We grow our plants the old fashioned way. Instead of potting starts in winter and growing them in heated greenhouses, we pot our plants the previous season or even a year before and grow them either all year outside or in unheated cold frames. The results are healthy, sturdy plants that endure the shipping process easily and will adapt and establish in the garden faster.
100% of all the plants we offer are grown and 99% are propagated here at our nursery. This way we know what we have, and don’t have to wait for (and hope for) deliveries coming from all over the place. Although crop failures are not unknown to us, at least we usually see it coming early on.
About 2/3 of our plants are grown and shipped in pots that are 3-7/16” square and 3 ¼” deep, referred in the plant listings as 3-1/2” pots. Plants indicated to be shipped in 4” pots refer to containers either 4” square and 3-3/8” deep, 3-9/19” square and 4-¼” deep or 2-7/8” square and 5-1/2” deep; they are about 1-½ times as big as the 3-7/16”. Some smaller and slower growing varieties are in 2-3/8” square and 4-1/4” deep pots, referred as 2-3/8” pots. Whenever possible we’ll ship plants that are well rooted and established. Exceptions are plants that aren’t heavy rooters like Iris cristata or those that root late in the year, often plants with thick rhizomes. Since this has more to do with the natural growth-cycle and not the actual maturity of the plant, they’ll root at the proper time.
When ever possible, we ship you the whole plant, blooms and all. Later in the season, when some of them get tall, we have to trim them partially. Alstroemerias, for example, grow long stems fast and it wouldn’t make sense to use a huge box to pack long soft stems that most likely won’t’ make it anyway but make the package unsecure.
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