Haven't bought anything - yet. Friday I'm going to one of the Portland home/garden shows. Can't wait to see the display gardens where they plant new england flax with heuchera. Now that would be one interesting microclimate to handle that combo. I'm never much inspired by the display gardens. For me it is a WHOLE DAY with my gardening crazy neighbor sans kids and spouses to look at and buy gardening stuff!!!! No complaining from anyone. Can't wait.

I did transplant a huge elderberry Saturday and I am still really sore! It is worth it because now I can sleep knowing that my lovely stewartia pseudocamellia won't get sunburned this summer. Had a tree taken out last spring and the poor stewartia was in full sun from morning until evening. Now I have a huge hole where the elderberry was. Gosh, now I will be forced to go buy more shrubs and perennials. Life is hard, I'll suffer through it :)

Hah! Like you, I really treasure garden time without being lumbered by non-gardeners. Enjoy the show in Portland, and let us know what you get there, and what you get to replace the relocated elderberry.

My hands are so fatigued today I can hardly grip a coffee mug, heh heh. Guess I'll have to satisfy the gardening urge today with some more seed starting indoors. I've got plenty of goodies on order which should be delivered soon, but hopefully not for a day or two so I can fully recuperate, LOL.

Thanks for the reply. Let everyone know who gets what.
Grant

WE had an acquaintance give a seminar on pruning old fruit trees last week. Very interesting but I still had questions about how to prune such old trees as we have. I phoned him and got his wife. AFter a short conversation, she said that "he would be delighted to come and prune your trees". I started to laugh...she had NO idea what she was volunteering him for. Anyway, he came by on Monday and was quite taken aback by the negligence the poor old trees have suffered. He managed to help us prune one pear tree, but the rest are left for us to do. It was a cold, nasty, windy, wet day the day he was here and I haven't been brave enough yet to go out and attack the rest of them. It's much more fun to go out and purchase and plant!

I won't inspire you much with this but I bought a winter-blooming heather plant for my ramp. It has another one and a number of Thymes, and some summer-blooming heathers and a couple of Rosemaries. I have a couple of roses on order, Agnes (my sister's name), a rugosa, and Halloween that I saw in the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, a large and exotically fragrant peachy rose. I got a catalog from Sequoia Nursery today and am tempted to order another rugosa, Topaz Jewel, since reading that deer don't like rugosas, because I can plant them with impunity without having to surround them with fences.

Congrats on all the plants, Grant. I was out today removing leaves from the beds under my maple that have Anemone nemarosa since it won't be long until they will be coming up, in fact some were already, and the Sedum spectabiles are growing. Can't wait for spring...!!!

My entire newly terraced backyard needs planting. We normally shop for plant material at Molbaks and Wells-Medina. We decided to go further afield and went to Wights and Emery's in Lynnwood. We were shocked by the prices. Is their stock so much better that it justifies the cost? I figured Medina has to be about the most expensive real estate anywhere so it can't be the location.

We also went to Sky nursery but it was so cold and the wind was blowing so hard that we didn't stay long. We did peruse the maple selection though. We intended to go to Swanson's, but I had incorrectly copied the address. Do they have a good selection? How are they on price? Do you know if they have many Japanese maples?

All I bought at the Home Show was 4 packets of seeds from Emerys and a fern from the place across the aisle. My son-in-law is "Dan's Dahlias" and I was minding the baby so I only had time for a quick trip around the displays. I did pick up my Molbaks coupon though and that will get used in the next few days.

Devorah, I've noticed pricing is all over the map depending on where you go.

Well Medina - Actually is not too expensive, I love there selection of smaller 4 inch potted plants.
Molbaks - Actually is not too bad in price either, I frequently find good deals on 1 gallons, smaller potted stock.
Flower World - Not too bad in price, hit or miss on certain items.
Swansons - Pretty darn expensive on all their selection, but sometimes their sale items aren't bad. Kinda of a yuppie nursery.
Emery's - kinda pricey, considering their location.
Sky Nursery - Pretty pricey as well, again you'd think they'd be more affordable, being on Aurora.
Wight's Nursery - Overall, pretty high in price, but a few smaller items might be an affordable price.

My favorites are definatly, Wells and Molbaks.

Grant, I bought "Voodoo" Rose last summer, just planted it this last weekend. Very nice smelling rose, I have high hopes for it, we'll have to compare notes.

