some guy just spent near $3000 at the hosta convention this summer ...

why?? because he wanted it ... and it was one of a kind

ken

PS: no comment on my former budget ...

Yikes - what makes a Hosta worth 3K? Does he plan on patenting and propogating it?

What I could do with 3-grand...

On the other hand, it's all relative. Some folks in my circle roll their eyes because I have no problem dropping $15-20 on one potted perennial (and of course I can never buy just one) and just spent $300 on a Japanese maple.

In terms of perennials, I think my most expensive one was fernleaf peony.

the lachman's were some great hosta peeps .. who did some great hybridizing back in the 70's, 80's and 90's .... they are both gone now .. RIP!!!!

and it was advertised as the last of their creations ...

ken

There was one lady on GW that spent $500 for a new daylily cultivar. The sad thing was, it did not survive the winter. Yipes! Plants that expensive should come with an insurance plan...

I don't think I have ever spent above $25 for an one plant. Now that I think of it, I don't think I have even bought roses or shrubs for anything above $25. I like to find the best deals and take advantage of sales ;-)

I did spent around $60 this year for various bulbs, but there were many types so I don't know if that counts.
CMK

Rare or difficult/slow to propogate = expensive.

That 3k hosta may be $10 in 5 years. Lady slippers are often expensive because they are difficult and slow to propogate.

There was one lady on GW that spent $500 for a new daylily cultivar. The sad thing was, it did not survive the winter.

That makes me feel a little better about the 2 big pots of Miscanthus 'Adagio' that each cost $29.95. They grew beautifully the first year, but they were dead as a door nail the next Spring. Turned out it was NOT hardy to zone 5. I replaced them with 2 smaller 'Gracillimus', that cost half that and are much hardier.

Oy!!! I think the biggest waste i ever spent was 60 dollars on 2 mandevillas, before i understood what the garden zones meant. I loved those plants, and was so sad when they didnt come back! Lol

I love plants, will buy almost anything , but i cant drop 200 dollars on a purse ive been eyeing up, but 200 at a nursery? No problem! :) (but not on one plant!)

My clothes are almost all over 10 years old. Hate spending money on clothes, jewelry, etc. But nurseries - that's okay!

The most I ever spent was $75 on a tree peony for my sister. She really loved it and would never spend that, so I splurged for her. Ten years later and it's stunning in spring. I must figure out how to do cuttings!

i do have an old maxim regarding expensive plants..

pay $2 for it.. and it will root into your trunk on the way home...

pay $100 ... and it will commit suicide on the way home..

lol

ken

My friend spent 25 years crossing plants to get a new color which he introduced through a national nursery which paid him $50 each for the plants. The nursery sold them for $900 each. With a profit margin like that I would not have sold my business and retired! Al

my "expensive" perennial story -

I bought a Chinese Lilac for $80 AFTER a 75% discount. Advertised as the most beautiful lilac "ever". Had two incomes then and a big Z5 yard to landscape.

Each spring, this bush would develop fabulous buds and then we would receive a spring snow and buds would vanish.
Repeat for 3 springs...

Then I sold the house, yard included; and the most beautiful lilac "ever".

We were to close at the end of March and I was determined to see this lilac bloom. At work, there was a gigantic card board box that a tv came in, so I brought the box home. With each threat of winter's return, I would cover the lilac; now quite large after years of concentrating growth into foliage and branching.

Guess what?? The plant bloomed that year!!

Was it worth the cost - NO WAY!! but it did make me smile...

Cute story hannasmom and completely agree with your take on it Ken. I seem to enjoy paying as little as possible for plants. [g] I would not spend even $100. for a perennial, let alone $3,000. If we are talking about perennials, the most I've ever paid for a plant was $40. It was a Japanese Jack in the Pulpit and was completely an impulse buy. I did feel at the time I spent too much and I could have easily lived without it. Feeling as Ken does, I doubted it would come back the next spring, but it did.

{{gwi:275639}}

I have many stories along ken's funny maxim, but what I really want to say is that whenever I do decide to purchase a relatively 'expensive' plant,I am aware that one can easily spend $40-$100 on a beautiful flower arrangement that only lasts a week. We all have versions of 'expensive' mistakes: the dress you only wore once; the magazine subscription you never read; the steak that went bad before you could cook it, etc. Garden plants may sometimes feel like splurges but things that give you pleasure and cause you to appreciate your world that much more- are important things to have in life.

best,
mindy

I'd like to be gotta garden's sister! I stopped counting years ago on what I spent on gardening in general...tallying it up just seemed to be an exercise in guilt. Now (at 55), the kids are through school and on their own, the house is paid for, etc. and we're as comfortable as I care to be. The real irony is that I'm also pretty much out of room in the garden. However, now I am also free to rip out under or non-performers and not feel guilty about it.

haha! You guys are cracking me up. I'm glad there are other people like me. I shop for clothes *maybe* once a year. Blech. I don't really care for jewelry. The two things I spend money on are 1) my dogs and 2) plants.

