New gardener - cost of plants

[Powergower]

We have a lovely garden we inherited from the previous owners. We've been here 9 years and only this year have we spent time looking after it, and that's only because we are wfh and have no commute time.

I've purchased some plants online - fuschia trees, hydrangea and clematis. They are quite expensive and not all of them are doing well. On average they cost between £10-17 for cuttings which I've potted.

Since lockdown has eased I've popped to the shops and have seen the same cuttings for around £2-3 for the same plants. I just wanted to ask whether cuttings from places like wilko and b&q are just as good as those from garden centres which cost so much more?

I don't mind paying more for better results but don't know if there is a gold standard of plant purchase. By plants I mean cuttings about 15cm tall.

I forgot to mention that the 2 fuschia trees seem to be drying, the leaves looked bleached and I'm wondering if i should take them out of the pots and put them in the bed? The plants I spent the most money on are performing the worst.

for many plants, the ones from B&Q will be the same as the ones from a fancy website.

but often gardeners want a specific variety of fuschia, or a more usual colour or shape and are prepared to pay more.

Also, if your plants aren't doing well, then think carefully about where they are planted. different plants need different conditions (light / dampness / type of soil). So you can't just put any plant in any garden. If you want things to grow well, it often helps to do a bit of research before you start ordering.

This is a very good starting place
www.rhs.org.uk/plants/search-form

also, a cutting typically means a little fragment of a plant, maybe 5-10cm high, which hasn't yet grown roots.

your plants will just be young plants that are ready to move up to a bigger pot or a space in the ground.

I typically buy plants both from a local nursery which generally only supplies wholesale to garden centres and also from lidl if they have something that catches my eye. I've had some really good things from lidl and it really helps to fill the spaces.

Ive not been particularly happy when I've bought from the likes of Thompson and Morgan.

If you want something pretty but relatively standard then wilko or even pound shop will be just as good. Only worth going with fancy online suppliers if you are after specific unusual species.

How long have you left them in the shop plastic pots for?! Of course you’re meant to take them out an plant them! If you haven’t been watering them pretty much daily in those pots then of course they’ve shrivelled!

I've researched them all in terms of planting and conditions and none of them have been left in the pots they arrived in. I'm just amazed that the much cheaper plants seem to be thriving and the ones that cost a fortune are performing so badly. Lesson learned for next year.

Really finding it all massive learning curve but also very therapeutic.

I

We went through the sake thing years ago. Spent a small fortune in garden degrees, over the years plants I've bought from lidl, Morrisons and the pound shops have thrived and the expensive plants withered to nothing. It's pretty remarkable really when it's so ingrained in us that you get what you pay for. This doesn't apply to plants and cuttings.

This year isn’t necessarily the best for buying plants. Clearly some nurseries couldn’t sell stock easily, others moved to different selling methods - online for example.
Try giving them a good feed? I’ve always done that with my plants to help them grow more quickly!

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You need to report your plants in bigger pots and feed them once a week

Repot not report

I have bought £1 reduced plants that are looking worse for wear and given them a chance in my garden. More often than not I’ve been lucky and got a good plant from it. Takes a little longer for it to look healthy, big and strong. My cheapies from Aldi have been generally successful. I’m an accidental gardener and I continue to play on that!

Agree with rhe pps.

You need to report the plants when you get them, and feed them, make sure rhe soil is able to drain properly. Or are you planting them out?

Cuttings are exactly that, they are pieces of a mature plant cut off and put in some soil, waiting to root. What you’re buying is not cuttings it’s young plants.

I've found some great bargains in the 'search and rescue' bit of the garden centre (it isn't really called that....) They may look a bit bedraggled, but it's a great way to buy perennials. I've had some success with plants from Morrison's and Lidl's - not 100% but it doesn't stop me trying.

Also look at Morrisons for good value plants.

George Orwell on the Woolworth’s Rose
www.telelib.com/authors/O/OrwellGeorge/essay/tribune/AsIPlease19440121.html

I got some beautiful plants from Home Bargains of all random places - ridiculously cheap!

