Virginia Bluebells - Mertensia virginica - Early Spring flowers!

Things to Know Before You Purchase:

Orders are final and we do not offer refunds

We love our plants very much, talk to them, and care for them each day.

Here’s some tips to help you care for them as well:

“Right plant, right place” (Master Gardeners have the right motto) – plant them based on their needs which are provided in their descriptions

Plant for their full growth and provide enough space for their roots, which should be at least the width of their spread/canopy (drip line)

Do not plant during intense heat waves

The best time to plant forbs/herbaceous plants is in the spring and fall

The best time to plant shrubs and trees is in the fall

Plants “sleep, creep, and then leap” – it takes 3 to 4 years for establishment

Watering is supplemental to rain and typically only needed during root establishment if planted in the ground

Avoid watering leaves

Water at the soil level, with the pressure similar to soft rainfall

Water everywhere you want roots to grow

Plants located outside, in pots, with temperatures above 74 degrees, may need to be watered each day as they are losing moisture quickly and don’t have the protections provided by the ground

Loosen up the roots before planting

Mix the soil the plants came in, into the soil they’re going in

Don’t use landscaping fabric for any perennials. This is only helpful for annuals.

Protect plants from wind and animal browsing during establishment

Shipping Info:

Offering native plants to the public is our way of helping others re-establish native plant communities. We are not a retail nursery. We are a conservation landscaping company with a nursery. Most of our plants are grown for restoration projects we’re working on. The plants we offer to the public were prolific enough to share. We will still only offer our local ecotype to areas that the plants could potentially spread to on their own. If “Out of stock/unavailable” this typically means we have it for landscaping, but don’t have enough to share with the public.

We are also a micro business so there is nobody to man the phones to address questions regarding orders. After we care for the plants at 5am, we are all in the field doing very important conservation work, often surrounded by poison ivy, and do not have the same access to phones and internet as people who work in offices. E-mail is the best form of contact for plant orders but sometimes after an intense invasive plant removal, nobody has enough energy left for administrative tasks. Please don’t hate us for not being the strongest communicators. Northern Virginia’s invasive plant problem is like being in the trenches, fighting a war that nobody else is fighting for.  We are out there fighting it each day and super appreciate your patience!

Shipping can be delayed for the following reasons:

Excess Rain

Excess Heat

High Volume of Orders

Our goal is to remain as sustainable as possible. These are our methods for sustainability, and we improve upon this process everyday:

All of our shipping materials have been recycled with the exception of tape. (we are looking for an alternative to clear plastic tape)

We use masking tape on the inside of the boxes, for labeling, and fixing cracks in containers

Plastic labels and tags don’t break down so we don’t use them

The boxes we ship may appear a little make-shift, because we use whatever boxes have been donated

We also use lots of recycled paper and we don’t read it as we package it

Plants are shipped in soil to keep them healthy

The bamboo we use in shipping is dead and from restoration sites

We encourage you to re-recycle the shipping materials that your order arrived in. Newspaper works much better than landscaping fabric in the garden.

If you have a rushed timeline, you may want to order from a retail nursery who can better cater to your needs. You may also email us to ask our expected delivery time before purchasing. This varies based on weather and volume. We experience a very high volume of orders in the spring.

Please show these plants lots of love and appreciate their special contributions to this Earth. Although you paid for the service of their collection, growth, care and delivery, these plants don’t belong to us individually. They belong to an ecosystem that is reliant upon them, as do you as a land steward. They’re not a packaged and processed product. They are living and contributing to an environment that needs our help.

We thank you for your order and for planting native plants!