. So it was not something I did or did not do! Nothing different from other years and at different times.

And on other years I ordered from Romance Gardens and their plants were perfect.

I really did not think that it could be Romance Gardens' problem which is why I ordered again and again. But after all died and I do think it was their problem. I wonder if anyone else had this problem? I can understand a basic policy if a plant dies but, not when ALL the plants died. These plants died slowly! You should have the photos of the dead ones I sent.

416.04. on petunias alone!!!
And I have used Romance Gardens on two other years and their plants were perfect. And, this year I ordered Bees Knees petunias from Burpee and they still look great.no problems.


I WOULD LIKE A REFUND OR MAYBE A CREDIT AND WE CAN TRY AGAIN NEXT YEAR.

I spent 416.04. on petunias alone!!!

I spent a total of 505.27 on three orders in 2025.A total of $505.27.

I did spend 49.95 on Verbena bonariensis 'Meteor Shower®'
Terrific.
And $39.96. on Angelonia angustifolia hybrid 'Angelface®
Both of these sets of plants are still blooming in my planters and look terrific.Same planters just not petunias.

SINCERELY
PATRICIA KUNTZ

Plants from Romence were the best I have received in over 30 years of gardening. They were all larger than I had expected and in beautiful condition. One box had been crushed in shipping and I thought the plant must be damaged. But no, they have a second box inside to protect against that sort of thing. The plants were perfect even though the box was crushed. I put in two orders this summer, and both arrived shortly after I ordered. The prices were excellent ( It was a sale). I highly recommend Romence and will continue ordering from them.

I have been buying my plants online for over 40 years. This year is the first time that I ordered from Romence Gardens. When my plants arrived, the boxes were so tall that I thought I received plant cages by mistake. The boxes were 4 feet tall ! Inside was just 1 plant per box. These were my Iris,Crocosmia Astillbe,Oriental Lillies, and Hibiscus. Each plant was healthy and full. As of today,every plant has bloomed.I
I ordered from 5 different online nurseries this Spring along with my
Romence Gardens order and I am still shocked by the size of the plants from Romence Gardens an often at a price lower than the small pots that I get from my other companies. In spring of 2026 I will be shopping at Romence Garden FIRST !

I ordered two hydrangeas and they looked good out of the box. I cut them back for shape (they were leggy) and found what I thought was frass from a boring beetle. Removed those stems down to an unaffected point and sealed the holes. Unfortunately the shrubs didn't thrive--limbs wilting and shriveling. I planted them out in the fall. This summer I've found a white substance on the hydrangea stems and the tops of the stems would wilt and then the bottoms go black with rot and the plant dies.

So, what I thought was frass was sclerota and these hydrangeas brought sclerotinia into my garden. This is devastating. I have to throw away these two hydrangeas and leave the area bare and buy expensive anti-fungal controls. I've had to throw away multiple other plants around them that were infected. It is a fungus that kills hundreds of plant types and lives in your soil for years.

I contacted Romence and they didn't offer any help.

I ordered many items this seasons for clients and myself, from Romence gardens. All but 1 plant was satisfactory. I did email them about my 1 perennial that barely had any roots upon arrival - and am still waiting to hear back. Otherwise , I would highly recommend -
Esp for Michigan gardeners as they are based in Michigan!

Ordered from Romence Gardens for the first time this year. The process was easy and well explained. The plants arrived on time and are absolutely large and BEAUTIFUL and were expertly packed for shipping. Exceeded expectations in every way. Would not hesitate to buy from Romence again.

I just received my shipment of plants from Romance Gardens (1st time orderer) and I could not be more pleased. The plants are extremely healthy with impressive growth and packaged so impressively and carefully. Beyond expectations.

I just bought a potted Hansa rose from them online and received a beautiful, nice sized, healthy, leafing out rose bush. I was absolutely thrilled with the quality of the rose bush i received! Good communication, fast shipping and high quality plants, I will be back to buy more from Romencegardens.com.

I have always been very happy with everything I have ordered from Romence Gardens. Their plants are a good size, well priced, and always arrive in good shape. The plants that I have ordered gave done very well. I will order from them again.

I ordered several perennials on sale earlier this fall. I was delighted when they arrived--the plants were unexpectedly large, and the pots were filled out completely with vigorous plants. If you order a lot of plants mail order, as I have for years, you know that most of the time the plants, even shrubs, are very small. Romence is on my list to order from next spring 2023. My experience was all positive, including the speed of shipping and communications regarding arrival date, etc.

