Eek! Plants arrived by mail already!!

I just received a climbing rose (don't have the trellis yet) and two irises by mail; it's supposed to dip into low 30's the next couple nights; our last frost date isn't for another 3 weeks or so; what do I do?? Help!!

Some place cooler than the house and warmer than outside should do - like garage or shed.

How about if the garage has no door? I could bury the box in leaves or something.

OH, and that's another question: do I take them out of the box? The rose is bareroot and the iris is a bulb (probably sprouting, but I don't know). What do I do with them until I can plant them? Stick 'em in pots with dirt? Wrap in damp newspaper? Leave them in the box???

Meg,
If you wanted to try and get the rose going sooner you could pot it up, otherwise keep them covered at night in the garage. Were there any planting intsructions?

I haven't opened the box for fear of getting them all cold; but I'll go check right now. I'm sure there are some included in there...Thanks, Al!

http://www.edmundsroses.com/service-planting.html
http://www.edmundsroses.com/service-tips.html

Meg you can plant hardy perennials in April where we live. The above tips from Edmunds Roses may be helpful. Basically, the reputable companies send plants at the right time unless you have some anomally to your zone.
Don't leave your roses in the box for more than another day or two.

I plant perennials (including roses) hardy anuals (pansy) and cold crops (lettuce. chard) at this time. I hold of on tender plants (cleome, zinnia) and all seedlings (except cold crops) until May 15.
Dave

Right, Dave! You're a blessing.

Meg, I've received my new Strawberries already. I wasn't ready so I put them in the fridge for 3 days. They went into the ground 10 days ago, they look fine to me.
Roses and Iris are hardy, get them in the ground.
Andy P

Oh, boy! You realize you've all just given me permission to ditch my studying and get my hands dirty...if you receive threatening e-mails from my husband, I can't be held responsible! ;)

Now, forget Virginia Woolf and Chateaubriand: trowels away! (except it's pouring here...)
This is very encouraging. I planted some hyacinths yesterday that I'd forced over the winter, and it was SO gratifying to be digging and planting. I can't wait to get the front yard started!

Meg, Chateaubriand? I thought you were a vegetarian!

Umm, Dave, do you mean filet mignon? or am I missing something? :)

Yes. Isn't Chateaubriand the finest type of filet? Anyway, just a dumb joke.

The bareroot roses can be put out now I would think. They are still dormant and will need time to get roots established before they will produce foliage. You should also open the boxes to make sure they got your order right, it isn't damaged and to make sure things aren't all dried out. May be there are planting instructions in the box for you? Hardy perennials can be put out now once the ground is workable and not too wet. (Which hasn't been a problem this year!) I would think the irises could go out now too.

Yes, Dave, chateaubriand, is a certain way to prepare beef tenderloin, usually with brandy or wine

Thanks Maria! See Meg, it was lame but it made sense.

No, not lame at all, Dave--I'm just out of it (haven't thought about beef for, oh, 14 years or so...).

Sedum, thanks--it's hard to tell if they got the order right, since everything is bareroot--but two people checked it and handwrote that they did so, so at least I'll know who to yell at (Juan and Barbara) if something crazy pops up instead of what I ordered.

I opened the box, they seem damp, and I was going to plant 'em tomorrow, but the ground might indeed be too wet since it poured (and hailed!) here today.

Wow! If it hailed here I missed it. Amazing the difference 10 miles could make.
Wet is good for planting.

We had sleet here yesterday, enough to cover the ground in places.
No problem.
Andy P

We had rain - all day - boring rain. The ground is too wet for digging right now. We abide by Ralph Snodsmith's rules (he's on now - every Sunday morning from 8 to 10 and we've heard him on CT and MA stations) and he says not to plant in mud.

Grasp a hand full of soil and squeeze it, if it crumbles when you stick a finger in it, it's OK to plant.
I'm lucky here, I have great drainage. The half inch of rain we got yesterday only got the soil ready for me.
Check more than the top inch or two of the soil. It's likely fine further down. When it's all turned over, amended and mixed it will be great for planting.
Don't plant in mud.
Andy P

This morning going to see what is new in the garden did not like what I saw, tulip bulbs were pulled up, right next to the house, from the soggy ground and foliage gobbled up, now who did that? :-((

It was not a skunk, because I can smell him a mile awy

Thanks, Andy.

The rabbits do eat the tops of our crocuses but not the flowers. It sounds like deer but they don't dig up plants. Could it be squirrels?

Could be, but I think it was a naughy bunny, the flowers are too close to the house for squirrles to feel comfortabel at least I have never seen one that close, most of them are under the bird feeders.

