A good experience with Burpee's!

[Jerry]

I have dealt with Burpee's for a few years.  Seed, tomato pens and tomato towers were a few of my purchases.  My towers came a month ago, but no seed.  I wrote and told them.  i was told they were in the boxes with the tomato towers.  Well, they may be right, but I certainly looked carefully. This is zone 10 and i can start the seeds now, so i was anxious.
I was advised that the seeds were in the long long box that the towers were in.  They may be right, of course, but being hot to start them i did look seeds.
I told Burpee's what I have told you.
They are sending a new seed order!  Pretty classy folks.  I strongly recommend them!

[Mikey]

There are some very reputable companies out there and as Martha says, "That's a good thing.  I haven't purchased seeds from Burpee's for many years because I have another source but I don't think I have ever heard anyone complain about them. 

I don't think Esther will mind my sharing this.  Esther received a seed catalog in the mail and shared the link on another forum.  Upon going to that site I immediately noticed that they showed graphic images drawn by an artist of a tomato plant they were selling.  The images are in my opinion at worst fraudulent and at best extremely misleading.  I doubt that even the best gardener, who in my opinion is probably Joyce, could achieve the success shown in the graphics.  There's a reason why they show an artists conception as opposed to an actual photograph.  The bottom of this thread has a couple of graphics I pulled from this catalog.... 

Hey Jerry.  Speaking of tomato towers.  I went out and bought one of those circular, collapsible towers made of very heavy gauge wire.  The darn thing cost me $21.00 but at least I won't be frustrated with it collapsing from the weight of the tomatoes.  Yeah I know... I could have bought an awful lot of tomatoes for 21 bucks.....

[Jerry]

Good post Mike.
I had round tomato cages i made from the wire reinforcing stuff they use under cement.
They were good, but storage was an impossibility. They were 48" high and 36"or more diameter I saved a few, but now use Burpee's more manageable cages.  yes it costs, but at this point the heck with it.
You may stack Burpee's as well

[MikeW]

Hey Mike - I got that exact catalogue this year too. It was amazing, and seemed too good to be true, so I decided it was too good to be true and threw it out.

My mother taught me well - "You get nothing for nothing, and very little for sixpence"

Cheers,

Mike

[LeeAnne151]

Burpee's bought Heronswood in WA and have destroyed it. It was a nursery and botanical garden of amazing plants. They dug up a bunch of stuff and shipped it to PA or wherever their HQ is and then closed it down without warning. A major loss for the Pacific Northwest.

[Joyce]

I agree LeeAnne, that was a complete shame.  :'(
And before it happened, I was telling everyone that they'd destroy it.

[Jerry]

So sad to hear Joyce and LeeAnne.  I am sending this thread to Burpes's president

[LeeAnne151]

The Garden Web forum for the Northwest has hundreds of posts on the subject of Heronswood.

there are groups who are trying to buy it to preserve it but Burpee has raised the price way over what they paid after they destroyed it.

[Mikey]

Over on Dave's Garden on their "Garden WatchDog" where members rate the various nurseries they have dealt with I found the following statistics for member reviews of Burpee:  80 positives, 36 neutrals, 47 negatives. 

Jerry: You better go over there and help them out with another positive review....

[Jerry]

I shall mike.
When i was a kid in Philadelphia Burpee's had a store on Market street.  It was the downtown that everyone went to in those days.  I used to look at everything and they were nice to a scrufty kid with no money!

I'd go there when i cut school which was often. Then head for the zoo with 5 huge pretzels for 5 cents, yes, with mustard too.

[frloplady]

Didn't know about Heronswood....hmmm

Never had a bad experience with Burpee, but still buy the majority of our seed from Johnny's.

Tomatos started and in the greenhouse... already some 8-10" tall! 

[Jerry]

I Just saw my Mantis Tiller at OSH for 50.00 less!
I know Mantis will say, "You got a free kick stand and edger!"
  This is true, but customers deserve to pick options.  I hate to look cheap and
50.00 won't kill me. I will keep you posted.

Just realized this is not the Mantis thread LOL  okay you got the idea.