Cheap Fall Clearance Plant Finds!
One of the biggest secrets of affordable garden is fall planting. People think that the best time to plant is spring, and spring is a great time to plant. But you know what’s a better time? Fall! That’s because many nurseries put their perennials on closeout sales. They just want to move their merchandise, so they sell things for super cheap.
So I made a video about my fun clearance finds in October 2025. This was a great year for clearance plant shopping—I found some amazing deals! So many amazing deals, in fact, that I had to expand the berry patch. I mean, that was always the goal…it just happened a little sooner than I’d planned. So let’s see what I got.
Blackberry & black raspberry bushes
First up—berry bushes! Lowe’s has perfectly healthy blackberry bushes (Sweetie Pie variety) on their clearance shelf for 50% of their lowest prices. I paid a couple bucks each for these.
We wanted to fill the new landscaped front garden with blackberries and dug up a few from a friend’s yard, but I also want to mix and match varieties to see what produces the best. So we got a few of these and popped them in the ground as well. Can’t wait to see how they perform, because we eat a lot of blackberries!
I also found a black raspberry plant at a small local nursery. This one had a super long thin cane that they really let go. I pruned it down a bit when I put it in the ground and placed it near the black raspberries.
Heads up, we put the blackberries and black raspberries in the front yard because black raspberries can spread diseases and viruses to red and yellow raspberries. It is best to separate them if you can to avoid widespread damage if there is some sort of issue.
Blueberry bushes
Next up, more berries! My husband and I counted, and we have around 20 or so blueberries in our backyard now. They are all sorts of different types and varieties. Some early ripening, some later. Some with large berries, some medium sized. Some compact bushes, some very tall types.
I want a wide variety like my parents have in their yard. They have berries for so long because of the diversity. These new ones are Sunshine blueberries, and they are supposed to be great for picking and eating fresh. These were also 50% off of their lowest price, so just a few bucks!
Perennial mums
Next up, mums. I know, they aren’t that exciting. I usually don’t buy potted mums for the front porch, but these were like $2 each. So I got mums that I could plant in the back of the yard once I was done with them on the porch.
These will spread and provide some good ground cover since they are so low-growing. They will also provide some great late-season color in the back of the yard, an area we are going to be mulching more in next year.
Drought-tolerant sedum
Another thing I snagged at the local Walmart nursery—sedum! This lovely, super healthy sedum is very drought tolerant and super easy to propagate. It was so healthy, too, and listed for just a couple bucks.
I put these in areas of the yard that I don’t want to deal with watering, but I want some sort of plant that will help cover the ground. Plus, these have nice blooms that dry into the fall and look nice in arrangements.
Blanket flower & ostrich fern
These two plants are native plants that I had to scoop up. A blanket flower, aka Gaillardia, and an ostrich fern, aka Matteuccia struthiopteris. These have a wide native range in the United States, and they are super low-maintenance and drought tolerant.
I had a blanket flower that I moved last spring, but it didn’t survive our brutal heat this summer. So it was fate that I found this cheap one to replace it with! And the ostrich fern will be great in the shady back area of the yard. They can get pretty big and spread, and that’s the goal!
Dwarf Alberta Spruce
This ugly little dwarf Alberta Spruce came from Walmart and was like $2. Yes, it looks bad. The other one I grabbed looks a bit better. But this is a good shady evergreen plant to help fill out the back of the yard. I love how people prune these into looking like big toadstools, too. Have you ever seen that?
Emerald Green Arborvitae
And finally, some gorgeous emerald green Arborvitae! These were my most expensive clearance purchase at 50% off the list price, and they hadn’t been already reduced. But they look super healthy, and these are GREAT privacy screen plants.
In fact, one of the very first things we did at our current home is plant a staggered row of these along our fence to block the view of the neighbors. They grow tall and skinny, so they are perfect for more compact spaces.
The second photo below shows you what these looked like after they went in. And then the next photo shows how much they have grown—and how healthy they are—after just a couple of years! I added these into the line to extend it a bit.
And that’s all for now! Now that I’m documenting how things look going in, I’ll probably try and do a video next year showing how well things rebounded. Until then, these babies have gone to sleep for the winter.
