Buying plants can be a nightmare
I do not know if I am just very unlucky, or are British Horticultural Companies completely unreliable and unprofessional? My experience of buying plants from both garden centres and online retailers has been full of surprises and I can only give one advice about it: relax and try to enjoy the fun and unpredictable side of it.
When I started gardening I (very naively) expected these companies would employ expert botanists who would provide their clients rigorous information on the plants they were buying. Soon I would find out that on the contrary, we are lucky if we are told exactly what we are buying,—in some cases a generic common name that could refer to many different varieties or even different species is used,—and even luckier if the name provided is correct. Let us not mention the information about plant care provided.
One example (I could provide more), I bought some Anemone coronaria corms from Sarah Raven, only to find out after they flowered that they were Anemone blanda instead. But do not be to harsh on Ms. Raven, my experience with her company was actually one of the most pleasant I had. With J.Parker's, I had to cancel my order after realizing that the name, photograph and description of the plant I had bought did not correspond to each other (I do not know which of the three I would have got if I had not cancelled, maybe a forth?). I decided never to buy from them again, because I must suspect dishonesty when a tropical plant (or two) that cannot be grown in the UK except in a warm greenhouse is being described as hardy and as withstanding Winter in a sheltered place.
My experience with the garden centre close to where I live was not much better (unsurprisingly they have had to close). I remember buying some nice pinks that were on sale at the end of Summer. Their tag described them as "looking their best in Winter", but just after buying I thought, pinks in Winter!? I suspected I had made a mistake and indeed, in a couple of weeks time, their flowers died and then their leaves started to turn yellow. The good news is that they were bi-annuals and so they flowered again in the next Summer, so not all was lost. Another peeve of mine is that they always used very generic common names to label their plants and no serious descriptions, so, for many plants, you could not be sure what you were buying, not even if it was a perennial or annual, hardy or tender variety.
But the craziest experience I have had has been with Thompson & Morgan. I often buy from them because I cannot resist a good sale. Last November they had a Black Friday sale and it was amazing, many plants cost only a few pounds, including rose bushes and even some trees. I went nuts and bought a lot of things for my garden. And at the end I added some lettuce seeds for good measure. It was only the next day, while already making plans on where in the garden I would put each plant, that I noticed that T&M, unlike other companies, charge seed delivery separately, which meant the one pack of seeds I had bought costed double. I immediately contacted their custom service and asked to cancel that item. The person who answered my request told me not to worry, because my order had never gone through, so there was no need to cancel anything. What do you mean my order did not go through? (And why was I never told?). The payment did not go through, she told me. So I checked and discovered my bank account had been charged. I contacted them again by email and sent the proof of payment attached. They call me that same day and told me they could not find the payment in their records so they would do nothing unless I sent them proof of payment, to which I replied I already have and my email states explicitly that the proof of payment is in an attachment (apparently they cannot even read plain English). They apologised profusely for wasting my time (they would go on apologizing for wasting my time many times over until the problem was finally fixed). Finally, they called me a second time, told me that they had indeed received the payment and it was by mistake that they had cancelled my order (without warning and without returning the money!). Unfortunately, many of the items I had ordered were no longer available, so they had to return my money. However, they could still send me the seeds and as compensation for my troubles they would not charge me for delivery (how generous!). I received the seeds in an envelope with an attached receipt that clearly stated lettuce seed packet and the respective price I had paid for it. However, the seed packet itself disagreed and claimed to contain petunias! Pretty, cute petunia seeds and, according to the package, the best variety of trailing petunias, perfect for hanging baskets. I could not believe it: another stupid mistake! But the story does not end here. I was so tired of wasting time on phone calls, I decided not to complain again. I kept the petunia seeds and simply bought my lettuce seeds from elsewhere. When Spring arrived I sowed the petunia seeds according to the packet instructions and when the seedlings were large enough to handle, moved them to hanging baskets. Then waited. And, to end this chain of nonsense, I found that I had straight standing plants, which look a bit ridiculous in hanging baskets, with beautiful large blossoms which looked nothing like the petunias depicted in the packet. Everything that could have gone wrong, did. Unbelievable!
Probably the craziest part of this story is that I am such a sucker for a good sale that I kept on buying from T&M. I can tell you that I never had so much trouble with them as on that first order, but I also never had a trouble-free order either. There is always something that goes wrong. Sometimes it is bulbs that are old and half mouldy and refuse to grow into plants when Spring comes (which makes me angry, specially because it is already too late to complain, and my hanging basket is looking horrible with only half the plants it should have). A mistake cancellation happened once again, but this time I was at least warned and able to re-order. Most often it is that I am sent something similar, but not quite what I ordered, for example begonias that, after they flower (too late for returning the order? I am not sure what is their policy in these cases), I discover are a different variety from the ones I had ordered. I fail to be upset by this latter type of mistake, once my plants flower, I love their blooms too much to complain.
The experience with the begonia corms has taught me a lesson: even if they are more expensive (not always true), I rather buy garden-ready plants. At least if they are half dead or the colours do not match, I can immediately complain. With corms that fail, they can argue I did not took proper care of them (even when I did) and I am not experienced enough to be sure if they are dead on arrival (even if I suspect it). So, what seems cheap to begin with ends up being a lot more expensive (and troublesome) than the more expensive option.
