Oooo Ooooo. Just the word Clearance makes me quiver with joy. So, I was doing my standard run through Lowes although I know rose season is done for the big boxes in my area of CA. until body bags come out late winter. And I saw four DA containers on the "clearance" rack. It is a rare occasion to find any DAs at Lowes, but a few years ago I picked up Mary Rose at one. So, I run over, and look over all of them - 2 Princess Alexandra of Kents, and 2 Young Lycidas. Now, I do happen to have both already. But my YL happens to be a really stellar rose so far. I know it's too early to judge, but it's definitely the best "young" performer and standout, and I really love the blooms. So here are these buck naked green canes in 3 (ish) gallon pots, and a 1/2 off - $11.50 tag on them. I passed. BUT, I came back two weeks later - couldn't stand it. One YL had left, but the other 3 remained. So, I grabbed the pot with YL and walked over to one of the "guys" with a Lowes shirt on. I said - you're never going to sell these guys, they look dead. Will you discount further? And out I walked with YL for $6.50. It's been in the ground for month now, and is covered in leaves, and about 6 buds. Like winning the lotto!

But which cultivar is it? We must know! :) It looks plenty healthy for this time of year. Do please post a picture of it next June.

'Cinco de Mayo', not the prettiest flower in the garden (so far), but the price was nice:
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And 'Belinda's Dream' #3, a screaming deal. It's already tripled in size and blooming like mad.

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Mirenda, that was quite a deal; you must have been so excited. Tree roses always seem to be rather pricey.

Oh my gosh, harmony, you found Young Lycidas at Lowes? My heart would have stopped for a moment. I've been wanting this rose so much, even if it means ripping out something else to make room for it, and how clever of you to talk down the price even further! I'm so glad it's doing well for you.

hoovb, Belinda's Dream for $3.99? Be still my heart.

I need to get out more!

Oh man were do you get these deals?

We only have Home Depot, but they never have mark downs on plants. Only on broken tools and an occasional mismatched can of paint.

I forgot to mention that a local garden centre had a few Austins that were 2011 stock. I'd walked past these roses for over a year. They were marked down to 12Euro. I brought Summer Song and Benjamin Britton home for 8Euro each after smiling sweetly and offering to selflessly take them off the garden centre's hands.

Harmony - You're a person after my own heart...the manager at my local big box store shakes her head when she sees me coming, but always gives me a discount.

Hoovb - Wow! Those were some serious deals. Especially for Belindas Dream.

Ingrid - I was delighted! I went back for more a couple of days later and all 20 were gone.

Kippy - When I lived near a HD I asked for a discount on any plant that looked sad and tugged at my heart strings. Many times the store is happy to get the plants out the door. I encourage you to ask.

M

PS Hoovb. I'll defiantly post pics in June. Its a Sweet Wonder patio tree rose...

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By the time they're on clearance around here it's too late for me to plant roses with any hope of having them winter so I don't usually bother buying them.

I did come across a good deal in July a year or so ago in Lowes clearance bin for a Focal Point and grabbed it. It was already potted in a pretty pot as a "patio rose" and was in the clearance bin because it was nearly leafless with black spot. Got it for five bucks pot and all. The pot alone would have been more than that and the rose itself ain't that easy to find so I was thrilled!

Fantastic Seil! Don't keep us in suspense :-) What was the hard hard to find rose? Did it thrive for you? Pics?

M

I have definitely learned in this economy, haggle with everyone. I have been blown away at how many times I've received discounts just because I asked for one. The one that really just knocked me out was for a horse haul cross country. Had a customer buy two horses from us, and they needed to ship them from CA to Texas. They weren't experienced with finding haulers so I said I'd help. I found a really reputable hauler for them, but they were priced higher than the average. I let them know what other quotes I was being given, and they gave my customer a $200 per horse discount on the haul. I never in my wildest dreams thought a horse hauler would negotiate something like that.

