Everything is more expensive these days, and products and plants at the garden centre are no exception. In summer, it’s tempting to go for impulse buys when you want to inject some colour into your garden or update your garden kit, but this can be pricey. With a bit of insider knowledge, though, you can save money and enjoy a garden that looks great for longer. We’ve rounded up what to avoid splashing the cash on now, and what to spend your money on instead for excellent value.
How to bag a bargain this summer to keep your garden looking good for longer
Don’t waste your money on…
Foxgloves
We recently spotted a biennial foxglove – the type that you see all over the countryside in early summer – on sale for £9.99. Digitalis purpurea is a biennial, which means that by July, its life cycle is nearly finished. It’s a pricey way to buy a plant that will only have a week or two of flowering left and will shortly die.
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Buy instead: Look for foxgloves that are perennial, so will flower year after year. They come in a wide range of colours. Look out for the pink-apricot Digitalis ‘Polkadot Polly’, apricot ‘Dalmatian Peach’, yellow Digitalis lutea or the rusty coloured Digitalis ferruginea ‘Gigantea’ – they typically retail for around £14.99, but if you buy one that has nearly finished flowering you could find one for as little as £5.
If you did buy a biennial foxglove at the garden centre this summer, it will hopefully self-seed itself around the garden so that you can enjoy more foxgloves in subsequent years. You can help things along by shaking the spent brown flower heads around when they start to rattle.
Roses
A David Austin rose, such as the ‘Dame Judi Dench’ ‘Olivia Rose Austin’ or the new ‘Sir David Beckham’ could set you back as much as £35 if you buy it at the garden centre now. Most roses are at their peak in May or June, so you’ll have missed it at its best, and you’ll also need to cosset it for the entire summer, with plenty of watering to help it settle in.
Buy instead: It’s far better for your wallet (and the rose) to take note of the name of the variety that you have fallen in love with, then buy it bareroot by mail order in winter, when it is dormant, for around £10 less. You’ll be amazed at how quickly it establishes, and it should flower next summer.
Barbecues
Brighter, longer and (hopefully) warmer, days, plus the World Cup, means that many of us will be wanting to fire up a barbie this summer. But traditionally, summer is not a great time to buy a barbecue, thanks to increased demand.
Buy instead: If you need to buy a barbecue now, it’s generally cheaper to buy a charcoal one; a basic portable kettle or tabletop model will be cheapest. If you’re hanging out for a gas one with lots of bells and whistles, look out for seasonal offers now (often on older models), or wait until the end of summer, Black Friday or even the winter months as retailers clear their summer stock. Consider what you want the barbecue for – if you’re only going to be entertaining a few friends in the garden a few times a year, do you really need to splash out on a large and expensive model?
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French lavender
A lovely plant, but French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) flowers in early summer, and it’s often on sale in high summer. That’s because it will soon finish flowering. Also, it is not fully hardy, which means that it could die in a cold or wet winter.
Buy instead: English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) tends to flower later than French lavender, and is much tougher, coming through the winter easily and flowering every year. When it’s not in flower, it forms attractive evergreen hummocks. Look out for the deep violet-blue Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’ or blue-purple ‘Munstead’. Grow in a sunny spot, in well-drained soil.
Cosmos
Cosmos are fantastic half-hardy annuals that come in a range of colours, from white and pale pink to deep vermillion. They make brilliant cut flowers and look great in borders and pots and flower their socks off for months on end – so they can be good value if you buy them at the right time. A decent-sized plant can cost around £8-£12, and garden centres can be a bit sneaky by still offering them for sale in September. At that time, they will only have a few weeks of flowers left –if a snap frost doesn’t kill them first.
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Buy instead: Buy cosmos plants in early summer, so that you can enjoy months of colour from June to the first frosts. Or go for a perennial type, such as the newcomer Cosmos atrsanguineus ‘Cherry Chocolate’ which has magenta-pink, chocolate-scented flowers and was awarded second place as Plant of the Year by the RHS at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2024. It’s not cheap but will come back year after year. Or head to the garden centre in spring and buy seeds (cosmos are very easy to grow from seed, and you’ll find a much wider range of types available this way) or a tray of young plants for the same price as one large one.
Dahlias
Dahlias come in an incredibly range of colours, from white and pale pink to yellow, orange and deep vermillion. They look great in borders and pots, flower their socks off for months and make brilliant cut flowers – so they too can be excellent value if you buy them in early summer, so that you can enjoy months of flowers right through to autumn. However you’ll also still find them on sale in September, when they are still looking good, but could be hit by frosts at any moment. They are tender perennials, so need storing somewhere frost free over winter, such as a shed, cellar or frost-free greenhouse.
