Mail - Rants
Re: The World of the Negotiator of Doom: I would please ask you that you remove me from all further mailings of your Sales Catalogs. Anyone who would put something so negative against the President of the United States be it John Kennedy or Donald Trump does not deserve support. Politics should have nothing to do with getting a sales catalog or enjoying horticulture. I will instruct all companies and clients I come in contact with not to do business with your company in the future.
T.K. via mail 8/2019
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Thank you but, no thank you! Please remove me from your mailing list. I don't need to be exposed to your political opinion. Will buy any plants I might want from another nursery!
S.D. via mail 8/2019
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Please remove my email address from your listing. My new year resolution is to stop doing business with companies that push their own agenda. (I.e. remarks about Trumps wall.) And since your company does not need me amongst the thousands you have, I politely request no further emails. Thank you!
C.B. via email 1/2017
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I love the wide variety of plants you offer, but I was highly disappointed when I came across the description for the following listing this morning: Asarum 'Woodlander's Select'
“In late spring, the base of the deer-resistant wild ginger clump is adorned with giant silver dollar-sized flowers that look like Lindsay Lohan's bloodshot eyes awakening after a three day drunk.”
I’m not easily offended. I’m just saddened that I had to read more hateful, pop culture, trash talking while in a place I go to escape that – nature and my garden. I understand whoever wrote it believes it to be funny, but it’s in poor taste and reflects on your brand image as such.
N.S. via email 5/2016
I like your plants, your website, and the people I've dealt with when I've had questions--you are an excellent resource! But could you lose the political and social commentary? I like a bit of humor in a website, but the comments about the NSA, FBI, Lindsey Lohan -- aren't particularly funny, and they really don't have anything to do with plants.
F.S. via email 3/2016
I just received your latest catalogue (Spring 2016) and had a question for you. Were the owners of the nursery politicizing their viewpoints via the depiction of Trump as Abby Normal and Clinton as POTUS, or were they simply attempting to be cute given the current campaign season?
Both gardeners who identify as conservative and gardeners who identify as progressives (I prefer the term liberal) share at least some common ground (oops! a pun) in a passion for gardening. Perhaps our leaders should garden together...now that would be bipartisan!!
I sincerely hope that aspects of the catalogue cover page were an oversight and not representative of anyone's particular viewpoint at Plant Delights.
D.M. via email 1/2016
I found your statement "...has been a real trooper in out garden where we kill more geraniums that Saddam Hussain did dissidents." to be highly offensive and completely disgusting.
Saddam Hussain killed thousands upon thousands of Kurds, simply because they had different religious beliefs that his. My son was in Iraq twice to help liberate the Iraqi people from this madman and his sons. Many young Americans gave their ultimate sacrifice by losing their lives in this war.
I hope you will remove this language immediately and reprimand whoever was so thoughtless as to write such a thing.
I will be checking back to see that you have done this.
L.H. via email 6/2014
Tony……shame on you! And all the other people who tell us what we should and should not do in our own gardens.
Nowhere do I hear people shouting, “Pear Murder!” when seeing an espaliered pear tree, or “Boxwood Murder” when seeing a perfectly square hedge, or "Loropetalum Murder" even tho it shears off the blossoms, and so on and so on and so on.
I could find nothing on the internet that indicated that the unfortunate practice of severely pruning Crape Myrtle trees actually harmed them. We see very old trees here in the Lowcountry which continue blooming reliably every year, even after being docked year after year.
I don’t happen to find docked Crape Myrtles particularly attractive, but that’s me. I am not so arrogant that I would accuse people who don’t agree with me of murder!
And comparing pruning a Crape Myrtle to waterboarding? Really! What is "out of whack" is this comparison. Even tongue in cheek, this goes too far.
You really need to lighten up. So much anger is bad for your health.
S. via email 4/2014
Plant Delights:
It might be wise to take this comment to heart. Your nursery will probably have better growth in sales if you do.
Who is writing the copy on plant descriptions?
Does your editorial or marketing staff have an editor in chief that can help set the tone?
I ask this because I am a good representative of your demographic, avid gardener.
The downside is: The copy is mostly written with sexual innuendo and from a misogynic view point.
I think you have some wonderful specimens, however I feel compelled to shy away because of the writing being in poor taste and unprofessional. It feels to your customer that it may be representative of the culture of your nursery.
Too bad it is so negative. For that reason I will not purchase plants from you.
K.P. via email 5/2012
Once again, I was close to ordering a few plants from you, because you selection really is wonderful, even if they usually arrive small, and upon reading your newsletter, I was reminded of what a fascist turd Tony is
Brava Tony! I realize that you are raking money hand over fist, but just think how well you would do if you didn't alienate so many customers with your fascist tea party style rants in your newsletters.
T.M in NC 4/2011
Dear Plant Delights:
Upon receiving your catalog today, I became very intersted in your extensive plant listings. But as I glanced back at the cover with David Letterman trashing Sarah Palin, I realized that you do not deserve any of my money, not now nor in the future. I would suggest that you keep your liberal politics to yourself. Also you might think about how silly you are to think this is cute and trendy.
M.G. via email 1/2010
I very much enjoy your plants and catalog but would enjoy them immensely more if you would keep your politics to yourself which you often discuss in sarcastic tones. As I don't agree with them it takes a good bit of the pleasure away from the thought of buying your plants which are some of the most expensive sold be mail order nurseries.
