Shrubs ordered online

[pinksand]

I recently purchased 3 dwarf mountain laurel, an annabel hydrangea, and ruby spice summersweet from parkseed.com. I've only ordered seeds from them in the past and had always been happy with the quality so I figured I'd try live plants. It said they would ship at the appropriate planting time for my zone (7a). They arrived last week, but because they are coming from SC the deciduous summersweet and hydrangea already had a flush of new baby leaves. I know I should have paid better attention to what zone they would be coming from! Well the weather has been chilly with a random snowfall yesterday. Needless to say they didn't fare well and look dead Is there any chance you think they'd be able to come back okay once it warms up?

The laurels look fantastic, but I'm wondering if I should have stored the other two inside until my other deciduous shrubs were coming out of dormancy? I feel like I should have known better, instead of blindly listening to their website that said they'd be good to plant upon arrival for my zone at this time. The company I have ordered from in the past is in OH so everything had always arrived dormant and I didn't have to worry.

[rainbowgardener]

They are all quite cold hardy. As long as they were shipped in unheated truck, so they stayed hardened to the cold, they should be fine. I wouldn't bring them in. Just get them planted as soon as you can. They are better off in the ground than anywhere else.

[pinksand]

Sorry, I forgot to include that I did plant them right away. It happened to be a nice warm few days too and they looked great, but then it got very cold and snowed and now the summersweet lost all the baby leaves and the hydrangea's leaves are lifeless and wilted. I just wasn't sure if I did the wrong thing by planting them before everything else has naturally leafed out. So you think they're hardy enough to make a come back?

[applestar]

If the upper buds are killed, lower buds will come to life. So watch and prune back as needed when they emerge.

[pinksand]

They are all quite cold hardy. As long as they were shipped in unheated truck, so they stayed hardened to the cold, they should be fine. I wouldn't bring them in. Just get them planted as soon as you can. They are better off in the ground than anywhere else.

I'm glad to hear this because my MIL told me I should bring them in and then had an "I told you so" tone when I told her they didn't fare well in the snow. I thought maybe I'd made a mistake by not bringing them inside.

Thanks Applestar! Hopefully I'll see new growth at the bottom as it warms up!

[applestar]

If some are very obviously dead, and there is a bud in a certain direction that looks good that you want to have grow, trimming/pruning above the bud should stimulate the bud immediately below the cut.

It's time to prune just about everything anyway. I would be out there right now if it wasn't for this migraine.

[pinksand]

If some are very obviously dead, and there is a bud in a certain direction that looks good that you want to have grow, trimming/pruning above the bud should stimulate the bud immediately below the cut.

It's time to prune just about everything anyway. I would be out there right now if it wasn't for this migraine.

The shrubs are TINY! They were both literally a few sprigs of new baby leaves coming out of soil... maybe 4" tall. Now they're basically 2" naked twigs.

[applestar]

Depending on how these turn out, or regardless, start looking for native plant sales in your area. Here, there are organizations that have annual sales starting around end of April -- probably a little earlier in your area. They usually have well grown plants in great condition (if you get there early) for very reasonable prices.

[pinksand]

Thanks Applestar!

What types of organizations and how do you find them? It's pretty hard to find native trees and shrubs locally without a very steep price tag. My favorite nursery has a great perennial selection at great prices, but their shrub selection is extremely limited and mostly non-native. All the nurseries with native selections never have any sales. I'd love to find some more affordable alternatives!

[rainbowgardener]

I hope you didn't pay too much for such teeny baby shrubs!

One place I have ordered from is Elk Mountain Nursery: https://www.elk-mountain.com/

They specialize in plants (incl. trees and shrubs) native to eastern US. Their prices are not super cheap, but I think quite reasonable, given that the shrubs are usually well grown several year old, maybe 2' tall (depending on species) in one gallon containers. Off to a much better start than what you are talking about. They always arrive very well packed in very good condition.

[applestar]

You could look for native plant societies and preservation groups.
For my area
- Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve near New Hope, PA
- Pinelands Preservation Alliance in South Jersey
- a local wildlife refuge hosts a native plant sale for area native plant nurseries
- Tyler Arboretum near Philadelphia
- never been to this one but there's another one somewhere near Cape May
- also haven't been but I know there are several big ones in North Jersey including one associated with Rutgers in some way that I can't remember. There's at least one well organized native plant group, too.
- too far for me in middle of Pennsylvania but there is a place called Yellow Springs that sends me email notice of their native plant sales two or three times a year

Also try something like "native plant sale spring 2014" for internet search parameters... maybe add your state or county.

