Planting

If they are container grown (growing in the pots they have been supplied in) they can be kept in a shaletered corner untilsoil conditions are better.

If they are bare rooted. Make a small raised bed (just a few inches) and heel them into that to that the roots are not sitting in saturated soil.

Thank you pompa

Dh has just potted up 72 herbaceous perennials I ordered a while back and which arrived as plug plants a couple of days ago. Good job he loves me!

I do love a bargain and they are really good little plants which DH says will grow on fairly quickly and a good bonus too as there are multiples in each little plug. T&M are very reliable so hopefully they will soon spread out. We have a very large bed to fill! Happy bunny here.

I have ordered some shubs and various plug plants from J Parkers recently and each time I get a free pack of other plants to deal with.
They have all been very well packed and seexm healthy.

I did get some bare rooted cornus plants which I just sank the into a patch of ground until I planted them a couple of weeks ago.

Like a lot of stuff in the garden there are signs of new shoots coming up.

I received a collection of 12 bare rooted phlox in the post last week and very unpromising they looked too but since DH potted them up most now have tiny shoots above the compost. I do love phlox and these promise a whole selection of different colours and heights.
We have a happy arrangement where I browse and buy and DH does the potting up with only the occasional groan when more come through the door. I am really enjoying this part of the process in our new garden although I ought to write down what I have ordered as I tend to forget and get carried away!

We had this problem a couple of years ago when I bought fifteen box plants to put round an area of lawn. For various reasons mostly related to DH not getting his finger out, coupled with the weather, we didn't get them in for quite a long time. They were already outgrowing their little pots when I bought them and, if I'd had space, I would have done just what Pompa said and heeled them in, but I just potted them into slightly bigger pots and left them to their own devices. They did very well when we eventually got them in. Last year I got stuck with three bare rooted verbena bonariensis which I bought because DD said she would like some, and then could not make up her mind whether she actually wanted them or not. I heeled them into a small bit of spare ground where they were quite happy waiting for her to make up her mind, but eventually had to dig them up and find them a permanently home in my flower bed. She had the cheek to say a couple of years ago "I might have my (MY ) plants this year!" I should cocoa!

A couple of weeks - not years!!