It seems like most of the new perennials I feature are propagated vegetatively either from unrooted cuttings or from tissue culture. Rest assured there are a number of perennials propagated by seed that are also introduced each year. Jelitto Seeds has four promising new seed introductions I’d like to share with you.

While catching up on my emails from last week, I saw an interesting article on storing bare root in Bill Calkins' Tech On Demand newsletter he sent out this past Friday. Rather than paraphrasing, I figured it would be best to share the entire article with you. Here it is:

• Check for signs of new root or shoot growth and bud swelling ASAP. If plants appear to still be dormant and there's no new tender growth, they can be held as is in their original packaging.
• If there are signs of new, active growth, you should plant as soon as you’re able. If dormancy is broken, they'll start to grow in their packaging. If this occurs, shoots and leaves that develop will be etiolated (pale), very tender and easy to damage. Leaves and shoots like this will either succumb to disease during storage or perform very poorly once they're planted.
• Keep in mind that even if the crowns still appear to be dormant now, your team should check periodically for signs of active growth and be prepared to plant them ASAP if they break dormancy prematurely.

After reading Bill’s Bare Root Storage Tips article, I just remembered that I shared some content on bare root in the November 12, 2025 edition of Perennial Pulse. I usually don’t resend content from previous newsletters; certainly not articles that were just sent out a little over a month ago. But I thought this would be a good opportunity to provide this content along with Bill’s article so you can have these articles in one place. Then I’ll offer some new bare root content to keep the theme going.

As promised, I’m continuing the bare root conversation. Plugs and liners are certainly the most common form of starting materials growers use when they plant their perennials, however, bare root is a viable option and offers some clear advantages over some of the more commonly used starting materials.

1. Bare root plants will have more branches and grow more vigorously than plugs and liners. Bare root usually doesn't require pinching to encourage branching and greatly improves fullness of the containers and their perceived quality.
2. Bare root requires significantly less production time than liners do. Most varieties can be grown with 25% to 50% less time than when smaller plugs or liners are used. Faster finishing times allows growers to turn their production space quicker.

I asked you to share some of your favorite holiday traditions in the last newsletter and promised I’d pass them along. I’ve included them here, as well as several others I thought were worthy of sharing.