Show us your recent purchases.

Bought this, I think it fits in very well!

 

You bought a garden shed to put your sign on? Top Trumps !!

 

Lol, did you notice though how well colour co-ordinated the sign is to my shed? I re-painted my shed to match!

 

Not to mention the Butterfly Catch ...

.. bit like Trigger's Broom (on Only Fools and Horses)

 

Bought a Prunus Avium 'Stella' for a fiver yesterday in Asda. Got just the spot for it in my front garden

 

Got my euryops acraeus and sisyrinchium macounii album last week. Ordering some more heleniums too today. And prunus cistena crimson dwarf....i have a couple already but it is such a lovely shrub in spring with its pinky white flowers on purple red leaves on a small frame. Veg seed to organise too. I am so envious of you guys who sow seed of ornamental plants. I simply don't have the patience for it. I should do it though.

 

Not sure it takes patience, as such? (Well, it does it you are growing a tree from seed! but if you grow something like Ricinus it will be 6 feet tall and have massive leaves by the end of the season). I grow quite a number of annuals, which don't self-sow well, and I wouldn't be without them. (Or maybe its the fiddly-ness of it that you don't have patience for?)

I wonder if it may have something to do with your more mild climate?? I presume you can "grow stuff" during the Winter, to some extent. Can't do that here, after the first decent frost everything tender / herbaceous is knocked for six. So yesteryear by February I was itching for something to do ... so I started sowing seeds. Now I get that itch by about ... now!!! ... so I've got Growing Lights and all sorts so that I can continue "growing stuff" through the winter.

Tangential thought, which suits me personally, is that I can sow seeds indoors - dark evenings, time to suit myself, not dependent on temperature / weather. This is probably more relevant to Veg. than ornamentals, but I start all my seeds off indoors, grow on to 9cm pots (well, Tomatoes and the like are potted on into much bigger pots before they are planted out), and those small plants in 9cm pots give me a head start on the weather, and I don't have to wait for my heavy clay to be dry enough / warm enough on the odd day that I am available, as my pots will be able to be "Held" for a couple of weeks if conditions aren't suitable.

I suppose I could buy those plants ready-to-plant, but I reckon I have more choice of varieties growing from seed.

Here's a few ornamentals I've grown from seed this year to try to twist your arm into having-a-go!!

Ricinus (grown several, I like them all, green leaf, purple leaf and a blue-ish one)
Solanum laciniatum (several other Solanum's I like the look of )
Leonotis nepetifolia
Cleome

I also grew quite a lot of Coleus to "stuff" the front of the borders where there were gaps (not strictly an Annual though - they might survive for you some years? - maybe the Solanums too?)

Then there are things like Cannas ... I personally prefer the carefully Bred & Selected Hybrids, but there is so much Canna virus about lots of folk are raising from seed to get around that ...

And off on a bit of a tangent I'm really pleased with the Musa sikkimensis I grew from seed last year. Got 4 plants from about 10 seeds, they were massive (to my eye!) in the first year. Huge paddle-shaped leaves. And this year ... Wow! ... I've just bought them into the conservatory for the winter and they are touching the 12' roof ... they are going to have to take their chances staying out next year! ... and all for a couple of quid for the seeds.

So, finally, COST .... my budget goes a lot LOT further with seed. And I have swap-spares too

How am I doing converting you to the One And Only True Way?

 

Hiya Kristen . It's just I tend to look for immediate,stuff....cuttings bit quicker than seed. You are right though...I do get satisfaction from growing from seed when I do it. You grow plants I don't know and that's the beauty of forums like this. I intend to look up some of plants you,listed recently too. Yep, I could well be "converted"

 

Bought 3 Musa Tropicanas (Cavendish??) from Wilko's today for a grand total of 30p, they were being sold off for 10p each, the older leaves were looking a little battered but they all healthy roots and some nice new suckers and at 30p, nothing to loose anyway....Happy Days

 

You would have been banana's not to buy them !

 

I think ?? that Cavendish require the warmest overwintering conditions and are a bit of a swine to keep going. Hopefully someone will correct me if I have mis-remembered.

Can't argue with 30p though - you could chuck the plants away and keep the pots & compost and still be in profit!

 

Pah! You could have cleared up by doingmore Retail Therapy so that you could use this:

then this

and finally this