Roses, fruit trees and bushes and hedging plants are often sold as “bare root” plants. These woody plants lose their leaves in winter and become dormant. They are then dug out and sold without soil on their roots. The roots can be trimmed, but they should never be allowed to dry out, which would be fatal.
Careful wrapping – with moist straw or similar – is essential for successful transport from nursery to garden. At one time, most plants were sold as bare root but the more convenient garden centre-friendly potted plants now predominate.
Bare root plants grown in fields are usually better than pot-grown plants, often less expensive and well worth considering, particularly where many plants are needed – for hedges, for example.
Roses do not prosper as well in pots as in the soil. Most garden centre roses are bare root, but potted for ease of sale.
Evergreen plants don’t become truly dormant and will lose moisture through their leaves after lifting. For this reason, evergreen hedging is often offered in small pots or, for larger plants, root-wrapped. Here, the evergreen plant is dug up with its roots in a ball of soil and tightly wrapped with hessian sacking or similar material. Where plants cannot be planted immediately – perhaps because the soil is saturated or frozen – they can be left in their packaging for a few days, or potted temporarily.
If some unfrozen, well-drained soil is available, then plants can be planted in a shallow trench (“heeled in”), and leant at an angle to prevent wind-rock, until planting time.
Strawberries, a fruiting herbaceous plant, are usually sold as “runners”. These are bare root plants that form on the creeping stems of strawberries. Runners are severed, lifted and sold in bunches usually of 10 through the winter to growers who wish to make new plantings.
If strawberries can be offered as bare root plants, it is not surprising that other herbaceous perennials can also be grown from bare roots.
Perennial ornamental plants are widely offered in garden centres in two-litre pots or online in 9cm pots. Both will give excellent results – but planting many becomes pricey, which is where bare root plants come in, as they are usually much cheaper than their potted equivalents. They are literally just a fist-sized piece or plant with buds and roots.
Bare root perennials are grown by specialist nurseries in the field in the same way as potatoes or sugar beet. This is much less costly than raising plants in pots. The plants grow and flower in summer, dying down in winter and becoming dormant until spring. These dormant plants are lifted as required, or stored in sheds in case the fields get too wet or frozen to lift plants. After dividing and trimming into modest but adequate portions, they are packed and dispatched to gardeners who ideally plant them on receipt – or at least pot them temporarily until convenient to plant.
Bare root plants are available only in winter and must be planted or potted before April. An advantage for environmentally conscious gardeners is that bare root plants do not arrive in plastic pots, which can create plastic waste, but in bags, which are often made of compostable materials.
Some field-grown bare root perennials are available bagged in retail outlets and these can be good value as long as they are not rotted or sprouting. The best range is available, however, by mail order, with best value from companies that also supply bulbs. Astilbe, peonies, hosta and phlox are particularly rewarding choices.
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