There are some nice things in the catalogue aren't there? I like the Rebecca's world dahlia. I know Breck's rep to and that of Spring Garden. Usually I just toss the catalogues out but couldn't resist looking through them anyway. The only time I have ever ordered from Breck's was for tulips and that was about 10 years ago. They grew beautifully. After 4 years the white one that I had really liked died so I called them with the intent of ordering more. Just my luck, they didn't carry that one anymore. They asked me if there were any other plants on my order that I would like as a replacement. I took some more anemones. No questions asked, they just replaced them. At that time I didn't know about their lifetime warranty and I see that Spring Garden has that too. Nevertheless, with all the bad rap they have been getting I'm hesitant to do any ordering from them no matter how much I like what I see. I'll be watching this post to see how things turn out. Marg

Oddly, I have had really good luck with Breck's even though the stuff usually arrives looking like it went ten rounds in the ring with Mohammed Ali. I know people have terrible experiences with them and Spring Hill but I must have been lucky because I have only lost a very few plants I've ordered from either place.

My point is that if you really love stuff that you can't find elsewhere, I personally think it's worth taking the gamble with them. I've had good experiences with Spring Hill's customer service as well, when a couple of little azaleas I bought from them didn't make it.

Hello All:
I do believe that I posted re. my mail order experiences elsewhere, but I'll repost here, specifically about Brecks.
The eyeliner lily bulbs, although smaller than some others I got as a gift from TnT seeds (MB), produced beautifully. The flowers were large and did indeed have the purple edging(but not ALL the way around the petal). The other bulbs also did well and all in all, I can't complain too much. I think they came earlier than I would have liked.
Overall - I won't buy perennials (roots) via mail order (my experience was not good). I would order bulbs/seed .

I too learned my lesson buying roots via mail order. More often then not, I ended up with a plastic bag containing peat moss and a dried up root. Or, if the root was starting to sprout for some reason it died shortly there after. Yes some plants did make it but ironically they were the ones I probably could have bought locally anyways. The only time I might buy a root mail order is if it's 'rare' and I really want it.

But, some nurseries are getting a bit smarter. Now they ship some of their perennials in 4 inch pots with the plant already growing. At least you can see that it's alive upon arrival. Still, even this isn't fool proof, I do recall receiving plants either severely dehydrated or dead. Some completely fallen out of the pot in the box. One time I swear they just shipped a pot with soil and no plant. I dug and couldn't even find anything but that light potting mix in the pot.

Glen