A friend stopped by today and we went to a couple of local gardening centers that I frequent. I hadn't been to Estabrook's in Yarmouth, ME for a while and talk about sticker shock! I didn't see anything under $9.99. Heucheras were any where from $17.99 on up! I admit they were nice looking plants, but I was flabagasted by the pricing. Even Stella d'or daylilies were $9.99. Most things were $20 or more. I fell in love with a new "black" sedum but at $23, I passed it up. I did manage to find a somewhat smaller pot somewhere else today for $9.99. Needless to say, I left quickly...
Prices of plants I couldn't believe my eyes
I stopped buying from local nurseries years ago. They are a rip-off and have limited selection. You'll have what everyone else in your neighborhood has. I may just pick up an annual here or there. But even with annuals - I buy mostly online. More selection.
Estabrook's was selling Heuchera Creme Bruele (sp) for $17.99. I saw it at another garden center for $6.99. Some of local gardening centers carry newer varieties but I won't pay that much for a Heuchera. Now, daylilies I always buy one line!
I think that growers are facing a lot of unexpected expenses - the cost of gasoline is more that twice what is was just five years ago - and the price of energy, ultimately affects the price of most consumer goods.
I went to a farmer's market on Saturday, and the people I was with commented on how little variation there was amongst the plants being offered - mainly just flats of red or pink geraniums, impatiens, marigolds, etc. and most were priced about what I would pay at local nurseries.
I tell you, if you can resist instant gratification, nothing beats winter sowing your plants. Yesterday I planted SIXTY larkspur and I have about another 30 in reserve. Granted they are little bitty things - but if even half grow and bloom - the effect of the mass planting will be amazing. Plus I have gazillions of other seedlings - just have to wait until July for flowers :-)
I actually do both. I start my seeds in the winter and get more plants in the spring. I try to only buy plants that I can't find seeds for though.
Another thing, try to find a large online place closer to you. I found one about an hour from my house and I go there instead. The plants there are much bigger than the ones they send you but they cost the same.
I am not surprised by the prices of new plants, it's the old ones that everyone propagates and sells that are still exspensive that surprises me.
Yes, Al, like the fringed bleeding heart. I felt like Mainiac last Friday when I saw a pot of it (just one plant though) priced at $17.99. Good grief! The seedlings develop into big plants in a year's time and each plant gives enough baby plants (winter sowing isn't even required) that a person can easily supply their own gardens and all their friends with them.
I used to buy annuals online but when the company dropped a few plants and increased prices I went locally and the price ended up being the same without the hassle of the UPS delivery guy swinging the box all the way down the driveway and destroying plants, regardless of the excellent packaging and the very big words of LIVE PLANTS on the box.
Same selection, Pirl??
Better. They had the fuschias (several kinds) and lots of others that the online place doesn't have. I love their plants but the fear of UPS is more than I can handle.
Sedums propagate very nicely from cutting. Just pinch and stick it in the ground.
Instant new plant.
So true! I did that with cuttings earlier this spring and they've all happily taken. I've heard you can do it with individual leaves but it hasn't worked for me.
When we were in Maine for the lobster festival, we stopped at some nurseries and the prices were way high compared to what they were at home. Quality was great however, and boy do those Maine people have beautiful gardens. Very lush.
We went to one place, way out in the boonies, that had some really cool plants. Mostly herbs. But no one came out, and there were chairs set in circles, and some wicken sayings around. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that.
Have to agree with the comment on Sedums. I have some in my yard that spread like wildfire. Before I knew what they were I pulled a bunch of them up only to have them show up again in patches a few weeks later.
I have one sedum that was sweet and adorable four weeks ago and now gets reclassified as a thug. It has to go!
The maple trees we have everywhere, lining every street, one or two in every backyard, have now been reclassified as an invasive species. No wonder they self-seed so relentlessly! These are not pretty and useful sugar maples, or exotic Japanese maples, these are Norway maple-thugs. I guess if you can barely keep the family line alive in Norway, you need to be this aggressive with seedlings (weedlings?). I don't like them. Plus, as they croak, one by one, my shady gardens are sunnier, and as they grow and spread , my sunny gardens get shadier!
xxx, Carrie
Pirl, which Sedum? Are they really spreading that fast? (One might consider a Paris Hilton reference at this point, but that would be tasteless) I've never had any that ran like that.
