Clematis: What to do when clems arrive beat and broken..., 1 by BlissfulGarden

BlissfulGarden wrote:
Newbie question here... but what should I do to maximize the recuperation of clems that arrived totally beaten up and broken at my doorstep. Apparently, shipping on a Friday makes people very, very careless. They crammed 17 clems in ONE box (seriously, I'm not kidding). There was no protection between the clems and the clems were not individually wrapped. They arrived with all but three of the top sticks broken, a mangle of vines, twist ties, roots and dirt in the center of the box, and broken liners on all. I've read that you should disturb the roots as little as possible when planting, but obviously these roots have been disturbed plenty already! So, what can I do to make sure these recover? Also, three of them arrived with literally nothing green left on top. It had all been broken off during the wild ride to my house.

I'm blaming this on Friday packing simply because this is my second order from this company and the first arrived in pristine condition. The first order had ten plants. I called the company and then sent an email with photos to the retail manager. I was told via phone that "Well, that's the way we pack wholesale plants...." to which I replied, "I paid RETAIL." I'll post how all of this comes out.... but in the meantime, any advice on how to help the clems would be very appreciated! Ev

P.S. - The pic is of the beautiful Josephine that arrived blooming from another vendor... I snipped it off after the photo, but I couldn't resist posting it!