@Busy-Lizzie -- that sounds lovely! I don't normally order plants until March either, but somehow the endless tedium of lockdown has led me to invest in a Daphne 'Mary Rose'. They do quite well around here so I am hoping...
@Busy-Lizzie, great selection. My first online perennial purchase a few years ago was around this time and the plants were just a few dead stalks or seemingly empty pots! They were well rooted and soon took off, so hopefully Leaderplant’s will too. Still waiting for my order, postage is snail-like to Spain at the best of times!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
@Nollie that A Safran looks lovely, thank you for posting that picture. I don't think my soil is really suited to them - clay. They don't flower prolifically and have to much leaf. Perhaps your soil is lighter and more alkaline?
My soil is heavy, very alkaline clay @Floralies, but a thin layer over rock and compacting gravel - the latter laid presumably when the land was originally terraced. I raised the bed and dug in tonnes of grit and organic matter and the achillea seem to like it.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Thanks @Nollie I think your soil is now lighter and and better drained than mine with all the grit and organic matter you have added. I'm now wondering how many of my Salvias are going to make it through this winter as the ground is continually waterlogged.
My Leaderplant order arrived today. A bit on the small side, as you say @Busy-Lizzie. Some were very dry, but oddly, the salvias and agastache, that like a poorer, free-draining soil were very soggy, in a heavy, claggy compost with free moss! I’m in the process of potting on into a gritty mix and hoping they do ok. Fingers crossed!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Good luck @Nollie, fingers crossed for both of us. It is so wet here, local river on Orange flood alert, the bit of the veg garden where I planted the roses from Promesse de Fleurs is like a bog. The earth was nice when the order came, everywhere is now saturated.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Good morning. An update on Matelma.be. Well, cannot comment on the plants because they never arrived. I had a full refund but disappointed that I had to do a change of plan. On the plus side I have found the hemerocallis I wanted in the local garden centre. Luxembourg is experiencing a gardening boom so shops are finally stocking interesting stuff. I have never seen such variety even in DIY stores!
I am in Belgium and have used Matelma: they were packaged well, delivered on time and healthy.
I have used PdeF once; the service and packaging was good but one of the plants I ordered turned out to be different to what I wanted (a shrubby rather than upright Magnolia stellata) but that's perhaps down to my inexperience interpreting growth habits + dimensions.
In general, I haven't found many online nurseries in Belgium (only found Dutch or French sites apart from Matelma), though I've visited a few that can be visited/the plants picked up in person. I'll definitely check out the recs from @Obelixx
Posts
Luxembourg
I have used PdeF once; the service and packaging was good but one of the plants I ordered turned out to be different to what I wanted (a shrubby rather than upright Magnolia stellata) but that's perhaps down to my inexperience interpreting growth habits + dimensions.
In general, I haven't found many online nurseries in Belgium (only found Dutch or French sites apart from Matelma), though I've visited a few that can be visited/the plants picked up in person. I'll definitely check out the recs from @Obelixx