Heads up.
k. van Bourgondien has filed and they are not answering the phone.
They have $200 of mine due to ship in March, what are the chances I'll see bulbs or money.

I think you'll be OK. It might not be a full blown bankruptsy; just a resturcturing. I don't think they want to lose the US market which they have a pretty large share. I haven't bought from them in years because they made too many mistakes from every angle you can imagine. I've found the North American breeders and growers to be much better and much more personal--like family almost, and I rely totally on them now.

Still, I don't like to see this happen to them, for their associate network or the bulb industry in general that will be affected! I still think you'll be OK, however!

I hope you are right. Last year I order a few Nepalense bulbs and when the time came to ship they sent me an e-mail saying the bulbs were to small and would ship in the spring.

Not any luck with these folks either. Haven't bought from them for years. Like Lorn, I tend to buy from the growers and reputable sellers that I have had the best luck with over years.

These folks do supply a lot of people though. We shall see what bankruptcy means in this case. Hopefully it means one way or another you get either money back or bulbs.

I am not surprised at bankrupsy.They are very poor rated.I ordereed plants from them years ago and was really disapointed.
Bulbs tend to be ok but plants are awfull. Read their rateing on the other site in WatchDog.

I snooped around on the internet a little and from what I saw I don't hold out much hope. More than a hundred creditors. Suppliers not getting paid. This has been building up over the last several years. I even managed to scrape up a family feud over share ownership.

I think the creditors would have to write off a lot of the debt if there were to be a come back.

I almost ordered from them (just for a cutting garden area of lilies). At times I am glad I'm a procrastinator.

As bulb brokers, is that the term, they may survive.
I did go a bit nuts on the price of the gladiolus.
Con men get you though your own greed.

I know of a company here, which is very much heading the same way-all of your comment s seem to describe this company too [some of you may remember my 'er-um' 'pink giant]that wasnt!!!!

I think these companies are living in the age before computers, when they just sent out any crap, and that's what gardeners accepted. I think with the advent of the computer, and places like Garenwatchdog, you'll see a lot of these older companies going south. Park, Wayside. I understand White Flower Farms is paying attention and shaping up.

Well, I think most of these smaller regional family owned companies were pretty good back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Many of those did some development work on their own; raised their own stock and often had some things that were exclusive only to them. But with the advent of the big box stores and the computer age, they just weren't large enough to compete with modern day marketing concepts. Good names like Jungs, Gurneys, Parks and others were then joined under the umbrella of Scarlet Tanager, LLC. in hopes to be more market competitive as a group. So if a person orders a plant from Parks--it may actually come from Gurneys, etc. I hope it works but they will have to learn the days of shipping crap are over!!

50s ,60s,70s, then society took a turn and things like decency and respect, striving for the future and honesty all faded away!!!-1/2 A JOB is good enough and a steel thing hanging out of your eye or a gay looking hairstyle means more than family,...you all know where im coming from...Anthony

I'm aquainted with a DG member who knew the VanBorgundian family waaayyyy back when it had a good reputation.She says , The generation before the present one had high standards and when the company went to the children is when the trouble started.

I have explored my disapointed order from them, on several sites. I ordered apoppy collection ,in order to get a Picotee. This was back in the 70's .The plastic bag with 6 roots arrived.No root was bigger than a pencil and most were molded and rotted.
I had never done a mail order and was new to gardening. My experiance was horrible,especially customer relations.Same with WFF.
About 2006 I noticed an article in Garden Gate "Daves Garden lists 5 worst mail order nurserys"
I was curious to see if my bad experience was listed.Suer enough tehy were in the middle. Thats how I found garden websites and havnt looked back.

Some people report good things from both companies,but the case with WFF they go to the nursery and buy the plants,Van B 's experiances is with bulbs. How can you loose with bulbs that are grown somewhere else? Their customer service is horrible.

Thanks for your snooping Pard.It doesnt look good for them.They are not the only bulb vendors thank gawd.

Just checked the "recent rateings" on the other website. I had no idea there were so many businesses associated with Van B.

I went to a garden show last weekend here and there were no lily bulbs to buy. What happens is I usually buy a couple to start indoors and just that smell of bulbs feeds my lily addiction for a month or so while I await the spring arrivals. I asked about them and they said the place they usually get them is going through bankruptcy. So as I did not ask *who* it was, I know they are all tied together somehow and that it would likely be the case then for several. Didn't know it was Van B that they used, but it makes so much sense now. Anything and everything I have ever (yes I mean EVER) gotten in a bag was either all three wrong OR at least two of three wrong.

Then I take a moment and smile. I love places like the Lily Garden, who, if a wrong bulb is sent, cheerfully sends you the right one. Or Faraway Flowers who does the same. Or the Lily Nook, who does the same. Valley K Lily Ranch is yet another. It's so great that we have so many choices! B & D Lilies too. These are places with a true love for their profession. Yes, it will cost more, but in the end I am willing to pay more and buy less bulbs to get this. And heaven sakes they deserve a living wage for their passion of lilies and customer service that I get with it. I know if I ever have a question about anything, I can go to them as they are knowledgeable and whose passion is contagious.

So this year, I will wait a couple extra weeks for my lily bulb smell, but that's okay. I'll make it. At least I think I will.

I never thought of starting them inside, Mags. I could sure use the sniff. Although I have a hyacinth blooming. Nice.

I buy lily bulbs bulk from Ednie, ADR, and MAK, for potted sales and for my granddaughters cutting garden, and really I must say I have had good success with them. Jo shares them with me sometimes, and she can attest they are pretty much true to name. My point saying this is that I wonder how on earth Van B could mix the bulbs up so badly, when they get them from the same Dutch markets as the other importers.

One time I ordered from Van B. I don't know if Moby remembers this or not, but she commented on my color echoes. I had 5 of the most beautiful raspberry lilies and 4 of the ugliest orange ones. I had purchased 3 sets of the raspberry, and planted them all in a group. I contacted Van B, who would do nothing about it. I even sent them a picture. They insisted I had gotten the orange from somewhere else.

Having said that, everyone should buy from our US growers, like The Lily Garden. And how much more beautiful are their special lilies! And to keep them selling and hybridizing we need to purchase from them.

I haven't done a lot of ordering from VB but what I did do must have been back in the better days when they had the "Bulb Lady". I recall ordering a few (I think salvias) from them and one was totally rotten. I sent them an email and in a few days I had a healthy replacement. I got my Asiatic lily Starburst from them (red tango) just a few years back and they were true to name. My orders are always rather small so I guess I was lucky!

Brian, if you used a credit card for payment, you can try disputing with the card issuer.
Debra

I have done a lot of ordering of Lilies from VB in the past. I know some people say they received bad bulbs (as in rotting) but that never happened to me. I always got good bulbs and they always grew but usually were always sprouted. One time I bought orientals and some turned out to be virused. I yanked and tossed those so maybe not always good bulbs.

But I have many times had mismarked or wrong bulbs mixed in that are not what they are supposed to be. This year I didn't order from them, just tossed their cataloges. Now I am glad that I didn't order reading this about bankruptsy.

Polly, your story is familiar to another that i had here..I ordered 3 Serendipity bulbs[a beautuful lily][but arent they all]and these were not cheap!!!- i ended up with 2 regale crosses and a ryirube-when i enquired, i was told that they came from a very reputable source and could i send some pictures-i screw up their 2 catalogues each year now,when they arrive!!!!!!even their mini daffs arent what they say they are

They are answering the phone today and still intend to ship.