Many perennial flowers are easy from seed, started in the spring once you see the first signs of weeds growing on your soil.
Fall and late summer is a good time for finding inexpensive perennial plants.. as garden centers try to offload pot plants that have finished flowering or get rid of excess stock past it's best-by date. Some varieties I will divide (if I know they respond well) prior to putting in the ground in the fall.. so can get a pot for cheap and then get three planting areas from it, knowing they will eventually grow into the space.
There's a big difference between getting plugs now, and getting them in March. The growers have them undercover/heated etc, so they've done the work for you. What happens to them after that depends on your facilities and conditions for growing on from there
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I had mixed results with the teeny-tiny plug plants I ordered for the first time last year. If I remember rightly they arrived late April or early May, most of them from TM (though I think the penstemons from Parkers). Miniscule things all of them, when they arrived:
Grew and flowered as expected: Achillea millefolium 'Cerise Queen", Verbena 'Buenos Aires' Grew and flowered somewhat half-heartedly: Salvia nemorosa Grew but didn't flower that year (hopefully this year): Geum 'Mrs Bradshaw', Echinacea Died: (not sure why, but I suspect I put them somewhere where they got too wet for too long) Penstemons
I would buy teeny-tiny perennial plugs again, if I wasn't desperate for them to flower vigorously in the first year. I guess it's the same as the first year when you sow perennials from seed. I'm sure the Geums and Echinaceas that failed to flower last year will put on a good show in 2022.
I've had good experiences with them, but I did give them a lot of tlc, which they really need. It's really a matter of whether you are prepared to save money and provide the essential care to grow them on yourself, or buy larger plants which are more expensive as the nursery has provided that care for you. I wouldn't buy plugs at this time of the year, though, for the reasons others have mentioned.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Id wait till March onwards - woolmans and southeastern horticulture both did super plugs, bigger than the scrawny micro ones and all flourished. Gw often has offers on plugs, I tried the t&m freebies and they actually did quite well potted on in greenhouse, lost a few though.
I have tried growing perennials from plug plants with mixed results; I live a few miles from Lincoln and I have started them off in pots in a cold greenhouse, later moving them into a cold frame before hardening them off. The main problem is not the cold but keeping them too warm as then they grow too soft and are easy prey for the slugs and snails. There is a fine balance between keeping them growing and moist and getting them too wet, mildewed and chewed. If they are really cheap (and I have used some of the Gardeners' World free plant offers in the past) then it is probably worth a try as you can afford to lose a few. Don't plant them out until they are a good size, though. Personally, I think that the bare root option will give you more success for plants that are suitable for sale like this, otherwise a small pot purchased in the Spring will be the safest bet. Most herbaceous plants will grow really quickly if you look after them and you can then divide to make more without spending anything further.
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What happens to them after that depends on your facilities and conditions for growing on from there
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Grew and flowered as expected: Achillea millefolium 'Cerise Queen", Verbena 'Buenos Aires'
Grew and flowered somewhat half-heartedly: Salvia nemorosa
Grew but didn't flower that year (hopefully this year): Geum 'Mrs Bradshaw', Echinacea
Died: (not sure why, but I suspect I put them somewhere where they got too wet for too long) Penstemons
I would buy teeny-tiny perennial plugs again, if I wasn't desperate for them to flower vigorously in the first year. I guess it's the same as the first year when you sow perennials from seed. I'm sure the Geums and Echinaceas that failed to flower last year will put on a good show in 2022.