On Tue, 07 Jan 2014 11:46:32 +0000, Sacha wrote:
[]
Ray rang this morning. These shrubs are £20 in 7cm pots but you can have
3 for £49.50! The plants are about 8 inches tall. No wonder pot size
isn't mentioned in this ad. This is even smaller than I'd imagined. We
were thinking at least 9cm pots. I wonder how many people buy them,
unwary and unseen, only to be astonished at what they've spent their £20
on.

Well that's simply outrageous!

Personally I prefer size, i.e. 1l, 3l etc. 7 cm tells all you need to
know also... very small.

I'm afraid it's standard practice for rarer plants to need a couple of
years of nursing before planting out. They arrive in such limited
quantity and are immediately snapped up, at whatever size, by
collectors. For rarities there's no choice but to order by mail, there
simply isn't any local availability. (Of course here in France there are
fewer good nurseries now, because they're taxed on stock as well as on
sales, so simply propagating becomes very expensive. A real shame.)

Also, small plants are cheaper to ship (assuming this cost is passed to
the buyer), and should be cheaper to buy. I get 2 yr Japanese maple
cultivars (grafted) for 8-10 € each, then I can grow them on.

-E

--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

On 07/01/2014 18:39, Emery Davis wrote:
On Tue, 07 Jan 2014 11:46:32 +0000, Sacha wrote:
[]
Ray rang this morning. These shrubs are £20 in 7cm pots but you can have
3 for £49.50! The plants are about 8 inches tall. No wonder pot size
isn't mentioned in this ad. This is even smaller than I'd imagined. We
were thinking at least 9cm pots. I wonder how many people buy them,
unwary and unseen, only to be astonished at what they've spent their £20
on.

Well that's simply outrageous!

Personally I prefer size, i.e. 1l, 3l etc. 7 cm tells all you need to
know also... very small.

I'm afraid it's standard practice for rarer plants to need a couple of
years of nursing before planting out. They arrive in such limited
quantity and are immediately snapped up, at whatever size, by
collectors. For rarities there's no choice but to order by mail, there
simply isn't any local availability. (Of course here in France there are
fewer good nurseries now, because they're taxed on stock as well as on
sales, so simply propagating becomes very expensive. A real shame.)

Also, small plants are cheaper to ship (assuming this cost is passed to
the buyer), and should be cheaper to buy. I get 2 yr Japanese maple
cultivars (grafted) for 8-10 € each, then I can grow them on.

-E


I think more info should be given about the age of the plant, since I
imagine this is what mainly determines its value. Box plants are as
common as muck and difficult to kill, but still command a high price.

There is a magnificent Camellia round the corner from us that must be 20
years old and seems quite happy growing in a chimney pot.

On 2014-01-07 18:39:11 +0000, Emery Davis said:

On Tue, 07 Jan 2014 11:46:32 +0000, Sacha wrote:
[]
Ray rang this morning. These shrubs are £20 in 7cm pots but you can have
3 for £49.50! The plants are about 8 inches tall. No wonder pot size
isn't mentioned in this ad. This is even smaller than I'd imagined. We
were thinking at least 9cm pots. I wonder how many people buy them,
unwary and unseen, only to be astonished at what they've spent their £20
on.

Well that's simply outrageous!

Personally I prefer size, i.e. 1l, 3l etc. 7 cm tells all you need to
know also... very small.

I'm afraid it's standard practice for rarer plants to need a couple of
years of nursing before planting out. They arrive in such limited
quantity and are immediately snapped up, at whatever size, by
collectors. For rarities there's no choice but to order by mail, there
simply isn't any local availability. (Of course here in France there are
fewer good nurseries now, because they're taxed on stock as well as on
sales, so simply propagating becomes very expensive. A real shame.)

Also, small plants are cheaper to ship (assuming this cost is passed to
the buyer), and should be cheaper to buy. I get 2 yr Japanese maple
cultivars (grafted) for 8-10 € each, then I can grow them on.

-E

This particular plant is a little bit unusual but not a rarity in the
true sense. We sell it in 2 litre pots for £12.50! I'm not naming it
for obvious reasons but these are not seedlings taken from a Puya
clinging to a mountainside with a dead sheep at its roots! Both size
and price in the ad are simply outrageous in our view and make us
shudder!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon