It’s High Time For Bargain Hunting At Nurseries

Mid to late July has always been the beginning of sale time at local garden centers. Most need to make room for their fall offerings like mums, but quite a few also bring in a second wave of bedding annuals and fall veggies. They need to make space for the new stuff, and that means sales may be lurking.

There are also several larger nurseries on the East End that have dug trees and shrubs from their fields on the North and South Forks, which are on display in their retail yards. Those that aren’t sold so far either have to be sold at a discount or they need to go back onto the ground, and for the most part, that’s a step nurseries would like to avoid.

This all translates into bargains. However, they may be few and far between this year due to plant material shortages from the growers up to the retailers, and there are the frustrating staffing shortages. Nonetheless, opportunity will be knocking for some wise and careful shoppers.

Starting with annuals and vegetables, it’s important to keep in mind that our gardening season is a long one. We tend to stay frost free from late April into late October or November and this means there is still at least three months left to enjoy the fruits of your labors. Don’t expect great deals on annuals or veggies now, but it is time for that second planting that will make your garden shine even as the days get shorter. Don’t pass up potted tuberous dahlias that look nice as they can bloom until a hard frost and the tubers can always be saved. Young marigolds in cell packs that aren’t totally stressed can be rejuvenated and will also flower into the fall.

Roses can be a hit-and-miss thing when it comes to late-season buys. I’d base my decisions here on if there’s a rose you find that you’ve been looking for or one that just seems could work out nicely in your garden plan. If it’s got signs of leaf diseases, that’s not always a pass. Most of the diseases can be managed through the summer and the point is to get the plant healthy and back into shape. Very limited feeding for the next six weeks, and you’ll probably want to plant the rose in a holding area while you work on cleaning the plant up. Then next spring, it can be transplanted into its permanent location.

I’ve been able to buy a good number of perennials at late-season sales. They’re usually not suited for planting right into the garden, but if it’s a decent-looking plant (still has growing foliage) you can put it in a holding garden and leave it there until next spring then bring it into the garden. If you find a Phlox that’s covered with mildew it can be managed, but chances are that if it’s mildewed in the garden center it’s probably not a very resistant variety.

For trees, be wary of those grown in containers (pots) as these can be the most stressed plants in the garden center with roots wanting to escape the confines of the pot. How does the foliage look? Are tips browned? Is there dieback on the stems? Is the foliage chewed on or does it have holes on the leaves? See if there are any wounds on the trunk and if old wounds have healed. Does the tree have a tag with the specimen’s name on it?

Expect discounts on larger trees of 15 to 25 percent. Ask if the tree comes with a warranty. You should expect at least a one-year warranty and two years if the nursery or garden center is going to do the planting. Most homeowners will want to have a balled and burlapped tree professionally planted, and if you find one in a container that suits your fancy (and risk tolerance) make sure you open up the roots and do a proper planting. When in doubt, always plant high.

When you get into the larger trees, like the ones you might find at Marders or Whitmores, the longer you wait the larger the discount. But it’s a gamble. Five years ago while I was shopping for a copper beech tree for an estate I had about a dozen candidates from nurseries in Massachusetts, New Jersey and East Hampton. I was unable to get the lord of the manor to make a decision. He thought $80,000 required some extra thought. Well, someone else gave it that extra thought, and four days later it was sold to someone else.

This shopping ordeal went on for nearly six weeks. Prices kept on falling, but the choices kept on dwindling. Finally, we made a decision. The beech was 26 feet tall and was purchased for half its original retail price, or about $36,000. It was not planted by the nursery that we bought it from so it only had a one-year warranty, and I’m happy to report that it’s thriving.

You might also find some fruit trees that haven’t been sold yet, and these too may be heavily discounted. Don’t be afraid to bargain. The trees may not have great shapes, and you may need to do some corrective pruning and spraying, but some bargains are really and truly bargains. Be patient with fruit trees, though. Apples, pears and peaches can take several years before they’ll fruit.

There may also be bargains to be had when it comes to houseplants. These will largely be the bigger plants that have been brought up from Florida and nurseries in the South, but garden centers don’t want them hanging around into the fall. Again, it can be a little risky, especially with large palms, tropical hibiscus and other warm-loving, bug-loving tropicals.

Examine the plant very, very closely. The longer it’s been around, the greater the chance that the plant has some insect issues. These can be scale, aphids and spider mites. If you spot scale, think twice and maybe three times before making the buy. Scale can be a real challenge to get rid of, and if you’re not persistent just one missed scale can result in problems a year or two down the line.

There may be that houseplant that you just can’t resist, like that bird of paradise that’s in full bloom or that dense and striking fiddle-leaf fig. Inspect it carefully, and if you just can’t resist and the price is right, grab it. Just don’t bring it right into the house. Get it home, see if it needs repotting and give it a spray of light horticultural oil if the plant isn’t sensitive to it. This will smother any insects that are present, but keep a good eye on the plant and keep it outside until September when you should bring it in — sans any insects.

If you’re traveling in the next few weeks make a point to stop at local nurseries and garden centers. They may have different supplies and growers (especially into New England) and you may find a treat. Save some bucks and keep growing.

Japanese beetles show up in my gardens right around July 4. Having not seen any by July 3, I decided to spray all my roses, perennial hibiscus and rose of Sharon with neem oil, which is purported to be a deterrent to the beetles. No beetles on July 4, but on July 5 they showed up in small numbers and were feeding on foliage. Back to the small plastic container filled with a few drops of Joy and water. The beetles get dropped or knocked into the container and in minutes they are dead. A tedious control method, but it does reduce the population and thus egg laying for next year.

Here’s a fun project for those of you who have columbines on the property that still have seeds on them. Gather the seeds in a bowl, let them sit for a few days. Find a shady to semi shady spot in your garden and using a tine rake rough up the soil. Mix up the columbine seed and scatter them on top of the soil. Don’t cover the seed but using a board or your feet press the seed to the soil. Water every few days if there’s no rain. Mark the area seeded. The seed will germinate in about two weeks. The seedlings can be thinned in late summer or next spring and in two years you may have an incredible display of mixed columbines.

Need an inexpensive sprayer for small amounts of insecticides or herbicides? Some RTU (ready to use) products now come in gallon jugs with a spray wand on a 3-foot tube attached. The wand contains four AAA batteries and will allow you to spray the product without needing a bulky and heavy sprayer. When the jug is empty you can use the sprayer on just about any other gallon jug making it an inexpensive, easy-to-use spot sprayer.

Be very, very careful. If you don’t empty the jug and rinse it after every use, you run the risk of forgetting what you had in the jug last and spraying a herbicide that you thought was an insecticide. Disaster can be the result. Nonetheless, for those of you who are careful this can be a very helpful little sprayer for small jobs and spot spraying. The spray wands are available separately, but the reviews say that the ones that come with preloaded products are the best. To be safe, rinse the wand after each use by putting the feed tube in a cup of clean water and spray (onto a safe spot) until the cup is empty and the wand is flushed.

Want to be extra safe? Get yourself two one-gallon windshield washer fluid bottles. Rinse them very well. With a permanent marker put a large “I” on one for insecticide and an “H” on the other for herbicide.