I planted out our latest purchases and deliveries tonight. The lantana and red thyme were pretty standard since they were in their plastic containers. I did hit a huge root while digging a hole for one of the lantanas. Or was that buried electrical wire? It looked like a mud-caked wire, circa 1972, but what the heck would it be doing 6" below ground in a flower bed? It could have just been a smooth root, too. Instead of testing it, I just moved the lantana over a couple of inches and re-buried whatever it was. Mental note taken. That was the easy part.

The phlox and daisies came shipped as pretty much all roots. The phlox had some green needles and the roots were mostly tangled in the needles. I did my best to untangle as many roots as I could without damaging them and planted them with all the roots buried and with as much green stuff above the surface as I could. I’m not sure what the proper procedure is, but I had to get them in the ground soon. The daisies were pretty much all roots that seemed to converge into a single stem that was cut off at what I guess is the crown. No green whatsoever. I buried it all with the stem just millimeters below the surface. I wasn’t expecting things to be so bare. Next year, I’ll grow from cuttings or order in February to get as much lead time for the plants as I can.

The three rhododendrons that I cut and put in tubs in the back yard were looking a little droopy today. They’re pretty much in the shade except for a couple hours of morning light. Once again, I’m not sure what to do or if I acted a little too soon on cutting them. Sometimes I research until I can’t stand it anymore and try to do it perfect, other times I just work on a whim. The rhododendron cuttings were the latter! It’s an experiment, so we’ll see what I can learn from this experiment!