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

Mail Order Plants

 This post is a little premature.  I don't have all of the photos I would like to have to do a true expose' on mail ordering live plants.  But this is the time of year when I am thinking a lot about it.  So this is a place marker and a promise to do a more informative post.  

Yes, I mail order live plants.  And yes, it works out well.  I'm not talking about bulbs or corms or tubers or other bare root applications but actual green, growing annuals and perennials.  In this day and age when you can see examples of all of these beautiful plants on line it can be frustrating when you can't find the exact plant you have researched.  

Case in point, my Petticoats Peach Geum.  Naturally, I fell in love with a photo.  I really love peachy pink flowers.  Not pink.  Not yellow.  Peach.  I wanted peach Geums for a few years.  I searched high and low.  I could find a few Geums locally, but they were usually red or possibly tangerine and I don't love red flowers and I have plenty of orange.  I like them.  But I love peach colored flowers.  And the color palette around the house is much too soft for red flowers.  I've made that mistake before.

Below is the new garden bed we put in the summer 2020.  I put in divisions from my day lilies and Clematis bush so it would be cohesive with the bed next to it.  I planted some Carex grass for texture and put in a lot of different types of spring bulbs.  But I wanted something new that I don't already have anywhere else, and one of those things is Geum.

I ordered four peach Geum from Bluestone Perennials.  They came in the fall which is a good time for relocating or adding perennials.  They were just little guys in 3.5" pots.  That is the one thing you sort of have to get used to when mail ordering live plants.  You will be paying a higher price for a smaller pot and usually a trimmed down plant.  You would not normally go to a local store and pay $18 for a little pot.  You would probably be buying a gallon pot at that price.  But be patient for a few months.  You aren't buying for today. You are paying for convenience.  You are paying for relative rarity.  You are paying for growing potential.

Geum when first planted fall 2020

And this is what they became.

July 2021

Geum Petticoats Peach is supposed to grow 10"-12" tall and wide.  They are a compact plant with leaves similar to Geranium.  The flowers are about an inch in diameter and hover above the plant mound on delicate stems.  They spread outwards and can be divided every few years.

If you really have your heart set on something you can only get mail order, take a chance.  I've had good luck with Bluestone, Garden Crossings and Proven Winners.  I do not rely heavily on mail ordering live plants, but I tend to treat myself every year to something or other.  I have more hard to find items on order and next time I get a shipment I will take photos of the packaging so you can see how its done.  Before I tried it I couldn't imagine how a tender plant could be safely transported.  And of course now and then you might be unfortunate in weather or shipping delays.  Lord knows I would have preferred not to receive the Chilly Pear Tree a week before a May snow storm,  But for the most part its a viable option.  I am looking forward to seeing my Geum imerge for the snow bank