More Plants Arrive!
This time of spring is better than Christmas, Hannukah, and all the other holidays rolled into one. Just like during the holiday season, delivery vans periodically pull up to the house. What’s better is: 1) all the boxes are marked “Live Plants – Fragile”; and 2) it’s all for me!!!
Just in time for this past weekend I got the year’s first delivery from Prairie Nursery. All the plants but one were for the raised bed that runs along the driveway. Here’s what arrived:
Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata). I only have three yellow coneflowers, not nearly enough. The new arrivals will help create more of a drift in the center of the bed. One reason I have to do this is I am digging out the purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea), which have become too susceptible to aster yellows infections. I find the Ratibida to be more disease resistant.
Butterflyweed for Clay (Asclepias tuberosa var. Clay). Butterflyweed normally likes a dry, sandy soil, but Prairie Nursery has a variety that is adapted to clay soil. I find that it establishes itself in my garden more successfully than regular butterflyweed. I already have some butterflyweed growing along the west edge of the driveway bed, where it basks in the afternoon sun. The new plants I’m putting behind the Nepeta, to get that orange/blue complementary colors thing going.
Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides). There is no rhyme or reason to my buying this plant. I just saw it and had to have it. Click the link and see if it speaks to you. According to the website, it is treasured for its lacy blue-green foliage and deep blue berries! How could I not buy it? Anyhow, I only bought one. This is a woodland plant, so I put it in the raised bed I have in the lightly shaded back garden.
While the prior week featured rain of almost Biblical proportions, but Sunday the raised beds were dry enough to do some planting. Fortunately, all of the above plants were destined for raised beds.
More orders are coming – from Prairie Nursery, from Bluestone Perennials, and maybe some others I’ve forgotten about.
Had any good plant deliveries lately?
gardeninacity 
There goes your tax return? 🙂
My tax return, plus all the change in the couch, and then some.
Geez – now I’m really feeling bad because I don’t have any trucks scheduled to deliver plants. 🙂 Hope they all do well in your gardens.
Me too!
What fun!! Love getting those deliveries.
Hard to say which is more fun, getting plants delivered or buying them at the nursery.
Many arrived – flowers and vegetables and strawberries. Now I am waiting for sweet potatoes to arrive; 5 blueberry plants to arrive; let’s see what else I can order :-). I share the same experience with you – waiting eagerly for their arrivals and when they arrive, it feels like I have won lottery. 🙂
Yay! I’m trying to decide if I want to order or go directly to the source. I think I’m going to head to my local garden center tomorrow. I’m glad to hear that you like Prairie Nursery, though. It’s near our cottage about an hour from here. I think I’ll stop in there very soon to check it out. Enjoy your new plants!
I went there a couple years ago in July and they had a good retail setup.
Wow, you have a lot of new plantings. I am glad that here in our climate we don’t need to replace them yearly, as I might not be able to cope with the expenses, the work and time needed in establishing them again. Imagine, trucks to deliver garden plants! You must have a real wide area, am so envious.
These plants are perennial, so they should last a few years. I do grow some annuals as well, and it is an expense to put them in every year. Some people grow them from seed, which makes it much cheaper.
That blue cohosh was CRAZY pretty! I haven’t had any deliveries lately but as usual I keep going back to the nursery for more roses.I always try to be good and not buy every single one that catches my eye.. so I leave a few behind. Then I come back the next day in mad frenzy to get them. And that is how my cycle goes 🙂
My version of that would be buying a small plant because I’m trying to be cheap, then deciding I’m not satisfied with the small plant, so I go back and buy a larger plant. And then I have two.
I love getting plant deliveries too – just about to order my first lot! 😀
Ordering is fun too, except sometimes I am tortured by indecision.
No deliveries, but I did foolishly buy a Magnolia which I don’t know where to put. Reading about your deliveries has given me an urge to peruse some more garden centres and their websites!
I’m sure you’ll find a good space for your Magnolia, it is a lovely tree.
It is indeed:)
I wish I had some of the nurseries you mentioned close to where I live! I love your ratibida pinnata, although I used to think it was an annual or biannual. That’s a plant I gave up searching for, I use rudbeckia nitida instead, which has a similar look. You don’t imagine how envious I am of that milkweed clump of yours…
Rudbeckia nitida is a very nice plant, they use a lot of it at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
You reminded me that I need to go get some white trilliums this week. Those I can buy locally. I’ll be interested in seeing how the blue cohosh does.
