Every year I end up in your position. Added to that I am at Lowes every week and find a lot of 1.00 to 5.00 bushes, perennials that at those prices I cannot pass up.

I order from Omaha Steaks and they send the order in these large styrofoam boxes. You can also buy them at dollar general, and the dollar store. I keep extra bags of garden soil on hand and I have a couple compost bins that I mix with the garden soil. If I have a lot of compost I mix it with the cheap top soil and I plant the sales and over flow, or do not know where I am going to plant all my loot.

I have found actually mail order plants do better if they are planted in a container and kept in the shade for a few weeks before subjecting them to the harsh conditions of the garden as soon as they come out of the box from the online nursery.

Thanks! The boxes are a good idea. I used to
get foil roasting pans at the dollar store for miscellaneous garden tasks. I
don’t think I have ever seen Styrofoam! I am going to get soil today anyway.
Update is they are “at the hub”. Until I get a text that they are out for
delivery, I will just keep prepping and looking up my selections for the conditions they like.

These are field grown plants from northern Wisconsin. I have had very good luck with their plants before.
They have not been coddled in a greenhouse, nor are they then rootbound. They
sell by 3’s though, and shipping is very high, so I seem to order once a
decade.
I
have a favorite nursery I go to a few times a year, and they have a great selection.
But they are grown in a green house, and lots just do not make it in garden
conditions, even when I acclimatize them beforehand.

Why does it always feel like the joy and anticipation of a huge plant order seems to rapidly degenerate into the terror of knowing you have to plant 40 plants?

I have a Hallson's order of perennials arriving any moment now and of course woke up with a terrible sore throat/head cold and do not feel like going out in the cool, overcast evening to deal with them. Fortunately I have pots and potting media and that may be all they get until the weekend- assuming I can work up the gumption to do that.

And I will, I know but my timing was just bad.

Yes, isn’t that an interesting phenomenon? I have both goosebumps and a
feeling of dread. Glad I’m not alone ;)

wheelbarrow with some media or soil... will give you space.. especially if you have the potting soil laying around ...

you might be surprised how many you could get in 2 square feet ... just a little soil between each ... no real spacing needed ... cool outdoors ... in damp soil is probably the best situation ...

i have also.. cut the bottoms off plastic wrap ... and put about an inch of water in a bucket.. and jammed in a lot of plants ... keep it cold .... you want them to grow as little as possible .... garage if cold nights ... cold basement ...

ken

Wheel barrow is a neat idea. I have one, and it actually has a few rust holes, so built in drainage.

They arrived at 2, and all I did was open the box and verify they are all there and not dry. They are wrapped in rolls of brown paper with wood excelsior, one roll per variety. They are in the cool garage.

Still, tomorrow, I will try for a marathon. It will be interesting, since I still can't kneel.

Also, 2 of the 3 wildflower orders that were due Friday ALSO came today. I did not unpack
those. >

I got all of mine kinda sorta potted- not the neatest job in the world but enough to hold them over until the weekend. I had forgotten all the bulbs I had ordered- lilies and liatris out the yahoo.

It was quite funny, though- I had gone out with intentions of sticking them into quart pots or even large Solo cups with drainage holes drilled that I use to start seedlings. Being this was my first Hallson's order I was not prepared for the hugeness of the plants!

Most times when I open a box of plants I find myself wishing they were larger but in yesterday's case each new bag opened was "OMG it's so huge" and "Oh crap, those roots are enormous!" The astilbe roots are simply massive, the daylilies could each be split into many plants, the ferns simply enormous, and some of the groundcover I swear would be sold as ten plants by other vendors.

It was funny, but nothing fit into anything any smaller than a trade gallon pot, and many of those are kind of crammed. I used up all my mixed potting media and was trying to avoid mixing up another batch, so I culled some baby palms I have been nursing along and robbed some more media there. Hustling around like a fool trying to get everything in a decent shape for holding. It was so cold and rainy and while I was working under cover it was quite uncomfortable, but I got it done.

What a pleasant surprise on the plant sizes, though- I already have another order started...

And I love the wheelbarrow idea, but both of ours are full to the brim of compost I had husband dig out for me to use this spring for planting and topdressing. I have him well trained to keep them full for me- don't want to spoil that habit at all.

Wheel barrow is a neat idea.

I did that last week with only 4 bare root perennials.

(I just cant find the time (actually the space) to put them in the ground....embarrassing....good luck with 40!)

Sadly, all I have is Lowe's and Walmart :(

I did make the trek to the closest "nursery" a couple of weeks ago but was sadly disappointed in their stock- Lowe's has better variety.

Online it is for me- I bet 90% or more of the stuff in my yard was shipped in.

I know what you mean....my closest nurseries all have same old, same old....and usually at cringe-worthy prices. The Lowe's here is not good either. The town where I went to grad school 70 miles away had a great Lowe's. I used to stop by on the way home from class all the time. I was excited when one opened close by; now I don't even bother to go. When I am out of town on business, I often look up local nurseries and stop enroute home.

omg...good to know I'm not the only one! It's a race to get everything in, with my fear of having the plants dry up in the meantime...

Some of the local $1 stores around me also have styrofoam coolers, the kind that is just about the right size to fill up with ice for road trips or picnics.

You can check and see if yours have some coolers, too.

I'm still trying to just get them in the right way. We had 4 + inches of rain yesterday. I had left the kraft-paper wrapped bundles outside, figuring that rain would be good for them. But when we got much more than expected, early this morning when it stopped, I was unpacking them to let them air out. Some of the ones I already planted look like they are on their way to rotting. I just hope it stops for a few days.

Slowing me down has been the realization that I needed to add more dirt and compost to the beds. They have sunk a lot since last year. I'm at 20 40-lb bags and counting, in 2 beds. (I don't have a load delivered because the last time I did that, it was loaded with weed seeds.) I just can't figure out where the darn stuff goes to.

We have been swamped, haven't we? I noticed many low farm fields flooded. Weather report says we might get more tomorrow but that the weekend should be clear. I hope so! My weeds are thriving, ha!

I seem to remember that you did a big raised bed last year, right? Do you think its just settling that is causing it to sink? I always plant my trees and shrubs really high because it is amazing how much they sink in a year's time.

Hope things dry out to give you and the new plants a break!