Plant Prices

andrewnewton

I know with all the turmoil going on and the impact of COVID still being felt, prices are on the rise. However is it just me that doesn't see any consistency with regard to plant prices. For example I was thinking about getting some astrantia but the price of £9 per pot in one of my local nurseries did make me stop and think; especially to my mind when it seems like a not uncommon perennial or something that needs bringing on for a period of time or has lots of R&D. I contrasted this with pots of half hardy salvia at £3 for admittedly a smaller pot but nonetheless nice well grown plants.
My biggest wow moment was for a David Austin rose planted in a bigger pot for.....£61 !!

Lyn

All the time people will pay these prices, they will charge them and up them.
problem is the instant gratification now,  but you could buy a packet of seeds, get loads in there and flowers next year if you can wait. 

Fire

My sense of that pricing is all over the place. The pressures of Brexit, increased overheads, higher  transport costs, climate change and major competition from big supermarkets is hard for independent GCs and others. I don’t know if the industry knows where it’s at. 

My closest big nursery, that grows its own annuals and perennials, sells large plants for a few quid. Online The same is going for closing on £20, plus delivery. Big supermarket   economies can bear huge levels of waste and discounts. GCs seem to be somewhere in The middle, locally to me, anyway. My closest two independent GCs are on the edge of being totally unaffordable and being kept afloat by locals wanting to support local business. 

I don’t have a car, so it’s usually a choice for me of buying online of paying over the odds locally. It’s a tough gig for independents. 

Obelixx

Prices here are much higher than I was use to paying in Belgium where I lived before moving to the Vendée in France.

That means I buy fewer plants from GCs and when I do, I make sure they are specimens I can divide, re-pot and bring on or take cuttings to make more plants.   Happily, before Brexit completed, I managed to acquire seeds form good UK sites and the RHS seed distribution scheme.

That said, today I went to a local nursery to but erigeron karvinskianus and came away with 3 of those, plus 3 salvia microphylla, 3 dwarf Michaelmas daisies and a small leaved Greek basil for 27€50. 

BARGAIN!

Driftoftheseasons

Well, in my experience Salvias are usually a lot easier to propagate than Astrantias, particularly at scale. And it's a tough gig for independent growers at the moment - they are hit by increases in the cost of compost, feed, pots, labels, energy etc, so it's no surprise to see plant prices rising, particularly for plants that take a disproportionate amount of material or input to propagate at scale compared to other plants. 

Mass producers can 'smooth' over the bumps in the price of supplies better.

But at the end of the day, if you want cheap it comes at a cost. Cheap means mass produced at scale, which means the market - not your passion or interest - determines the range of plants you can buy.

At the end of the day, no one is making a killing off selling an Astrantia for 9 quid, particularly in the current climate.

robairdmacraignil

Prices are always creeping up for plants from what I can see like everything else. A few months back I spent about 12euro on a variegated pittosporum as I thought it was just what I needed for a particular spot in the garden but I think I've got the same plant for less than half that only a few years back. I think shopping around helps avoid being overcharged too much and regularly see prices that make me think again about buying a plant that looks nice. I don't think I'd ever be in the market for a £61 David Austin rose and there are some plants that I know not to bother checking the price on.

Happy gardening!

andrewnewton

Driftoftheseasons said:

Well, in my experience Salvias are usually a lot easier to propagate than Astrantias, particularly at scale. And it's a tough gig for independent growers at the moment - they are hit by increases in the cost of compost, feed, pots, labels, energy etc, so it's no surprise to see plant prices rising, particularly for plants that take a disproportionate amount of material or input to propagate at scale compared to other plants. 

Mass producers can 'smooth' over the bumps in the price of supplies better.

But at the end of the day, if you want cheap it comes at a cost. Cheap means mass produced at scale, which means the market - not your passion or interest - determines the range of plants you can buy.

At the end of the day, no one is making a killing off selling an Astrantia for 9 quid, particularly in the current climate.

Thanks for the detailed response. That does make a lot of sense. I hadn't realised astrantia wasn't that easy to propagate in quantity. I had assumed it was an old fashioned cottage garden plant that was easy to bulk up. Having done a look around the internet I can see the seed isn't cheap either.

I would imagine there must be a minimum price for any plant, however easy it is to reproduce to take into account time, materials, transport etc and allow a profit for the grower and retailer. Perhaps like "cheap" food it's something we may have to readjust to.

thevictorian

It's funny locally as prices seem to be the same across the board for most perennials even if the plant is a weedy type or a nicer cultivar. I do see the most "in" plants for a premium but generally anything perennial is priced depending on how big a pot it's in (you can often find nice plants in smaller pots).

I think annuals are better value in terms of the work that has gone into them for the price they sell at and that a premium is added onto perennial plants for the simple reason they will come back. If annuals were marked up at the same rate I don't think many people would buy them as most are easy from seed and just thrown away at the end of the year.

The markups for some plants are just eyewatering and our local homebase is a great example when they can reduce the price so much because they are incapable of looking after the plants, and still make a profit. 

Palustris

For me the worst thing is seeing something sold for £14 a pot which I spend my life digging out and throwing away because it is such a terrible thug. Lysimachia of any sort is one such plant.

JennyJ

And things that grow fast and are really easy to split or grow from cuttings going for megabucks.

Braidman

.

IN the local Dobbies GC perennials and annual rudbeckias (etc) are now priced at £14.99 or £24.99 when before they were usually priced well under a tenner, nice plants but not worth anything like that!