Off to the garden centre? Don’t make these plant-buying mistakes
Plant-buying mistakes can be expensive and frustrating. Shop for flowers and shrubs successfully with our expert dos and don’ts.
Plant-buying mistakes can be expensive and frustrating. Shop for flowers and shrubs successfully with our expert dos and don’ts.
If you’ve ever splashed out on a few new plants from the garden centre, only to see them shrivel up and die within weeks, you’ll know the upset that plant-buying mistakes can cause.
You could seemingly be doing everything right by your new flower, shrub or tree, but if you choose the wrong plant from the outset, it will have little chance of survival despite your best efforts.
Plants that don’t survive aren’t the only problem, either. How about those that grow to overrun your flowerbeds, or disappoint with their lack of flowers or foliage?
We asked several experts for their plant-buying hints and tips.
Their dos and don’ts could save you not only time and money, but also a lot of plant-related heartache. Take note and next time you won’t come back from the garden centre with a beautiful impulse buy, only to find it’s wilted weeks later.
How many of these mistakes have you made?
Your plant may look happy and healthy enough in the garden centre, but it could be a different story once you’ve taken it home and planted it out. Ericaceous, clay, well-drained, acidic, alkaline… the soil options are not only plentiful, they’re also specific.
“You may be attracted to rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas, for example, but they are only going to do well if you’ve got the right kind of soil,” says Rebecca Bevan, the National Trust’s senior national consultant for plant health and sustainability, who, with 20 years in horticulture under her belt, has plenty of experience of people’s plant-buying errors.
“Those plants need acidic soil. If you’re going to keep them in a pot, you can buy a special ericaceous compost to plant them in, but a lot of people think they can just pop them into the ground and scatter some ericaceous compost around. That won’t work in the long run.
“Across much of the UK, the natural soil type is slightly alkaline. Don’t buy acid-loving plants unless you know that they do well in your area,” warns Bevan.
“If your neighbours have them growing in their gardens, odds are you’ve got the right soil type.”
Similarly, if your soil tends to hold moisture in winter, there are certain plants that will hate the soggy conditions, such as lavender, Oenothera lindheimeri (also called Gaura lindheimeri) “Whirling Butterflies” and agastache (also known as anise hyssop or giant hyssop). All three prefer free-draining soil.
“Always look at the label,” advises Bevan. “If it says a plant needs free-draining soil, make sure you really do have it.”
Bevan points out there are “easy little tests you can buy to check the pH level of your soil”.
The soil pH is a number that describes how acid or alkaline your soil is. A pH of 7.0 is considered neutral. An acid soil has a pH value below 7.0 and above 7.0 the soil is alkaline.
A pH of 5.1 to 6.0 offers perfect conditions for plants such as rhododendrons, camellias and heathers; whereas an alkaline pH of 7.1 to 8.0 better suits forsythias, hydrangeas and lavender.
It’s an easy mistake to make – you spot a plant, potted up, and think “That would fill the gap in my flowerbed perfectly”. Then a few seasons in, it has either run riot or failed to grow significantly.
When it comes to size, The Garden Editor Claire Mitchell has these wise words: “Right plant, right place”. The key is to read the label before you fall in love with the plant.
“It’s a bit like when we go clothes shopping,” she says. “We just think, ‘Oh, that's gorgeous.’ But buying the wrong size plant is like trying to make a rugby player fit inside a babygrow.
“There are a couple of things you can do to mitigate this. Firstly, read the label. Secondly, if plants do get bit bigger you can lift and divide, then give them away to friends.
“Quite often, what I see people do is cut things back because they’ve got too big, then the plant responds by growing even more and you find yourself in this battle of wills.
“So the way to avoid that is to go hard at the base, rather than cutting it back all over, then you’ll get regrowth from there.”
It’s important to pay attention, as you won't usually be able to prune a plant to size in later years.
“If you prune every year to try and keep your plant smaller than it naturally wants to be, you’ll just be cutting off the flowers and spoiling the shape, especially with a small tree or a nice graceful multi-stem shrub,” warns Bevan.
Dobbies’ plant buyer Nigel Lawton tells us about the key words to look out for on labels: “Plant size and spread can be difficult to ascertain, especially when buying young plants. It can be quite tricky to know what will and won’t work for your space, and that’s when paying close attention to the plant label can go a long way.
