Janet Baraclough..11/4/04 5:19
k

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:

In article , Brian
writes
Monkey Puzzle trees grow quite quickly but need very large gardens and
should be planted when less than 12" high. Expect to pay through the nose!
Our garden centre has one at about 14" in a container at £88!!

That is outrageous!
You can get them far cheaper than that.

I agree it's outrageous, but I've noticed more and more GC's doing the
same; they have a few strategically placed plants with astronomical
prices, and amazingly, they sell like hot cakes.
The plant themselves are not rare, or very large.

I suspect that it's a (highly successful) sales tactic aimed at the
kind of designer-label shoppers who confuse high price with high value.


I think that's on a par with the sort of nursery customers who buy anything
if it's in flower. But if they ask for suggestions for a shrub for a
particular spot and what you suggest is perfect but in its dormant phase,
they will reject it. Even showing them pictures and RHS Encyclopedia
descriptions doesn't help. It's a combination of not knowing enough to
plan forward and wanting 'instant gratification'. ;-) Perhaps it's the
same sort of gardener who comes in to buy a tree or shrub because their next
door neighbour has one. If you suggest they buy something different so that
both houses will have something else to enjoy you get a funny "have you got
two heads" sort of look. I'm not blaming them BTW - it's their garden! -
but it seems that fewer people now buy shrubs in the autumn for
forward-planning.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)