[pinksand]

RBG - Oh I WAY over paid! The mountain laurels are gorgeous and very healthy so I'm happy with those. The summersweet was $15 so eh, kinda pricy for some sprigs of leaves but not a terrible loss. The annabelle hydrangea on the other hand was $35! They had a smaller size that was $10 and I can't even fathom how tiny that one must be! I wonder if they got my order mixed up? Fingers crossed that my over priced babies will recover! I'll stick to ordering seeds from parkseed from now on. I do have to say they were very nicely packaged and did look very healthy upon arrival though, so I'll give them that.

Thank you for the recommendation of elk mountain. I think you've recommended them to me in the past, obviously I should have listened EDIT: Elk Mtn Nursery no longer ships. Their website now says, "Mailorder sales have been discontinued as of 1/1/2014. We have gone 'Local'" Bummer! I did look at their price list and they were much more affordable for a more substantial sized shrub. They did have both Ruby Spice and Annabelle available.

Applestar, I found some local native plant sales!!! Both are literally within 5 miles from my house. Unfortunately one is this weekend and I'm not available, but the other is in May and I think I should be able to attend. They also have some speakers at the May sale that sound pretty interesting. I'm hoping to be able to make it!

Thank you both!

[pinksand]

I ended up being able to make it to the native plant sale last weekend but they only had a few shrubs, mostly perennials. Fortunately it looks like there's some new growth at the bottom of my teeny little hydrangea! No sign of new growth on the summersweet quite yet, but it did get trampled a bit by the kids next door so we'll see. I put a little garden statue near it so they'd at least have to jump over it. It's so tiny I'm sure they didn't even notice the bare twigs.

[rainbowgardener]

Summersweet (as the name suggests) is a late summer bloomer (once it is big enough to bloom). In general the later in the season something flowers, the later in spring it leafs out, so you may just need to be patient.

[pinksand]

Good point RBG, I'll keep an eye on it and be patient!

This was seriously the last straw in online plant ordering for me. I saw the same exact variety of mountain laurels at our Lowes for the same price but 2x the size of the ones I got online. I'll just need to be more patient in the future. I'm disappointed that Elk Mountain no longer ships

[applestar]

I think that at big box stores, the trick is to get them at the right time.

Not too early because they stock some things way too early for planting, then when the time is right, get there and buy the freshly stocked good looking ones before they ruin them. When they have those end of season sales, have the critical eye to spot the healthy plants and don't get lured into buying sale plants on their "last legs" unless you are sure of their survivability.

[pinksand]

You are so right! I couldn't believe how many plants they had out already that I'd never risk buying so early! I was just there to buy a new trellis for my clematis and wasn't prepared for so many blooms, most very much out of season.

I swear I'd never seen mountain laurels there before, just the cherry and English laurels. They seem to be broadening their selection, which is nice to see. I do have to admit I'm guilty of browsing their sales racks and have picked up some perennials that had finished blooming but otherwise looked perfectly healthy for a dollar each! I'm always shocked when I see finished annuals on the shelves though. I'm assuming the people buying them expect them to come back next year? Money down the drain! My favorite local nursery is down the street from Lowes so I always check them first and then go big box for whatever is left on my list.

[NatureHillsNursery]

I think the best advice I could add is to remember that not all online nurseries are alike. Look for a reputation for both quality and customer service. With all the online reviews these days, it’s easier to find trustworthy companies. As to your plants in particular, I always err on the side of caution myself. As someone else said, you were probably ok planting the shrubs, but personally I would have waited. Too many times I’ve had nurseries send me things too soon, so I just keep them in my cool garage a while until my local weather is ready to cooperate.

[pinksand]

I just wanted to give an update on my online plants.

The mountain laurels are going strong and putting out new growth. The Annabelle was putting out a lot of nice new leaves, but is still only maybe half a foot tall. I found a 3' tall Annabelle hydrangea at my favorite nursery for $22! Since I wanted more impact in my front garden I moved the little Annabelle to the backyard in the perfect spot and put the larger shrub in its place. They also had oakleaf hydrangeas for $25 (I bought mine from a nursery an hour away for $50 last year at the same size!). They said they had so many requests for them last year that they got them from a local grower this year

Still no sign of life on my summersweet. Do you think I should contact them for a refund or see if they'll ship a new one?