The one thing that always troubles me when I visit a site that has plants I am interested in is where are they located. Generally any legitimate store will have in plain site, often at the bottom of the home page a physical addrress and contact info such as telephone or fax numbers in addition to email contact info. If not then on an About Us page.
This company has no evident info on its physical location.
No phone numbers. No mailing address. Not even if you are unhappy where you can return the plants.
For my money Chesterfield Orchids will not see any order from me.
This does not mean they are a risk. It just means that my standards require the means to contact these people at any moment I want to by any means, mail, phone, email. It is either all three possibilities or it is one address that will not be bookmarked!

T-Man - If you hit the "Contact" link at the bottom of the home page, you'll get their street address, phone & fax #s, e-mail address, etc. The "Contact Us" link in the menu on the left side of the home page allows you to send an e-mail.

Mehitabel, I have limited experience with them. I swooned over a Phal. Penang Girl Ching Ruey (maybe not the exact name) and resisted for so long that Chesterfield's was the last place selling it. Frank Chesterfield was prompt and clear when answering my e-mails. I then got one of his "B" grade plants for less money than the "A" plants. It was in good shape.

Whitecat8

i have received plants with rotted roots numerous times, but they have usually been replaced.

(un)certainty of plant id is another issue with this vendor.

They started out as Chesterfield Dahlia farm. Then they started a branch business with the orchids. I'm not certain how old the business is but it's been around for AWHILE. They definitely are not a fly-by-night.

I've gotten stuff from them before and I think the plants have been great. The plants I've gotten have all been good sized and strong. Any questions that I've had I emailed and got an answer back very quickly. I give them three thumbs up!!! ginnibug

Perfection - Now that you bring it up - I've read that others haven't received the Phal. Penang Girl 'Ching Ruey' they ordered, once they bloomed. Mine still hasn't bloomed, so I can't say.

Have you heard this, too? Are there other plants that were mislabeled?

WC8

I got my first orchid order from them because they are close to where I live but two of the three came in soggy sphag with rotted roots. The rot was so bad I don't know how they could have missed it and certainly not on TWO plant. I'll never order from them again. Naomi

I have to agree with Perfection. I placed a large order maybe half a year ago or more and many of the plants had rotted roots. I notified Chesterfield and they promptly replaced the bad plants, a Penang Girl and a blue, violacea 'Miki', at no charge. The two phals were quite large and I suspect the violacea is not really a violacea. The violacea is in spike right now, so we'll see what it really turns out to be.

Most of the plants I have gotten from them eventually ended up with root rot. I will not order form them again.

I have not bought from them for a long time, I did buy quite a few plants, several Vandas and others , all were fine . The last order was for 2 Penang Girl, they have bloomed and are the P.G. the problem I had was they use the cost of the plants to apply shipping charges , because the P.G. was more expensive the shipping charges were almost the cost of one of the plants which were not big plants . Gin

I bought Phals from them twice and it was a first-class experience each time. I accidently killed the first one. Forgot to bring it in after a night outside and cooked it down to a brownish slime in the direct sun of late summer.

The second one is a P. violacea that has the most beautiful bright green leaves you could ever hope to see. It arrived in flawless condition and has done spectacularly well.

Thanks, everybody. Veddy interesting replies.

I've ordered phals from them 4-5 times in the last 2-3 years. I had an issue with one plant, it had root rot upon arrival, regretfully it was one of the last of that variety. When I e-mailed and asked for a replacement they did not have any of that particular plant left but promptly sent me a very nice double spiked Brother Sara Gold instead.

I have been purchasing their violacea crosses for 2 years and everything seems to have bloomed out to my expectations.

I would not hesitate to order from them again.

Bob

I ordered three phals from them which came today. Mostly my order was a summary of the above experiences:

Only one of the plants was a healthy one, and this was a Grade B. Both of the others were losers. I can probably bring them back, but a good deal, IMO.

Princess Kaiulani-- small, no roots, several yellow leaves, and 2 good ones. Newest tiny leaf rotted, but what is probably a new crown about 1/4" off on the side.

