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Why can't I stop buying plants?!

LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,231
in The potting shed
Ok I popped in to the GC "just to look". I come out with 3 Echinacea pallida, 3 Nepeta "Kit Kat", a Hemerocallis and a Phlox "Blue Paradise".

If I "need" a plant at all it would be a Japanese maple for my patio, but somehow I get sucked into buying more and more perennials every time.

How can I learn to control myself? Or should I give up and dig up the lawn!
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Posts

  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,497
    I have had to be VERY strict with myself this year as I have nowhere to put any more plants!
    My one purchase was a Fremontodendron to grow up a wall and only bought it as I do actually have space for it.
    But nothing else.......... :*
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 21,692
    I have the same problem. When I was younger I would just dig another bed, but now I'm finding all these beds are a bit much. I'm still a plantaholic!
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • Fran IOMFran IOM Posts: 2,412
    @WillDB. If we could control ourselves from buying plants the Garden Centres wouldn't make any money. Rest assured you are not the only one who intends to buy one particular plant and comes out with several others. I don't think anyone considers "where am I going to put it?". I have given up trying to resist and I would think that there are a lot of members on this forum who have the same problem. Or is it a problem?
  • LynLyn Posts: 21,886
    Oh to be rich! 😀
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • lilysillylilysilly Posts: 511
    I'm the same @WillDB. I love nature, wild flowers trees and gardens full of flowers, colour and texture. When I walk the dog I'm having a good nose at other folks gardens, or admiring the trees. Being a member of this forum and reading what others have grown or bought just encourages us plantaholics by opening our eyes to plants we have never heard of . People creating gardens from scratch, or folk making a new border make me envious. 
    Last summer, after the drought I said I was not going to buy any more plants, that my gardens (front and back) were full enough to be a burden if we get another heatwave this summer.
    So how have I ended up only in April with 5 new hellebore planted, 2 new roses, 2 new hostas ( in my defence these were 50p each from Morrison's), 4 more aquilegia, an oriental poppy, a hardy geranium, 2 clematis and my real weakness 5 big new peony plants from bareroots. To be fair, some of these have been bought for me as gifts. Christmas, a birthday then Mothers Day.
    Then there's all the baby plants I'm growing from seed, the cosmos, the zinnia, the clary sage, the poppies . Then there is the plastic greenhouse stuffed with divisions and cuttings. 
    The thing is though I'm not materialistic at all, I can't abide shopping for clothes or shoes unless I really need something. I don't crave the latest phone or gadget. But a garden centre, charity plant sale, open garden plant stall and I'm there searching for something unusual, rare or just pretty, and if do feel a pang of guilt I tell myself I'm growing it for the bees and butterflies.

  • StevedaylillyStevedaylilly Posts: 1,087
    I can go one further, buying plants on line, potting them on, then changing my mind if really want to plant them in my garden 
    At present Geum Borisil, Echinacea Magnus, Lobelia Russian Princess and Rock Rose Ben Ledi are all like orphans waiting for a good home (or garden). Some of these plants just haven’t achieved the performance I expect so they come up and get repotted on.
    Money wise, it is not too expensive as I always try to buy cheap plants online and pot them on for them to grow bigger. But my friends and family gets some lovely plant freebies from me, so not all lost 

  • YviestevieYviestevie Posts: 7,040
    I too am a plantaholic, we used to have a confessions thread.  I just can't resist buying more plants.  At the moment I'm trying to find places for two DA roses, Shropshire Lad and Wollerton Old Hall.  My lawns keep getting smaller and smaller every year, this week alone I have just removed a load of gravel and reduced the size of the front lawn so I have a new border.  Promised hubby I would just buy the odd plant and take my time filling it up.   Went to Ashwood and also did an on line shop and the border will be full when they arrive.  I just can't help myself.
    Hi from Kingswinford in the West Midlands
  • Big Blue SkyBig Blue Sky Posts: 689
    Glad I’m not the only one who can’t control themselves in a garden centre. I’m easily walking away from clothes, shoes and bags, but plants - they got me hooked 😂
    Just today bought a rose for which I don’t really have room in my tiny garden anymore. But the description was so enticing and there was 10% off on everything today in that garden center, so there I was... 😊
    Surrey
  • sam bevingtonsam bevington Posts: 130
    I'm not mad then! I keep a book for my babies, 1300 planted last year! I don't buy shoes just Plants. When I'm gone there will be a place in North West Staffordshire that is bursting into life!
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,231
    They are very clever with their multi-buy discounts, this was four for ten pounds. I would have just bought three plants, but then you have to buy something else to make it up to ten pounds, and then you want a couple more of that plant, and so on. And I start telling myself why agonize about it; we're talking about the cost of 1 and a half takeaways. Which would make sense if I had any intention of not having any more takeaways this month 😂
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