Bargain Buys on Perenials or Shrubs or Hosta's

Does anyone know of any bargain collections or deals at any online catalog or Nursery? Size of the plants does not matter to me. I am starting on a house we just bought. Money will be my major stumbling block on putting in beds. I am willing to start with small plants and wait for them to grow in order to afford to get what I want. I have seen a collection of hostas at White Flower Farms that seems like a good deal. I am especially looking for bushes that have berries for the birds to mix in my borders. Virburnum,Holly,Elderberry,Dogwood,Oakleaf Hydranga,Chokeberry etc.

I received a catalog from Burgess and their prices are quite low for fall delivery. They are in Bloomington. I'm not sure how far that is from you, so their website is www.eBurgess.com Good luck!

Also keep an eye on the plant trading forum. Some folks have things they are willing to trade for postage. And I don't know if you have them up there in IL, but I just went out to the woods and dug up several oak leaf hydrangeas for free.

Oh Nature Lover! I cannot help but be jealous!

Ahhh reenygarden, just think of all the things y'all can grow down there that I can't! Does oak leaf hydrangea grow in your part of the country?

I like Spring Hill Nursery,a nd they are having a really good sale right now. THey also only ship the products to you when it is okay to plant them, so if you choose something you are unfamililar with, you know when it should go in the ground. And they will replace anything that doesn't come up again when it is supposed to.

Reeny--is this the Burgess you're talking about? http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/233/ If so it sounds like you're one of the few who's had good luck with them!

KeithnChris--I don't do hostas so I don't know how Whiteflower Farm's prices are on them compared to others, but I know their other plants tend to be on the rather expensive side compared to other places. I've never ordered from them so maybe their plants are larger than other cheaper places, but if you have some patience and are willing to start with something smaller you can definitely find better prices. One good place to look is Bluestone Perennials www.bluestoneperennials.com , they offer lots and lots of perennials and some shrubs. The shrubs they only ship in the spring though so if you wanted things for fall planting you'll have to go elsewhere. Forest Farm www.forestfarm.com has a good selection of trees & shrubs too. Whoever you buy from, make sure you look them up in the Garden Watchdog and see what experiences other people have had with them, some places have nice catalogs or websites but horrible customer service, or they send dead plants, etc. I've ordered from both Bluestone and Forest Farm and I've been happy with both and I know they have overall positive ratings on Watchdog. Here's the link if there are other places you're considering and need to look up: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/

Thanks for catching that ecrane! I had received the catalog and saw the unbelievably low prices. I forgot that I could check it out since I'm fairly new to the forum. KeithnChris please go with ecrane's advice...always very sound!

Thanks for all the input. I did notice the Burgess place in Bloomington had bad feedback. I also noticed the address was Four Seasons and Four Seasons in Bloomington had terrible feedback. Still it is only 30-45 minutes from my house and maybe if I can see the plants in person it might not be so risky. I have ordered from Forestfarm and Bluestone at other homes in the past. I liked them both a lot, but the freight seems to make shrubs too expensive now. The perennials seem OK to me but not trees or shrubs. I did notice a place in Milan IL called Moonshine Gardens or something like that. It seemed to have very good prices, good reviews, and was a little over an hour away. I may make a trip up there and check out the shrubs. I hope maybe they have some fall clearance, but the prices look pretty good even without that. Has anyone ever purchased small 1 gallon shrubs. In a couple years did they fill out pretty well?

Parks Trees and shrubs is having a sale right now. I've purchased small 1 gallon shrubs. It depends on the growth habit--some spread out more quickly than others.
I've also had really good luck both with Bluestone Perennials and Forest and Farm.

http://www.parkslandscapes.com/specials.php?utm_source=summership1151_news&utm_medium=email

I ran into the same problem fall of 2006. Moved into a new house. Builder used up landscape money on building the house, then said, "oops." Leaving me with an acre of graded clay and enough money to seed for grass.

I put the word out to friends, family, and co-workers and was thrilled to receive cuttings, splittings and seeds. One woman at work brought me two grocery bags of black eyed susans and shasta daisies. My grandfather brought me a laundry hamper of pale yellow daylily splittings.

I also went on www.craigslist.org a couple times a week. People gave away everything from sedum and hostas to sod. Usually they were putting in decks or pulling out overgrown beds and just dumped the stuff on the curb for a 1st-come, 1st-serve situation. My husband and I hustled out to homes all over the county. Our best give-away was a young couple who hated to garden and were replacing all of their gardens with rock mulch -- we snapped-up 2 weigelia bushes, a lilac, and 16 gorgeous rose bushes.

And my final suggestion is that we found out the city sells cheap mulch. They have to pick up trees and big stuff a couple times a year, and they "chip" it into piles and then sell. It isn't the best but if you're struggling for dollars it will get you through the first year until you can top it with something prettier. Check out your city.

Good luck.