Its getting so expensive!

[Stan]

My annual complaint that was usually biannual. Costs of basics gone way up. A bag of Miracle grow is $14. A small box of Sluggo is $8 and the Bugetta in the bag to $13! Vigoro palm fertilizer that was when I first bought the 20 pound sack in 2010 ran around $9? is now up to $15 or so. A single Tomato plant (3" pot) cost me $4. They didn't have them in six packs.
I wonder if I should run for President in 2020 on the "I will lower your gardening costs to when America was ok!" platform?

[mcvansoest]

I think you are paying the price for living where you live.

I have not lived in the Bay Area since 2006, but even then I could barely afford to rent a decent sized one bedroom/studio apartment for the same amount of money that now, here in Mesa, rents me a two story house, with large back and front yard and a pool. I am sure that the place I used to live in over there would now be completely unaffordable to me.

[Stan]

Hows this?

[Melt in the Sun]

Phoenix roebelenii? Nice plants whatever they are.

[Stan]

lol,I had just happened to see this. Not that the price for them is really that bad. In the bay area they take 10-15 years to get that much trunk.

[Viegener]

HD landscape plants are still a bargain compared to real nursery plants of the same size...

[KLC]

I cringe at the thought of shopping for plants at orange and blue. If that was the only option, I'd have a nice rock garden.

Can someone explain to me why, WHY, HD would sell Cocos nucifera in Phoenix? The greedy bastards just looking for more ways to get the money in our wallets?

I can't stand the plant selection at big box stores, it is so generic. It's like a new housing development where every house has the same 3 shrubs and a tree. Big box and Wallys try to control us by only stocking what they want us to buy. There are so many more purchasing options in life. Every time I hear the slogan "More saving. More doing" I want to stick a fork in my ears.

[Viegener]

I can't really muster an argument in favor of the big box stores, but I will say I've gotten some surprising plants there: cacti, euphorbia, agaves and aloes. Of course 99% of what they stock is pretty ordinary, and a good ⅓ of it is not well suited to the local climate. But I've got a sharp eye & always scan the xeric plants when I'm there to pick up light bulbs or paint.

Some examples I remember are sizable Agave titanota (Rancho Tambor) cheaper than any real nursery, beautiful echeveria, including Dick Wright hybrids (ditto), Aeonium 'Mardi Gras' when it was all but unavailable anywhere else (same for Hesperaloe 'Brake Lights), and a few sizable blue Pilosocereus and Trichocereus terscheckii at great prices.

But yes, overall, it's a bunch of generic plants.

[Gee.S]

I used to pick up all manner of relatively exotic Agave at BB, particularly RS offerings that were also available from local nurseries for 2x or 3x the money. You need to visit frequently or else get very lucky, 'cause the good stuff doesn't usually last too long. I found a whole rack of 1-gal A. q_vics there once @ $5 each, and found the only A. wercklei I've ever seen, which is now blooming. It helps to have a good eye, since half the stuff is mislabeled, but hell, that's true of a lot of nurseries, too.

Hey KLC, where did you find that EE again?

[Azuleja]

I do like to zip in and scan things periodically. There's a bit of excitement in the hunt. I was happy to find Graptosedum "California Sunset," an ISI plant, at Lowe's. If I kill it, it won't be as big of a loss as if I'd gone all the way to HBG to get it.

[Viegener]

Yeah, that's where I got my 'California Sunset' & also last year they had Lampranthus ‘Sierra Sunrise’, also a nice ISI offering. All of the little $3 & $4 succulents are a bargain really, almost all grown by Altmans and sold for more everywhere else.

Oh, and 5 little Alluaudia procera in a 1 gal pots for $5.99, also Oreocereus celsianus, Oreocereus trollii, and Euphorbia lactea variegata ‘White Ghost’, 5 in 1gal. All got divided up and are doing great.

Things are mislabeled about 50% of the time...

[KLC]

Hey KLC, where did you find that EE again?

Err, umm, Lowes.