I just filled my car for under $20. I have a braided hibuscus, hardy hibiscus bush, a honeysuckle bigger then me, something claiming to be a climbing hydrangea, mounds of clematis, lavenders, coneflowers, a double rudibeckia, frightening amounts of ground cover, 5 Clematis and a blanketflower that jumped its pot and clung to my lavender so they threw it in free. These are awesome, they are healthy plants that have finished flowering or just look a little droopy. I even got 6 pink asiatic lilies for under a dollar. everything started perking up when I turned a hose on them, and the ones in the ground already look good. This is even better then the 10-cent mystery bulb bin.
Anyone know if this is everywhere at once, or if they stagger it?
-Joe
It’s a potluck kind of thing. One near me rarely has a closeout rack while another frequently does. I scout it on a Friday or such after the suppliers come in and cleanup the old stock getting ready for the weekend. Some things are half off and some are practically free. You have to time it in terms of when certain things get closed out. E.g., in mid-fall the mums will go on sale after everyone else has picked them over. Since they are perenials, who cares if this year’s flowers are a bit droopy.
I bought a bunch of impatiens earlier this year. The blooms were fading but then took off again once they were in the ground. Very, very cheap.
Yes, it’s highly variable from store to store and discounts depend on location (what’s late in the season in one part of the country may be prime gardening time elsewhere, so the markdowns haven’t occurred yet).
If the staff at a particular big box store is decent at caring for plants you’ll get some good bargains. You just have to get a feel for what’s reclaimable and what is stressed beyond salvage.
Oh yeah, I know! We don’t have a big garden, but I think that every single plant we have in our front flower bed is from the Lowe’s/Home Depot clearance racks. Except a lilac bush. Asiatic lilies, clematis, penstemon, monards, veronica, peony, and … one more thing I can’t remember. And the lamb’s ear was a gift from my mom.
I have a friend that stocked most of her landscaping needs at the Lowes discount bin - plus, she WORKED there, so she got a discount above the clearance price.
The best 50 cents I ever spent was on a sad little mum on clearance at one of the big box stores - either Lowe’s or Home Depot. I picked it up because its last sad, bedraggled flower was a very lovely deep maroon red.
Three years later, that mum is still going strong. Blooms spring and fall in that wonderful shade of dark red with no care from me. It’s stuffed into a pot with *bamboo *ferchrissakes, contends with no protection during the winter freezes, plus our over-100 summer days when it has to compete with the bamboo for its water rations, and it’s still going strong.
I love that little guy. It’s spread quite a bit, too.
Best fifty cents I ever spent. I think that almost every time I look at that mum. I hope it lasts for years.