Plant me now - more plants coming in!

A couple of months ago a new web based garden centre, Plant me Now, asked me to be an Ambassador for them.  Since this involves being sent plants and reviewing them I hesitated for approximately no seconds at all.  I did say though that I would review the plants just as I found them and my first review, plants sold as annuals, although including some tender perennials went up here.

The second delivery of plants from Plant me Now arrived while we were deep in snow.  Indeed we were so deep in snow that it was hard to see the greenhouse, never mind get into it.  So for a few days the plants sat in our tiny wooden lean to greenhouse up next to the house while we waited for at least some of the snow to melt.  They don't seem any the worse for having had to wait to be potted on!

This time I had ordered perennials with the intention of putting some in the cutting garden, some in a new bed in the field which has amelanchier and dogwood in it and using some as bedding plants.

I chose Veronica Red Ray


I am intending to put these in the cutting garden.  I like the spires and I am trying to include more perennials in the cutting garden, partly to reduce the amount of labour involved and partly to widen the variety of flowers that I use.  It is remarkably easy to get addicted to cutting sweet peas!

Then there were some Viola Labradorica.


This is possibly my favourite viola.  I already have some in the native tree bed but I intend to use these in the new bed up by the shepherd's hut where we have planted the amelanchiers.  As is always the case, the new bed on the ground looks like a collection of bare sticks in stony soil and the violas when they go in will undoubtedly look small and lost.  In my head however the amelanchiers are already graceful small trees with delicate blossoms, their feet in a sea of pale violets.  I know, I know, but if you didn't dream you wouldn't garden.

There are also some Viola Starry Night.



These I am going to use as bedding plants or in containers, perhaps to accompany the tulips which are way behind because of the cold.  I love their delicate colours.

And lastly some Rudbeckia Goldstrum.



These are for the cutting garden too.  Last year I grew annual rudbeckia but I think I prefer the form of these flowers with their black centres and clear yellow petals.  The bottom half of the cutting garden will hold these, some achilleas I put in last year and the dahlias, assuming they have survived in the greenhouse.  I haven't been able to bring myself to look just yet.  That should produce blocks of red and gold and orange until well into the autumn.

As before the plants were well packaged and well watered so they had survived the journey in very good shape.



Although they are small the plants are sturdy with none of the legginess which comes with being grown too fast in overheated glasshouses.


I like the fact that all the plants have a label.  The one which is missing here is my fault as I have just found it in the pocket of my fleece.

So all the plants are now potted on and sitting in the greenhouse.  I am very pleased with them and pleased too that the agyranthemums and bidens from the first delivery are still thriving.  The intention is to keep the greenhouse frost free but they have had quite a challenging time with the depth of snow.  For a few days no one could get to them so they were neither watered nor fussed over.  Despite that they are still going strong.


I will be interested to see how these plants impact on my gardening.  I am hoping that one result of using plants brought in at this size will be to change the way the cutting garden works so as to have fewer gaps.  Previously I have had a gap after the tulips have finished and before the sweet peas get going and another later when the sweetpeas have spent themselves.  I solved the late gap last year by putting dahlias in the cutting garden and with luck the new rudbeckia will add to the late season flowering.  I suspect this is a really good use of plug plants like these - to fill gaps quickly and thoroughly without great expense.

So far, so impressed!


Comments

  1. I have plans for an amelanchier too. Trouble is I keep forgetting its name.

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    1. Ours are amelanchier lamarckii. They have settled in remarkably quickly as things often take a while up here and look a bit sad in the first year. Would recommend them!

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  2. I wish I knew how you had time for this. I have resolved not to try to grow anything this year apart from geraniums and the few perennials that soldier on unbidden. I need one or two roses for the tubs.

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    1. You see Fennie the idea is that these save me time, well that is the theory! Certainly it is quicker and more reliable than sowing seed.

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  3. I've never seen that viola before - it's fabulous. Might do well in my dry shade too? It's so hard to keep anything going in there other than old favourites.

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    1. I would think the viola labradorica would be more forgiving of dry shade than the other one. I have found some of the most vigorous hardy geraniums keep going, and epimedium is good too.

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  4. I'm not having a good internet day - only the last few pictures are showing on my screen. Never mind, I'll take the opportunity to say hello!

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    1. HI Esther! I had a problem yesterday with some of the photos too but they all seem to be working fine today so it might not be your laptop.

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  5. What a hard job Elizabeth- other than where do you find the time?! Really like that Viola - I can almost hear the buzz of pollinators on the Rudbeckia and Veronicas. Roll on Summer - or even Spring!

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    1. I am very keen to have plants which are good for bees and pollinating insects so I do try to keep to the more simple flowers. They look better up here too.

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  6. Elizabeth, the viola labradorica is heart-breakingly beautiful! It's clear why it's your favorite.

    I am vicariously pretending that I have a garden and really enjoying all your plant reviews and greenhouse reporting.

    xo

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    1. I am glad you enjoy the garden based blogs Frances. I do have a friend who from time to time tells me there is a bit much gardening going on in my blog!

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  7. I know exactly what you mean about looking at almost bare ground and seeing the promise of beauty. I bought some perennials from Plant Me Now on the strength of your last post and was similarly impressed by the quality of the plants. I could wish for a broader range but I would certainly buy from them again. Amelanchiers in a sea of violas sounds like heaven. And I am looking forward to seeing your cutting garden, should be rather wonderful.

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    1. I am glad you found the plant quality good. As you say a broader range particularly of perennials would be good but the range does seem to be growing all the time. Hope the cutting garden works! It has got better every year but I haven't cracked it yet!

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  8. "If you didn't dream you wouldn't garden" - how true, Elizabeth. It takes imagination and not a little faith to plant a garden!

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    1. You are right. I need a few successes every year to keep me going. Too many disasters and the it hard to keep the dream going but I have grown much better at learning from my disasters!

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  9. Dream, yes, and hard work too! I couldn't help but chuckle at your plants arrival being graced with a greenhouse concealed with snow! Plant Me Now are lucky to have you, Elizabeth!

    Stephanie

    ps I love Violas too.

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    1. Well a lot of dreams need hard work to make them come to fruition don't they? Sometimes it would be nice just to click my fingers though!

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