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Old 22-01-2004, 02:34 AM
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Default Spring Hill & suggested other options for cheap plants (long)

Xref: kermit rec.gardens:262861

I f you're the sort who can "wait" you can also get lots of plants for
freeeeee by starting from cuttings. If you see a hedge you like being
pruned, you can start many of them from those tender new shoots that
are being shorn off that are a couple inches or more long, just gather
them up and keep them cool and moist until you can trim the ends with
a clean new razor blades.

Then immediately dip the cuttings in some rooting hormone (if it won't
stick dip the cutting into water then the rooting hormone, then poke a
hole into the rooting medium and insert the cutting I've used
peatmoss and sand to do cuttings but that *could* carry fungus or
bacteria, but it's what I had it and it worked. You can use
vermiculite or perlite just make sure that its moist.

I used a clear plastic bag what I put my rooting media in a few inches
deep. I poked holes in the media, inserted the cuttings, pressed the
rooting medium together on either side, and then twisted the bag
closed, after poking some drinking straws into the rooting medium to
keep the bag from collapsing onto the cuttings, and I poked a few
holes in the bag(s) for ventilation but not so large to let them dry
out.

I put them in bright light, but not direct sunlight. I watched the
media to make sure it wasn't drying out, and plucked out any
obviously dead cuttings, and watched for any fungal growth and plucked
those out. Eventually some will take root and if you took lots of
cuttings, you'll eventually have a free hedge ;-) Well, you'll
probably want to put them in pots for awhile or if you can protect
them, you could probably set them out after hardening off and their
developing a good root system, in place. So long as you can accept
some losses and have enough to "fill in" with.

It's not fast, but it's fun! You can start all kinds of plants from
cuttings, and there are some books out there that deal with getting
free plants. There's one with "free plants" in the title that deals
with plant propagation.

Oh, btw.. as to Spring Hill, I've never purchased from them, but there
are web sites that rate mail order plant sources this one was helpful
to me: http://gardenwatchdog.com/

Good luck


On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 18:08:58 -0600, "mmarteen"
wrote:

I had to landscape an entire yard for our new house last year. I saved
money by growing a lot of stuff from seed. Also check out local fundraising
plant sales and swaps in your area, your local hortacultural assn. probably
has a list. Apart from the mail order places that other people have
mentioned, I had good luck with Gilbert H. Wild, www.gilberthwild.com They
have great deals on large numbers of plants, like their 50 hostas for 50
dollars, 100 hosta for 100 dollars. They don't have every plant known to
mankind but they concentrate on daylillies, hostas, oriental lillies, iris
and peonys for good prices. Those kind of perennials are the tough,
rewarding kind that will form the backbone of a garden in almost any zone.

mm

"Jim Lewis" wrote in message
...

"PBarnes149" wrote in message
...
Has anyone out there purchased from them? I have my first

house and yard to
plant this year so I am curious about the different mail order

catalogs I get.
Thanks in advance for your help. Pat


It helps to know where you are from (we don't need an address,
just a general area;-). Someone may be able to recommend
something from your neighborhood.

Generally speaking you will almost always be better off buying
from a NURSERY in your area. By "nursery" I do NOT mean, Lowes,
Home Depot, Wal-Mart, K-Mart and others of that ilk. They're
fine for annuals, etc., and topsoil, gravel, pavers, etc. but I'd
avoid them for landscape plants. You never know how far the
plants they carry have traveled before they reach the X-mart lot.
Nor do you know the USDA climate zone their little genes have
acclimatized themselves to.

Local nurseries are more likely to buy their plants from
suppliers in the same USDA zone (or within a zone or two either
way). This means the plants should survive in your area. A GOOD
local nursery will also offer a guarantee -- and a *really* good
nursery will honor the guarantee even if it was your idiocy that
caused the plant to die. :-) Local nurseries also are more
likely to carry plants that are NATIVE to your area. Some may
even specialize in natives. And, for the same money (especially
when shipping is factored in) you will ALWAYS get a larger plant
locally.

All that said, I have bought and been happy with plants from
Wayside Gardens, White Flower Farm, and Parks (which, I think,
owns Wayside). All are quite a ways north of me, but their
plants did OK here -- perhaps taking a year or two longer to
adjust than a local nursery's might have done.

We are very lucky in having several excellent -- and large --
nurseries in our town, including one that specializes in North
Florida native plants, so I mostly just drool over the pictures
in the catalogs, then see what I can find locally. Most of our
local nurseries get their plants from a huge wholesaler who grows
on 1,000 acres a few miles north of me across the line in the
state of Georgia. So I KNOW these plants are ready!

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.



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