Special delivery! Your flower plants from Burpee have arrived and you can’t wait for them to bloom and grow in your garden. Here’s what to do when your flowers first arrive:

Step 1

Open the box! Remove plants from the packaging and give them care as soon as possible. (All Burpee packaging can be recycled!)

Step 2

Look for our handy Garden Guides inside. The guides will tell you how to grow your plants.

Step 3

Check for loose soil. If you find any, simply identify which plant the soil came from and return it to the correct container. If any plants fell out of their container during shipping, just pop them back in.

Step 4

Time for a good watering! Apply enough so that some water comes out of the bottom of the pot.

Step 5

Your next step depends on the type of plants you received:

Perennial plants

Plant perennials as soon as possible — they can take a frost and cold weather. It may take 4-6 weeks of mild temperatures before you see new growth, as plants establish their roots first. If you can’t transplant right away, keep them outside in a protected spot with morning sun; do not keep them in the house. (Note: To produce the strongest plants, we grow them in a cold greenhouse, so some plants may still be dormant when you receive them — these will have a dormant tag with further directions.) 

Annual plants

Harden off annual plants for a week before planting. It is important for annual flowers to avoid all frost and cold weather; if frost is predicted, keep the plants inside or cover them until frost has passed and then start the hardening off process. Here’s what to do:

Once your annual flowers are acclimated to the outdoors, they’re ready to plant!

If you have any questions about our plants, please send a picture and the order number to custserv@burpee.com