Marcia, I just ordered late last week from Vesey's fall sale. I am going to grow the four daylilies inside for the winter (even though they specifically told me that they would guarantee that the daylilies would make it through our winter grown outside, planted bareroot when I receive them at the end of next week or the following week). The peonies I ordered I am hoping to be able to plant into the ground when they arrive....assuming that the weather holds for a while yet.

Which daylily did you get? Did you order through the fall sale or reg price?

Brenda

Okay, I feel after reading this, I have to remind some of you what I wrote on here last year. I order a big order from Vesey's of lilies. When they arrived they were just as Marcia has described....and on top of that, I also had one empty bag. That is right nothing in the bag at all, however the bag was labeled.

I emailed them and got a response that they would credit my account....but I only claimed about 1/2 the order....hoping that some of the other lily bulbs would grow. Most didn't, a couple that did, grew to about an inch or maybe two inches tall. When this happened I emailed them again.....I didn't get a response.....then I emailed again and I did get a response. However, I questioned them about what would make the lilies grow so short and or not at all. I described what the bulbs looked like and so on. I was propromtly told that they didn't have anything that would grow in zone 2b. They did give me a credit though.

When I went to use the credit...I phoned my order in and was promptly told again that they didn't have anything that would grow in zone 2b. I was ordering seed, mostly annuals and some plastic tomatoe rings just to use up my credit.

So here is the big QUESTION. Especially to you zone 2b people....How come they will guarantee plants in your zone 2b but don't have anything to grow in my zone 2b???? Can you make soft mushy moldy lily bulbs grow any better than I can?

Sierra (really curious about this.)

I don't know. I told her where I lived (Brandon, Manitoba)and she said that they would guarantee the plants. That is the only thing I am going on.

Hopefully they make it...especially if they (Vesey's) go back on their word.

Sierra, question about your credit... Did they give free shipping when you used your credit? Or do they use up some of your credit for shipping the seeds to you?

Guess I should take out the camera when the shipment arrives so I can 'prove' what I received, ??? Good idea or not??

Sierra, not sure about growing those lilies though. Did they do okay in the second year?

Brenda

Sierra, i've ordered lilies from Veseys before but none were like these. They were really pitiful. They weren't exactly mushy, just soft. I will email them again, and just see how they grow next year.

Just checked the catalogue and they say i'm in 3a (Dominion Seed House thinks i'm in 2b). Sometime i think i should be taking pictures of what i can grow here, just to prove that it can be done. You all should too.

Brenda, the daylily is Brookwood Lee Causey - hoping that it will actually be red and yellow. :) It's in their fall catalogue - i didn't order from the fall sale.

Brenda, I had to pay the shipping for the seed out of my credit. I had a small credit left to come back to me and the woman on the phone said we were even....no attempt to send it back to me or send another pack of seeds or anything....It was at my lose along with the shipping costs. I also told her to take me off their mailing list for their catalogue and they keep sending me the catalogues.

No most of these lilies did not grow at all. Out of the ones that grew to 1 or 2 inches above the ground the first year, I had a couple that survived and came up this year..still thin stems and weak looking. Not nice at all.

Marcia, I had some that were mouldy, some that were mushy, some that were soft and one empty bag. The smell was terrible when I opened the box....and all were small, even bordering on teeny tiny.......and one so small it was invisible!!!!! How could they not notice they put an empty bag in the box when they were packing my order? Dunno!

I wish you better luck than what I had!!!!!

Sierra

That's awful, Sierra. Today i potted up the daylily and the three digitalis from them. After 10 days in the mail, they didn't look so great. Well, the daylily wasn't bad, but the others just looked like empty plugs of dirt. Anything green had rotted. I potted them up anyway and will see what happens. I didn't get a chance to email them today but will try to get it done soon.

The lily bulbs that I received from Veseys this fall were the worst bulbs I had ever seen. They were so shriveled that they were almost black already.
I did take pictures of the bulbs in case they do not come up in the spring.
The daylilies that I ordered are doing just fine. I am growing them in the house though.

Shelley

Marcia, there is a 1-800 number (1-800-363-7333), why not call them to let them know? Or, do they need a complaint in writing?

Sharon, I hope our orders we placed last week with Vesey's turn out to be okay when they arrive. Mine has to come to Manitoba, yours all the way to Alberta. Marcia, did you mean that your package from them was in the postal system for 10 days? Wow, that is a long time to travel from PEI to Ontario. It will be even longer then for Sharon and I to get ours. How long was yours in the mail, Shelley?

Now, after hearing all of your reports on lilies I am glad that I only ordered daylilies and peonies. Anyone else, besides Sharon and I order peonies this fall? How did they arrive?

Brenda

I remember you telling us that Sierra & Shelley, and I haven't bothered ordering anything from Veseys. My memory is long and my budget is short when it comes to mail ordering plants. I will also never order from Floral & Hardy because of you all getting none of what you ordered. I would have been way more upset.

Laurie and I did a combined order from Floral and Hardy last year. We did get all the daylilies we ordered and I think we would definitely order from them again in the future if there is something we really want. The daylilies were a touch smaller than daylilies from one of the other mail orders we ordered through, but still good quality. This is where I got my Postman's Pride sedum (an almost black sedum).

Brenda

I finally got around to emailing Veseys last night and told them that i had stopped ordering from Dominion Seed House because of the quality of their items and it looked as if that was going to happen with them too. Well, they're up early in the Maritimes because i now have a credit for the digitalis and the lilies that were ordered through the fundraiser!

Good for you Marcia, I'm glad you got a credit. Hopefully they will find better suppliers and start sending out better plants and bulbs, if enough people complain.

Sierra

I hope they do complain. I mentioned it at the garden club meeting tonight and one other woman said her bulbs were small too. Maybe she'll email them, or call.