A. G. via email 4/2010
Hey guys,
Hi. I've been reading nursery catalogues for over 30 years. I've never had any complaints; much of what I know comes from closely reading them. However ... I have to say I find yours completely offensive and unacceptable. Please don't send any more, unless you have something more than the lascivious, the sexually suggestive and the otherwise completely unnecessary comments to make. I will add that yes, I ordered three dahlias from you. They arrived; they are alive. But I have never EVER heard of sending pre-planted bulbs, corms, tubers, etc. I would suggest that this might be the reason yours were remarkably more expensive than the norm (and the shipping, too). Sorry; I'm sure you're nice guys, but please don't think the overall tone of your publication was acceptable. It wasn't.
S.E.E. 5/2010
PDN:
I recently received your catalogue and want to express my objections and disgust with the "artwork" on the cover, which I judge to be bigoted, homophobic and in very poor taste. Please remove my name from your mailing lists and cease all communications with me.
Your company should be ashamed to distribute this disgraceful piece of garbage, and I will not stop here in broadcasting my outrage.
Sincerely,
P.S. 1/2009
PDN:
That is really disgusting crap you send out as a catalog cover. Go watch your Fox News and don't bother me anymore. No more catalogs, no more email updates. There will be no more orders. I don't need any right-wing fruitcakes sending me stuff.
B.G. via email 1/2009
To Whoever:
I saw your catalog at a friend's home and thought you might be a good source of plants for our garden. Then I looked more closely at your Fall 2008 Sales Catalog front cover and found it to be offensively sexist. So I'll go elsewhere for my plants. I'll stay anonymous - don't want future catalogs.
G.C. in Ohio 1/2009.
Plant Delights:
"As the flowers age they dump their seed near the base of the plant, so when you have enough babies, a little horticultural circumcision does the trick ... of course now that we're headed toward nationalized plant care, why should you worry how many babies you have?"
I don't expect or even want a response, but I had to point out how tacky I think it is to have political slants on a plant shopping site? Ugh ugh ugh. So my response was to close the tab of my shopping cart. I'll seek bipartisan plants elsewhere :D
Have a great day!
S. via email 9/2009
Plant Delights:
You have great plants, but I don't wish to ever again receive a catalog or e-mail from you. I did not appreciate the pot shots you took at Hillary Clinton on the cover of your spring catalog. We've just suffered through the worst president ever, and I have to assume that you're part of the low I.Q. group who voted for him (twice!!).
B. N. in LA
I was going to order some plants till I got your catalog and saw the cover. You ought to stay out of politics and go to see SICKO.
R.D.T. via email 3/2008
dear plant delights,
i was very offended by the the tony on the road article on crepe myrtles. i enjoy funny articles and a good play on words, etc., but i sincerely feel like the comparison of a poorly pruned tree being the same as what terrorists do is just plain inappropriate and has no place in a "gardening" article. surely, the author of this article could have used his wit in a much less offensive manner. what a great way to lose your customers and any potentially new ones by calling those who may have made this pruning mistake an al-qaeda murderer.
i hope you will send an apology to your customers and remove this article from your website. sincerely,
R.J. In GA 7/2008
evans, ga
PDN:
I recently received the Fall 2008 catalog and was disgusted at the cover.This was only the second catalog I have received from your company, but if this is the type of advertising relied on to sell your products I will not be a customer. Please remove the below customer information from your files immediately:
L.H. in Michigan 8/2008
Dear Plant Delights:
I read your previous email regarding your opinion that global warming is not a reality and is still a "debate." This is unfortunate, because I have enjoyed your nursery and was planning on making some large purchases from you as I finish landscaping a home in Marfa, Texas, and in San Antonio. I do not feel, however, given your editorial sales methods and refusal to believe the conclusions of the scientific community, that I can in good conscience purchase from your nursery. Please remove me from your mailing list immediately.
I was willing to overlook your boorish and often offensive cartoons, but your disregard for the environmental destruction of our planet and the consequences of global warming, which are very real, and which are the results of both greed and ignorance forces me to make this decision not to patronize your nursery and to let others know who I have recommended your nursery of this decision. I think it would be wiser for you to stick to selling plants, and leave science to those who know better.
Regretfully,
R. S. in Texas 6/2007
A co-worker just showed me this catalog as something I could read during lunch.
As soon as I saw the title - Gardening Jihad - I was disgusted. This is not an amusing term nor a way to sell flowers. Our people and theirs are dying in the middle east and if jihadists get their way, we will be dying here in America again. Whoever created this has no concept of what he or she did. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
J. M. via email 8/2007
Please remove my name from your e-mail list. It's bad enough George Bush is the sorry president of this country and the cause of its tremendously damaged image. I don't need biased thinking in my plant salespeople too.
R.T. via email 9/2007
To Whom it May Concern,
Please take me off your mailing list!!!! Your catalog is repulsive, and embarrassing.
C. K. in AK 2/2007
Dear Plant Delights:
I just received your Spring Catalog and was sickened by what you people find amusing. Do you really think that JIHAD is a joke ? Please remove my name from your mailing list as I have no intention of doing business with a company that finds humor in portraying America's struggle in a tasteless cartoon.
L.H. in IL 2/2007
To "plant delights"
I got the link to your website from the otherwise excellent book "Gardens to Go" - where it is listed as a source of container plants. Perhaps you cannot imagine my disgust to see your cover "Gardening Jihad" - I thought it might be a horribly mistaken attempt at humor, an aberration - and then I looked at your other catalog titles, mocking a center for the illegal detention of prisoners of war, using terrorism as light comic relief.
