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For the novice gardener or landscaper, knowing the difference between a healthy plant specimen and an unhealthy one might be like trying to decide what shade of white is more suited for your walls. A lot of people can’t tell the difference. In some cases, what might look more robust actually isn’t, deceiving you right before your eyes. What should you look for when you’re shopping for plants? How do you know what you’re getting will survive once you get it planted in the ground?
Shopping for annuals come with little mystery. If they look healthy and full and have good green color, chances are they’ll do just fine when you put them in your pots or in the ground. However, people tend to pick plants based on the blooms they see. Stores and growers purposefully time and in many cases, artificially induce or “push” plants, especially annuals, to flower so that they charm the consumer into taking them home. Physically, if a plant is flowering, it’s moving fewer nutrients into its own growth and health, spending that energy on the flower. When you’re first bringing a plant home, you want the plant itself to be as healthy as possible. Picking a plant with more flowers will actually be worse for you than if you picked one that was full of flower buds or no flowering growth at all.
Early last spring, I was at a local large chain hardware store, looking at the season’s first offerings in gardening plants. The perennials looked good, they were big and full of color. They had tons and tons of flowers on them. But wait, think for a moment. What perennials around me were already grown and flowering in early spring? None. No perennials should be flowering like this now. Not the phlox, not the bell flower, not the cone flowers. Spring bulbs were just ending their stent in bloom, fine- but these plants shouldn’t be. As an experiment, I took a carpet phlox home and planted it. By the early summer when other phlox should be looking their best, this poor carpet phlox was confused and looking terrible. It didn’t come back the next year. The moral of the story is, don’t buy perennials from big box stores that artificially push their container perennials. They most likely won’t last. Buy perennials from honest growers. The plant you buy from these people in the spring might look like a container of weeds, but I promise you, you’ll be rewarded if you wait with a healthy plant that comes back year after year.
Yes they are pretty, don't let their beauty push you towards a rash purchase!
Trees and shrubs are a little more complicated. The one singular thing you need to know before you choose a nursery to pick up your trees and shrubs is, are these plants root pruned? What is root pruning? It’s the act of literally trimming the roots of the shrub or tree of a container grown, or balled and burlapped (B&B) tree. Trees and shrubs that aren’t root pruned in the nursery will not adapt to being moved out of the container well, and often die. There are many landscape and nursery associations around the country that require root pruning in nurseries to still be part of their organization. This protects the plants, and the consumer. When you’re ready to buy your shrubs and trees, call around and ask if they practice root pruning. If they don’t, or if they don’t know what that is, do not offer your business to them.
For the average person distinguishing a truly healthy plant can be difficult. Your best mode of action is to call around, or shop around. Bring someone with you (like me) who knows what to look for and can avoid the temptation that flowers bring. Be willing to give smaller, mom and pop nursery operations a chance. Often times, the owners of these places take the time to assure that they offer quality products, as their business relies on it. Be ready to pay a little more too. This extra up front cost deters the people that always go with the lowest price. People that shop for plants like this often don’t realize this can cost them more in the long run, either monetarily, or aesthetically.
Below Are Two Ct Nurseries That We Trust
[jbox color=”yellow” title=”TLC Wholesale Nursery”]TLC is one of the most popular nurseries in the area. They carry all types of nursery products, some of the highest quality around. The only problem is they are not open to the public, only commercial customers. [jbutton color=”blue” size=”large” link=”https://www.tlcwholesalenursery.com/”]Click For Their Website[/jbutton][jbox color=”yellow” title=”L & L Evergreen” rounded=”yes”]They carry all types of plants, shrubs, and ornamental trees. L & L Evergreen is open to residential and commercial customers, and has 3 Ct locations. [jbutton color=”blue” size=”large” link=”https://www.llevergreen.com/main.asp” ]Click For Their Website[/jbutton]