Buy plants on sale with caution

Toward the end of summer, plants go on sale at garden centers, nurseries and home centers. “Buying sale plants can make money go farther in your garden, but only if you shop carefully,” said Spencer Campbell, Plant Clinic manager at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. “Try to resist impulse plant buying, even when you’re shopping a sale.”

Here are some tips from the Plant Clinic for shrewd sale shopping.

Know your garden’s conditions: No matter how cheap it is, a plant will only work in your yard if you can offer it the right conditions, such as sun and soil type. “These conditions should always guide the kind of plants you consider buying,” Campbell said. “Buying an unsuitable plant that’s likely to fail in your yard is just throwing money away.”

Read the label: Every plant’s label should tell you how many hours of daily sun it requires, and ideally will give you other information about what it needs, such as the type of soil. You can also investigate plants online at mortonarb.org/search-plants.

Plan on extra care: End-of-season sale plants may not be in peak condition. For example, their roots may be pot-bound and they may not have been consistently watered. Examine each plant carefully to judge whether it is healthy. If it is not in peak condition, consider whether you have the skills and time to nurse it back to health.

Watch for pests or signs of disease: Don’t buy a plant if there are spots or brown edges on the leaves, or if you see crawling or flying bugs. Be sure to examine the undersides of leaves.

Look beyond blooms: “A plant isn’t necessarily a poor choice just because it’s not in flower,” he said. If the plant is a perennial or a shrub, it may have passed its flowering season. If it’s basically healthy, and it’s properly planted and cared for in your garden, it will bloom at the appropriate time next spring or summer. “As long as the foliage and roots are healthy, a plant that doesn’t have flowers right now can still be a good deal,” Campbell said.

Think about timing: Consider whether there is time left in the growing season to make the plant worth your money, even at a reduced price. “Flowering annuals only have a couple of months left to bloom before the first frost,” Campbell said. If they have grown leggy and need to be pinched back to stimulate blooming, it will set them back another couple of weeks. “Still, if annuals are cheap enough and in good condition, they may be worth the price to brighten a few containers in August and September.”

Invest in next year: Perennials, trees and shrubs, if they are planted in September, will still have a fair amount of time to become established before the ground freezes. “With these plants, you’re investing in next year, not this year,” he said.

Take a chance: “A sale may be an opportunity to give something a try that you wouldn’t otherwise have considered,” Campbell said. Just be sure you can provide the basic conditions the plant requires.

Get ready to water: Anything you plant in late summer will need special attention to watering for the rest of the season because it will not have an established root system to absorb and store water.

Be open to paying full price: Many nurseries bring in fresh stocks of trees and shrubs for fall planting. “If you don’t find a kind of tree or shrub on sale that is appropriate for your yard, it may be worth it to pay more for a plant that will have a better chance of thriving,” Campbell said. “Price is not the only thing that matters about a plant.”

For tree and plant advice, contact the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum (630-719-2424, mortonarb.org/plant-clinic, or plantclinic@mortonarb.org). Beth Botts is a staff writer at the Arboretum.