When your order arrives from Flowers by the Sea, open it up right away. What will you see? No plastic wrapping, that’s for sure. At FBTS we think plastic wrap is a poor packaging choice, because it excludes air, raises the humidity and often leads to decomposition of the packages plants. Sending you plants that are beginning to mold and rot is the last think we want to do.

Instead, we double and sometimes triple wrap each of your potted plants in large sheets of recycled newsprint that contains no ink. We believe in letting the plants breathe. After wrapping, we surround each pot with foam packing peanuts to keep the plants from colliding and turning over during shipping.

What to Do While Waiting
As testimonials from many of our customers indicate, your Salvias may arrive just days after ordering. Customers also tell us that most often they arrive vibrantly green and ready to get back into the business of growing. So you have no time to lose in getting outdoors and preparing the soil where you intend to plant them.

Similar to people, plants like room to stretch out. Give Salvias loose, well-turned soil that contains organic matter, such as compost, for aeration and nutrition. They will spread their roots and make themselves at home.

Further amend the soil by digging in an N/P/K fertilizer. The “N” stands for nitrogen, which builds vigorous foliage. The “P” is phosphorus to aid deep rooting, and the “K” is potassium to encourage flowering. It’s a good idea to select a fertilizer that is higher in potassium than nitrogen so your plants will flower a lot.

When UPS Knocks
At delivery time, opportunity knocks. The sooner you get the box open and place your potted plants outdoors, the sooner they can recover from their journey and get adjusted to your climate.

Carefully unwrap each Salvia and set the pots outdoors in full or dappled shade to harden off. Dappled shade is the kind that occurs under leafy, deciduous trees.

Never let the soil completely dry out in the pots. Keep it lightly moist. This gentle process of shading Salvias and giving them little drinks of water helps to wake up the plants following their snooze in the darkened confines of their packing box. We suggest not using liquid fertilizers during this readjustment process. Soon you will notice new growth indicating that it is time to plant.

An Important Piece of Paper
Each of our shipments is followed by an instructional email titled "Unpacking, Planting and Unconditional Satisfaction". It provides helpful information about creating a happy environment for your new Salvias.

For example, it tells you how deep and wide to dig the holes for your plants. You’ll notice that the hole needs to be deeper for a woody Salvia -- 2 inches deeper than the plant’s root ball – than for herbaceous Salvias. An herbaceous species is planted in a hole exactly as deep as its root ball.

However, whichever kind of Salvia you plant, dig the holes at least 1/3 broader than the root ball. This provides plenty of room for roots to spread out in the soil that you refill around and on top of the root ball. These conditions make it easy for Salvias to grow.

Unconditional Money-Back Guarantee
We want to make it easy for you to grow as an FBTS customer. Aside from sending you hardy, beautiful, well-rooted plants via a reliable on-time shipper, we offer an unconditional money-back guarantee. If anything in your order arrives in less than excellent condition, we will refund your money or provide a credit for future purchases. We believe in growing your trust.