Hello all-
I'm interested in planting an English Garden for my wife on the side of our
house.
I live in New Jersey and the side of my home gets about Sun about 1/2 of the
day.

Here are some of the plants I've been looking at-
Yarrow (comes in a variety of colours)
Hollyhock( again,a vaiety to choose from)
Lady's Mantle
Boltonia
Snow in Summer
Perennial flax
Delphinium "Pacific Hybrids"
Dianthus
Bellflower
Foxglove
Lavender
Candytuft
Shasta Daisy
Lupin
Canterbury Bells
Peony
Sea Thrift
Forget-Me-Not
Siberian Iris
Fairy Thimble


Question-- what's the best place to buy perennials? can you do it on-line?

- is it too late in the season to plant these??

Thanks,
Dan

Danno wrote:
Question-- what's the best place to buy perennials?

Depends. If you're going for instant effect, and want large plants, I'd
suggest that you find a good local nursery near you that can supply you
with these plants.

can you do it on-line?

Absolutely. My best source is Bluestone Perennials
(www.bluestoneperennials.com). Their plants are tiny, but healthy, and
the price is just wonderful. No matter which online source you choose,
and there are a million of them, be sure to check out other people's
experiences at http://plantsbymail.net/ or http://gardenwatchdog.com/

- is it too late in the season to plant these??

At least in theory, you can plant all season long as long as you are
willing to pamper the plant and water diligently. Fall and spring are
generally better times for planting. I generally spend the summer and
fall preparing the bed, the winter planning the layout, and then
planting in spring.

Suja

Hi Dan,

It is usually not advised to plant perennials now. You can buy some,
keep them in their original pot, and wait until the fall when it is
cooler to plant them. The argument is that summer heat is stressful
enough, heat and transplanting can be too stressful for the plant (maybe
if you played soothing music to the plant it might help..ha ha).
Anyway, that being said, I have often gone to local nurseries late in
the summer b/c the plants are on sale. Most of the nurseries near me
have clearance sales starting in August. Sure, the selection isn't as
good, but the prices are great. Last year, we had a super hot summer in
NC, and a record drought. I bought some clearance perennials, and
disregarding all advice, I planted them right away in the heat, and only
gave my new plants minimal water once a week. They all survived. If
you don't mind being on email lists, I sign up for email updates from my
local nurseries. They always send out notices when the plants are going
on sale. I look forward to the "all perennials 50% off" emails!

This link was posted earlier, it is a review of plant mail order
catalogues/websites: http://plantsbymail.net/.

I have purchased from White Flower Farms and Blue Stone Perennials. My
experience has been okay, w/ both, however I find the price of the
plants and shipping just isn't worth it. Most mail order plants are
very young and tender, I think it is a better deal to pay a hair more at
a local nursery for a more mature plant--you'll get more immediate
results w/ mature plants. I have been lucky enough to find a couple of
local nurseries that sell wholesale to the public. Since I live in NC,
this doesn't help much, except to say that hopefully someone in your
neck of the woods might know of some wholesalers near you. You might
try looking in the phonebook or doing a websearch for wholesale
nurseries in your area, and calling to see if they will sell to the
public. One word of caution, I don't know if this is common for all
wholesalers, but the ones around here are not staffed to help the
public. It makes sense, it just means you need to plan ahead before you
go w/ a list of all your plants, including scientific names. One
wholesaler in our area does not even have name tags on any plants, so if
you go you need to be able to ID a plant yourself. However, the other
wholesalers do have plants sorted w/ nametags, alphabetized by sci.
name. The tags have no pictures or descriptions, so you really need to
know what you want, what variety, etc... It is helpful to bring a
perennial book along, or a master gardener friend.

Your selections sounds great!
Heidi



Danno wrote:

Hello all-
I'm interested in planting an English Garden for my wife on the side of our
house.
I live in New Jersey and the side of my home gets about Sun about 1/2 of the
day.

Here are some of the plants I've been looking at-
Yarrow (comes in a variety of colours)
Hollyhock( again,a vaiety to choose from)
Lady's Mantle
Boltonia
Snow in Summer
Perennial flax
Delphinium "Pacific Hybrids"
Dianthus
Bellflower
Foxglove
Lavender
Candytuft
Shasta Daisy
Lupin
Canterbury Bells
Peony
Sea Thrift
Forget-Me-Not
Siberian Iris
Fairy Thimble


Question-- what's the best place to buy perennials? can you do it on-line?

