Has anyone ordered from Sarah Raven recently. I used to, but give up because the quality of the plants sent out went down hill, so I haven't bothered for 2-3 years. But I was just wondering if anyone has had recent experiences of ordering. Many thanks.
Funnily enough had an order from them yesterday… they sent 9 nemesias instead of 9 gauras! All good though, they’re sending the right ones out now. Always find the plants are good quality, and customer service seem happy to replace if they’re not.
Thanks all. Yes I agree they have some great choice of plants, and great dahlias, but the last time I used them the quality of the despatched plants were pretty poor; but going off the posts I've read things seem to have improved. So maybe...
I don’t order online so much, but the few times I tried Sarah Raven I was happy with the results overall.
- Ordered salvia “Amistad” in 2019; plant arrived well packaged and grew beautifully, coming back every spring
- Bought the “Kir Royale” and “Venetian” collections of tulip bulbs in 2021; one of the bulbs was mouldy and I sent a photo of it to them; they offered and sent 5 new bulbs of my choice as replacement; rest of the bulbs flowered well
- Ordered a dahlia “Cornel” tuber in 2021, which arrived in March 2022; when it finally flowered it was a completely different colour/form than expected — it turned out to be “Embassy”; a quick call and without my prompting they offered to refund the cost of the tuber (£3.95)
- Also ordered a dahlia “Nicholas” plant in 2021, which arrived in May 2022; somewhat disappointed as it was very small and arrived with some of the compost dislodged (see comparison photo below); however it grew strongly and much more healthily than the “Cornel”/“Embassy” tuber I had received in March and by the time both were flowering they were the same size
Flowers on both dahlias were lovely, ultimately I had no complaints.
@Athelas Lovely to see that a Sarah Raven collection of tulips in a pot, actually works. The photography always makes them look amazing, although they are the same variety would thet actually flower at the same time? Now I know one for the note book. I have ordered Tulip Ballerina many times always good bulbs.
Last year ordered some Cosmos realised a couple of weeks later that they needed staking so rang and they were happy to change the order.
It is the plants that arrive later in the season that are a problem. Often they can't hold them back and despatch them early too. The alternative is too long and leggy so I think it does depend on what you buy, always worth a thought. Difficult for them I am sure. Difficult for the buyer too, if they don't have a greenhouse and they need protecting.
I also ordered Coleus from them last year ,the leaves looked shreaded, a second lot was dispatched same problem. They did refund on the plants not P&P which I was happy with, three out of a dozen were ok and eventually picked up so no problem.
What can happen is by the time you receive replacements they can be in a worse state and not really suitable for dispatch. Order early and protect them, or later and risk plants that aren't suitable for dispatch a gardeners dilemma.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Hi @GardenerSuze, that photo is of the “Kir Royale” collection (“Queen of Night”, “Caviar” and “Slawa”) — I was very happy with that.
I don’t have a photo of the “Venetian” collection (“Couleur Cardinal”, “Havran” and “Princess Irene”); the colours were good but I would have gone for something other than “Princess Irene” — it flowered much earlier and was a lot shorter than the other tulips and didn’t seem to fit so well in that sense
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When you don't even know who's in the team
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- Ordered salvia “Amistad” in 2019; plant arrived well packaged and grew beautifully, coming back every spring
- Bought the “Kir Royale” and “Venetian” collections of tulip bulbs in 2021; one of the bulbs was mouldy and I sent a photo of it to them; they offered and sent 5 new bulbs of my choice as replacement; rest of the bulbs flowered well
- Also ordered a dahlia “Nicholas” plant in 2021, which arrived in May 2022; somewhat disappointed as it was very small and arrived with some of the compost dislodged (see comparison photo below); however it grew strongly and much more healthily than the “Cornel”/“Embassy” tuber I had received in March and by the time both were flowering they were the same size
Flowers on both dahlias were lovely, ultimately I had no complaints.
“Embassy” (larger plant); “Nicholas” (smaller plant)
The photography always makes them look amazing, although they are the same variety would thet actually flower at the same time? Now I know one for the note book.
I have ordered Tulip Ballerina many times always good bulbs.
Last year ordered some Cosmos realised a couple of weeks later that they needed staking so rang and they were happy to change the order.
It is the plants that arrive later in the season that are a problem. Often they can't hold them back and despatch them early too. The alternative is too long and leggy so I think it does depend on what you buy, always worth a thought. Difficult for them I am sure.
Difficult for the buyer too, if they don't have a greenhouse and they need protecting.
I also ordered Coleus from them last year ,the leaves looked shreaded, a second lot was dispatched same problem. They did refund on the plants not P&P which I was happy with, three out of a dozen were ok and eventually picked up so no problem.
What can happen is by the time you receive replacements they can be in a worse state and not really suitable for dispatch.
Order early and protect them, or later and risk plants that aren't suitable for dispatch a gardeners dilemma.
I don’t have a photo of the “Venetian” collection (“Couleur Cardinal”, “Havran” and “Princess Irene”); the colours were good but I would have gone for something other than “Princess Irene” — it flowered much earlier and was a lot shorter than the other tulips and didn’t seem to fit so well in that sense
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border