Skip to content

Top Navigation

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Home
  • Garden
  • Holidays & Entertaining
  • Videos
  • Sweeps and Contests

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Midwest Living

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 40 Favorite Comfort Food Recipes

      Macaroni and cheese, Amish apple dumplings and chicken pot pie are among our Midwest comfort food favorites. Read More Next
    • 50 Romantic Midwest Getaways

      Romance, of course, can be wherever the two of you are. But wonderful surroundings help. We found some of the most romantic places anywhere in the Midwest—in the city and country. All you have to do is get away together! Read More Next
    • 50 Decadent Chocolate Dessert Recipes

      Chocolate lovers, these are for you: 50 of our best rich-and-gooey chocolate dessert recipes, including pie, pudding, cake, cookies, fondue and brownies. Read More Next
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel

    50 Midwest Resorts We Love

    Our favorite Midwest resort destinations range from cozy lakeside lodges to indoor water park behemoths. Dive in to check out our top picks for a fabulous Midwest getaway.
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Missouri
    • Nebraska
    • North Dakota
    • Ohio
    • South Dakota
    • Wisconsin
    • Around the Region
    • Free Travel Info
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food

    Midwest Living November/December 2020 Recipes

    • Comfort Foods
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Quick & Easy
    • Chicken
    • Soups & Stews
    • Midwest Favorites
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Fish
    • Grilling
  • Home

    Home

    See All Home

    50 Quick and Easy Holiday Decorating Ideas

    Give your home holiday style in a flash with these simple yet creative decorating projects.
    • Quick Decorating
    • Featured Homes
    • Organizing & Storage
    • Outdoor Living
    • Seasonal Decorating
    • Room Decorating
  • Garden

    Garden

    See All Garden

    14 Cheerful Winter Container Gardens

    Create bountiful outdoor winter arrangements with a little help from Mother Nature.
    • Container Gardens
    • Flowers
    • Featured Gardens
    • Midwest Gardening Calendar
    • Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  • Holidays & Entertaining

    Holidays & Entertaining

    See All Holidays & Entertaining

    40 Easy Christmas Crafts

    Decorate your home, make a gift or create an ornament with our 40 ideas for fun and easy Christmas crafts.
    • Christmas
    • Valentine's Day
    • Easter
    • July 4th
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
  • Videos

    Videos

    See All Videos
    • How to Make an All-Butter Pie Crust
    • How to Make Pumpkin-Spice Icebox Cake
  • Sweeps and Contests

    Sweeps and Contests

    See All Sweeps and Contests

    Warm-Weather Getaways Sweepstakes

    • Winter Getaways Sweepstakes
    • Warm-Weather Getaways Sweepstakes

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Midwest Living
  2. Garden
  3. Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  4. 7 Fall Garden Bargain Tips

7 Fall Garden Bargain Tips

By Veronica Lorson Fowler
June 01, 2012
Skip gallery slides
Pin
As the growing season comes to an end, smart shoppers can snap up plants at bargain prices.
Start Slideshow

1 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Fall bargains: Deal or no deal?

When garden centers start buttoning down for winter, you'll find some serious plant steals-if you know what's worth buying and avoiding this time of year. Use the ideas on the following slides to find some of the year's best bargains.

1 of 8

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Snap up perennials

They're one of the fall's best buys. Retailers slash prices because they can't keep them through the winter. But you can successfully plant them (along with almost any tree or shrub) up to six weeks before your first frost date (a local extension office or a Web search can provide the typical date for your area). Pictured: pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) and Japanese bloodgrass (Imperata cylindrica).

2 of 8

3 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Dig into bulbs

October is ideal for planting spring-blooming bulbs, such as tulips and daffodils. As that perfect time passes, garden centers slash bulb prices. If you're having a mild fall and your soil isn't yet frozen, grab some bargain bulbs. If you can dig into the soil at least 10 inches, you can plant bulbs, even with light snow on the ground. Make sure bargain bulbs are firm, free of mold or mildew and still have most of their papery skin.

3 of 8

Advertisement

4 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Be rose-savvy

Fall roses can be bargains if you live in the right part of the Midwest. It's fine to plant most roses in the fall in the southern Midwest (Zones 6 and warmer). But in the upper Midwest (Zones 5 and colder), it's a gamble to plant any roses except the most cold-hardy shrub varieties. Morden Blush shrub roses (left) are tough enough to survive a long winter up to Zone 2.

4 of 8

5 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Shovel in the deals

Large retailers often have the best discounts on trees and shrubs (plus tools, accessories, pond supplies and outdoor furniture) because the stores have limited space for garden items. Markdowns typically aren't so big at local nurseries with good facilities for covering and overwintering trees and shrubs.

5 of 8

6 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Know your trees

If you see a deal on deciduous trees or shrubs missing some leaves, don't be scared off. That's usually a result of minor stress from a long stay in a container, or seasonal dropping of leaves. Avoid evergreens missing needles; they're probably struggling.

6 of 8

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Buy healthy

By fall, a lot of nursery stock looks pretty sad. Trust your instincts and avoid plants with leaf spots, disfigured leaves or obvious pest infestations (look under the leaves for colonies of insects, spider mites or worms).

7 of 8

8 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Stay hydrated

No matter what you plant this fall, keep watering until winter hits. Even when summer cools off, plants can get dehydrated, which means they'll struggle to survive their first winter.

8 of 8

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Veronica Lorson Fowler

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 8 Fall bargains: Deal or no deal?
2 of 8 Snap up perennials
3 of 8 Dig into bulbs
4 of 8 Be rose-savvy
5 of 8 Shovel in the deals
6 of 8 Know your trees
7 of 8 Buy healthy
8 of 8 Stay hydrated

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Login

Midwest Living

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Contact Us
  • Help
  • Free Newsletters this link opens in a new tab
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Renew this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Affiliate Program
  • Free Travel Info this link opens in a new tab
  • Special Promotions this link opens in a new tab
  • Sweepstakes this link opens in a new tab
  • Video
  • Home Advisor this link opens in a new tab

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Midwest Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.midwestliving.com

View image

7 Fall Garden Bargain Tips
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.