Ordering Perennials

 Besides being excited for seeds, I am counting the days until I can start planting out perennials in the garden.  I have some fun plans to spruce up all of my landscape plantings.  It will be a long time until nurseries have good looking stock, so I spend my time flipping through catalogs and surfing websites. I was going to hold off, I really was. Then my favorite online perennial store did this to me.

Link to the sale:  50/50 Friday Specials

Now I can whittle away at my wish list and save 50%!  That is significant.  Normal seasonal discounts rarely exceed 30% and even then the stock is limited.  The shipping will add up on a weekly basis, but Bluestone will combine it and adjust in the end.

Bluestone Perennials is an excellent grower.  They are right on top of their record keeping so they maximize your shipping and combine orders flawlessly.  They send you updates whenever there is a change in inventory.  They communicate very well.  And their plants and packing are awesome. 

My order arrived May 10th

If any of you are wondering what the reality of ordering seemingly expensive four inch live perennials through the mail looks like, here is one of my Bluestone orders from last year. This was a dozen of the Cheyenne Spirit Coneflower.   Now I know that they pack fifteen per box, so there is no sense in leaving empty spaces!

They included a free plant which was an Aquilegia Clementine Red

I planted the Aquilegia but set the coneflowers in a tray in the garden and cared for them for a few weeks. I planned to plant them in trios and I wanted to give them a chance to put out some buds so I could tell what color they were going to be and mix them accordingly.  And they took right off for me.

This pic was from an August 21st blog

It did not take long at all for them to bulk up and bloom.  It is hard to find any nicer plant than that in a nursery in August.  You would not think these were tiny mail order plants at this point.

And this is the free Aquilegia

These are the plants I have ordered so far