Sprout

Sprouts are developmental stages of the plants' growth. They can include stems and flowering stems with flower buds and leaves. They appear in Plants vs. Zombies and Plants vs. Zombies 2.

Plants vs. Zombies
In Plants vs. Zombies, they are just available for the Zen Garden, and they can be found on any level after the Zen Garden is unlocked. The plant that is found depends on the area the player found it. For example: If they found it at a Fog Level, it could be any plant that is unlocked during fog stages. After being placed in the Zen Garden, it will ask for watering about two to three times, and then it will ask later for fertilizer, and after the player feeds it, a plant will grow and will give the player Gold Coins (if partially grown) or diamonds (if fully grown).

Marigold Sprout
Marigold Sprout is the first stage of a Marigold. Unlike other Zen Garden plants, they start out as tiny flowers, while other plants are just green shoots. Crazy Dave gives the player two of them, along with the Zen Garden, when they obtain the Watering Can on level 5-4 of Adventure Mode, and they can buy three of them at his shop every day for $2500 each. He will restock them daily at midnight. The Marigolds are much cheaper, as they yield a diamond when fully grown, whereas the plants found while in levels yield two diamonds. Once fully grown, they can be sold for $3000, making them an okay way to make money (growing them to full size and sell them to get about a $1200 profit). Unfortunately, it takes time to grow them to full size and the player can only buy three a day. Also, selling other plants yields a much higher profit. It is also a good, cheap way to obtain all Marigold colors.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
In Plants vs. Zombies 2, sprouts are dropped randomly by zombies or rewarded in Piñatas. When picked up, sprouts will be added to the player's total sprout total. They can drop at virtually any time, and over the course of common gameplay may yield one or two sprouts per non-Endless Zone level. Sprouts no longer appear in Flower Pots, as they only appear in icons, instead a small version of the plant is seen with two phases instead of three phases.

Unlike in the original game, Sprouts can be earned at any time, even when the Zen Garden is full. As with all Zen Garden items, zombies can drop sprouts since the 2.1 update.

In the 2.9.1 update, the option to buy sprouts with gems was introduced and the prices are:
 * 3 Sprouts for 20 Gems
 * 5 Sprouts for 30 Gems
 * 10 Sprouts for 50 Gems
 * 25 Sprouts for 80 Gems
 * 50 Sprouts for 150 Gems

Plants vs. Zombies

 * While the game is loading, four Marigold sprouts come out of the loading bar, right before a Zombie's head.
 * In the iPad version of Plants vs. Zombies, there is a bug where the marigold sprout's leaves are replaced with Stinky's eyes.
 * In the Nintendo DS version of Plants vs. Zombies, all sprouts have the appearance of Marigold Sprouts.
 * Marigold Sprouts are the only known sprouts that have different color variations when fully grown.
 * Marigold Sprouts are the only sprout in which the player knows what plant it is unless he or she buys a Gold Mystery Sprout with only one plant he or she does not have yet.

Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * Sprouts drop frequently from zombies, at about the same rate as coins, and substantially more often than gems.
 * Sprouts used to be on the map before the 1.7 update, acting as a placeholder for a plant that isn't unlocked yet.
 * As of the 2.9.1 update, Sprouts are available for purchase with gems.
 * This is the only purchase that can be paid without real money, besides the Gem Premium Plants and costumes.