When I started gardening I (very naively) expected these companies would employ expert botanists who would provide their clients rigorous information on the plants they were buying. Soon I would find out that on the contrary, we are lucky if we are told exactly what we are buying,—in some cases a generic common name that could refer to many different varieties or even different species is used,—and even luckier if the name provided is correct. Let us not mention the information about plant care provided.
One example (I could provide more), I bought some Anemone coronaria corms from Sarah Raven, only to find out after they flowered that they were Anemone blanda instead. But do not be to harsh on Ms. Raven, my experience with her company was actually one of the most pleasant I had. With J.Parker's, I had to cancel my order after realizing that the name, photograph and description of the plant I had bought did not correspond to each other (I do not know which of the three I would have got if I had not cancelled, maybe a forth?). I decided never to buy from them again, because I must suspect dishonesty when a tropical plant (or two) that cannot be grown in the UK except in a warm greenhouse is being described as hardy and as withstanding Winter in a sheltered place.
My experience with the garden centre close to where I live was not much better (unsurprisingly they have had to close). I remember buying some nice pinks that were on sale at the end of Summer. Their tag described them as "looking their best in Winter", but just after buying I thought, pinks in Winter!? I suspected I had made a mistake and indeed, in a couple of weeks time, their flowers died and then their leaves started to turn yellow. The good news is that they were bi-annuals and so they flowered again in the next Summer, so not all was lost. Another peeve of mine is that they always used very generic common names to label their plants and no serious descriptions, so, for many plants, you could not be sure what you were buying, not even if it was a perennial or annual, hardy or tender variety.
But the craziest experience I have had has been with Thompson & Morgan. I often buy from them because I cannot resist a good sale. Last November they had a Black Friday sale and it was amazing, many plants cost only a few pounds, including rose bushes and even some trees. I went nuts and bought a lot of things for my garden. And at the end I added some lettuce seeds for good measure. It was only the next day, while already making plans on where in the garden I would put each plant, that I noticed that T&M, unlike other companies, charge seed delivery separately, which meant the one pack of seeds I had bought costed double. I immediately contacted their custom service and asked to cancel that item. The person who answered my request told me not to worry, because my order had never gone through, so there was no need to cancel anything. What do you mean my order did not go through? (And why was I never told?). The payment did not go through, she told me. So I checked and discovered my bank account had been charged. I contacted them again by email and sent the proof of payment attached. They call me that same day and told me they could not find the payment in their records so they would do nothing unless I sent them proof of payment, to which I replied I already have and my email states explicitly that the proof of payment is in an attachment (apparently they cannot even read plain English). They apologised profusely for wasting my time (they would go on apologizing for wasting my time many times over until the problem was finally fixed). Finally, they called me a second time, told me that they had indeed received the payment and it was by mistake that they had cancelled my order (without warning and without returning the money!). Unfortunately, many of the items I had ordered were no longer available, so they had to return my money. However, they could still send me the seeds and as compensation for my troubles they would not charge me for delivery (how generous!). I received the seeds in an envelope with an attached receipt that clearly stated lettuce seed packet and the respective price I had paid for it. However, the seed packet itself disagreed and claimed to contain petunias! Pretty, cute petunia seeds and, according to the package, the best variety of trailing petunias, perfect for hanging baskets. I could not believe it: another stupid mistake! But the story does not end here. I was so tired of wasting time on phone calls, I decided not to complain again. I kept the petunia seeds and simply bought my lettuce seeds from elsewhere. When Spring arrived I sowed the petunia seeds according to the packet instructions and when the seedlings were large enough to handle, moved them to hanging baskets. Then waited. And, to end this chain of nonsense, I found that I had straight standing plants, which look a bit ridiculous in hanging baskets, with beautiful large blossoms which looked nothing like the petunias depicted in the packet. Everything that could have gone wrong, did. Unbelievable!
Probably the craziest part of this story is that I am such a sucker for a good sale that I kept on buying from T&M. I can tell you that I never had so much trouble with them as on that first order, but I also never had a trouble-free order either. There is always something that goes wrong. Sometimes it is bulbs that are old and half mouldy and refuse to grow into plants when Spring comes (which makes me angry, specially because it is already too late to complain, and my hanging basket is looking horrible with only half the plants it should have). A mistake cancellation happened once again, but this time I was at least warned and able to re-order. Most often it is that I am sent something similar, but not quite what I ordered, for example begonias that, after they flower (too late for returning the order? I am not sure what is their policy in these cases), I discover are a different variety from the ones I had ordered. I fail to be upset by this latter type of mistake, once my plants flower, I love their blooms too much to complain.
The experience with the begonia corms has taught me a lesson: even if they are more expensive (not always true), I rather buy garden-ready plants. At least if they are half dead or the colours do not match, I can immediately complain. With corms that fail, they can argue I did not took proper care of them (even when I did) and I am not experienced enough to be sure if they are dead on arrival (even if I suspect it). So, what seems cheap to begin with ends up being a lot more expensive (and troublesome) than the more expensive option.
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