What I bought so far:

Rose 'Voodoo'

Top Rose 'Voodoo':

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Top Hat Blueberry (Sell Pollinator) Suppose to grow nicely in a pot. (Molbaks 12 bucks in 1 Gallon)

Top Hat Blueberry:

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Dichroa Febrifuga - related to hydrangeas (Molbaks 12 bucks 1 gallon)

Dichroa Febrifuga:

Bletilla Striata - Chinese Ground Orchids (Dark Pink) (Sky Nursery 5 bucks for 4 bulbs in Van Bloom packaging)

Beltilla Striata:

More to buy! I'm just getting started.

Why in the world would anyone think that location is the overriding factor in the pricing one finds at local nurseries? Sure, it has some bearing on the property taxes the owners may be paying (and btw, property fronting Aurora Avenue North does not come cheap nor does commercial zoned real estate in the Lynnwood area) but overhead is overhead regardless of where a nursery is located and those in established urban or built-up suburban areas face the same considerable heating, water and electrical expenses as homeowners located in those areas do, only magnified significantly and often with a commercial business-related surcharge attached.

What does influence pricing is the source of the plants (wholesale cost to the nursery), the efficiency of the operation and the traffic the nursery gets. Larger, well-established nurseries that have been around for decades and have good name recognition (like Molbak's or Swanson's) draw a larger clientel than younger, less well-known nurseries and so have the financial wherewithall to be able to take advantage of larger, volume buying power and that is often reflected in their pricing. Those nurseries that have their own growing facilities (Molbak's, Flower World) or have contract growing operations (Wells Medina) can also afford to offer reduced prices on some stock.

From one inside the local retail nursery industry, let me tell you that it is a tough business with a lot of competition from non-nursery plant purveyors (the box stores, discounters like WalMart and Fred Meyer, even grocery stores that offer plants as loss leaders against higher spending on their main product line), not to mention all the seasonal and weather-related aspects that impact sales and affect profitability. The expense of running a retail nursery is huge for a remarkably small return and if you think nursery owners are getting rich doing this, you are sadly mistaken. The prices retail nurseries charge reflect their costs of doing business - if pricing is higher at one nursery or another, you can bet there are similar higher costs associated with them.

May I jump in here for a minute. Yes I too like the best bang for my buck, but more important to me is the conditioin the plants are in when I buy them. I'd rather pay a few dollars more for a plant that has been well looked after. We have a small nursery up here that has suffered from the 'Big Box Stores' moving in, I would rather pay more for a well looked after plant, in a clean, well run nursery. Besides, I find although the prices might be higher, this little nursery goes the extra mile for me when I'm looking for that plant I just have to have.

A......

Thanks for the insight gardengal, sorry if I offended you.

I defiantly didn't understand all the complexities involved. Certainly, all the nursery's I called out are quality nursery's, with quality plants. We should defiantly support our local nursery's, having choices is a very important part of keeping things interesting.
I still feel that prices can be a big turn off if they seem substantially different from one nursery to another. I don't mind paying more for rarity and quality, as I often do. I tend to classify a nursery on whether their prices are higher in comparison with many other nurseries, I visit a lot of nursery's and are always comparing prices wherever I go. My shopping habits are driven on my experiences and satisfaction, I tend to go where I have a consistent experience. That said, I always give the nursery's I've drawn conclusions about many more chances to entice me. I will avoid making broad generalizations in the future.

I think the state should give nursery's tax breaks on their properties, as they're promoting green activities, tree planting, organic gardening, etc.

Dotty, let us know how your Continued Fruit Tree Pruning goes. How nice someone came by to get you started. Feel free to take and share some before and after pics. :) There is an untended pear tree two houses from my little garden and it's easily thirty feet tall. Last year it was absolutely COVERED with beautiful-looking pears (looked like Bosc to me, but I'm not sure). It definitely would benefit from some new caretaking. The squirrels (and fruit flies) sure loved all of those fruit! I can't tell you how many pear cores I've found in my garden, which is too far for them to fall into.

Nancy, your new plants sound fun! I am s-l-o-w-l-y warming up to heathers and have tucked in a few here and there. I'll have to look up your roses....thanks for providing their names.

