Many reviewers praise Sarah Raven for strong plants and bulbs and a website that’s easy to use and well set up. Several customers mention fast replacements and enjoy the seasonal catalogues or events. Many others describe failed deliveries, damaged or wrong items, and long waits or no response from customer service. Experiences range from consistently excellent orders to ongoing problems with recent fulfilment and communication that never get resolved.
Examples from available reviews (Dec 2021 – Feb 2026).
Longtime customer praises consistent good quality and helpful website information.
“Always good quality plants.”
Website and ordering are easy, and product quality is excellent.
“Marvellous ideas, easy website & ordering made simple.”
Dahlia tubers arrived damaged with broken necks and poor packaging.
“the tubers inside had most of their necks broken.”
Unfulfilled order from May and no replies, customer is owed money.
“Unfulfilled order from May, owe me £54, no replies to email no refund no contact.”
Reviewers often describe fulfilment problems, including cancelled orders, split shipments, and missing items. Some long-term customers say earlier purchases arrived reliably and replacements came quickly. Many reviews also point to outsourced couriers as the source of damage and delivery mistakes.
Several customers comment on the prices and say they accept the cost because they see the quality as high. A small number call the postage wasteful or say packaging pushed delivery costs up. Few reviews clearly describe the products as poor value overall; most value comments tie price to quality or to delivery packaging.
Customers often say the website and ordering are easy and straightforward. The printed seasonal catalogues get positive mentions for ideas and range. A minority say the catalogue photos look overly enhanced compared with what they achieved in real life.
Many reviews highlight healthy, vigorous bulbs, strong flowering, and unusual varieties. Others report plants and bulbs arriving damaged, rotten, or incorrect, sometimes in poor condition. These mixed accounts show customers either receive robust stock or face major quality problems on arrival.
Many reviews describe slow replies, emails that go unanswered, and a phone line they can’t get through on. A smaller group mention useful updates and acceptable responses when replacements were provided. Several reviewers connect poor communication with refunds and credit taking too long and staying unresolved.
Reviews split sharply between repeat customers reporting years of good buying and others describing recent breakdowns in service and delivery. The gap shows up in what arrives, how issues are handled, and how couriers treat parcels. That divide shapes whether people recommend buying again.
For each review, the core experience based on original source reviews.
Sources: Trustpilot (40) · Reviews (20) · Reviews (1) · Quotes shortened · As of: February 2026
Dahlia tubers arrived damaged with broken necks and poor packaging.
“the tubers inside had most of their necks broken.”
Enjoys the variety and unique finds at Sarah Raven and events.
“Always enjoy the lovely choices at Sarah Raven.”
Positive initial experience buying tomboncino seeds and additional varieties.
“So far so good, i was looking for tomboncino seeds and opted to buy lots more.”
Clematis bought in the sale died and underperformed compared to supermarkets.
“Clematis ordered in sale have died.”
Longtime customer praises consistent good quality and helpful website information.
“Always good quality plants.”
Long-term customer impressed by prompt replacement and reliable service.
“it was replaced immediately without a problem”
Enjoys an abundance of beautiful blooms and wishes for more space.
“As always a cornucopia of beautiful blooms.”
Regular buyer pleased with selection, product quality and informative guidance.
“The products have always been good quality and I find the information provided with the plants really informative.”
Catalogue images seem exaggerated, but sweet peas were successful this year.
“Once again pumped up colours in the catalogue”
Consistently receives great flowers from this supplier.
“Great flowers always.”
Waiting for a replacement and received no reply after ten days.
“after silence for 10 days”
Ordered desired species; they arrived on time and as healthy bulbs.
“They arrived at correct time in season, arrived as healthy bulbs, and just very straightforward.”
Buys sweet peas annually and finds them reliable and admired.
“I purchase my sweet peas from Sarah Raven every year, very reliable and always admired”
Longtime shopper praises quality, timely deliveries and informative emails.
“The plants, bulbs and tubers are always very good quality, vigorous and healthy.”
Website and ordering are easy, and product quality is excellent.
“Marvellous ideas, easy website & ordering made simple.”
Calendar was returned twice by courier and customer service did not resolve.
“Evri have returned it twice to them with no explanation.”
Customer service was unhelpful about a damaged and missing order.
“Dealing with Customer Services was shocking.”
Positive long-term experience with easy ordering and good plant selection.
“Very good web site and selection f plants. Ordering easy and purchases over the years all very good.”
Purchased a beautiful vase at a good sale price; very satisfied.
“It was beautiful, and at a very good price in the sale.”
Praises great quality and the team's efforts to find new plants.
“Great quality and the ravens are always looking out for new plants to delight and inspire”
Seed ordering was easy with many choices; awaiting planting results.
“Process was easy and lots to chose from.”
Seeds arrived in a box making postage seem wasteful and costly.
“seems a wast when an envelope would have been fine and postage Far less”
Unable to contact anyone for order queries.
“It's impossible to get hold of anyone for an order query”
First-time buyer praised healthy plant and helpful order updates.
“I was very impressed with the packaging of my clematis montana ‘mayleen’”
Reviewer notes excellent choices and great product quality despite price.
“Pricey but quality great.”
Customer received entirely wrong bulbs and experienced poor follow-up.
“we got nothing that we ordered and bulbs I would never want to plant”
Order was cancelled and refunded without explanation after waiting.
“The money has just been refunded without any explanation of why my order has been cancelled.”
Website is easy to navigate and offers good quality unusual plants.
“Easy to navigate website, good quality plants and a wide range of unusual plants..”
Delighted by the autumn catalogue and pleased with top-quality goods.
“I was so delighted with this years autumn catalogue I read it from cover to cover”
Previous tulips were large, colourful and long-lasting, prompting repeat purchase.
“I’ve had tulips before which were enormous, lovely colours and lasted well”
Quality bulbs spoiled by Yodel courier leaving them in rain overnight.
“the driver threw it over our gate”
Longtime customer notes service issues after fulfilment was outsourced.
“service has been exemplary until the switch to outsourced fulfilment when some blips occurred”
Received incorrectly sized plug plants with poor packaging and misrepresentation.
“What I received were 3 x 6cm plug plants”
Courier left bulbs insecurely and customer services became unreachable.
“Yodel eventually provided a photo showing them on the doorstep”
Decided not to place an order after reading other reviews.
“Didn’t order after reading reviews.”
Many tulip bulbs arrived diseased or rotten and complaint was dismissed.
“the rest looked diseased and some were completely rotten.”
Received what felt like a dead tree described as three twigs.
“three twigs in a box”
Customer service phone line disconnected, but discount code later worked.
“The customer service line has been disconnected, making it impossible to speak to a human.”
Consistently best quality bulbs and plants; helpful YouTube videos available.
“Best quality bulbs and plants.”
Split deliveries, damaged items, missing parcel and no customer responses.
“The second part of the order NEVER ARRIVED AT ALL.”
This page combines submitted experiences with public reviews from platforms such as Google, Trustpilot, etc. Recurring points are summarised without changing the content of reviews.
Sarah Raven is a UK gardening brand founded by gardener and author Sarah Raven. It sells seeds, bulbs, plants, and gardening accessories through its online shop and a seasonal printed catalogue. The website offers growing advice, plant profiles, and practical planting guides to help gardeners pick varieties and plan timing. Sarah Raven also publishes books and digital horticulture content, and runs events and courses led by experienced gardeners.