So here's a switch...NOT happy to get a plant order! I'm on the internet, doing a search for a plant I'm lusting for a couple weeks ago (echinacea 'Prairie Frost'), and I manage to find it! (At FieldstoneGardens.com) I place the order...and specify in comments that I want it shipped next Spring. So today I get the mail...and there it is! NOW WHAT?! I mean, it's November in zone 4! I open it up...bare-root, decent size...and we are in an odd warm trend...but only for another week or so. I'm torn as to what will give best odds for survival...I settle on planting in a terra cotta pot, and placing it in the "Long Winter's Nap" area between my house and garage. Here is where nearly everything can survive my winters...no real mulch...I just let leaves blow over the pots, and shovel snow over them in winter for insulation. Freakish sucess, to say the least...but I'm still worried....
6 comments:
YIKES! Did you call them? I would--call them and say, "I appreciate the prompt service, but what in the world were you people thinking?!" That way you at least have it established that they will be replacing it in the spring if it doesn't survive!
I emailed them...but no answer yet...the roots were a decent size, but with s&h the total was $26 !! I would have better luck if I could control my impulses until Jan. or so ;)
So, do you leave the pots uncovered all year? I think I would be tempted to put them all under a big pile of leaves or something.
Not all year, I mean all winter.
I'm not that dense.
Yea, I just let leaves blow in around the pots naturally, then shovel snow over the top of them as I make a walkway for myself. I think some of the sucess is due to the fact that up here, once winter is here, it STAYS (except this year). At my mom's in Indiana, they get freeze and thaw repeatedly all winter-making for ground heaving, as well as soft regrowth that freezes out again. In fact, my mom gets disgusted with me that I can grow some things she can't, even though it gets colder here.
Followup: I got an email from Fieldstone Gardens, and they did ship the plant right away by mistake...told me to let them know if it doesn't come back in the spring, so they probably will replace it.
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