Big Plant = Little Plant + Time

I made my first trip of the season to the plant nursery yesterday. I like patronizing this place because the owner is involved in our local native plant society. It would not be an underestimation to say I love going to pick out plants to put in the garden. All the choices, and trying to figure out what would do best in the spot and yet not be something I've grown before, unless it has proven to be really good in that spot. Like Verbenas, which have done really well in my garden.

Here's some of what we bought yesterday:

Mr W and I have made our first foray into growing strawberries, and I bought six plants that are supposed to be "ever-bearing", so maybe we'll be able to go out there all summer and discover a choice berry or two that the squirrels and birds haven't found yet. Thankfully, the neighbors have lots of strawberry plants, so maybe the critters won't focus on ours entirely.

We also bought the requisite kid vegetable, a pumpkin vine. It's fun for a kid (and his mom) to watch the progress of this fast-growing plant, and we'll hopefully score a couple of Halloween pumpkins out of it as well.

All this was fun, and I feel like I got a good value for the price I paid, but when I looked to buy some perennials, I was dismayed to see that most of the ones for sunny spots were sold in 1 gallon pots. Here's where the title of the post comes in. I can buy three different plants for $9 when they come in 2" pots, but a plant in a one gallon pot costs $9! Now, it's probably true that the bigger plants survive better and the nursery sees fewer returns (I'm guessing). But even a mildly competent gardener like myself can get a smaller plant to establish with minimal care.

So, what to do? I'll go to another place to see if I can get a better price on a smaller plant. But it gives me an excuse to peruse another nursery, so it's not all bad.

image: agmedia.com