I have had great success with plants from Bluestone Perennials. Have been ordering from them at least four years now. All of my plants were in great condition when they arrived and the few failures were gardener related only!

They have a nice website and the paper catalogs will have you drooling! They also have online sales that are trouble for me as I want so much of what I see!

I am expecting my fall order end of this month, so I really need to get busy in the garden preparing the beds.

Happy Gardening!
Kat

Here is a link that might be useful: Bluestone Perennials

I don't order from catalogs, I'm lucky to have several good nurseries in my area that carry all the usual and many unusual perennials. However, when I first started my garden over 25yrs. ago I remember ordering a "perennial border" from a company (been wracking my brain trying to remember which one)consisting of Candytuft(white), Yellow Coreopis, and Blue Campanula. Believe it or not, the Candytuft is still out there in the same border!

Here is another vote for Bluestone. I have done business with them for a lot of years now. I don't order much anymore but would go back to them without hesitation.

glenda

okay, I just ordered a Bluestone catalog! I'm so glad y'all recommended a company that puts out a catalog, because that's what helps get me through the cold winters.
When I did a search for echinacea, I came up with a website for Lazy S's Farm Nursery that looks interesting. I checked Garden Watchdog and couldn't find anything on it. Has anyone ordered from them?

Laurie

I have ordered from santa rosa gardens, and loved the plants i got. Right now they have plants on sale for 2.99! Last year i got some plants not seen in garden centers locally.
Next spring im trying bluestone! i love the idea of their 3 packs.

rosewitch - I just realized you said you're waiting for your fall order. Are you getting plants that bloom in the fall or are you getting a head start on your spring garden? What zone are you in? I had all the previous owner's plant removed from my backyard, so I'd love to plants some things now, so I don't have so much to do next year.

Laurie

Although I purchase most plants locally, I like Lazy S's Farm (in Virginia) for unique plants that cost less than at some specialty nurseries. Healthy, well-packed plants. I ordered bulbs from High Country Gardens last year and was very happy with their quality.

Cameron

I remembered the name of the company/catalog - Spring Hill. Are they still around?

schoolhouse - I had a feeling that's what you were thinking of, but I couldn't remember the name either. I'll have to check and see if they're still around.

Laurie

Hi Laurie,

My fall order contains perennials wanted for next spring as well as fall bulbs. Because our winters are usually on the mild side and it doesn't get really cold until after Christmas; I have had much better results planting in the fall. I am putting in new hostas, penstemon, dianthus, helleborus, pulmonaria and of course new fall bulbs. This is the first time I have ordered bulbs from Bluestone. For the last two years I used Old House Gardens for all my bulbs. They are a wonderful company to do business with also.

I am in the Mid-Atlantic; Zone 7 for most of the state and according to the new USDA map my part of the state is now Zone 8! Which is why I was able to have a Lemon Verbena winter over in the garden next to the south side of the house!

Usually we don't get much snow cover; but of course that changed last winter! And if the snowy winter was the reason my roses were so spectacular this year; I will suffer more quietly if we get lots of snow this winter!

Kat

schoolhouse & msrose - check the customer feedback for Springhill on Dave's Garden before you order. They don't have a very good rating last time I looked. Bluestone has nearly 100% positive feedback. I ordered from Bluestone three years straight and have had wonderful success, including several shrubs & nearly a dozen clematis. Only reason I didn't order this year is I winter sowed close to 500 milk jugs and have planted/potted up/given away at least that many healthy new perennials grown from seed.

Kat, sounds like you are in Virginia Beach or close by. I like to order
in the fall so plants get settled in for summer blooming. I have a
lemon verbena and hope it will winter over here. The stevia over
winters in my garden and once I moved the pineapple sage to spot
near the house, it has over wintered also...I have ordered from Bluestone
also, good company.

I am about 161 miles north of Virginia Beach in Delaware and less than 30 minutes inland from the ocean.

I was shocked when that lemon verbena survived as from everything I had read there was no way one could live in my zone. Of course, planting it on the south side of the house and almost right up against the foundation sure helped! I also have three tea roses in my garden that are at least 5 years old. Two Devoniensis, both the shrub and climbing, and Mrs. Dudley Cross. These roses are supposed to be only marginally hardy in my area. But they are doing fine. I sometimes get lucky when trying out plants that aren't said to over winter here.
Kat

I haven't thought about Lemon Verbena in years. I planted some when my kids were small and we used to make tea from it. It's so yummy smelling. Since I'm trying to create a fragrant garden, I might have to find a place for some.

Laurie

Laurie,

Have you tried any of the many scented geraniums? There seems to be just about any fragrance you can think of, lemon, rose, spice, fruit, chocolate mint, and others. I love them all. And I can't imagine a fragrant garden without Heliotrope! And lots of thyme.
Kat

rosewitch - I've never heard of scented geraniums? Are they perennials? If I were to get one or two to try out, which ones would you recommend?

Laurie

Laurie,

I mostly get the lemon or rose scented geraniums as they are two of my favorite fragrances. For me in zone 7/8 they are treated as annuals. I have yet to be able to winter one over in my garden no matter how much I protect them. I sometimes do pot them up and bring them inside for the winter. I hope to do that with the ones in my garden now. I will have to trim the root ball and entire plant because they have gotten huge.

My favorites are; Attar of Rose, Lemon Crispum, Rober's Lemon Rose and Nutmeg. The flowers are usually small but pretty. The main reason most people grow them is for the fragrant leaves. You can put them into tea and other drinks, I like to add them to sugar to make a flavored sugar to roll cookies in before baking and sometime put the cleaned leaves into the bottom of the cake pan before pouring in the batter. Sort of like an upside down cake.
I am adding a link here to a nursery that stocks quite an assortment.
Hope this is helpful.
Kat

Here is a link that might be useful: Scented Geraniums

In the past I have ordered from Spring Hill and had good luck.

This year was the first time I ordered from Bluestone.
I suggested them to my son. Neither of us were happy with out plants.
The Jethro Tull coreopsis is still alive, but those are the only plants to survive.

Maybe it was our high temps here in TX.