Being obsessive about plants can be expensive. You can never just pop into hardware store for just a light bulb and leave without a plant.

But sometimes you don’t have the money to spend on plants. Or you might be super thrifty like me and prefer to save where you can. Why not? After all, it leaves more cash for the more expensive plants.

This is a “How To” on how to expand your plant collection without spending huge amounts of money

This is how I save money on plants!

It’s only a guide and the aim is to give you ideas to implement in your own collecting. These are all ideas that I use myself, Including the second section where you can make your own plants work for you.

If you have any ways to save that I have missed, please leave a comment and share it.

How to save money on plants.

Share cuttings with a friend or a group of friends. It’s a great way to bond over plants.

Look on Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace. People sell their propagated cuttings and spare plants on there. You can pick up bargains all the time. My String of Turtle’s, I found on Gumtree. I paid just $5 for a few rooted cuttings at a time when they were hard to find.

Join a plant swap and sales group on social media to get in contact with others who want to trade.

Go to, or organise a plant swap. To do it yourself, you need to find a venue, Promote it online and invite strangers with whole new collections to share. You might also meet some new friends. There are YouTube videos that go into more depth on how to organise a swap event. Otherwise, ask around to see if there are any happening in your city.

Garage sales are a good way to find bargains. They can be a bit hit and miss, but who knows what you might find.

Check out local markets for stalls selling plants. I recently bought a pot of Curly Spider Plants for $5 at a market. They were selling for $20-35 everywhere else.

Opp shops sometimes have a few plants on a table to sell. Keep an eye out when you go looking for pots and other things.

Clearance sections at any plant store are heaven to me. Half of my store bought plants have come from the clearance section. Sometimes you have to weigh up if it’s worth the risk. But sometimes it’s just old stock with a damaged leaf.

Ask for discounts on shabby plants. I have bought a few plants that haven’t yet been marked down but should have. It doesn’t hurt to say “I want this plant, but it’s not looking the best. Is there a chance of a discount and I will take my chances on it coming good?” The worst that could happen is they say no. I’ve gotten discounts each time I have asked. If your friendly, it also helps.

Hard rubbish. Although normally Hard Rubbish is people’s old furniture and junk, I have been lucky and found plants as well. I recently found some Split Leaf Philodendrons. I took them home and they are now growing on my front porch. I have also put full grown Agave out on the road. Because I live on a main road they were gone in minutes. You just have to see them at the right time.

Go to plant sale type events at the end of the day. You may find prices marked down heavily so they don’t have to take the stock home.

Follow local plant businesses on social media. You can sometimes find Flash Sales where they sell excess stock at near cost price. I have found it is usually a smaller online business that does this type of sale.

Buy plants small, rather than larger. It’s cheaper and they acclimatise to your house from a young age. They will catch up to the others in time.

Get talking to people in your neigbourhood and mention you collect plants. It may lead to cutting’s or a swap.

If you see a plant in someone’s yard that you want a cutting, knock on the door and ask. You may leave with far more that you expect. People often just take without asking, most people are just happy that you showed them respect buy asking.

Make your plants pay for them selves.

Propagate from your own plants. Take cuttings and sell them locally, at markets and online. Put the money back towards your plants.

When buying plants, see if any of the pots have multiple plants in them. I recently bought a Monstera Deliciosa with three young plants in it. I selected the healthiest pot with the most plants so that I could keep two and sell one on.

Consider buying a plant with the longest growth or in need of a trim. Especially with vineing plants like Pothos and Heart-Leaf Philodendrons. You can take enough off to propagate a few new plants to sell on. Or just use them to thicken your own pot. I recently bought a Silver Pothos. The plants to choose from were a mess. They were long unruly strands that had been bashed around a bit. This allowed me to pick the longest but also best quality plant there. I then cut the vine back to make training it easier when I get new growth and I have a heap of cuttings with new roots ready to sell.

Have a plant yard sale. Or even a combined garage and plant sale. Sell your excess plants, any you no longer want and any you grow specifically. A long weekend is a good time to have it. Get the word out online, especially in plant groups and put a flier up at your supermarket and local notice board.

The point is that your plants earn you new plants, one way or another.

So there you have it, my list of ways to save money and make your plants work for you.

Please, if you can add anything, I would love to hear about it.

I will also do a post on how I save on pots and making my plants look good on a tight budget. I will add a link here when I post it.

Thanks for reading. Xx