My neighbor bought a bag of King Alfred type daffs last fall from Costco. 100 for $20. They're 100 for $16 this year. His blooms were beautiful this spring, so it seems they have reasonably high-quality bulbs. I just bought two bags of tulips at Costco, $8.79 for 50, and the size and quality matches the better mail order companies I've dealt with (Brent and Becky's, Van Engelen), and quite a bit better than the bulbs I received from Brecks last year (they've been going downhill for some time now).

I was impressed with the size and quality of the costco tulip bulbs rhat I saw that they are getting my business over Botanus this season for at least my tulips.

The butterfly narassi that I got from costco last fall were spectacular when they came up this season so I went ahead a week or so ago and picked up my tulips from costco hoping they'll put on as nice a show next spring - my botanus tulips in the spring were beautiful so it will be interesting to compare the two batches come next spring - both got equal treatment of bonemeal and mykes....and it was nice to save some $ and not have to pay for the shipping/handling.

My hardy glads from Brecks never did show up at all this season...they were free...so it is true for me that you get what you pay for....so in my case - nothing for nothing.

I was very surprised by the quality of the Costco bulbs the first time we purchased some a couple of years ago. They also have lilies and other bulbs for sale early in the spring which are excellent.

Of course the most important thing is to get them as early as possible so you can store them properly. I would not recommend them if they have been sitting around for a couple of months.

Cheers,
MG

Thanks for all of your input everyone! I just might have to go back and get some more bulbs (that is if they haven't sold out!)

Angie

I saw the bulbs at cosco,too. they look o.k., but I am always a bit careful with outlets like this.
Bulbs need to be stored at the right temperature so I would rather have them shipped to me at the right time of planting.
I live in BC and it's too early to plant my bulbs now anyways.
For the last four years I bought from Botanus and love their service and quality. They're Canadian and that's what I like the most!!
I have already got my order in for this fall and probably ordered way too much, but I couldn't resist the free shipping and their great prices(50 daffodils for $9.97 !!)

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Yes, bulbs to need to be stored properly, and good mail order companies should do it right. That said, once they get shipped, the bulbs are at the mercy of UPS, FedEx, et al., who don't have temperature controlled facilities. Personally, I think that buying bulbs in August from a big box store where the bulbs are in air conditioning and also haven't been sitting around for months is probably as safe as trusting delivery companies not to leave my box 'O bulbs sitting in the sun on my doorstep.

I love Costco bulbs, the price is fantastic and the bulbs are first quality. I just bought a bag of Bearded Iris, 8 for 12.00 and change. You have to buy quickly since the dissapear quite fast, they usualy get two shippings in fall

Two shippings? Have you seen any signs of the second yet? They moved the display in my Costco, and it doesn't look like anything's been added recently, although it's hard to tell with them.

I just got my Costco coupons in the mail and they have $3.00 off Starting Sept 8 !! They usually stock up pretty good the week before something comes on the coupons.

Do any of you work for Costco? Or do you shill for the big box companies for free?

ninamarie - not being in the nursery business myself, I may be completely unaware of what has upset you personnally about another nursery supplying their bulbs to Costco.

For me it boils down to the fact that there is a grower/nursery (maybe much like your own plant farm/nursery) out there that is suppling Costco with great bulbs.

I can't begrudge Costco from finding that bulb supplier that is currently supplying Costco with great sized bulbs in top notch condition.

Costco didn't produce the bulbs - a grower/nursery did and that nursery isn't being forced to get a big contract with Costco to supply bulbs - it would be a business decision for that nursery, right?

The particular nursery supplying these bulbs gets my business when and only when their product is top notch as my gardening dollar only stretches so far.

A bulb nursery out there got a huge contract with Costco to supply top notch bulbs - I can't begrudge that nursery by overlooking their product simply because they got a huge contract to supply Costco.

The comment you made about 'shilling for a bix box company' must have touched a nerve with you to have posted it as a put down to those of us purchasing these bulbs.

I'm curious - if you were approached to supply top-notch nursery items to Costco, would you turn them down? Why?

Maybe I am missing something about the distribution chain of things. Best of luck with your own plant farm/nursery.

Just to clarify a little bit about where Costco obtains their bulbs and roots  directly from the Dutch growers. ThereÂs no broker involved and they obtain a limited variety of plants at phenomenal prices and conditions. They buy on consignment so if the bulbs are rotten or donÂt sell, they go right back to the supplier.

In general, CostcoÂs markup is about 20% above the wholesale price and they are obviously hurting local nurseries. Quality wholesale nurseries like Epic, Valleybrook (Heritage Perennials), and Janet Anderson donÂt deal with them for obvious reasons  difficult to get paid, horrendous negotiations, and the consignment issue. But the Dutch, thatÂs another matter

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with purchasing from Costco. I donÂt buy plants or bulbs from them but I certainly buy other products. I avoid going to Costco because by the time I get to the cash the bill is usually $300.00 plus.

MaryV - thank you! I love the fact that you posted and are someone who works in the nursery industry to provide a bit of clarity over blanket statements against buying good quality bulbs wherever us consumers can find them.

I found it curious that over in the "Professional Gardeners Forum", in the thread below, a variety of locations were sited as places for supplier/sellers to purchase bulbs from and funny enough the list of purchasing locations for people in the business of selling for profit to front line consumers included Walmart & HomeDepot as being suppliers for the re-sale industry....heck - if my church or kids school started sells quality bulbs at reasonable prices, I'll buy from them too. 'nuff from me on this topic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Professional Gardeners Forum - where the Pro's shop for bulbs

Well, I'm a computer programmer by day, so I have no connection with Costco other than buying computer equipment there when it's on sale. Don't even own any of their stock. On the other hand, they should start charging my wife rent, as she seems to spend more time there than at home some days (oh, right, I've seen the bills -- they *are* charging her rent!)

Anyway, I have no qualms about buying nursery products from Costco, or from Home Depot or Lowes. Their prices are good, and if you get the plants right after they come in, before they've had a chance to kill them, the quality is good, too.

I understand that smaller businesses are getting squeezed by the big box stores. There are few nurserys who can go directly to a Dutch grower and order a couple hundred tons of bulbs, and like everything else they carry, the big stores get deeper discounts because they order in huge quantities. This isn't limited to plant material -- when we buy nails and paint at Home Depot, we're slowly killing off the independent local hardware stores. Smaller local stores complain about Wal Mart's predatory pricing, and do go out of business when one opens up nearby.

I do buy products from smaller local stores, including hardware and nursery products, when my needs justify it. Sometimes I need specialty items; sometimes I need advice and customer service; sometimes I buy other stuff at the same time to save another trip; sometimes I go to the closest store and pay more to save time. The point here is that smaller stores and nurserys can compete with the big box stores, but price is one of the areas where they probably shouldn't even bother.

Wow, I really started something here. I justed wanted to know about the quality of Costco's bulbs. I should note that I buy from all kinds of vendors. I buy locally whenever I can and have been buying from the same local nurseries for years. That said, I still like to shop at other venues and I love a good bargain. If I want to put my hard earned dollars into some Cosco bulbs I think I am justified. I too, got the coupon book and the bulbs will go on sale at a price of $9.99 instead of $12.99. I will be sure get some more bulbs. Thanks for everyone's input!

Picked up a few bags today - 19 bags at $9.99.

The limit is three, but they were nice to me. The bulbs look real nice. The Narcisis are a bit small but OK.