Flutter by, little butterfly!

I don't know if you remember but a couple of weeks ago I ordered a "Butterfly & Hummingbird" garden kit from Michigan Bulb Co. I did so despite the many negative reviews of the company's customer service, mainly because there were still a number of customers raving about the first-class service they did receive and the deal was too good to miss to boot.

[Source: Michigan Bulb Co.]

I ordered, waited, watched the delivery date pushed out and finally did receive my order which consisted of the following:

1 Pink Delight Butterfly Bush
1 Blue Wonder Butterfly Bush
3 Scarlet Bee Balm
3 Sweet William Mix
3 Dwarf Columbine Mix
3 Red Coral Bells
3 Sunburst Coreopsis

Since they occasionally have to break up your order into partial shipments, you might receive several boxes like this (and still only pay for shipping once)

[First shipment]

The shipment also included a a planting guide to help you arrange your plants in a pleasing and sensible manner: tall ones in the back, short ones in the front. Sort of like your typical group photo arrangement.

Yes, the plants were teeny tiny which is kind of hard on my patience but they seemed hardy and happy enough and so far we'd had to mourn only one loss. Technically I could get a free replacement for the plant that died from Michigan Bulb Co but after receiving my order without any problems I don't really feel like testing my luck.

They recommend that you plant your little sprouts as soon as you receive them which we did. The smaller part of our front yard to the right of our house is exposed to a lot of sun and made the perfect spot. I also added lantana plant that has been living in a planter box for the past 5 years and moved a couple of wild lantanas into the same spot for a bit of color now - it'll be a while before the other plants catch up and start to look more like actual plants and less like weeds

[Planted, manured and mulched]

I know, I know, it's not much to look at yet and I'm very tempted to go and buy a couple of gallon containers of flowering plants but gardening is all about faith and patience and care. We'll keep an eye on it as summer progresses.