I tend to prefer Lowes. They have a good bargain bin this time of year.

went to 3 today.all are having 50% off shrubs, roses etc and some perennials too.

HD Rt1,Danvers- Tiny gdng section; well kept plants; few choices

HD Reading Rt128 by Jordan Furn. Small but not tiny. Plants in exc condition. Medium # of choices. Beautiful display of annual? "Mona" plants, covered with saturated blue/lav flowers like tiny orchids, black green foliage. Also hunka agastache Lav Mist but not lav, really a saturated blue/ppl like aconitum carmichaelii.

HDSomerville Rt93- largest gdng.dept. of all three. Much more variety. Plants in exc condition. Best buys IMO: $4 huge variegated liriope; $8 deutzia chardonnay pearls (one of the best small yellow leaved shrubs; large wisteria etc........
Must try the Woburn Lowe's.

ed, you never know the repursussions a web comment can make, so i wanted to thank you profusely for your nudge to lowe's. Woburn 5 min from me and what astouding things did we find?
EVERYthing seemed to have some degree of mark down, and, except for the racks of plants in the back left corner, almost everything else was in excellent condition.
gentians,platycodon,echinacea $1
lg euonymus emerald and gold $8
summer wine ninebark 3 gal. $10
and the truly unbelievable:
Yaku Princess Rhodo,a ~16" mound,loaded with tightly packed foliage and buds, 1.5 gal.....$6 OMG!!! we bought 10 (what a surprise) Heck, for $6 i'll sub them for hostas in some spots!!!
So, big big thx to you, ed. We'll be thinking of you alot!
mindy

Mindy,
are there any rhodies left?
tx
Marie

d left 2. maybe other lowe's have them too.
mindy

Today we went to a slew of local HD and Lowe's. Turns out that Lowe's OWNS their plants and can price them as they wish. I also think maybe they pool their leftover stock at this time of year (but I didn't ask this.) I think this because the Woburn store was basically void of plants today. If it's true, I wonder where they pool them (def. not Danvers .)
HD does not own any plants; they are all owned, priced and managed by various contracted nurseries. So HD cannot adjust prices; that's all done by the nurseries.

HD Danvers by the mall- is a v. big place. Today's deals were 1 gal perennials at $3.50, incl: David Phlox, Platycodon, Rozanne, Hostas (including the great June, a major award winner, echinacea. +++++++
(We bought most of the ones in best shape.) BTW, this Danvers store was the only HD where I saw suffering plants.
HD Reading/Jordan Furniture also had exc plants ($3.50)
of rozanne, david, heuchera etc.They had rhodos too, incl yak princess. Such deals!

This post was edited by arbo_retum on Tue, Oct 14, 14 at 5:02

What does "pooling" stock mean? Does it mean Lowes Woburn does not have ny more plants? I got a great deal in a bunch of montauk daisies there last week, I was hopingto go again this week for more.
Does anyone know if there are any blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, or strawberry plants on sale anywhere? I have not been able to locate these in any HD or Lowes. Thanks.

What I mean by 'pooling' is what Mahoney's does: take all plants from various locations and locate them in one flagship store (i.e. Winchester for Mahoneys; I don't know which Lowe's is the flagship store for the area.)

I def saw blueberry bushes (not your other fruits) in one of my forays. I think it was the Danvers HD or the Danvers Lowe's further away from 128.

I saw tons of daisies in 1 or 2 stores, incl. lowe's Woburn iirc.
mindy

Salem HD is v big. Not as good as Somville but better than many. I was totally jaw-dropped to see a few very special perennials here yesterday. Variegated eupatorium; dark reiter geranium; ligularia I didn't recognize. WOW! I left a few and a lot, respectively, of the first two. And tons of buddleia of numerous varieties. small but they grow wicked fast in one season anyway. and hydrangea. The 2 prevalent hosta varieties at all the HD right now are June
(SUCH a deal; an Amer Hosta Soc winner a few yrs ago) and Lakeside Cupcake. June, btw, has no appeal (to me) in this baby stage, but will be v beautiful when it matures. All the perennials I bought ranged $4-$8.
mindy

Thanks Arbo Return,appreciate the info. Do you happen to remember how much the blue berries were? I got plenty of montauk daisies from lowes, I don't think I want any more of those, especially because they root real easily from cuttings (so I hear). Are there any good deals at mahoneys? I usually only shop at the big box stores, never been to mahoneys. How much were the Hydrangeas at HD? The HD in reading does not have any left unfortunately. The lowes in Lowell is good as well. I wonder if HD will have further mark downs in the upcoming weeks? Thanks again.

Report on Waltham hd:
Half price h.twist and shout
Georgeous smaarg /emerald green arborvitae
Half price....7 frees about 34
3 footers about 15.= can't beat that anywhere
Miserable remains on perennial
Except decent sized half priced clems and perennial hibiscus
Only worth the trip for arborvitae and twist.shout

Just picked up rhodies for a dollar each at the HD in reading I left about 6 to 8 decent rhodies back.

This post was edited by daffodil33 on Fri, Oct 31, 14 at 21:26

wow, that really is something!!

any good boston area HD finds lately? going to head to the one in Somerville or Watertown shortly but have to pick!

I'm closer to the Watertown one but the Somerville HD has more plants, I think.

Blueberry bushes at HD $5/bush! High bush Vigoro.

somerville it is then! even though I'm also closer to Watertown. if anyone wants to take a trip together, let me know :)

went today to the somerville HD, still don't have that many outdoor plants along the lines of what I'm looking for. No citrus yet, and no clematis (was really hoping to find clematis!). Had some nice run of the mill hoyas indoors.

Herb collection was also pretty sparse-- had seen pineapple sage at a friend's home depot but they didn't have any here. Only 2 or so types of basil as well.

if anyone goes and sees clematis (not the root balls but the actual plants) can you let me know? either at somerville or watertown :D