My (ahem) gardens consist of nothing else....which is probably why I rarely post pics since they are essentially nothing more than holding pens for many seedlings, cuttings and such. One day, in my dreams, I will be able to plan a border or garden and go to a nursery and buy plants, in multiples rather than my usual one at a time purchases (when I actually make any) and I will have a garden which is considered, designed, harmonious and lovely....like my customers get.......instead of the usual mismatched collection of ill-assorted (but hugely varied) plants which I aquire from here and there.....or a foil for the swathes of successful seed sowings where I find I have 200 easy foxgloves or hesperis or regale lilies......to stuff....somewhere.
I cannot see that day arriving any time soon....but we can dream..

I tell myself it is all about the 'process' but cannot help feeling a tad envious of those gardens which are clearly planned and arranged to form a coherent whole....unlike the interesting, but messy mismash of clashing plants, styles, themes and arrangements I end up with.

Err, I live in that interesting world too Campanula, not ever having the room or time to maintain what I'd really like.

I guess I found that trying different plants is more satisfying that huge monocultures...lol, or maybe a few small beds require less work than a real display bed (sigh..yes, I'm lazy).

'I tell myself it is all about the 'process'...' Of course it's all about the process, Campanula. Buying plants in is cheating, like buying ready meals. It is mere outdoor decorating, not gardening. I'm hoping that if you do ever buy anything it is from the reduced to clear shelves and with an eye to immediate division or cuttings. I just picked up a metre tall Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Citrina' for ã2. I've always wanted one but was far too cheap skate to buy one before.

Better put one of these ;-) just in case anyone forgets Campanula and I are Brits.

For me gardening IS about the process and while my gardens are planned and organized enough that DH loves to invite people over for tours I couldn't care less. I want to be doing and experimenting, not showing.

Most of my plants have been started from seed or cuttings or gotten from plant swaps and gifts. Many are end of the season bargains or rejects that are sharply discounted. Rarely they are full priced special plants that I just had to have after reading about here on GW. I tell people'"I garden on the cheap".

I think gardening encompasses a whole range of experiences. However one acquires plants, working with them and the soil, or other media, is gardening to me. Cheating, to me, is hiring someone to plan, install and maintain a garden with one's only participation being picking a bouquet or just admiring the garden. And while I could definitely do that with home decorating I could never be satisfied with doing that for my garden. It would then be THE garden but not MY garden.

I stopped at Walmart Sunday for some spray paint and wandered through what was left of their perennials. They were marked 50% off, but when I got to the register, they told me that they were 1/4 of the original price. I got 4 Rudbeckia Cappuccino(?) for $1.45 each, a pot of Pow Wow Echinacea, with two large plants in it. I was surprised to see a white bloom on the same stalk as the pink ones on one of them. I got a Knock Out Rose 'Sunny' in a 3 gallon pot for $6.00 with lots of buds. Two Montauk Daisies in large pots for $1.75 each, and a perennial grass just labelled 'Grass' for $2.50.

Last night in the dark, I put the Rudbeckias in one pot, plopped the grass next to it and used a couple of faux pumpkins that I had, as I don't want to buy real ones this early. Added a wooden sign I've had for years and for $8.30 I have a quickie/needs work fall arrangement in front of my garage.

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Ah, I know this, of course, but this summer, even the tiny chairs (one for me and a guest) vanished as the rows of 4inch pots simply filled all available space. I 'designed' the garden with wide timber coping, imagining myself sitting, sipping my tea....but every inch of the coping has been covered (and ruined since I have neither stained, oiled nor waxed said timber). Getting to the greenhouse involves delicately stepping over trays and trays. Why, I wonder, do I have to grow thousands of different things (because I am greedy, obviously).....NONE of which are ever grown for any purpose other than 'oooh, I quite fancy those'.
I swear, things are going to be different soon - not next year obviously, having just recieved a cornucopia of new and interesting seeds from Texas (we are dry in East Anglia so why not?)....but definitely the year after that. Definitely.

ã2!

Yeah, I used to be a bit more sniffy about merely buying stuff...but maintaining stuff year on year does still count as serious gardening....for people with bigger wallets. I would probably do it in a flash...in fact, I know I would be helpless and dread to think what sort of garden I would have if money was no object. The law of limiting factors....so aptly named..

I always have visions of how great my garden will look the next year & apparently it may be so, from others point of view. As for purchasing some plants, be it locally or though mail order, some simply can't hardly be had, very easily, any other way.
Meanwhile, all those others started by seeds... well, it probably looks much like the path to your greenhouse, whereas mine leads up, only to my front door.
But, if my account were unlimited, I suppose it would be entirely complete, with nothing left for me to do. I would then just look at it &think to myself, that it probably wouldn't be nearly as satisfactory, as knowing I was the one responsible for making it looks, exactly as it does.
Most of the enjoyment seems to be derived from at least attempting to do mostly all of it in my own odd way,on my own time, while including accomplishing it on a rather fairly limited budget.

