Plants by post seems like a fairly crazy idea. Especially when 18 large grasses were ordered up in 2 litre pots. On delivery the box got heaved, upended into the shed outside and neglected for 10 days. No-one had remembered to mention the package in the shed and I stumbled across the box, returning tools in the gloaming one evening.
Not a promising beginning, but hurray for careful nurseries and the dormant season. When the lid was opened up, this is what the contents looked like. The grasses were unwrapped, each one in a hefty twist of newspaper. Not more than a spoonful of potting compost got spilled and they looked selected straight off the shelf. These are Miscanthus nepalensis a graceful gold tassled grass. Not one of those elephant sized large miscanthuses.
The bare-rooted roses arrived round about the same time. These look fragile but the travel by post doesn’t upset them at all. They can sit around in the bag they arrive in for a week or two, better instead to heel them into the ground. The one thing to avoid is exposure to the drying winds of winter or worse still, leaving them dumped in a bucket of water. Make sure that a good covering of soil covers the roots well and right up to the graft union.
If you can’t source what you want locally, this is a good way to buy plants. Particularly if you know the nursery. The grasses above came from the best grass nursery, Knoll Gardens in Dorset. The roses in turn from David 
Austin. Not so tomorrow’s order and it is a bit worrying to be buying blind: a pallet load of Cotoneaster franchetii is coming in by courier from a wholesale hedge company. Will they be big? Will they be bushy? If not, how do I send them back?
How lucky that you found your plants when you did, they certainly don’t seem to have suffered at all. Miscanthus nepalense is a lovely grass, just like spun gold, but is it hardy, I lost mine one winter and the seedlings that were in the greenhouse also died?
I buy too much by post and have found some wonderful nurseries that pack plants so you are assured they will survive. I like my roses bare root. I soak them in a bucket of water until I can plant. I have had some in buckets for months in spring and summer and they do fabulous.
Your grasses look fine. I have bought a lot myself through the mail, but at times the plants are so small I am disappointed. Yours look very nice sized! Good luck on the cotoneaster.
It’s always exciting to receive new plants on the post. Looks like all your new arrivals ire in good condition. We have had the odd dud deliveries through the years, never actually sent anything back but I have complained and received replacements instead (but got to keep the ‘damaged’ plants)
I’m toying with selling plants on the internet and am looking at cost efficient ways of packaging. Thinking of following Toby Buckland’s lead and going bare rooted but not sure if people will buy as will need to be prompt on unpacking – its a dilemma
It’s amazing how resilitant plants can be. As for roses, such a beautiful but tough plant. I love ordering plants and waiting for them to arrive.
I have bought lots of plants by post (mail), and surprisingly, it has worked out very well. Only a few times have I needed to request a replacement. I like the variety one can find in the plant catalogs, so I do a lot of shopping through them.T
Most nurseries send their plants well packaged which is just as well as they often seem to arrive just before I’m going away for a few days.
I love grasses especially Miscanthus x giganteus. I’ve just cut ours back. But I miss the strong verticals it provides.
I’ve only purchased plants through the mail once and they were sad specimens. Your plants look great.
I also like to buy plants by mail order if I can’t find what I want locally. But my last purchase was a disappointment. I bought a camellia sasanqua early pearly. When it arrived it turned out to be teeny weeny. But I did not complain. It’s my own fault. I expected it to be big because of the price. I should have asked how big it really was before ordering it.
Your grasses are fine specimens. I occasionally mail-order plants and generally have had moderate to excellent results. Only a couple of times I was sadly disappointed by scrawny plants, poorly packed. It depends on the source!