Yesterday I was shopping at our local Lowe’s home improvement store looking for weatherstripping for the garden shed. While there I casually sauntered over to the plant area (after picking up three rolls of foam insulation) to see what they had in stock. It’s rare that I go to a store that has plants and don’t take a look (unfortunately for the garden budget it’s also rare that I don’t bring something home!). It was there in the garden area that I spied the spoils that eventually came home with me:
3 Dwarf crape myrtles from the Razzle Dazzle Collection!
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| Not impressive at the moment but just wait until next summer! |
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| Neat Idea: Take pictures of your plant tags (front and back) then save them in a folder on your computer to reduce clutter around the house! I should take my own advice! |
A Montauk Daisy
and my favorite find Heuchera ‘Southern Comfort’
I also came home with some ground cover sedums but forgot to take a picture of them!
Obviously I didn’t steal anything from anyone but with the prices Lowe’s had put on their plants it felt like I was robbing them blind. Each of those dwarf crape myrtles from the Razzle Dazzle collection was $0.25! Yes the decimal is in the right place. I checked to make sure they weren’t dead by gently scraping a small piece of bark with my thumbnail until I found green underneath. They were alive and well but with a price like $0.25 I probably would have brought them home anyway in the hopes of the root systems coming back in the spring. The daisy was only 1.50 and the designer heuchera (really this thing is awesome) was…$2.50! A thief I am not but I’m never ashamed to take advantage of bargains like these!
We found a real bargain at the NC Farmer's Market in Raleigh 2 weeks ago… 1 gal. (2-3' tall) Camellias for $5 ea!!!
.25 is great! Our Lowes hardly ever marks down to this anymore.
There will be a run on Lowe's tomorrow! I LOVE the Southern Comfort Heuchera – looked good all last winter in containers. My favorite razzle dazzle is Cherry razzle dazzle – it will knock your socks off!
Whenever I go to Lowe's I head to the discount plant rack first! And I've found so many good bargains. I know that many gardeners warn against buying clearance plants but my local Lowe's discounts them before they're in bad shape. My latest finds were agastache for $2.25 each. But I also have several varieties of coreopsis, dwarf mondo grass, azaleas, snapdragons, and more that were bargains.
SolakNC,
Nice! $5 is a steal for camellias!
Tina,
I was shocked that something regular price $15 was marked down so low.
Barbara,
It is a stunning one! I'm strongly considering getting a couple more.
Ginny,
I think you have to be careful but many of my plants came from those sale racks. This time of year they are getting rid of plants to make room for Christmas trees and to clear out stuff for the winter. It's this time of year that is the premium discount plant time! You can really load up on perennial mums for next year!
excellent finds Dave! I was at our local Lowes a few days ago and they were still asking full price! gail
25 cents. Wow, I've never seen a clearance item that cheap! Awesome. Every single time I go into Lowes or Home Depot for something, I have to look at their plant clearance section. Once I found a blackberry plant on clearance for $4. Score.
http://nycgardening.blogspot.com/2010/08/cant-pass-up-clearance.html
But recently I dug up free plants from Freecycle.
http://nycgardening.blogspot.com/2010/10/giving-shrub-second-life.html
Mmm, pics of plant labels – looking at the pile of plant labels in my study waiting for me to decide how to attempt to record new purchases next, I think you may be on to something. At least then they wouldn't scatter dirt everywhere when I grabbed a book…
Dave, my daughter-in-law and I did find some great deals at Home Depot, but we just happened to meet the grower. She marked down everything in our cart right on site.
I agree with you about that Heuchera, it is just stunning.
Eileen
Another score for you! I did pick up two Japanese Yew for 3 bucks a piece…
I got six packs of pansies for $.25 at Lowes! And a few weeks back I picked up ajuga and a dark heuchera for a steal. Chrysanthemums were available last week at the same quarter price, but they were unmarked and I'm a bit picky about color.
I'm not optimistic that my pansies will get strong enough to bloom having started so small. I'll see if the low price was worthwhile.
It is always exciting to find a great deal… especially a plant deal. They inspire garden dreams also.
Lowe's must be the place – I recently got some Southern Wood Ferns for just 50 cents each. They were scruffy but the foliage will be going away come winter anyway – so as long as the roots are good!
Great find Dave. Our Lowe's never puts anything on sale. Plus I have to travel to another town. Bummer.