Where to get plants?

I have not been on DG for a several months, actually almost a year. I moved to AU from the US about a year ago and have not been doing very much with plants since I got here. I had hundreds of plants when I lived in the US, some very rare plants that I loved so much. I had to get rid of all of my precious babies when I moved. Since I lost all of my plants I just have not wanted anything to do with them since I got here. And every time I do find a plant that I like it is so expensive, at least 3 times what I would pay in the states, or even more. A tiny 3 inch pot is about $19.95 or more and I just cannot afford that. I found this Ponytail Palm, which is one of my favorites, and it was $69.95 for a small one and $129.95 for one about a foot tall. So, I am trying to find out if there are any good nurseries that I could order from that might be less expensive. I do not mind paying a little more for a plant if it rare and hard to find. I have done a lot of surfing on the net to find some place that I can order them from. There are a ton of places in the US to order from but from what I have been told, nothing like that can be shipped into AU. So I was wondering if any of you might know of any good nurseries that I could order from that might have the right kind of plants that I like. I live near Melbourne and do not mind taking a drive to find some nice plants. Or I do not mind ordering them if I can find somewhere here in AU to order them from. I was wondering if any of you know of any good web sites that I can go to to find the kind of plants that I am looking for. I am looking for things like "Pink Princess" Philodendron, Silver Philodendron, Wondering Jew, and so on. I am also looking for cactus or some odd things like banana trees. I had two of those in the US that were so pretty.
I would also be interesting in trading some cuttings once I get a few things to share. So if anyone has any ideas where I might could order some from, please let me know. DH knows a man that loves gardening and he has promised me some cuttings which is a great. And I think I can get a couple of cuttings from DH's dad. So little by little I can start getting some plants again. I sure have missed gardening and I can hardly wait to get started again.
It really is nice to come back to DG again. I have really missed being here. I hope to be able to post a few things soon.

Jesse

Hi Jesse, long time, no hear!
Hey, it must be expensive in Melbourne! I saw Ponytail palms in Bunnings or Big W for about $6 about a month ago! they were only about a foot tall too, but beats $130! Maybe it was a grass tree you were looking at. They take 100's of years to get any height to them, hence the hefty price tags.
Do you get out to markets much? I find alot of local growers sell their successes quite cheaply, and they are plants that do well in the local climate.
You could try ebay to get an idea of names and going prices. There are alot of victorian plant sellers on there.
Try googling "exotic plant nurseries" or "mail order plants" in Australia ans see how you go. Or just google the name of the plant you want. You'd be amazed how many people are trying to sell you stuff online!
Good luck.
Sue

Hi Jesse, i remember when you joined daves garden . Diggers garden club have some good plants . they are at Dromana and have a membership catalogue. send me your email address by private message and I;ll get you one sent .also some of the forums for cacti are really good Australian cactus forum http://forum.auscactiforum.net a few Victorian people on daily as well as SA and OLD where you can do swaps or trade and heaps of info. perhaps join a club to access rarer stuff. and see patgun on ebay a good seller and reasonalble prices. I also do packages of cuttings of succulents and some cactus (not rare stuff) Lois (Bendigo)

Jesse, as a follow up, here is an ideal venue to add some good stuff to your collection . mark it n your calendar and get there early..!!
http://cssaustralia.org.au/content/view/62/
cheers ,Lois

thanks for that... I wanna go!!!

Hi Lois,

Thanks for responding to my post. And thank you for the information about the upcoming Cactus and Succulent show. That sounds like something that I will try to attend. My DH can do a lot of his work from his laptop so I will just throw them both in the car and head out for the show. LOL
I read the postings on the AU cactus forum. They must be a new group since they all seemed to have joined since the first of this year. But they all look like a nice bunch of cactus buddies. I will send you my email address by way of dmail.
Thanks,

Jesse

Hello Jesse, saw your thread and thought I just had to come in and say 'hello'..hope you and dear hubby are doing fine..wish you luck with the gardening..know how much you love to garden and miss your plants..do they have garage sales nearby that maybe you could purchase a few ?

Or even an Austrailian connection to www.craigslist.com where folks in the U.S. at least often post FREE PLANTS if you'll just come dig them out of someone's yard. Be a great place to start.