I was wondering, excluding the Karl Foerster, if any of the grasses would come back in the spring if planted this late in the year. I would love to get in on the bargains, but the year before last I picked up a bunch of grasses at Home Depot, which were about 75% off and hardly any of them survived. (It was actually later in the year, October, when I planted them). I decided they just didn't have enough time to get established before the first hard frost. I live in zone 5b

I posted on another thread and was told I could just "plant" the pots. If you have the space (I do), maybe that would be a solution to the over-wintering in pots issue.

Have you ordered from Bluestone before? There is a LOT of negative feedback on them out there. I am wondering what your experience with them is.

I think Bluestone is wonderful.

I don't know where you have found a lot of negative feedback on them, but on Gardenwatchdog they have 481 positives and only 18 negatives. Seems pretty darn good to me.

I've ordered from them many times, with never a problem.

I think it was Dave's Garden. A lot of comments about poor packaging, small plants and dried out plants.

Garden Watchdog is part of Dave's Garden. They have Bluestone rated in their top 30 vendors.

Sue, just be careful what you say about a company. These forums can almost make them or break them. My understanding from personal experience, and from ratings on Dave's Garden is that Bluestone is excellent.

I did a web search for Bluestone to check them out and the attached page is what was delivered. I didn't count the number of positives or negatives, I just read this page and then asked the question about issues.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dave's

Why would you only look at the 18 negative reports, and not the 481 positive ones?

Well, first of all, the negatives page is what was delivered. When I buy off eBay (which I do a lot of) I only buy from buyers with 100% positive feedback unless the negative is only things like "shipped late" (non-quality issues). A lot of those Bluestone comments were about quality - poor packaging for one.

Do you work for Bluestone? I don't know why you are so worked up about this. I ASKED about people's PERSONAL experience because I was concerned about the negative comments. Really, no big deal.

By the way, I bought about 50 plants plus bulbs from them this week.

Worked up I'm not, but stating a LOT of negative feedback is incorrect. And when people read these forums that's what jumps out at them and what they retain is the negative comments. Hopefully they will retain that Bluestone is a Watchdog top 30 company and that they ONLY have 18 negatives and DO HAVE 481 positives, and by the way the negative page is not the first one that pops up, its the all over comments, neutral, negative and positive.
Gardenwatchdog is not Ebay, where people fight each other to get a positive rating.

Here I am, eavesdropping on another GardenWeb forum! I have a number of ornamental grasses in my garden, and I order my grasses and perennials almost exclusively from Bluestone. (I did get my M. Gracillimus at Lowe's - end of season sale.)

I can say that my experience with them has been excellent. In over 6 years of orders, their plants have always arrived very healthy and have thrived under my gardening philosophy of Benign Neglect. I've overwintered hosta in the original plastic pots (bed wasn't ready - my bad!), and seen them sprout the next Spring. I've stored hemerocallis on my rather shady, weather protected porch for a month, planted them, and seen them bloom in the same season. I bought a flat of liriope for dry shade (and it was DRY!), watered them twice in the season, and saw them come up the second year even bigger than before. Obviously, the plants I received had to be very healthy, because no sissies are surviving in my garden!

Bluestone's customer support has always gone out of their way to give advice, educate me, or just help me make a decision. On the occasion when a hosta arrived with pill bugs residing at the roots, they replaced the plant, no questions. They've spent time on the phone with me, indulged my emails, and generally let me know that they're here to make me happy.

I've never found Bluestone's packaging to be an issue, although since I also live in Ohio I may have an advantage in that respect. It is unfortunate that, in order to remain in business, they've cut back on some of their specials (i.e., the 2-for-1 mentioned in one of the negative posts, and the % off), but I still saved 42% on my order this fall. I have the impression that they've become more focused on rewarding repeat customers. I had a book of coupons, one of which retained the original groundcover offer from previous catalogs, and was able to put together a VERY satisfying order for a very good price.

My point to all this is that it's impossible to please everyone all of the time, and my personal experience with Bluestone has been nothing but good. I look forward to their catalog twice a year, and plan on being a loyal customer for a very long time -- especially during a sale!

Carol

I can't speak to the whole Bluestone feedback issue, as I have never ordered from them before. I just wish I would have seen the sale sooner, when I noticed it, I had just ordered some 'Karl Foerster' from Big Dipper for about twice the price! What I received was alive, but pretty scrawny and wrapped in plastic wrap and newspaper. I was not overly impressed.

Bluestone sells quality material in my experience. I think all of the mail-order plant companies deal with packaging issues at times.

Here is a link that might be useful: Another Miscanthus Bargain

OOOO!! That Santa Rosa sale is certainly tempting.

I must be strong!
I must be strong!

I did my shopping backwards, I think. I did a google search for perennial grasses, found the Santa Rosa site and sale, checked it out on garden watchdog, then placed an order.

Only after doing all that did I think to check here.

I should be getting my grasses this week. Three miscanthus varieties, 3 each of silberfeder and sarabande, and 2 of the arabesque (destined for pots).

I will add a post here when they arrive.

deb