Plant Buying Is the Best Form of Retail Therapy

Heading to the plant store is the highlight of any day, week, or month. Impulse plant purchases are particularly thrilling, but you know what's not thrilling at all?

Dead plants.

I have always liked buying plants so much that I continued to buy houseplants even after I killed two fiddle leaf figs within 48 hours of bringing them home.

After throwing away lots of money on plants that ended up never doing well in my home or garden, I can say the most important thing is to do a little research before you head to the plant store to buy plants.

Assess your lighting situation. Know how much space you have to grow things. Check which plants like to grow in your temperature and humidity range. Read up on the plants you want to grow.

Go in with a plan.

I'm not trying to discourage you. Keep all your enthusiasm for adding more plants to your indoor and outdoor space, but educate yourself before you buy. You'll come out with plants that are more likely to do well in your home—and less likely to have to be thrown in the trash.

I know that doing your homework first takes some fun out of retail therapy, but you'll be thankful for your due diligence when you're surrounded by happy, thriving plants.

Once you've done your research, head to the plant store and follow these seven tips for buying the best plants for your space.

Buy Locally Grown Plants

Plants grown locally are so much more likely to thrive in your garden. You can typically find more local plants by shopping at a local nursery than at a big box store.

Plants sold at big box stores have often traveled long distances to reach a store near you. By the time they arrive, they're often feeling stressed out.

Plants grown near you haven’t faced the stress of being transported long distances and will be more likely to enjoy growing in your climate. Plus, your purchase supports small and local businesses.

Your local nursery is also a great place to look for native plants. You don't have to limit your planting plans to only plants native to your area, but it's a great idea to add natives to your flower beds and any pollinator garden spaces. These plants are guaranteed to thrive in your climate without requiring extra water, and your wildlife population will be thrilled to see them.

Pick Annual Plants That Haven't Bloomed Yet

Let's say you're picking out some snapdragons for your flowerbeds. Snapdragons are gorgeous little ornamental annuals that thrive in the cool season and can handle some frost. You might be enticed by the little pots boasting the most colorful flowers, but you actually want to look for something that hasn't bloomed yet and that looks like it's been pruned to be bushier.

A flowering plant that looks less promising at the store can actually end up performing much better for you in your garden.

This is most important for annual plants since they have such short lifecycles. By the time they're blooming, they've shot their main shot, you know? You want to catch them before they're that far along so that you can enjoy them for longer.

This is also true for flowering vegetables. If you're looking to buy little tomato starts for your garden, pick plants that aren't flowering yet. If there are flowers, pinch them off so that the plants can focus on getting established in your garden before they try to bear fruits.

Choose Younger Plants

It’s important to purchase plants at the best stage of their growth. Like with plants that are already flowering, you may be tempted to buy the more mature version of a plant so that it's already nice and big. You’ll generally have better luck, however, if you buy a plant that’s more moderately sized, something more like a tweenager than a grown adult.

Plants don't like being transplanted at any point, but it's better to move them before they're too mature. They'll be better at handling the stress of moving, and they also cost less money.

So, whenever you have the option of buying the same plant at different stages, go with the smaller, younger version.

Opt for More Compact Plants Instead of Taller Ones

Similarly to the last couple of tips, you want to prioritize bushier plants over taller ones. Taller plants might seem more mature and impressive at first, but their stems likely stretched because they felt stressed. We call this growing "leggy", and it usually happens due to the plants not having enough access to light or feeling overcrowded.

Leggy plants tend to never branch out as much, which means they'll produce fewer flowers and fruits.

Overall, shorter, more compact plants are healthier.

Ask How the Plants Have Been Grown

I once encountered the most lush, vibrant-looking herbs I'd ever seen at a local nursery. I filled up my cart with rosemary and basil and thyme and headed to the checkout. "What do you do to these herb plants to make them so wonderful?" I asked the employee as she rang me up.

She pointed. "Do you see those little hoses at the top of our greenhouse ceiling? Those are filled with Miracle-Gro."

That was why the plants looked so enticing. From the minute they sprouted, they were pumped with a steady supply of Miracle-Gro.

There are two main issues here: One, if you care about only growing organic produce in your garden, then you definitely don't want to bring home plants filled with synthetic fertilizers like Miracle-Gro.

