Where do I get plants that don't cost an arm and a leg?

Hi you all,

I hope you are all enjoying the fall.

I have almost an acre in the midwest of the USA but almost no trees or scrubs. It is mainly meadow. I don't want to see my neighbors cars or trash can and want to plant as much trees and plants as permitted under the law. :)

So, I visited the local nursery but it has steep prices. Where can I get plants, trees, scrubs that I can plant that don't cost an arm or a leg?

I am not picky as to what plants, I just don't want to see my neighbors cars and trash can by planting trees and scrubs in and around that acre to live in a green oasis.

Any ideas?

If you have a Lowe's nearby, they are good about knocking their trees, shrubs, and many flowers down as much as 75% at the end of summer. I just planted 5 dwarf loropetalum shrubs yesterday that I got half price from our Lowe's. I also got a redbud and river birch this fall for $6 each. You have to keep an eye out for their deals though because they don't advertise them. If you can get to know the manager of the Lowe's nursery, he/she might be nice enough to let you know approximately when you need to look for year-end clearance deals on plants.

If you become a member here you can get involved in a lot of trading with other members, we usually have RUs(roundups) in our local areas where we get together and swap plants/seeds. I'd say 90% of the plants and flowers in my gardens are from fellow Dgr's(they are awesome!) The first RU I went to I didn't have anything to offer but came home with a trunk and car full of plants. DG'rs are very generous people.

I would recommend contacting your local Department of Natural Resources office. Many states have programs to encourage re-forestation and so they sell trees and shrubs for absolutely minimal fees, and some even give them away -- They are usually just saplings, so are not as large as the local greenhouses - but they are the best price for sure! Dax

Thanks so much to all of you, I appreciate your advice!

You said you weren't picky about what you planted, but try to keep in mind the mature size of the trees that you plant.
A lot of people get in trouble later when their trees/ plants are bigger.
Good luck with your plans!

I've also had good luck with http://www.craigslist.com. Check into the section for your area and post a free ad for plants or peruse through what is offered for sale.

I'm with NatureLover. Try your local Lowe's - ours had 50-75% off all trees and shrubs today when I went in. Last week I found perennials up to 80% off. Also, try your local nurseries - most are so anxious to get rid of things that you can get them dirt cheap. I always buy perennials, trees and shrubs in the fall because of the price - unless I really have to have that brand new variety:) I found gallon/3 gallon containers of full grown perennials for $5.00. That might not sound cheap until you look at the quality of the plant and know it originally sold for $24.99. Wal-Marts and Home Depots in this area don't even bother to take care of anything past mid-August and everything looks just about dead. I also picked up a bunch of smaller perennials at my local Meijer's last week for 33 cents. They weren't the best looking in the bunch but they were what I wanted for a certain area and with some love, rooting hormone and some extra care they'll look spectacular when they come up next spring!

Di

Amen Di! I have a gorgeous butterfly/hummingbird/bee garden that's chock full of discount flowers from Lowe's. They do take better care of their plants than most others do and I really appreciate being able to buy plants I know will live for a deep discount.

Another suggestion I can give you is arborday.org. A $10 membership will get you ten free trees. They have a lot of information about each variety of tree (or shrub) that tells where it should grow. I ordered my ten a few weeks ago and hope to get them in soon.

Just don't be surprised at the sticks that you receive from Arbor day. You'll need to pot them up for a couple years first.

And don't be surprised if they're misidentified--I've seen lots of posts on the ID forum from people who got something other than what they thought they were getting from Arbor Day. It's for a good cause and the price is right though so if you don't have your heart set on particular plants then it's worth trying.

I recommend you not be shy about approaching other local gardeners to find out where they acquire their plants. They will frequently be pleased that you admire their garden, and most gardeners are quite generous with advice, and sometimes even with plants, too. Most garage sales are in the summer in our area, so it's a good time to find the week-end gardeners hard at it. I always cruise multiple sales outlets, but I have plenty of time to do so. Maybe you don't. I purchase plants wherever I see them, be it at the hardware store, the supermarket (these often have short-lived specials on soil and bark), the drugstore, or the farmers' market. End of season special can pay off, as long as you know which varieties will live thru the winter for you.

To flowAjen the Arbor Day Foundation is a good thing when you join you also get a deep discount on on trees and shrubs. My brother has gotten trees from them at the 10.00 and the deep discount and had no problem putting them right in the ground and he is from Ohio. I have also order from them for the Mississippi area.

I'd also pay attention to any property that was having demolition or construction done on it as I've scored plants that way. If they say yes, I'd dig the plants up or take cuttings right then and there. They aren't going to stop what they are doing to wait for you.

Doing a quick internet search for spruce tree seedling I came up with this company. http://www.nurserymen.com/. You now know as much about them as I do.

If I was going to to this I'd plant some tall annuals to block they view this summer and then I'd get cuttings from shrubs that I liked and people would let me have cuttings off of. For trees I'd by some seedlings unless I got lucky and found someplace where I could did up some. This is a case where you can do it quickly or cheaply or with quality, just pick any two.