I don't buy expensive plants generally either. I ordered some agastache from High Country Gardens for about $7 apiece, and I thought that was kind of a lot, considering the size (they are doing great, though).

We have a flea market nearby (about a 40 minute drive) and I get a LOT of stuff from there. It's usually about 1/3 of what you'd pay at Home Depot, and they are direct from the growers so they've always been super-healthy. :) I did a line of about 15 or 20 KO roses along my back fence. That would have cost hundreds at Home Depot. I think I got them for about $6-$7 apiece. :D

I drop a lot of money on the gardens, but don't spend a lot on individual plants.

Cant say that I have dropped tons of money on one single plant. However, I have probably spent $800-1000 this spring/summer on plants/bulbs.

It started out with a couple garden areas, and now this weekend I am making two new beds.

My new addiction is Tall Bearded Irises. I spent $200 on Irises from Schreiner's. That is with 1/2 of pricing. Buying varities of TB's that cost $40 bucks a piece is a major splurge for me.

My cheapest purchases....I bought bulbs from Family Dollar this year. I couldnt believe that they had flower bulbs. They had Stargazer Lillies 2 for $2.50, Stelle D' Oro Daylilys for 2 @ $2.50, 12 Glads same price, 2 Hostas same price, freesia bulbs, ranunuclus (sp?), etc.

I bought the lilies, dayliys, glads, hostas, etc. Okay I bought almost all they had to offer. The funny thing is they grew like crazy and bloomed well. Everything grew true to the variety sold as. The Stargazer Lillies were IMO the biggest steal. They sold out like crazy. I should have bought more than one package!! Mine bloomed and grew great. The scent is heavenly!!!

Danielle

The most expensive plant I've ever bought was a daylily this year for $35. I thought that was extravagent!!! HOWEVER, when I look back at ALL the money I have spent on ALL the plants together, it makes me choke!
But, it does give me lots of pleasure to be out in the gardens and working. So, I guess in all it's worth a little or a lot to do lol.
I also splurged this year on about 12 calla lily bulbs. Six of them went in two separate planters and the other six in the ground. Do you know, the ones in the ground bloomed great, but the ones in the planters sat there all summer! Mo' money down the drain I guess. I called it my experiment to see if they would bloom and do ok in the summer here.
Like some others here, my kids are all grown and on their own, and we sit somewhat comfortably here, but I still have a very small yard and only so much I can plant. I guess under performers next year may go! But we'll see...

Great thread, Terrene. Prairiemoon2, gorgeous photo. Mindy (arbo retum), your words are how I justify my garden spending-more power to us! Ken, thanks for the laugh about the $100 vs. the $1 plants.
Leslie

Rare or difficult/slow to propogate = expensive.

yes until they aren't rare or difficult to propagate anymore.
When Musa basjoo was first widely sold, around 1991 IIRC, some nurseries were listing it for $100 - probably $125 in today's weakened dollars. Now it is micro-propagated by the thousands and you can buy it on closeout at Lowe's for 10.99.

I would guess that all of us here love gardening a bit more than your average Joe or Jane. Like Mindy and Classytchr says, I spend very little on any other hobby or extravagance. A buddy of mine LOVES skiing and the $$ he spends way exceeds what I've spent on gardening. He even hides expenditures from his wife!

For those who are on a budget, they should explore propagating their own plants via seed or cuttings. I've spent far less the last couple of years because of winter-sowing most of my plants and it is surprisingly easy.

Well, that, and my gardens are already full of cultivars I've spent a couple thousand $$ on (some of which, have croaked along the way).

I also don't like Jewelry or clothes and pinch pennies to buy my plants which all together have a worth of around $2,000.00. I'd be surprised if I paid $200 for them all but I go to lots of sales and get free plants from Friends and Neighbors. I love fall because most nurseries have 50% off sales on most al of their plants. I'm also patient enough to wait until my own plants self propagate giving me a new plant! At this point I'm not sure I want children... might not be able to afford plants, lol.

I like nice clothes, have a penchant for Italian shoes and fine handbags AND plants...sigh....