My Sarah raven buys have all been pretty average with some just terrible. I have had some cracking plants from Homebase and at the right time of year some fantastic bare root shrubs from Poundland (bought in winter, put them in water with the dirt from the wrapping in a sheltered spot and left them there for months). 90% doing very well including 2 honeysuckles, hypericum, escallonia, and deutzia.
You can't go past Homebase for bedding etc and of course compost. I've bought loads there the only problems are they don't label them shade plants etc and you don't get the specific colours and varieties.
I bought some stuff from Marshall's and it was awful. Ditto yougarden.
My plants from the secret gardening club (accidental find) have all been fab, and a new find thanks to eBay was Bedwyn who sent huge young plants very quickly - they have their own website.

Cheap places don't tend to have the variety and the quality can be mixed too. If the plant looks healthy and the soil in the pot is moist, they'll be just as good as the more expensive ones. You might have to look harder to find a good one.

I buy the more unusual plants online, and find that most places are very good at replacing a plant. The RHS shop is a good place to start.

I'm just amazed that the much cheaper plants seem to be thriving and the ones that cost a fortune are performing so badly. Pricing is influenced by the cost to the producer. If something is difficult to propagate and then takes years before it's big enough to sell, it's going to cost more than something which can be raised quickly from cuttings and sold within 6 months. So if your fancy is taken by something which is expensive compared with similar types of plant, it's always worth checking how easy it will be to grow, or whetehr it requires special treatment.

I prefer not to buy on-line because you can't see what you're getting. The pictures are always of a mature plant (or even several squeezed closely together), not of the small scrap of a thing that will arrive. But the small print will often hint at the size, eg "all plants supplied in 8cm pots".

You definitely don't get the colours you want at Homebase especially at the moment. But if you have a look regularly there's usually something and I've had some really robust big (huge) plugs in trays. I had very nice lavender there and they do some excellent lupins ususlly.

Also for free plants I love cuttings! I take them from my local cemetery which has some very robust and drought tolerant plants!

And Monty Don did a segment on how to buy one large perennial and divide it into 5. He bought a geum in a medium round pot which was root bound, sliced into it and et voila had 5 plants. All a pretty good size. Some plants are really easy to do that with and even need to be divided every once in a while.

Also you could take cuttings off anything bigger you get in a pot now and make extra little versions if it's a plant you really like. I did some ftom a salvia and only one took but it's a good (small) size already! Bacopas are really easy too and I've done quite a few from large planters in the street near me (not in people houses!)

Too late now but seeds for some are good. Fast growing lots of flowers plant straight out include cosmos, nigella, sunflowers. For climbers my Ipomoea purpurea ‘Grandpa Ott’ (morning glory) seeds always come up (start early) and I think Thunbergia is easy too (bought mind on eBay this year). Zinnias are easy I think.

I love dahlias and it's too late for the tubers this year but next year if you stick them in a pot next year they will flower later in summer. A lot! And they will tolerate part shade too!

Seeds are good if you can get them working as the colours are extensive and you can get some rare versions. But you do probably need somewhere warm and light to get them started.

If you are new to gardening, start with something simple and cheap! Plants from Lidl or Wilko will be fine.

A top tip I was given was to look at other gardens locally and see what is thriving. That will give you a guide what plants you might get to do well in your soil.

Plants on pots, I find a nightmare. They require SO much watering and feeding. But unless they entirely die, I would persevere - many plants can be brought back from the brink of death, and often the root is alive so if you plant it in the border, cut it down and wait, it will regrow (does depend on the plant).

Don’t forget to collect the seeds from annual bedding plants. You can sow them next year and get plants for free. Cosmos and Marigolds are particularly good for this.

There was a thing on gardeners world where this lady was talking about hardy geraniums (cranesbill) and how the seed pods curl up and then ping all the seeds everywhere - she said she put envelopes around them to catch them 😁