Author Topic: Buying new plants  (Read 3427 times)

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Online ideasguy

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Buying new plants
« on: February 07, 2010, 08:29:00 PM »
I'm updating my www.ideasgenie.co.uk website and explaining how Ideas Genie can be used for surfing up information on plants.

On a competitors website, I noticed how their product - similar in some ways to our Master Database, could be used to add plants to a garden design, thus creating the garden of your dreams.

Got to wondering - considering the logistics of the availability of plants in the real world, how one would go about buying those plants you've just added to that virtual garden?

Got to wondering (some more) about how we on the forum go about buying plants for our gardens.

In the main, do you plan in advance and only buy plants suitable for a known location in your garden, or do you buy plants which take your fancy at your local garden centre, Nursery, plant sales, garden shows or outlet etc etc?

In each case, some research is necessary.

Are you content with the info and the photo on the label, or supplier website?
Do you go surfing for more info and photos?
Do you look up each plant in your reference books?

Is that an enjoyable part of gardening?
« Last Edit: February 07, 2010, 11:42:00 PM by ideasguy »

Offline Palustris

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Re: Buying new plants
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2010, 10:31:13 AM »
Didn't know you had any competition in this area!
Never created a virtual garden, only ever tried to make a plan of ours and then never managed to add the plants we have to it. There are just too many.
Half and half to the pre-planning, we did at first decide what we wanted for a particular place. Then we just bought what we fancied when we saw it and found a home for it where it seemed to go best and moved it if it did not work there.
Nowadays we buy big plants to replace ones which have either died or been removed for one reason or another. However, the sales tables at Alpine shows are often full of rare, unusual oddities and I do tend to buy them if I have never heard of them , just in case.
When I get them home (either G/c/Nursery or AGS plants) I do spend a few happy hours going through my books (which you know I do have a large number of) or on theInterweb thingy.
Plant labels in most places leave a great deal to be desired.
In many ways I think it is a more enjoyable part of gardening than actually going out in the cold and damp or hot and sticky and getting a bad back planting the things!

Online ideasguy

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Re: Buying new plants
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2010, 01:51:36 PM »
Thanks for that Eric!

Like you, I did a lot of pre-planning in the early days when the internet was a glint in someones eye.
I have kept all that good work, in a series of lever arch files, and all those little notes and cuttings - IG was born :)
Nice to look back on!

RE:
Quote
However, the sales tables at Alpine shows are often full of rare, unusual oddities and I do tend to buy them if I have never heard of them , just in case.
I would do exactly the same.
In my case its garden shows ands plant sales. If the genus does well in my garden, and I spot a new cultivar on offer, then its hard to resist.

Finding a spot for new plants snapped up like that can be a problem. Ive found myself moving A to a new location so that B can be planted in its spot, and very often the spot where A goes means another plant shift, or a sacrifice of a plant I have tired of.
Thats how my garden has evolved.

A nice reference book, or a garden magazine, or a catalog at bedtime was my way of relaxing.
That hasn't changed, even with the surge of the internet.

As for the internet, finding information on reliable sites is perfect for adding to Ideas Genie.
Copy and paste is a dream!

Competitors?
Hard to tell, and I feel for anyone trying to source something similar.
Some reading between the lines required.

Offline roiphil

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Re: Buying new plants
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2010, 11:00:29 AM »
as for me
1, i buy seeds in bulk that i think will sell well as, seeds, plug plants and bare root plants
2, when planting my 2 beds i tend to go for the bung it in that gap system  ;D
3, number 2 then enables me to take a photo when in flower which i can then use on my own site plus i make my own labels for the plants that i sell, i tend to use the info supplied in the label programe but keep it to 4 lines,
4, descriptions of plants i use the web, books if i cant find the plant on the web

that is about it really, couple years ago bought some hornbeam, ash, beech, saplings and have been planting those up around the boundary and in the main big grass area at the back to break things up, the grass's, perennials etc will go around the boundary aswell and left to their own and see what happens to fill in any gaps

Phil
« Last Edit: February 09, 2010, 11:05:00 AM by roiphil »