Thanks for the pics, Hostaguy. Glad to hear a good report on the 'Voodoo' rose. I saw it mentioned in an article on bright-colored gardening and was really happy to see a nice one at Emery's. The description of "orange juice orange"definitely caught my eye. All of your other plants (and pics!) are excellent.

Midnight, I'm like you in that I prefer neighborhood/regional nurseries over the big box stores. I adore the West Seattle nursery, and most of the ones mentioned above, and will frequent them for most of my plant needs. Of course, I stray now and then when the delta is huge (it's hard for any nursery to beat 4 foot arborvitae for sale for under ten bucks as the big box stores sell them), but that's the exception more than the rule. I love the invested, local flavor of most city and neighborhood nurseries.

Okay, my hands have healed from my weekend planting marathon. Now WHERE are those mail order roses and shrubs?! My manure and I are ready (okay, okay, it's not MY manure, but some unknown bovines').

Take care,
Grant

I can't say that I've never bought from a big box store, sometimes you do find a little /big treasure there. If you can get to it as they are being unloaded from the truck you're in luck. I swear they stand at a distance and water their stock with a fire hose, after a day or two they look like crap! They sell tender plants much to early, not everyone has a greenhouse to nurse things along.
I love our local and not so local nurseries. The staff in them are usually very knowledgeable and can help you with most problems. The customer service, par excellence. I've just come in from the weed patch, dirty clothes, dirty fingernails (can't stand gloves) and I've tracked mud across the carpet so I must go clean up.

Later,
A......

I didn't find any good pics online of 'Halloween' but it sure sounds like a nice rose. Is it a hybrid tea? So far I've resisted all hybrid teas and have gone with just floribundas, rugosas, landscape (trying 'Rainbow Knockout' this year) and small-flowered climbers (so far!).

Here's a pic of what I think is your 'Agnes' rose. It's nice you selected one with your sister's name. I'm a huge fan of rugosas and this one looks great, especially if it's heavily fragrant as it's listed to be.

Here is a link that might be useful: Agnes Rose

Grant- here are photos of Halloween on helpmefind.com, which also has clematis and peony databases.

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=3157&tab=10

I don't know what there is to recommend it over other peachy roses, other than admiring it in person. I bought a couple of other peachy roses last year-Gabriel Noyelle, Westerland, Apricot Queen, Buff Beauty, and have Apricot Nectar, My Honey mini, Crepuscule, and Reve d'Or. The jury is still out on the new ones, they are still tiny own-roots. The older ones are great.

You would be surprised how many roses I have bought over the last few years. Hundreds. Most are mini's that may not have made it, some HT's, quite a few Old Garden Roses, which are my favorites. Some do well, some die, some struggle along. I'm not much for fertilizing, pruning, or spraying, plants just do well for me or not under the circumstances, I just spread myself too thin with too many plants and beds on 2 acres with constant blackberry weed problems among others. As far as perennials in general, I have bought over 1000, fruit and nut trees 185+. Not all survive. I don't have financial resources to blanket all my beds in deep mulch every year so have a lot of weeds but chip the blackberry vines for mulch and have been working on having soaker hoses in beds and weed barrier and mulched paths.
But I enjoy gardening and spend most of my time on my vegetables and fruits.

Here is a link that might be useful: Halloween photos

Shopping .... did you mention shopping? I've been busy. :D

We moved into this house last summer so I've got lots to do to make the garden mine. First up is some privacy so I scored three huge red cedars from my favorite nursery which is only 5 minutes away now. Also picked up two rhodos, three sarcacoccas and three skimmias (2 males & 1 female)while I was there.

Went grocery shopping yesterday and found a heather to replace one that's half dead and two false cypresses.

Lotsa planting in my future. Today I was out and moved a few things to make way for the cedars. Hoping the rain holds off and I can get them planted this weekend.

I ordered some shrubs from Forest Farm. I'm tired of buying small perennials and losing quite a few over the years and want to get something more permanent that will get big and hopefully bloom a lot.
Philadelphus Dwarf Snowflake
Illicium henryi
Hypericum kalmianum
Hypericum frondosum
Chasmanthium latifolia, Northern Sea oats, a grass with interesting flowers that self-sows.

Great link, Nancy, thanks so much for sending it. Congrats on all of your new plants, too. I like your strategy, so definitely keep us posted on how everything does for you.

Dawn, keep us posted on what you get as well, and how it does for you. It's fun to talk about who is getting what, and how it's doing.

