How much will you spend?

Here is the blue spruce i was given, Ive semi bonsied it in a half barrell Not a brilliant photo:



One of the customers I work for thinks nothing of regularly spending hundreds on plants from specialist nurserys. Not unncommon for me to have £100 or more of plants to put in. Suffice it to say that this particular customer doesnt share day to day money worries the garden is absolutely stunning.

The regular household staff working for this couple (including myself total 5) !!!!!

 

When I read this first, I was imagining topiary, not bonsai (thinking a 'half barrel' was a particular topiary shape), and took a puzzled moment or two studying your photo to work out that I got it wrong! :D

Fantastic, and for free! One of the perks of the job!!

 

The most I've ever paid is £25-that was for a silver birch about 8ft high. I've just paid £6.25 for a small lavender but half that was p+p and I couldn't find it anywhere else.
But for normal shrubs, perennials etc, I'd never pay over a fiver.

 

We are working for a very well known haulier who is spending Millions on his new Estate. Water falls and landscaping and plants by the lorry load! Just the 3ft terracotta pots by the pool,8 of 'em, cost £500 each:eek:.
I however,have become quite adept in the 'cutting' art, in gardening crimes:rolleyes:.:D

 

I paid £25 f or a rooted Christmas tree...planted it out in the garden after the Christmas period with little hope and after two years it really put on growth..was beautiful. Other than that its been seed, small plants, cuttings and swops. Or given by neighbours.

I once grew a 35 foot Rowan, from a seed....now that was special.

I find the joy in gardening is watching things grow that you have started from cuttings and seeds. Once got a beautiful conifer from the tip. One of those bluey green things. Had just been thrown into the skip, so I rescued it the same day. Turned out really beautiful. It's amazing the plants that get thrown away.

But no complaints for those of us on a budget.

 

£10-15 prefer to grow from seed or cuttings,allways trying to propagate stuff take it as a challenge to see if it can be done.

 

I try not to spend more than about £ 10 & always look for a specimem that
can be devided in 2
Prefer to take cuttings devided clumps etc.
I get a lot of stuff from boot sales galas etc
Once got banned from a local garded centre for tacking clematis cuttings :o

 

I am a bit of a terror at garden centres, well known diy centres- head straight for the reduced plants for a rummage! I love nursing them back to health and watching them recover! ( sad or what?!)
Car boot sales are wonderful too. Got a large Arum the other day for 75 pence!!

 

I don't think I've paid more than £50 for a plant, but I've paid between £30 and £50 quite a few times, Usually for trees that I can't find small versions of. My daughter had a 5ft tall black Mulberry tree for her Christmas present last year as she wanted a fruiting one- she's young and so still impatient! It cost me £44. I'm currently looking for a small Cedrus Atlantica 'glauca pendula' which I don't think I'll find much under £30, this hopefully will have 1 or 2 trailers and still lots of growing on potential. I've also decided to buy a Wisteria at £20- £40 as I've had several cheap ones which have done no good.
If I had more money I would willingly pay these amounts more often!
My worst buys have been a tree fern [currently struggling] and a black bamboo which is buried under a fast growing rush, both these cost over £30.

 

I like to grow from seed that I collect from my plants when I can or I take a trip round the supermarkets and garden centers and buy up the old reduced plants that look like there on there last root and giving them a bit of TLC satisfaction is great when they come back to there glory. The trees in one of the pic in thread "Hows your Garden grow I got for 50p should have been £10.00 was dead but kept in greenhouse and came back great.

 

Like you Jimbo, dont spend a lot of money on plants, grow from seed or buy small plants and bring them on. It gives me more satisfaction to watch them grow. (plus I dont like spending money) 02

 

We all love growing plants from seed, with vegetables it is almost the only way.

With trees, shrubs and roses it takes time (sometimes years) and great skill to get them to a saleable size, so I expect to have to pay the price.

If you want strange, different or just plain "must have" plants I am willing to pay the price!

I have just paid £34.97 for 3 Hosta plants, which were only single roots, each with 4 leaf stocks.

Last year I paid £15 for a Helebore plant in a pot, in flower naturally.
After I had picked my beloved up from the floor and given her the kiss of life, she thought I was "MAD" to pay that price for a plant.
But every week she meets her pals for elevens,and pays about a "Fiver" for a ""MUG""of coffee and a slice of cake.
I personally would not pay a penny for coffee, disguisting stuff, yuck!
She has little to show for her expenditure, me I will have pleasure for years, I hope!

With Helebores it take about 3 years, from seedling to first flower,and as they never come true from seed, always lots of useless colours, sowing seed to get the colour you want is out of the question!
Hostas, I have never tried them from seed, so I cannot say how they perform!

With ordinary run of the mill flowers,it is seed for me, but for specials,well I am happy to pay for them.

Cherrio!

 

I spent £90 on two bay trees last year. I know I'm buying time and don't begrudge the occasional splashing of cash on something pricey for the garden. Most of the plants in my garden come from cuttings, seeds, bargains from car boot sales or swaps with fellow gardeners so I feel no guilt. I'm the same with clothes - I buy from assortment of outlets, from charity shops to designer stores.
The trees I bought as saplings 24 years ago when I started my garden have paid dividends and would cost a fortune to buy in their current size. I could leave the house tomorrow but would have to be dragged away screaming from my garden.

 

I bought 15 box which were about 6in high and planted them in a row alongside the bungalow about 8 years ago.
They are now about two feet by two feet now (a tad bigger than that, but just trimmed them) and they are looking grand. They cost £1.99 each if memory serves.
Have a nice hedge now at the height I am content with, though I'm thinkng I might let it grow to another two feet in height yet!

 

As little as possible.
I shop around and find the bargains.
We have a great Sunday market with 2 stalls that sell plants at really good prices.
Or I pick up things at green grocers etc.
Very rarely I will go to the garden centres, much to expensive for me.