I use blood meal and swear by it. We have about 500 Asiatics and 100 Orientals and the rabbits leave them alone if I sprinkle the blood meal (lightly) a few times while the stems are emerging and growing.

thanks, pirl, did not know that

Thanks, everyone. Andy: I tried your trick, soil crumbled fine, so I went ahead and planted. It didn't feel too soggy at all. I watered generously because that's what you're supposed to do at planting, right???

This talk of tulip damage has me concerned: I have a ton of tulips in the front yard (maybe 70 or so--my yard is small, so that's a ton for me), and lots and lots of them have really ratty looking leaves--look like they've been chewed--and several of those don't seem to have a flower bud yet. We're on a residential street in a small city (our street runs perpendicular to two pretty big thoroughfares), so I can't imagine rabbits are the problem. Would grubs do that? Or the squirrels? (they are totally fearless here) Or could it be that my delightfully stubborn and clueless french bulldog (and his good friend the german shepherd next door, who sometimes comes careening through our yard) could have damaged them by trampling them? Is it normal for some not to have buds yet? Could it just be that my soil is way short on nitrogen?

So many questions!.
Most of my tulips don't show buds yet. Some have wrinkled leaves, too, but they usually straighten out as they grow.
Patience....
Andy P

LOL, Andy, now just who has patience in the spring around here?
Not me!!

Meg - when did you plant them. If it wasn't last fall and you're waiting for old tulips to come up . . . . why don't you just relax and not think about it.

Yeah, i'll have to do that, pirl. But that's the problem: first of all, i'd rather worry about the tulips than less important things like, oh, my comprehensive exams which are fast approaching. second of all, andy, this whole "patience" thing--i've said elsewhere that that's what gardening is supposed to teach me but, um, it hasn't happened yet. I agree with maria--how can we be patient with spring springing all around us?? :)

i'll keep working on it. won't hold my breath. and i'll post pix once there's something to show.

Good luck Meg. You know we're all "rooting" for you!

Meg, I think patience comes with age, LOL.
My Granddad would always say "Don't rush the season". He was old too....
Andy P

Meg, I think a lot of the patience comes after you see things return the next Spring. You're pretty new at this right? I can still remember worrying about whether anything I planted the previous year would come up the next Spring.
Although that compost rush always eluded me. (It will turn to compost, you don't have to do anything, and if you make it happen quicker its still not going to be enough)

I think it's easier to have both faith and patience when you plant a bulb - like a lily. Now we can just see the tips of all of them coming up and forget the hours we spent, many years ago, planting each one.

Yes, I am still new at this (this is my 3rd spring, really). Part of the problem is also that I've been away for long portions of the two previous summers, so missed a lot of peak bloom (and consequently don't even know if things did what they were supposed to--DH doesn't really remember what was flowering when!). This year I plan on paying very close attention, and if I go away, getting whoever looks after the cats to take pictures of the garden!

pirl, I think you're right about bulbs--they seem easier somehow, and they come up so early that we know they're there. I'm about to plant some lilies--glad to hear about their reliability and instant gratification factor!

Dave, I think the fact that compost will just happen seems to good to be true to me, and so I want it to hurry up and prove that's how it works or something.

Compost is the best friend for a gardener. We don't use any food for the plants (except for roses and clematis) - just the compost.

I even took a photo of it, for you, today!

See, gardening must be the perfect hobby for me, because i think that's BEAUTIFUL!!

As i said before too, i'm almost maniacally anti-wasting, too, so composting is one of my favorite parts of gardening.

thanks, pirl!

Quite welcome.

Aside from the usual we also put dead houseplant leaves, flowers and stems, coffee filters, tea bags with their tags, ALL of our grass clippings, ALL of our leaves, contents of vacuum cleaner bags, ALL of the branches (chipped), and anything that will break down.

Due to the weather I was late in trimming back the Jackmanii on the copper trellis my DH, Jack, made but I do have the before and after shots of it. Let's see how soon it makes it over the top due to living in compost since the wire mesh, at the side of the bin, broke through and onto the base of the clematis: Oh Happy Day for the clematis!

Before photo:

After photo.

Jack cleaning up from the trimmings: one entire jampacked bag to be chipped.

Meg, You can also add hair, lint from your clothes dryer, shredded newspaper. I leave my grass clippings on the lawn. Gives up to 50% of the fertilizer the lawn needs and ,I think, helps prevent thatch. (Although, I do feel like I'm wasting it on the lawn--not a big lawn guy)