What is so wonderful about garden centres?

hollydolly said:
we are the same age, my 70th birthday will be in Spring..... and I still garden too.. altho' this last summer was the first time Ive called in extra help in the form of tree surgeons and had quite a few of my trees and high shrubs lopped or totally chopped down, because they had become to high , and too sprread out for me to handle alone..

All this after my husband and I seperated, and i'm not going thrugh a long drawn out expensive divorce..up until then we both worked the garden but he did most of the heavy work..


I know about heat stroke, it's a horror, I got it in 2019 in Seville Spain under 43 deg heat.. i would hate to live in a climate where I'd have to garden in that type of heat...so I feel for you in that situation

I have a 2nd home in Southern Spain but it's on a gated community so gardeners are employed.. ..However, here I still garden myself..but I'm happy to know that the tree surgeons ate on hand whenever I need them
Click to expand...

Oh, Spain! And UK! Been to UK. Planning Spain, Portugal, AUS in 25 or 26. I also get someone in now for heavy..I had someone remove my cracked driveway and put in new pavers instead. If I was younger I could have saved a ton of money, but this felt so luxurious having someone come in to do it for me! Was just at $5,000, but the cracks were terrible workmanship in the concrete drive.
 

I like garden centres. The one where I live doesn't have food and drinks, sometimes a coffee van out the front, that's all.

But I've been to some that have an attached cafe and makes a nice alfresco atmosphere surrounded by greenery. Prices have been reasonable.
 
CooCooforCoCoPuffs said:
Oh, Spain! And UK! Been to UK. Planning Spain, Portugal, AUS in 25 or 26. I also get someone in now for heavy..I had someone remove my cracked driveway and put in new pavers instead. If I was younger I could have saved a ton of money, but this felt so luxurious having someone come in to do it for me! Was just at $5,000, but the cracks were terrible workmanship in the concrete drive.
Click to expand...
I understand that fully, I've got someone coming to re-do a concrete patio in my back garden in the Spring...(y)
 

I love walking around garden centres. I have Bunnings near me, and I always visit the Cafe for a lovely hot Coffee and read their free magazines.
I was there today and noticed they were having a sale of Poinsettias, so I bought one for a friend because she was taking me out for dinner this evening. btw: She loved it .
 
Well here in the UK, they are more department stores, selling a huge variety of other products, mainly gift ideas, with big restaurants of well overpriced food. The garden section is almost an aside! A place to meet and greet friends and have meals and coffee. One near us even has themed afternoon teas with entertainment. I noticed recently there was an Elton John impersonator singing for the customers.
 
Rose65 said:
Well here in the UK, they are more department stores, selling a huge variety of other products, mainly gift ideas, with big restaurants of well overpriced food. The garden section is almost an aside! A place to meet and greet friends and have meals and coffee. One near us even has themed afternoon teas with entertainment. I noticed recently there was an Elton John impersonator singing for the customers.
Click to expand...
No i have to take issue with that, the garden section certainly is not an aside in our garden centres in England. goodness know where you live in the uk, that you garden centres that rarely sell flowers....as you can see by my link above. the plant area is HUGe in all of our local garden centres with the added attraction of the restaurants, the home goods.. everything else.

It's a fabulous idea to sell to the public in this way... people love to shop on weekends for plants and flowers, so to provide restaurants for them to eat and drink.. so they don't have to cook when they get home is a great idea.. and then when people find it expensive to shop in town centres.. beccause of parking fees.. garden centres have taken that concern away.. and now supply all the home goods..even clothing and shoes.. and areas for the children to be amused, train rides, petting farms etc... and at Christmas, a grotto, and ice rink.. and parking is free..

i don't see what there is for you to complain about..
 
hollydolly said:
No i have to take issue with that, the garden section certainly is not an aside in our garden centres in England. goodness know where you live in the uk, that you garden centres that rarely sell flowers....as you can see by my link above. the plant area is HUGe in all of our local garden centres with the added attraction of the restaurants, the home goods.. everything else.

It's a fabulous idea to sell to the public in this way... people love to shop on weekends for plants and flowers, so to provide restaurants for them to eat and drink.. so they don't have to cook when they get home is a great idea.. and then when people find it expensive to shop in town centres.. beccause of parking fees.. garden centres have taken that concern away.. and now supply all the home goods..even clothing and shoes.. and areas for the children to be amused, train rides, petting farms etc... and at Christmas, a grotto, and ice rink.. and parking is free..

i don't see what there is for you to complain about..
Click to expand...
It's the overpricing I think that annoys me, of food and drink and so many products.
 
hollydolly said:
I'm a big fan of Garden centres @Rose65 ...I agree they are overpriced.. but they're ..at least the ones here are so well laid out, so beautiful inside ad out.. with albeit ( pricey) every plant you could wish..and everything for the garden, sheds, arbours.. garden furniiture of all types in one place... beautiful items for inside the home, even including furtniture now.. and clothing ... not to mention some lovely cafe's and restaurants..very often outdoors too

It's little wonder that people flock to them every weekend , for under one roof.. there is everything to sate the gardener's appetite..

Nurseries otoh, which is where I personally go when I want to buy only plants, or fencing .. are a different kettle of fish
Click to expand...

