There’s a distinct satisfaction in growing a plant from seed. You carefully read up on soil conditions, sow it at exactly the right depth, then monitor the sun and rain to make sure it gets a fighting chance at growing and, hopefully, thriving.

Sometimes, however, it’s just not worth the effort.

“There is always a great debate about growing plants from seed versus purchasing starts,” says Nicole Elizabeth Dillon, owner of Breemar Flower Farm. “It is like somehow you are a better gardener if you started something from seed and nurtured it to maturity.”

However, Dillon says that time and cost are two big reasons you might avoid babying seeds and carefully putting them in the exact right conditions to grow.

But there’s another reason you might not have considered: sustainability.

“Shelving, lights, trays, heat mats, watering cans are a few of the things you need to start seeds,” Dillon says. “If you are trying to embrace ‘less’ and a minimalistic lifestyle, I question whether indoor seed starting helps you truly accomplish minimalism.”

Want to save yourself the extra work this season and embrace an easier garden? Here are the TK plants that experts say you shouldn’t actually grow from seed.

Roses

It’s possible to grow roses from seeds, though most expert gardeners don’t recommend it as it can be a thorny proposition. Instead, roses are typically grown from stem cuttings from non-grafted roses.

This is an easy way for gardeners to replicate some of their favorite rose bushes without starting from scratch with seeds, which, if it works, could take years before you see blooms.

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Lisianthus

Dillon recommends buying lisianthus plugs from a nursery or garden center to skip all of the patience and exacting care involved in waiting for lisianthus to germinate, grow, and bloom.

“Lisianthus takes twelve to sixteen weeks to get to a viable size for transplanting,” she says. “A lot can go wrong in that time.”

Peonies

If you want a lesson in patience, try growing peonies from seed. The process can take up to four years from planting the seeds to seeing the first flower, and that’s just not worth it for the average home gardener.

“I don’t have the patience for that nor do I want a colorless spot in my garden for an extended period of time,” Dillon says.

Snapdragons

Snapdragons can be grown from seed, but Dillon points out that the tiny seeds can make planting the flowers tedious. It’s too easy to miss the trays when you’re sowing the seeds, and these cheerful flowers are easily available at any garden center or nursery.

Save yourself the frustration and trouble, and just buy them as soon as warm weather sets in.

Foxglove

Foxgloves are biennials, meaning they flower every other year. Instead of going the seed route, she recommends purchasing plugs, which will often flower in the first year.

“The seeds of foxglove are also dust-like and can easily be outcompeted by weeds,” says Dillon. “It is better to plant something a little bigger and ready to fight for the space that it rightfully deserves in your garden.”

Lavender

Lavender seeds take a long time to germinate, and Dillon recommends avoiding the process altogether, especially given how readily available lavender is at most garden centers.

Plus, when you buy the plant already started, you’ll be able to tap the advice of the nursery experts to find the right type for your garden.

“Different varieties of lavender do better in different places so it is likely that your garden center has a type that will thrive in your growing zone,” says Dillon.

Succulents

For houseplant enthusiasts who have visions of planters filled to the brim with succulents, it’s probably a good idea to forgo seeds altogether.

Succulent seeds can take up to a year to germinate so, unless you have an impressive amount of patience and all the time in the world to stare at dirt, you’re better off propagating succulents from other plants.

Propagating succulents is as easy as sticking a leaf from a live plant into the dirt. Often, you’ll even notice that leaves that fall off on their own will grow roots.

Before you know it, you’ll have so many succulents that you’ll resort to giving them away (and saving your friends from trying seeds, too).

Sweet Potatoes

Somewhere way back in time, someone did plant a sweet potato from seed, but, for most gardeners and farmers, planting sweet potatoes simply isn’t worth the trouble or time.

“While they can technically produce seeds, it’s rare and not reliable,” says Siobhan Shaw, co-founder at Growing to Give. “Instead, they’ve been passed down for centuries through cuttings, making every harvest a link in the chain.”

For most gardeners, sweet potatoes are grown from slips, which are the shoots that spring from a sweet potato as it matures.

Garlic

If you have incredible patience and a few years to wait, then growing garlic from seed is possible. But that doesn’t mean it’s recommended.

“Garlic doesn’t actually grow well from seed—it’s best to plant cloves instead,” says Emily Pettigrew, social media manager at Stack & Sprout.

You can actually plant any leftover garlic you have from the grocery store, which is a great way to use up garlic that feels a bit past its prime. A head of garlic is technically the entire bulb, and you can plant each clove in the ground individually.

Potatoes

While potatoes, like any plant, can be grown from seeds, it’s almost never done that way.

“Potatoes form from root-like growths called ‘tubers’ that grow under the surface of the soil,” says Lauren Craig, permaculture designer and owner of Humble Hive Consulting.

She explains that if you have any potatoes sprouting growth at home, you can actually use those to plant in your garden.

Slice the potato into sections, each containing one or two eyes, which are the areas where the growth sprouts from, and let it dry out before planting. Plant eye-side up, six to eight inches deep.

Rosemary

Many gardeners think of sowing herb seeds indoors before spring, then transplanting them outdoors once warmer weather sets in. But one herb that shouldn’t earn a place on your seedling tray is rosemary.

Rosemary can take an extraordinarily long time to germinate and, even once it’s started growing, it can be slow going. It’s a better idea to buy a young rosemary plant from a nursery and nurture it into a thriving, mature plant.

Onions

Similar to other plants that grow from bulbs, onions can be grown from seeds, but most gardeners simply prefer not to go that long, arduous route. Instead, onions can be grown from bulbs. They should be planted just an inch deep, with the bulbous end of the bulb on the bottom.

You’ll have harvestable onions in three to four months, which gives you a perspective on how long it might take if you added in the extra step of planting onions from seed.