Planting Directions

1. Water your soil well before planting if it hasn’t been raining.

2. Water the plugs well after planting, and push down around them (gently but firmly) to ensure no air pockets remain around the roots.

3. If there is no rain forecast, water daily for the first 10-14 days, preferably in the morning.

Keep an eye on the forecast after that, and supplement water for the first month to 6 weeks if we don't get at least an inch per week.

Planting

Make a planting hole about 2x the size of the plug, and you will want to "tease" the roots into a looser cluster so that they can immediately start spreading. These plants have been growing for months in their containers and are ready for more root room!

Note: If you lose your plant tags over time, the plant apps Picture This or Seek by iNaturalist work well at identification once your plant is older than a seedling.

It is helpful to lightly surround the plants with a few inches of mulch or leaves after they're planted, which will break down over time into excellent fertilizer, protect from weed competition near the plant roots, and even insulate the plant in winter.

Protection

Keep an eye out for the National Weather Service's Frost/Freeze Advisories. You can set alerts for this in most phone weather apps. If one is forecast and you have planted your plugs, you will want to cover them overnight with an old sheet. If you haven't planted them yet, bring them inside overnight. Previously planted natives should be fine because they have already acclimated to the cold. 

Keep an eye out for bunny and deer nibbles as soon as your plants are in the ground. Nibbles are not always a death sentence for the plant thanks to root strength, but it defeats the purpose of planting for pollinators if the blooms never show up! Critter protection is a whole other learning curve, but fencing is usually essential if you have deer in your neighborhood (even if it is only wooden stakes with invisible fishline that they bump into, a tactic that has worked in many of our neighbors' yards). Bunnies can be deterred by lower mesh enclosures or individual wire cloches while the plants are rooting and growing. Mature perennials are rarely killed by any kind of animal browsing because they are healthy and large.

Containers

According to this lovely nursery in Kentucky, at least some varieties of: Bee Balms, Columbines, Milkweeds (Butterfly), Wild Indigo, and Mountain Mint are container-friendly. Experiment on your own and if the plant doesn't look happy, move it to the ground.

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That is it for basic plant care - we know it seems like a lot, but in practice it's not bad and you will get the hang of it in no time.