I would be amazed if you haven't received what you so ridiculously call "rants" from families of soldiers who have died in Iraq contributing fodder, apparently, to your idea of "humor." I am absolutely sickened to even have looked at this repulsive, incredibly insensitive and gross site. There is no excuse for this outrageous, stupid coarseness.
Sincerely,
R.A.B. via email 6/2007
Dear Plant Delights:
We are sure this will not be the only response of this sort that you will receive concerning your 2007 Spring Catalog mailing. We find the cover to be of very poor taste and offensive to surviving family members of the armed forces. My mother lost my father 44 years ago in active duty, she eventually married my present Father whom served 22 years in the service.
C.W. in GA 1/2007
Dear Plant Delights:
I just received your new catalog. I have to let you know how shocked I was by the cover. I find nothing funny in the man planting a tree reminiscent of the famous photo of Iwo Jima nor in the cartoons of Arab-looking and Asian-looking gardeners. Jihad is not a joke. It is a religious idea that has been corrupted to justify wholesale slaughter of innocent human beings. The PLO satirized by your Plant Liberation Front truck, was established in order to annihilate the state of Israel. The war in Iraq isn't funny either. Neither are cartoons of racial stereotypes amusing. What were you thinking? I love your plants and the rest of the catalog, but what are you thinking?
C.E. in NY 1/2007
Dear Plant Delights:
We got our first catalog from you folks last year, and thought the catalog and especially, the cover, a delight. Although we spent considerable time looking at your plants, we didn't order but did have extensive notes to ourselves about several sets of things we could put in a new bed this spring.
Now we are so appalled by the new catalog's cover, and especially the use of the word "jihad," that we've decided to look elsewhere.
Of course, anything can be a subject for gallows humor if you're there on the spot. And I would join you in a heartbeat in mocking our President's use of the term "axis of evil." But with the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate rendering thousands jobless, displaced and scared, 3000 American soldiers dead in Iraq, ten times that number maimed, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead... Somehow, a "jihad" anything, garden or otherwise, just isn't funny. It is offensive. Even tossing in the president of Iran and the wacko in North Korea doesn't make it funny.
The whole thing is very ill-advised. I'm sad that you've tainted your fine company in this manner.
S. S. via email 1/2007
To Plant Delights:
I received your catalog last week and was very dismayed by the cover cartoon. I did not find it the least bit amusing. To link gardening and the war on terror is ignorant and offensive. It really repulsed me, and while the rest of your catalog was informative and gorgeous, I can't get past the cover, and I question the thought-process of any editor who would send out this catalog with this cover to represent their business. Needless to say, I will not be a customer.
J. R. in WA 2/2007
To: The Editor,
As an ex-navy veteran and parent of an American fighting Marine I take serious offense to your latest catalog cover, Your comic portrayal of the flag rising on Iwo Jima is an insult to every Marine and especially to those Marines and Sailors who gave their lives on that island. I have never in my sixty some years seen anyone portray the flag rising on Iwo as other than a solemn event. You've done a great disservice to the American fighting man, the US Marine Corp. and those men who lost their lives on Iwo.
B. L. via email 1/2007
Plant Delights:
Take this 'Jihad' and stick it up..... You have some nerve take me off list
S.G. in NY 1/2007
Plant Delights:
I am shocked and appalled by your cover! Inflammatory and tasteless as well as insensitive and bigoted
K.K. in WA 1/2007
Dear Plant Delights:
I love your magazine, but using the word 'jihad' is offensive. My opinion has nothing to do with political correctness. The term has associations that are dire to this country's security. The title you used is in extremely poor taste.
Disappointed,
Z. M. via email 1/2007
Dear Plant Delights:
I just received a copy of your recent catalog and am appalled at your cover! It is extremely inappropriate as well as disrespectful. Your use of sterotypes in your caricatures is in very poor taste not to mention politically incorrect. What are you people thinking? It does not speak well of your company in a time when our schools are doing everything they can to foster cultural sensitivity. Shame on you and especially those who approved this for publication!
Are you in the business of selling plants or is your main thrust making political statements? Maybe you need to rethink this issue if the above is any indication of the reaction you elicit from your potential customers with your catalog.
J.D. via email 1/2007
Hey Folks:
What is going on with you in your offices. I have always loved your catalogs and especially your quirky sense of humor. Either you are incredibly stupid there or just plain ignorant. Jihad is a muslim term meaning holy war and the deaths of many people to that cause. American kids and civilians are dying at this very moment in Iraq. What a mistake on your part. How dare you compare my profession with religious madmen. Needless to say it will be a cold day in August before I even glance at your order form.
Yours most sorrowfully,
J. S. via email 1/2007
Dear Plant Delight staff,
I work for the (name withheld) in Berkeley and have today received your publication in the mail. I am writing to express my shock and discomfort with your title and cover page "Gardening Jihad." I feel that you have misused this word and created a space for religious and political tensions and stereo typing.
While I understand the expression of a gardening revolution/liberation, using 'jihad' --a politically heavy word that is unfortunately spreading across the country for colloquial use, do you really mean to say we need to start a holy war to fight for gardening. Please reconsider using such sensitive wording and depiction. This publication is being spread throughout the country and represents your organization in a negative and distasteful light.. Plants are so beautiful in their own rite and need not require such a stretch of a metaphor.
