I've never been a big fan of the "bareroot in a bag" as the quality can be (usually) suspect depending on how old they are, and how they've been treated since coming out of the grower's field.

In any case, if you've lucked out, you should have some nice plants that should flower this year. In general, most bareroot divisions are mature plants relative to seedlings, etc.

As for the economics, I think you'll have to be lucky every time in regards to the quality for it to make sense in the long run versus other options. Besides growing from seed is part of the experience! ;)

Thanks for your input. Well if they don't grow at least I can get a refund since they're guaranteed to grow. The season has just started so hopefully they're fairly fresh. They were only $5.00 per bag so I paid $10 for the four Echinacea and 12 Liatrus. I'll hope for the best.

I agree about starting from seed being part of the experience. I have just begun growing from seed under lights and it's so much fun. I tried and failed in the past. I didn't know about using lights back then.

Amanda

amanda---you may want to go over to the winter sowing forum and read the FAQ's.. It could be an eye opener if you want to grow things from seed.
Duane

Thanks Duane. I have lurked there a bit. It's definitely something I will be doing next winter. It's just about spring here right now : )

Amanda

Try direct sowing your purple coneflower seeds in situ where you want them. It is a lot easier and no need to put them into containers to get a multitude of seedlings. All of these were direct sown!

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I have several other clumps of coneflowers throughou the garden that were similarly direct sown.

Wow nckvilledudes. They look great!
How long did they take to flower? How closely did you space each plant?

Thanks for sharing.

Amanda

Amanda, they flowered the second year they were in the ground. I didn't really space the plants but rather just broadcasted the seed that I collected off existing flowers in the garden and let them come up where they did on their own.

Please come back and let us know how these bare root plants do for you. I ordered a clematis last year. They sent bare roots and it never grew. I am hesitant to purchase bare root plants. I just don't trust them.

I have purchased bare root clematis and they are iffy depending on who they are purchased from. Regardless of who you buy them from, I have found it best to pot them up in one gallon pots and grow them out before planting them in the ground.

Okay so it's been two weeks since I planted the bare root Echinacea and also some Liatrus corms. I think they're considered corms. I also planted some Dutch Iris corms. They all came from Walmart and they're all starting to grow through the soil, minus two of the four Echinacea.

The Echinacea are just starting to poke through so the others may come along.

Once they grow out a bit more I'll update again.

Amanda

I have been skeptical of bareroot plants at big box stores due to all the reasons above. I also think they are more likely to be mislabeled. But Echinacea and liatris are pretty standard so that is probably a safe choice. And for $5 I think itÂs worth the gamble. I wouldnÂt risk it for the more exotic colored Echinacea. I am always tempted by the displays (was drooling at SamÂs again yesterday) but unless itÂs a bulb I donÂt normally succumb. The bulbs like lilies are not bad: have had great luck with those.

I got a box of 12 red astilbe at SamÂs that turned out to be all so tiny that they took forever to grow. When they finally bloomed last year (after 4 years in the ground ) they are all a dull shade of purply pink, not red at all. Fortunately for my color scheme they donÂt bloom at the same time as the red tulips, but it still wreaks havoc with my succession plantings. I bought ferns last year at Walmart that were supposed to be maidenhair. They grew well and quickly, but guess what: not Maidenhair, some generic looking ordinary fern.

Keep us posted! Liatris is one of my maintsays: if it all died I would run out and replace it immediately.

Good things to consider Linnea. I figured I would try these because they're basic easy to grow plants (that I love) and they were cheap.

I chose not to try their Clematic bare roots however. it just didn't seem like the right way to purchase Clematis. I mean they don't like their roots disturbed so why dig the roots out of the ground?

I hadn't considered Sam's Club for plants. Do they have a good selection? My membership ran out a while back. Would it be worth it to renew?

Amanda

Bare root can be a fine and relatively inexpensive way to acquire perennials. I think the factors which are important for success are quality (the source), how they have been treated before you buy them (related to the source) and when you get them. In my experience they need to be purchased and planted early. I had the best success one year when they arrived alarmingly early when we still had snow on the ground. I potted them up and put them in the shed and then started bringing them out as the weather improved before finally planting them later in April. I had a huge beautiful clump of phlox David from this and it flowered well the first year. My experience with Big Box store roots has not been good. If these plants survived they took several years to get going. From experience I would say avoid the blow-out late spring bare root plant sales some companies have. It is just too late by then for these plants to be dormant and they are suffering.