Re: trial plants?

**N* S* <N*@plantsoup.com>**

So ironically, the best time of year for everyone in temperate climates to receive plugs is the worst time of year for those of us in Mediterranean climates to receive plugs.  My receivng them in spring or late spring is like Jo Ellen receiving them in August/September or October. That schedule would work great for my garden.

LOL!

On Jun 16, 2014, at 11:40 AM, Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp <thehoosiergardener@gmail.com> wrote:

> If the plants are perennials or shrubs, I don’t write about them until they do their thing, and that’s what I tell the growers/marketers who send me the trial plants.
> 
> Depending on their size, I either pot them up in quart or gallon pots, or, like Lois, plant them right in the ground. I transplant the pot-grown ones to the ground in late summer or early fall if they are bulked up. Those that aren’t get heeled in, in their pots and mulched with chopped leaves for the winter. The worst are the growers who send us plugs late in the season (August/September…I’ve even received plugs in October!). These just cannot grow enough to make it through my winter, no matter what I do to them. Fortunately, this rarely happens any more.
> 
> jems
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jun 16, 2014, at 2:02 PM, Lois deVries <loisdan6@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Nan,
> 
> I usually put them right in the ground, where I think I would want them
> permanently, with appropriate spacing for their full size. Many bloom the
> following spring/summer, but some of the landscape roses have bloomed right
> away. Interestingly, the hydrangeas PW sent out last year are all in bud,
> where my old-timers are having to send up new shoots. Maybe because the
> youngsters were buried under leaf litter during our horrible winter? Others,
> like Deutzia and Pearlbush took several years to bloom -- but then the
> Undergardener had neatly chopped off their heads with the weed-whacker.
> 
> Did I tell you about the time he pulled out my prize hibiscus because they
> "looked like dead sticks?" But that's a story for over drinks at Pittsburgh
> :-) .
> 
> Lois
> Lois J. de Vries
> 973-383-0497
> On-Line Course: http://bit.ly/bhQk9k
> Visit: http://www.loisjdevries.com 
> Visit: http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com
> Visit: http://loisdevries.blogspot.com
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> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gardenwriters [g*@lists.ibiblio.org] On
> Behalf Of N Sterman
> Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 12:17 PM
> To: Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum
> Subject: Re: [GWL] trial plants?
> 
> So this brings up an issue for me that I wonder if others face.  Trial
> plants are usually too tiny to plant in my garden so I have to pot them up
> and grow them for a year before planting them out.  That defeats the purpose
> since I can't report on how they did until at least year AFTER I've received
> them.  
> 
> I've suggested to the folks who send out samples that they send larger
> plants and several of each since testing one really doesn't tell you much.  
> 
> Am I the only person who struggles with this? 
> 
> Nan
> 
> 
> _____________________
> Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
> Secretary, Garden Writers Association
> thehoosiergardener@gmail.com
> www.hoosiergardener.com
> Editor: Iowa Gardener, Michigan Gardening, Minnesota Gardener, Wisconsin Gardening magazines
> Co-author, The Indiana Gardener's Guide
> Author, The Visitor's Guide to American Gardens
> Great Garden Speakers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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*****************************************
Nan Sterman, Plant Soup, Inc TM
Garden Journalist • Speaker
Gardening Coach • Garden Designer • Horticulture Consultant 

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