Sincerely,
D. N. in CA 1/2007
Plant Delights:
Looking online for bulbs, I find your website, and find that you not only sell garden plants, but you also sell political commentary. You're a bunch of f******* ass**** Why don't you get that corncob out your ass or c*** and sell that too? Liberal and foul-mouthed, but not a murderer and liar like George Bush.
D.B. via email 12/2006
To Whomever It May Concern:
I was very surprised and shocked and disappointed to see the description in your catalog for a certain plant #07144 "Miner's Claim Angel Trumpet". It says ..."this baby is hotter than a $50 whore from downtown New Orleans ..... in August." I truly believe that you could have chosen a different way of describing its value and attractiveness than that. First, as a mother, I was thankful that my 11yr old son wasn't reading the catalog yet, as he does sometimes because he likes the plants like I do. Second, I am sure that there are ladies of the night in every corner of the world; and the city of New Orleans, with all the tragedy they have suffered in the last year, don't need a potshot taken at them in this manner. Please be more careful as to the descriptions you use for your plants, because you might have children looking through your fine catalog with their parents among other things. Please respond to this email, because I am moving very soon, and would like to know that you have gotten my message. Thanks for your time and response to this matter.
Sincerely,
J. M. via email 10/2006
Dear PDN:
Well - kudos for the worst and most inscrutable website on the entire internet. I can read about you cats, but for the life of me cannot figure out how to access a simple index of things you actually sell, picture of same, along with prices- Surely - if this is a business - you could get someone to help you with your website. Jeez.
A. K. in GA 6/2006
Plant Delights:
I HAVE JUST READ ABOUT YOUR 'ADVENTURES' IN ARGENTINA. I'M BRITISH LIVING IN ARGENTINA, MARRIED TO AN ARGENTINE AND I'M SICK OF YOU TOURISTS THAT COME HERE AND CRITICISE THE COUNTRY. IF HOME IS SO BLOODY GREAT WHY DON'T YOU STAY THERE! THE POINT OF TRAVELLING TO OTHER COUNTRIES IS TO EXPERIENCE DIFFERENT WAYS OF LIVING, CUSTOMS, TASTES ETC. NOT COMPARING IT CONTINUALLY WITH HOME AND COMPLAINING ABOUT IT. TRY TO BE A BIT MORE OPEN MINDED. THE ARGENTINES HAVE A DIFFERENT ATTITUDE TO LIFE THAT COMES FROM THE SPANISH/ITALIAN/EUROPEAN MIX. SO THE BEEF AND THE WOMEN IMPRESSED YOU - JUST SHOWS HOW SMALL MINDED YOU ARE. IT IS A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY SO I'M SORRY IF YOU COULDN'T GET ALL THE HOT WATER YOU WANTED, SOME PEOPLE DON'T HAVE WATER TO DRINK. VISITING ARGENTINA WOULD HAVE BEEN CHEAP FOR YOU AND IF YOU'RE STUPID ENOUGH TO LEAVE A BAG WITH YOUR PASSPORT IN IT UNATTENDED...PLEASE. I GUESS YOU DON'T HAVE CRIME IN THE GOOD OLD U.S. OF A.! I'M GLAD YOU MANAGED TO TAKE WHAT YOU NEEDED FROM THIS COUNTRY. YOUR REPORT WORKS AS A FORM OF ADVERTISING AND AS ALL YOU DID WAS GO FROM HOTELS, TO RESTAURANTS AND GUIDED TOURS OF PLANTLIFE, I'D BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WRITE IN THE FUTURE. THIS COUNTRY IS WORKING ON GETTING BACK ON ITS FEET - I AGREE IT IS NOT PERFECT BUT NAME ME ONE COUNTRY THAT IS.
R.S. in Argentina 12/2005
Plant Delights:
You will be hearing from the BBB. I will not encourage any of the people I know to buy from your company. You ship plants that die and will not send us new ones or refund almost $80.00 that we spent. As far as I am considered your company is made up of robbers. Your owner WILL be hearing from us.
