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Is it ok to buy 5cm plants now?

TerryannTerryann Posts: 48
in Garden design
Advice please? Looking to buy some perennials, and these seem cheap online for 5 or 7cm pots, will these need potting on and protected until next year or can I plant them straight into flowerbed?The website states they can go out after frosts, should I not be buying these at this time and wait until next year?

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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    What are they?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    They would need protected if they're small. Many of these are grown undercover too, so there's a risk if you planted them out just now because they'd need acclimatising. Not an ideal time of year for that.
    It also depends on where you're buying them from - many cheap outlets are a bit iffy and just want to offload plants they haven't sold, so they can be poor quality. 
    A 7cm pot with a totally hardy plant, whose roots are completely filling it, might be ok if you have the right conditions for it [location is important for that] but ground is colder/wetter, and that also makes a huge difference to whether it survives winter. Otherwise, better to keep them somewhere sheltered over winter, and that can often be quite basic like under a table/bench, against a house wall, or in an unheated greenhouse with ventilation.
    Anything half hardy will need far more than that.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • TerryannTerryann Posts: 48
    Hi, thanks for reply, they are delphinium Lupin, campanula, verbena bonaires, achmilla mollis and eckinachia?  Sorry about the spellings. 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Alchemilla will survive anything, so that could be outside, with just basic shelter. It's fairly indestructible.
    5cm pots of any of the following 2 would be too small and vulnerable to plant out at this time of year. 
    Campanula - depends on what type, but they're slug magnets. Lupins are also slug magnets, so you'd have to make a judgement based on your conditions, but I'd grow those on and plant next spring/summer, even if they were in 7cm pots. 

    V. bonariensis can also be hit and miss - they aren't 100% hardy if you're in a cold/wet location. I often lose fully grown plants, so I'd have those growing on and with some basic protection. I always take cuttings of mine.  If you're in a sheltered, mild site, with light well drained soil, they might be ok, but only if in the bigger pot. I'd err on the cautious side though.

    Only pot on when the plants are filling the pots they're in. Too much wet compost or soil around fine roots won't help over winter. 5cm pots often have tiny plants in them and those won't do much growing until spring.

    I don't grow Echinaceas so can't help with those. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    edited October 2023
    I would pot them all on (not too much, just a size or two up) and keep them somewhere slightly sheltered until spring. 5cm is only 2 inches, at that size they're just baby cuttings/seedlings. Depending on how they were doing then, I might pot on again for planting out next autumn. My garden is fairly closely planted and things need to go out big enough to hold their own, and bigger plants are less prone to being completely wiped out by slugs - even if they get munched a bit they can outgrow it while a tiny one would be completely eaten away.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I definitely wouldn't plant them out no matter whereabouts you are.
    If you do buy them l would carefully tip them out of the pots and have a look at the roots, and unless they're dreadfully potbound l would leave them be. If they are pot bound then do as @JennyJ suggests and pot them on but only into a pot the next size up.

    So much depends on your location and of course the type of Winter we have, but if you have a sheltered spot up against the house wall for example that will help. If you have a coldframe, even better  :)
  • TerryannTerryann Posts: 48
    Thanks so much for the advice, I will purchase some and pot on if necessary and plant out next year, I can then do more plant shopping in spring. :)   I have a large sheet of plastic from a new mattress which I will use to protect them over winter, makeshift cold frame I hope. 

  • ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
    Do allow for ventilation.  While great for letting light through, plastic can trap a lot of moisture and cause plants to rot. 
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I suggest use the plastic only in the coldest weather. Otherwise somewhere next to a wall, under a bench or something like that will be enough protection
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    A sheet of plastic will be fine to keep rain/sleet/snow off them, but don't enclose them in it, for the reasons given. It's like using one of those plastic greenhouses - they don't protect from cold, just wet stuff. 
    I leave lots of small plants tucked in under shrubs. That works very well, but only those that I've grown on myself and are already acclimatised to my climate. That's where the big difference is. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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