Tip: season-end plant sales

If your garden needs more plants -- and whose doesn't -- you really need to take advantage of plant sales. There are typically two times of the year when the nurseries near me start reducing prices: mid-summer, and mid-fall.

Mid-summer plant shopping is not fun, as the oppressive heat and humidity makes browsing plants an uncomfortable experience, but fall sales are another thing entirely. I've been visiting local nurseries in the cool/cold weather lately looking for bargains, and I've found a few recently.

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I've already talked about the $5 climbing rose I found, as I put it into the ground immediately. These other plants though have not found spots in the ground yet, and they may not until the spring.

Some sedges:

A few new Gaillardia:

A Lobelia cardinalis:

The sedges were 1/2 price, a common markdown for end-of-season perennials. Why did I buy two of a plant that I can easily divide and create more of?

They're similar, but different cultivars, that's why!  The first is 'Everest':

It has white along the edges of each leaf.

This is 'Evergold':

It has a creamy stripe along the center of each leaf. They're opposites!

The other plants were only $3 each, which means they were less than 1/3 of their normal price!

I got 'Gallo Dark Bicolor', 'Oranges and Lemons', and 'Amber Wheels'. They won't be blooming this year, so I'll show the plant tags:

I'll have to site these carefully as they don't like heavy clay soils that stay wet, but I love blanket flowers!

Maybe I will get a bloom out of this one this year!

The lobelia is common and easy to grow from seed, but for $3 I'll take it!

Oh, there is one more bargain I picked up just this past weekend:

Another Ninebark cultivar called 'Center Glow'. I don't really have a space for this in mind right now, but I couldn't resist the price:

Normally $45, marked down to $10 -- I'll find something to do with it!

Now that I see that sale tag, I remember that I've bought other $10 sale plants at that same nursery in past years: a clumping bamboo marked down from $50, an 'Arctic Blue' willow marked down from $30, and a huge pot of a groundcover bamboo marked down from a ridiculous $99. I guess $10 is their "get it out of here!" price for larger plants -- luckily for me.

I also like to look for pots on clearance at this time of year, but I haven't seen any yet. Like I really need more pots.

Some would say that I really don't need more plants either, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying a great bargain, does it?

What bargains have you found at the end of this growing season?

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