In August 2021 I ordered two phlox "Cloudburst" from Romence. They came, looked good, & I planted them. They grew well, but they bloomed pink, not the purple in Romence's website picture and description. I emailed them pictures of the phlox & said that I wasn't happy, that I didn't order "pink," I ordered "purple." They said that "the plants are blooming correctly" and "we cannot issue a refund at this time." I've been gardening for 30 + years and know the difference between pink and purple. They bloomed a light to medium pink, and the picture on their website was a vibrant purple. (I tried to post pictures here, but was unable). Romence refused to take responsibility that MAYBE they had sent the wrong plant. Again, this was no small variation. It was an obvious color difference. This is just bad customer service. Really disappointing.

Outstanding!
Roses are beautiful and great communication from them

This is my second year ordering from Romence and I couldn’t be happier with the speed of shipping (plants arrive literally within 1-2 days) and plant quality. Prices are reasonable as well. I only wish they offered larger sizes, especially for shrubs.

I’m finding this plant too high maintenance for my garden. For me, it needs to be in a spot where it gets zero supplemental water; otherwise it’s going to rot. I think mine are too far gone but I may try moving them (now mid-summer) to a spot where sprinklers do not reach it.

I have been buying plants from them over several years and I am quite happy.

Made my order with Romence for the first time this Spring, I could not have been happier, all the plants arrived very well packaged, they are of a very good size, arrived very timely. Shortly after the purchase I was contacted by their wonderful staff to inform me of estimated shipping time, they tried their best to ship the plants to me earlier! I am just thrilled with their service, the quality of their plants and the speedy delivery. All the plants are thriving in my garden now, I tend to write a review after the plants are in the ground, I want to write a honest review base on all the aspects, Romence is superb and I will be a loyal customer with regular purchases. Thank you so much Romence!

First order from Romence but it won't be my last, assuming I'm still vertical and above ground. Plants are about the largest and healthiest I've seen in 50+ years of mail and online ordering. Prices and shipping very reasonable. Perennials larger than I've ever seen at any local nursery. Packaging appears to be a method of their own design and well thought out. Even FedEx wasn't able to do their usual trick of getting soil out of the pot and into the box. Romence will be at the top of my online sources.

Plants arrived in wonderful shape. Packed securely, big and healthy. Shipping was inexpensive compared to many other plant nurseries. I had a question about one of the plants and received an answer right away - great customer service. My only regret is that I didn't order more plants! I certainly will place future orders.

My plants were well packed and all were really healthy. Will definitely order again from Romence Gardens!

Received 3 Aquilegia that were supposed to be 'Earlybird™ Red White' and were labeled as such. However, they were dark pink and yellow. Also received 3 plants labeled as Dicentra spectabilis 'Valentine', which were supposed to be "bright red." They were pink. A week after writing to the vendor, I've received no acknowledgement of my email, much less an offer to correct the $84 error.

Beyond impressed. The shipment this year went above and beyond about anything I've ever received from anyone. The plants were large and fully grown, not plugs sitting in potting mix. The plants came in a large box with domed inserts so as not to mash down the tall foliage (such as on a Pennisetum Setaceum grass). I'll be a return customer for sure if they keep this up.

My plants (five Platycodon, two Delphinium) arrived as scheduled, and pretty well-packed. The delphiniums were a little ragged from their journey, but these things happen. All seven plants are healthy. But all five balloon flowers are absolutely tiny: their root systems didn't fill more than 20% of the quart-sized pots they were packed in. (At my local nursery, for what it's worth, I can buy Platycodon in a 4 1/2" pot, with roots sticking out the bottom, for half the price I paid at Romence. I ordered online because I assumed I'd be getting larger plants.) It strikes me as dishonest to market such small plants as quart-sized.

If the plants all thrive, I'll amend my review to positive. But I don't plan on ordering from Romence again, for now.

Wow! This was the first time I have ordered from this company and they exceeded expectations. Quick shipping, really good design for shipping container ( The FedEx guy carried it upside down and sideways and none of the pots lost dirt or came undone) and plants were really green and healthy looking. None of the plants were dried out or limp. Nice healthy plants and bigger than I expected for the price. I like these sizes better than what comes from a Big Box Store because they seem to do better. I wish they had a few more of the salvia I want but I will order from them again.

