The trend for outdoor living spaces is going for instant gratification in the garden. Don't we all wish we have the picture-perfect garden space with plants abloom to just come home to enjoy on a moment's notice. Unless you have the budget for a landscape crew at your beck and call, welcome to the real world of gardening.

As soon as the major thaw occurs in your area, major retailers display a profusion of plants in bloom. A blooming plant is at the height of its growing cycle. From here it goes to seed and dies if an annual or goes dormant if a perennial. Just as people don't adopt full-grown adults, why plant full-grown garden specimens?

The general public is very visually motivated. When something appeals to the eye, they buy. Understanding human nature leads retailers to exploit their habits. So it goes in the plant world too.

Large nurseries have it down to a science. Popular plants are forced to grow in heated climate controlled greenhouses long before they would thrive in your garden. A few new varieties or hybrids not native to your area are grown each year to spark your interest. As spring gets you restless to be outdoors, these plants are appearing in retail markets many weeks before they would naturally grow in your garden luring you into false instant gratification.

Once you get these plants home and settle them into their garden space, the blossoms fade quickly. The plant shrivels and dies or just sits there. You assume you don't have a green thumb. All the while you have been duped. You wrongly expected that you would not be sold plants before it was safe to add them to the garden. Most of the time it is just still too cold for the plants. You didn't know that transplanting needs an adjustment time for roots to acclimate to your garden conditions. Plants can do this when young, not full grown and in bloom. They go into shock. No matter, you will be back to buy new blooming plants to take their place.

Your local garden centers take advantage of the large nurseries' expertise and have themselves set up on delivery schedules for plants just on the verge of showing off. Orders are just under demand so supply will sell out quickly giving room for the next delivery. No extra expense is incurred to care for plants in the way of fertilizing, extended watering, repotting, or hiring workers that know anything about gardening. Gone are most of the local growers that understand your area and what grows and prospers at the various times of the year. Cheap competition squeezes them out. Now they own the market. Prices and practices reflect this shift.

When was the last time you could buy a 6-pack of annuals or vegetables in those 3"x6" containers for under $2.00? Now you get the choice of one to three plants in a 4" pot for around $4.00. The large nurseries realized that their high-end retail garden centers were repotting those 6-packs as they became root bound. Every repot commands a higher pricetag. Low-end retailers just dump plants past their prime in their current containers. A full-grown potted and staked tomato plant complete with ripening tomatoes commands a pricetag as high as $35.00! Chances are good that you will not harvest $35.00 worth of fresh tomatoes. You'd be better off going to the local Farmer's Market. Just a note: tomatoes will only grow when conditions are right. If the ground and air are too cold, the plant will just sit there until it warms up. You can only hope for a couple of weeks head start on harvest over your fellow gardener that sowed his seed directly in the garden when conditions were right.

Avid gardeners enjoy the growing process and seasonal changes. They can tell you what does well and under what conditions for your area. Small trees and shrubs are easier to shape when young. They acclimate easier to your growing area. Full grown specimens are harder to maintain.

Support your local growers and take pride in your garden. Buy small perennials in the spring and fall when they have the chance to establish themselves. Same for trees and shrubs. Plant your annuals and tender vegetable plants when ground temperatures reach 60 degrees.  This is when farmers plant their corn fields. Your garden will flourish from a little knowledge. Enjoy the art of growing. Planting instant gratification is a fleeting and disappointing moment.