When it is a "good" time to plant out new purchases?

I had this question the other day, from someone who had lost a lot of plants over the winter, and was wanting to know when it would be safe to replant.

Well, there's a question! As I write, we're just leaving the wettest March since records began, and every single one of "my" gardens has casualties to show for it.

Most of the time, I am still recommending that we give them a couple more weeks before pulling them out, just in case they may still recover: but in some cases, such a high proportion of the plant has already died that, even if the lower parts were to recover, it would take a long time for it to become a "nice" shaped plant again, so I think that a lot of them are going to have to be replaced. 

Apparently the worst of the wet weather is over now, although the forecast says more frost for early next week... so I really can't suggest a "good" time to replant! 

Personally, I would buy the plants as and when I find them available, and keep them at home, still in their pots, for a couple of weeks. That way, you can check that they are properly watered by lifting the pot and feeling the weight of it (once it's planted, you don't know how wet the soil is) and the pots can be positioned in a protected spot until you are ready to plant them. 

If frost is forecast, you can cover them with horticultural fleece, or put them in a covered area overnight: and it gives them a chance to acclimatise to your garden before you plant them out.

A lot of people ask me if it's ok to keep a bought plant in the pot for a while: they think that, having bought it, they have to plant it out as soon as possible: but this is not the case. 

Those plants, in their plastic pots, might have been in the nursery for a couple of years before making their way to the garden centre to be sold, so they can easily survive another few days, or weeks, or longer, in their pots: as long as you keep them watered. 

Nurseries have spray irrigation systems, so everything gets watered every day, and if you can ensure that your plants-in-pots are kept adequately watered, then they should be fine for as long as it takes you to get around to planting them in the garden, 

So there's the answer: there is no particular "good" time to plant bought plants into the garden, other than "not in freezing weather", when the ground is too hard to plant them properly.

Generally, it makes sense to get them in the ground as soon as you can, because that is the natural environment for them, and being in plastic pots can be stressful for the plant, and means that you have to keep an eye on them, to ensure they are properly watered.

But if weather conditions are dubious, or if you just don't have time, it's perfectly ok to leave them in their pots until things improve, or until you are ready.

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