That's a good question. If it were a tree I'd say no -- never bury the flare, but I'm not sure about shrubs. Is the stem flexible at all? If so, you could tie it to some stakes to straighten it.

If this was an online purchase, I would be very unhappy that the company sent me this. Why should you pay full price for it and have to bury half of it and have to rehab it? And nurseries are doing a good business right now and should recognize the value of refunding your money on a plant like this that has not been grown well. I would either send it back and/or ask for a refund without sending back. At the least they should be discounting whatever you paid by a total of at least 50%.

If they are suggesting you do it that way, maybe they know that will work. If you do it and it doesn't work, they should definitely refund the whole price of it. If they refunded my money, I might try cutting it off at the soil level in the spring, if they left it with me. Or try what they suggested now.

There are some nice bargains to find this time of year, but, I'd prefer shopping in person if it weren't for Covid. That way you can select one that is still in good condition and grown well. Second choice would be buying from a company I had good past experiences with that I could trust to send me something in good shape. You might suggest to this company that you will accept their not refunding your money but you won't feel happy to order from them the next time.

too bad you didnt post in the bonsai forum.. this is the kind of oddity.. they might pay extra for ... lol ...

i wonder if the seller is one of our less favored sellers ...

what is your plan with this plant ...

first compare maturity here: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=ilex+Little+Goblin)&iax=images&ia=images

then ask yourself.. when this thing is a 2 to 4 foot globe of holly love.. will it even matter what the truck looks like.. and if not .. then just plant it properly ... the weirdo trunk will disappear sooner or later ...

that all means.. why risk burying it ...

do make sure .. based on the pix at the link.. its properly sited... just because it says little in the name.. doesnt mean its going to stay little... unless you prune it ...

back in the day ... with my huge hosta and conifer collections .. i had a couple national tours in my garden.. and believe it or not.. everyone ran to the weirdos.. not the regular stuff ... and they told me.. weve seen all the regular stuff at all 15 gardens.. its the weirdos that make touring interesting ...

ken

"...will it even matter what the trunk looks like.. and if not .. then just plant it properly ... the weirdo trunk will disappear sooner or later ..."

That's the thing - I don't know if it will matter lol. It WILL matter if the darn thing grows crooked. But will it? Or will it straighten up and fly (grow) right?

This was a company that I bought from for the first time this spring, and was very happy with. They got very good reviews on Garden Watchdog - 277 positives and only FOUR negatives. Don't think you can get much better than that! And this is the third order I've placed, with one more on the way. I kind of thought they would become my new go-to, now that Bluestone has kind of fallen out of my favor. This company even answered my 8:30pm email within an hour, something I certainly was not expecting - thought I'd find an answer this morning.

I think I may respond and tell them I just want a replacement. My garden dollars are just too precious now, after a year out of work and my husband still unemployed. At the very least I should get something worth paying for, if I'm paying their full price. Thanks to both of you, and PM2 I'm going to borrow some of your wording for my email - I like the "rehabbing" verbiage lol. That's a good way to put it!

Thanks!

:)

Dee

I would certainly think twice about buying that if I was at a nursery, unless it was the only one left and I really wanted one. They should send you a replacement.

I don't think you would be out of line asking for a replacement, but planting deeper would be fine for this plant. Most winterberry will sucker a bit so deeper planting might even be better in this case. I'd worry more about it being September and the plant is still actively growing, but I think if you pull the roots apart enough when planting and just water (without fertilizing), it will focus on roots, and fit right into your CT weather schedule.

...and now I'm searching online after realizing it's been a whole 'nother year since I last said I really need to plant some winterberries ;)

Mine isn’t a quick answer, but IME with winterberry/Ilex verticillata,is as Katob said; it is a suckering plant that will spread, so the current configuration of the stem is not important.

Thanks Babs, that's good to know. The vendor actually gave me a refund - I believe they were out of stock so no replacement. They did not ask for me to return it (although I was willing to and said so) and they actually re-stated that I should try planting it deeply. I may pot it up first instead of planting it out, to see how it grows before committing to garden space for it, but either way I am pleased that the company came through. I kind of thought they would, as my few and recent (only this year) dealings with them have been very satisfactory on several levels.

:)

Dee

Yay! Nice outcome Dee.