But y'know what? I don't care what other people think anymore. DH and I both work, pay our bills, don't have any kids so why shouldn't I spend my money on things that make me happy? :0) There are things people spend money on that would be a "waste" to me, but who am I to pass judgement on them? So if someone wants to make comments about my plant purchases (usually accompanied by the requisite eye-rolling), I figure well cr*p on it and usually just shrug my shoulders at them.

Well, except DH - he's is not a gardener and does give me flak at times, so I play the ridiculous game of hiding things from him if I can't plant them right away. But he's piped down lately, I think as he's getting a little older he's beginning to appreciate the beauty of nature bit by bit more. Plus, he will work on heavy projects, and I think he feels a sense of accomplishment if he's involved in some way so doesn't view those planting in quite the same way as a "waste of money". (but the shoes are another story....)

mxk3, that's funny! I can see you hiding plants from dear hubby. Me, I too am sly about it at times. I won't mention the extra plant I got until it comes mailorder. "Oh, that package is mine. Well, I just had to fill that hole in the other bed!" lololol Or, "I had to plant something there to fill in where that one died." and, other various and assorted reasons... lol But, he always knows about them, although, not till they come. :O lol

mxk3, It is so true that if you plant them right away, they never notice :P LOL I confess to having run a few plants in on the sly this year.

I am finding it soooo comforting to read this thread tonight! At lunchtime today I just dropped $350 on shrubs because I can never pass up the "end of season" sales! AND, my DH is an enabler. This was after we just planted up a huge area in the backyard this year. Oh someone please find a 12-step program for gardeners who have lost control.

Like a lot of you I don't spend money on much of anything else for myself except my plants. My local perennial nursery gives a $25 credit for every $500 spent. I'm embarassed to admit how many times I get that credit in one season! LOL!

The most I've spent on a perennial was on a tree peony. I unfortunately don't have a generous sister to buy them for me! Gottagarden you have one lucky sister!

Very fun thread Terrene!

The 70% off sales are my downfall. At least plants aren't like fabric or clothes, where it's possible to stuff it all in the closet and never use it. As long as you follow through and plant everything somewhere, it's not a complete waste. Right...?

AHHH - glad I'm not the only one that hides plants from DH!!

I also don't spend much on myself except for gardening.

And, I also cannot pass up a great plant sale. I went to buy winterizing lawn fertilizer and found BOGO perennials, although I am running out of planting space until the annuals are gone.

This thread IS comforting.

I was heading into a lady slippper kick and found prices to be 79.99 each with a three lady slipper minimum now thats just nuts when a second idea was to visit my parents where they have em in there yard growing like weeds (well over 2000) I got four for free and they are doing well after two years. My most epensive item was a switch from all purpose ferts and such to organic growing methods where the all purpose sent me into a much higher annual avg price range the orgainic switch over saves me an avg of 250 $ a year and climbing as I bring it on to the house.

Other odd pricing I find are over priced well trained weeds IE garden phlox joe pye weed a simple day lily going for 29.00 when all you need is just one flower this list goes on and on. I did go to a garden center and got a couple of wind flowers after mentioning to a staff I can sell it to the wife with some flowering buds and a few leaves so she can see it too. They let me have em with a spare tag laying on the ground and poof in to a hopefull pot for propergating they went when I got it home.

I am glad to know that I am not the only plant hider!!! I have done it a lot. I would head back to the nursery to buy the plants I saw over the weekend when out with DH. Very true, get them planted right away and they never notice!!! Can't hide new purchases when the UPS delivers when they are home. Lol. The DH likes gardening too, but not as much as I do. He thinks I have enough now..never :)

Danielle

Ah, but the trick is to order on a certain day of the week so it won't be delivered on DH's day off (Monday). So, I usually order whatever toward the end of the week because odds are it won't get here by Monday.

This past spring, I ordered from a few sites and UPS delivered I guess every order.

I was out planting wintersown plants and the delivery guy announced that he was going to place MORE flowers on the front step. Until every WS jug was planted, and dirt was no longer visible, I don't think I needed that tone!!

Our UPS guy comes at inconsistent times. And whenever the doorbell rings, my son asks/yells - Is that the brown truck guy? DH is on to me. Both he and my son expect the UPS guy to stop EVERY time he drives by. I try to use telepathy to keep the truck moving until the guy can return before 5:30pm.

$159.99 on this "it's too cute" lollipop boxwood (top right of pic- what WAS I thinking???!)
{{gwi:275640}}

and $80 on this hybrid "Peppermint Wind" (credit hybridizer's pic)
{{gwi:204244}}

I love this thread.

