Comments regarding White Flower Farm

I have ordered from WFF for years and have been pleased with the quality and size of the plants and also with their making good on anything that was amiss. One year there was a problem with a plant from WFF and also one from Wayside Gardens, and the matter was rectified immediately by WFF, whereas Wayside fought me for a long time before crediting my Visa account.

I have spent a ton of money at WFF and have been extremely pleased with their quality and customer service. Their plants (particularly their bulbs--outstanding and huge!) are always top notch and in great shape when I receive them. In the random event that something doesn't survive (as with my poppies a year ago) they glady replaced the plants that had died and I even had one of their customer service employees call me back numerous times to keep me posted on the status of my order. I sometimes get discouraged that their supply runs out so fast and I wish they had a larger supply of certain items, but I just keep telling myself that it's something that I'll order next year! Overall they're a quality establishment and I'll keep ordering from them every year!

On 3/30/06 I ordered the Woodside Daylilly Mix. They arrived bareroot. I planted them and all are thriving.

On 4/24/06 I ordered 1 thalictrum black stockings, 2 lavatera red plum, and 3 tiarella candy stripper. All arrived in good condition and are thriving.

On 4/28/06 I ordered 6 sedum spectabile brilliant & 1 baptisia twilight prairieblues. All arrived in great condition and are all thriving.

I have ordered from them in the past and all have been positive experiences. They are a bit pricy but the plants have always come well packaged and in good condition. Plus some of the items I've ordered from them I couldn't find elsewhere. I would definitely order from them again.

I ordered plants this spring from WFF and to actually compare price and quality, I ordered on the same day identical plants costing the same amount from Dutch Garden. Hands down WFF's plants were twice the size and considerably healthier. I have planted them under the same condition and will watch further. However, I still think that it makes more sense to seek out their plants sold through other garden centers as they differently are a better deal than the mail order plants bought directly from WFF. I found a nice collection of their plants at the garden center in Hyannis and see on WFF website a lists of other dealers selling their plants. However I would rate them a positive for the service, selection and health of what I received. I will order bulbs from them on others positive recommendation in the fall. Patti

I used to work for White Flower Farm on the farm and in the mail order and I'm suprised at some of the comments and all I can say is keep calling back - if you are not happy with something call till you get an answer you want. Speak with a suprivsor. But the thing is you have to do it right away....

Good luck and good gardening....

I am a prolific mail-order gardener, and WFF has been a good experiment over the years. Their customer service has always been cordial and helpful whenever I run into any problems; horticulture expert is very keen on offering recommendations and suggestions either.

The descriptions of their plants and more importantly, the sizes they come in, are clearly stated on their websites to avoid possible confusions.

To kick off my 2006 planting season, I have placed two large orders separately and everything arrived well - no damaged plants, no DOA plants and no loose soil. Everything looks good. After acclimating them to the outdoors elements, I am happy to report that out of the 18 plants I ordered only two haven't, and one still don't seem to respond. I have since called WFF to report the situation. The two plants that didn't make it, they were glad to issue replacement certificate, since those plants had since sold out.

They have however they have made a note on my account, on the remaining plant I am waiting on. I will give the plant two more weeks to come out of its dormancy. If not, I will for sure follow up with WFF and work out the details.

They have pretty good stocks, and I have been happy with them. Prices are a little high for some choice plants, but we shop at WFF for our respective reasons.

All in all, very positive shopping experiences.

I recently ordered for the first time from White Flower Farm. Based on their catalog and prices, I thought my merchandise would be top-notch. The two shrubs I ordered--a hydrangea and an ilex--were pretty good, but the three campanulas were just unbelievably small for the price I paid. Just seedlings! I have since potted them in larger pots, because I don't think they're ready to go into the garden. Later, I found the same plants at Home Depot--huge things at half the price. I think I'll use WWF's catalog as an idea source only in the future.

I ordered 3 daylilies, and one catmint. All were large, bareroot. Packing was a little odd for the three daylilies, wet shredded paper, enclosed in plastic, however all are in good shape. No problems at all with this order.

