Contents

Nursery Updates

• top sellers
• newsletter
• news archives
  
  
• top sellers contest

Tony's Book

• announcement

Email We've Received

• compliments
• hate mail
• twilight zone

Hate Mail

Isn't it about time you brought some "Plant Delights" into your garden? Don't take our word, check out what others are saying...these are from actual letters received by the nursery.

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

A. G. via email 4.15.2010

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 1.010

"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 9.09

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 1/09.

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 1/09

I recently received your catelogue 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. 1/09

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 8.08

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 7/08
evans, ga

R.D.T. via email 3/08

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

R.T. via email 9/07

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 8/07

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 6/07

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 "hate mail" 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 6/07

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 2/07

Please take me off your mailing list!!!! Your catalog is repulsive, and embarrasing.

C. K. in AK 2/07

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 2/07

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-Palestinan stalemate rendering thousands jobless, displaced and scared, 3000 American soldiers dead in Iraq, ten times that number maimed, hundreds of thousands of Iragis 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 1/07

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 remeniscent 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 1/07

We are sure this will not be the only rsponse of this sort that you will rceive 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 1/07

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 1/07

I am shocked and appalled by your cover! Inflamatory and tasteless as well as insensative and bigoted

K.K. in WA 1/07

Take this 'Jihad' and stick it up..... You have some nerve take me off list

S.G. in NY 1/07

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 1/07

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 1/07

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 1/07

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 1/07

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 10/06

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 fucking assholes. Why don't you get that corncob out your ass or cunt and sell that too? Liberal and foul-mouthed, but not a murderer and liar like George Bush.

D.B. via email 12/06

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 6/06

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 6/06

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 4/06

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 12/05

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 1/06

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 2/06

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 10/05

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 11/05

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. 8/05

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 8/05

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 8/05

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 8/05

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 8/05

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

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. 8/05

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 8/05

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. 8/05

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 8/05

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 8/05

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. 8/05

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 8/05

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. 8/05

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. 8/05

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 8/05

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 8/05

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. 9/05

Hi,

just came across your web site and am intriqued by the variety, but then I read your hate mail 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 9/05

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 4/05

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 1/05

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 1/05

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 1/4/05

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 1/05

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 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 11/04

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 9/04

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 2/04

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 9/03

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, 8/03

Plant Delights:

I want to express my shock and extreme disappointment in your "cartoon" on your latest catalog cover. It is neither funny, clever, nor entertaining. In fact, it is decidedly offensive, tasteless, and racist, and despite the beautiful plants shown in your catalog, the cover alone has caused me and my gardening friends to decide not to purchase anything else from your company unless an apology is printed.

Whoever green-lighted that drawing needs to be quickly moved out of the Marketing Department!

T. via email 8/03

Dear Plant Delights:

Your latest catalog just arrived, and I find the cover art seriously offensive and ignorant. The appalling sterotypes storming the borders of the "garden" came from the mind of someone who hates Arabs, Muslims, Mexicans, and other brown-skinned interlopers....while all the authority figures are caucasian. Please. You folks need to wake up and smell the diversity. It's 2003 for crying out loud. This is not about political correctness. It's about hate, pure and simple. You even have a "peacenik" trying to invade your stupid white enclave, leading me to believe that far from being innocent plant people, you're serious right-wing ideologues, and self-riteous ones, masquerading as clever satirists. What does this have to do with selling plants? Do you think we actually care what your politics are...unless you shove them in our faces with your little wink and nod artwork?!

You live in a pluralistic society. It's quite possibly unpatriotic to flaunt your European privilege and cultural elitism. Anyway, it's shameful. Remove me from your catalog mailing list immediately. I'm white, 58, and still working at unlearning the racism so carefully taught to me by people like you. You can still be clever and imaginative and even funny while renouncing the kind of hatred that is bringing this country to ruin.

P.L. in Oregon 8/03

Greetings:

I recently ordered some hostas from your nursery and was satisfied with my purchase, although it was slow in arriving. Shortly afterward, I received your catalog in the mail and took some time to look through it. I found the section titled "How to be a good customer" totally offensive. As a good customer myself, I expect to be appreciated, not made sport of. And I'm can guarantee that "bad" customers are not going to recognize themselves and amend their ways because of this piece.

