Impulse buying
Last weekend I went to visit my parents. On the way back I called in at Pantiles Nursery. I found out about them through the RHS Plant Finder. My main purpose was to see if they had a Feijoa, but I fancied having a little browse and see what else they had. Unfortunately I was disappointed on two counts. Firstly, although their shrubs claimed to be arranged in A-Z order, I couldn’t work out what their rule was for deciding what went where. I eventually asked for help to find the Feijoa. I can’t fault the quality of the help, especially as the man knew that the plant was also called Acca, which is very helpful for trying to find one in people’s catalogues, but I like to be able to look for things on my own. The second reason for disappointment was that all the plants were very big, with very big price tags to match. This is very good for impatient people who want to build a garden in a weekend, or people who have not much longer to live and who want to spend their last few months looking at huge plants in their garden, but no good for the Garden Renovation Project, which is on a budget and does not spend money when it can get things cheaper by waiting a few years. Anyway, the smallest Feijoa was priced at £46, so I think I will probably be buying one by mail order.
However, the weekend was not a total plant disaster, as Morrison’s were offering a very unusual viola, with purple-edged white flowers, for only 99p. Also, B&Q had a small azalea, helpfully if unimaginatively named “Red”, which will fit very nicely in my shady front-side border.
