Where have all the plants gone?
This is a question I am often asked by gardeners and members of garden clubs. After journeying to the local garden centre or hardware box-store with the intent to spend money, it is worrying that many gardeners state they leave the establishment without handing over a single cent.
So what has gone wrong?
In the ‘good old days’ gardeners could pop down to their local garden centre, fill the car, head home and spend the weeks to come busy and content.
In the ‘good old days’ there were many small specialist growers who would propagate rare and interesting plants and retails stores would offer an array of old and interesting ‘new’ plants.
In the ‘good old days’ there was not much information around so gardeners would head to the local garden centre (nursery) and ask for advice and get solutions.
In the ‘good old days’ gardening was not a leisure activity.. .it was a stable expectation for everyone with property, growing fruit, vegies and ornamentals.
Yes, the ‘good old days’ have gone and most of the above features have changed due to economics, business competition, smaller gardens and higher population density, plus the fact that information is now more readily available on television, radio, print and the internet.
Production nurseries that grow the plants gardeners buy, are threatened by urban development and money-counting accountants – sad, but true! It is easier for a nursery to grow many of the same plant, rather than more variety but will less quantity per plant.
Local garden centres are harder to find but big-box hardware stores have proliferated. Although this may indicate less options for gardeners, big-box hardware stores still have decent plant selling areas within their walls. In fact, it is sometime possible to find plants in these big stores that otherwise would never be seen in a small suburban garden centre.
So the question arises… where do gardeners buy interesting plants?
Current trends of passionate gardeners have identified these as sources for unusual and rare plants:
- Garden Clubs
- Internet
- Gardening Events/Open Gardens
- Garden Centres (ask the staff to source it for you)
- Gardening Magazines
Quality of the plants appear not to be important to new gardeners – but it SHOULD be. Diseases and pests can be introduced into gardens if sick plants are purchased. Significant diseases like Myrtle Rust, Phytophthora, etc can devestate a garden. Buying plants from reputable retails outlets provide gardeners with a sense of security that plants are clean of diseases and pests.
Price of plants is a bug-bear for gardeners. Fancy labels are not essential but can provide valuable information at the point of sale – it can sway the consumer to buy the plant if the information and image on the label is appealing and appropriate for their gardening needs. However, serious gardeners only need a plain label with correct plant identification – they can source the cultural information using their own resources. Cheap plants at markets, street stalls and similar outlets appeal to beginner gardeners but this can lead to buying weeds (yes, weeds), incorrectly named plants or possibly diseased plants.
Is the plant worth 8.95 ? Yes it is. Let’s first think about a cup of coffee bought at the local cafe for 3.50. This lasts around 15 minutes to drink – that’s the life of the drink. Now consider a plant that grows for 10 years… 8.95 is extremely cheap. One could say TOO CHEAP! A plant that lasts more than one year is cheap even if it costs 30.00 (that’s 8 cents a day value, compared to the coffee).
So if you miss seeing a range of plants in your local garden centre, tell them so. Ask them to get more range. Ask them to source the plants you are after. Buy from your local retail outlets – don’t just use them from information.
Editor Rant by Paul Plant
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for this Paul. Our local nursery has closed and the position is dire. Bunnings, 45 minutes away, is the only place now for anything other than natives, though we are fortunate in having several good ones relatively nearby. I don’t like to buy from Bunnings because they are too big, so now I buy mainly online.
Paul, I’ve just visited your RSS feed and would love to try the plants you have given there. Where can I find them?
A further ‘thank you’ for your analogy of a cup of coffee in relation to plant prices. I baulk at a plant for 30 but have never thought of it the way you put it.
Hi Salwa
Thanks for comments – I am please the analogy helps show the financial value to a garden plant.
Most of the plants often featured here are examples of specimens that are often hard to source – ask your local garden centre, go to events, join clubs or check online sellers.
Other specimens are commonly sold in garden centres (and yes, box-stores).
Cheers, Paul
That is an excellent way to look at the cost of plants, if only the plants I like to buy only cost 8.95. The suburb I live in has primarily acre blocks, and the main form of gardening is driving the Ride-on on the weekend. It really makes those people making an effort in the garden stand out.
One of the problems I see in my area are local markets. What can the retail industry do to combat the Markets, the retail nursery has to compete against these weekenders that sell plants cheaper, with no rent or associated costs to contend with?
I will be very sad to see my favorite nursery close at the end of the year. They can no longer compete.
Hi Jason, acreage does seem to increase the overall cost of gardening simply due to the volume of plants you may need to buy. This is also the perfect reason why narrow small plants are not the ideal selection specimens for large gardens as you need to buy more of them. Instead look for robust and sprawling plants that take up space yet look great – a range of natives or non-natives will take take of that.
Also, a single plant worth 100 that lives for 2 years or more is still only 0.13 cents a day
As a fruit tree nursery where we have 1,375 different plants that we grow and were at one stage considering to try and supply the “big box stores” like bunnings by growing say just a few lines for them.
However we decided against this and chose selling direct to the public through our mail order store. We now have very cool boxes for plants that allow them to be shaken and tipped upside down without harm and it allows us to try and focus on as big a range as possible.
Although we do still like it when people visit our nursery in Kyogle because our staff can often recommend pollinators or suitable plants for their climate. This aspect is often missed in the big stores.
Great and timely article
Thanks for your post, Correy. Sounds as though I’d better visit you as our local nursery has closed and even Bunnings is nearly an hour away – not that I like to buy from them. Good point about pollinators.