Perhaps before you try to be funny in the future, you should check out your copy with a marketing expert. In the future, I will give my business to a company that values their guests and treats them with respect.

Sincerely,

T. A. via email or is that vile email 6/03

Dear Plant Delights:

This cover is very bad taste. I would think that you are aware that many lost their lives on the Titanic. I guess the next issue will have the cover of the 9/11 disaster on it. I was shocked at this cover and your insensitivity on this.

B.Y. via email 3/03

Dear Plant Delights:

You delivered 4 of the most expensive plants I have ever purchased!! I could have bought gallon size plants for « to 2/3's the price you guys charge. Please remove my name from your mailing list. I am not interested in receiving your catalogs or promotions, nor will I be ordering from Plant Delights again.

D.P. in FL 4/4/03

Dear Uninformed Americans:

Why would you need to translate "kilometers(sic) to miles" when travelling to England (Britain actually - England is an incorrect American-inspired name for the whole of Britain). Also, why would you need to translate Centigrade to Fahrenheit? Weather forecasters always give the Fahrenheit AND centigrade measurement. Please don't be so insular.

p.s. Your website is utterly peppered with syntactical, grammatical and spelling errors. Try harder.

P.R. in Britain 5/01

Dear Plant Delights:

Have you lost your mind! If I order a $12 plant it will cost me $18 to deliver it? Good luck. Anybody paying these shipping charges has to be rich, stupid, or both. The only way I would order from you again is if you pay me! Bye Bye!

M.T. in NH 1/03

Dear Plant Delights:

You have an offensive cover! I don't want my children to see this. I know your owner tries to be funny, but there is a limit to what you should do.

D.P. in Oregon 1/03

Dear Editor,

I found your 2003 plant cover depicting a vague reference to the Titanic as both insulting and immoral. It's different to use the Sound of Music and Kermit the Frog in a caraciture fashion but to use a past tragedy in a sexual adaptation to plants and lust, you have overstepped the line of common sense and professionalism.

T.G. via email 1/03

You f... heads still in business. Go f... a tree and see if you can grow a new asshole.

S.M. via Hotmail 11/14/02

Since I just found your web site, I have read the part about being a good customer. I have been in high level customer service for over 20 years and NEVER have I told a customer how to be a good one. In my opinion, good customers are cultivated by good CUSTOMER SERVICE NOT, visa versa!!!!! I will NEVER order from you and I would suggest changing your attitude if you would like to stay in business. Also, bigots are not admired by northerners!!

Regards

D. H. via email 9/9/02

HELLO,

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO DROP PLANT DELIGHTS A LITTLE NOTE AND MAYBE SOME WELL-NEEDED ADVICE.

I SEARCHED YOUR CATALOG AND FOUND AT LEAST 4-5 PLANTS THAT I WAS GOING TO ORDER, BUT I IMMEDIATELY CHANGED MY MIND AND WILL NOW CONTINUE MY PERPETUAL PLANT SHOPPING ELSEWHERE. WHY? BECAUSE I TAKE GREAT OFFENSE TO YOUR LITTLE "INSTRUCTIONAL" SECTION ON "HOW TO BE A GOOD CUSTOMER". I AM NOT A CHILD, THANK YOU. I AM A CONSUMER WHOM BUSINESSES LIKE YOURS DEPEND ON TO MAKE A "GO" OF THINGS. ALTHOUGH WHOEVER DESIGNED THIS LITTLE SECTION MAY BE QUITE AMUSED OR SMUG, I CAN GUARANTEE YOU THAT FUTURE OR PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS WILL NOT; MYSELF INCLUDED, OF COURSE. I AM A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNER LIVING AND WORKING IN A VERY PRESTIGIOUS AREA OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN AND WOULD NEVER DREAM OF PUTTING SUCH CONDESCENDING LITERATURE ON MY ORDERING INFORMATION PAGE, LET ALONE ON ANY PAGE THAT A FUTURE/CURRENT CUSTOMER MAY PERUSE. FURTHERMORE, JUDGING BY YOUR PRICES AND YOUR SHIPPING FEES, THE CUSTOMERS THAT CONSIDER ORDERING FROM YOU ARE FROM A SIMILAR BACKGROUND/DEMOGRAPHIC AS MYSELF.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT...GOOD LUCK.

