Local nursery or discount chain?
Do you support local businesses when you buy plants, or do you buy them wherever they're cheapest? This is a fair question because in my experience plants are never cheapest at locally owned businesses.
The Reno Gazette-Journal has a good article about the dilemma in today's paper. (As always, visit the link in the next couple of weeks before the article goes behind the pay wall.) I have some thoughts of my own about it.
These days, now that I'm not buying trees and shrubs any more, I pick up most of my flowers at Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe's. There, I've said it; hate me if you will.
My latest find at Walmart was this pot full of six calla lilies just starting to bloom for $3.99.
My favorite locally owned nursery used to be Springtime Gardens. In fact, I worked there one spring in the 1990s and had a great time.
Springtime and Forestfarm, an Oregon mail order nursery, were the sources for many of our trees and shrubs. The chaste "tree" (Vitex agnus-castus) at left is one of my favorite plants from Forestfarm.
The false blue indigo (Baptisia australus) below is another of my Forestfarm shrubs.
If you check out the prices and shipping rates there, you will see that my cheapskate personality will occasionally be overcome by the desire to get exactly the right plant!
The Reno Gazette-Journal has a good article about the dilemma in today's paper. (As always, visit the link in the next couple of weeks before the article goes behind the pay wall.) I have some thoughts of my own about it.
Reasons to buy plants at local nurseries (according to the owners)
- They provide good service.
- Their employees are knowledgeable.
- They sell a variety of plants.
- The plants they sell are suited for this area.
Reasons I rarely buy plants at local nurseries
- I'm a major cheapskate, and I refuse to pay extra just out of sympathy for business owners.
- I've had bad service at local nurseries and hold grudges.
- I can research plants on my own without depending on employees.
- I've killed just as many expensive plants from local nurseries as cheap ones from chain stores.
Reasons to buy plants at discount chains
- They're cheaper.
Reasons not to buy plants at discount chains
- They shamelessly sell plants that won't survive in this area.
- They don't keep their plants watered.
These days, now that I'm not buying trees and shrubs any more, I pick up most of my flowers at Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe's. There, I've said it; hate me if you will.My latest find at Walmart was this pot full of six calla lilies just starting to bloom for $3.99.
My favorite locally owned nursery used to be Springtime Gardens. In fact, I worked there one spring in the 1990s and had a great time.
Springtime and Forestfarm, an Oregon mail order nursery, were the sources for many of our trees and shrubs. The chaste "tree" (Vitex agnus-castus) at left is one of my favorite plants from Forestfarm.The false blue indigo (Baptisia australus) below is another of my Forestfarm shrubs.
If you check out the prices and shipping rates there, you will see that my cheapskate personality will occasionally be overcome by the desire to get exactly the right plant!
Posted by Laurel at 5/6/2010 9:51 PM 
Categories: Gardening, Cheapskate Gardening
Tags: local nurseries buy local Reno Northern Nevada gardening
Categories: Gardening, Cheapskate Gardening
Tags: local nurseries buy local Reno Northern Nevada gardening
The example in that article is so funny, because we got a Costco Japanese maple last year for the exact same reason. $50 cheaper? Yes please! However, our other trees we got at Dry Garden, which was nice because they have a year guarantee. I hope the Japanese maple does ok, it only put out leaves on half its branches so far this year. Though if we have to replace it, paying for two Costco-priced ones is still cheaper than the ones at Moana...
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Maybe there's still hope, although the fact that it only has leaves on half the branches doesn't sound good! The only maple I have to compare is the one we moved a few months ago, and it has no growth whatsoever visible so far.
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Laurel, we think alike.
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I like High Country Gardens, too. I decided to add a link here because other Northern Nevada gardeners might be interested. They are in Santa Fe, N.M., and their site says, "The plants we offer in the catalog are chosen for their beauty, their generally easy-to-grow nature, their cold hardiness, and their adaptability to the arid climates of the western U.S." Even if all you do is browse there, you will get some good ideas.
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I agree with what's been written thus far. I really don't need the nursery "experts" at this point in my gardening journey, sometimes they are patronizing or ill-informed anyway. We don't have many "rare plant" nurseries here, so when I find something unusual at a big box store, I'm thrilled (and in the checkout line with it in a heartbeat). I have noticed some of the tree/shrub nurseries are starting to carry some unusual stuff that I tend to mail order, just wish the perennial/annual type nurseries would figure out the trends, too. Where I live, we're often five years behind trend anyway....
Christine in Alaska
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Thanks for checking in from Alaska! Just wondering--I've been hearing Alaska has been getting warmer the past few years--are you trying any new plants that you wouldn't have tried there in the past?
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