I too have been sucked in by that beautiful catalog,only to be soooo disappointed with the size of the plants after they arrive. I've made up my mind to insist they do not send me any future catalogs,so I will not be tempted to order from them again.

The prices are a little higher than other sites, but they have great combinations (see catalog) and the good-sized plants arrived in beautiful condition. Their packaging is ingenious.
I don't recall if I had any problems with ordering. I definitely credit them with my beautiful containers last summer.

Have ordered from WFF for years. As with any plant purchase, some are not so good for the price. However, their bulbs are the best I've found! WFF is the only place I buy bulbs and I buy lots of bulbs! I don't find the price of their bulbs high, based on size, condition and results. Packing is great, instructions are great and the flowers are wonderful.

Plants arrived last fall in good condition at the correct time, bareroot and potted hostas and a variety of bulbs. Plants were well protected with biodegradable packing material (shredded newspaper), and bareroot plants had well-developed root systems. Bulbs were twice as big as any others I've ever seen. Planting instructions were excellent. Bulbs are doing well (too early to tell about the hostas) . My previous order was a gift certificate for a friend, who bought an old rose that still thrives years later in her harsh-climate seaside garden. I've kept the catalog handy for years for its excellent information and attractive photos. Website is easy to use.

I have orderedfrom this company before.I love the quality of their plants.But twice i tried to order on their website and twice when I reached a ceratin number of plants the site deleted my order.I called them and theysaid they would look into it.The second person acted as if she could care less if I had a problem.I tried a third time-this time a much shorter list- and you had no choice with the number ordered,some went no higher than 6plants most went no higher than 3,a few went no higher than 1. If you wanted to order a large number like 24 (as I wanted) you could not. Lastyear they had the same problem so I ordered by phone.But if they dont care enough to fix it ,I wonder about them. I ordered from Bluestone,Song Sparrow,and Wayside(they also have an odd webside for ordering).

Undoubtably they have one of the nicer catalogs that I receive. In their beautiful collection of pictures, I came across the Flora Danica rose and could not resist temptation, so I ordered them in time for spring. They were delivered in nice shape, and then flowered nicely that very first season. The roses certainly lived up to my expectations, so I will probably buy from them again.

I had a severe problem with WFF following an order of the "Border of Yellow" daylilies. When they did arrive, the plants looked like old shallots that had been in the fridge too long. They smelled bad as well. I went ahead and planted them and - surprise! - very few of them came up. I called WFF and they said that one of their horticulture experts would call back, implying that somehow I had done something wrong. Given that we are talking about daylilies here this was something of an insult. I waited and waited and no phone call was made.

I called back yet again and they promised to send me a few replacement plants as a means of getting things going until they were sure about the other plants not coming up. I did receive 6 healthy plants (of the 35 they owed me) and before I planted these I took pictures of them and dug up the non-growing plants and took comparative pictures. Since these hadn't grown at all - basically worm food at that point - I was able to make direct comparisons. The previous plants were clearly the bottom of some barrel at WFF as they were MUCH smaller than the new ones. I made a note of this and actually sent the images to WFF. No response, no new plants, no nothing. I have had much better experiences with other companies (Miller Nurseries for one) who send you replacements no questions asked.

I ordered a gardenia and jasmine plant and two dozen paperwhites in December 2005. The paperwhites were outstandingly fragrant--I had to put them in separate rooms because the fragrance would wallop you over the head. The jasmine plant gave off a few blooms but I suspect that the shock of changing locations traumatized it; I pruned it and transplanted it and it is sending off new vines.

I had a problem with the gardenia. It shriveled up within two days and I spent the next month trying to revive it but no luck. At first, I was going to post a negative rating but then I emailed the company and received a response that day:

We are sorry to hear that the gardenia has given you trouble. We are in the process of setting you up to receive a replacement Gardenia plant. However, we do not plan to start shipping these again until early to mid February. That shipping time will also be weather dependent, so if it is too cold we will postpone the delivery time. But, we will get you out a replacement item.

I received my gardenia plant last week and so far, so good. The blooms will open soon and the plant lasted about five days longer than the first one. And no questions asked, no charge for the replacement plant.

