Never, NEVER order from Aloha Orchid Nursery. The Better Business Bureau says "this company has an unsatisfactory record. . . . Company failed to respond to the BBB to resolve or address the complaint issues. . . . Unpursuable - The company cannot be located or is out of business." Yet they're still selling stuff. My sister sent me "4 Blooming Dendrobium Orchid Plants" for my birthday. When I received them, they weren't blooming, and in fact two appeared to be dying. I called and spoke to Mahehalani. First she told me that there was absolutely no guarantee for orchid plants, even if they're already dying when they're mailed and further damaged by lousy packing. I told her the plants clearly weren't "blooming," and she claimed "budding" was the same thing. Realizing I was going nowhere fast, I pointed her to the "Tropical Flower Guarantee" on their website (http://www.alohaorchid.com/flower_guarantee.aspx) stating "We offer 100% unconditional guarantee on all of our tropical flowers." She claimed that this doesn't apply to orchids -- which are clearly tropical flowers -- and in fact ONLY applies to anthuriums, WHICH THEY NO LONGER SELL. Apparently, then, the guarantee doesn't apply to ANYTHING they sell. I emailed the sales department and they confirmed what Mahehalani said: that I was stuck with ugly, dying plants. See photos at my website and decide for yourself if I've been defrauded. But please, please don't give these people your business. Here is a link that might be useful: My website

lola-lemon: So good to know! I have place my order with DA and am eagerly anticipating my plants next month! I had some other Austins previously, which I got from Pickering - Golden Celebration did not survive one season, Glamis Castle and Tradescant, which I gave plenty of opportunity to perform but each insisted on one cane per year, and Redoute, which was beautiful but blackspotted a bit. She died when I attempted to relocate her to a better location. LEH and Jude are supposedly more disease resistant, stay manageable in size, and have wonderful fragrance. We are re-working our front beds into a "cottage" garden style (as opposed to a nothing-in-them style - LOL!), and these two will be anchors, along with a hydrangea, and my Zephie rose (the only Pickering to survive!).

One of them, the decora which had the little shrubby growth at the bottom recovered and made new small shoots in the late summer, and this spring they made shoots nearly as big as the originals making a full recovery. the other one, makinoi which had only 2 large culms with very little foliage eventually lost their leaves and didn't make it so it was a goner. It seems like severely root bound plants can make a full recovery as long as they still have viable buds and the rhizomes haven't dried out completely, but there is a point where the shoot buds are no longer viable and the plant is pretty much dead as they become a living stick. Many commercial nurseries take over-sized divisions sticking them in pots with minimal soil which leads to root-bound plants very quick, and as these divisions dehydrate very easily, the lose viability very fast. Many times, nurseries are only worried about the bottom dollar so they don't care if the plants die because they already made their money and apparently aren't interested in repeat customers. If you are planning on getting bamboo plants, I would suggest first trying to find a local grove of bamboo you can dig from, and then perhaps looking on bamboowebforums to find a forum member you can make a road trip to to collect many bamboos at once. It is definitely worth the time. If you can't find anyone then I would suggest bamboogarden in Oregon because I know it is a legitimate bamboo nursery.

I ordered several peach trees from C & O nursery. They advertise on their website that they had an "Internet Special". When I got my bill I was not given the Internet special, and I was also charged a box fee that was never mentioned. I give them credit for working with these fees and reducing the original bill, but their trees were not healthy. Here is the letter I wrote when I sent my payment in, which they did cash. So far I have not heard from them since they received my letter and check: Marilyn, I am sending payment for the peach trees that I ordered. As you are aware, I am extremely disappointed with the quality of the trees. Actually, it seem so me that the trees were grown well and were strong at first, but they appeared, upon arrival, to be completely desiccated. I knew immediate when I opened the package that they would have a hard time. The trees were dry and seemed to have had moss or even mold washed off of them before shipment. I was not surprised when they did not come out of dormancy right away. After following your directions and pruning them severely, they still did not "jump start" as you mentioned they should. The trees all finally did sprout, but I was so very disappointed that none of the live branches were over 3 feet. The Early Improved Elberta was the tallest at 28", and from there it went down. The PF-11 sprouted at 25", the OÂHenry at 19", the PF-1 at 8", and the PF-17 has its only sprout at just 3"! I am not even sure that the PF-17 is not going to be just rootstock. Now I will need to make a new central leader out of all of these trees, as they are all too short to allow to spread at their heights, even the tallest. These trees, with their tender new shoots will need to be brought inside for their first Colorado winter if they are going to survive at all. Because I have run my own business and understand that a companyÂs reputation is practically everything, I have not, until now, been vocal about my disappointment. I appreciate that you were willing to work with me regarding the prices, but yet I feel cheated by paying for them at all. As you well know I am very disappointed. I will not make further purchases from your company, and I will post my experiences on the Internet so that others will be aware of the hazards of your product. Your customer service has been fine, but the product is not. Here is a link that might be useful: C&O Nursery Internet Special