southerngarning, those Lycoris seem to slightly resent being transplanted, in my experience, having moved some, myself. The leaves appearing, soon after blooming & remaining green here, throughout winter, on into spring. Of course, when they just flowered about a week ago, they dried on the stem, all to quickly...
After al these years of gardening in various locations (near the Chesapeake Bay), I guess my main complaint of having to garden on a limited budget, is that of the misfortune of buying mislabeled dormant plants. Only to find out later after having waited up to a year in some cases, that the flower wasn't what it was advertised to be.
Then, it starts all over again from point A, in the hopes that next time, I somehow manage to get what it was really supposed to be, in the first place.
& whatever it was that it did grow into, as some unknown, unattractive plant, can be heartlessly pulled out, as though it were just like some unwanted weed that appeared,(yet I had paid for it & tended to it all for naught !)

I grabbed 3 Ninebark "Summer Wine" at Lowes for 3 bucks each. I stuffed them into spots that someday they won't fit in. I have a few years to figure out where they go. I love a sale. I also grabbed a Strawberry Candy daylily that I divided in three. It was 8 dollars.

I bought a dozen of perennials for $1:
1. Lamb's Ears 'Helen von Stein'
2. Several varieties of Foxglove
3. JacobâÂÂs ladder (white and blue)

Today I grabbed 3 Asao Pink Clematis marked down from $24.99 to $1.00 each. Also 2 pots of Red Fox Veronica from $16.99 to $1.00 each. Tomorrow, everything remaining at the nursery is 50% off, and goes down 2% a day until nothing remains. It will be difficult to restrain myself in the final days...

campanula: My chairs are still in the garden and the pathways are still clear. I too imagined myself sitting in the garden with some, for me, sweet tea and just enjoying the garden. In reality, I spend just about every free minute out there working, playing. I have realized that I'm happier when I have something to do. I got a great mental image of your "tiny chairs" lol.

I also had maybe 100 foxgloves from winter sowing to find homes for. Wow, winter sowing really works!

my3dogs: Your fall arrangement is beautiful!!!

floraluk: I do remember you two are from the uk and wish I could hear your british accents. :-)

gringo: If the lycoris take their time to bloom again, it is ok with me. I have never bought any plants that were mislabeled but have bought one that didn't have any name on it last year. The 3rd time I stopped by the store and the plant was still there, I ended up buying it because I felt sorry for it. It is a penstemon husker red and a pretty one. It bloomed nicely this year.

crunchpa: Your post made me smile. I would have bought the ninebark as well and stuffed it somewhere for now lol. If in a few years you only have room for 2, send the 3rd my way! I have abelia rose creek on my wishlist and am hoping for one on clearance somewhere. A strawberry candy dl order, among a few others, is on it's way to me. It was love at first sight.

kirimarie: Clematis for $1, wow! Lucky you! Maybe it's time to check my nursery again too.

I have foolishly bought several plants that I in no way need. Most even require overwintering indoors, so that's another boo-boo. A large $6 oleander would probably make a southerner laugh... Who would even pay that much! But up here it's exotic of course. Then I paid $7 for a plain old spike (draceana)... Except it's about five feet tall so I really needed it for drama!
I finally broke down today and planted out a couple of the last perennial seedlings from last fall. I owe them that much after surviving all summer on the driveway.
Oh and why did I buy 3 rhododendrons? Oh yeah they were $4 each and I'm sure they will make a nice evergreen background in my too-deciduous yard.

Oh and I do pay full price now and then. Only at my favorite nursery of course and only because I feel obligated to support them.... I'd be lost if they went out of business and considering how much time I spend wandering and bothering the staff it's only fair! So yeah, it's not that I really wanted to buy those tulips and daffodils, I did it to support local business.... And then went on to support the coffee brewer and muffin baker.

Kirimarie, way to grab a bargain. Asao is one of the first to bloom for me. A few years back I was able to pick up seven unmarked clematis for a dollar apiece. Kept them in a holding bed for a year to see them bloom. It was very satisfying to offer the duplicates to others during plant swaps. People were/are surprised and delighted to get clematis at swaps.

â¢Posted by floral_uk
"...I've always wanted one but was far too cheap skate to buy one before.

Better put one of these ;-) just in case anyone forgets Campanula and I are Brits."

A Scottish friend of mine would simply have said "They must be Scotts!" heh

It's always difficult to pass up free plants or ones that are nearly so. I like to buy bulbs late in the fall when they have been steeply discounted. Of course, as a result, not only do I often have to settle for "leftovers" but I wind up planting in hands-numbing temperatures. (And wearing gloves while doing so typically is an exercise in futility as the bulbs -- ornery devils that they are -- invariably insist on settling in the hole upside down if I just drop them in.)

Somewhere, over the rainbow...

There's no rule here. If I want it, I will try to find a way to get it and wouldn't hesitate to fork out for it in some cases. Mostly I count on divisions, seed/volunteer plants and cuttings --- but wouldn't life be boring if you didn't treat yourself every now and then and get new plants? My limit is usually around $50 on a special plant but that doesn't happen often.

