I've been buying from Parker's for more than 30 years now. Bulbs are good and great value but the plants often leave a lot to be be desired. They can be cheap - but not always. You can end up paying the same for a tiny division that's likely to fail, as you would for a 2 litre pot from a garden centre. Just be aware of the size you are buying and be prepared to grow shrubs on for a year or two. I moved home late last year and I'm starting a new garden from scratch. I've spent a lot with various mail order companies in the past 9 months and, I have to say, many have been a false economy. Even firms like Hayloft have fallen down. I bought several of their collections - usually 3 varieties of the same plant - and I've lost quite a few. 'You Garden' charged me £6.99 for a puny Dierama seedling and an apricot 'old fashioned shrub rose' in a collection, turned out to be the most hideous yellow and pink floribunda I've ever seen. I won't be spending my money with them again! I ordered some dahlia tubers from T&M. Not one of them was the variety that I ordered! Mail order is very hit and miss and thanks to the lockdown, these companies have had a captive audience for the most part. They're very good if you want a particular plant but they can be eye-wateringly expensive. As I'm more or less done with the bones of the garden now, I will mostly buy sale items and bulbs now. Having been a gardener for over 40 years, I can trust my own judgement but it's difficult if you don't have that level of experience to know good from bad but, I suppose that's how you get experience really, trial and error.
The simplest advice for buying mail order plants is go to the RHS plant finder and look at their list of specialist nurseries that do mail order... I've found lots of excellent small companies to support and their quality has been fantastic. Lucky to have some nice nurseries nearby so my bulk of plant purchases are in person, but let's not be so negative about distance purchases by just judging them on a handful of large businesses who most of the time are deeply mediocre and just depend on volume to stay afloat.
I've had a few perennials from J. Parkers that turned out to be not what I ordered, but in each case they've given me a refund, or in one case where it was obvious straight away, replacements (in each case telling me to keep or give away the original ones). Mistakes happen. It's how they're dealt with that matters.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I can't believe this thread comes up when you put J Parkers in to Google. The company should have it taken down. It shouldn't be legal to have one individual slandering a company to this extent. I don't work for them or anything but this is not a fair review. I have used J Parker regularly since 2015 when the gardener at Regents Park in Central London recommended them. I have had nothing but exceptional plants and service from them. I found out about them when admiring the spring and summer displays at Regents Park. I thought if they are good enough for royal gardens then they will be good enough for me. They have also supplied the medicinal garden at the Royal College of Physicians where I used to work. I have ordered both bedding and rockery plants and bulbs from them year after year and they are always great. They always keep my informed about the delivery. Packaging is good. Plants are like any other plants sent in this way. This year I ordered several amaryllis bulbs and I was sent two in replacement for one which was not available due to all the EU supply issues. I am very happy with J Parker and loads of people use them - all reviews are subjective just remember that.
I agree with wakeshine. I have used Parkers for decades and their bulbs are always in excellent condition on delivery and really good value. The plants are more variable and I have had a few issues over the years but they have always been really helpful and replaced or refunded when I have raised problems with them. I think that you have to accept a bit of compromise for the good prices and I have found some real gems, including less usual varieties, which have needed careful growing on but proved excellent value in the long term.
I guess it's the problem with internet search engines - generating hits from the likes of Trip Advisor or Google Reviews. With anything you find on the internet caveat emptor. It's not a 'fair' landscape, any way you look at it.
We could ask the mods to take it down, except they don't seem to reply to requests....
Would it still stay on the www though? They say once there it will always be there even if it's deleted from the forum. Perhaps someone more techy minded would enlighten me please?
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