Carrie, I agree 100% about N. Maples. Cut one down last year. Can't wait to get rod of the other two. It's a real garbage tree.
So are the Swamp Maples. They grow too fast and the wood is too soft. They also throw far too many seeds all over.
I don't know the name, Victor, but I've been yanking them out. I'll take a photo for you.
We have a lovely sugar maple in front of our yard that DH trims. Alas - we have neighbours on either side of us - one with a Norwegian Maple, the other with a swamp maple. :-(
Thought I had a picture of my sedums at work but guess I deleted them.. Will post them later. Would be interesting if they were the same type as you have Pirl. Saw a few patches coming back on the hill next to my house. Can these things "replant" themselves? Seems like the spot these came back are right where I had some piled up that I pulled up last week week.
I tell ya the things I want to grow well and spread I have no luck with and the ones I TRY to get rid of keep coming back!!
This message was edited Jun 1, 2007 9:19 AM
I haven't downloaded photos yet and since we're due for a hot day and storms this afternoon I'll post the pictures tonight, if the system allows it. Just tried, many times, on another thread and it won't cooperate.
They are not roundish leaves but more like vertical and a bright yellow green.
Found this one online that looks a lot like the sedum that I have.
We had such a good time going to maple sugar festivals this spring my kids wanted to try tapping their own. So we bought some taps and drilled a few holes in the maple trees and boiled sap down and had the best maple syrup from it. T'was a sad day in Whoville when the last drop of syrup was gone till next year. Was this making syrup out of sap or lemonade out of lemons?
That must have been fun! Nothing like the real thing.
and used 2 liter pop bottles instead of buckets. Never saw my son so excited. he was out of bed at 6 am and out in the dark with a flashlight to look and see how much sap we had
How long did the boiling take and how much syrup did you end up with?
It's usually (remembering from my own trips to Vermont) a lot of sap for not a lot of syrup, like 10 sap makes 1 syrup. They have to be sugar maples and the temps have to be above freezing in the day and solidly freezing at night.
xxxx, Carrie
I think it's 40 to 1 if I remember correctly.
Victor, Not if you're a big sap.
Actually that's one of my lines to someone who's on my nerves and saying dumb things -"Why don't you drill a hole in yourself and let the sap run out?!"
LOL, Victor, may I borrow that?
xxx, Carrie
The pros told us the ratio is 40 to 1, but that's if you want really concentrated heavy syrup. We were satisfied with it being a little thinner - and its also not so so sweet. They were suggesting we build a fire pit and boil outside in the proper metal pans ( which were very expensive ), and I was going WHOA! Its just for fun, this isn't Little House on the Prairie.
One lady told me that her dad got so excited about it, he was boiling sap on high heat inside the house and after they were done they discovered that the steam has sap in it - which deposited all over the walls and ceiling and they had to wash down and paint their entire sticky kitchen. So.... I simmered it to start with in a big pan on the stove to reduce it, then poured it into a crockpot on low and let it simmer over night. We just kept adding to the pan on the stove and then pouring it off when we needed to add fresh sap. We ended up with maybe 2 quarts of thin syrup that was delicious.
I was told the ideal temp/conditions are near freezing at night - in the 40's is perfect, and warming into the 60's during the day. You could see the sap start to run faster as the morning sun hit the bark of the maple and warmed it. We were all in awe of that - was very cool. When night time temps get to be too warm - into the 50's and 60's the last run of sap is near and it becomes increasingly bitter in taste.
Be my guest Carrie. A friend told me that when the sap is running, when an overnight freeze is forecast, to break a few twigs. The sap begins to flow and freezes overnight. Then in the morning you go and snap it off. Use it as candy or to out in your hot beverage, etc.