I thought of another one you all might appreciate:

My mom and I went to a plant swap in the spring. On the way back we HAD to stop at a nursery we don't usually frequent because it's a little out of the way. But hey, if we're driving right by it, of course we're going to stop, right?

And of course there were several things there that you just never saw at the usual haunts. So I bought them (naturally).

When I got home I passed them off to hubby as free plant swap plants. LOL Took the tags out of the pots and he never knew the difference.

Oh, the tangled web we weave...

omg, that is too much...I laughed so hard :)

Danielle

I don't hide plants. I work awfully darn hard and I deserve every plant I have. My DH has his hobbies, I have mine, and we don't interfere (unless, of course, it's a MAJOR purchase, but luckily neither of us is into sailing or car racing or anything like that, lol!).

BUT...

I will say this to those of you who feel compelled to hide plants. In my opinion, the best way to hide them is in plain sight. Start yourself a pot ghetto. A BIG pot ghetto. Trust me, once you have pots on the patio, lining the driveway, next to the garage, near the front porch... your DH or DW will never in a hundred years notice a few more tucked into the collection.

:)
Dee

MMQ that is a pretty daylily - but how can you tell it's really worth $80? I swear, I look at the zillions of different Hemerocallis cultivars and they start to look the same.

When I got home I passed them off to hubby as free plant swap plants.

Oh you are bad! But you can confess here, we'll understand. ;)

Can you imagine my friend trying to hide skis from his wife?? I think he hid them behind the hot water heater.

I don't hide plants but then I don't have anyone to hide them from. I've been a single Mom a long time, have a lot of responsibility and work very hard - so I'll buy what I want (which isn't much lately, because now I start a lot of plants from seed).

I define "plant worth" as "am *I* willing to pay that much for it?"

I don't get involved in genetics, rarity, HTF or what-have-you. I have seen many online intros, and some that I'd never pay the asking price, but this pretty face was in my play-money budget at the time. The bloom is huge, it's fragrant, and the color is true to pic.
It's worth it...to *me.*

That IS a GORGEOUS daylily, Mary!

:)
Dee

I must confess to splurging on plants as well :-) As a self-confessed plant collector, if I encounter something I want that I simply must have (and isn't that easy to justify!), then I get it, price be damned. However, being in the nursery industry and as a former plant buyer for a very big retail nursery, I can sometimes score some pretty good deals, so I figure it all averages out OK in the long run.

In more than 25 years of gardening, I no longer remember the most expensive plant I purchased. But I do recall laying down a wad of cash at various speciality or collector nurseries over the years......what I spent at the old Heronswood could make several mortgage payments :-) And I used to attend plant auctions as fundraisers for various gardening associations I belonged to. If you've ever done any auctions, you know how easy it is to get swept up in the bidding action -- I'm sure I overpaid a lot for what are now pretty common perennials but it was all for a good cause, both my garden AND the association! I do tend towards some shade plants that carry a hefty price tag - various specialty hostas, epimediums, arisaemas. It is not difficult to spend $35 or more for a one gallon sized plant for one of these babies and I've done my share.

The most expensive perennial I ever offered for sale was a Chinese podophyllum with a heavily spotted/variegated foliage. It retailed for $85 for a 2 gallon container and I was worried that I might be holding these very pricey (even at wholesale) plants in inventory for some time. Ha!! Never underestimate the spending capacity of a true collector - the plants flew off the tables in a single weekend!

All I can say... I'm in good company!

I was in a friends wedding and had to buy a $450 designer dress. (20 years ago). I'll never get over wasting that money; it still makes me sick.

But no matter what I spend on plants. I never feel like I've thrown money away. Maybe a passing twinge of buyers remorse now and then, but it quickly passes.

I don't spend a lot on clothes or jewelry. When DH complains, I remind him I could be like a normal woman and buy shoes. I show him the shoes in the stores, too! I could fill the van with plants for the price of one pair of those!! He rolls his eyes at me. I'm no fun to argue with. :)

There are so many choices for spending money. I try to be benevolent first and not get too crazy overboard.

Thyme2dig - let me know if you find the 12 step program. Or maybe we just need a 12 step program for EVERYONE else; we sound much more normal and non judgemental!

Love you all - this is the life! I feel safe here.

Mickie

My 12-step program consists of driving to the nursery, take 12 steps, pick up a plant, take 12 more steps, pick up a plant, take 12 more steps...works great and no worries! Note: Sometimes requires tippy-toe steps.