I have gotten SO many discounts on plants from Lowes because I asked for them. Home Depot hasn't been so good about that, but I did get HD to give me a rug for an extra 20% off! You can tell right away when your somewhere where they aren't open to haggling. But you'll be amazed at how much savings you can get on almost anything if you just ask for it!

Opps, I did it again, but not with roses. I binge shopped in the clearance aisle. In my defence I only spent 22.24. At full price the total would have been 77.98...I saved over 70%!

I garden on a budget out of necessity. I'm a single mom of two special needs boys (Autistic and smarter than me. The later is the challenge.). I compost because I couldn't afford to purchase potting soil or amend my boggy soil. We grow as much fruit and veg as can hold the boys attention. My ornamental garden is my outlet. Even in this cold, wet winter weather I find something to do in the garden everyday.

Last night I purchased:
- 5x chocolate cosmos & 2x Pablo dahlias discounted from 5.00 to 1.50. These will need to be over wintered indoors.

- two large cannas for 1.50. They were discounted from 8.99 to 2.99 but i asked for a further reduction. I don't need cannas. I have nowhere to plant them. They are grown as annuals in our wet winter climate. I've brought them indoors for the winter.

- A surprisingly large Sugar Rush wallflower discounted from 5.00 to 1.24. The fragrance that filled my car on the journey home was alone worth 1.24.

- I seized upon a woven herb planter discounted from 20.00 to 7.50.

There is something about that orange tag that mesmerises me...

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M

OOO - non roses too! The Armstrong Nursery near my work is a little pricey, but when plants remain out of season, they do significant markdowns. I bought 6 fabulous canna lilies normally priced at $16, for $5 each. Then some dalias at about the same original price / discount. Then my favorite thing to buy this time of year in CA is mums. I think I added about 10 mums this year for $1.99 a piece. I have one from last year that like these, I bought in little 2x2x2" containers that ended up about 3'x3'x3' this year. My neighbor said it looked like a big cloud (white :) )

Wow. Great buys. I actually went back in today and cleared them out of Dalias. I'm hoping to successfully over winter them and place them with my chocolate cosmos next year. If I use them with my DA Summer Song I may achieve my carAmel and chocolate garden bed.

I told the staff at Homebase that I was going to stay away from their garden centre. I'm going cold turkey for the winter.

M

I think the only turkey around here is me. Just came home with Glamis Castle, Windermere and Sharif Asma for $12.99 each. Not inexpensive, but a lot less than their normal $34.99 price! I could say I'm going cold turkey instead of being a turkey, but body bags come out in a little over a month. I fear the number 200 is going to come exponentially faster than the number 100. I think the addiction is out of control. Thank the lord I don't drink, gamble or do drugs!

Oooooh. I covet Windermere. Can't get it here. You're tempting me with all yoyr great buys. I'm gonna stay out of the store and figure out how to sucessfully overwinter my new dahlias. In the spring I intend to do mass seed planting. I've saved seeds from my favorite plants this year.

My challenge for spring 2013 is to NOT buy anything new

I may die

M

The rose was Frank Benardella's Focal Point.

I just reopened this thread and for the first time, Mirendajean, I noticed your fingers in your first photo. I'm giggling as I just came in to take a break from digging some holes, and mine look identical!!! I have noted the black cracks in my hands stay all year long now.

One advantage we colder zones have over you Cal-types is our hands, for the most part, get a break over winter. Mine are already looking and feeling better. Of course, the cleanup mess I'm still facing won't help. Happy Thanksgiving, and here's to Gardeners' Hand Therapy cream! Diane

Just lovely Seil. Thank you for the pic. I'd never heard of that rose befor. It just goes to show you that we can get beautiful roses at great prices.

Harmony - that day I turned the compost, transferred some roses into larger pots, and dug a great big hole. I had to wash A LOT of dishes to clean my hands.

Diane - I'm in a cooler climate but can't seem to keep my hands clean :-)

M

I read this post earlier and I was all bitter and negative about the fact that we rarely get any good roses around here let alone clearance roses. Today I went to Lowes and saw they had some new shipment of the usual bargain basement "red, white, and yellow" roses. Some woman was just buying them up like crazy and I thought I'd check them out on my way out. Well, when I looked at them I noticed right away they more diversity of color and shape than I would expect.

