Establishing & taking care of shipped plants

Plants that have been travelling in the post for some time are naturally weakend by this process but it is generally very easy to get them back on track again.  

When you receieve the package unpack it as soon as soon as possible, if you are in a hurry at least open it and let som light and fresh air in to the plants.

Understandably you will be keen to plant your plant your plants right away in the rockery or garden but it is advisable to plant them in a pot with a good rock garden soil mix for a month or so until they regain optimal strength. The main benficiary reasons for doing this is that it will allow you to control light and water. If a plant that has been travelling in a dark package suddenly gets exposed to strong sunlight it will easily get burn damages and this can set back growth or in worst case kill the plant, so leave your potted plant in a light place but not in direct sun and then gradually expose it to more sun to allow it to slowly adjust to full sun again. When you have your plant in a (plastic) pot it will also naturally run less risk of drying out and you can control the watering on a dialy basis.

This process might sound like a lot of trouble and most rockery plants are tough and strong and are of course likely to survive being planted in the directly garden but the extra effort will greatly enhance chances of survival. 

If you decide to plant you newly unpackaged plants in the garden or rockery please make sure the do not dry out and if possible give some partial shade for the first couple of weeks.