Online Plant Ordering

I came home the other day to a large package sitting outside my door.

Now, this is not an unusual sight at my house.

When you live with someone from another country and another continent, packages always seem to come to the house.

Whether it be a package from grandma in Australia with some Australian clothes for the kids or Australian cookies from the favorite cousins, or packages from friends in Europe, I imagine the postal service is very familiar with our home.

This time, though, it was a package for me. A month ago, I had ordered some plants online through one of the mail order gardening services.

As I wished to start a new day lily bed by my driveway, I ordered 24 different kinds of the versatile plant.

I am also a fan of daffodils in the spring time, and I ordered 200 of them to plant later on. I tend to plant about 100 a year, though I missed last year’s planting. This extra would make up for it.

Mail order gardening services work well on a couple of different levels.

To begin with, mail order services offer a wide variety of plants, many of them not offered at the local farm and garden stores, or anywhere else in the area, for that matter.

The day lilies I ordered could not be found in my area. Another service mail order companies provide is cost efficiency. Many times, prices found in mail order catalogs are cheaper than you find in stores. Keep in mind, though, that the plants purchased in mail order companies are generally much smaller than you find in a farm and garden store.

Like the day lilies that were sent to me, a number of plants shipped through the mail are bare roots, or plants that have no leaves on them, simply the roots themselves. This is generally true with some bushes and trees, and roses.

Others, like the daffodils, are shipped as bulbs or even simply the seeds. Of course, many plants are sold with the leaves on them, and placed in a small container or plastic bag.

Yet, a third benefit from ordering through a mail order company is time. Plants shipped through the mail come straight to your door during the time they should be planted.

As I am one who likes to plant all year long, there are those times when I plant something in the ground in the middle of the summer, knowing full well that it is the wrong time because of the heat and lack of water.

Mail order plants come to your home in the early spring or fall, ready to go into the ground. That’s my kind of plant. Enjoy!