An Epic Plant Shopping Trip
By Alyce Goldman
For gardeners, spring is a time of warmer, longer days, new plant growth, and the much anticipated plant shopping! We have been counting the days, making lists and revising them, and dreaming of how the landscape will look with the new additions.
Ideally, there are several things to do before you head out to your favorite nursery or plant sale.
Know your site’s growing conditions. Consider conducting a percolation test to check drainage, getting a soil test for soil pH and nutrients, and observing the amount of sun in the area. Remember to account for trees as they continue to leaf out. Ensuring compatibility between the plant you wish to buy and your garden’s growing conditions contributes to a happy, healthy, pest and disease resistant plant.
Sometimes, you can use existing, healthy plants to help determine growing conditions of an area. If ferns and moss are thriving, then your soil is most likely acidic and shady. Tall perennials that don’t need staking indicate lots of sun and good soil. Thriving succulents usually means sunny, hot and well drained – great for Sedum and Mediterranean plants.
Once you’ve determined which plants you may want as additions to your garden, consider making a list to bring along on your plant shopping trip. You don’t want to forget anything, or confuse similar plants like Vernonia, Veronica, or Verbena. Make sure to note the Latin names too—common names are sometimes tricky!
But of course many of us often find plants we love that are not on “the list”. The plant label in the pot may not give you all the information you need to determine if it is a good fit for your garden. Your phone and internet connection can help with a quick in-store search for information on a cultivar that is new or unfamiliar.
A few items to bring along on an epic plant shopping trip might include: your list, your phone, garden gloves, water for both you and any dry plants you purchase (vital for plants in a hot car), and boxes or bags to keep plants upright when traveling. One plant shopping hack is to use Ikea shopping bags. They are large, easy to carry, and they contain moisture. If you are tree shopping, having a few wood shims in your car is handy for keeping the large pots from rolling around.
When choosing plants, it is tempting to only purchase plants that are currently flowering. However, sometimes the better choice is one with buds and a stocky build instead of tall, lanky and flowering. Also, if most plant shopping is done in spring, a garden can become too reliant on early bloomers and then lack interest later in the year. Be sure to include later blooming plants that may only be in leaf during spring shopping trips.
Sometimes you can find pots containing several plants, which is an added bonus. Inspect for any bugs or disease. Reconsider if the plant looks stressed due to over or under watering. A few crispy leaf edges on an otherwise healthy plant are fine, but a plant with a soft or rotted crown will almost never recover - best to pass on those.
If buying annuals, make sure every plant in the pack is present; sometimes plants are missing. Also, don’t be afraid to purchase nice, stocky annuals, even if they are not blooming. When planted, they will take off and often do better than the thin plants with the single large bloom.
Once home, be sure to water well, especially if they are dry. A thorough soaking is required; look for water draining from the bottom of the pot. If necessary, place very dry plants in a container of water to hydrate from the bottom.
This is the time to record your plant purchases in your yearly notebook before they are planted in the landscape. It will also keep a record of where great plants came from so you can go back and get more!
If you are unable to add your new purchases to the landscape within a reasonable time, keep them well-watered, out of intense sun and wind, and avoid storing on a hot, paved surface. The less stress your plants endure before they are planted, the better success you will have in their establishment and longtime enjoyment.
Plant shopping lifts the spirits and brings joy! As the saying goes, “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy plants, and that’s pretty much the same thing.”
