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Thank You For Q) Can I have a Wildflower
Garden that will have color all season? A) Yes you can. Most of the
wildflowers only bloom for 3-6 weeks at a time. However, with the proper
planning your blooms can start with blooms in early spring and have different
flowers bloom until frost. The plant information will tell you when they
bloom. Q) Can you ship Trees and
Shrubs? A) Yes we can. Some of our trees
and shrubs are grown in pots and some are field grown. These are either
shipped in boxes or wrapped in cardboard, depending on the size, and shipped
UPS. There is an additinal charge on these due to the extra handling and box
cost. Q) I want a wildflower meadow,
can I just throw out the seeds and have a meadow of wildflowers? A) No! The seed must make contact
with the soil, so you must get rid of exsisting vegetation, sprinkle
the seed and rake it in, mulch it, and water it in and keep moist until
the seeds sprout. It will take 2-3 years for the wildflowers to come to
blooming size and make a real show. Q) Why do I need to call the
Wildflowers by the botanical names when ordering? A) Each plant can have several
common names and some common names belong to several different wildflowers.
Ex: Bear-grass can relate to Yucca, Xerophyllum,Tradescantia, so it is
important to use the botanicalnames to get the plant you want. Q) Should I plant wildflowers
in the spring or the fall? A) You can plant them either in
Spring or fall. In fact, our potted plants can be shipped and planted
throughout the growing season. The bareroot plants are best planted when
dormant which is generally between September and May. Q) Do I need to fertilize my
wildflowers? A) In most cases you do not. The
first concern is your soil. Get your soil right and your wildflowers will do
fine. Some need rich organic soil, some will grow in sorry soil. If you feel
the need to fertilize your plants and not burn them, use an organic or slow
release fertilizer Q) When you refer to Zones,
what are talking about? A) All plants have heat tolerance
and cold tolerance. We have a zone map on which you can
find your area. This will tell you what zone you are in. Q) Why don't you sell a Shade
mix for the deep shade? A)We have a shade mix, but it must
get 3-4 hours of direct sun to survive. Plants that thrive in deep shade such
as panax, arisaema, sanguinaria, trilliums, etc. have special requirements
for the seeds to germinate and some can take up to 7 years to bloom from
seed. Mother nature does a good job but she has patience, and most of us do
not. Some of these wildflowers have hundreds of seeds and maybe only 3-5 will
grow. So as you see, you would be greatly disappointed in a shade mix of this
sort and you sucess would be slim to none. Q) I want to plant some flowers
and thought it would be cheaper to buy wildflower plants instead of hybrid
perennials A) Did you know that some, not
all, wildlfowers are much more difficult to grow from seed than hybrid
perennials. Some wildflowers can take 7 years or more to bloom from seed. You
may see a lot of wildflowers in the woods, but think about how long they have
been there. You may see a big patch of Trilliums in the woods and think they
must really spread. They take about 4-6 years to bloom from seed. Q) What is the difference
between Rhododendrons and Azaleas? A) Azaleas are in the Rhododendron
family. The native Azaleas lose their leaves in the winter and the ones that
you think of as Rhododendrons are evergreen. Q) When do I trim my
Rhododendrons and Azaleas? A) Always trim them right after
they bloom. Their bloom buds are on old wood so if you trim them in the fall,
winter, or early spring you will cut off the bloom buds. The best way to keep
them in shape is to deadhead them, which is pinching off the old blooms
before they start to produce seeds. This does two things, puts strength to
new flower bud development and puts on lateral growth to the shrub. It takes
a lot of strength for a plant to produce seeds. So if you collect seeds pinch
off the seed pods. I have seen many plants die during a year they produce a
lot of flower because they put all their effort to produce seeds and if
stressed by drought or other problems the roots are not strong enough to keep
the plant alive. Q) When will my plants bloom
that I buy from you? A) We ship mature blooming size plants that should bloom for you the same year you plant them. Of course, if you plant in the fall they will not come up and bloom until the next growing season. We can not guarantee they will bloom because some may go through transplant shock and take a year to get re-established. Now if you order a potted Trillium in June, it has already bloomed in May and will not bloom until next spring Q) If I order now but do not want my order shipped until a later date, when do you charge my credit card? A) We do not bill your credit card until the day we ship your order. Do you have
more questions? Contact me at rob@gardensoftheblueridge.com
and I will help you all I can, be patient with my response it can get very
busy around here at times. |
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The Blue Ridge