I ordered free lilies from a Daily Telegraph offer, and was tempted at the same time to order five dark burgundy ones. There was a terrible delay in their being sent - didn't arrive until May. I potted them up - and some are showing good growth. Whether or not they will flower this year is debateable, given the lateness of planting.
Not the suppliers' fault, but two out of five were chomped by slugs, so only three potential flowers. And I hadn't realised until after I had planted them that they had sent "Black Charm" rather than "Black Night" (leastways, that's what I think they were meant to be - I can't put my hands on the original order).
The free lilies are showing a bit of growth - but only about half of them are doing anything. I don't think I'll be seduced by such offers again. And it was T & M who seem to be behind a lot of these "offers"
Indeed, Steve - If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Ah, well, we all have to learn the lesson, albeit rather late in life for me.
Better to buy quality locally than hope for anything from one of these "deals". What a shame - gardeners would be singing the praises of a company than lived up to the hype - and the best form of advertising is word of mouth (or word of message board in this case).
I wonder if the company/ies involved will ever learn that lesson?
I took up several GW magazine offers over the last year and most are doing well. They included 2 lots of 3 clematis and the 24 strawberry runners and all of them are looking good though the clematises did need a bit of nurturing. I was less happy with the autumn raspberry offer. The 3 canes I planted in the autumn got off to a very slow start in the spring and are still much less advance than the 9 canes which I paid for and planted in the spring. But they did get very water-logged over the winter which might explain why they're not happy.
Oh gosh! Kind of glad I didn't read this before, because I ordered the bulbs last autumn - queen of the night and ballerina tulips - and they have been absolutely stunning, to the point where I am planning to source some more for my new borders for next spring. I just ordered the lavenders, because I do have a use for them, but it is the first time I have ordered the free plants. (Although I had some perennials from a different supplier last year that I paid for, which were small, but mostly growing well now they have established). I will report back on the lavenders then - it will be interesting to see what we all get. I always thought that it wasn't so much the suppliers palming off too much stock, as a way for them to increase their target market with new names and addresses to send the catalogues to.
Hi I got 72 free petunias with an order from Van Meuwan, The have all survived and have been divided with family, However I also got 50 freesia bulbs of which only about 15 have come up. you win some you lose some
I ordered those free perennials, and although they took a while to come and were very tiny (smaller than what I would class as plug plants really), I repotted them straight away and now have lovely plants which are growing really well in 10cm pots. I posted somewhere a week or so ago what to do with them and I am going to put half in the garden and keep half in pots to see if there is any difference in results. Overall I'm really pleased with them for £5.95.
I have also ordered the lavender and if they grow as well as the perennials I will be pleased .
I also ordered the tulips and they were fantastic, it's the first time I've grown tulips (yes really!) and they were beautiful, I posted some pics on here somewhere. I will definitely get tulips if they are on offer again.
The strawberry plants are growing really well, but no flowers therefore no fruit and not sure why??
I ordered the free perennials in the autumn/winter of 2012. They were very tiny and I didn't want to have to nurture them all through the winter, so I put them out in the beds, but very few survived and they were all feeble.
Last autumn I ordered the three free clematis. They were also very tiny, in little plugs with only a few centimetres of top growth. The instructions were to plant them out at the time, but I knew they would just get lost or eaten by snails, so I left them in a sheltered corner. I planted them out (still tiny) early in the spring, and found that they had quite strong, healthy roots. I am happy to report that all three have shot up into proper grown-up plants now and look as if they'll do well.
Common theme here seems to be that if we are prepared to mollycoddle the plants, they will probably be okay, but if we don't have time to do that, it might be better to get stuff from the GC that is a bit more robust, and pay a small amount extra. OL, your strawberries will probably fruit later in the season - I had some new plants last year from the GC, and they did fruit in about August. Trouble was they were covered with wasps so nobody dared go near them - maybe get an insect net? I thought they were autumn fruiting or something, but they seem to be ready now, so I think it was cos they were new plants. I have to say, that I do rather like getting stuff in the post - big kid really . I like the challenge of nursing something along, and I quite like the fact that someone else chose what you were going to have. I've never had lavender any colour than the usual blue, so I am interested about what effects the other colours will make. Sometimes getting something random can be more exciting than choosing something you already know. Broadens your horizons!!