D. S. via email 4/2006
To: Plant Delights Shipping Manager:
STILL PUZZLED AND CONCERNED? WHICH PLANT WAS THAT? FREE OF CHARGE? REALLY. SO FAR I HAVE SPENT 60 DOLLARS ON NOTHING BUT A CHEAP TROPICANNA. SEND PROOF YOU SENT SOME PLANT FREE OF CHARGE. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A NAME FOR IT. WHAT? DON'T HAVE ANY PROOF? BIG SURPRISE. ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT TWO CHEAP TROPICANNA CANNAS? I GOT THOSE. WHICH OF THE MANY PLANTS THAT YOU SENT ME IN YOUR DREAMS WERE THOSE SUPPOSED TO BE? EXTRA PLANTS? PLANTS FREE OF CHARGE? DULPLICATE PLANTS? THAT WOULD BE A CHEAP DOWDY CANNA WORTH NOTHING TO ANYONE, SENT INSTEAD OF A PHAISSON. YOU SENT NO REPLACEMENTS. SEND PROOF. THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE. SO WOULD A JUDGE. WHAT REPLACEMENT ORDER DID YOU SEND IN YOUR DREAMS? SEND PROOF. AND THEN YOU DUPLICATED IT? SEND PROOF. NOW. SO FAR I HAVE ONLY TWO CHEAP, VERY PLAIN CANNAS RECEIVED IN THE CANNA PHAISSON WRAPPER, AND TWO TROPICANNA CANNAS SENT LATER. ENTITLED? GUESS WHAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO? A NICE SMIRCH ALL OVER YOUR COMPANY. YOU'LL GET IT, TOO. THE FIRST TIME I TOLD YOU THAT YOU SENT THE WRONG PLANT, YOU ASKED FOR CLARIFICATION ABOUT THAT FOR TWO MONTHS. YOU TOLD ME YOU COULDN'T SEE WHICH PLANT I WAS TALKING ABOUT IN THE PICTURE. THERE WAS ONLY ONE TYPE OF PLANT IN THE PICTURE. YOU WENT ON ABOUT THAT LOOKING FOR "CLARIFICATION" FOR A WHILE. YOU FINALLY TOLD ME YOU WOULD SEND ME A NEW PHAISSON IN SPRING. YOU DIDN'T. YOU SENT TWO CHEAP CANNA TROPICANNAS. REFUND. NOW. WELL THAT MIGHT BE BECAUSE I DIDN'T RECEIVE ANY. GET A CLUE. AND SEND PROOF. IT MIGHT BE NICE IF YOU WERE RETARDED, BUT YOU ARE PROBABLY JUST TRYING TO RUN A CON. WELL, IS THIS THE RIGHT REPLY TO THE RIGHT DEPARTMENT? IS THIS SPECIFIC ENOUGH FOR YOU? ARE YOU GETTING A CLUE YET? THIS IS THE SECOND TIME I'VE SENT THIS INFORMATION. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND? DO YOU NEED CLARIFICATION THAT YOU NEED TO SEND ME PROOF? SEND ME PROOF. DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH? HERE IS PROOF THAT YOU SENT ME TWO CHEAP TROPICANNAS. WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR YOUR CONFUSED BRAIN? HOW MANY DUPLICATES, REPLACEMENTS, AND FREE PLANTS IS THAT TO YOU? NICE TRY. ACTUALLY, A FEEBLE TRY. HOW MANY OF MY EMAILS DO YOU WANT TO SEE AGAIN THAT YOU THINK YOU NEVER GOT? GUESS WHO REALLY DOES HAVE PROOF? APPARENTLY NOT YOU. WHO IS YOUR ABOVE PARAGRAPH WRITTEN TO? HE IS THE ONE I SHOULD BE TALKING TO. ANSWER THE ABOVE QUESTION HERE. NOW. AHHHH. A TELEPHONE NUMBER. YOU WILL BE HEARING FROM ME. AND THE REST OF YOUR COMPANY WILL BE TOO.
D.B. in NJ 6/2006
Dear Tony....I wasted an hour plus putting together a healthy selection of plants, primarily for the greenhouse. And THEN, whilst reading a description of an amorphophallus (I have purchased several from you), I stumbled upon your stupid remark about John Kerry's defoliation of Viet Nam. REMEMBER DOW CHEMICAL AND ITS REPUBLICAN STOCKHOLDERS ?
Well, I will not let this raise my blood pressure....I do not even like Kerry....I will just try to visualize Dick Cheney packing his bags for parts unknown.
Take me off your mailing lists, please. I need to cool down and pray to Buddha for my Country.
M. M. in NY 10/2005
Dear Plant Delights Nursery,
I recently requested a catalog and was very pleased to receive it promply. While I must say the plant selection and picture of plants were both above average, and prices were not out of line. But unfortunatly I will not be ordering & would appreciate your removing my name for future catalogs. I'm sorry to say I am extremly disappointed in your plant descubtions. The constant referal to sex & sexual topics was very unbusiness like & quite rude. I like to laugh as much as the person, But I feel like a time & place for everything. I don't think a plant magazine is the appropriate place. I have a 10 year old niece who enjoys my gardening magazines & loves to help pick out new plants & she does read the describtions of plants. God say Lust is one of the things causing trouble, if in plant magazines, I can't let a 10 year old read, Id say things have deteriatted to a frightning level & the Lord may be very upset with us all. Please rethink your style & if you chage, I would be pleased to receive a cataloge & place an order. I spend several hundred a year on planting my 10 acre garden. Unfortunatly this is one garden you won't have business from as long as Lust or sexual thinking are a top priority for you. Please excuse my poor spelling & not to neat writing. God be with you & guide you, He does love us all & his son Jesus died for our sins. Which we all have & do sin, so please don't feel Im saying you are a bad person, just misguided at this time.
D.G. in IL 2/2006
Dear Folks,
We have recently received two of your catalogs. We appreciate the wonderful variety of plants and flowers you cultivate and sell. However, your attempts at sarcastic humor are just too much. If we want that, we will listen to a radio talk show. (Perhaps you should consider hosting one yourselves, and separating the nursery business from the commentary business. Either venture would probably be more successful than your current combination, which we find distracting at best, and distasteful most of the time.) Please remove us from your mailing list, as we will be taking our nursery business to more tasteful proprietors. Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
S. W. in NC 1/2006
To: Plant Delights:
I am an avid plant buyer and I purchase a great deal from catalogs and the internet. I want you to clearly understand that your cover is so offensive that no matter what you sell, I will NEVER buy anything from you. I can only assume that your staff lost their collective minds. Get a clue, there is nothing funny about this.
S. H. in California 8/2005
Hello,
Please take me off your mailing list. I find your cover insulting! I understand it is a cartoon, but I think it is in poor taste to make fun of people being tortured!