K.K. in Michigan 6/24/02

We realize that you have never been trained to be a good retailer, so we decided to offer a few pointers. First of all, assume your customers have a mocidum of intelligence. (If you can even consider this, it's a good sign.)

Realize that no one, not even a customer (whom you obviously hold in very low esteeem) likes to be insulted nor patronized. Could you provide us with a list of nursuries that respect their customers? Some that "deserve our business"?

As to logic, I am amazed you would claim to use that. It certainly seems illogical to insult one's customers. And you apparently give no credence whatsoever to the possibility that plants could arrive in poor condition or even dead. You explain when you will not send replacements. No mention of circumstances that would justify replacement and how to proceed in that event.

I can understand the shipping department on Valium - I think anyone who works for you needs a hefty daily dose. 2 things I'd lke you to know: This is my very FIRST complaint letter ever, & I'm 62.. I visited your gardens with a Master Gardener group two years ago. I will call your catalog comments to our group's attention at the next meeting.

S. R. via email

Dear Plant Delights:

Gays make up a significant part of your income. How come no "male seeking male" personals? Because bigoted Christian Fundamentalists make up a bigger part of your income perhaps? "Goodness grows in NC"?

Name withheld

Dear Plant Delights:

I was shocked today when I read the description on one of your plants...Ligularia tussilaginea 'Crispata'._ The description stated that the ruffling of the leaf was similar to the look of putting too much activator on an afro hairdo._ As a minority in this country, I found your description to be very insensitive and extremely degrading._ It is unbelievable that this type of description would be in print on the internet in the year 2001._ I don't know who wrote your catalog descriptions, but I do know that he/she did not have your best interest at heart to put something like that in print. In this country, if our goal is to unite as a people and heal from the bonds of racial strife....we must strive to do better and it starts with each and every one of us.I bought one of these wonderful plants today and looked it up on your website for more information._ I had a great day shopping, even in the rain, but your description really was upsetting and in very poor taste._ I am surprised that you have not been reprimanded on this one sooner.._I would appreciate a response in the near future._

D.T. via email 5/21/01

Dear Sir or Madam:

I was shocked by your "how to be a good customer" paragraph on your ordering information page._ Although dealing with the public can be frustrating, you must realize that people are irrational beings and dealing with these folks are just a part of doing business._ If I were you, I would concentrate more on customer service rather than trying to educate us on "How to be a good customer."_ Save your ventings for inhouse meetings._Thank you.

K.S. via email 6/5/01

Are you for real? Do you really take donations? Are you non-profit? What are your qualifications? Your entire business sounds like a scam. Do people really do business with you? I can't believe anyone would pay $100 for a class with a non-educatede windbag, whose ego must be as big as the state of Texas. Like they say, "There's a sucker born every minute!" DJP

Donna P. via Email 2/17/01

Dear Plant Delights:

I found the back cover of your catalog so amusing that it now holds the place of honor in my trash can.

J. B. via email 1/15/01

Dear Plant Delights:

With the upcoming inauguration pending, I wanted to escape to visions of spring planting at my two houses. Unfortunately, when I picked up your catalog, I noticed the back page. I suppose you thought it would be an amusement for your readers.

It does not amuse me because I am a liberal democrat and not the least bit happy with the results of the election. I am trying to contain my anger and go forward with my busy, little, important life. I know that I am not alone in my feelings that I am not ready to mix politics with gardening...not yet and probably not ever. They are completely different interests.

