Mary responded to a post I made at GW to offer me allium for some of my hellebore seedlings, lily of the valley, and pussy willow cuttings. When I found out that she was so far from my location, I told her that I could buy the allium locally for what I would pay in postage to ship things to her. She responded that she is unable to shop for herself and has a very limited selection of plants in her area, so she really wanted us to go through with the trade. I agreed to do so.

She mailed the bulbs to me in a padded envelope. The person who mailed the package for her sent it via parcel post and it took a week to get to me. When I arrived home that day, my father-in-law had put the mail in my kitchen and both it and the adjoining living room reeked of garlic. The envelope was still sealed and the windows were open. Almost half of the bulbs were soft and mushy, I presume from being mashed in transit. The pussy willow was in good shape and was well rooted as she had said.

I contacted Mary to tell her that the package had been shipped parcel post and to let her know the state the plants had arrived in. I also told her that I had expected ornamental allium since we had talked about flowers, and not the sort of allium used for cooking that is called garlic; there was no mistaking the odor. I sent her a link to chemcurlÂs instructions for shipping plants. Her response to me is pasted below:

"I am very sorry you are so unhappy with our trade..I have done many trades like this and never had a single complaint...though I do apologise it went parcel post as it was not supposed to. The bulbs do very well in the padded envelopes and I have sent and received them that way several times with never a problem..however I am sorry that they did not get to you wel. Also that alium is NOT garlic, it is of the onion family and is grown as an ornamental flower here were I live.
blessings,
mary"

To my knowledge, ornamental garlic does not have an odor, but I do realize that "common" names vary from place to place. She has made no offer to replace the damaged plants, so I guess she considers it to be my problem.

First off I only responded to a post for the purple pussy willow cuttings..through the trade emails we did make a larger trade for other things.

Also it was agree that she would be getting aliums AND a nice rooted french pink pussy willow cutting which she said was very nice..and because I wanted to make it a nice trade I added another french pink pussy willow cutting as a gift to suprise her(she obviously forgot about that).

I will stand behind what I said..It was NOT garlic it was of the onion family and it is grown as an ornamental flower here. Also if anyone else that has recieved from me would like to post I would love to hear your coments as I have never once recieved anything but praise on how my bubls arrive. I also had informed you that some of what you sent me was not doing well either. And this i informed you BEFORE you said anything about the bulbs I sent you. A good size padded envelope does work well for bulbs and I have as I said sent AND recieved many this way, all with no problem at all.

If you wanted replacements all you had to do was tell me you feel I should replace them and I would have worked somthing out..you did not tell me you felt that way at all and I assume it was because some of your plants did not do well either. For the most partr this trade went well, the communications was good and we got along fine...then she informed me that my bulbs were sent parcel post, that was a mistake the person that took this to the post office for me was suposed to send 1st class and they didnt..I have talked to them about it since I got her email only YESTERDAY! Some times things happen we cant control. I have had 3 traders in just the last week burn me and I do not do that to others I hold up my end of trades even if it takes a me a little longer because of my disabilities, I always keep the person who I trade with informed of what is going on.

I feel this trade ended badly for us both but could easily been worked out with a little more communication as to what this trader desired of me. I am not hard to work with..LOL

blessings,
Mary

Update to all: Mary has been in touch about making good on her end of the trade. Her point that I could have given her more time to respond is a valid one, and I apologize. I mistook her email as a sign off to any responsibility and she has made it clear that is not the case.

I had a very nice trade with Mary. All of her plants arrived in good codition and she also sent some bonus items. I would trade with her anytime!

I want say this girl is a wonderful person to trade with.. well packaged and fast on sending.. the things i got from her was in GREAT shape when they got here.. I WOULD AND I AM going to trade with her again.. She is worth trading with and i am so Blessed to have found her! Thanks Mary

Posted by faeriebritches 8 (faeriebritches@gmail.com) on
Sat, Jul 4, 09 at 14:12

wonderful trader.. fast and generous. Look forward to trades in the future!!

(copied from another thread)

I traded with Mary this spring and it went very well. She responded to emails very promptly, answered all questions and was eager to work everything out to our mutual satisfaction. Her plants arrived very quickly. One was a little dried out but it should revive nicely. The others were in beautiful health. Overall I am very pleased with this trade and would gladly trade again in the future. Thank you Mary!

I had a great trade with Mary, she communicates promptly & the trade went through quickly. I'm very pleased with the iris she sent, would trade again with her!

Posted by suegardens2 5 (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 10, 10 at 9:03

I recently did my first trade with Mary. She sent nice plants and shipped quickly. She is also very helpful with advise, a great communicator, and a very kind person to deal with. I look forward to trading again with her in the future.

(copied from another thread)

I have had 2 wonderful trades with Mary in the past month or so, sorry I am a little late in posting this R&R ... Mary sent me the most beautiful , healthy irises ! I can't wait to see them bloom in my garden ;-) Thank you Mary !

Received my seeds from Mary. Shipped fast and looked great, very happy!! Thanks again Mary

This is an update to my posting in 2009 about my trade with prayerrock. I questioned if what she had sent me was ornamental allium because the bulbs arrived damaged and smelled like garlic. Mary was insistent that it was ornamental allium, so I took the 3 bulbs that were undamaged and planted them. In 2010 nothing came up, but much to my surprise there are now (2011) 3 large plants where I planted Mary's bulbs and they are obviously ornamental allium. I was wrong in my suspicion that she didn't know what she was sending.