L. S. in OK 8/2005
To: Plant Delights
Substituting Hortus 111 for the Koran, a take off on Lyndie England and leash, wall irons, ceiling irons, bagged heads--where else would you have culled such images had they not been photographed at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo (Guantanamo). What will it be next time as a backdrop, Austwitch? Take me off your mailing list.
P.H. 8/2005
To Tony at Plant Delights:
I have meant to write for some time- ever since your fall catalogue arrived, in fact. You have many interesting plants that I would like to grow. However, I was so horrified by your fall cover that I put the catalogue into the wood stove without opening it. There was, is, and will never be anything funny about the abuse of prisoners, whether they are human or plant. I suppose I will one day purchase from you again, but for this fall, I found the plants I wanted elsewhere.
H. C. via email 11/2005
Dear Plant Delights:
I usually look forward to receiving your catalog. However the catalog I received today left me very angry. The cover is is beyond tasteless, it is insensitive to the needless and illegal suffering of other fellow human beings. Remove my name from your mailing list immediately.
V.Z. 8/2005
Dear Plant Delights:
I was absolutely horrified to see the cover of the 2005 catalog for Plant Delight's Nursery. I've noticed the other covers in passing, but I could not decipher the message conveyed by them, though they always seemed obscurely political. This time, however, the message was clear and unmistakable: the suffering of people detained at Abu Graib prison is laughable, the atrocities committed by our own soldiers are something to mock, and the efforts of citizen groups like the ACLU to protect the basic rights of all of us are the work of "politically correct" cranks. That you could make light of such serious matters, when houses of horror like the Abu Graib prison (created by the stupidity of war planners, who put a dozen poorly trained soldiers in charge of literally hundreds of prisoners) smear America's good name around the globe, leaving our own soliders open to abuse and torture at the hands of their captors, is a sign of a shocking lack of moral reasoning and basic judgement. As a customer, I demand an explanation and as a fellow American with relatives and friends serving in Iraq and Afganisthan I expect an apology.
Sincerely,
E. K in NY
To Plant Delights:
I received your new 2005 Fall sales catalog today. The front cover illustration showing the "Gitmo plant evaluation center" was in very poor taste. I was quite offended by it and I did not look further into your catalog because of the cover. Please take me off your mailing list.
A.S. in NC 8/2005
Hi Plant Delights:
My wife and I just received your "2005 Fall Sales Catalog and Plant Owner's Manual." We were very offended by Jack Pittman's "Gitmo Plant Evaluation Center" cartoon also found at:
www.plantdelights.com In light of 9/11, the war on terror and the false reporting by the news media, "Gitmo" is a still a valuable asset to our nation's security. The people managing the facility are doing the best job that they can. To mock them is to mock all Americans and what we stand for. We ask you to replace the cartoon (one the web and catalog/manual) with one that is apolitical and tasteful.
Thank you,
R.M 8/2005
Dear Staff
Upon receiving my latest Plant Delights Nursery, Inc. catalog, 2005 fall issue; I began to scan the pages for something that would catch my eye. Well, boy, did I ever!!!! Right there on pages 6 & 7 were two unusuals plants. Page 6 #G, page 7 #K . As I began to read the description of the first one I was flabbergasted. Couldn't believe what I had read. But, I proceeded with the second item and to my dismay it was even more profound than the first one. I was shocked that your catalog or any catalog for that matter, would have these kinds of descriptions without a warning about the language content. Perhaps others do not read the detailed description or are not offended by what they read? I'm not here to judge; just to let you know my thoughts and feelings. Please do not send any further catalogs to me.
Thank you
customer# 176097 8/2005
Dear Plant Delights:
I have enjoyed many a cover by Jack Pittman by the last was beyond the pale in its insensitivity. Making mockery of the torture which goes on to this day in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib (including that of children) is hardly what one would expect from a plant catalog. Imagine that both these prisons held abused Americans instead, and you received this illustration from an Iraqi, what would you think? There's nothing funny about torture and the images are still too raw to see any merit in this illustration.
P. H. 8/2005
Dear Plant Delights:
You have a delightful website and my husband and I recently ordered several plants. However, we just received your print catalog and I found your cover disgraceful. I know you usually have a great taste in humor but you failed on this one. Gitmo is very serious and to compare the tactics used on alledged Muslim terrorists to plants is embarrassing and unpatriotic. Especially the likening of the Koran to Hortus III is downright sickening. If you meant the cover to be distasteful and sickening, you succeeded but I don't think you'll sell more plants.
L.C. in NC 8/2005
To: Plant Delights:
I have enjoyed your magazine with its clever covers for several years, but I am truly disgusted with your cover this year. It is a disgusting insult to our honorable soldiers who are protecting our freedom from terrorists who would kill us. Please never send me another magazine again. I can never support your business in good consciousness after this.
T.J. in MO 8/2005
Your gitmo cover seriously crosses the line from humor into mindless political banter. It just isn't funny and serves no legitimate business purpose. I think you people are sick. If you wanted to piss people off, you succeeded in no small measure. You and Michael Moore have a lot in common, he is an idiot also. Please remove my name from your mailing lists
- there will be no further business.
Thank You:
R.S. 8/2005
To: Plant Delights:
I recently received your 2005 Fall Sales Catalog and was absolutely outraged at the picture (Gitmo Plant Evaluation Center) on the front cover. Our brave men and women in uniform are risking and sacrificing their lives daily to protect our freedoms and our lives, only to be treated to such disgusting vilification and mischaracterization. My husband and I are both veterans and know the the quality and dedication of our troops firsthand, including their devotion to fight, and if necessary die, to protect your right to print such propaganda. Stunning, isn't it? Please remove my name from your mailing list, as I will not support a company with such unbelievable ingratitude and disrespect for our troops.
