I figured that, since we're looking at plants that can go between our beloved roses, why not check out a sale elsewhere?

Special Early Order Discount 15% OFF

CODE: A2KABS357 Expires 2/17/10

Greetings from Madison, Ohio!

Just a quick reminder that your SPECIAL EARLY ORDER DISCOUNT OF 15% OFF our regular pricing is about to expire this WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17th. Please enter the promotion code above on our website's main page if ordering online.

Early orders help us plan production and be more efficient. We are passing these savings along to you. If you have already favored us with an order, thank you! If not, you can reach us by phone, fax, mail, or online - whichever you find is most convenient. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Boonstra Family & Bluestone Staff

Thanks for the heads up, Skiekitty!

By the way, I got this on sale from Bluestone last year. Calamintha looks very good planted in front of roses (the rose companion link there). And you get the bonus of this type of visitor!

I made my first purchase ever from Bluestone and all I can say is WOW. The plants are big and healthy. The prices are quite reasonable. And the quality of service was astonishing. When I placed my order in March I wrote that they could ship the first week of May or the week of April 12th. I said I preferred May, unless the plants were adequately hardened. They wrote back to say the plants were hardened to 26F and therefore they would ship in April. As luck would have it the date arrived and no hard frosts in the Accuweather forcast for more than two weeks. Three days later the plants arrived and got planted the same day.

The three heucheras were large, perhaps full grown. Twelve lavender were six inches tall, but looked very healthy and had good root structure. The sale-priced sedums also were small, but that is their normal stature. And at least ten of twelve were very well developed for a plant in a two by two inch six-pack cell. The sale-priced lupines wilted in the sun, so I moved them to a shadier spot and they now look happy. The miscanthus Cosmopolitan had deep, heavy roots and had been carefully pruned up top so that it would not instantly dry out in hot sun. These guys know plants. They know how to deliver value. And they are good at execution. I won't know until the end of the season whether I ended up with the right plants, but I think Bluestone held up their end of the bargain very well.

Terri, how did I miss that gorgeous photo? It's wonderful.

I've always liked the people at Bluestone, Steve. Several years ago, I placed three orders in fairly rapid succession and they called me at home to tell me I had ordered enough to qualify for free shipping once the orders were combined, so they told me to forget the shipping charges on all three orders. I can think of a hundred places that wouldn't have taken the trouble to do that.

If you check their website periodically they post online only sales. They are very generous with the salvias and I am filling in my beds that way!