Me and Lowes and half price are dear friends. I put in a substantial perennial garden this year with mark-downs. Now lets see if they come up in the spring.

Priciest plant is a dwarf red maple for $89.00. Ouch!

There was a thread over in the Succulents forum awhile back, about Ebay auctions in which people were paying up to $5,000 for a single small Sansevieria.

I don't think I've ever paid more than $15 for a hardy perennial (and that much only rarely). What's hardest for me to understand is the urge to buy the latest and greatest hosta or daylily hybrid for an exorbitant price, when you know the cost will be way down within a few years.

It's not like there's a shortage - hybridizers keep churning out hundreds of varieties every year just to feed the addiction.

The most expensive are my cherry trees after failing with cheaper ones from HD. And $65 on sale (would have spent more, didn't want to lose another growing season) apiece isn't that bad for a tree, may have spent more on a linden and paid to have it planted.

The most I've spent on flowers was $35 apiece for two Japanese iris and just a couple more that weren't quite as much. A little more for two Nova Zembla rhodies, one died from the hard winter, don't know if the other will make it through this one or not.

The Japanese Iris are sulking since I planted them in August, mixed in compost and watered them so we shall see.

I do buy from Bluestone what I can't find seeds for or have been unlucky with, but I get most gratification out of buying seeds even if I fail with some and they take longer.

I've spent a lot more on my camera and lenses, a LOT more and quit when I had what I wanted. Now I'm waiting to buy a new camera but will wait for the price to drop some, don't like to rush into things.

I don't spend on clothes or jewelry for ages. This is how ridiculous I am. I buy what I want, just don't want that much. I am still wearing a London Fog winter jacket I bought over 20 years ago and have mended it; it's like my second skin and washable. So my sister buys me a beautiful new brown one with fake fur, and I like my old one better. Same with my shoes. The most comfy ones have a hole in the toe, still wear them when it's not wet, don't care what people think. I have enough nice clothes to look nice, just don't care any more.

A note about iris. I've had good luck with Wild's but their iris are too small, so I think it pays to buy more expensive ones or you will wait forever for them to bloom. I've gotten some nice quality bearded iris from American Meadows on sale. Overall, I've had really good luck with them for tulips, iris, lilies and other things. If you're into the more exotic iris, that is probably not the place to go, but I'm just getting mine built up and don't care for the really expensive ones right now.

Oh man, my sides are hurting from reading this thread... and hubby keeps rushing in here to see what I'm laughing at. "Are you watching babies on youtube again? Your GARDENING forum??? omg"

I am cheap when it comes to what I spend on individual plants. I once wondered up and down the aisles of a garden centre for 30 mins trying to courageously part with $25 for a sunset echinacea. I just couldn't. I've always been like that, can't think "BIG" unless I've carefully planned a budget in advance, and I'm too disorganized to do that.

I am guilty of hiding plants from hubby. You know when you were a kid and parents were forcing you to eat everything on the plate and you spread the cold vegetables around with the big bits of potato? SO SUBTLE. Well, I spread my groups of pots around in a similar way. "Oh, those? Those over there behind the shed? Heck, they've been there for months. Yeah, they'll keep. Yeah, they can be planted any time. No, I have lots of Astilbe. They spread fast. Feel like a nice cup of tea? $10? Nah they were marked down. You put the kettle on and I'll come in and make it." Whew. Interrogation over.

Then one day I bought 5 tiny cedars that were on sale, $5 a pop, thinking I'd strategically plant them in a place where I wanted a small line/border/backdrop. It was in my mind to eventually border the property with them but way way in the back of mind. Well, my non-gardening husband took that idea and ran with it. He was extremely excited, breathless, and made me take him to the nursery to get 25 more.

I was in anguish.

"NOOOOOOOO.... That's going to cost us $125!!!!!"

But I couldn't talk him out of it.

Next weekend, back for 50 more.

"Nooooooooooo... please, omg, this is too big a project for me... hundreds of dollars!!"

100 cedars later, lines of string, measuring tape, and a back injury... all that money gone on a hedge that will grow one foot per year. And despite his back injury (it was a BAD one) he loves the little things with all his heart and waters them daily.

They look nice but I still break out in a cold sweat when I look at them, and I think of that bank card sliding slowly across the counter to the checkout girl. Sigh.

Fun story, Pam. Despite the back injury and the huge expense, I think it's really positive that your DH found something he can put his heart into. Sometimes you just can't put a price on what they must mean to him.