I purchase bulbs mostly from John Sheepers/Van Engelen, high quality bulbs, excellent service and reasonable prices. Have also ordered bulbs from High Country Gardens and Bloomin Designs Nursery and was pleased with the quality and service. Two orders of bulbs from WFF produced opposite results. Bulbs of Fall-flowering Crocus were very good quality and every one of them bloomed, but their advertised mix of several species, produced only two species and only 3 bulbs of one of those. A second order of Sternbergia lutea was a disappointment. From an order of 25 bulbs, only one produced a bloom the first year and none the second year. Only about half produced foliage last year. I no longer order from B&B Bulbs. My last order was for a large quantity of spring-flowering bulbs to be used as a fund raiser for my garden club. We agreed upon a ship date in late September (confirmed in writing) and when they didn't arrive on time, a call to them revealed that they had arbitrarily rescheduled shipment for late November, the recommended planting date for my Zone, they said. At my insistence, they agreed to ship the order "as soon as possible", but they still arrived too late for the sale. I also detest having a charge placed on my CC the moment I place an order. They claim that is to "reserve" your bulbs. How can one "reserve" bulbs that they don't have and won't receive for months! MO

My opinion is that if you cannot grow Swan Island varieties, which are developed and tested in very warm conditions(Pacific Northwest but they average over 20 days above 90 in the summer and typically exceed 100 degrees a few times each summer), that you may not be able to grow dahlias in your location. Hilltop dahlias is located in a very warm climate. Maybe they have some suggestions although they had a very bad year and may not have much for sale(118 inches of rain in the summer). Many people who grow dahlias in warm climates expect good blooms only in the last part of the growing season.

And here's the error message I've been getting for 3 days: "The requested URL was not found on this server. The link on the referring page seems to be wrong or outdated. Please inform the author of that page about the error. If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster. Error 404 dahlias.net Sun Apr 24 20:33:24 2011 Apache/2.2.14"

Jessica, April 2 is a bit late to order dahlia plants from dahlia specialists (tubers might be OK but most suppliers would be sold out of many varieties of tubers....), but still acknowledgement would be nice, just to know that 'THINGS ARE WORKING OK' ...... I have ordered from Buddy Dean - HILLTOP GARDENS for the past 3 years. In fact i usually make 3 orders, one in November, another in late December (when his Web site has usually be somewhat updated ...) and again in early February (when surely his website ha been updated, usually ) ........... Buddy and Kelly seem to "automatically combine these orders" as I have received all in one shipment .. .BUT never get an acknowledgement, although the first year they did phone me with a question on my order. I ask for April 15 delivery, as need that in i Rome, GA so that the plants get well rooted and growing well before hot weather comes along in mid-to-late May ... BUT 2 years ago thought they had 'forgot" and then surprise the box of plants arrived the first week in May. Last year the box of plant arrived about April 17. THIS YEAR I AM STILL WAITING and WONDERING - as it is MAY 10, and I should have had these no later than May 1, so that they could have been potted in 4" pots to develop a solid root ball, before transplanting out to open garden. BUT I have gotten QUALITY - DISEASE FREE ( Virus Free) plants from HILLTOP and some varieties that just cannot be found anywhere else these days. Specialty Dahlia Growers do it as a "labor of love" - normally as a "hobby" while supporting themselves with another regular full-time job. BUT - the other 3 dahlia plant suppliers I order form (think the only ones currently shipping plants) all COMMUNICATE and honor SHIP DATES or let one know if a variety is having difficulty rooting in a particular year- so COMMUNICATION is IMPORTANT in EVERYTHING ...... This year I've spent several hundred $$$ on plants order from HILLTOP, but if they do arrive withing the next week or two, I'm afraid it will be "too late" for our hot weather and will have to toss them, as too late for the growing conditions of my climate in Georgia ..............