Where's the best place to buy plants?

[Fortunatepiggy]

B and q etc is where I normally go but I've seen some online garden centres are they any good? Otherwise normal garden centres can be a bit pricey I think

Any advice?

I think it depends what you're after. I have had some fantastic basics from Morrison's for very little. Wilko is very reasonable for bedding plants, although in a very small time frame.

For fancier stuff, or anything big, I'd go garden centre or RHS.

Church fete type sales can be great too.

Of it's on line, I try to buy from small nurseries, or family run businesses, rather than just plant importers. With the nurseries you tend to get lots of info and descriptions of the plants and they needs/ habits.
I bought clematis from Taylor's, and it turned out to be the wrong one, they refunded me in full, do it can pay to go specialist.

I've had hit and miss with online
Crocus - generally ok but not cheap
Millias - rhododendron nursery - good plants arrived quickly in lovely condition.
Thompson & Morgan - some stuff arrived in good condition, some stuff was almost dead and not revivable and some didn't arrive, customer service was shite
Parkers - everything arrived and is currently thriving
Pomona fruits - fruit trees, bushes & rhubarb all thriving

I've had good stuff from Morrisons, cuttings from others, b&q (hit & miss), the range, home bargains (hit & miss), local independent nursery

I'd look out for some village hall jumble sale type events. I bought some tiny little seedlings in a pot for 10p! was told they were petunias but they turned out to be rudbeckia!!

I also bought some perennial plug plants from Thomson and Morgan - 72 plants for 4.99 or something like that. They were hard work to get going but I only lost a couple and filled a large bed.

Your local garden centre. Chances are the plants will be locally grown and not imported from warmer climates only to perish here.
They will also know the local soil and what plants will thrive in it.

Almost all of the plants in my local garden centres are bought in from far away, they seem to grow very little these days.

I buy the odd bit from the supermarket and grow from seed/cuttings a fair bit.

I tend to buy from specialist growers for different things online. Thorncroft are good for dwarf clematis for instance although my latest clematis is not doing very well , I thought it would be stunning but it looks a bit feeble and only has one flower!

I live near a RHS garden and find that the plants I buy there and from the local NT gardens do really well because they are grown locally. No more expensive than anywhere else and sometimes cheaper as they are very good at reducing what needs to be sold off.

Proper plant places are happy to keep their stock over winter, whereas other places tend to clear out for Christmas, so there'll be bargains about in garden centres and DIY places at the moment.

David Austin is very good for roses. I think there are some in the gardens of Buckingham Palace and at Kew. The potted roses are a great gift too.

Crocus is expensive but really good quality. Thompson and Morgan sometimes have really cheap deals so it's worth getting on their mailing list.