Choosing Plants that are Healthy
When you are buying plants there are a few things that you need to look at before deciding to plant them in your garden. Nobody is perfect, so even if you shop at your favorite garden cetre, there is still the possibility that the plant might not be the healthy specimen that you might expect.
The first thing you need to do is look at the plant and see whether it looks healthy. Obvious huh? Well, we often assume that buying from a garden center will assure us of a healthy plant. Like I said, nobody is perfect, so even garden centers can have problem plants. And lets face it: you don’t want to be the new owner of their problems.
Plants are very good at showing any signs of distress. Apply this golden rule; a plant that doesn’t look healthy, generally isn’t.
Check the conditions of the leaves, stems and roots of the plant where possible.
You should also look at the condition of the soil that it has been growing in, as this will have had an effect on its health.
If you are buying flowering plants it is always best to buy the ones that have yet to flower. They will withstand the trauma of transport and transplanting better than those that already have flowers.
If there is no alternative but to buy plants that already have flowers then I suggest that you remove all the flowers. While you might be reluctant to do so, you will probably have a better plant that will produce more flowers in the future.
