As flowers flower and spring springs, this annual return of life and warmth unleashes hordes of plant-buyers on a mission to acquire the year’s new plantings — concentrated over just a few weeks (especially weekends).
That raises the question of how to get what you want with minimal hassle and frustration at a time when so many others are competing to do the same thing.
Plant-buying is a little harder than most forms of shopping because:
- The products are limited in quantity and take significant lead time to produce (i.e. you can’t just run an extra production line to quickly replenish a tight supply of a particular tree or shrub).
- Limited grower quantities might mean a seller can’t get what plants it wants or the quantities wanted.
- Inventories turn over really fast in spring. If another gardener buys all 10 of the coneflowers that you wanted five minutes before you got there, you’re out of luck … maybe for the whole season, too.
- The products are so perishable. That means sellers are reluctant to carry more of any particular variety than they think they’re going to sell, lest they have to deep-discount or even toss the laggards at season’s end. On the other hand, if they underestimate, they may not be able to bring in more of the surprisingly popular plant from growers.
Zeroing in on new and/or cutting-edge varieties is even harder because these tend to be in short supply while growers are building up stock at the same time demand is spiking.
So what’s a plant-hunting gardener to do in April?
If you’re not dead-set on a particular variety and are OK with mainstream offerings, home centers and mass merchants are the choice of many gardeners/yardeners.
Independent and locally owned garden centers such as Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses, Highland Gardens, and Stauffers of Kissel Hill offer way more choices, better buying advice, and generally better-cared-for plants, although you’ll likely pay a little more for those benefits.
Most independents also offer the potential to special-order particular plants at no extra charge. The best time to do that, though, is over winter or heading into the growing season when orders are being placed as opposed to the middle of “spring rush” when staffers are overwhelmed. Still, it’s possible a favorite garden center might be able to get you something you really want if they sell out – and you ask.
Another spring avenue that’s caught on lately is plant sales held by garden clubs, county Master Gardeners, conservation groups, libraries, and other groups.
These are usually one-day events in which group members dig up and divide perennials and/or sell potted starts grown by members or bought from greenhouses. The prices are good at these, but the plants are usually small – and you never know what might show up. It’s kind of a potluck-dinner version of plant-buying.
The hard part about plants sales is finding out about them. Word of mouth and social media are the two main resources, plus searching out “plant sales” in your area or perusing websites of local gardening groups.
Be careful when buying at plant sales or yard sales that you don’t inadvertently buy a division of a plant that people are digging up because it’s been overly aggressive or invasive in their own yard.
If you’re looking for annual flowers and summer vegetables, seasonal local greenhouses and market stands are good sources for these transplants. These also can be a little hard to track down from year to year, but online searches by vicinity usually yield at least a few good hits.
Lancaster County in particular is a hot spot for annual-and-veggie greenhouses, many of which operate out of Amish and Mennonite farms. Prices at those are well under standard retailers, if you don’t mind the hunt and the drive.
County Conservation Districts are another source for inexpensive plants, albeit small and usually bare-root ones.
The Dauphin County Conservation District, for example, typically offers bare-root flowering-tree and evergreen saplings, a few types of fruit bushes, asparagus roots, and a few perennials via online prepaid ordering, while both the Cumberland County and York County conservation districts stage annual tree sale with a selection of varieties.
If all of the above fails (or you’re not a hunting/driving fan), the next option is online shopping.
A search there is likely to turn up almost any plant you might want, but the drawbacks are:
- the plants might be sold only bare-root or in small size to hold down shipping costs
- the cost might be high to make up for higher plant losses and replacement guarantees
- the plants might not make it through shipping in the greatest shape
- some online vendors are much better and more reliable than others.
On the plus side though, mail-order sellers tend to have good selection, good guarantees, and the advantage of allowing gardeners to buy without getting up off the chair.
A recent hybrid twist is Bloom Box, which is a Lancaster-based plant home-delivery service that lets you order online via the Bloom Box website, then have the company select plants from local growers and deliver them to your door.
It serves 10 Pennsylvania counties, including Cumberland, Dauphin, York, and Lancaster.
A helpful source of vetting plant vendors is the Dave’s Garden website, which has a Garden Watchdog service that lets gardeners rate the worthiness of mail-order companies.
Garden Watchdog features a list of the 30 highest-rated garden-related companies as well as ratings on thousands of plant and garden-product vendors.
Beyond all of that, there’s always the old-fashioned beg-and-trade approach. Check around with friends and neighbors who might have perennials to divide and share, and be on the lookout for local “plant swaps” in which gardeners come together to trade their “dig-ups.”
Some libraries have seed-sharing services, and Seed Savers Exchange is a website that coordinates a large-scale reshuffling of saved seeds.
- More when-to-do-what tips: George’s “Pennsylvania Month-by-Month Gardening” book