Thank you,
A.W. in NC 8/2005
Hello:
i just have to ask... am i the only person who has looked at your catalog & finds the name "domestic violence" black & blue salvia (Salvia guaranitica) highly bizarre, disturbing and weird?? why in the world would any sane person want to associate a flower name with domestic violence? whose idea was that anyway.. is that supposed to be funny and cute? or, did a hacker get into your website and put that there? i just don't understand why else someone would come up with that name, of all things, for a flower. it's kind of sick... and not a very smart marketing idea, don't you think.......??? i do have a sense of humor, i just find this incredibly weird and it certainly doesn't make the flower (or your catalog) seem very appealing at all... who is it that you're marketing to anyway, wife-beaters & child abusers??
sincerely disgusted,
R. in TX 8/2005
Dear Plant Delights Nursery, Inc.
I received your catalog in the mail today, and I have to say i found it in extremely poor taste -- so much so that I would not purchase any plants from you. I'm sure you meant no harm by the cover and you obviously have the right to use any humor you want. But as a potential customer, I choose not to purchase from a group that makes a joke out of torture. I found the cover quite grusome. What's happening in the world is upsetting and distressing and we as a country face difficult questions about how to handle interrigations of terror suspects. I don't support torture as an interrigation method, but I don't suppose someone who does would find your cover any more appealing or appropriate.
I don't like the idea of mixing politics and gardening, especially where the implication is the plants have been tortured in grusome ways.
Thanks for listening to my feedback and best of luck to you.
N.U. in MD 8/2005
Greetings!
BOO!! Jack Pittman doesn't impress me any more than other political cartoonists - a bunch of bleeding heart liberals- and shame on you for using his effort at humor. Gitmo isn't a joke and the idiots who think it should be dismantled - - I suggest if it is that the bad guys get sent to their house. Some who have been released have gone back to war and at least one has been killed fighting our guys
- AGAIN! File 13 for the catalogue!
Thanx,
B.B. 8/2005
To Plant Delights:
I think that the cover of your latest catalogue is in the worst possible taste and, indeed, downright offensive. Abuse, torture and murder of prisoners is a disgrace to our nation and should not be treated in a "comical" manner. Shame on you!
F.W. 8/2005
Dear Plant Delights:
I received your catalog a few days ago and was IMMEDIATELY insulted by the way YOUR company is part of promoting the- "stab you in the back", "bullying","proneocon","corrupt corporate","kick em' when they're down" mentality.You know perfectly well what I'm referring to,but I'll mention it for you just in-case the brain washing excuses have kicked in. I'm extremely upset that you would disrespect John Kerry and Michael Moore this way,you've also disrespected decency and a lot of Americans and (get this) POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS!!! SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! I thought your company dealt with plants and related subjects, I didn't know you were now a P.A.C. And NO this isn't just "sour grapes" !! I will get those from a co. that KNOWS it's business and STICKS WITH IT!! PLEASE take me off your catalog list!!!
S. H. via e-mail 1/2005
Dear Plant Delights:
I picked up a copy of your catalogue at the annual spring symposium of the Atlanta perennial plant association. It's a beautiful book, but I won't buy anything, and will avoid using it as a reference. I don't think it's a very good idea to express your political opinions in your catalogue. It just gets me hot under the collar and I don't need that. Partisan politics is poisoning all phases of our society; please, let's keep it out of gardening.
R.D. in GA 4/2005
Hi,
just came across your web site and am intriqued by the variety, but then I read your rants and spoke to my gardening friends about your company and you guys are really making a name for yourselves, however I never speak or write the names you guys are associated with. You guys are truly pigs in human skins. It may take you a lifetime but you will grow up.
C.S. via email 9/2005
To: Plant Delights:
What the hell?!?!?!?!??!??!?!?! Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue "Domestic Violence Anise Sage"? I guess you've never known a person that fell victim to Domestic Violence, or you wouldn't have come up with this ridiculous nickname.
T. S. 9/2005
To The Staff of Plant Delights Nursery, Inc.
We were happily enjoying your catalog, the first time we've seen it. Appreciate the scientific name along with the more common name. On pages 14 and 15 we were reading about the Voodoo Lily; we've had them for years, delighting friends and family with the flowers (phew), and lovely leafy plants.
Then we came to the description of the lilly that originates in Vietnam. And we wonder: is your catalog a political magazine or nursery catalog." .....weren't destroyed in the '60's when John Kerry burned down countless villages...."You mean the same John Kerry who went to Vietnam on his country's orders while George Bush remained happily and safely esconced in Texas, Alabama or somewhere in between? Or do you have your Johns mixed up-after all, it was John McCain who did most of the burning of villages from the air. But that's even before he was shot down and spent years as a POW.
Political extremists? Wild-eyed Liberals? No, we're just Tired-of-Lousy-Political Comment-Americans who wonder why in the world you found it necessary to use such a nutty description in your otherwise fine catalog.
Admitedly, we haven't read much further in the catalog yet- more surprises to come? Sincerely,
L.K. via email 1/2005
Dear Plant Delights: The cover of your new catalog is extremely offensive. A plants catalog is no place to mock Senator Kerry or Michael Moore; nor is it a place to have "fun" with the passion of Jesus Christ or any other political or religious issue, for that matter.
