>>>how can you go wrong at buy 1 get 2 free?<<<
I've been refraining from commenting since the thread was started (I didn't want to be negative)...but since you asked: Gurney's is one of the 3 worst companies that I am aware of in the garden business; along with Henry Field's and Michigan Bulb Company. A couple of years ago in the Fall, when I placed my last order with them (and is it exactly that - my LAST order with Gurney's), I purchased 10 Caragana 'trees,' which are easy to grow as a hedge and are hardy all the way up to Canada...I followed the planting instructions closely, and planted at the optimal time. Of the 10 plants, all died within a few weeks. I requested a replacement and received 10 more trees in the Spring, of which 9 promptly died. One is still alive after 3 years, and it has barely grown and is looking pathetic. Among other things, I also had cherry bushes and hydrangeas in the original order...people never believe it's a hydrangea when I point to the 'hydrangea' that they sent - it does not flower and has tiny leaves. Another hydrangea from Gurney's produces weird green flowers instead of pink (it is fed an acid plant food for proper pH). Most of the cherry bushes I received from Gurney's also died, were replaced, and then most of the replacements died.
I am not a novice gardener, and I do know what I am doing...the plants that I purchased from Park Seed (excellent company) are flourishing, and have been for many years. After my last experience with Gurney's (which was my 3rd order over the years, none of which produced healthy plants), I looked around the Web for reviews to see if it was just me that was having problems with this company's products...I am not sure if it was GardenWeb, but there was a site that had many customer reviews for dozens and dozens of companies in the industry. The 3 mentioned above, including Gurney's, had accounts of consistently poor customer experiences over the years.
>>>Gardens Alive is having the same type of sale but they have coupons<<<
Given a choice between Gardens Alive and Gurney's, I would spend the extra bucks with Gardens Alive...given a choice between Gurney's and ANY other company, I would spend more with just about any company. I would stick to top-notch companies like Park Seed and Wayside Gardens when possible...in fact the only reason I used Gurney's last time was because I could not find Caragana trees anywhere else. You get what you pay for.
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