Oh I know, but they are also dirt cheap! :)

Not when you factor in the returns and fails (we have such a thing here too - Gardens Direct and Garden Express - both best avoided).

and not when you lose a season of growth because it dies at an unpredictable time during the season. Then you can't find the replacement mid or late season at a nursery.

Not to mention the aggravation & the annoyance of having knowingly ordered despite being warned and dealing with trying to get a refund or replacement from a company known not to have good customer service.

I know this may be too direct to be kind, but you really need to value your own time, effort, and money more. don't invest all that in a company that doesn't value it either.

And the Chinese lanterns can be quite aggressive in many gardens, so if they aren't contained in some way, you may want to do that.

My experience has been that if Garden Watchdog has a lot of negative reviews, it isn't worth using a company for the reasons given above. I'd also rather send my $ to a company that sells quality merchandise, often for not much more. If you ask for recommendations on this forum in a new thread, you will most likely get suggestions for companies that are penny-wise but have sent quality live plant material. Also, many plants are quite easy to start from seeds; if I can be successful with direct sowing in my gardens, I think just about anyone can be since my skills in that area are quite basic.

Yeesh, I agree with you guys that they aren't a very good company. In fact I dissuaded a newbie gardener friend from ordering from them!

However, I think a few of the things they sell are good deals. I was asking if anybody else had any tips on what are good deals from them!

What can I say, I'm a patient gambler LOL

Nothing is a good deal if it arrives moribund or dead.

Another thing to watch out for are dubious "guarantees". Here's the one from Direct Gardening's website:

"If any item you purchased from us does not live, for a FREE REPLACEMENT just RETURN THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL along with your written request within 1 year of receipt. If you are dissatisfied with any merchandise, return it together with the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL within 1 year of receipt for a FREE REPLACEMENT. Replacement guarantee is VOID unless the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL is returned. For a REFUND of the purchase price, RETURN THE ITEM AND THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL, with the correct postage affixed, within 14 days of receipt."

I doubt that many people are aware that they have to hang on to the shipping label to get a replacement* (in these days of computerized records this should not be necessary). I would also avoid like the plague any company that makes you ship the dead/dying plants back to them (reputable firms in my experience never do this). And if you receive what's supposed to be a dormant perennial and it turns out it's dead, you won't realize this within 14 days, so sorry, forget about a refund.

*If the "replacements" are also dead or dying (as reported by multiple customers on Garden Watchdog), they are no bargain either.

The old adage "you get what you pay for" is more often true than not. Bargains or 'good deals' from places like this usually aren't :-) They are most often mass produced, rapidly grown, very common plants that you can find anywhere. And usually for no more money but in much better condition!

Well, OP seems to have been sufficiently warned and knows the drill anyway. Much like that thread regarding White Flower Farm, when people choose to give me gift certificates to places I actually would rather not shop - the question becomes what the heck can I buy in this place? I'm not familiar with this umbrella of poor mail order company, but from the sounds of it, if I were forcing myself to buy something there, I'd probably go with something I could easily lose with a smile on my face. Hostas anyone?

I try to buy locally, and find more often than not, you get what you pay for. Many years ago, a friend ordered from one of those fly by night places. He ordered a tulip tree, when it came it was a 1 ft twig. It is now a huge tree and wonderful when it blooms. It's the only thing he ordered from there that actually grew.