I look forward to and hit an annual sale here at the city's biggest nursery like a kid on Christmas morning every June, its my main local shopping but I will inevitably pick up something at Farmer's Market on impulse regularly when we buy fruits and vegetables.

Trades are nice when you can find people who like the same plants and are willing, they are also a lot of work to prepare, label, ship etc. I got myself a trading friend several years back and we never seem to run out of stuff to trade since we are both somewhat scitzo with short attention spans and are both prone to obsession, lust and greed.

I just put in my 4th order at SRG for more grasses marked down to $2.39 ea. Well, actually it was carex this time, 14 Prairie Fire plants. Yes, its greed pure and simple but I am definitely a small fry when it comes to spending money and the scope & theme of my landscape, I'm more drawn to very ordinary common natives. Cheap or expensive is relative to a person's resources so its a hard question to address.

paul: Last year was my first year gardening and therefore last fall my first time planting spring bulbs. When I saw all the crazy discounts on bulbs late in the fall I went crazy too and bought a bunch. It was cold outside and I also didn't have a bulb planter then. I bought one last week and now can save myself alot of work, if I purchase any more bulbs that is.

AHHH, my bank is permanently broken. That piggy ran away along time ago. If I want it , I buy it. But then I will be trading a bunch with people this weekend and will be getting A carload for a carload, and that makes me feel like this obsession is in control, BUT you know and I know that is only an illusion.. Many rooted Salvias, scutelarias, turkscap and bee bush and acacias are leaving and many mountain Laurel (TX kind), sweet arroyo tree , macho mocha Xmangave, Agave bracitosa, Blue lime grass, Guayacan, and many more. GOBS of pink rain lilies. So yes, I did buy a bunch of grass from they HCG and then found more larger and better at the local nursery. I have been digging all day when not working at my job. Do we count the money for a chiropractic treatment as a work expense or a garden expense?

I'm on my fourth order from Santa Rosa Gardens. They send me coupons and keep lowering their already low sale prices.

The most I spent on a plant was around thirty dollars and that was early this Summer. It's a Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Tasman Ruffles' introduced by Dan Hinkley for Monrovia. I wouldn't have bought it except that I saw it in person and melted on the spot. Photos don't do it justice!

SRG has become my favorite online nursery. I have been "window shopping" on their site for weeks. Why aren't there any sites that show pics of Tasman Ruffles blooms? It does sound like a great plant. I'm waiting for Abelia Rose Creek to go on sale somewhere. It even has a spot waiting for it already. It will go in place of a euonymus.

A carload for a carload sounds perfect! Pink rain lilies will be going on my list! I played musical plants half of today and it was great. Even moved some azaleas which was not in the original plan. Seems like I open a "can of worms" every time and a quick move turns into a moving party.

It's probably not the best time to move an Azalea but it "needed" to be moved. If it doesn't make then it doesn't make it. There are plenty more in another area on our property.

blue lyme grass! Blimey, that's brave. I grew this in my gravel beds for a year or so but then bottled out on realising I was actually growing a turbo-charged couch-grass. I did swap over to the (better behaved) leymus magellanica,,,,, but this was deeply unhappy and vanished quicksmart....but not before seeding everywhere).

I first read about the leymus arenarius in one of Christopher Lloyd books and rushed out to buy....but then later read that he (Lloyd) employed his youthful gardener to dig it up annually, chopping into the ferocious rhizomes and replanting....which obviously, I did NOT do, only to freak out in season 2 when the clump tripled in size. The leymus magellanicus was a heartbreakingly lush powder blue (never attained with any number of heliotrichums or festucas).......so I may have to make another attempt and maybe protect a little better from winter wet.
I have been sowing your seeds (the zephyranthes reminded me), especially the penstemons and callirhoes. I have a (tiny) packet ready to send your way.

A lot of things are not quite as vigorous here as they are other places. It might be well behaved here. I see it sold a lot in conscientious places without any warnings. It is free and will go where I am digging up an invasive. I will have my eye on it.

Campanula, don't you mean b-LYMEY

snicker

I think I will rename it that just for chuckles (and always think of you when I utter it). It is weird how things get coupled so easily. I will tell you if I start cursing it.

'blue lyme grass! Blimey, that's brave. I grew this in my gravel beds for a year or so but then bottled out on realising I was actually growing a turbo-charged couch-grass.'

I'm from Texas & I've been told I do not speak English (according to my British friend, I speak "some sort of Texan/American dialect".)

so....
what did she *say*???

For absolutely free plants, you might put a "wanted" ad on craigslist or freecycle.

I got 2 boxes of mixed daylilies & irises this week-end from a lovely woman who's had them for 40 years.

(I always say in my ad that I'm willing to dig plants that need thinning in return for 1/3 of them;
this lady couldn't have done it herself.)

That is a really nice thing for everyone involved. I will have to remember that tactic. HMMM. I wonder if someone would want 1/3 of my invasive KR Bluestem.

Here's a pic of one of the recently planted lycoris' emerging foliage. Very unexpected but exciting!