Their roots are showing: Dormant, bareroot perennials

Bareroot perennials are the typical mail-order product. Selling perennials this way is simply more practical for some plants for a variety of reasons. For instance, baby’s breath and baptisia have root systems that are sensitive to being moved in and out of the ground and various pots too many times. Other perennials, like daylilies and peonies, have large roots systems that don’t fit well in smaller pots. These bareroot plants are also dormant and lightweight, which makes shipping cheaper and less risky. Like potted mail-order plants, bareroot ones are usually 2-year-old, field harvested plants. They were probably dug up the previous fall, just as they became dormant, and kept in climate-controlled cold storage until spring shipping season. Bareroot plants consist of a hearty root system and some trimmed-down stems; little or no leaf growth should be evident.