Hi Txgarden57,

There are swap meets twice a year and they don't care if you have anything to trade plant wise. You can bring magazines old pots or food for the trades. They have lots of plants. I got an umbrella plant back in the fall.

They hold them all over Texas, in fact there was one down by my daughters area Killeen I wish I could have gone to.

Just go to Gardening in Texas and the exchange area.

Barb

Well if you are looking for bananas you can get some really cheap SDC (super dwarf cavendishes). When they first come into the nurseries they are really small (in 4" pots) and they sell for around 3 bucks. At least thats what they cost up where I am.

Take a look in the produce section of your grocery store for taro roots, yucca roots, edoe, jicama and sweet potato. you can grow some great stuff from these too!

I just sprouted a taro root from the grocery store(very cheap), now to figure out what type it is.

I have South American ginger I bought at the grocery and it sprouted a big shoot. It's the regular ginger for cooking. My plan is to plant it in a pot to see what will happen. Does anyone know what is best or whether this is any good trying? I'll do it just for the challenge. Thanks.

Hey, I have some baby Elephant Ears of various kinds, I'll swap you for any old thing or postage. I like to help out, when I can. What comes around, etc... Let me know if you're interested. I've got some of the interesting ones.

Pineapples are another option, although you'd have to grow them in a pot or treat them as annuals.
www.botany.com does a good job of explaining how to start and maintain them, (although they do say to remove all of the fruit from the leaves to prevent rot. I left about 1" of fruit on all 4 of mine and they did fine). I keep them in hanging pots and hang them from trees in the summer and in the greenhouse in the winter. Very cool/exotic looking.
Barb

I just picked up a pack of two Canna bulbs at OSH yesterday for $3.99. You might want to try there. (if you have OSH in TX)

I would try Home Depot later in the spring for some EE's and other tropicals. You can get great deals there. I saw the Canna 2-packs there as well.

If your not in a rush to growth wal-mart,& lowe,s as the
growing season changes for bulbs,an root stocks so does their prices. I,ve pick up canna 2pkg ,callies,clematis,etc.
at 40 to 75 percent below their regular prices. The only draw back I see is that you have to wait until the next growing seasoning to enjoy flowering on some plants. but me I have the time. hope this can be of some help to you.

eBay has worked very well for me.

I always check the houseplants section of big box and discount stores and in home improvement centers and nurseries. Houseplants is just another word for Tropicals as far as I'm concerned. My local Loew's has a year 'round selection of indoor plants suitable for a tropicalesque garden -- palms, ferns, philodendrons. I don't know the Latin names, and neither does Lowe's because the supplying growers usually label the small ones just "tropical house plants." You'll find large, lush, and exotic potted plants for less than $15 and often in the $8 range. Last week I bought a maidenhair fern featured on sale for $1.50. Of course I will divide it into two or three plants and repot each one. Learning from the propagation forum on this site can save you bundles of cash. For example, you can get an entire bed of coleus from one inexpensive plant bought early in the season, just by making root cuttings. The equipment to do this is probably stuff you already have around the house, so don't think you need to go out and buy propagation lights, special soil mixes, rooting hormones, floating trays and the like. Don't forget to ask friends, family or neighbors for houseplant slips you can root, maybe just in water, like wandering jew and umbrella plants. Make friends with people who work at garden centers and always ask if they are throwing anything out. Sometimes all these rejects need is some hard pruning, repotting or babying (not the new friends, the plants, although...). Good luck.

There are numerous offers for free cuttings/plants right here on Gardenweb. Look for threads like: have - for sase (self-addressed, stamped envelope) or postage. For $3.85 priority mail stamp, you should be able to get some cuttings and divisions.

Do you know exactly what you are wanting? Why not post a list, and we will see if we can help you. I know that I trim my plants very often, and just throw them away. How about it, GW'ers - can we help?

Actually some folks have helped already and I do have a list up, right now I don't have much to trade. I'll take just about anything. I had hoped to get to a plant swap meet in Houson this month only it's the same time as a family reunion. As an update the Taro I bought at a local grocer is starting to come up, as well as some ginger planted from the store.

Cannas and elephant ears purchased as dormant tubers/rhizomes will definitely give you the most bang for the buck. They are readily available, not terribly expensive, are easy to grow and if given plenty of water and fertilizer grow and multiply very fast. They are VERY gratifying plants to grow. DON'T buy them mail-order, which will be the most expensive. You should be able to find them at a local nursery or garden center.

I don't know about down there but here I've found some great prices for all sorts of cannas and elephant ears. I just picked up three bags (3 large bulbs in each) of tall, upright EE's, as well as Ambassador and a couple other named types of cannas. The EE's were from Lowe's and the cannas were from Costco. Also picked up a huge bag of yellow Crocsemia (sp). They spread fast and will give you more to dig up and move next Spring.

Check out Costco for the bagged rhyzomes and bulbs, as well as Lowe's, Home Depot. Someone told me the other day that Walmart has already put out most of their bulbs and rhyzomes so check them out as well.

Jenna

I've been checking out local garden centers for the smallest size of starter plants over the last month. So far, I have found dracaenas, ti plants and crotons at approximately $1.50 to $2.00 each. All of them have colorful, variegated foliage that should make an interesting addition to my tropicalesque beds this summer. You can also get larger sizes of many of these plants in the $5 to $10 range at Home Depot, Walmart or Lowe's.

All of these will have to be gradually acclimated to the higher sun levels outside when the weather warms up.

Let me know if you want some cuttings of Wandering Jew, as it grows quite freely in the underside of my greenhouse benches!

Happy gardening,

Dan

Here's one nobody has mentioned. Sugar Cane I noticed it on another forum. By the way I now have Ginger growing on my window sill. The Taro is trying to sprout we just keep our house too cold to get much growing.

My wife was in Wal-Mart the other day and they were clearing out all their Cannas at 50% off so now we have a few Cannas to plant

Castor bean (ricinus) has large, dark red leaves, very tropical looking, an annual grown from seed, very cheap. Sow directly in the garden. However, it is very poisonous! Do no use if you have young children.

Find gardening clubs in your area. Most clubs have plant sales to generate revenue for the clubs. The clubs in my area sell the plants cheap. Most of the plants grow readily in my area. I have bought all kinds of tropicals including gingers, cannas, bromeliads, banana trees, plumeria & more at inexpensive prices from the club's sales. Your local county extension agency may be able to help you find the gardening clubs.

Do you have an Asian grocery store near you? They might have fresh turmeric roots that you could try planting. They look like fresh ginger roots,only skinnier and bright orange inside. The plants are very tropical looking and they have a beautiful reddish purple "bloom". They would also have lemongrass,which I've heard that you can grow from the stalks(although I've never had any luck).I've also bought taro roots for a few cents,compared to the several bucks you can find at garden centers or catalogs!

There is a Seller who has an eBay store called Neoma's Garden and I have purchased many canna rhizomes from her. She has many varieties, the rhizomes are very large, and her prices are great. There are also several other Sellers on eBay that offer tropicalesque plants for very reasonable prices.