If you’re looking for a convenient place to buy plants, you may have considered Lowe’s, partially because there are so many of them around. Lowe’s is closer, bigger, and easier to find than a lot of those tiny garden centers hidden away in obscure locations.
However, are Lowe’s plants good? Lowe’s plants do not have the same quality and are not given the same care as those in local garden centers and plant stores. Whether Lowe’s plants are good quality or not depends on if they are locally grown, how long they have been in the store, and the gardening knowledge of the staff.
Even though you may be lured in by Lowe’s selection and good prices, it may not be worth investing in plants that are more likely to die when you bring them home.
Over the course of this article, we’ll explore what affects the quality of Lowe’s plants, including the good and the bad, and we’ll also go over their cost relative to local plant stores and garden centers. Finally, we’ll take a look at Lowe’s plant guarantee to see whether it can outweigh some of the cons inherent to their plants.
Are Lowe’s Plants Good Quality?
Big stores like Lowe’s buy their plants wholesale much like they do their other products. This means that they are usually not a group of locally grown plants that have had a chance to adapt to the climate in your area. Instead, they are grown in bulk quantities in large all-inclusive greenhouses.
This means that the plants don’t always get a chance to adapt and are not as likely to survive once you take them home. However, some of these wholesale planters may actually be based within your state. If this is the case, then your plants may already be adapted to your environment.
Unless you know specifically where your local Lowe’s gets its plants from, however, there is no way to know for sure.
Another factor to consider is the care they receive once they arrive at the store. This has little impact if you purchase the plant soon after it arrives, but that’s rarely the case.
Staff knowledge and care may be adequate but cannot compete with the local nurseries where the staff understand the specific needs of each plant in detail. Without strong horticultural experience, the plants might receive the wrong amount of light or water, they might not be treated or trimmed as they need to be and they may even be mislabelled.
How Expensive Are Lowe’s Plants?
In terms of pricing, when buying from a big company like Lowe’s you are sure to find that the cost of the plants is more affordable than in many independent garden centers. Smaller garden centers and self-reliant businesses charge a lot more for their plants than a place like Lowe’s will.
Pricing will also depend on the type of plant. They are usually priced based on their age, ease of care, and difficulty of reproduction. That being said, Lowe’s may not be your cheapest option. Compared to other vendors, Lowe’s still tends to be in the middle of the road when it comes to prices.
If you don’t mind rolling the dice on a set of plants that may or may not be in dire straits as soon as you plant them, you can get them for a relatively reasonable price from Lowe’s.
Does Lowe’s Have A Good Plant Selection?
Compared to some of the competition, Lowe’s offers an impressive selection. Some of their most popular categories include:
- House plants – Usually very leafy and flowerless plants designed to grow indoors.
- Tropical Plants – Grown year-round. They often require a hot and humid environment.
- Perennials – Last for at least 2 years and have a shorter blooming period than annuals. Therefore they are good long-lasting plants but won’t give you flowers for long periods.
- Annuals – As can be surmised by the name, they last no longer than about 1 year. During their one-year lifespan, they spend the whole season in color and are a great option to add some quick life to your garden.
- Shrubs – The bushes that make up the leafy green portions of your garden. Smaller than trees but big enough to add some backbone to your landscape. Many also include flowers which are ideal since the plants have a long lifetime.
- Trees – Though you won’t be buying 100-year-old Oak or Sequoia trees here, they have a good selection of potted trees that can be planted to grow into something larger.
Overall, you can get a good selection of plants from Lowe’s. Compared to smaller garden centers, you might even get a better selection of plants when you shop at Lowe’s. However, compared to larger dedicated retailers, you’ll likely be disappointed by the limited plant species available.
If you review the Lowe’s website, you will see thousands of plants to choose from. It should be noted, however, that availability depends on the season and the stock of the specific Lowe’s store in which you are shopping.
The plant selection can vary considerably from one store to the next. There are also a lot of plant accessories to buy. Everything you need, including gardening tools, buckets, pots, gloves, and mulch is easy to acquire at Lowe’s.
Keep in mind that ordering plants online means that you won’t be able to see the condition of the plant before it arrives at your doorstep, which may further compound the issue of the plant dying sooner after you receive it.
Lowe’s Plant Guarantee
The Lowe’s plant guarantee states that if your plant dies within a year you can take it back to the store and get a refund on it. This applies to their plants, perennials, bushes, and trees. However, it does not include the annuals as they are expected to only last a short amount of time anyway.
This helps offset some of the more significant downsides to buying a plant from Lowe’s, but whether or not it’s worth shopping for your green friends there is up to your judgement.