O'Dowd's Orchids

[Keysguy]

A few weeks ago I was reviewing the posting of the New Hampshire OS annual member auction catalog that was being held at our annual meeting on Aug. 12th. To my dismay there were only a couple of plants of interest to me because most of this years' offering seemed to be mostly either summer bloomers or cool-intermediate growers. Because my collection is at my winter place in FL, those don't work for me.

It was right around the same time that I received an email blast from AOS about one of their "OrchidDeal Wires" with O'Dowd's Orchids. Buy 3, get 1 free with free shipping. I had never heard of them so I pulled up their website and saw quite a few plants available that were on my "list". I figured, what the heck, let's give it a shot seeing as I'm apparently not going to be spending much at the auction.

I ordered Den. antennatum, Epi. porpax, and Den. amethystoglossum through their online website.

The owner, Colleen O'Dowd, responded that she actually was out of the antennatum and apologized profusely and offered to substitute a similar Den. Since I was really doing this because she had specific plants I had been looking for I chose not to do that but asked if she could instead sell me an Angrc. leonis that was in stock. She said no problem.

Colleen emailed me with the tracking number (USPS) and told me, "I'm refunding your money for the antennatum because I didn't have one". I responded, but I took the leonis and it was the same price. She insisted and said she was doing it as a matter of customer satisfaction and hoped I'd buy from her again.

Well.....the package came (2 days to NH from Idaho! . Unfortunately, Colleen got so upset about not having the antennatum, she forgot to pack the porpax.
When I emailed her if she had forgot it she responded "Yes and OMG I forgot your free plant too, I'm so sorry".
I'm like, "Colleen, you already gave me the leonis for free". Nope!

Again, 2 days later, the porpax and a nice little Encyclia (or is it now Prosthechea or Anacheilium??? I give up on this taxonomy stuff) radiata (um) showed up on my doorstep.

I honestly can't say enough about the great experience I had with this vendor. Please give Colleen a try, I'm sure you'll be pleased with the plants she has available at very reasonable prices. Excellent service and packing as well.

Back row l-r, leonis and amethystoglossum
front row- radiata, porpax

[Dusty Ol' Man]

I went to the website but got nowhere. No choices or links took me to plants. Too bad, as I'd like to know more.

[estación seca]

I looked at the site by clicking the link in the AOS Orchid Wire E-mail when it came out August 9 this year. There were lots of plants available. I just went now to the same E-mail and clicked on the same link. It took me to their Shop page but nothing is listed. Maybe they're working on the site.

[Keysguy]

They must have been working on the website.
I just checked and it looks fine now (although the antennatum is still listed)

[MateoinLosAngeles]

My experience with this vendor was really negative. I found it to be overpriced and at least when I ordered she did regular USPS shipping which took a week, but didn't disclose it or said she did two day shipping. It was a mess.

She was very nice over email but her plants left a lot to be desired. Seedlings priced as adults, inadequate packaging for winter shipping, etc.

Unfortunately two plants went downhill after arriving in very poor condition and died. She never refunded but sent a different plant of her choice instead and flooded my inbox with emails about her emotional distress about my poor experience, but didn't offer solutions.

I really think there are much better (and cheaper) sellers out there and wouldn't recommend doing business here.