Happy gardening,
Grant

If you're not looking for named varieties, Angelo's Nursery on 156th in Bellevue is a great source for shrubs and perennials. They seem to sell mostly to landscapers who know what they want. It's really self-service--grab a wagon and pick out what looks good to you. Don't expect to get advice on what to choose or how to keep it alive.

The trick is to drop in regularly to see what just came in, because what doesn't sell right away gets pretty ratty-looking after a bit. But I've gotten hostas for

I made a deal with myself that I wouldn't buy anything until I'd planted out all the stuff I bought last year. And the year before. (I buy a lot of bare-root seedlings, and grow them for a year or two in 1 gallon containers before planting them out)
So, I've been beating myself up starting a new border in a location where I have to saw through tree roots just to dig a hole, planting out some native trees and shrubs, and moving some less desirable shrubs,like the camellia that has not bloomed once in 7 years, even though it was covered with blossoms when I bought it, to the sub-prime real estate. This weekend, however, I intend to hit the plant sales. For native plant lovers, I recommend the Snohomish Conservation District sale at Evergreen Fairgrounds in Monroe.

Hey trolley molly - I made a deal with myself too. You may want to try this one: I will never make another deal with myself regarding buying plants ever again!

I can happily report that I have never broken this deal.

My deal is this: I have a staging area to keep all plants purchased. I will faithfully water and properly care for these plants. I will even arrange said pots in a pleasing manner and refer to it as my potted garden.

I can happily report that I have never broken this deal either.

Enjoy!

Oh yeah, I've made another - anyone who wants to can see my garden at any time. It is always in the process of being reworked and never looking it's best. I garden for myself and have finally gotten over feeling like it has to look great for "real gardeners" to see. Must have something to do with wrinkles settling in. Just enjoying life.

Happy gardening and plant purchasing!!!

muddysocks- good philosophy. I look at my plant purchases as educational material. I learn a lot from them and find some that do poorly and some that do extravagantly well. It beats most enterprises. And even if my landscaping attempts don't look like P. Allen Smith's, I learn something and enjoy all the surprises. And I plant a lot of edibles so there's always some serious snacking available during the late spring until frost.;-P

trolley_molly, do you find potting your seedlings to have a big impact on their survivability? I'll be at the SCD sale on Saturday to pick up my pre-order. This is the second year I put in a pre-order for use in my one acre forest diversification project. Last year I was out of the country and had my husband pick up the seedlings and heel them in until I got back. I had a poor success rate with the big leaf maples and western hemlocks. The shrubs seemed to do fine.

I've forgotten exactly how many trees and shrubs I ordered this year, but I'll be busy with them and the bare root pears and cherry I hope to get later in the day on Saturday. I hope the weather holds out for digging on Sunday (and the snow melts).

trolley_molly, I just want to second your vote for Angelo's. I've gotten some real deals there - you just have to really look at what you're buying. The japanese maple sale is sometimes incredible, as is the bulb sale. Angelo's son is a little more into talking about the plants, and he's much more visible in the business lately. He does the same thing as his father with the surprise discounts, too. There's also a young woman you often find at the register who is pretty knowledgable -you just have to catch them when they aren't swamped.

The other thing that's great from Angelo's is their soil. They have a mix that's the best I've ever purchased.

I also like the idea that they rescue trees and shrubs and resell them at bargain prices. It's definitely a risk, and they aren't going to deliver, but it's nice, too.

I'm glad they're there if for no other reason than I can afford them! Wells, Molbaks, etc. just break the bank.

Hey - someone bought a Tophat blueberry. Where did you buy it? I've ordered one twice and not gotten it either time.

Mkirkwag, I got the TopHat blueberry, I bought it at Molbaks. I think I paid 12 bucks for 1 gallon.

I'll look. By the time you pay the shipping and get the tiny plant, may as well do Molbak's.

I did get out to a couple of garden centers yesterday, looking for Primula Miss Indigo, no luck so far, didn't come home empty handed though, that's a laugh when did I ever come home empty handed. Picked up Euphorbias 'Elfanthia','Charam' and 'Waleuphrud', Sarcococca hookerana, Thyme 'Silver Posie', Origanum 'Country Cream', Anemones, Eucomis, and Acidanthera. Now I'm going to get a chance to use my new copper plant labels from Lee Valley, they came in the mail yesterday ;o).

A......