I have been very pleased with Brent and Becky's Bulbs. They have a terrific variety. And I recommend you try them.

Breck's is not the most reliable supplier. Did you check the Gardenwatchdog before ordering plants?

For years, I get most of my spring bulbs from Van Engelen/John Scheepers. They offer the best price. All my orders arrived two days ago.

Colorblends is a good supplier too. But I like to choose my own bulbs, so it's Van Engelen for a large order, John Scheepers for smaller orders for me.

I ordered from Breck's last year and wasn't satisfied with the quality of one of the things I ordered then so they issued a replacement certificate for that amount so I used it. They lost my business. I will check out the ones you two mentioned. Thank you. :-)

Can I ask what you ordered from Brecks? This past spring I bought a dicentra from Brecks and they sent it really late. Unfortunately, the plant did not make it and they issued me a replacement certificate. So this fall, I used the replacement cerfitificate to order some daffodils, crocus, and snowdrops. Except for some bad bulbs, I am very pleased with the size of the daffodils that they sent me. They are huge (3-nose size). And the bad bulbs, they replaced them promptly. They do try to make it right.

The Garden Watchdog is a pretty good website to use to find out the overall ratings of a nursery or plant provider. Breck's is rated very poorly on the Watchdog, but they've had a pretty bad reputation for many years.

The replacement certificate was for some tricyrtis hirta that were bare root and most of them looked pretty bad and were very small and half broken. I ordered "Daring Deception" daylilies with the certificate. I recieved them yesterday and they looked healthy.

I'm sorry about your dicentra.

I would never recommend Brecks.

I have ordered many times this year from Breck's, Michigan Bulb, and Spring Hill. I have had no problem other than their promotions that look like a big confusing.

This is the first time I purchased on line so I am figuring that there won't be all that many next year unless they have a good change of inventory.

One thing these on-line companies need to have is a flag that tells me that I already purchased something when I select it again.

I have ordered perennials and bulbs from Brecks a handful of times and haven't had a problem until a recent bulb order I placed this past July. I got a shipping notification Sept 1, but when my box hadn't showed up as of Nov 1, I inquired and was told that my order was "lost in transit" and they were going to issue me a replacement certificate. Well, I wasn't interested in using a certificate at that point so I asked them to give me a refund instead, and they promptly did. I won't be ordering from Brecks again. There are simply more reliable sources.

If you are into "Sale" prices, then you really have to mind the fine, or even invisible, print.

Naturally, most places do not let you combine specials but when you look at an item that not only shows a discount but also a notation of 25% off, you would think that the ad included both. Others claim that the order will be doubled but it will not show up on the shopping cart list. This means that you have to guess if you are seeing the purchase properly least you buy something at full price instead.

Also, discount codes are issued but if you apply a code to your shopping, as the button suggests, all mark downs apply to list price and then the code is applied which it actually increases your total.

I spent quite a bit of money and am generally happy with the purchases but I will not be going through any of their calisthenics next time. One thing that will help is that I will be dropping that e-mail account and they will not be able to send me automatic reminders again.

Once you finalize the purchase, that will be the last time you can see they prices so you need to take notes. They do not send invoices, just delivery notices and verifications.

The ones I'd recommend are:

Van Engelen/Scheepers
Brent & Becky
Odyssey Bulbs
Telos Rare Bulbs if you can handle advanced/tender stuff
Bill the Bulb Baron ""

almost everyone else has been a mixed bag, no pun intended.

Do any of these web sites let you know if what you are about to purchase has already been purchased?

Is there any way to look at all of your previous purchases?

When they send confirmation or shipping notices, does the subject line reflect the invoice number?

None of the companies that I have been using these last few months would net a "Yes" answer to any of those questions. When I find one that does, they will receive my patronage.

Most everyone knows that cheapest almost always isn't best, and it is usually well-worth it for most everything to pay a little more for better quality. Why not also apply that to bulb purchases?

I have been very pleased with the quality of bulbs from Brent and Becky's Bulbs. Maybe they aren't as cheap as others, but the value is there.

Their catalogue is also an excellent resource. I use it to identify bulbs in bloom. The advice, tips, etc. are also useful. It's a free gardening guide.

I get their catalogues but never look in a catalogue, see a beautiful plant, then expect your's to be anything like that. Nothing against Breck's though. It's just that the pictures in the catalogues are hand picked to demonstrate the best possible results. Breck's isn't likely to rip you off or anything like that I'm just talking about catalogues in general.