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Jump Start Your Garden with Plug Plants

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Jump Start Your Garden with Plug Plants

It used to be that you had to be a grower or a landscape professional to have access to “plug plants,” but we decided to change that. Why should the pros have all the fun? 

Here's a little secret, and why we wanted to make plug plants available to you: 

Plug plants help you have a gorgeous garden, faster.

But wait, there's more! 

What Are Plug Plants?

Plug plants are young plants that are older than seedlings but a little smaller than the  gallon sized plants you can get at a garden center.  They're grown by professionals under controlled conditions, so they come to you ready to thrive. 

Here's the thing: if you start perennial plug plants from seed, there's lots of complicated guesswork that goes into growing them. We take the guesswork right out of gardening with these cool plants.

Our plug plants are fully rooted, 1-year-old plants that are vernalized, which means they have had the proper amount of chilling in order to best grow and bloom the same year you plant them in your garden or containers — no waiting!

Pro tip:

Maybe you've seen those gorgeous pictures of English cottage gardens. They're absolutely packed full of beautiful plants, and overflowing with color. 

Here's how they do it: they start with plug plants. Instead of 5, one-gallon delphinium plants and a whole bunch of mulch, they start with 15 plug plants. Instead of one three-gallon ornamental grass, they plant 5 plugs. 

Designers across the pond know that more, smaller plants equals a bigger show, faster, than fewer, bigger plants.

Now you can take advantage of that insider knowledge.

A lush garden, no thatched roof required:

Perennial Garden

 

Why Grow Plug Plants?

Save money

Imagine taking a trip to the garden center and paying $20 (or more!) for each one of your flowering perennials. That adds up quickly. Plug plants give you the assurance that you have healthy young plants at a price you can afford — particularly important when you’re planning those large sweeps of foxgloves or adding to your hollyhock border!

 

Save time

You can hit the ground running with well-rooted plug plants, ready to grow in the first year after planting. No waiting around to see how many of your foxglove seedlings made it, no starting over when you realize that you want more butterfly bush plants than you’ve ended up with. No hand-wringing, period.

 

Take the guesswork out of starting plants

Some plants need some winter “chilling” time (vernalization) in order to grow and bloom their best, and other plants grow best from cuttings. Most won't bloom until the second year. When you’re starting your plants from seed, it can be difficult to know what plants prefer what kind of conditions. We’ve done all that work for you, so that you can plant with the confidence that each one of your plugs is healthy and ready to thrive in your garden.

Check out that root system:

 

Fill in bare spots

Got bare areas in your garden? Fill them in quickly with plug plants — they’re easier to weed around than seedlings, and establish quickly for robust growth and flowering. That perennial bed with the patchy coreopsis just got a whole lot easier to fill in.

 

Get the exact plants you want

When you buy fully grown plants at the garden center, you might get some attractive and healthy plants, but you’ll also be limited to the 1-2 types of alstroemeria they have in stock. When ordering plug plants, you choose which of our 25 varieties and collections we have — perfect for the slightly plant-obsessed collectors among us. Hey, we’re not judging; we’re just like you!

 

Garden Quick Start Ideas Using Plug Plants

Ready to get growing? Here are two of our favorite ways to use plug plants.

 

Unique Container Gardens

Perennial Container Garden 

There is no written rule anywhere that says you are limited to petunias and a "spike" in each of your container gardens. That doesn't stop most gardeners from acting like it, though. We know that you're not the average gardener. You want to have a little fun with your patio pots this year. 

Here's what we'd do. We'd plant up a butterfly container brimming with color that we could enjoy year after year or move to the in-ground garden when the plants outgrow their pots. 

Start with a couple of bee balm plants. Then add a climbing clematis with a little trellis. Fill in with some golden coreopsis

 

Pollinator Patch

Pollinator gardens are huge right now, and for good reason. It's fun to help our flying friends. It's also all kinds of fun to watch them visit your yard and sip nectar from your flowers. Grow a flower buffet, fast, with these plug plants:

 

Are your wheels turning? Are you thinking of ways to amp up your garden this year? Get started now! 

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  • Katie Elzer-Peters