Review: Martha Stewart Living Seeds/Bulbs

Martha Stewart Living Seeds/Bulbs

Rating: 8.5/10 (Bulbs) 3/10 (Seeds)
Price: $1.99 - $50.00

I've never tried any of Martha's plant products. She has an attractive selection of dormant bulbs and bare roots, sold in well designed packages, beautifully marketed and priced accordingly. She offers a limited variety of products, only sold at Home Depot in Canada and the USA. You can buy them in store or order online, and purchases over $45.00 include free shipping.

What I always say about free shipping is always spend what you need to get it. Why buy $30.00 worth or product and pay another $30.00 for shipping, it's like paying 2x over for your items and you might as well not shop online. If free shipping is $75.00 and up plan to spend $75.50 at that online nursery.

Martha's line is essentially picking the plants that are well designed for you, mixing specific colors and varieties for that modern magazine look. The most common examples would be lime green, white and pink tulips all in one bag, plant at random. No everyone likes to garden like that, so if you don't like colour mixes and pre-planned grab bags, her products aren't for you.

Blue Border Assortment
by Martha Stewart Living ($42.95 - 180 bulbs)

Hyacinth China Pink & Tulip Couleur Cardinal
by Martha Stewart Living ($26.88 - 48 bulbs)

She has many other assortments and plain packs of bulbs at which seem to be, very reasonable prices. The average price of her bulb packs is $25.00 for 15 - 35 bulbs depending on the species.

Examples of tulips available by Martha Stewart Living

She also has a limited number of seeds, they are a decent price online, but I've seen them be more expensive in store. There is nothing special about her seeds, and I might buy them on clearence or with a discount, they just don't seem that special. Her choices are basic heirloom and "pretty" no flowers, just veggies and herbs, water melon and cantaloupe.

Martha Stewart's Seed Collection 

She has other bulbs, non-spring bulbs like two varieties of lily, elephant ear, astillbe, peacock lilies, peonies and cana bulbs. They are fairly decent prices and I would consider buying them in store when the discounts roll around at the end of the season, not because I don't think they are worth the price they show now, I just think I'll save a lot by waiting and being a cheapo that I am. Clearance prices can show you how much the store actually bought them for, because they still think they can make profit from 80% off a regular price, home depot is an excellent discounter. For example one bag of 48 tulip bulbs is $30.00, thats 62 cents a bulb. When the bag of bulbs gets discounted 75% off, the price drops to $8.00, that's only 16 cents a bulb, wowza.

Other bulbs available. 

My final thoughts are, well done Martha Stewart Living plants, your seeds suck but your bulbs aren't that bad. Buy her product in your local Home Depot store and wait for the clearance prices at the end of  spring, yes, you may not have the best selection, but there should be some nice tulips to pick over, and they'll discount her other non-spring bulbs because box stores don't know the difference. I know I'll be checking out her products!

I have my eye on a few things...

I did some garden centre recon and found some plants I'd like to haggle for later today... I would wait until close up for buying most plants on discount, but when it comes to more showy bloomers, it's important to buy them right before they bloom or during. This way can can better assess what kind of blooms you will get; wither it be the colour or size or number of physical blooms on the plants. Store garden centres (as explained in THIS post) tend to have a bad reputation for mis-labeling plants... or over pricing poor quality plants. One rule to keep in mind is typically, if it looks great in the pot, just imagine how it will look in your garden with root space, and special care. If it's healthy and you like the blooms, its the best time to buy it. That way you also get to enjoy a bit of time with it in your garden also.

I really have my eye on some Asiatic lilies I saw yesterday, some were dwarfed and others giants. I'm going back to "Metro" to try and haggle my way into getting a few lilies for cheap. I don't know the variety name, but I'll post that later. They kind of looked like these nice varieties.
                                                         

 "Cappuccino" Asiatic Tango Lily

"Nettie's Pride" Asiatic Lily

"Black Spider" Asiatic Lily

I guess we'll find out later what variety I picked up... I also saw some very tall beauties from Canadian Tire with double blooms... maybe my dad will be into those... can't exactly bike with a 5 ft potted plant in my basket.

My Garden Centre Picks - "Stores with Garden Sections"

Home Depot garden centre in spring.

Here are my ratings and reviews of some garden centres I've visited in Southern-Ontario.

