Whats your most expensive, best plant or plants?

Here is mine! Its a Dwarf Eastern White Pine 'Nana'. I remember thinking $35, thats a lot of money.
But, I'm glad I did it, it has grown tremendously since then and its a big, nice plant now.
It was $70, I wouldn't have bought it for that but I offered them half for it and they took it.
Funny thing about that nursery, I started working there about 3 weeks later. I thot working there would be neat, but they only gave me 8 hrs. a week, I was only there for about a month! lol
This first photo was 2004 when I bot it and the last photo is it today.
Will

Here it is today!

I'm not sure what my best plant would be. If it attracts butterflies or smells good AND isnt' invasive then it earns its keep here. Otherwise it's fair game to be ripped out. lol

Most expensive plant, outside: the Ginkgo biloba in the front yard. Unfortunately it also qualifies as the biggest waste of money, it has not grown well and is looking more like a weeping tree than the upright tree I wanted.
Most expensive plant, inside: I bought a community pot of Paphiopedilum St. Swithins at an orchid show for $100 - but once the 12 plants inside it were divided it actually comes out to about $8 a plant
Best plant, outside: my Pagoda dogwood, it is one of the focal points in my back yard, Clusters of white flowers in the spring, glossy green foliage and great structure, red leaves in the fall.
Best plant, inside: whichever orchid is blooming at the time :)

Gingko is a nice tree, its one of my favorite trees. It was the only living thing to survive an atomic bomb in Japan. I used to like to visit an old Gingko tree that was supposedly one of Harry Truman's favorites, on his walking trail in downtown Independence, Missouri.
If I had a big open field, I'd have a Gingko on it, its such a great legacy tree.

Well, my most expensive and best plants would be my Japanese Maple (it's not one of the hundred-dollar kind, but was expensive to me), and my Redbud tree in the front yard...not the best anymore now that it's lopsided. :-( You saw my pictures of it over in the July 2010 thread. Here's a picture (though not a very good one) of my Japanese Maple this Spring.

Hi Ima, is that the Japanese Maple 'Bloodgood' or 'Fireglow'? Yeah, those things aren't too cheap, as they're grafted. They sell seed-grown 'Bloodgood's, but they're not the real McCoy, they are green part of the time, the real deal is red all the time.
Yeah, what a heartbreaker on the Redbud, I'd be sick too. I feel closer to some of my plants and trees than family members! All kidding aside, I feel your pain, that stinks.
Some trees are pretty remarkable how they fill in where they were damaged, maybe your's will too! : )

I'm the kind of plant buyer that buys an expensive plant in the seed or tiny plant form, then I can boast about it in 5 or 10 years! lol
Will

Fav tree in the yard is a butterflies magnolia. Here is a picture from a couple of years ago. The tree is much bigger now.

Here is a close up of the flowers

Will - The Japanese Maple is 'Bloodgood', but it must be the seed-grown kind because it does turn green in the summer. I didn't know that about it. Good to know. Here's a photo I took today so you could see the green leaves.

I think if the Redbud survives it will actually look pretty cool as it ages. I love those old Redbuds that look all gnarly and weathered. They bespeak strength, resilience, endurance.

Thats a nice Magnolia, SusanKC, attractive flowers too.
Sorry Ima, I didn't think yours was a seed-grown 'Bloodgood' from the photo,
yours is still a nice tree. Thats exactly what I heard that in the Summer
seed-grown 'Bloodgood's are green.
I agree, old Redbuds are neat looking. Heres an old Redbud that I
like in McCoy park in Independence, MO. I stopped and took a photo of it
a few years ago even.

This message was edited Jul 15, 2010 10:32 PM

Susan - What a beautiful magnolia! I've never seen one like that. Love the yellow flowers.

Will - Yeah, I still like my japanese maple. It's beautiful in the Spring and Fall.
Cool redbud! That's what I'm talking about. I hope mine will look kinda like that in ten or twenty years.

Yeah, its still a nice tree. I think it was said that the hotter temps of the Summer is what turns seed-grown 'Bloodgood's green. One way to tell if a tree or seedling has been grafted is to look near the base for a graft union, its usually noticeable.
One year me and some friends visited the Linda Hall Library near the campus of UMKC.
There was a groundskeeper there who for years in the 50's only planted unique hybrid Oak trees.
The guy was kinda like a pioneer in this region in hybridizing or something, its a unique place, see the photo.
Sorry, I just get side-tracked sometimes! : )

I think that old Redbud in my photo up there was cut down years ago.
A young person doing the ground maintenance at that park may have deemed that Redbud sickly. It never looked sick to me, just a bit old and gnarly and that protuberance on it couldn't have looked promising I guess. Maybe they thot it was a tumor or something.
I've driven thru that park for years, they have kids running weed-trimmers and stuff there and they don't look old enuff to have a driver's license!
Will

This message was edited Jul 14, 2010 4:05 PM

This message was edited Jul 14, 2010 4:07 PM

The magnolia was in full bloom on easter this year. It was very cool.

