Take advantage of the green industry's equivalent of the department-store bargain basement: Your nursery would really like you to take their odd lots home so they don't have to deal with them over the winter. Shoppers can often save up to 50 percent. It's a bit of a jumble and the selection isn't what it was in spring, but bargains are the mother of creativity.

Perennials are the best bet. Don't be deterred by a few yellowing or even brown leaves. These plants will die to the ground come cold weather and should emerge next spring in good shape.

Keep in mind, however, that obviously diseased or pest-ridden plants must be avoided whatever the price. A badly shaped shrub or tree can be pruned to shape and may be a good buy, but sometimes balled-and-burlapped plants have suffered by drying out. It is difficult to detect residual damage until much later, but if the price is right and you are willing to take a chance, you may have a bargain.

4. Start from seed.

Seeds, of course, provide the least expensive way to grow a garden, usually at a fraction of the cost of nursery-grown plants. You supply the labor and overhead. It takes a few seasons to get the hang of growing from seed, both indoors and out, but eventually you'll start to "think like a seed," gaining an intuitive sense of when and where to plant.

Collecting seeds from your own garden and from friends' saves further. Remember, you must ask before you collect seed in any garden, especially public ones. Learning to take cuttings can also help you fill in your garden and containers. Fuchsias, geraniums, coleus, flowering maples (Abutilon) and many more are easy to propagate.

5. Accept gifts graciously.

Gardeners are usually happy to share divisions of daylilies, yarros (Achillea) and iris. Just beware of any plant they're too happy to be rid of — it could be some invasive thug intent on taking over your garden.

Shopping with bargain-conscious friends can also save bucks. Buy only one of a plant you both like, with the agreement to divide or take cuttings the next season. In a short time, a small nursery bed lavished with tender loving care — and well-rotted organic matter such as compost — can beef up small plants to swap.

6. Waste nothing.

Pots and six-packs are good for at least several seasons, although the plastic eventually becomes brittle. Never use dirty containers. Rinse and run them through the dishwasher before planting seeds in them.

Composting garden debris and plant scraps creates yummy organic matter for beds and pots. I save the soil in my patio pots from year to year, dumping it in a pile in the fall. The roots and stems break down and enrich the mixture. In the spring, I add compost.

Because I feature hundreds of pots on my patio, I need that soil to stretch. Rough compost, not yet fully decomposed, can be added to the bottom of each large pot to break down over the summer.

7. Treasure your "volunteers."

Grow what wants to grow for you: I cleared several hundred feet of that awful gravel on the "hellstrip" between the street and the sidewalk and created a bed for my volunteers, which rapidly filled it. Though I'd prefer a bit more diversity, I'm thrilled with the water-thrifty patchwork of meadow sage (Salvia nemorosa), snow daisy (Tanacetum niveum), ponytail grass (Stipa tenuisima) and lamb's ear (Stachys byzantina), spiced by more than a hundred old-fashioned Iris pallida that came from a single, crowded clump.

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Rob Proctor is a contributing editor to Country Living Gardener magazine. He is the artistic director at Denver Botanical Gardens.