For a long time, we were all worried that the big box stores were going to drive our local nurseries out of business. They didn't have a great selection, but they were buying things in such huge quantities that they could sell plants at a fraction of the cost at nurseries.

Well, that day seems to be over. Sue and I went to four or five nurseries last Thursday and then went to Home Depot and Target. The prices at the latter two were consistently and appreciably higher than at the nurseries. Home Depot, for example, was selling Cinerarias for $4.99, whereas King's -- a high-end and high-priced local nursery -- was selling them for $2.99.

The next day Barbara and I went on our monthly cat-food run to Walmart. It was offering potted Ranunculus plants (just one bulb per pot) for $4 each. Sue and I had seen these at all of the nurseries for $1.50-$2.50. Barbara and I went to our local nursery after we checked out of Walmart and found Ranunculus, with three plants in each pot, for $1.50 each.

This is great news for the nurseries. In the past, they could only compete with their more varied assortment, which wasn't of much value to the biggest buyers -- landscapers, but now they have competitive prices too.

That is wonderful news. I wish more people were aware of how wonderful small private nurserys are. Some of my friends just have no idea, they think there only is walmart or home depot.

around here its the same lowes plants are almost double what the nurseries are

wow, Lowes & Home Depot here are about 1/3 to 1/4 the price of the nurseries. For instance, little mini roses will be $12.99 @ Tagawas, Home Depot has them for $6.98. Nicks will have the smaller bareroot roses in packages for $14.99/ea, Walmart/Home Depot/ Lowes has the same thing for $4/$4.99/ea. Trees @ Tagawas start at $99.99 for 1/2" caliper fruit trees, Home Depot has 1-1.5" caliper fruit trees for $19.99. Super bad thing is that there was a better selection for the first round of roses at Home Depot than at Tagawa's and better selection almost all year at Nicks!

There's a ton of stuff I'll get at the nurseries, but if I can get it at Home Depot, I will first. It's super sad to say, but they have a better warranty (some nurseries won't offer any kind of warranty, others give a 'conditional' warranty, others give blanket warranties on *some* things, but not others, etc etc etc), better prices, and almost just as knowledgeable people that at least speak English! I have to wait forever to get help at Nick's because they have very few people who speak English and forget about getting help at Paulino's, they don't have the staff (and the staff they *do* have don't speak English either) (not to mention they're over 30 miles 1 way for me here in Denver traffic). Tagawa's has wonderful people, but they're sooooo expensive. I love going to Tagawa's, and plan on going to the annual "Night of Wines & Roses" where they'll have a live string orchestra, wine & cheese sampling, and that's when the roses finally become available to shop. They'll probably be 25% off like always, but their base price is $39.99 this year (they've gone up from $32.99 4 years ago to $39.99 this year.. they held onto $36.99 for 2 years before going up). And it's always a rush... you're not allowed to buy or even put any roses into your cart until 4pm, so my husband calls it the "Running of the Roses" watching all the little old ladies (myself included!) rush to get the best one, especially of certain roses that they'll only have like 5 of.

Here the prices at Wal-mart and Lowes are lower but they never have what I'm wanting.

It's catch as catch can at the big box stores here, but sometimes they have deals. However, and I say this with no intent of snobbery, most people who shop Lowe's, HD and Wally World are just looking for those petunias, geraniums and ferns to pretty up the porch and those stores rarely have anything beyond that to offer. That said, last year HD did have some great buys on body bag roses and I bought four: Comte de Chambord, Mr. Lincoln, Rose de Rescht and Therese Bugnet, but TB is dead as four o'clock. CdC made it, and I'm waiting to see whether ML and RdR survived. Some of the fault for their demise lies in my not getting them planted soon enough after purchase, so I can't lay all the blame on them being bag roses.

I have enough roses ordered this spring to tide me over 'til fall, but few enough compared to Zu and Mike!