I suspect that the higher prices are a reflection of their "no questions asked" replacement policy and gorgeous catalog. Even so, although my first experience wasn't 100% positive, I will definitely order from them again.

I have dealt with White Flower Farms for many years, and have always been pleased with the quality of their plants and customer service. Their beautiful catalog has a lot of information on the varieties they carry. The plants are always packed incredibly well and arrive when expected. I can't always afford to order from them, but do so when possible for some of my plants. Last year I ordered two different Asian lily collections, that I planted in the spring. The bulbs I received were enormous. They were supposed to ship 25 bulbs per collection but somehow shipped 47 or 48 per collection! Amazing! Another item I ordered was a heather collection. When these 12 plants I arrived, I was not able to plant them until about 10 days later. Two of the plants died, which I suspect was my fault. I contacted the company stating the same and asking if I could order replacements for those 2 species to plant in the fall. They sent the plants at no charge, and the plants were even larger than the original ones. I have also had great experience with their daylily and daffodill collections. In summary they cost more than some of the competition but are absolutely worth it, especially for your 'investment' plants.

Hello,

White Farm has a few unusual perennials, but their prices for annuals such as agelonia are outrageous. I would recommend that gardeners might go to their local garden centers for the annuals at much cheaper prices and in larger pots.

I like the quality of their perennials and would continue to but perennials from them, but annuals are a different story.

Overall, my family and I have had good experiences with White Flower Farm. Plants have always arrived at the appropriate time for planting. We have sent several plants from White Flower Farm as gifts because their customer service has always been outstanding for us. If a gift recipient had a problem with something that was delivered, either the recipient or I could call and receive a very quick replacement. Their customer service has always been courteous and respectful.

One thing that I will say is that several of the plants that they ship are smaller than what may be purchased through other mail-order companies, and certainly tend to be smaller than plants which may be procured at local nurseries. For perennials, I haven't found the size to be a problem since the roots are well-developed and the plants have always grown happily and have had time to develop. However, annuals are something that we definitely do not order from White Flower Farm. The catalog is great for getting arrangement and container planting ideas for annuals, but the shrimpy annuals that arrive will not do when the growing time is going to be so short.

All in all, we can definnitely say that we are happy repeat customers, and we'll continue to order perennials from White Flower Farm.

Last spring was my first experience with ordering annuals from White Flower Farms. I live off the beaten path and can't always find what I want in our small garden centers. The plants were healthy and performed well. I'll admit the prices aren't cheap, but I did get what I paid for. The company allows you to request a ship date, so I can get the plants at a good planting time. I will be ordering from them again this spring.

I ordered about $400 worth of plants from WFF - for me at the time, this was a huge amount of money, and as anyone dealing with WFF can tell you, not many plants for the money.

The plants came about a month too early for planting. Being a new gardener, I panicked - didn't know how to keep them alive. Kept them inside in a sunny window for a while, and planted them on the first nice day.

Everything but the pulmonaria "Mrs. Moon" died. I waited too long to report this to the company (was hoping that something would spring up somehow), and since I missed the refund window, I got nothing back.

Also spent a decent amount getting my mom 3 gorgeous-looking Coreopsis for Mother's Day. For the price I spent, she got 3 crappy-looking teeny cuttings that died the first year. I was pretty embarrassed by the "bad gift".

I've since learned my new-gardener lesson, and have seen comparable plants at local garden centers for much less money. I advise you to keep away unless there's something unique that you truly can't find elsewhere.

I have ordered nearly $5000 of merchandise from White Flower Farm over a period of 8 years. The number of plants which did not survive is probably less than five. I am consistently impressed with the root systems on their bareroot plants. Whenever I have had a problem with something, they have made it right. They did send my bulbs and plants for fall planting a bit too early this year, but how could they have known it was going to be weirdly warm until even now? In a non-globally-warmed world, they would have been right. The other thing to be careful of is the plant combinations: I stay away from them because they don't always bloom contemporaneously; maybe this is because of the zone difference.