“We advise checking what the size and spread of the plant in question will be after five and also ten years of growth, to decide if the plant will eventually suit the position you want to plant it in.
“The labels also often outline the form of the plant – for example weeping, columnar, trailing, ground cover etc. This is a good gauge on the shape of the plant you need for your desired garden location.”
But it’s worth looking even more closely at the label.
“An RHS Award of garden merit means that the plant has been tested and performs well in UK growing conditions,” says Lawton. “This is a useful guide when making choices within a species of plant.
“Other symbols include a yellow bee which indicates a plant is good for pollinators as they are rich in pollen and nectar.”
“I hate waste, so it is nice to rescue plants sometimes,” admits Bevan.
“But, generally speaking, if a plant has experienced quite a bit of stress in the pot, chances are it’s never going to be quite as good. So I’d say steer clear, particularly with the plants you see outside supermarkets, where they’re wilted and looking a bit rotten and there just aren’t the facilities to look after them properly.”
“I have rescued deciduous shrubs in the past,” says Bevan. “Usually, it’s winter, and the plant is in the bargain area because it’s lost all its leaves and it’s not looking very sexy anymore, so the garden centre knows it won’t sell.
"But I’ve bought it, because I know it’s perfectly OK.”
If you are thinking of rescuing a plant, pull it out of its pot and check the roots.
“You’re looking for roots that are still quite pale and fleshy, and aren’t all brown,” Bevan explains.
“And you’re looking to see that the plant hasn’t been in the pot for so log that the roots are just going round and round inside, and becoming congested, because it will never really recover from that.”
“It can be tempting, especially in spring, to buy plants that are already in full flower, but this is a big plant-buying mistake,” says Bevan. “Bleeding hearts and delphiniums, for example, look so gorgeous and tempting. But those plants tend to be really fleshy – they’ve probably been grown in a greenhouse under protection and they haven’t got any ‘toughness’ in them yet. If you put them straight into your garden, they’ll be eaten by slugs and snails almost immediately.
“Professional gardeners tend to buy smaller plants in either spring or autumn, and they don’t buy them in flower,” Bevan continues.
“If they think they’ve been in a greenhouse, they will harden them off for a few weeks by standing them outside in the day and then putting them in a greenhouse at night.”
Mitchell adds: “It’s really hard because we go into the garden centre and see lots of gorgeous plants, but if they’re already in flower you’re planting them at the highest point of stress. So if you see something you like, go to the back of the shelf and find one with lots of buds still to come. It’s a bit like going to the back of the shelf to find the freshest milk.”
Good news for those of us who get carried away shopping for plants: it’s actually OK to buy in bulk.
“If you buy just one of everything, it reduces the impact of your plants,” says Mitchell. “So go shopping with a pal, both pick your favourite plant and buy three of each.
“Next time you go round each other’s houses for a cup of tea you’ll notice how much better they look.”
Plant-buying mistakes aren't exclusive to outdoor varieties. Hannah Powell, director at Perrywood Garden Centres says it’s best to read the label, but if you love an impulse buy then just enjoy your houseplant while you can.
“You can buy houseplants in two ways: buy on impulse as you would a bunch of flowers and don’t worry if it doesn’t last more than a couple of weeks, or do a bit of research and find the plant that will like the conditions you will be putting it in,” she says.
“At a good quality garden centre there will be information and staff on hand to guide you. For example, a sunny windowsill calls for cacti and succulents whereas a dark corner calls for a ZZ plant (zamioculcas) or an aspidistra. Ferns are great in humid bathrooms.”
Look for strong plants with new shoots and buds as well as checking for a healthy root system, rather than lots of roots sticking out the bottom of the pot. Hold it up to the light to make sure both sides of the leaves and stem are healthy and avoid plants that look lopsided.
And avoid plants with weeds or moss growing on the top of the compost as this can be a sign that they’re old or have been neglected.
Then pick up a copy of Rebecca Bevan’s latest book, The National Trust School of Gardening. It’s full of gardening guides and tricks that you can try at home, gleaned from National Trust gardeners across the country.
(Hero image credit: Shutterstock/Edinburgh City Mom)
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