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How Early Can Plants go in the Ground in Zone 5

16 years ago

I won a couple of perennial plants off of Ebay and they shipped to me already, one is a Caryopteris Summer Sorbet and the other is a Hyssop Heather Queen. They look great, small but in good condition. I don't want to chance letting them sit around until the end of May, is it too soon to plant them now, would they die? If I don't plant them now, will the be okay until the ground warms up a little more?

It's in the low 70s today and is suppose to be in the mid 60s for most of the week.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Linda

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Comments (6)

sue_in_nova_scotia
16 years ago
in my experience if it was grown inside ie green house then it is best to plant after frost..if perennial then you could risk hardening it off for a week or more and then plant...but still if there were a cold snap it may not make it. IF a friend gave me a perennial from their garden i would have no problem planting that immediately as it has been hardened off naturally..
bullthistle
16 years ago
Depending on the root system I usually plant them in 1 gallon containers and transfer to the bed in the fall to get the roots established and besides I make certain they get watered.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials
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mxk3 z5b_MI
16 years ago
Plant them any time now, but make sure they are hardened off first, as mentioned in the first post. It's definitely perennial planting time where I am.

If you feel they are just too small to be directly planted (like a one stem wonder with a puny root system), then you could also pot up and let them grow on in pots for the season and plant in fall, as the second poster mentioned.
athenainwi
16 years ago
I just got one of my plant orders in today. I'm going to leave them in their pots in shade on my deck for a week before I plant them so they'll have time to recover from shipping. The weather is perfect for planting here - above freezing but still cool and rainy.
waplummer
16 years ago
Provided they are hardened off they can be planted as soon as the soil is workable.
laceyvail 6A, WV
16 years ago
Even if they are very small and you pot them up, you should still be able to plant them in a few weeks rather than leaving them in pots for the entire season.

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