Mailbox Fun! The Gurney's Grab Bag has Arrived! (June 2011)

Gurney's 'Garden Grab Bag' - June 2011

A few weeks ago I posted that Gurney's Seed and Nursery Co. was offering $200 worth of end of the season product for $19.99 + shipping until June 6, 2011.  I decided to take the chance and see what they would randomly pull out of the greenhouse and send me.

Today 2 large boxes with a total of 18 plants arrived. 

Here is what I got (list in order of photos above):

4 Chokecherry (Prunus virgniana) - fruit 'bush'/tree
4 Dancing Dolphin Vine (Columnea)  - houseplant
2 Rocky Mountian 'Wichita Blue' Juniper (Juniperus scopularum)- evergreen
3 Arapaho Blackberry (Rubus) - fruit bush
3 Rainbow Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) - ornamental bush
2 Japanese Fiber Banana or Hardy Banana (Musa basjoo) - fruit? tree

As I went through my plants and started looking up what I'd gotten, I quickly found a problem.  Several of the plants are not zone appropriate.  I am in zone 4 and the blackberry and butterfly bush list zone 5 as their coldest zones.  The banana tree was an enigma to me.  I was unable to locate it on the Gurney's website, but when I called Gurney's I was assured that it can survive winters down to -20F!?!

Yep.  I did call Gurney's customer service about my order.  I had paid for all of the plants and obviously at least 6 of them were not likely to survive a typical ND winter.  The gentleman I talked to was very courteous and quickly offered to give me a refund for those 6 plants.  He looked up the bananas and told me to give them a try as they are suppose to be cold hardy (up to -20F according to him).  If they don't survive the winter, Gurney's will refund me in the spring.

I asked if I should mail the plants back & he said no.  He thought that the plants would be dead by the time they arrived back.  I guess this gives me the opportunity to see if I can find a place sheltered enough in my yard to raise some blackberries.  I'm hoping that I can also find a sheltered location for one butterfly bush as well.  I'll let you know what happens next spring what survived the winter.

While I am disappointed that so many of the plants are not zone appropriate, I have to say Gurney's customer service was as good as I have found it to be any time I have had a problem.

Did you order a Garden Grab Bag?  What did you get?

Happy Gardening! :)