Plug On! The Ins and Outs of Landscape Plugs

Make it stand out

“Wait? 150 Erigeron pulchellus?? Where are they all going?”

When someone looks at a design I’ve done, I often see their jaw drop when they see the plant numbers… 150 of this, 96 of that, and the numbers start adding up in their head with dollar signs and “Where in the world will all these plants even go?” If you don’t know what a plant plug is, I want to take a minute to introduce you because they can be very economical, and really are for everyone!

What is a landscape plug?? A plug is simply a smaller version of the 1 or 3 gallon plants you may often see in the garden center or nursery. They are typically around 2” wide, and several inches deep (the ones pictured are 5” deep), with really lovely, deep roots ready to spread out into your garden!

Why should you care about these little darlings??? Personally I plant in LAYERS! This is not only wonderful visually, creating lush depth and texture within your landscape, it is also fantastic for providing habitat value to your landscape! When you add ground cover, herbaceous perennials (forbs), shrubs, understory trees, and canopy trees, you bring multi-season interest into your garden as well as providing the cover, food, and nesting sites for birds, pollinators, turtles (we have at least 13 resident box turtles recorded on our < .5 acre property!), etc.

Providing all those layers of plants can seem overwhelming though, particularly if you’ve got a lot of (bare) ground to cover, and that’s where landscape plugs come in! They are also a wonderful choice if you have mature trees or shrubs and want to minimize the impact to their root zone, and maximize the plants’ chance of success. Starting with a small plant size allows the plant to establish its roots within the larger plants’ root zone. Rather than sawing through large roots for larger potted plants and creating more immediate competition for water and resources with multiple large plants, the smaller plugs are able to work around larger existing roots, creating a stronger matrix of roots within the soil.

Plugs typically come in a tray of 32 or 50 (and some 72, though they are generally not considered “landscape” plugs). If they have a deep, wide root like the ones pictured to the left, those are landscape plugs. Other plugs may be shallower and narrower. Though I do still frequently use these smaller plugs in landscaping, they tend to have a higher attrition rate, as they require more water and attention to get established, and may take longer to fill out since they start off smaller. (I think the smaller size is intended to be for nurseries to grow out in pots.) Make sure your plugs stay moist when you get them. After pulling them out of the box and removing any packaging (often netting to hold the plugs in place), I usually keep them in a partly shaded and protected area, watering daily.

When it comes time to install, spacing of your plugs will depend on the plant species, which is often a range (ex. 24” - 36”). Generally speaking, the closer you can afford to plant them (particularly groundcover), the faster they will fill out the desired area. Lay your plugs out in the area you are planting in a pattern of your choosing (I often stagger/ offset them, unless it’s a more formal planting that calls for linear plantings). Once they are where you want them, I recommend a hori hori knife, like the wooden one here, to quickly stab into the soil, pull it aside, and place the plug in the narrow hole, tamping it down afterwards (see video below). (You may want to paint the wooden handle to make it more visible in the garden, or I have a similar soil knife with an orange handle at the link!) Move onto the next one and down the row until they are all in. Water thoroughly, and continue to water daily for the following week, then tapering off depending on your location and plant species.

I find that I can generally plant no less than 100 plugs/ hr. The rate depends on the site conditions (compacted, dry soils with many roots are the worst). The 32 Sedges pictured to the left took around 10 minutes.

Below, plugs planted in November, 2019, shown in July, 2020 and October 2021.

So, are you ready to plant?? Watch the video to see how it’s done!

See below the video for plug resources! (I live in Virginia Beach, so your resources may vary.)

How to plant those plugs! So fast!

Plug Resources (Retail)

• Izel Native Plants - https://www.izelplants.com/

• Prairie Nursery (mix and match smaller numbers of 3” pots) - https://www.prairienursery.com/

• American Meadows (mix and match smaller numbers of 3” pots) - https://www.americanmeadows.com/

• Reach out to me if you’re in the Hampton Roads area and need something specific! I often post partial flats on social media if you just need a few, or can arrange to have more shipped to you!

Plug Resources (Wholesale)

• North Creek Nurseries - https://www.northcreeknurseries.com/index.cfm

• New Moon Nursery - http://www.newmoonnursery.com/page/Our-Availability

• Wetland Plants, Inc - https://www.wetlandplantsinc.com/inventory

• Delmarva Native Plants - https://delmarvanativeplants.com/native-plants/

• Mid Atlantic Native Plant Farm - https://midatlanticnatives.com/

• Hoffman Nursery - https://hoffmannursery.com/plant-availability-pricing

• Twinleaf Native Nursery - https://twinleafnativenursery.com/our%20plants/

• Archewild - https://archewild.com/archewild-availability/

Please feel free to leave others that you use and love in the comments below!