I finally ordered from Romence this past spring, after noting their exceptional reviews here for years. The plants I ordered from them did beautifully, particularly the monkshood and callilcarpa. I plan to order another monkshood for this coming spring, and branch out to order more from them. Absolutely healthy and beautiful plants, well worth the cost!

I placed a rather large order this spring (2020). Due to the virus, they were short-staffed and apologized that the order would take longer than usual. Then Fedex chose to ship the boxes on different trucks so the final part of the order arrived about 4 days after the initial part. Despite that everything arrived in good shape. It was the best packing job I've had from any online nursery so no plant damage at all and I live in Oregon, so it was a long trip. Plants are all doing great.

Like the positive responses before me, I can say that Romence has always sent the best plants--very large, quality plants. I am not always thrilled with Fed Ex and their treatment, but the company itself is the best I have ever dealt with. I understand when plants may be a new variety or in a new growth period and not as large as others, but usually they are as large as you could get from a nursery. I won't waste my time on the other companies now that I have enough experience with Romence.

I loved my experience with Romence Gardens and Greenhouse! One of the boxes was damaged in shipping and returned to the seller. The owner quickly created an order with no expense to me and my precious lavender plants were shipped and quickly received. I did expect a delay in this turbulent time, but with Romence it felt like there have things figured out with the pandemic somehow. We have ordered plants and seeds with other companies this spring and none of them was as good as Romence.

I have ordered several times from Romence, and I can’t say enough good things about them. They are the fastest to respond with any inquiry. They send excellent quality plants that are well packaged for shipping. Only once, which was this year, did I ever receive anything that I wasn’t excited about. I bought some andropogon Blackhawks grasses and they arrived quite small. You could tell the quart pot was just stuffed in the gallon pot and then shipped. I’m giving them a pass on this as everything else has been great in the past and this is a rough year for nursery’s and the immense amount of online orders they have to deal with. This was also the first time I didn’t have a plant make it with them and they immediately refunded my money no questions asked. Would recommend and will continue to purchase from them.

Based on the good reviews here I placed a few large orders. Free shipping (on most plants) over $75 helps a lot, and they don't charge you until it ships. Almost every plant is a trade gallon or at least a quart size. Plants were packaged very well, and I did not receive a single broken plant. They do not try to cram 50 plants in one box -- kudos! Thanks goes to FED EX for not throwing the boxes around. Plants were large and healthy, the largest I've received from anyone. Communication is good, and very prompt with Chris Romence. Two plants I did not receive as they had a crop failure, I was told about it and refunded promptly. I complained about one plant being way too small and not rooted at all in it's gallon, and Chris responded right away with an apology and a refund. Great company all around and they will be my first choice for mail order plants from now on.

Posted on April 26, 2019, updated May 21, 2020
Posted on May 30, 2015, updated April 26, 2019
Posted on April 23, 2014, updated May 30, 2015
Posted on September 25, 2013, updated April 23, 2014
Posted on May 22, 2013, updated September 25, 2013
Based on the positive reviews, I placed my first order with Romence Gardens. I received the biggest Japanese anemones I have ever received (four different companies over the years) with great packaging, quick delivery, and excellent communication.

They are bigger than the anemones in my garden!

I am so impressed. I don't quite know how they deliver such wonderful plants at so low a cost. They are just excellent.

Posted on May 19, 2020, updated May 19, 2020
I ordered impatiens 4/14. Today after waiting more than a month- 5/19 I was told there was a crop failure, and I would be refunded.

Should have been asked If I would accept a substitution. They must have know well before now they had a problem.

Disappointed.

This year I placed my first order with Romence Gardens, it will not be my last.
Fed Ex delivered seven large boxes- seemingly too large for my order. Opening the boxes was an exciting exercise. My professional career was in art conservation - this packing transported me back to unpacking a shipment of art - all possibilities for damaged were anticipated and addressed. As an added bonus, 95 percent of the packing materials were biodegradable or recyclable!
The plants were in beautiful condition with well formed root systems. Thank you!!

