Recently, I got home from work and found four packages of plants waiting for me on my doorstep. Since I still maintain a childlike delight in getting mail, having four packages to unwrap (and knowing none of them was pajamas from Great Aunt Shirley) in one day was utter joy.

But even better was that every box held surprises. I purchased the contents of the boxes back in January, when ordering plants is a defiant act of faith that spring would, indeed, arrive. Now months later, I’d completely forgotten what I’d ordered.

I ripped open the cardboard containers and discovered….packing peanuts? That didn’t seem very green. At least it didn’t until I read that these were 30% recycled and I could send them back in the box they were shipped in, and get a credit from the nursery on my next order. I carefully shook the peanuts from each plant and tried to make sense of what had been sent to me.

There was the guacamole hosta and the plum pudding heuchere(coral bells) for the shade. There was sedum and several kinds of asters, which I sort of remembered ordering so the bees would have more late-season nectar sources. Then there was sweet woodruff, of which I had no memory of ordering at all (am I the only one who does this? Or am I just the only one who orders plants and then forgets about them until they arrive?)

Also included in the packages were cranberries (the real ones, not the viburnum kind called highbush cranberry) and a pecan that is supposed to be hardy in zone 4.

Now comes the digging/planting/fencing part. I don’t mind doing that, certainly, but it’s a little more like putting together all the toys you got and finding batteries after the big day.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007 at 11:40 am and is filed under Apples, Plums + Tree fruits, Berries, Flowers + Grasses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.