The second issue is important whether or not you care about the organic nature of your garden. If you bring home plants that are used to being treated with certain fungicides and synthetic fertilizers, unless you continue to feed them the exact chemical cocktail they're used to, the plants will either hang out and not grow much or give up being green entirely. This is the reason a lot of plants die or just fail to thrive after we buy them.

Lesson learned: Always ask how your plants have been grown before you put them in your cart. If you don't like the answer, put them back.

Scan the Leaves of the Plants for Signs of Issues

In addition to selecting smaller plants that aren't blooming yet, look for plants with shiny green leaves. Plants with yellowing or wilting leaves are stressed from lack of water or nutrients and may need a while to recover. Be on the lookout for visible signs of pests and damage caused by pests (like holes in the leaves).

This is especially important when buying houseplants or something like herbs that you plan to keep indoors. You obviously don't want to introduce a new pest or disease to your outdoor garden, but bringing something bad home and keeping it in a confined space can mean bad news real fast for your existing plants.

Check the Roots of the Plant

If you feel good about buying the plants available, then there’s one more thing to do before heading to the register. Lift the plant out of its container and check the health of the roots. If you see roots wrapped round and round the bottom, the plant is root-bound and has probably been sitting on the shelf a little too long. Root-bound plants are often starved of nutrients and water. You also don't want to see brown roots.

Roots should be nice and white and healthy-looking. 

How to Welcome Your Plants from the Store Home

Once you’ve picked your plants, get them home, watered, and under shade as quickly as possible. “Baby” these plant babies until you can get them planted, which should be as soon as possible (assuming the weather is right). Nurseries care for plants in small pots daily, but we can easily forget to do so when we get them home. Make it your goal to transfer your plants pronto.

Follow these steps to get your plants settled in a way that will help them succeed in your home or garden.

Step One: Moisten the Soil

Water both the garden space and the roots of the plant that’s about to be planted while it’s still in its container. (Use the mist setting on your sprayer to avoid soaking the soil too much.) I’ve moved a lot, and so I know how stressful each big uprooting can be. Pre-moistening the planting area is like laying out a welcome mat for your plant so it can settle down sooner. 

Step Two: Dig a Wide Hole

Dig a hole about twice as wide and the same depth as the plant’s roots. My favorite tool to use for digging this kind of hole in a raised bed is a hori hori, particularly one with measurements on the blade. Use the measurements to dig a hole only as deep as the plant’s neck (where the roots meet the stem). 

Place the plant in the middle of the hole, and gently push displaced soil around the sides of the plant. This soil will now be nice and loose for the roots of the plant to push out side to side. 

The exception here will be tomato plants, which can be buried up to their first set of leaves.

Step Three: Prune

Pruning is the same as telling a plant where to send its energy. Prune off the top of a plant like peppers and take off some of the older, outer leaves of a plant like kale to tell these plants to put their energy toward developing stronger roots before they grow any new leaves. Also prune away any yellowed, wilted, or damaged leaves to take some of the pressure off the plant after its big move. 

Remember the Golden Rule of pruning: Never cut more than a third of a plant at one time. 

Step Four: Water the Plant in

Use the mist setting on your sprayer hose to gently water the plant in—a nice welcome home party. Make sure to aim your water at the roots of the plant, not at the leaves. 

By following these tips, may you never go plant shopping only to bring the plant home and watch it die again. 

Bonus Tip: Sometimes It's Best to Skip the Plants and Buy Seeds Instead

I wasn't very inspired by the veggie starts for sale at my local nursery the last time I went. I'm ready to plant kale, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower, but they just didn't have a lot of options for me (at least not ones that weren't already going to seed).

This is a good reminder that we really do need to learn to start some of our plants from seed ourselves so we can have them as soon as we're ready to plant them outside and not have to wait for what's in stock.

Learn how to start your own plants by seed directly in the garden and how to start seeds indoors so that you can save your plant purchases for only those plants that will spend a really long time in your garden and need a long time to reach maturity.

Here's some motivation: You can buy a seed packet filled with hundreds of seeds for the cost of one baby plant, and you can find so many more fun options available, including heirlooms and cultivars.

Grow with Gardenary

No matter how you're sourcing the plants for your garden, you don't have to grow alone. Gardenary is here with the resources you need to learn how to be a better plant parent and create a thriving garden space. Start a free Gardenary 365 trial to watch our courses on growing herbs, microgreens, root crops, or whichever plants you want to master.