This spring I was needing plants. Never I hear you cry! Well, huh, I did. And I looked online for what I needed and was horrified at the cost of them. And while I quite understand the challenges nurseries are up against, they were quite out of my reach.
Except - there were lots for sale at good (comparatively) prices bare rooted. Well, it felt like a no brainer - it was that or nothing. So I succumbed. And ordered some, somewhat tentatively. If giving my card details is a tentative thing.
When I started gardening, a long time ago, bare root plants were sent out wrapped in newspaper - remember that rather useful stuff? Fish and chips have never recovered since they stopped wrapping them in something which absorbed the steam. And (bare root plants) were an ordinary way of obtaining plants, mostly shrubs, trees and roses - and that is still often the case now, I understand. But that would be in the autumn. This was mid April. And I had not come across bare root perennials in spring before.
And they looked rather hopeless when they arrived.
Some came in a plastic bag with a generous sprinkling of dry compost. Which was a nice free gift, but I’m not sure what it offered the plants.
I potted my first few up, feeling very apologetic to them, and rather disbelieving as I bent the roots round to squish them into pots which were round rather than suitably long and thin. I put lids over them, feeling that keeping them warm and moist might help.
And I waited. On the first of May I had hope :
and
Then I kept getting emails telling me I could have more and more, at err.. sale prices. So I kept at it.
I even grew on some geraniums until they were big enough to plant out, though it has to be said that this is basically a slow growing method. Anyway, would you believe, these precious, sweated over darlings got instantly devoured by some foul creature, chomp chomp - and no, it was not slugs or snails. Vole?? Mice! (err, traps proved it)
One other plant, a thalictrum, got chomped at about a foot high. What on earth? Flying mice?
Back to the bare rooted. I’ve got used, now, to the rather weird beginnings. This is not how a normal seedling emerges, is it? (Long time since I sowed seeds.)
I think I am winning. It works. It could be the future.
One sad point, though. I ordered Persicaria microcephala ' 'Red Dragon' and it eventually became this: (whatever this is)
I waited a long time, in order to be sure. The seller (J.Parker) has acknowledged that it’s the wrong plant. But they have no replacements, so I get a refund. Buy cheap, get cheap refund…… Sigh….
However, other things came on well.
And now, we have a heatwave. For the third time. So all those plants are now confined to the nursery because I can’t plant them out. Do I go on potting up?? My greed has come back to bite me. What a chore.
It’s going to be a very planting autumn.
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And just in case any of you are going to be nearby or are planning a trip to the Welsh border:
https://veddw.com/
And here’s a post you may have missed, from a year ago:
One of a Hundred
It is so good to discover that Veddw is one of the gardens in the RHS’s new book, out in August: RHS Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland: Your Guide to 100 of the Most Beautiful Gardens.
I have just received a few more pelargoniums from Fibrex. Currently sitting in the sink in the utility room as I think it’s too hot outside. Have also ordered from D’Arcy and Everest as they have a sale on. God knows where I’m going to put them if it stays this hot.
I too splurged - with very mixed results. Nothing arrived until really late, May I think! Most of it has grown and is clearly alive although will clearly not flower until next year (Lily of the Valley) - the Monarda was a disaster. PS - I have loads of Persicaria red dragon. Happy to send you some roots in the winter if you like.