We have a red bark Jap maple that was near $100. It is a very nice tree. I think our best plant (plants I should say) however are Dwarf Alberta Spruce. I say this because they lend themselves to so many different uses in the garden, they require little care and are tough. I think we got about 15 all total. Most of them are interspersed with Boxwoods along the walk to the lake. When they mature they will really look good with the boxwoods. Takes a long time for that to happen as well.

Hi Oz, my friend here has a red dissected Japanese Maple of some kind. There are so many JM's dangit, I wish we had access to the receipt from the nursery where it was purchased almost 3 years ago. It's here somewhere, I've seen the rec't here, but I forgot what that tree was. The red Japanese Maples have an awesome red color in the Fall. It easily beats any Fall color I've ever seen, even Poison Ivy! lol This photo from last Fall was even in the shade, nearly full shade for the poor thing. I've potted it up since (in my big decorative foreclosure red pot), it is now our centerpiece in the display spot of our front porch/dis-abled ramp nook.

Oh, the Dwarf Alberta Spruce is one of my favorites too. I bot this one about 5 1/2 years ago as a "living Christmas tree" at Walmart. It's likely one of these, not sure which one.
If I remember right, it was the tallest one in the bunch. I think I had 7 or 8 of them back in the day tho. Today, its about 3 feet tall and very healthy, they only grow around 6 inches a year.
Its about ready to be re-potted into a bigger pot. Eventually, I'd like to try my hand at making it a spiral topiary. I used to buy a lot of "living Christmas trees", I thot I was rescuing them! Actually, they didn't stand much of a chance being so out of their element or something.
I had an Italian Stone Pine, a Norfolk Island Pine, 2 Lawson's Cypress, they all died,
except the Dwarf Alberta Spruces. They are hardy here and were content enuff with the conditions I guess!

It is nice to have the pretty flowers at Easter, garden6! Thats a nice holiday to have flowers in bloom on.
Here is the Dwarf Alberta Spruce today! It's in the middle.

I've been wanting to ask you Ima about your Creeping Phlox up there at the base of your trees, that is nice. Has that been growing there for awhile? Was that started by a few plants or by some seed packets? I see it for sell by Michigan Bulb for example. In their pictures of course its already real nice and spread good. And then you see what they have for sale for that, and its just 3 plants. I'm guessing 3 plants would take many years to look like they're picture. I find the thot of mail ordering kind of disagreeable because of the shipping costs. I found this page from their magazine entertaining, so I scanned it..lol
They say stuff like "my FedEx garden", they want to steer people away from stores..lol
Will

WIll, creeping phlox is definitely not a fast grower but it's not really slow either. Kinda in between. We have it in one spot and it filled in after a few years and now it drapes over the wall.

Cool, thanks Pepper. I think Creeping Phlox would make a nice cover like that.
I'm thinking about it maybe in a rock garden here.
Will

They are perfect for rock gardens. I do have to warn you though. They tend to change colors eventually. We had both pink and purple at one time and they all reverted to purple. My grandma's did that a couple years ago too. I think it has something to do with the soil. That has been the only problem we've had with them.

HI, Will!

I"ve been on vacation for a week and this is the first chance I've had to check in online. We go home tomorrow.

I got that creeping phlox from my mom many years ago and it has made a couple of moves. We moved into our current house 13 years ago and I brought a few starts with me. I can't remember how many exactly, but probably 2 or 3 quart size pots. I just kept spreading them. I think one year I bought a couple more plants at Walmart to fill in some holes. It's just the common lavender-y color. I also have the pink in another spot. I didn't know they reverted to lavender, Pepper. That's ok with me 'cause that's the color I like best. :-) Although, the pink and white 'Candy Stripe' is really pretty.

Have a nice vacation Ima! Mine starts in the morning, but its short, only 3.5 days or so. Creeping Phlox is pretty. I saw that 'Candy Stripe' somewhere in a catalog I think, its nice too.

I haven't seen all of them revert but quite a few of them.

Will - Thanks. We have had a great time with grandkids and family. Tomorrow it's back home and back to our normal boring life. LOL

Pepper - I have had the pink ones for several years. I assume it takes years for them to revert if they're going to?

Yeah, it took ours several years and my grandma had hers over 20 years before they reverted. She was suprised when they did then upset. lol. Plant the colors you want and enjoy them for however long they last.

Oh, your box is going out tomorrow. :~)