Posts
I ordered free lilies from a Daily Telegraph offer, and was tempted at the same time to order five dark burgundy ones. There was a terrible delay in their being sent - didn't arrive until May. I potted them up - and some are showing good growth. Whether or not they will flower this year is debateable, given the lateness of planting.
Not the suppliers' fault, but two out of five were chomped by slugs, so only three potential flowers. And I hadn't realised until after I had planted them that they had sent "Black Charm" rather than "Black Night" (leastways, that's what I think they were meant to be - I can't put my hands on the original order).
The free lilies are showing a bit of growth - but only about half of them are doing anything. I don't think I'll be seduced by such offers again. And it was T & M who seem to be behind a lot of these "offers"
'Yer gets wot yer pays for' seems to be the moral here.
Indeed, Steve - If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Ah, well, we all have to learn the lesson, albeit rather late in life for me.
Better to buy quality locally than hope for anything from one of these "deals". What a shame - gardeners would be singing the praises of a company than lived up to the hype - and the best form of advertising is word of mouth (or word of message board in this case).
I wonder if the company/ies involved will ever learn that lesson?
We have a thread called the Good Guys, dunno if people have seen it ? Where members recommend good and trusted suppliers, worth a look
I took up several GW magazine offers over the last year and most are doing well. They included 2 lots of 3 clematis and the 24 strawberry runners and all of them are looking good though the clematises did need a bit of nurturing. I was less happy with the autumn raspberry offer. The 3 canes I planted in the autumn got off to a very slow start in the spring and are still much less advance than the 9 canes which I paid for and planted in the spring. But they did get very water-logged over the winter which might explain why they're not happy.
Oh gosh! Kind of glad I didn't read this before, because I ordered the bulbs last autumn - queen of the night and ballerina tulips - and they have been absolutely stunning, to the point where I am planning to source some more for my new borders for next spring. I just ordered the lavenders, because I do have a use for them, but it is the first time I have ordered the free plants. (Although I had some perennials from a different supplier last year that I paid for, which were small, but mostly growing well now they have established). I will report back on the lavenders then - it will be interesting to see what we all get. I always thought that it wasn't so much the suppliers palming off too much stock, as a way for them to increase their target market with new names and addresses to send the catalogues to.
Hi I got 72 free petunias with an order from Van Meuwan, The have all survived and have been divided with family, However I also got 50 freesia bulbs of which only about 15 have come up. you win some you lose some
I ordered those free perennials, and although they took a while to come and were very tiny (smaller than what I would class as plug plants really), I repotted them straight away and now have lovely plants which are growing really well in 10cm pots. I posted somewhere a week or so ago what to do with them and I am going to put half in the garden and keep half in pots to see if there is any difference in results. Overall I'm really pleased with them for £5.95.
I have also ordered the lavender and if they grow as well as the perennials I will be pleased
.
I also ordered the tulips and they were fantastic, it's the first time I've grown tulips (yes really!) and they were beautiful, I posted some pics on here somewhere. I will definitely get tulips if they are on offer again.
The strawberry plants are growing really well, but no flowers therefore no fruit and not sure why??
I ordered the free perennials in the autumn/winter of 2012. They were very tiny and I didn't want to have to nurture them all through the winter, so I put them out in the beds, but very few survived and they were all feeble.
Last autumn I ordered the three free clematis. They were also very tiny, in little plugs with only a few centimetres of top growth. The instructions were to plant them out at the time, but I knew they would just get lost or eaten by snails, so I left them in a sheltered corner. I planted them out (still tiny) early in the spring, and found that they had quite strong, healthy roots. I am happy to report that all three have shot up into proper grown-up plants now and look as if they'll do well.
Common theme here seems to be that if we are prepared to mollycoddle the plants, they will probably be okay, but if we don't have time to do that, it might be better to get stuff from the GC that is a bit more robust, and pay a small amount extra. OL, your strawberries will probably fruit later in the season - I had some new plants last year from the GC, and they did fruit in about August. Trouble was they were covered with wasps
so nobody dared go near them - maybe get an insect net? I thought they were autumn fruiting or something, but they seem to be ready now, so I think it was cos they were new plants. I have to say, that I do rather like getting stuff in the post - big kid really 
. I like the challenge of nursing something along, and I quite like the fact that someone else chose what you were going to have. I've never had lavender any colour than the usual blue, so I am interested about what effects the other colours will make. Sometimes getting something random can be more exciting than choosing something you already know. Broadens your horizons!!