I began ordering from Romence Gardens of Michigan in the early Spring of 2019. WHAT AN EXCELLENT ONLINE NURSERY! This company believes in the quality of their plants and packaging! Plus their customer service is excellent! I ordered a large number of perennials to be sent to 2 different properties in Spring 2019. Unfortunately, we found out a family member was diagnosed with a life threatening illness and we would be unable to have the plants delivered to either property. The owner of Romence was wonderful and was able to change the shipping addresses to a different state where a family member could plant and care for the plants. All the plants were superbly packed to withstand the rigors of delivery and all plants were completely healthy and a better size according to our family member. They survived the initial plantings and later transplanting during the summer to one of the properties.
Now, Fast forward to this past Spring 2020 where I again ordered perennials in the Fall of 2019 to be sent to one of the properties in the North and then the Covid-19 virus came...
Again, Romence Gardens had to switch gears and direct our northern plants to our Southern residence and ship some of my order AGAIN to a family member this Spring.. The owner provided the flexibility and assistance I needed. I began receiving the perennials excellent packing and some of the perennials actually had buds on them. Every plant was green and healthy and are currently thriving happily in our backyard garden. That is why I’m a loyal Romence Gardens customer! Plant quality, quality packaging and excellent customer service!!
And that is why Romence Gardens is on the Dave’s Watchdog 30 as one of the top 30 on-line nurseries.

I placed my very first order with Romence Gardens spring of this year, encouraged by their standing on the Watchdog 30 list and the great reviews by DG members and I'm so happy to say I was thrilled with my order. All the plants were large and extremely healthy. In fact they were larger than any plants I've ever received from any other nursery and once planted, they took off right away with virtually no transplant shock.

I grow mostly plants that appeal to hummingbirds, butterflies and pollinators so that was my first priority when I ordered an assortment of plants.

Unfortunately after years of cultivating Lobelia Cardinalis (Cardinal Flower), a hummer favorite, by letting the seeds drop year after year, we just had too much flooding this past spring and they all rotted. I decided to order more, fully expecting, based on past experience, that they wouldn't bloom until the second year. So imagine my excitement when the 6 Lobelia plants I received from Romence were tall and healthy and well on their way to producing buds. And they bloomed like crazy this year!

I also discovered a new favorite from Romence...Salvia Black & Bloom. It's sort of a next generation of Black & Blue, but more prolific. It was already blooming when I received it and continued to grow larger and larger as the season progressed. As of this review, Sept. 2019, they are huge and completely covered with blooms with new buds everywhere. The hummers just can't get enough of those blooms. They absolutely love this plant and visit it all day long. It's not hardy in my area so I plan to buy more from Romence next year.

I highly recommend Romence Gardens without hesitation and I definitely plan to order from them next year. They are my new favorite nursery. Thanks Romence Gardens!

Posted on June 30, 2016, updated July 1, 2018
With my first order from Romence Gardens, I received very large plants that are all very healthy and extraordinary including the series of Ellagance lavandulas, a variegated thymus and 2 beautiful mature Buzz Buddleias in 2 gallon pots. Two of the lavandulas were already flowering heavily and both buddleias were covered with emerging buds. Packing was top notch and shipment was almost lightning speed. All are thriving and vigorous .I also received very personal and extraordinary customer service directly from Chris Romence. Thank you. Perfection.

Beautiful plants and excellent customer service. I especially appreciate the exceptional communication I've had from this company.

Still tops! In five orders this year and last, plants were all healthy and large. Prices are fine, including a reasonable charge for (fast!) shipping using the best packaging in the business.

Today I received one item that had slipped from its moorings and had broken stems. I called, and was immediately offered a replacement, free, no hesitation.

The best!

Posted on June 12, 2014, updated May 23, 2018
This is far and away the best plant mail order experience I have had in 30 years. The plants were packed ingeniously. I received a 1 gallon Abelia, and 6 other plants that were healthy, large and well-rooted. One of the plants was Ginger - I received a note from Romence that they apologized that the plants were not larger, since they are slow to spread. Meanwhile, they arrived and were 3x the size of the plants I received from another nursery. These plants looked very much as they should have.

The communication was great all of the way - I phoned after placing my order to find out when they would ship and was told that shipment would take place the following Monday. Sure enough, I received an email confirmation from the carrier and the plants were delivered on the following Wednesday.

As I said earlier, I've not seen this level of customer service and quality - even in the days when Wayside and White Flower Farms had captured the "premium sellers" market.

Bob