I made a small order of tulip bulbs from White Flower Farms, via their website. The bulbs arrived safe and sound, in a reasonable amount of time. They look fine (no mold, rot, etc), were of good size for the type of tulip (species) and were well packed.

I received an e-mail today from WWF about their amaryllis. Reading on I discovered the fact that they are listing the intersectional peony Bartzella for The unheard of price of $475. early in August I received an add from another company saying the price would be $100 if ordered by the end of August. Their prices are already atrocious for nearly everything but that really took the cake. The last decent plant I received from them was nearly 10 years ago. I don't know whats happened to them, but a pretty catalog is about all they have.

I have been very pleased with everything I have ordered from White Flower Farm. I have purchased plants, bareroot daylilies, and many bulbs, and I have always found them to be in excellent condition, and approximately 20-30% larger than plants or bulbs from other mail order sources. Plants in pots are also well-rooted, but not rootbound, so if I can't get them planted immediately they aren't wilted after a day or two in their pots. The prices are a bit high, so I don't buy everything from WFF, but if I want to be sure that plants I'm buying through the mail are relatively large, healthy, and vigorous, I order them from WFF.

Bought their 'pink dafodil mix' to plant last spring. While most did come up (eventually) they were small, late, and not particularly pink. So while nothing was specific enough to complain about, I'll take my busniness elsewhere in the future.

I purchased the "Unique 50" daylily collection about five years ago. Most did not survive the first year and, to their credit, WFF did refund my purchase price. A few stragglers did manage to make it and have finally reached blooming size....and each and every one is a common orange daylily. Nothing unique about them at all.

Their catalog is gorgeous and I will continue to use it for great photos, cultivation info and ideas, but I will never pay their outrageous price again....plants from my local Walmart are of higher quality!

I have generally had good experiences with White Flower Farm over the years. I particularly like their bulbs, though for some other things I do try to find cheaper elsewhere. I'll continue ordering with this company for certain purchases for now - as always, it's mix-and-match among the catalogs.

I have ordered from White Flower Farm on a number of occasions over the past few years with mixed experiences. Like another poster, ordering from them usually leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, probably becuase of the high price of the merchandise. It seems as if with every order, I have at least one problem with a product. HOWEVER, their customer service has always, always, always been very good, and I have received replacements or credits for all merchandise that has not performed.

My experiences, combined with the fact that most of their offerings can be found through other sources at much lower prices mean that going forward, I will most likely order from them only if they offer something truly unique. I don't really worry about the quality, because, in general, it's very good. I know that if I do get a plant that isn't healthy or fails to grow for me, the matter will be rectified. I would just prefer not to have the hassle.

I received an email advertisement from White Flower Farm that their popular Daylily Crescendo Collection was on sale for only $49. Since I have some large areas that need new gardens I thought I'd give it a try. The order arrived less than a week later in very good condition, there were 26 daylilies not the 24 they said would be given, and the size of the fans were very large! Order looks great to me. So far so good.

I ordered quite a few plants from this company to be planted in the fall (fall 2003). I planted them immediately upon arrival. Several died before the fall was out; the others started to grow early spring 2004 but soon fizzled out and died. This is true for literally every single plant I received. Since it can take years for a mail-order plant to achieve its full potential, I was quite disappointed that I would have to start over. I called and let them know what happened, and to their credit, their customer service rep was very nice and professional. They gave me a credit for some of the items, and replaced the others last fall. However, the replacement items did not come up this spring either, so I had to buy new replacements from another company (which are thriving). I did not call them back for yet another replacement, as I didn't see the point.

I also did find them quite expensive, and think their refund policy should be quite a bit longer than one year. I purchased similar plants at the local home improvement store (impluse buy) for less than half the price, and they are doing wonderfully.

I would suggest readers save their money, and get better quality for less price elsewhere.

WFF always seems to leave a bad taste in my mouth. This spring I ordered 3 Rhododendron PJMs from their website for 75.00. Since I live in Ct. I took a trip to their store and garden in Litchfield only to see the PJM's had been marked down to 10.00 a piece. When I mentioned this to the cashier and asked her if I could cancel my online order to buy these cheaper ones-she pointed to the phone. I called the online customer service and was told sorry I could not cancel this order -nor would they match the sale price.

