Garden centre prices

I rarely use them unless I'm really desperate for something. Anyway today I needed some vermiculite and called into a local one. It's fairly large centre and has a good selection of everything and when I go always seems busy. But boy oh boy those prices! 'Plant of the week; was Salvia Coccinea at £5.99 a plant! In fact all plants were vastly overpriced! The sad thing was that people were filling up there trollies with half hardy perennials that wont survive the winter and will end up buying a load more next year. Oh and the vermiculite was dear too!

 

I had never thought about this until this year as i have grown everything from seed myself for the first time. You are right though some of them are unbelivable, i wanted some Verbena bonarisis and grew from seed but it took them a while to get going and i though that they were going to be binned so i went to the garden center and one i went to they were 5.99 and i thought no as i wanted 8, but i just happened to drive past one i didn't know about and nipped in and got them for 1.50 each, but the ones i grew from seed are now doing very so i will need to find a home for them . The one that i use on a regular basis is quite good and reasonably priced. I have found thet the big franchise ones are the worst and i stay away from them now.

Rusty

 

Try Wilko for vermiculite/perlite or Ebay if you want a larger quantity. Much more reasonable.

 

As a rule of thumb for me. The bigger the building, the more fluff they sell indoors etc, the more expensive the plants are.

I get most of mine from a local nursery. Most of the plants have a few weeds growing in the shrubs but that doesn't bother me considering the saving I'm making.

 

i looked myeslf at the weekend, i bought a canna for 6.99 at homebase, the garden centre wanted £12.99! same with salvias, i ended up buying for at b&q for 1.99 each instead of 6 quid from the garden centre. they have become very expensive of late, but people are still buying.

 

I still think the smaller family run one's are the best, value for money and their knowledge is endless, and they don't mind having a chat when advice is needed, unfortunately the big posh one's with tea room will always attract people.
I don't do well with masses of people so the small one's are great :WINK1:

 

I don't mind paying for a nursery that stocks a good range of plants -preferably including some out of the ordinary ones as well as the usual suspects - and looks after them well. I like an organised nursery so that it's easy to find things. Having said this, I also go to places where jumbles of plants are piled high and you have to sort through them like some sort of treasure hunt.

I'm all for a bargain and you can get some great ones sometimes, but you usually have to take what's offered, which is no good if you're looking for a specific plant.

 

i dont like crowds or overly busy places. so smaller outfits suit me fine. i love to take my time, but unfortunately the wife doesn't like plant shopping, or shopping at all for that matter. to spend a good hour or 2 in a decent garden centre on a quiet day is heaven for me. just reading labels on something i know nothing about is time well spent, a lot to learn for free really.

 

I agree that the larger GC's are dear - £6.95 for a hardy perennial around here. The smaller nurseries are far cheaper, but more importantly seem to have a better range (as in not the mass produced varieties stocked in the GC's).

Of course, forums are also a good source of plants - all!

 

I tend to shop around and choose family run businesses locally if I can. Luckily I have a couple of good family run local nurseries where the prices are reasonable and the people nice. There are also some great farm shops which are really inexpensive and have an ever-changing range of plants for sale.
I avoid the big garden centres as the prices are astronomical and really I think they are taking the pish (also hate those huge barns of shops they have full of eyewateringly overpriced kit and nicknacks) - I was looking for an unusual geranium a while back and I dropped in, they didn't have it but I remember fairly ordinary things like Brookside and Ballerina for I think it was 4.99 for a 4" pot. Locally I can get the same thing, nice healthy specimens for 2.99.
As with everything these days, shop around.

 

I used to think garden center prices were expensive too, until I moved to France!

 

depends what you are after ....

we have a huge garden centre in Cambridge (Scotsdales) ...

excellent, and they have a huge range ... same with their composts ... loads of different types and all of them have an open bag so that you can see what you are buying (sadly, they do not stock worm humus/vermicopmpost etc)

prices are a bit steep, but if you only need a few plants/shrubs, then it is worthwhile going there ... all outdoor plants come with a 12 month unconditional warranty

if however, you are planning on buying loads of different plants/shrubs, huge savings can be had by buying online and on ebay

 

Generally the plants found in my local garden centres are healthy and good quality. But wow, those prices ! More often than not I think we buy more than one particular plant and so buying any number of plants becomes a very expensive business indeed. I also find that if I shop around I tend to use what I have saved in petrol money !!!
Had me a good nursery close by where I used to live but no such luck here. I too am trying to grow more from seed and cuttings. With mixed results though.
gazania