Nurseries are all I go to. For me the garden is mostly about the plants. Of course I do want to sit comfortably out there and a table can come in handy. When I had to to rework the back of this raised bed to make things less convenient for the voles I decided I wanted access to working in that raised bed from both sides from my kneeler/stool.

53365232950_3751e0be13_c.jpg


But then sometimes I like sitting out there when I'm writing so I'll pull in a chair and use the same kneeler as an ottoman. But then I needed a very small but stable table to set my tea on so I found this one online.

54193298822_a64d81324f_c.jpg


Guess gardeners can't live on just plants alone.
 
CooCooforCoCoPuffs said:
Sure you may ask!
My next birthday I will be the "Big 70".
I still design and garden, probably will never stop such.
Click to expand...

I have a number of friends who design/build/maintain gardens who are nearly as old as I am. Oh to be in my late 60’s again! I’ve nearly completed two turns around the sun as a septuagenarian. I have no desire to garden for anyone else and am working to de-emphasize plants in my 70’ by 40’ side garden. The back and front garden is more than enough for me now. But I’ve decided to ground myself to what I can reach from my ultra light but stable 6’ orchard ladder. I have a great arborist in my neighborhood who tends my larger trees now.
 
MarkD said:
Nurseries are all I go to. For me the garden is mostly about the plants. Of course I do want to sit comfortably out there and a table can come in handy. When I had to to rework the back of this raised bed to make things less convenient for the voles I decided I wanted access to working in that raised bed from both sides from my kneeler/stool.

53365232950_3751e0be13_c.jpg


But then sometimes I like sitting out there when I'm writing so I'll pull in a chair and use the same kneeler as an ottoman. But then I needed a very small but stable table to set my tea on so I found this one online.

54193298822_a64d81324f_c.jpg


Guess gardeners can't live on just plants alone.
Click to expand...
I have that kneeler....too...

However the garden centre here has everything you could need for the garden, including all the garden ornaments, chairs, tables, you name it...

if it's just plants I want, I only go to the nurseries of which we have a great deal where i live.. it saves me being tempted to buy other stuff, and they are usually just a little cheaper..
 
hollydolly said:
I have that kneeler....too...

However the garden centre here has everything you could need for the garden, including all the garden ornaments, chairs, tables, you name it...

if it's just plants I want, I only go to the nurseries of which we have a great deal where i live.. it saves me being tempted to buy other stuff, and they are usually just a little cheaper..
Click to expand...

And yet prices of plants have gone up so much near me but I suspect everywhere. I guess I don’t go to garden centers of the sort you speak of if there even are any. This one in San Francisco probably comes closest. I think of them as ‘high fashion’ gardening.

Flora Grubb Gardens
 
MarkD said:
And yet prices of plants have gone up so much near me but I suspect everywhere. I guess I don’t go to garden centers of the sort you speak of if there even are any. This one in San Francisco probably comes closest. I think of them as ‘high fashion’ gardening.

Flora Grubb Gardens
Click to expand...
that's similar to ours in that ours have that large plant and flower area.. but ours sells so much more with the addition of the restaurant and homewear etc..

Coton Orchard Garden Centre
 
When you look at the size of the average garden centre and consider the overheads they must pay, I think they would have disappeared by now if they had not branched out (branched out :ROFLMAO:) into other areas. :)
 
Rose65 said:
Well here in the UK, they are more department stores, selling a huge variety of other products, mainly gift ideas, with big restaurants of well overpriced food. The garden section is almost an aside! A place to meet and greet friends and have meals and coffee. One near us even has themed afternoon teas with entertainment. I noticed recently there was an Elton John impersonator singing for the customers.
Click to expand...
This answers my question - I was going to ask what garden centers you go to.

Here, department store garden centers are overpriced, and the plants aren't very well cared for. Hardware store garden centers have better prices and the plants usually look healthier. But for the best prices on very healthy plants, we take a 10 to 15-minute drive to any of Sacramento's farming areas.

Those aren't called garden centers, though. They're called nurseries (as u probly know), and there are various types here. There's an exotic plant nursery that my wife particularly likes, and a Japanese garden nursery that I like, and there are a couple that mainly sell fruit trees and all types of berry producing plants.

Nurseries are a lot more enjoyable to visit than garden centers, imo, but shopping at a garden center means we can pick up all kinds of stuff not related to gardens. You could say we're paying for that convenience.
 
MarkD said:
And yet prices of plants have gone up so much near me but I suspect everywhere. I guess I don’t go to garden centers of the sort you speak of if there even are any. This one in San Francisco probably comes closest. I think of them as ‘high fashion’ gardening.

Flora Grubb Gardens
Click to expand...
I need to remember this perfect term you decided was a good on, "high fashion"!
Excellent phrase, and sounds much classier than: "Are they out of their f.... minds? $59.95 for a philodendron?? LOL

Palo Verde trees have been very popular and cost a fortune. One can throw seeds in starter soil and have one three feet tall in a year, but they charge $100.00 for one here in some plant nurseries!
 
Snowball loves the rural Garden shops and the friendly shopping.
Some springs the weather is fickle and a couple of evenings after work is what ya have to do it in.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top