Funnily enough jancol "I think I'm addicted" were the exact words I used to my husband when I came home the other day with yet another 4 pots of plants.

To make matters worse, we are renovating our home a little and I'm the one who goes off to Bunnings to get things like a dimmer switch and wouldn't you know it...the electrical department is next to the garden section ....another 4 plants. I think I only volunteer to get the building stuff because unconsiously I know I maybe able to buy "plants".

And the Treloars booklet has arrived and then there's the Garden Express brochure and the native plants brochure...all neatly highlighted for intended purchases.

Perhaps we should start ga...(gardeners anonymous) and we can have a buddy to call when tempted to buy.

Solutions:
1) Join a gardeners group and get your hands dirty having a potting day, potting up bits and pieces from each others gardens to share, or to sell at a charity stall. You will find out how easy it is to raise plants for nothing. The nurseries are not selling you plants at all, they are selling you famcy pots, labels, potting soil, fertiliser, the manhours it takes to pot them up, transport and sell them, and the fuel and other transport related costs.
You will find that there are heaps of lovely things you can share with other gardeners, and before you know it you will have a new addiction - potting things up in the pots you pick up for next to nothing from the landfill centres.

2) Get involved on the exchange forum. It would be nice to see people advertisings haves instead of wants :-)

3) Plant small seedlings and plants in tubes rather than bigger plants. They will do just as well, and are cheaper.
Grow plants from seeds either bought, collected or exchanged, rather than from expensive punnets with fancy labels.

Just think of the articles you see in garden magazines, about people who garden for free. It can be done and is a lot of fun. Don't be sucked in by fancy labels and slick advertising.

Hear hear!! I just have to say that I think Jan (Sparaxis) has a very valid point. That is one of the reasons a lot of gardening shows annoy me. They very rarely (with Gardening Australia being the exeption) show you how to propagate your own plants. They are sponsored by gardening products, nurseries or hardware stores and the bottom line is sell, sell, sell!

Cheers,
Dee.

Hi everyone
Lots of good tips from Jan (sparaxis) and the iris she sent me are going well. Thanks Jan. I have tried potting up some of my own cuttings, lavender and pelagoniums etc but the only thing I seem to have luck with is the Iboza, which I love. Beautiful tree if anyone wants a piece, lovely nutmeg smelling leaves and pinky mauve frothy flowers.If I find my picture I'll stick it on the oz gallery. Stick a piece in the ground and up it comes usually. I think I have worked out what the attraction is. With punnets and plants It's instant colour, you see it you want it whereas if you have to pot it, it takes longer. I have tried seeds from ebay, lavender and daisies from my own garden, no luck with the daisies and lavender but maybe I am not patient enough and I am really furious as I bought three marguarite daisy bushes for about $8.00 each from a nursery here and they all died the same year. Was I supposed to cut them right down after flowering or were they only annuals?. I thought they were perennials. I only ever go backto that nursery now to get his $1.00 specials and they have been zinnias and they are doing nicely.
I think now I will just write down everything I splurge on and then I will have a better idea where all that money is going. Thanks for your help everyone.
Jan

Hi all

Have posted the photo of Iboza on Oz gallery. Sorry about the colour as the background is orange. The tree itself is a little beauty and so pretty. Now all i have to do is pot some up. Hope you like it. Jan

The best cure to stop me buying plants is Drought I don't dare buy or plant anything at the present time as our dams are getting down to 31.5% just a little too close to the cut off line at 30% where we lose the right to water with a hand held hose and have to do it with a bucket and I have enough plants to water now on this 3/4 acre block as it is as this is not a very old garden..So may it heave down soon all over Australia except way up North as they have had too much this year.

Well apart from cutting up the Visa or whatever, for on line purchases it is a little hard, Jan have you tried getting your name off their mailing lists it may help. And I know you do as Jan S said grow your own from cuttings, exchange, seeds and plants that's a terrific way to get lots of free ones.

Jan the only Lavender that grow well in our Humid climate is the French Lavender, it flowers for more than half the year so worth growing as they don't need a lot of water and don't like wet feet so in a raised bed they will fly away. I just took this pic of mine to show you how well they do grow here its about 1mtx1mt and gets bigger.
{{gwi:2112444}}

Marguerite Daisy or any of those including the Federation one Forget them they are a waste of money and yes you do treat them as a Annual here as they are never there in the next season what I used to do was take cuttings off the parent plant when it was a six months old that way I had continuous supply then I decided why bother there are plenty of other plants here that are just as pretty don't need as much water and last many years.. Jan you could have put your pic of the Iboza on here just do it the same way I showed you through Photobucket. Keep those cuttings up of that shrub as the plant is short lived..I hope you dont mind but I grabbed a pic of the Iboza flowers from somewhere so the girls could see how nice it looked here....Cheers..MM.
{{gwi:2112445}}

Hi MM

No I don't mind about you posting the iboza cutting, Aren't they lovely? Yours is far clearer than mine. I potted up some last night but kept the gloves on as I had lots of little cuts. I already have a bit of pleurisy so didn't want to exacerbate it..I keep thinking it could be legionnaires as I am a bit slap happy when potting up. Incidentally my iboza is about 8 years of age and still going strongly and I have another in back garden.

Jan,
Have you tried the markets in Rockhampton on Sunday mornings.
There are a couple of plant sellers there who have lovely plants and they are so much cheaper than the nurseries and woolies.
You will be surprised at the great range of plants there, I have lost very few of the ones I buy and they are all good for growing in the local area.
I am not going near any garden shops for the next while, saving up for our big trip.
Hope you are feeling much better now.
Marion

Hi Jan,

I second Marion's suggestion - I have had an excellent success rate with the plants from Rocky markets. If anything, I find that their stock is less likely to be pot-bound than some of the stuff in nurseries, due to their rapid turnover. Nursery owners argue that many of these people dont follow proper hygiene guidelines in their propagation, but I havent had a problem yet.

Sunday aside, I can relate to the temptation inherent in walking into a nursery. My strategy is to limit myself to a single nursery plant each week - doesnt always work, but it has made me a lot more selective. Helps that I now have the bones of my garden in place - it was a lot harder when I first bought the block last June.

Cheers,

Artie

The best advice I ever had re catalogues was:

Be as greedy as you want. Take lots of time drooling over the plants on offer. Spend time looking up the different varieties in garden books or on the net, to see what conditions they need. Plan in your head where you would like to grow these plants. Fill out your order form with your final selection. Don't worry too much about the price.
Now pop the catalogue and order form in a safe place, and when you finally discover it while spring cleaning next year, you will remember how much you saved. I think it is fair then, to allow that amount as your budget for the next catalogue you receive. Just repeat the same process.
Most of the fun is in the anticipation, so anticipate to your hearts content.