Webigail

Last year I purchased a huge lot of dormant plants. My focus was on flowering trees. I had at least 16 white dogwoods, and some other colorful plants. This was my first time working with dormant plants, but I wanted to be able to shape my trees from the onset. Plus, there’s a huge savings, as opposed to dealing with nurseries or other stores that sell plants.

My package arrived in May. I was careful. I read the directions, as to ensure that my babies would thrive and stay alive.

It could take two weeks before you begin to see new growth.

I healed my plants in and waited. I waited for two weeks. Then three.

Then, I called the company back to inquire. “Wait a couple more weeks and if no change, call us back.”

A couple more weeks pass and what I think is a bud on one of my 16 dogwoods is a bug. A green bug. Le sigh. So, I call again and inquire about a full replacement and was told to wait until “next year, when we’re ready to start shipping plants out again.”

Apparently, there’s a very tight window, when it comes to shipping dormant plants. No problem. I’m patient. After all, the growth of a tree is a slow, but lovely journey.

Let’s fast forward to March of this year. I call the company back and initially they tell me that I can replace my original offer for, get this, 50% off. Um…what?! After maintaining composure and pointing out the absurdity in paying for something that arrived freeze-burned and that their records of my phone calls would serve to show that these plants were problematic from the beginning, they decided to be courteous and replaced the entire order.

The box arrived about 3 days later and I saw an immediate difference. The roots were still moist; the leaders were in great shape and everything seemed to be alive. I immediately potted everything this time, as I thought that perhaps healing the plants in is what lead to the problem.

Again, I waited two weeks. No leaves. Three weeks, nothing. Four weeks, my creeping flox showed some signs of survival, as did my burning bush, but my dogwoods were still bare.

I watered every day, checked to see for growth. I even did the “scratch test” making sure that there was still green. They all had green underneath the outer coat, so why aren’t they growing. My husband said, “I hate to break this to you, but I think that your trees are a bust.” When an experienced landscaper says this, it’s time to use the branches for firewood.

I was about to pull everything out of the pots, but didn’t have time, as we went away for the weekend. Wouldn’t ya know that each dogwood had, not just buds, but open leaves?! Even a few of the trees from last year, that I had been meaning to toss, or whittle down to use as toothpicks had signs of growth!

I don’t know what caused the unusually long slumber for my dormant plants, but I’m happy that almost all have survived. However, I don’t know if I will go this route again. Waiting for these plants to grow was like watching my son clean up his toys; it was sloooooooow and painful.