Hi

Are nurseries generally cheaper than garden centres, or does it really
depend on the individual place? Does anyone know any cheap places for
bedding plants around the Oxford area? We want some black grass, maybe other
grasses, and butterfly/bee attractive plants such as lavender.

Thanks
Bigus

"Bigus" wrote

Are nurseries generally cheaper than garden centres, or does it really
depend on the individual place? Does anyone know any cheap places for
bedding plants around the Oxford area? We want some black grass, maybe
other
grasses, and butterfly/bee attractive plants such as lavender.

In my experience they usually are, but the real killer is that they usually
are much better quality plants because they grew them from
seed/cuttings/plugs and know how to look after them and most probably have
decades of experience.
With most plant families it's also better to visit a specialist nursery
where the choice will be significantly greater as GCs only stock plants they
can sell in bulk. It's often the only place to buy that unusual plant.
Just don't expect a tea room & toilets although there are some notable
exceptions. :-)

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

On 9 Apr, 13:54, "Bigus" wrote:
Hi

Are nurseries generally cheaper than garden centres, or does it really
depend on the individual place? Does anyone know any cheap places for
bedding plants around the Oxford area? We want some black grass, maybe other
grasses, and butterfly/bee attractive plants such as lavender.

Thanks
Bigus

When buying fruit, hedging or other trees one gets a choice of size
and rootstocks at the nursery - unlike the garden centres. I use
nurseries for all my hedging, fruit and other stuff that requires
ordering in bulk - cheaper too.

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...


"Bigus" wrote

Are nurseries generally cheaper than garden centres, or does it really
depend on the individual place? Does anyone know any cheap places for
bedding plants around the Oxford area? We want some black grass, maybe
other
grasses, and butterfly/bee attractive plants such as lavender.

In my experience they usually are, but the real killer is that they
usually are much better quality plants because they grew them from
seed/cuttings/plugs and know how to look after them and most probably have
decades of experience.
With most plant families it's also better to visit a specialist nursery
where the choice will be significantly greater as GCs only stock plants
they can sell in bulk. It's often the only place to buy that unusual
plant.
Just don't expect a tea room & toilets although there are some notable
exceptions. :-)

I found a nursery just north of Kidlington and they did serve tea and cake!
I resisted though. They do seem to be a bit cheaper for bedding plants,
maybe not so much cheaper for one-off type plants and trees. We also went to
B&Q and Homebase but it was nice at the nursery to have someone on hand to
ask questions.

Thanks for all your replies :-)

Bigus

I've found that nurseries tend to have a better supply of plants but it is much further to travel to than my local garden centre so basically if I need something out of the ordinary I'll go to the nursery if I want something that is fairly standard I go to the garden centre.

On 12 Apr, 13:36, GardeningGuyJon GardeningGuyJon.
wrote:
Bigus;882928 Wrote:

Hi

Are nurseries generally cheaper than garden centres, or does it really
depend on the individual place? Does anyone know any cheap places for
bedding plants around the Oxford area? We want some black grass, maybe
other
grasses, and butterfly/bee attractive plants such as lavender.

Thanks
Bigus

I've found that nurseries tend to have a better supply of plants but it
is much further to travel to than my local garden centre so basically if
I need something out of the ordinary I'll go to the nursery if I want
something that is fairly standard I go to the garden centre.

--
GardeningGuyJon

Isn't this question typical of the modern frame of mind.
Are they cheaper?
I'd have thought that the questions should be.......
Are the plants better?
Is there a better selection of plants (Which havn't traveled half way
accross Europe)?
Is there someone who can answer your questions and give advice?
You want all this and lower prices?
I got sick of people comming into the nursery and quibling over the
price. these werer people who would go to the local garden
centre( Wyevale) and pay almost twice as much and not wory about the
price.
This and the people who thought it was fair game to steal plants
rather than buy them, even digging them up from around the car park
are the reasons I stoped opening to the public,
We all like a bargain, but is £5.00 for a plant that is going to last
for years, or £15 for a tree that could last the next 50 years
expensive?
David Hill

GardeningGuyJon wrote:
I've found that nurseries tend to have a better supply of plants but it

Maybe you have better nurseries near you than we do, but I tend to find it's
the other way around - the nurseries have a large stock of a handful of
varieties, where the garden centres seem to have a lot more variety.

But I do find that nurseries are a lot cheaper, and the plants do tend to be
a lot more reliable.

The message

from Dave Hill contains these words:
\snip\
but is £5.00 for a plant that is going to last
for years, or £15 for a tree that could last the next 50 years
expensive?
David Hill

No it certainly isn't David - and what's more, I'll wager you can offer
a better quality product at that price than a garden centre ever will!

It is a great shame that the buying public, or that section of the
buying public, who would rather thieve than pay have forced you to close
to the rest of the honest population. Alas, this is the price we have
to pay for such folk.

Our local garden centre is a small family run affair, the owner of which
is a good source of local knowledge and advice. This used to be the
norm for garden centres everywhere but nowadays size and profit driven
business mean that unsuitable staff are often recruited 'on the cheap' -
to our loss.

--
Compo

The message
from contains these words:
\snip\
But I do find that nurseries are a lot cheaper, and the plants do tend to be
a lot more reliable.

Nurseries tend to specialise, whereas garden centres generalise. This
can lead to a thinner layer of knowledge among the garden centre staff
because they have such a vast species stocking policy. If you want the
best expert advice and opinion you should go to the experts - those who
grow rather than just sell.

--
Compo - Still here.

"Dave Hill" wrote in message
...

Isn't this question typical of the modern frame of mind.
Are they cheaper?
I'd have thought that the questions should be.......
Are the plants better?

That depends on what you are doing and your financial position. We've
basically stripped our back garden, which the previous owners had done
absolutely nothing with, got rid of the old shed, created a new veggie plot
and new flower bed. Now, when you go round a garden centre and all the
plants you like seem to be about 6 quid, and you want say 20 of them, then
that's alot of cash. If a nursery was a quid of two cheaper then that's a
fairly big saving in total, and what's wrong with approaching something from
a cost perspective, when you have lots of other things to buy and a budget
limitation? If I just wanted one or two new plants for a flower bed then I
would be more concerned about quality and price wouldn't be an issue.

Bigus