Nope, Nope, Nope!

You don’t ever want to expose foliage to roadway winds if you expect plants to survive. You simply can’t drive slowly enough.

This person wasn’t even trying. 45 mph down the access road. 90F outside and full sun in a hot pickup bed. All that for plants that like moist, cool, shady conditions.

Poor elephant ears. By the time they got to their new home they were probably torn to a frazzle. Or withered into limp noodles. I just hope the gardener didn’t take them back and try to claim they deserved their money back. Not when they had a two-seat pickup that appeared to have only one person inside.

When you buy nursery stock that has foliage intact you need to protect it from highway winds – even on neighborhood streets. If possible, put the plants inside with you and drive straight home, then unload them immediately.

If necessary, have the nursery help you tie an old sheet, a blue tarp or a piece of nursery shade fabric up and over the plants. If all you have is an open trailer or truck, lay the plants at an angle so they don’t extend up higher than the side walls of the vehicle. I use bags of pine bark mulch as my support beneath the plants to get the angle started.

It doesn’t take much to protect plants from damage of road wind, but without that protection you’re almost guaranteed to do serious damage to your new treasures.