You can do comparison shopping to find plants that are merely grossly overpriced at WFF, as opposed to the many that are hilariously overpriced (my favorites are their annuals selling for $7.50-$8.50 each, when you can easily find a six-pack of the same plant for $3 or so).*

WFF does offer a number of new introductions that your local nurseries may not have. The catch (aside from price) is that (based on most reviews) the plants you receive are likely to be small and/or in poor shape.

*for eye-popping prices, check out their selection of Blackmore & Langdon begonia tubers. WFF sells unnamed seedlings for $62 for a single tuber ($84 with shipping). You could get 12 similar tubers direct from Blackmore & Langdon for $78 (including their own incredible shipping/inspection costs).

They have Little Adder agastache this spring which I'm quite certain that I need...

Sooooooooooooooooooo, I'm guessing no big sales. Is that correct? And LOL about the Begonias.

Wonder if there's a polite way for me to tell my brother "never again."

Yea, but if he paid for it, who cares? Spend your GC and enjoy the plants!

Whatever you do DONT order any shrubs! You will be sorely disappointed. I made that mistake about 5 years ago. Small doesn't cover what I received. Bulbs are a safe bet, decided I wouldn't use them ever again.

Sherry

I feel your pain. My daughter did the same thing several years ago. She did WF and another over priced small plant vendor Garden Crossing. Two of the most over priced online vendors out there.

You can sell gift certificates now for a small fee. With the cash after the fee I bet you could get three plants vs the one tiny plant from either of these vendors.

This is how I handled it with my daughter. When the next holiday was coming up I told my daughter how much I loved she recognizing that what I wanted most PLANTS. Then laughing I said if you want surprise me like that again I want to try-------------------- I have a awesome local nursery that sell ever thing and the plants are gallon size. Do some research. Even Lowes and Home Depot have some good sales and occasional not easy to find plants.

Just make sure you pump the giver up for thinking of you and guide them in the direction you need them to follow.

Yeah from what I can remember, WFF do not have sales very often. Park/Wayside, OTOH, tend to put certain plants on deep discount at the ends of the spring and fall season. I got a new Kalmia cultivar from Mr. Jaynes, 'Forever Red', for a very reasonable price last year. Of course something like that is being produced for the whole country at one wholesaler, Briggs. But if you'd actually bought it onsite at Broken Arrow, it would have been a lot more.

That's the thing about a lot of WFF's offerings. Sure sometimes they make an exclusivity deal with the wholesaler. But a lot of their stuff is being grow by the big PNW wholesalers like Skagit et al., so if you look around you can find the same plants for a lot less at other mail order establishments that buy the same stuff. Like Lazy SS Farms, Dancing Oaks, etc. I once got a hardy Fuchsia I wanted to try from Joy Creek instead of WFF, and it was something like $6 instead of $17.99. But that cultivar hadn't been nationally offered for some time; clearly a single wholesaler had put it back into production.

Thanks, all. I'm still completely stymied. I had finally decided on a hosta collection ("Emerald Isle") that probably wouldn't have terribly interesting varieties, but at least it wasn't a complete rip off. Then I found out they would charge an additional $25 for shipping. How do people pay this garbage?!?!?!

In the UK, consumer law allows us to ask for a full refund on Gift tokens...although many retailers will try to offer an exchange of goods rather than cash. Can you not do that in the US?

Not here, anyway. I already asked. They said they could refund my brother, but that's it. I'm just going to have to close my eyes and pay $50 for 1-2 plants. Ridiculous.

It is expensive to ship plants, especially if they have to travel cross-country. I haven't ordered much in the way of live plants in a few years, so I don't know what the current average shipping cost is a and whether WFF is above the norm, but when I have gone the mail-order route, it definitely cost $$$ in shipping charges.

Gift certificates - I hate them. Only recently did Canada stop the nonsense that was allowing them to have expiry dates - I used to end up with a bunch of expired cards in my wallet because I never went to (or liked!) the stores which people would give me gift certificates for. I can only imagine how much money those stores made from unclaimed cards. Would love if legislation came into effect like Campanula mentioned, where full refunds to the recipient were possible.

Thanks, all. I got ONE hydrangea that we've been wanting. Highway robbery.

Re little adder agastache, I found that Monrovia.com sells it. A few years ago, I attended an garden writers conference, where I met a woman who owns a mail-order nursery in the eastern U.S. She told me about an experience she had with White Flower Farm in which WFF was so unethical that this woman's nursery almost went out of business. I'll never buy anything from WFF.

One plant is heart breaking I know but at least you got a nice bush. I love Hydrangea.

Oh dear, you ordered a shrub, hope you fare better than I did!

Sherry

My late beloved mother in law always used to get me WFF gift certificates. So I'd get plants from them, but the quality was really poor for the price. I don't understand how they get away with it. They do have one hydrangea that I'm tempted by, Blue Billow, but I plan to resist the temptation - don't want to spend my $ there. The only thing I got from them that really did well was "The Works" daffodils. I have to say, they are utterly stunning and have thrived. But everything else was a real disappointment. I hope your hydrangea is ok - my advice would be maybe pot it up and grow it on for a while til it puts on some size (its likely to be very small). Good luck!

For good quality bulbs, consider Brent and Becky's Bulbs. That's where Denver Botanic Gardens buys some of its bulbs.

@frances_in_nj - Hydrangea Blue Billow I got! If you're interested, I can post a picture whenver it arrives. That's a good idea about potting it for a while.

Oh, please do post a picture! I hope they'll send you a nice plant. Have you grown BB before? I have one already, and I love love love it! In my experience it is hands down the most reliable lacecap or mophead for bloom here in zone 6 NJ. Forget Endless Summer - or as some call it, Endless Bummer; Twist-and-Shout seems to be pretty good so far, but BB has never disappointed me, even after a super-cold winter. That's why I sort of want to get another one. I may see if I can get a cutting of it to root. Anyway, you picked a good one, I just hope they send you a good specimen!