Hemo - I think that all of us combined couldn't compare in sheer numbers to what Zuzu has just by herself! *still mind-boggled*

Went to HD last night, just the body bag grapes/raspberries/blueberries yet. No sign of other plants for at least another week to two weeks. GAH! This is horrible the wait!! At least I *can* go to Tagawa's and oogle the baby roses in their 3 gal pots.. but that's about it.

Which is OK 'cuz my ground is still frozen. I'm hoping that it'll be defrosted enough this weekend that I can put up my new fence to keep the puppy out of my roses.

went to lowes yesterday to get some gravel.. they had lilacs for 6.95 which i got. pansies,saxifrage of some sort, they also had african daises out. the nurseries open later around the first of april

Lowes had lilacs? I'm looking for another Charles Joly lilac (one of my favs)... maybe mine will get some plants in this weekend? Thursdays are delivery days here (sad I know that). :D

I have bought bagged roses from Home Depot for about 5-6 dollars each. You can't get roses anywhere else that cheaply. Not that I usually buy the bagged roses, just have afew times, in fact was at Home Depot on Wednesday and they had two large rows filled with the bagged roses and I didn't even look at them.

Around here, our local Home Depot has great prices on plants and shrubs. Assuming of course that you are looking to buy just what they have on hand. Plus whatever they have sells out quickly. In fact one would have to go to HD twice aweek during spring planting season if you didn't want to miss out on whatever they get in. That's how quickly plants sell out there.

I have a lot of shrubs and perennials growing in my yard that I bought at HD during the years.

Two years in a row I went crazy buying azealeas first thing in spring at HD. Most of them cost 5 or 6 dollars apiece. Those same types of azealas were around $40.00 at the local nursery. That was if you could even find them. Yes, they were much bigger shrubs but I didn't care. Azealas grow quickly.

Here is a picture of my azealas blooming in the shrub border this spring. No one who looks at them cares were I bought them.

That's a stunning photo, Rita.

One of my local nurseries, Sonoma Horticultural Nursery, specializes in azaleas and rhododendrons -- 8+ acres of them, in fact, and the prices are really low -- $6 or $7 for 1-gallon azaleas, including the very fanciest cultivars. They also sell camellias, clematis, Japanese maples, hellebores, and just about anything else that grows in the shade. I usually try to get there at least a couple of times a month. It's time to go again. If Sue comes with me, you'll see some gorgeous photos of our visit.

Because of that source, I rarely buy azaleas or rhodies at the big box stores, but one day a few years ago I was at Walmart and they were clearing out all of the Encore reblooming azaleas for a quarter apiece. I filled two carts and still didn't pay more than $5 in all.

WOW! Azaleas here are ridiculously expensive.. they range from $24.99 (Nick's Garden) to $59.99 (Tagawa's). I tried one azalea once, I think it was called ..ooh.. what WAS it called? hang on, I'm gonna look it up. Ah! Golden Lights (here's a link to Wayside gardens for a pic http://www.waysidegardens.com/...). Paid $49.99 for the damned thing, never got a single bloom, and it was dead within 3 months. Once bitten, twice shy. I love the color, but not going to try it again.

But, back to body bags: I picked up yet 2 more Blue Girls at a different Walmart. These two were in gorgeous shape, bright green canes & little bitty leaves everywhere. I'm going to have a row of like 10 BG's in a row.. I just love Blue Girl.. my absolute favorite. $6/ea. Can't beat it.

Toni- If you ever want to try azaleas again just go early spring and see if you can get the small pots locally at the big box stores. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't lost alot of money.

Those azaleas in my pictures really did work out well and the colors look so good together like that. The mixed colors are a double row, the light purple in back with the pink in front. I don't really have room for more azaleas as the ones in the picture are not the only ones I have in the garden. So I am not looking to add more at this time.

ZUZU - You are truely fortunate to have such a great local resource in that nursery. I know I would enjoy a trip there myself!

Rita - my big boxes STILL don't have any plants other than evergreens right now. All Walmart has are bulbs. Maybe this week we'll get something other than evergreens? Yours are just SOOOOOOOOOO beautiful....