dahlia vendor reviews

DAHLIA VENDOR REVIEWS

on may 29, i purchased dahlias from 5 different dahlia vendors. today' i'll be reviewing the 5 companies and comparing their services. of the 5, i would definitely order from 4 of them again, but there is one company that i would not particularly recommend.

the 5 companies i ordered from were:

1. Swan Island Dahlias - i ordered 22 dahlia tubers + 2 bonus tubers from Swan Island Dahlias. of all of the companies i purchased from, i was most impressed with this one. even though i was late in the season for purchasing tubers, they still had a wide selection of varieties available. they shipped my order the same day i ordered it (!), which really impressed me. i ordered on friday, the package arrived on monday and included valuable information for caring for my plants. all tubers arrived in great condition. this company was my favorite to work with. they shipped quickly with a tracking number, were very efficient in their communication, exhibited great customer service, and the tubers arrived healthy. i would definitely recommend purchasing from them and i can hardly wait to purchase from them again early next season! thank you Swan Island Dahlias!!

gitty up dahlia i ordered from swan island dahlias

twilite dahlia i ordered from swan island dahlias

2. Eden Brothers - i ordered 18 tubers + 8 packets of seed from Eden Brothers. i ordered on friday and my package shipped priority mail with a tracking number on tuesday. my box arrived quickly and included bonus packets of seeds. what i really liked about this company is that, instead of shipping single/individual tubers, they shipped clumps of tubers (so 1 clump of tubers = 1 "tuber"). their communication was great. i do wish their tubers were stamped - only because when the dog dug them up, i no longer knew which tuber belonged to which label. so now i have to wait until they bloom to re-label them, which isn't a big deal, but now i do know to mark them when they arrive in the future. still, i would recommend purchasing from them and look forward to ordering from them again. great experience.

cafe au lait dahlia i ordered from edenbrothers.com

edinburgh dahlia i ordered from edenbrothers.com

3. Honken Dahlias - i ordered 3 tubers from Honken Dahlias. i would have purchased more from them, but because i was ordering so late in the season, many of their varieties were already sold out. one of the tubers i ordered ended up actually being sold out, but i was promptly offered my choice of replacement or a refund for that particular tuber. i chose to replace it with another variety that would make a lovely cut flower. i ordered on a friday and my order shipped with a tracking number on monday. even though my order was small, they included a beautiful bonus tuber! this company had quick shipping, great communication and customer service, healthy tubers, and i would order from them again. i do recommend working with them.

miss amara dahlia i ordered from honkendahlias.com

ivanetti dahlia i ordered from honkendahlias

4. Old House Dahlias - i ordered 10 tubers from Old House Dahlias. the only thing i was not thrilled about with this company was the lack of initial communication about my order being processed or shipped. they did not provide a tracking number or let me know that my order had been shipped, so i did not know what to expect. the day i wrote them to ask for an update, though, was the day that my package actually arrived, so they did ship quickly. i just did not know it. i had emailed them to check the status of my order the morning of the day it arrived and they promptly called me (twice, when they could not reach me the first time) to let me know my order had shipped and to make sure i had received the package. so their customer service is excellent, but just be aware they do not provide a tracking number (unless my experience was not the norm). the package did arrive quickly and the tubers looked great! i would order from them again and recommend purchasing from them.

giggles dahlia i ordered from oldhousedahlias

ruskin gypsy dahlia i ordered from oldhousedahlias

5. Dutch Gardens - i ordered 8 tubers from Dutch Gardens. i hate to leave a negative review about any company, but i would not purchase from this company again, nor would i recommend them to anyone. their order processing time is 1-2 weeks, which is much longer than the other 4 companies i ordered from. i had received my packages from all 4 of the other companies and had still not received a shipping confirmation or update from this one. while their tubers did arrive in good condition, this company did not let me know when my order had shipped and did not provide a tracking number. they were slow to reply to my request for a status update too. i will not be purchasing from them again because my experience was exponentially better with the other 4 companies and left me feeling a bit disappointed with the service of this one. i don't recommend purchasing from them. you would receive better and quicker service from one of the other 4 vendors listed above.

mr. optimist dahlia i ordered from dutchgardens

so there you have it! have you purchased from any of these vendors? or do you have another company from which you prefer to order dahlias? leave a comment below or send me an email. i'd love to hear about your experiences with different companies.

much love,
erin