Planting up new beds so where to buy the plants from ?

[TheDogsMother]

We've just had some landscaping done and new have two largish areas to plant up (and another two to reorganise probably). My feeling is that going to a mainstream garden centre would be not only expensive but I would only have the choice of what looks good right now. Does anyone know where I could shop in bulk for plants that aren't necessarily in season now as I'm aiming to get a bit more year round (or at least all summer) interest ? I wonder if wholesalers would entertain this if I was buying a reasonable amount. Thanks in advance wise gardeners

You need a local nursery who would advise on what is good in your area and would probably give you a discount if you are buying lots.

I really don't know whether Wholesalers would sell to you (but you could always ask), but I'm in a similar position of having a garden to fill and have been doing a bit of a mixture of things:

A) working out what my favourite/best performing plants are from previous gardens and making a list
B) Checking out supermarkets, B&M stores, The Range for cheap garden staples: Clematis, Honeysuckles, certain shrubs
C) Visiting garden centres and having a poke around in their sale section for things that have finished flowering and some often have smaller versions of common shrubs
D) Visiting open gardens in the NGS scheme, village fetes etc and visiting the plant stall
E) Buying on Ebay (and checking out the websites of some of the sellers to buy directly from them)
F) Going to gardens which are open to the public where they sell plants they have propagated themselves (or local horticultural colleges)
G) Dropping into every small nursery and garden centre when I'm out and about and rooting through what they have for sale for more unusual things

And there is always asking friends for cuttings. I do like plants, and like to have a lot of things to choose from when I'm planting them up so I've currently got about 50 plant pots waiting for the next border to be dug.

If you want successive flowering, you probably need to make a plan of what you want before you go shopping.

Thanks Alternative and loads of great ideas there 9greenbottles. The existing planting we have is lovely while it is in flower but there is very little interest from July onwards so I've bought some software (The Weatherstaff Planting Planner) which takes into account bed size/shape, walls etc, climate, style, existing plants and proposes ideas for all season interest. A bit of a cheat but I need all the help I can get . I do keep an eye out at fetes and have also had cuttings from my Mum's garden. But Ebay, NGS etc are all great ideas thanks. I guess if I get my list together and keep it with me I can keep an eye out wherever I go.

I've recently filled two large beds from a range of garden centres, supermarkets (all of them and various sites of the same ones too) and the local market. I've had the best value by far from the market. I've planted for year long interest too. I have bought a large range of things including lots of varieties and colours of lavender and hebes. The same hebe is £7.99 in the market and £14.99 in my local (albeit calming, beautifully presented and comprehensive) garden centre. I m also taking dome plants off my mum's hands (!) and plan to plant bulbs and seeds in readiness for next year.

Also we've employed a weekly gardener and she buys from the wholesaler for us. She buys more established plants for the same cost as we would buy younger plants in a garden centre. Could you get an introduction to trade gardener?

The supermarkets hve had some great hardy plants lately including salvia, hardy nemesia, hardy fuschia and acers.

Well tidy

Which supermarkets?

9 green bottles

I agree about b&m. I've had some very healthy plants from them. 3 for £5 is such a good deal!

welltidy Funny you should mention the market. I was looking at plants at our local one yesterday and you're quite right, they are well priced. They had small Acer trees for £12 which I thought was good. Supermarkets is also a good call as is the gardener. We know a guy who does the planting side of landscaping so I think I'll see if he would be a way into the wholesalers as it would be good to have access to slightly more mature plants. I've found a few websites, Gardening Express for example that seem to be quite well priced too. Thanks everyone for all the ideas

I forgot to ask though what is B & M ?

Tesco plants are reasonable or often Summer fetes are good for plants. Have 2 doing well from last year.

B&M is a cheap homeware store, like Poundstretcher.

I've had some amazing plant bargains from Morrisons. Not the most exotc varieties but great when you need volume on a budget.

data I had an acer for £3 in Tesco, and scabiosa for the same price. Waitrose have had some wonderful quality plants including sweet peas in a wigwam, salvia and hardy nemesia (cheaper than the garden centre, but not absolutel bargains, I grant you).

You cannot move all plants at all times of year.

So one thing to consider is working out what you want to get, and when is the best time to replant. This may well leave you with gaps first year or so, and one common way to fill them is with annuals (from seed, even if it's a bit later than the packet says) or any remaining plug plants.

Try car boot sales too as you can get some gems.

We bought an acer for £2 about 10 years ago. It's now about 9 feet tall, glorious and much admired.

Supermarkets are good for perennials. Homebase often have lots of plants marked down or half price and they've been fine with a bit of trimming and tlc before planting out.

Whereabouts are you in the country? There's a great nursery called The Big Plant Nursery not far from us. They do lots of exotics but also have everyday shrubs, very healthy and much cheaper than garden centres.

www.bigplantnursery.co.uk/index.php

Our garden is thriving with mostly cheap b and m and wilkinsons plants with a few specimens from Waitrose when they have three or two offers, that plus some wildlife seeds and the beds are crammed full after being sparse two years ago.

We need ideas for evergreens so it's not all bare soil in the winter.

Doga I use the crocus website for lots of ideas and to research flowering periods, spread, hardiness etc. But I don't buy much from them as I find them even more expensive than the garden centre, they are fantastic if you want something in particular though. I had a lovely large mophead hydrangea Zebra which I couldn't get elsewhere.

I've bought fabulous acers, a deutzia, delphiniums, foxgloves, agapanthus, patio roses, salvia, penstemon and campanula from the market. All so much cheaper than elsewhere. I am a bit of a planner, and I like going somewhere knowing what I am going to get, but of course the market isn't like that! You go not knowing what they've brought on the day. The trade off is the value for money.

I buy from Crocus when they have offers as they have more unusual plants as well. One thing to bear in mind is that many of them are very small when you buy them so the instant impact in the garden may not be there. The local market has some great plants and cuttings from others can be great.

Have you got room to grow from seed? I bought little propagators and wild flower seeds.
Markets - I agree are probably cheapest

Thanks everyone, there's lots of good ideas here. welltidy that's a good idea about finding out planting times from Crocus and I could add these to the plan. Deux great call, we're also West Sussex so I will get myself over there. I'm expecting this to look a bit patchy for the first couple of years so its not a big deal if I have a few gaps. beepbeep how did you get on with your ideas on evergreens as the garden can be a bit bare over winter ?

Here are some small evergreen/semi-evergreen perennials just from looking at my hoard:

Heuchera
Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve'
Bergenia
Ophiopogon planiscapus Nigrescens
Artemisia Ludoviciana/Abrotanum
Stachys Lanata
Phlomis Fruticosa/Italica
Hypericum Hidcote
Hellebores
Pulmonaria
Rosemary
Sage
Lavender

Bigger evergreens
Photinia
Phormium
Garrya
Laurel
Eleagnus
Choisya
Mahonia
Escallonia
Ceanothus

Apologies for any spelling mistakes

9greenbottles Thank you so much, that's a brilliant list and thank you MNetters for all your gardening wisdom

Van MeuwAn have loads of offers at the moment. I bought Chrysanthemums plugs and I was really impressed with quality and size. They were 10 for £2.40

There are usually a lot of plants for sale at our local car boot sale and at prices much lower than in the supermarkets or Homebase.. But if you want specific species of plants then it is not so doable.