Most of them had no tags but they were all clearly named varieties. I recognized Burgundy Iceberg and Peach Drift because I'd grown them before. I got Orchid Romance with the tag buried beneath the soil. They weren't all in bloom, but I suspect the identity of some of the others because they seem to be recent patented roses. Evidently someone lost the tags or lost their license to sell the specific varieties because they were all in excellent health and only $7! I may go back to have a second look.

Also another miracle is I actually found a Radler rose I like!

Amberrosr - That's fantastic! Good eye.

Such deals! Amber, maybe I need to come visit you. We NEVER have anything interesting in either Lowes, HD or Walmart. Even the annuals are same old same old and often not in very good shape. Last year, our Lowe's got in huge beautiful petunia baskets in April. They would last the blink of an eye here that late--and they were expensive. When I remonstrated with the garden manager about this, she said she had no say in the matter. That's what corporate sent out, period. I'm sure a lot of people were upset when they up and died in our heat.

I'm so happy with this rose. The blooms last forever and they waft a nice rosy smell. Here you can see the two different colors it shows. The first one is a darker warm pink. The second one I took this morning a few days later. They are the exact same blooms in the first photo and I took it with the same camera. It was only $7! If it has the alleged blackspot resistance it is supposed to have I will be in rose heaven.

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floridarosez9, I get tons of great deals at Lowes, just not usually rose deals. I get nearly all my annuals on clearance and they are nice healthy and blooming. I've noticed that some stores are not as good as other when it comes to discounting. I frequent two Lowes and they are always selling different stuff.

I live in an county in northern CA that is still struggling with the recovery from the recession. There are very few homes that have been built over the past 3 years; consequently, nurseries are having a hard time. I found a nursery that had a huge selection of choice roses growing in 5 gallon fiber pots. These were marked down from $29.95 to $10.00. I had just moved into a home on 1 acre that was not landscaped. Some of the roses that we piled into the pick up included: Munstead Wood, The Squire, Claire Austin, Brother Cadfael, A Shropshire Lad, Bishop's Castle, Graham Thomas, Heather Austin, Lady Emma Hamilton, Tea Clipper, Lichtfield Angel, Sir John Betjemen, St. Swithun, Strawberry Hill, The Generous Gardiner, Windemere, Gina Lollabrigida, Jean Giorno, Centennial Star, Abbaye de Cluney, Eden, Red Eden, Black Baccara, and White Eden.

Other good buys: 5 gallon citrus trees marked down from $30 to $10: Sanguinella Blood Orange, Moro Blood Orange,Tarocco Blood Orange, Oro Blanco Grapefruit/Pumello hybrid, Eustis Limquat. Vincent Female Kiwiplant and Male Pollentator Kiwiplant, marked down from $15 to $5 each. Pomegranates in 5 gallon containers, marked down from $30 to $10: Sharp Velvet, Ambrosia, and Desertni. Pear trees in 5 gallon pots marked down from $30 to $10: Bartlet, Warren, Seckel, and California (Red Bartlett x Comice); also Apple, "Belle de Boskoop".

I have never seen bargains like this before in all my years of gardening!

Wow, you lucked out. I saw potted peach trees in Lowe's and thought I would get one--until I saw the price--$200 . Talk about sticker shock.

John you hit the clearance jackpot! I'm with you on the fruit trees. I got an incredible deal on a peach tree...

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M

There is something about a great buy, that just sends me over the top .... and it's clear I'm not alone in that. I think lurking for sales bargains is one of the most fun parts of garden shopping. Yes, John - I think you've won the contest so far for very best, wide scale bargains! Congratulations!!! I used to think Lowes was the only place I was getting great deals, but have found a lions share of the nurseries do put many post season plants on significant sales. Timing is everything.

I would also looks love to see more pics of your bargins!

My clearance chocolate cosmos

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I'm still trying to get a decent photo of my dahlias.