Plants by Mail..is it Worth it?

I am a frequent visitor to our local Lowes, Home Depot, and several nurseries. I love to visit and see what's new or on special. We have a flower garden and vegetable garden, so local nurseries and garden centers are at the top of my to-do list...monthly.

I love just looking around and getting ideas on decor or plants I didn't know about. I do the same online always searching gardening sites, reading articles on gardening, and watching videos. I recently came across a plant I absolutely loved. I went to my local stores and couldn't find it so when I returned home I researched and found it could be ordered by mail. 

I was very skeptical. Don't get me wrong I have ordered seeds online, but something about ordering a live plant just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. I read reviews and plenty of people said it worked for them so I said okay count me in (my mother would have said so if everyone starts jumping off bridges are you going to try that too).

I decided my online plant buying adventure would just be, an experiment of sorts.  First, let me say One company did impress me with delivery and condition and I highly recommend them.

I was looking for hydrangeas. I wanted a kind different than my local nurseries had at the time. The first was the QuickFire hydrangea (proven winner). Some of the things I admired about this plant was the claims of

• Quickfire is the earliest of the hardy hydrangeas to bloom, setting out flowers a full month before older varieties of hydrangea paniculata
• If you are a flower arranger, a planting of these hydrangeas would keep you in beautiful, full bouquets all summer and fall
• Quickfire flowers open White but rapidly turn to their signature pink, darkening to a deep pink by fall. The pH of the soil doesn't affect the flower color
• mature height ( 6-8 feet ) -- mature width ( 6-8 feet ) -- exposure ( full sun to partial shade ) -- hardiness zones ( 3-9 )

One reason I choose this plant

Amazon plant is on the right, Home Depot plant is in the center Store purchase from Lowes on far left

And this is what happened after I placed the order.

They cost 19.99 with free shipping for Prime members. I placed the order May 23 and received it May 29. Delivered by UPS. Below is how it arrived.

Amazon plant on the right and the box is from the Home Depot Shipment

Amazon plant is on the right with red tag 

I was totally impressed by the delivery. I hope by next year it is blooming. The plant in the Southern Living container was a store purchase. As expected it has plenty of blooms developing. The only problem I had with the store purchase is there were select varieties.

The plant in the middle was a purchase from ParkSeed. I was also very impressed with their shipment. It arrived through USPS, which amazed me that the plants were in such good condition. 

Shipment from Home Depot

I was disappointed in the plant from Home Depot because it looked fine when I unpacked it, but the leaves began to fall off within hours, by the next day the leaves were shriveled and brown and only 3 remained by the end of the second day after receiving the shipment. If the plant had made it just a little sooner the plant from Home Depot would have been fine. 

Growing Your Own Mushrooms is it Safe?

Growing mushrooms has become popular again, mainly because of health benefits or the profitability of selling mushrooms labeled organic or home grown. I use them a lot for cooking but have always been nervous about finding or growing my own, so I started a little research to find some resources on growing my own mushrooms safely. I have created several posts to talk about growing mushrooms.





+A mushroom, or toadstool, is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source.

Like with all information on the internet it's best to check your source. Sometimes a site can have really good information mixed with not so good.

I have listed some sources below to help with your own research. In college my professor always forbade us to use Wikipedia, but I choose to list and use it because there was really good information there that could be verified.




Resource List

➱ How to purchase mushroom growing kits and books about mushrooms 
➱ Food safety and outbreaks reported to CDC
➱ How to grow mushrooms book plus bonus
➱ Resource guides for wild mushroom collector's and foragers


Help in Identification
             ⟱

➲ https://mushroomobserver.org/--The purpose of this site is to record observations about mushrooms, help people identify mushrooms they aren’t familiar with, and expand the community around the scientific exploration of mushrooms (mycology).

2018 Garden Update and Nylon Garden Trellis Review

This post contains affiliate links.

This year we decided to get a little more serious about gardening because last year we had a few hurdles.  My daughter lost her toy Poodle of 14 years and had no desire to tend the garden for a few months. At the end of the season, we had a bumper crop of tomatoes and a few other vegetables. See the post here. We actually had a few grapes to eat even though our grapevine is still tiny.

 The tomatoes actually froze because it got colder quicker and lasted longer, last Winter in Texas. We didn't have time to put them in the greenhouse so it was sad to see the plants all destroyed but, we were surprised and delighted and made a decision to plan better next season (now).

We started by getting rid of the huge crooked tree in the center of our flower garden. Then we moved all of the flowers out of that space and relocated them beside our shed and our new covered patio. Michael came inside for the Winter and stayed. The birdhouse got an updated look and I'll post more about that up-do project later. The greenhouse was relocated to the back of our property (it was damaged during a storm and had to be repaired). More updates will be in a later post.

One thing we added this year in the little space above is a nylon garden trellis. I love it because it was quick and easy to attach. After setting it up I realize I should have used it the long way. I had no idea our vines would be growing so tall (grow and learn) I'll probably get another and try it the right way. I included pictures (from Amazon) of the way others used them.

Crooked tree mostly gone

No more crooked tree!

The tree used to be behind this vine.

I like how some of the others used the trellis to support growing vines.