- is it too late in the season to plant these??

Thanks,
Dan

You may want to check with the great magazine English Garden that is published
here in the US as well as England. They have excellent photos and ideas. Randy

Danno wrote:

Hello all-
I'm interested in planting an English Garden for my wife on the side of our
house.
I live in New Jersey and the side of my home gets about Sun about 1/2 of the
day.

Here are some of the plants I've been looking at-
Yarrow (comes in a variety of colours)
Hollyhock( again,a vaiety to choose from)
Lady's Mantle
Boltonia
Snow in Summer
Perennial flax
Delphinium "Pacific Hybrids"
Dianthus
Bellflower
Foxglove
Lavender
Candytuft
Shasta Daisy
Lupin
Canterbury Bells
Peony
Sea Thrift
Forget-Me-Not
Siberian Iris
Fairy Thimble

Question-- what's the best place to buy perennials? can you do it on-line?

- is it too late in the season to plant these??

Thanks,
Dan

--

Suja wrote:

Danno wrote:

Question-- what's the best place to buy perennials?


Depends. If you're going for instant effect, and want large plants, I'd
suggest that you find a good local nursery near you that can supply you
with these plants.


can you do it on-line?


Absolutely. My best source is Bluestone Perennials
(www.bluestoneperennials.com). Their plants are tiny, but healthy, and
the price is just wonderful.

I second the recommendation for Bluestone... and I also say that for
quickly growing a large plant, a local nursery *may* give better results
if it is a *very* good nursery and grows its own plants. If it is a
typical nursery which buys from wholesalers -- don't bother. You can
pay Bluestone about $8 for three miniscule Boltonias in a little 3-pak,
or you can pay your nursery about $8 for one slightly larger Boltonia in
a gallon pot. By the beginning of the second year each of the little
baby ones will be bigger and healthier than the one from the nursery,
whose roots have had a couple of years to get accustomed to growing in a
gallon pot. Bluestone plants are tiny, but man, are they ready to grow!

Caveat: the closer you live to Bluestone, the happier you'll be with
your plants; if the plants get to you in 1-2 days they are absolutely
garden-fresh, but if you are on the West Coast and it's 4-5 days, they
can get a bit sad-looking in transit.

- Alex

On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 11:26:50 -0400, Suja
wrote:
Danno wrote:
Question-- what's the best place to buy perennials?
can you do it on-line?
Absolutely. My best source is Bluestone Perennials
(www.bluestoneperennials.com). Their plants are tiny, but healthy, and
the price is just wonderful. No matter which online source you choose,
and there are a million of them, be sure to check out other people's
experiences at http://plantsbymail.net/ or http://gardenwatchdog.com/
I bought some perrenials from Bluestone last year. Yarrow "Coronation
Gold" and Shasta Daisy "Alaska" are two I bought that match your list.
They were very small the first year, and I didn't get a lot of blooms.
They look great this year, and are growing very nicely.

I expect that it will usually take a year for the plants to get
started, but I was happy enough that I ordered some more this year,
and expect to do so again next year. The shopping experience was
easy and painless. I prefer browsing the paper catalog and then
ordering online. You can order a catalog online.

I also bought some shrubs from them and I'll say that you need a lot
of patience for that. They were really really tiny, and they're all
still pretty small the second year, although less likely to be
stepped on. I did get some blooms from a Northern Highlights Azalea.
We'll see how they do next year.

Swyck

wrote:

[ Bluestone Perennials]

I also bought some shrubs from them and I'll say that you need a lot
of patience for that. They were really really tiny, and they're all
still pretty small the second year, although less likely to be
stepped on. I did get some blooms from a Northern Highlights Azalea.
We'll see how they do next year.

They sure are tiny... but if you live within driving distance of their
greenhouses, you can go to the end-of-spring clearance sale and fill a
flat with shrubs for $20!!! Try to beat that. Also, individual shrubs,
not part of the clearance sale, are $1.50 each on that day.

- Alex