It is now officially May and Spring has been here for a couple of weeks. With recent Virginia temperatures pushing the softer side of 80 degrees, it is that time to get out there and start planting if you haven’t started already.

Recently I took a trip down to my local Lowes store. Although it is early Spring, they already have a decent collection of marked down plants in their outdoor clearance area – bad for them, good for me.  Although some shoppers would not consider buying clearance plants and then there are some who have no idea that there are clearance plants for sale, one thing is certain: if you buy clearance plants you will save a lot over retail prices.  The savings can be huge depending on how much you buy. These plants are usually just need a little boost of some type to bring them back to their full, glorious bloom. By boost I am implying that these plants may just need the correct amount of sun or some proper watering habits. That’s it. The way I look at it, the money I just saved on buying the clearance or “distressed” plants pays for my gas to and from the store, it pays for some bulbs I can plant in the fall, pays for lunch or a dinner or pays for a new hose or something else for the garden.

The reason Lowes culls these plants daily is that some plants due to their layout and display do not get as much light or water as needed and they begin to falter. For example, in most cases when watering plants that are displayed on a table, the middle plants are more likely to be unintentionally neglected of water or light and the outer ringed plants are more likely to get adequate water or even over-watering due to their ease of access. However, as days and weeks passs, these plants in the middle may start to brown a little, drop their flowers and leaves or droop.  Once they begin to falter, by policy, Lowes must move them to the clearance rack for reasons of aethetics.  If they are not bright, crisp and 100% healthy they are moved to the clearance plants rack where they remain unknown by most except the saviest of shoppers.  Take advantage of the savings.

To digress for a moment, I am not trying to be an advocate of Lowes.  Most likely Home Depot and some other garden centers utilize a similar process of marking down and selling plants but I use Lowes only because I am familiar with their process.  Also, in my opinion, you are most likely to find a clearance rack at a large home improvement or retail store with an outdoor garden center since they do not specialize as a nursery. Unlike nurseries whose main business is plants, retailers and home improvement stores don’t rely on plants alone for profit.  The outdoor garden centers, although a large player in sales during the summer, are more of a secondary or even tertiary role in overall sales. These retailers buy their plants in bulk for cheap to “turn and burn” quickly. Quickly in, price low, sell quick and reorder is the process. If they falter, do not take the extra time to raise them properly. Just separate those that aren’t as pleasing to the eye, mark them down cheap so they sell and reorder. This is the American retailer approach so take advantage.

Now, keep your eyes out for the clearance racks.  Again, using Lowes as an example, the clearance racks for outdoor plants are usually found outdoors in the parking lot or near the outside lawn and garden registers.  For the indoor plants in the greenhouse, I know the clearance rack for indoor plants is kept in the same area as the rest of the indoor plants, usually tucked away in a corner.  All it takes is to ask a store employee and they will happily point you in the right direction to get you started.

Most of the clearance racks have fantastic savings.  Plants are usually 50% off their sticker price and they don’t need much work bringing them back to full, colorful, beautiful bloom.  I have seen even bigger savings than 50% however, a lot of the time, greater than 50% percentage off is reserved for those plants in comparably worse condition.  Most of these plants can still be brought back they just look a little worse than the 50% off plants.

In most cases, when I purchase clearance plants they still have the little tab in the soil that describes how deep to plant, who far apart, how much sun (full, partial, none), how often watered, etc.  If the plant does not have the tab and I am not that familiar with this plant, there is always the internet (mygardenguide.com, gardensonline.com, plants/usda.gov) or sometimes I will consult one of my paper, hard copy references so I can bring it outside in the backyard with me.

So now you know one of the little secrets to saving big money on those spring plant purchases.  In some cases, retailers even warranty their clearance distressed plants for up to a year so how can you go wrong?  Look into it and good luck saving.

Guest blogger- John J. Connors