If you live in the land of Fred Meyer stores (in Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, or Washington), you'll definitely want to attend the Fuchsia Saturday event that happens every April. While the 2025 event wrapped up on April 12, with up to $32 in free potting soil up for grabs, we fully expect to see it return in April 2026.
During this event, shoppers who make any plant purchase at participating Fred Meyer stores will get free potting soil while supplies last. And you're even encouraged to bring your own empty planters (they allowed up to six 12-inch containers in 2025) to take home free Black Gold potting soil.
This freebie draws heavy crowds, and soil supplies tend to run out early (often by 9:30 a.m.), so you'll want to get there first thing. Need more plants and outdoor items? Check out the Home Depot Spring Sale or Lowe's SpringFest, which happen around the same time as Fuchsia Saturday.
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Fred Meyer Fuchsia Saturday is an annual event where you get free potting soil with any plant purchase.
The Fuchsia Saturday planting event has taken place on a Saturday morning in April pretty much every year since 1991. During this in-store-only event, shoppers get free potting soil with any plant purchase at participating Fred Meyer stores. The event almost always ends early because they run out of free soil (usually by 9:30 a.m.).
Why is it called Fuchsia Saturday?
Even though the event is called Fuchsia Saturday and named for the fuchsia plant — a perennial with bright, tube-shaped flowers — you don’t have to buy a fuchsia during the event to get your free soil.
KCL predicts the next Fred Meyer Fuchsia Saturday event will happen April 11, 2026.
Fred Meyer hasn't announced the date for the next Fuchsia Saturday event (the most recent event happened on April 12, 2025), but look for in-store signage to appear by the second week of March. We here at KCL predict the next Fuchsia Saturday event should take place at all Fred Meyer locations with a garden center on Saturday, April 11, 2026.
The event always starts at 7 a.m. local time and usually wraps up by 9:30 a.m. at the latest (because soil supplies run out!).
How do we make our prediction?
We've been tracking the Fuchsia Saturday event for years, and have noticed a pattern as to when the events take place. Although the event has jumped around in April over the years, we predict the next Fuchsia Saturday event will once again happen on the second Saturday in April. Here's when the event has occurred over the last few years:
April 12, 2025
April 13, 2024
April 15, 2023
April 9, 2022
April 10, 2021
Purchase any plant during the event, and employees will fill up your planter(s) with free potting soil.
Purchase any plant (you’ll show your receipt as proof), and Fred Meyer will supply you with free Black Gold All Purpose Potting Soil. Yep, 100% free. But it's not a free bag of potting soil. Instead, you’ll bring your own pots or planters from home, and they’ll fill them up for you with soil on the spot.
According to the in-store signs posted for the April 2025 event, each shopper could bring up to six of their own planters, and each planter or pot can measure up to 12 inches across.
In 2024, you could bring up to eight 12" planters, but the price of soil was a bit less, so the value of the freebie was only around $20 that year, according to our calculations.
Buy a plant under $2 to get the most bang for your buck.
Since the free potting soil comes with proof of any plant purchase on Fuchsia Saturday, why spend more than you have to? Typically, the fuchsia plants are the cheapest option at just a little more than a dollar, so try to pick up one of those to secure the freebie for the least money out of pocket.
In 2025, they sold fuchsia starts (aka baby plants) in a 3-inch pot for as low as $1.09 with your Fred Meyer Reward card — that was $0.10 cheaper than in 2024. They also had geranium starts for as low as $0.99.
You must buy a plant from the outdoor garden center to qualify for the freebie.
Just keep in mind that this freebie deal only works for live plants in the outdoor garden center. Seeds, indoor plants, or cut flowers that you purchase inside the store won't qualify you for the free soil.
Bring six of your own 12" planters and get up to $32 worth of free soil.
To really maximize this freebie, bring six of your own 12-inch pots or planters from home (that’s the limit they allowed in 2025).
Filling up all six of your 12-inch pots will take about 64.2 total quarts of soil, based on some math I did with this handy Bonnie soil calculator.
Since Black Gold Potting Soil sold for about $0.50 per quart at Fred Meyer in March 2025, that means you could get up to $32 worth of potting soil for free during the most recent event.
KCL TIP: Ask the employees if they can fill your pots or planters all the way to the top, as the soil will settle a little over time. Some locations may even offer to do the planting for you, if staffing allows.
You'll want to get to the store early for your free potting soil.
The event starts at 7 a.m. local time, but it's typically really busy. Soil supplies often run out early (sometimes even by 9:30 a.m.), so you'll want to get there first thing. Set your alarm!
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