I have also gone to their bulb sales and after having done the math realizing the price online was actually cheaper than these bulk sales. I called to complain. They issued me a credit for 5 dollars. big deal.

Don't get pulled in by their fancy catalog-they are greatly overpriced for the quality you receive

I give this company two thumbs up. I've never had a
problem with WFF. I've ordered perennials, bulbs,
shrubs, and roses and have always received healthy,
well packaged plants. I have always received my plants
in a timely manner and thought the communication with
the customer was good. They are a bit pricey, but it's worth it
to me because they have good quality plants and they
have a lot of hard to find items also.
I would highly recommen WFF.

C&NN

Run, do not walk, away from this disorganized company!

I hesitated to order from them after reading a number of negative reviews on your site but they had a plant I really, really wanted and could find nowhere else. I took the plunge and ordered. The first inkling of trouble came when my confirmation of shipping e-mail said my plant was going to someone I never heard of in another state! I immediately called and got a polite but befuddled CSR who, after placing me on hold for a long time, said she was sure my plant would show up but to call back later that week (I'd paid for expedited shipping) if it did not. I asked for a tracking number. None could be provided.

Later that week, no plant, so I called back. The CSR I spoke with this time was less than cordial, reading back to me my shipping address huffily after I explained the circumstances, as if I were perhaps too stupid to know what it was. Losing patience myself, I suggested she check the notes on my account. I was placed on hold. Thankfully, the first CSR had entered a log of the call. Terse CSR#2 returned to the phone then said a new plant would be shipped to me.

It was, arriving 3 days later. When I took it out of the box, I was aghast. Most of its leaves were in the bottom of the box, as was the dirt of its container, and its stem was broken as if it had been thrown in the packing container (and maybe stepped on a few times before that). This was not careless handling on the part of the carrier--the outside box was pristine--this was sloppy packing, pure and simple. I planted the poor thing, miracle-gro-ing it and hoping for the best. It made it a day and a half before losing its few remaining leaves and withering to a dried stick.

I've not called to report this disasterous experience to WFF, reluctant to chance another unpleasant CSR encounter. Once burned, twice shy. These folks are OFF MY LIST for any future orders.

Have ordered and received two plants in the last year from WFF, a rose and a lavender, both have been high-quality, good packaging and shipping.

Their phone customer service and help line has been excellent, I used it last week for a question on a plant I didn't even buy from them, and they were very helpful

I ordered two different types of potted perennials. 10 plants all together. They arrived in perfect condition. The packaging seemed to be expressly made for shipping plants. One problem though -- I was short one plant(snapdragon - summer carnival). I asked for them to send the missing plant, and the helpful customer service rep explained that they only ship in lots of three. So, while a little annoying at first, I got a few extra plants to offset the inconvenience.

In February, 2005 I ordered 3 Euphorbia "Great Dixter" plants. Having read the comments I was a little concerned but decided to take a chance since this is the only nursery I have found in the US to offer these plants. On April 26 I received an e-mail confirming that my order had been shipped. Needless to say I was very disappointed to receive 3 Euphorbia "Fireglow" plants (which I already have) as a subsitution because of a crop failure. I called and the representative agreed I should have been informed of the substitution before shipping. I have since been refunded the cost including the shipping charges and have been told to keep the substituted plants. The plants were in excellent condition and well packed. Despite the initial disappointment I am pleased that this company resolved the problem and was willing to take the loss for their error.

I am disappointed that neither of the two plants I ordered for spring delivery will be available; White Flower Farm canceled both shipments.

I'm definitely not "negative," though, because the giant snowdrops I ordered last fall came up beautifully.

My 3 Kong Coleus arrived with the tops broken off. Only a tiny stub was left above the dirt line and it was mushy and black, obviously rotted. The packaging was the best I have ever received and there is no way they were damaged in shipping.

I have contacted the company asking for the charge to be taken off my credit card. I will post the results of that request.
Pati