Buying reduced / bargain / deadish plants

[Veara]

I'm a novice gardener and am always attracted to the plant reductions in garden centres, supermarkets etc but don't have the knowledge to recognise which ones are salvageable.

I can tell if something is obviously dead but would appreciate some guidance on which plants - indoor and outdoor - are worth buying cheaply in a less than perfect state as they'll recover.

I usually do it for perennials/shrubs but not annuals. Perennials might look rough this year, but are fairly likely to over time become established.

Annuals have such a short lifespan that it's not worth it for me.

I always take a punt on at least one in the "nearly dead" section of our local garden centre. It's around 50/50 success wise but I feel I'm doing my bit by rescuing them!

Usually first step is soak them in a bucket with a bit of tomato feed added for a week before I remember they're there before deciding where their home will be.

I've had a lot of success with the £1 section in our local nursery and the person who runs it is delightfully honest and helps me pick the ones that are looking most likely to succeed. So my advice is to ask someone who works there.

It depends what it is. I bought a nearly dead Acer last year and it is beautiful now!

I'm another sucker for 'search and rescue' plants. I agree with only buying perennials or shrubs, although last year I did find a beautiful hanging basket which was looking a bit battered, but came good with some TLC.

Usually if you look at what's happening at soil level you can see what the problem might be. So if it's brown and crispy at the leafy end but growing some new shoots underneath, you should be able to revive it by pruning. If if lots of roots are growing out of the pot, it needs repotting into a bigger pot. Most rescue plants need a water and feed when they get home. Make sure it doesn't have disease or mould. But otherwise give it a go!

Appreciate all your replies. Hadn't ever considered feeding them as part of their rehabilitation.

About this time last year I bought a tray (12 plugs) of very sad, almost dead looking lobelia for 50p at the supermarket. A week later only one had actually died and the rest grew into very healthy plants which flowered into December!

Think about time of year too. Fairly pointless buying annuals/ bedding plants in October, but perennials might look knackered after flowering but will come back with food and a haircut. I rescued some good grasses last year, and a purple smoke bush that was loads of money full price. I’ve just replenished my pots with half price annuals from B&Q, and they are looking rather fine.

That's part of the learning process. Revival of dead looking things is one of my skills, but I couldn't tell anyone else what will be successful or not.

I buy a lot this way. I only buy perennials. In the vast majority of cases the garden centre has overwatered them or else they simply need a good prune.

i chop off the dead bits, let them dry out gif a few days then give them a good feed

I am also a deaded plant buyer with many successes ; check the roots and if at least 50% or more look heathy with no sighs of rot, check to see if the plant is attempting new growth. Also check for bugs or signs of disease (e.g. aphids or black stems).
Once home I remove most of the compost and remove any dead roots and branches that are dead or non-viable - they will possibly look browner and more wrinkled that fresh shoots. Make sure you leave some leaves on for the plant to carry out photosynthesis.
Repot with new compost (I use John Innes no2 with added perlite and feed granules) in a slightly larger pot and water.
If the plant has not thrived by three months in summer or maybe longer in winter, give up! Most spring back to life quite happily once they are tended to and this applies to houseplants as well as garden plants (Use suitable compost for most houseplants like epipremnum or philadelphus rather than JI as as is a bit heavy for them, cacti like it though with added grit and sand)

I'm also a fan of the garden centre 'Sad Corner' and have had some real bargains. It really depends on why they are there. I got a tray of busy lizzies yesterday for £1, mainly because they'd just had an enormous delivery of loads more bedding plants, and they were selling the existing ones off cheap to make room for fresh stock. That happens a lot with perennials and shrubs. The garden centres have a seasonal changeover and sell what looks best at that time of year. Things like early spring flowering shrubs are sold off cheap as soon as they stop flowering, because they need the space for the summer flowering stuff. What I do tend to avoid are things that look like they've dried out, because although top growth can come back, if the roots have had it, then there's no chance.

Annuals are a better bet than perennials, because they can be almost dead and bounce back very fast - they only get one shot at seeding so they have enormous power to re-grow. In the nursery where I work, we cut back annual bedding to the base mid-season, and it re-grows beautifully in a couple of weeks, and looks just like new.

I think otherwise it's trial and error and you get to know how something really dead looks. For shrubs, if the stems are still pliable, that's a good sign.

TBH, though, I'd only bother if it was a really big discount/something I really, really wanted, because I would worry about introducing diseases. On which note, don't ever buy box that looks dodgy, or fruit trees with manky-looking leaves/insects. Just not worth it for the risk you're introducing nasties to the rest of your garden.

I too am a big fan of the “shelf of doom” but (as others have said) it depends on having a sense about what will perk up and what won’t.

One test is to check the roots; if they look healthy you have a better chance of regrowth

I always try and buy the perennials that have just finished their first flush of flowering. I generally look for the ones that can be spilt/propagated to make more plants.