Jackson and Perkins

Full review
Jackson and Perkins have been the established authority in roses for many years. Both my parents and grandparents bought their roses only from J&P, because they were the best, and they were guaranteed. And for the prices they charge, that's exactly what you would expect.

Times have changed since then. Though J&P is still generally recognized as a leader in quality roses, reasonably good ones can be had at Wal-Mart for less than half the price. Do they compare in quality to J&P? That's awfully hard to judge. But when comparing the price and quality, do you really get what you pay for? That is the essential question.


The Price


Depending on the variety of rose you choose and its stage of growth (dormant bareroot or potted blooming plant), Jackson & Perkins has prices of between $10 and $25 per plant. (Wal-mart's are $4-8.) They also carry a very limited selection of perennial plants, bushes and small trees. Compared to most vendors of similar quality products, I would place them at the very high end of the price scale. During the late fall and winter, J&P also offers perishable and non-perishable gifts such as indoor potted plants and decorations, all of which are also quite pricey.


Sales Tax


For online purchases??? 'Nuff said.


The Shipping and Handling Charges


Standard 7-day shipping via USPS ranges from $7.95 for orders under $30 to $21.95 for orders of $100-$150, and 14% for orders over $150. For expedited delivery, charges are per item over and above the regular shipping and handling, and range from $8.95 per item for 2-5 day shipping to $14.95 per item for overnight delivery. According to their website, "Most perishable items are trucked under controlled temperatures to a major city near their destination, where they are released to the U.S. Postal Service for final delivery. Extremely perishable items are sent overnight or second day delivery."

The drawbacks of using the USPS are that while they are certainly less expensive, they are not very reliable in some areas. For example, our local Postal Service is pretty good, but when we lived in Evanston, IL, we were stuck on what they called a "training route," which meant we never had the same delivery person for more than a month or so, and they were utterly abysmal. They lost our wedding invitations, they lost our wedding gifts, they lost our mail while we were on our honeymoon. We received mail that ought to have been forwarded from the day we arrived until the day we left, and we have received no forwarded mail from there unless it had the current owner's handwriting on it saying "forward"...but I'm getting off topic...you see the problem. Bad USPS = the strong possibility of dead or almost dead plants. For close to $20 shipping charges, you should reasonably expect better.


The 100% guarantee


100% of what? Ay, there's the rub, for in that excitement of ordering what dreams may come and distract you from reading the fine print? "Shop with confidence!" they say, "We ship only the world's finest garden products and guarantee your complete satisfaction with every item purchased." You have to read the actual guarantee, though, conveniently squirreled away in the middle of the Customer Service page: "If your plant has received our recommended care and still does not perform to your satisfaction, please let us know within 60 days of receipt, and we will replace it free of charge, or refund your money, whichever you prefer."

60 days??? I know at least a dozen places who guarantee their products for up to a year, and they aren't nearly as expensive as J&P... So if they're really the "gold standard," wouldn't you expect them to stand behind their product a lot longer than 60 days? If not, why pay the premium price? Buy them from a place with a better guarantee. Even if they're not the biggest, strongest, most expensive plants out there, at least you won't be left high and dry if they fail to perform after that measly 60 days is up. Which brings us to my story...


My experience


Last spring, I spent over $150 with S&H included for some rose bushes and hydrangea bushes. By the time they arrived, they were no longer dormant and had already started to sprout some leaves. At six months pregnant, I did the best I could to properly prepare the beds according to their directions and get them planted as soon as possible. While 2 of the climbing roses and one of the hydrangea bushes did reasonably well (though far from fantastic), all of the hedge roses (which were supposed to reach 4 or more feet in height their first year, according to them) and the other hydrangea suffered unhappily through the year despite plenty of TLC from yours truly. (Remember, both my parents and grandparents were rose growers.) Over the winter, the struggling plants died miserably. I called J&P and told them what had happened, and they told me there was nothing they could do. After politely complaining a bit more, the woman, who was a supervisor, offered to give me a 10% discount. Well, whoop dee doo. After over $100 worth of their plants died, I get 10% off to buy more of their overpriced plants which may or may not have the same outcome?

At $25 a pop, there was no way I was going to waste time with another Hydrangea. Against my better judgement, however, I decided to order a few roses, though not as many. (If Wal-mart's selection were a little broader, I think I probably would have gone there.) But if any of them do less than stellar, you can bet I will be on the phone with J&P within 60 days.

As for the website itself, it is not an easily navigable site, particularly if you are trying to find something specific. With only six items listed per page when you use their search function, and the nasty habit all the items have of being listed 2-6 times each, a search for "climbing roses" will give you 38 pages, the first of which has clematis and an arbor instead of climbing roses. What's worse, it is not uncommon for products to fail to show up in some searches, only to pop up later under other headings. I had them send me a catalog, and only in that way was I able to find what I was looking for without going crazy.


The bottom line:


If you insist on the best and you can afford to lose $25 plants, go for it. If, like me, you're on a tight budget and can't be replacing plants left and right, find a place with a good guarantee instead. Most of the time, places with a good guarantee will have plants that are very high quality, because they don't want to have to replace them. Seems to me that J&P wants to have their cake and eat it too. Yes, I ordered from them again this time, but long-term, they've lost this customer.

*********************************************************
Loving the flowers? Check out the Springtime in Paris Write-Off!