You're so right about good bargains. I've purchased lots of $2 adeniums that looked terrible because they were going dormant. Some were a beautiful double white. I always check the clearance racks!

I spent $2.50 on a leyland cypress that looked half-dead. He's almost a foot tall in my yard now. I spent $3 on a 3gal azalea (encore rouge) that was just bare limbs. He's bloomed in his container for 2 years, and this year he's moving into the ground.

TLC works wonders, doesn't it?

A goodly chunk of my yard is populated by clearance plants. At least in this area, Home Depot does not sell clearance plants and trashes theirs. Seems like such a big waste to me and I have considered dumpster diving. Lowes, now. Ah, Lowes. THAT is the place to find clearance.

These were clearance. All droopy and crammed up four in a tiny pot, they obviously like their new residence.

They also give good practice re-potting seriously root-bound plants. I unwind roots, but I'm still timid about root-pruning.

I got a n ic e big lavender plant that they couldn't kill by under-watering no matter how hard they tried. I think it finally put on a show of looking pouty and unhappy so they would mark it down and someone would give it a better home.

Haunting those clearance racks at end-of-season also gives me an excuse to keep watching like a hawk for when they give away empty pots and web trays at the end of the season. Sometimes BIG pots, and often large numbers of matching 4" pots.

They give away empty pots and trays? Really?!?!?!?! **insert greedy look here**

End of the season sales are also wonderful - I picked up several gallon size grasses for $3 apiece last October. Although they looked pretty dead when I bought them, all are showing good signs of life this spring. I think the nurseries just don't want to over-winter them.

Mary, the FIRST thing I did was to look at your location, to be sure we didn't live so close together that we would compete for empty pots and trays!

Hmmm ... Wales ... Georgia ...

Well, we can recognize each other, because we'll be the only two lying in wait for the doors to open, then racing for the discard rack.

Wales, because it's one of my favorite countries, and a very distant part of my heritage. GA because even though it was never on my radar screen as possible places to live, it's where I wound up and once I found my little patch of paradise here, that's all she wrote.

I'll have to ask my local Lowes, the next time I'm over there. They pretty much know me there by now. In fact, one year I walked in at 7am on a Saturday, and one of the garden center workers grabbed me and said "You need these!" and led me to TWO golden delicious apple trees that had fallen out of their pots overnight. I got the trees (and the pots full of their dirt) for $3 each.

Glad I'm not the only one watching all the clearance plants:)... and yes, Lowes is my favorite. They have the healthiest clearance plants I've seen so far. I rescued a few succulent plants from their clearance racks a few days ago and they look gorgeous now!

fiwit said:They give away empty pots and trays? Really?!?!?!?! **insert greedy look here**

Yes, they do! they are very nice about giving them away too! All my little plumeria seedlings and cuttings look organized, thanks to the the empty trays from Lowes!

lovemyhouse said:A goodly chunk of my yard is populated by clearance plants. At least in this area, Home Depot does not sell clearance plants and trashes theirs. Seems like such a big waste to me and I have considered dumpster diving. Lowes, now. Ah, Lowes. THAT is the place to find clearance.

These were clearance. All droopy and crammed up four in a tiny pot, they obviously like their new residence.

Awwww:), they look gorgeous and very happy!

fiwit said:I spent $2.50 on a leyland cypress that looked half-dead. He's almost a foot tall in my yard now. I spent $3 on a 3gal azalea (encore rouge) that was just bare limbs. He's bloomed in his container for 2 years, and this year he's moving into the ground.

TLC works wonders, doesn't it?

Another thing to watch: some of these clearance plants are in beautiful pots and the price of these clearance potted plants are half the price of buying the pots alone!

Bonehead said:End of the season sales are also wonderful - I picked up several gallon size grasses for $3 apiece last October. Although they looked pretty dead when I bought them, all are showing good signs of life this spring. I think the nurseries just don't want to over-winter them.

I will have to remember this!

JoAnn said:You're so right about good bargains. I've purchased lots of $2 adeniums that looked terrible because they were going dormant. Some were a beautiful double white. I always check the clearance racks!

Me too:)!

>> They pretty much know me there by now.

I know what you mean!


Unfortunately, the prescription clerks at my local Wal-Mart know me by name. I'd rather be a frequent visitor at the garden center, than the Pharmacy.

For a while, I was getting a trunk-full of concrete pavers every weekend at HD, and they got to know me.

RickCorey said:>> They pretty much know me there by now.

I know what you mean!


Unfortunately, the prescription clerks at my local Wal-Mart know me by name. I'd rather be a frequent visitor at the garden center, than the Pharmacy.

For a while, I was getting a trunk-full of concrete pavers every weekend at HD, and they got to know me.

I think Lowes employees know me too by now because I fill my carts with clearance plants and also always ask for empty trays.

"You know you're a gardener when ..."
they know you by name in the gardening center.

Ay-yup

Best photo of them I have, but these lilies were $0.50 a pot a few years back.