Shame on you.
E. D. in PA 1/2005
Sir or whatever you call yourself:
I was just about to enjoy your catalog that I received in the mail and progressed up to the item on Amorphophallus coaetaneus (Voodoo Lily). Apparently you were not listening when John Kerry critized the war in Vietnam precisely because of the reason you misleading stated in your plant description. You and your Republican Conservative friends called him a traitor and unpatriotic because he saw first hand what this country was doing to the people and the environment in Vietman and spoke up against it. I was under the impression that your catalog was a gardening catalog and not a political tool of the Republican party. I guess I should have gotten a clue from the cover of the catalog. Although your catalog has come in handy for starting a fire in my wood stove, I would appreciate it if you would not send me another in the future. I do not want it to comtaminate my mailbox and to cause the native plants growing around it to wilt and die. The only way that I would ever pick up your catalog would be in my cold dead hands.
H.L. in NY 1/2005
Dear Plant Delights:
I am quite disappointed with your recent catalogs. I had a list of plants to order from your spring book but the cover seemed racist to me. I took exception to the "white list" sign on the cover. I felt I just couldn't send in my order. Then I thought it was just a mistake until I got your fall catalog today. The "Lily White Flower Farm" and drawing seemed in bad taste. I feel you should know the reason if any of your orders have fallen off.
L.F. in MD 9/2004
Dear Plant Delights:
I want to be removed from your mailing list um because the cover of the new catalog is very offensive um here is a man, Michael Jackson, who has been picked on and shown across the media like some kind of meat, like just some kind of meat. They've torn his life apart. Yes, he's not been completely innocent in that but still and he hasn't been convicted of one charge of child molestation or any kind of thing like that and yet you guys are making fun of him like he already has been convicted but yet there's a whole slew of catholic priests who molested thousands and thousands of little boys but because God forgave them because they prayed that's ok, they are loved again that's alright no one even cares about that oh that's alright they're catholic priests what do you expect yea ok whatever. just remove me from your mailing list and I'm sure you'll be getting several calls about this from friends I have referred to your company for this. Thank you very much and if you would like to contact me my phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. Thank you very much and have a nice day
R.B. in Indiana 11/2004
Dear Plant Delights,
Please drop my name from your mailing list. I've bought things from you and supported you in the past even though it was clear that our political beliefs were different. Your cover on the most recent catalog was it for me, though. I'm not really sure how you figure that Senator Kerry and Mr. Moore are opposed to your right to garden, while the National Rifle Association and the Bush administration they support is in favor of gardening. Perhaps you've missed the dozens of reports from current and former employees of the Environmental Protection Agency, including many Republicans. They report that the Bush administration is gutting all environmental protection and they might as well rename the agency the "Polluters Protection Agency." Plant Delights has benefited in the past from the fact that most liberal gardeners, like me, are kind and forgiving folks. We don't mind supporting a business that has different political and social beliefs than ours. I've chuckled over your catalog covers in the past, but this time you crossed the line. I'd wish you the best of luck with your business but to be honest, I hope that a lot of other liberal gardeners make the decision I made today, which is to take our business elsewhere.
Yours sincerely,
B. K. in Chapel Hill
Dear Plant Delights:
I recently got your catalog and I wanted to tell you that I thought your cover was greatly inappropriate considering that I am in the security industry and we have to deal with these issues all the time. To take such a serious issue and make such a comical event out of it is very upsetting and concerning. We're having enough issues today to try to prove to people how important homeland security is, to have you do something like this is very offensive. Should you want to talk to me about this my name is (garbled). I work for Internet Security Systems. This is a private issue, it doesn't deal with the company. You can reach me at (garbled).
Name Unintelligable, 8/2003
Dear Plant Delights:
You state on your web page that you are privileged to have this "artist" [more like cartoonist because no serious organization would hire this mope] grace your cover with his work. Well, I guess that tells me alot about your beliefs. I am an AMERICAN, born and raised. By the grace of God my father came to this country as a migrant worker, with little or no education. Can you guess where this is going? I hope that by your sense of humor you are intelligent enough to know. My father came from Mexico, along with countless of other immigrants who have came to this country for a better life. We are not drug dealers, terrorists, welfare recipients. We are proud Americans, this now includes my mother and father who are naturalized. There are six siblings in my family, all professionals, all college graduates that contribute to society. What do I do for a living? I'm an U.S. Federal Agent and of a Mexican descent. Judging by your cover, I guess your artists only knows white officers. He really needs to get out more, maybe take some art classes at a real university. By the way, what native American tribe does Pittman come from? Just curious. I belong to several national and local law enforcement community associations, both for All officers and also for Latino Officers and Agents. I am spreading and forwarding this email around pushing for a boycott and even an apology. I am the first to laugh at a good joke, like the taco bell pooch. It was funny. But depicting a Mexican in this manner along with Osama and Hussein is in extremely poor taste. I'm only surprised you so called artist didn't put some "crushed green plant" or "unknown white powder suspect cocaine" in the Mexican hand. You artist's racial stereotypes or profiles need some work.
P. M. via email 9/2003
Re: Agave striata. I did see that particular description in your catalogue last year, and, at that time I felt it was vulgar. For your own edification may I suggest that your look up the definition of "masochist" and "wet dreams". It is not a question of "imagination" or interpretation. Don't bother to send me any more of your catalogues as I find your response to me as offensive as the description.
P.S. via email 2/2004