Su-An Cricket -- small, couple of smallish roots, 4 small leaves.

Penang Girl -- this one had a nice cluster of (smallish) roots, maybe three", and a healthy top. It also was the only "Grade B"

I think I will pay a little more next time for a better plant.

The statement about "paying more" wasn't at all clear.

What I meant was, I might buy from them again if no-one else has the thing and I can't live without it, but mostly would choose to buy elsewhere first.

It wasn't really good value, even at cut prices

Anyone know if they were at the Chicago show weekend before last? I don't remember seeing them there. Whitecat8

mehitabel - I got a Princess Kaiulani from Big Leaf Orchids a month or so ago and it is great. It even has a tiny spike now. It came in a 3" pot with great roots visible in the pot. Not cheap but very healthy.

I sure wish I could get a P. Penang Girl 'Ching Ruey' - I so lust for that one.

Brooke

I have ordered from them one time,3 Phal. seedlings arrived in great shape bare root potted them up. got them in early summer and 2 of them spiked and bloomed at this small size that Fall. name Phal. Baldan's Kaleidoscope beautiful. I would order from them again. TOMD63

Brooke, the Penang Girl 'Ching Ruey' was healthy, has a nice top and roots were good. It was $14

I thought it was a good buy. The other two were the flops

Thanks mehitabel - I'll go check out their website. I really, really want one of these and I've been known to resurrect many an orchid in case I would get a suspicous one. Did I mention I really, really want one?

Brooke

In my earlier reply I said that Chesterfield replaced a blue Phal. violacea with a supposed blue violacea that was almost three times larger than the original plant with bad roots. I was originally worried that the replacement was not correctly labeled since it was so much larger. Well...it bloomed out a month or two ago and I am happy to say that it is a blue Phal. violacea.

Brooke - I was even dreaming about P. Penang Girl 'Ching Ruey' before ordering from Chesterfield. Something about the dramatic coloring... My "B" plant hasn't bloomed yet but is healthy. Good luck. Whitecat8

P. Penang Girl 'Ching Ruey' should be winging it's way to my house next week. So she wouldn't be lonely in the box, I also ordered the P. basti and luddie - two species I've also been craving. So it goes with orchids, one is off my wanted list, plus two traveling companions and my collection grows and grows and grows. A great addiction that isn't illegal, just limited by the $ sign.

Brooke

You go, girl! Whitecat8

tomd63- You should order Baldan's directly from them. They have become my favorite. Plants are amazingly healthy. And since I am in dry-arse Colorado, I can smell the algae and such in their sphag and it makes me want to go the ocean even more than usual.
Speakig of which, I recently got their Livio's Jewels. It is marked as "very fragrant". I think it smell like plastic. I actually got 2 of them, so it isn't just a one plant thing. Does anyone else have this one? What kind of fragrance do you get?

OK, got my order today and the reviews are mixed. The good news is P. Penang Girl came in a 4" pot, roots were pretty decent, TWO spikes. It got potted into another 4" pot in CHC mix.

The P. luddemannianum in a 3" pot has very short roots, one spike with black tip and one good spike but it went into a 2" pot.

P. bastianii was in a 4" pot but again, the good roots were quite short, two spikes but the tips are black and it went into a 4" pot with lots of p'nuts in the bottom to help fill up the pot.

The leaves on all 3 plants look healthy and clean and I'm sure the plants will grow and thrive. I've definitely received far worse. The Penang Girl was an option B plant (no A plants were available) and it was a really a nice surprise for the B to be in that condition.

They do need to take lessons on packing the plants. I'm used to receiving plants that have tape over the medium/pot to hold everything in place. These were just wrapped in newspaper and upon opening them, half the sphag was dislodged. It was a good excuse to repot since I prefer that anyway and now I know what I'm dealing with.

All in all, I would buy from them again if they have something I really, really need.

Brooke

Really Good customer service! The best plant I ever received was from Chesterfield. It was good sized, had healthy roots and spiking.