When I first received your catalog, I paid for it...looking for a woods peony, I believe. I was impressed when it arrived. You have a nice wide selection of plant. You seem to be creative in reaching out to people with information with your website and your education center classes. I certainly believe in education, being a teacher. I like reading your lesson on being a good customer. While reading your article it struck me that you mentioned using logic as a process at your nursery. It is a shame that logic wasn't applied when planning your catalog for all the customers you mail to. It is logical that if you offend customers, they will not want to do business with you. Please remove my name from your mailing list, so you will be saved that expense of sending me a catalog in the future. I'm just idealistic enough to believe that people who care for plants would be sensitive to peoples' feelings too. After all, this was clearly the most contested election in the history of the U.S. and it will take time for people to recover, if they ever do. I have faith...I am an old Vietnam War protestor and I have never given up faith in our wonderful system of government. I will just need time to teach kindergarten and dig in my garden for therapy. I regret that your business will not be part of my recovery.

C.B. In MD 1/20/01

Dear Plant Delights:

Please remove my name from your catalog list. Believe me I was tempted by your "plant delights" but someone from your staff or growers (at least that is who they claim to be), has decided it is fun to poke fun at and harrass little old gardening ladies on the internet, of which I am one. Now if you think humiliation grandmas is fun, remember many grandma control the purse strings of the nation and every gardening grandma I know has a copy of your harassing e-mails. Your plants are beautiful, your writing is witty, your customer relations suck bad. I do not wish to be a part of your clientelle.

J. P. in Florida 3/00

Sir:

I am sending you a tract and hope you will at least read page 4. Soon Jesus will execute judgement against this wicked system, for we are living in the last days. Please read 2 Peter 3:13. Will you be in this new world? Now you know God's name and the choice is yours!

P. M. in Cape Cod, MA

"I was thinking I might try to ask you about some difficult to find items for which I have been searching. My neighbor, (name withheld), a very lovely person, suggested I contact you. After reading your website, and discovering the very cavalier attitude you have about a number of things, eg. the hilarious treatment of your "hate mail" I realize that you are somebody with whom I would never choose to business. Obviously you are enjoying great financial success or you would not opt to be so callous on your website. Too bad. You have my sympathy. Hopefully you will discover before it is too late that financial success is the lowest of accomplishments.

If you had the good sense to listen to a therapist you would discover that people who are insensitive and boorish often use the "laugh at ourselves" ploy to cover tactless behavior. They behave in a reckless manner, insulting and hurting others only to blame their victims who "cannot laugh at themselves". This is similar behavior to the idiot who drives like a maniac on the highway, speeding and weaving in and out of traffic, causing wrecks and other problems as they go. The red neck fool then blames it all on others who drive too slowly or "don't know how to drive". Life is wonderful, but the noble and caring person takes into account how their actions affect others. They may have fun at their own expense, but not at others. It is healthy to laugh at ourselves, but not at the misfortunes of someone else. That is the hallmark of a sociopath. There are many very funny and cool websites out there. Yours is just pathetic."

My sympathies,
G.W. in Raleigh

"Plants native to China should stay in China. I don't know what kind of exploitive scam you are trying to pull by taking plants out. By visiting the native people you are introducing western diseases, especially sexually transmitted ones. Furthermore, your diary is full of dumb comments, the dummest I have ever heard. By the way, why don't you stick those Free Tibet bumper stickers on your car! We should free Texas and California too!"
- J.Y. via email

"We were looking forward to perusing our Plant Delights catalog but were utterly dismayed at the tasteless front cover. It is a sad day when the President of the United States is held up to such ridicule and we're sorry you felt you had to add to his persecution by right wing zealots."
- W. A. in NC

"I do like catalogs with owner/grower commentary but I don't need the politics. Up here in NY/'MA area some of us are still liberal, still like Clinton, and would like our kids to like our country. Not funny! The nuances suggested in the cartoon are tasteless. Are we selling plants or what?"
- C.P. in NY

"Well, I just had to come see for myself how you have crossed the line from witty to offensive. On the garden forum, someone had posted that you had the bad taste to call your black and blue salvia - "Domestic Violence Sage". Not even remotely funny, cute, or witty. Appalling and offensive. Will I ever purchase anything from you folks again? - not on your life and I'll bet many a woman and more than a few men will feel the same."
- S. H. in NJ

"I sent you this e-mail on November 4. I haven't heard from you, so I am sending you another e- mail. I am requesting a red, long sleeved red Liberty print blouse in a size 12. Thank you very much."
-L.S. via email