Barb,

Vesey's has been having a lot of these deals lately which is great. When I received their seed catalogue for this year, they had a similar deal - buy $40.00, get $20.00 off. Not sure, but I think that one was only for folks who receive their catalogue. Sure made it worthwhile since I'm on a budget!

I've been drooling over their latest catalogue of perennials and bulbs which has the same deal as what you mention. Might go for that one too since there are a couple of things I'd really like.

Barb,

The Cinnamon Fern alone is worth $10. So I would say it's a good deal. If you get it to grow you'll have to share your secret. I've lost one already and am hoping the one I planted last year makes it through this winter. It's a great hummingbird plant actually. Not for the nectar but the down at the bottom of the fronds are a common nest material they use.

To be honest I found the prices very inflated. Half price on inflated prices brings it down to normal pricing.

If you count all the bulbs and roots and plants Barb is getting for $25.00 you come up with a total of 20 which calculates to about $1.25 each. I certainly think that paying $1.25 for any of the items ordered is quite the bargain.

Maybe some people find cheaper prices elsewhere but it's all relative to where you live. I live in a small town that has big box stores, Walmart and CDN TIRE but as for garden centers we have 2 and both are EXTREMELY expensive.

For comparison at our garden centers:

Emily McKenzie Crocosmia Package of 8 (that would be 2 bags of 4 @ 5.00 each...total 10.00
Virginia Blue Bells Package of 3 Roots Each pot is 10.00 for a total of 30.oo
Asiatic Lily 'Cote d'Azure' Package of 3 Bulbs...could likely get this one at CDN TIRE if they actually happened to order it for about 7.00
Butterfly Bush 'Royal Red' 1 20.00 at the garden center
Cinnamon Fern 1 12.00 at the garden center
Christmas Fern Package of 2 Roots 15.00 each for a total of 30.00
Maiden Hair Fern 1 10.00
Birch's Double Hardy Geranium 1 7.00

So all that adds up to about what? About $126.00 so for my 25.oo purchase though Veseys plus a really minimal shipping fee, I saved a LOT of money and I don't have to drive the 1/2 hour out and back to the garden center near us.

When you are comparing prices between a big box store or a garden centre to those in a catalogue it is important to take in account that the cataogues are quoting for bareroot stock and not a potted plant. So it's not really comparing apples to apples.

If you looking at the difference between the big box stores and a garden centre, sometimes it is just simply service. Are you willing to pay a "premium" to have knowledgeable staff to provide answers and advice? Most big box stores use their garden centres to draw people in. I have found it difficult to get answers.

Personally, I hope we don't eliminate the independent garden centres for the big box stores. We seem to be trading off service for price. Don't get me wrong, I do like a bargain. But, I also like quality and don't mind paying for it.

I can tell you from my experiences that you need to consider the quality of the rootstock. The better the rootstock, the higher the price. But a high price doesn't mean top quality. I don't mind taking chances every once in a while; but I personally like seeing it in front of me.

Vesey's sells bare root because it is cheaper to ship bareroot. Imagine what it would cost to ship a 2 gallon potted plant. It also comes down to the results and patience.

Sometimes you can find the same stuff (shown in the Vesey's catalogue) in an already potted up plant for the same price. It may come down to time, effort and convienence.

Green Thumb Guy

I totally appreciate everything you've said greenthumbguy... I do. I would DEFINITELY prefer to buy my stock having viewed it first for heartiness, good breeding, disease/lack of, etc. etc... but being on a budget, I will "take this chance" as you said. If they are good albeit possibly small, I will be happy because eventually they will grow bigger and I have patience for that. But if they are small and sickly or don't do well, I likely won't order from them again or at least be choosey and pay for potted material.

I think regarding big-box vs. local garden centers it is always a gamble whether you get quality staff. Ironically enough, 2 of the garden staff at our local Home Depot are master gardeners. The rest are just garden "folk" but I tend to find even the garden folk at the Depot more knowledgeable than the staff at the local garden centers. Unless you get to talk to the owner or the kids of the owner (we have 2 family garden centers in our town) then you can't get a straight answer out of any of them. Last year one of our garden centers (very $$$) had a whole shipment of hostas where 2 varieties were full of HVX. I asked them to take note and remove all the sick hostas but they didn't think it was worth the bother and a week later they were still sitting there, likely infecting the healthy hostas all next to them. I was extremely miffed that a garden center of this calibre was ignoring something as important as HVX and won't give them my money. Walmart/A&P/Zehrs garden centers are ok but the sales people generally don't know anything about the plants....they were just hired to run the cash register so their plants (other than to look at them) are just as much a gamble as the root plants IMHO. Those plants could be imported from the USA or internationally for all I know... at least with the Vesey's I can ask them where the plants come from and they can tell me so I can decide one way or another if still want to buy. There's pros and cons to all these various options and each community has pro's and cons to it's garden centers and stores but I'm glad you pointed out all these considerations so that others might learn from it too.

Barb
southern Ontario, CANADA

Hey Knotty, it is not very likely that HVX gets passed along in your typical retail nursery amongst the lot of various Hosta cultivars sitting side by each. HVX gets passed along in the sap and transfer typically happens when the root stock is dug-up and/or divided. Yes, like you I point out HVX infected stock to the nursery's manager/owner and it is frightful that even after the virus having been around for 8-10 years now, there still is a pathetic lack of knowledge of the virus within the larger nursery trade.