I’ll let you know about the Blue Cohosh. Is that Trillium grandiflorum you will be buying? I thought those were very hard to find.
To be honest I can’t tell you what they are because every time I go to buy them in the spring they’ve already sold out. These are plants that are grown commercially and the roots are then packaged for sale. All I know for sure is that they’re white ones. I’ll take a closer look if I ever find them.
Thought I’d let you know that I finally got ahold of the white trillium. They are grandiflorum. Field run, 2 plants (roots) for $6.49. Sold by the Netherland Bulb Company in Easton, PA I bought them at a local garden center.
I’ve got some bulbs in transit and placed a seed order yesterday. Def it’s a fun time of year!!
Enjoy your new arrivals! !
Thanks, I plan to!
Oh dear you are a lost soul! I am anticipating some auriculas and then later some bedding plants for trial but thats it. I prefer to grow from seed and I also have the luxury of a very good garden show on my doorstep in a couple of weeks time
Growing from seed is definitely a good choice, much more affordable. I don’t do it, partly because I travel so much January to May, and partly because I am lazy.
Nothing is more fun than a truckload of new plants. I vowed to do most of my shopping in person this year, but I can feel my resolve weakening already. I have the same catmint and butterfly weed combo going, although my catmint is usually past its peak by the time the butterfly weed gets going. You don’t have that problem?
Oh, thanks for popping my ballon! I guess I’ll find out, but I think with the ones I have there is some overlap.
No fun deliveries coming my way this year, but add me to the list of folks coveting your milkweed!
Butteflyweed is a great plant and pretty easy to grow if you have full sun and soil that isn’t too moist.
Plant deliveries are soooo fun! It’s so worth buying something just to get a plant package in the mail! Hope the weather stays nice so you can get all the plants you ordered in their new homes.
The weather has really improved. No rain today and in the 50s, supposed to be in the 60s and sunny this weekend.
Aren’t gardeners a lucky bunch? We get excited about gifts all year ’round!
And we can buy them for ourselves and nobody objects!
I am taking your suggestion on Asclepias tuberosa var. Clay because I have conditions very similar to you and want to add Butterflyweed. I will check if my wholesaler can get it, but if not, will be contacting Prairie Nursery. Thanks.
I think they will also sell seed. I hope you get some, Prairie Nursery says it is an “exclusive” on their website.
There is NOTHING like that sight…a big box of plants on your porch! So sad about your Echinacea woes…Aster Yellows is awful to deal with. I’m actually expecting a package from Botanophilia any day now….with some new grass introductions from Intrinsic Perennials that I’m super excited about!!!
Well, I hope your packages arrive in time for weekend garden festivities!
I don’t think we have echinacea yellows over here in the UK but we do find that this popular plant does not usually overwinter very well. Just this week I have read an article suggesting if that our winters were consistently cold they would better overwinter. With our climate, warm spells intermingled with cold gives fungus disease chance to develop to cause root rots!
I think your climate is too mild and pleasant for a lot of our prairie plants, they are masochists and have to suffer to be happy.
I am patiently waiting for my Peterson Paw Paw trees to arrive. Not sure where the 2nd one is going, but I am anticipating my Hoosier Banana’s already.
Paw Paw! I would love to have Paw Paw, partly so I could sing the song about “Way down yonder in the Paw Paw patch …”
Hi Jason, I am not up to doing any thing much in the garden except for weeding, at the moment. I do remember the impatience of waiting for plant deliveries and the excitement of receiving them at last. Have fun planting your new plants and enjoy them to the fullest.
Sometimes it is wise stop messing with the garden for a year or so and let it rest, see how it develops.
Hi Jason, I’ve learned something new: I thought Yellow Coneflowers or yellow Echinacea were the same as Rudbeckia. With the top picture I’d be hard pressed to tell the difference.
Jason, what a great combination, orange and purple are great together. I have some Butterfly weed seeds planted, hoping they do well. Love love love Nepeta!
beautiful gardens! I love getting my plant deliveries, Spring and all summer long! Love the oriential lilies, saw you have them too!!
check out my page, you might be interested in my garden bluebird House Give-Away..it’s FREE
Bluebird House Give-Away
My Japanese Iris Pictures