Buy instead: Buy tubers (bulbs) in early spring (available in packets at the garden centre, or online) for a fraction of the price and a much wider choice. If you’re looking to inject some late summer colour into your borders, go for late flowering perennials such as asters, Japanese anemones and rudbeckias which will give a good autumn display year after year and are not affected by frosts.
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Garden furniture
Great garden furniture can instantly upgrade your garden, so you may be hankering after a lovely new set to replace your worn-out seating or dining table. But again, summer is not a great time to buy garden furniture as demand is high. However there are ways to beat the system.
Buy instead: If you can wait until August, many garden centres start selling off their summer stock to make space for Christmas stock, which now increasingly appears as early as September. Towards the end of summer, you can also look out for ‘ex display’ stock. It may not be perfect as people will have been sitting on it to test it, and it will be sold ‘as seen’, but if it has survived any damage, it could offer you a considerable saving. You could also buy second-hand or vintage furniture now from sites such as Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace or eBay, or from reclamation yards. Hay Palissade furniture is popular with designers as it is compact, stackable and classy, but it can be expensive. However you can find similar furniture at Habitat, (via Argos), John Lewis and Wayfair. You can also look out for great pre-season furniture deals in spring.
Salvias
Salvias are also fantastic plants for the garden as they flower for months and are very attractive to pollinators. Like dahlias, they often start flowering in June and go on for months on end. There are many different types to choose from – tender perennials such as the very popular deep purple ‘Amistad’, herbaceous perennials such as the popular Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ and shrubby semi-evergreens, such as the popular red and white Salvia x jamensis ‘Hot Lips’ (also look out for the ‘Amethyst Lips’ and ‘Cherry Lips’) and the shocking pink Salvia microphylla ‘Cerro Potosi’. Again, they can be excellent value if you buy them at the right time, but don’t fall into the trap of buying the tender types in late summer. Plants such as ‘Amistad’ can cost as much as £14.99 and could be killed off by frost (you can keep them going from year to year by taking cuttings, but you’ll need somewhere frost-free to cosset them over winter). All salvias need good drainage, and most prefer a sunny spot.
Buy instead: A hardy, perennial type such as ‘Caradonna’ or a shrubby type such as ‘Cerro Potosi’ or ‘Love and Wishes’ is a better bet as summer goes on. It’s better to buy a salvia plant in spring or early summer, so that it can establish well and you can enjoy months of flowers right through to autumn, but you could also plant in autumn if your garden has well-drained soil and is not prone to winter wet.
Lawnmowers
As you’d expect, summer is the time when mowers are in high demand, as we’re spending more time in the garden and want it to look its best. So it’s not the best time to pick up a bargain – although you can look out for seasonal sales.
Buy instead: Manual or push mowers are often the cheapest option – you can pick one up for around £50. Using one is refreshingly simple and it’s the most eco-friendly option. Corded electric mowers are also cheap, although you will have the hassle of a cable and will need an RCD. Lidl and Aldi are great places to look for cheap mowers – even robot ones (although you’re unlikely to find state of the art ones). As with furniture, you can sometimes find good pre-season deals in spring. Black Friday can also be a great opportunity to bag a fancy mower.
What’s a bargain right now…
Bedding plants
In high summer, excess summer bedding is reduced, which makes it good value if you want to fill pots or window boxes with cheery colour for the rest of the season. We’ve spotted cheerful geraniums and fuchsias for around £2 each, or a tray of six busy Lizzies for £2.99, reduced from £5.99.
Spring-flowering plants
Spring flowering perennials such as drumstick primulas and shrubs such as azaleas are often sold off cheaply when they’ve finished flowering, as they’re less appealing to buyers. It’s a great time to bag a bargain and boost your spring garden next year.
Tomato plants
Tomatoes take a long time to grow – many people start sowing their tomato seeds in February or March. If you only want a few plants, summer can be a great time to find plants that the garden centre is keen to offload – you could find a plant for around as little as £1-£2.
Chilli plants
Most of us only need a couple of chilli plants to see us through summer and beyond, and again these can be picked up for a couple of pounds in summer.
Strawberry plants
Often sold with strawberries on them, for as little as £1 each.
Neglected plants
If you’re green fingered, head to the reduced section where a variety of sad looking plants await you. Often they have simply been underwatered or not deadheaded or are a bit wonky, and with a little TLC they will thrive again.
