Richard Felt: How to Save a Bundle on Perennials and Hanging Plants

Outdoor landscaping is one of those things that I’m occasionally but not consistently successful at. Kind of like Kanye West hiding his joy.

But, every now and then, I manage to get it right—at least as far as cost is concerned. A recent trip to Lowe’s proved extremely fruitful for finding some amazing end-of-the-season sales on some hanging plants.

It’s easy to miss them if you’re not looking in the right spot. In my local store, you had to walk allllll the way past the outdoor display to the back corner.

Keep going…

saving money on plants

At their normal price, I would have spent more on just one of these plants than I did on all three for the front porch!

They did a great job of brightening up front entryway while I continued working on the rest of the yard.

Wait… did you catch that cameo?

hey Charlie — Nosy little buttmunch. Looks like I’ll be cleaning that window again.

Pink vinca aren’t really my favorite (I prefer the white version if given the option), but for the price, they add a lot of great color. And even though they’re technically the end of the season, there is still plenty of warm weather to keep these blooming for a bit… as long as I can remember to keep watering them!

I wish I could show everything in one big, finished photo for the side of the house as well, but I’m not quite there yet. You see, I wound up scoring BIG on perennials, too! Almost ALL of the plants you see in the below photo (except for the red snapdragons, which I covered last week) were picked up for just $1 each. Lowe’s is now my favorite dollar store, ever.

I’ve spent the last two weekends of summer fighting off mosquitoes and trying to get these guys in the ground, but there is so much space to fill that it’s taking several weekends to properly weed, clean up, plant, fertilize and mulch these beauties. I can show you a few in-progress shots though. Remember this area by the garage on the right side of the house?

I’ve just never had much success with plantings over here. But at $1 per plant, this effort is well worth the gamble to see what survives the winter. For one thing, I’ve decided to dig up and straighten out the red scallop edging that has always looked really scraggly and made it hard to figure out where to mow (I also hate the color and shape of the edging, but it came with the house and would cost way too much to replace it everywhere, so I’m sticking with what’s free and available).

Cloudy days: not great for brown on brown photos, but a lot easier for sweating through.

This spot is now getting the attention it deserves, which is a LOT of work (have you ever dug up and then dug a new line for stone edging? Ugh. Thank God for my mattock, though). But five years is probably long enough for procrastinating.

I’ve also snagged a few leftover edgers to create another little space on the right side of the fence as well. Hopefully the phlox will get plenty of sun in this spot and grow nice and full.

I will say, going ahead and completing the first section of plants, laying down newspaper for weeding, and mulch in front of the holly shrub makes things look instantly better!

The sage itself is looking pretty bleak (the flowers all promptly fell off the day I planted them in the ground), but I’m still hopeful that they will bounce back. And if they don’t, I’m out about the price of a Starbucks coffee, so I won’t be shedding any tears.