Stay tuned for new garden nursery reviews, as I explore more locations and businesses. Today I will be reviewing those box-stores we love to hate and hate to love. If you've never considered it a stop on your plant search, maybe you should give it a try, I have been shocked over the years at the amount of surprising varieties and selections. Garden sections are great for knowledgeable and keen gardeners who enjoy ripping off these stores during sales, and final season clearances.

Navigating the "GARDEN SECTION"

Canadian Tire Garden Centre

Canadian Tire (☆☆☆☆)

Price: $-$$

Stock: Seeds, annuals, planters, popular perennials, vegetable plants, shrubs & trees.

Review: Usually located on a side department of the store, Canadian Tire stores provide a seasonal array of plants ranging from trees and shrubs to annuals and perennials. Many times I have been browsing the stock and found some very unique plants. The prices are low to mid-range, appropriate for the quality and size of the plants. Damaged or dying plants are reduced to mere cents, and I've had a 95% rate of survival. End of season clearance and sales are great, reducing the price 60% or lower and almost 80% lower than what the plant would cost in a nursery.

What I've found: 15$ spruce and pine shrubs, 2-3$ exotic herbs and vegetables, tons of free dumpster perennials, golden raspberry plants and my entire strawberry patch for less than 20$.

Walmart (☆☆)

Price: $$-$$$

Stock: Some seeds, annuals, pre-made planters, popular perennials and some shrubs and trees.

Review: Nothing unique or special about the stock or plants at Walmart. The quality is excellent, but the size of the plants are often small and exorbitantly priced. They tend to focus more on annuals and pre-arranged hanging baskets and planters. If you catch a clearance sale and don't mind some ugly plants (that will be an investment in the next season) than head over and grab what you can. (Sales are the only time I feel it's worth buying anything there)

What I've found: Free half-dying annuals and some unique annual planters under 10$.

Home Depot (☆☆☆☆)

Price: $-$$$

Stock: Seeds, annuals, planters, popular perennials, vegetable plants, shrubs & trees. General landscaping needs (pavers, wood, concrete, fencing and decor).

Review: Home Depot houses a wider variety of plant species, ranging from ornamental grasses, tuberous flowers, tropical annuals, edible plants (fruit trees, shrubs and bushes included), herbs, hosta and lilies. Plant quality is excellent and only degraded by poor maintenance at the store. Prices can be high, but I've also been surprised by extremely low prices on new items. Sales are great, often selling 2-5 plants off in one deal. They stock amazing perennial/annual mixed planters that can be recycles back into the garden for the next season. Clearance sales are AMAZING. Be prepared to load up your entire trunk and available seats.

What I've found: 50¢ Hostas (unique varieties), 50¢veggies and herbs, 10$ planters (5-7 perennials in each), oriental lilies 12$ a pot (10 gallon) and so much more, literally "dirt-cheap".

Target-Zellers Garden Centre

Zellers/Target (☆☆☆)

Price: $-$$

Stock: Annuals, perennials, veggies and herbs, some planters and hanging baskets.

Review: Annual and planter quality is pretty low, due to poor maintenance. The perennial selection is surprisingly good, consisting of unique varieties and surprisingly rare plants. The prices are very good, but they often have a very low stock on good plants an never move to sales when the plants are deteriorating. They remove the plants before they can be sold at pennies.

What I've found: Unique herbs and some vegetables (Pineapple Sage, African Basil etc). Some unique full-sun perennials.

Zehrs (☆☆-☆☆☆☆)

Price: $$-$$$

Stock: Annuals, perennials, planters and hanging baskets, some fruit and veggies as well as trees and shrubs.

Review: Somewhat over-priced stock, but good quality and unique varieties. Zehrs tends to carry unique perennials with award status (such as: hosta of the year, perennial of the year). They also carry plant brands from national distributors like; Steppables, President's Choice and many more. Sales can be meek, or amazing. End of season clearance can be extremely discounted (and you can hit all the Zehrs you want in one day).

What I've found: Very nice perennials and some great picks around sale season. One year my dad and I loaded about 200$+ stock into our car because they wanted to toss it all away... time things right, and you get free stuff. On another occasion I was given an entire pallet of green pepper plants. The best thing about side-garden-centres is that they don't have the resources to over winter and maintain plants, so they have to clear them out (which almost always comes down to pennies).