Hey, wanted to ask y’all about a seed/plant catalog I got from Burgess, a company in Illinois. They sell just about anything to do with plants- berries, veggie seeds, evergreen and deciduous trees, even fruit and nut trees, and all kinds of flowers, it’s quite impressive. It’s really got me going about spring planting.
My question is what kind of company are they? Have any of you guys had any experience with them, was it good, bad, meh? They have an impressive list of strawberry plants available, I must say…
Before knowing anything about them,I ordered some plants from one of their arms(or tentacles),Direct Gardening and they arrived at my door,in what was no more than a big plastic garbage bag.These were really bare root,nothing containing moisture was in the sack.
Amazingly though,only one plant,a Serviceberry didn’t live,because it was cracked.
I guess buying stuff from them is better than playing the slots,but it’s still gambling. Brady
I got my Burgess catalog today. Reminds me of the Gurney’s catalog when I was a kid, 50+ yrs ago. Some of the same pictures even, the one I remember is the little girl holding the big onion.
Burgess is notorious in my experience for lots of things #1 mislabeling #2 inexpensive plants #3 some hardy plants #4 some DOA plants #5 any returns must have original label for returns. To give you a few scenarios I base this from now, I planted 3 pears 1 of which grafts was dead, 1 which the entire tree was DOA, 1 which was a large and lush wonderful growing pear still prized today. I ordered 6 black currents which were 50 cents or $1 each at the time all of which were lush and hardy red currents. I ordered 30 grapes for $2-3 each and all lived and were relatively true to type. I planted many rows of wind breaks from them such as hybrid willow and poplar which were for the most part what they said they were. I’ve ordered other things that arrived as dead sticks so you never know what your going to get. I prefer to order from other nurseries now. When I was in my early 20’s I was not able to afford anything beyond burgess, gurneys & Henry fields and I appreciated someone sells fruit trees & bushes for those prices. Companies with a great reputation are worth the money when you have the money to spend. Nowadays I mostly graft my own trees and have better luck than if I bought trees from anyone else. Before you order from anyone go to google and type “whats the scoop on burgess” or “whats the scoop on gurneys” or whoever and click on Davesgarden and see what the customers say about them. Bottom line is Burgess will sell you some great plants but they also might sell you a box of dead plants in my experience. I would still order from them if they had the thing I wanted at the right price. Some of the trees I received from them were amazingly hardy. In the last 10 years my green thumb has improved by 20x what it was largely due to early mistakes I made with companies such as these discussed. It’s better if a rabbit takes out his winter hunger pains on a $10 apples than a $30 apple in the winter so until I learned how to protect against rabbits as an example it would be pointless to plant expensive trees. Same with insects and disease until you learn to manage them perfectly you might lose some trees.
Several years ago my neighbor ordered some trees and plants from Burgess. All of the blackberry plants arrived dead. Of the 6 trees he ordered, three were dead. Of the three surviving trees, two were mislabeled.
When he tried to get a refund from Burgess, they wouldn’t give it to him because he couldn’t produce his packing slip (as if they didn’t have a record of what they shipped to him ).
OK, thanks for your comments. I think I got a catalog from them last year too, but didn’t order anything from them. I guess I’d rather pay a little more to other companies that have better reputations. I just looked at their ratings on Dave’s Garden site, and for the most part they’ve received some bad reviews. I like DG’s rating system, it helped me when I was ordering my trees from last year, and will help when I’m ordering my berry plants this year.
I’ve ordered from Nourse several times. Great packaging, great quality, helpful planting instructions with pictures, and good communication around when they’ll ship your plants. They’re located in western Mass, about two hours away from me, so sometimes I see their berries – usually currants, gooseberries, and strawberries – in the local grocery stores. Every summer I intend to drive out to see their operation, but I always get too busy with my own plants.
Thanks for the berry vendor rec’s. I was on those sites looking around last night, and came across something called a honeyberry, very interesting looking fruit.
Anyone grow any of these, and if so, what kind of flavor do they have, and what kind of growing habit does it have? Does it need an acidic soil like blueberries?
Bob what are you looking for? I can suggest some good nurseries if needed?
Yes I grow them. New cultivars are developing. This fruit is on the rise. It’s mostly for northern gardens. Canada grows a lot of them. But new hybrids are being developed all the time. Berries unlimited list 30 cultivars. But the plants are the size Burgess sends. A small family nursery is Honeyberries USA. No they do not require acidic soil. They can be tart, but new cultivars are sweeter. The flavor is super rich, better than blueberries for me. Some do not like them. Since you are 6b you might want to try them. I will make some suggestions in a minute.
At Honeyberries USA
I would try the newest cultivars, I don’t have them, want them though!
Boreal Blizzard
Boreal Beauty
Pollination is a problem with these new ones which are 50% Japanese, 50% Russian
Explained further at the nursery site.
All of mine are 100% Japanese (haskap), or 100% Russian (honeyberry)
I want the two above and about 15 others from other sites. But I have no plans to add any, I have no room. Which I guess is a good thing, if I had room, I would be broke!
I have had mixed results with the nursery, most plants are nice. I have received some small near dead ones before too though. They will honor returns, so just an inconvenience, still losing a season is not cool.
These plants are so new most nurseries only have small examples. Well the new cultivars, they have been around a long time, but are busting out right now.
Currently they are about 5 active breeders, they are going to become mainstream, and many who grow aronia, will be taking a serious look at honeyberries. Antioxidant levels are threw the roof.
Thanks Drew for the reply. I was just curious, since I saw them on Stark’s and Indiana Berry’s sites. They are a funny looking fruit. Sounds like a northern tier type of plant.
Neat site, I just perused it a bit. My wife wants some gooseberry plants, they had them here on the farm years ago, but those plants are gone now. Looks like this site has some nice GB plants.
I’m interested in some tart cherry trees, but didn’t you say the Carmine Jewel puts out some nice cherries? Don’t you have this cherry? Is it a tree or a bush?
One place I like for vegetable seeds is Baker Creek. I enjoy going through their hard copy catalog, I also like Territorial seed company, I get about 50 catalogs each year in the mail. Why i asked what you’re looking for. My onions, cucumbers, corn, etc come mostly from the above 2 companies.
Back to honeyberries, yes a northern plant, and a good one for the cold zones. I heard they are easy to root. I’ll find out next year. I’m too busy with figs, and peach tree seedlings to try right now.
Yah, I already signed up for a Baker Creek catalog, I got one from them last year, but haven’t received the new edition. They do a nice job on their catalog.
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that’s funny the thumbs down. I’m in a humorous mood right now.