100% agree on everything! The part about digging a smaller hole is huge for me these days. I think the small ones catch up pretty fast. I will buy shrubs slightly larger-I bought some SMALL hydrangeas last year to place around one side of the patio. I figured they would grow pretty quicky and be a decent size in a couple of years. The dratted galloping gardeners trampled them all during their tag team wrestling matches. I am going to try again, but with larger versions this time and hope the pups have calmed down a bit. They are seven and eight years old now and still as playful as ever, especially when the grandpup is here. *sigh* A dog park is not the ideal back yard look.

That sounds like impeccable logic to me....! Actually the past few years I mainly buy from a not-too-far-away nursery that is a wholesale nursery/propagator that also sells to the public. Their prices are $5.99 for a gallon pot - they used to be 4.99.... Since they are a propagator, you have to be careful - in spring or early summer you need to make sure you're buying something that was propagated last year and is growing strongly. In late summer it can be fine to buy this spring's divisions if you can see roots at the bottom of the pot. The price makes it a good place to buy things where you want multiple plants but don't want to pay what would be required at normal garden center prices.

For smaller, groundcover type plants, I like small (cheaper) pots that you can find in places like local stores that just have a seasonal garden center in the parking lot!

Of course I also have favorite places to go to buy special (and usually $$...) plants where size isn't as important as just finding a healthy specimen of whatever it is I'm looking for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Northland

the smaller the better - I want them adapting easily to my neglectful regime (grown hard) and I really don't want to do all the faffing and watering establishing a fully grown thing. Also, I am broke....and cheap.

Well I almost always go for the smaller plant. I do not like to dig deep big holes, as my soil is very hard to dig, and I gotta admit, I like paying less. On the other hand, if the plants are in a basket, I go for the large for instant impact. I learned my lesson on those, as I planted my own baskets once and they took forever to fill in.

Smaller for price, hole size and so I can cram more in and worry about thinning later.

I almost always go smaller on herbaceous perennials. Unless I don't coddle it, making sure it doesn't dry-out its' first year, they adjust more easily at first and establish so much nicer in the long run. Also much prefer to gamble $3 over $10, as well as get 3 plants instead of 1 - or whatever the cost ratio is. It's much more fun to me to watch plants grow and mature. It doesn't mean as much if I don't have a personal relationship with the plants, although of course we do fall instantly in infatuation with those big beauties we splurge on, don't we? Extra kudos to those who start with seeds! I can barely get a good annual thing going that way.

I also find that smaller plants go through less transplant shock. Often, the smaller plant catches up with the larger one later in the season.

For sure I go with the larger sized annuals if available; summer for me is too short to wait for small ones to get large enough to make their impact.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Wed, Apr 24, 13 at 8:52

Bigger. I have no patience. I want it filled in and I want it filled in NOW.

instant gratification.. for me.. is defined by how many plants i can add to my database ...

which means i buy small.. and in volume.. one of everything i can afford.. who really needs two ...

that is how one fills 5 acres ...

and though it confuses me .. the peeps that want ASAP gratification... all the power to them ..

subject to the ease of NOT dealing with huge stock ...

why someone single person.. would struggle with an 8 to 10 foot tree ... is beyond me.. and the odds of success so high.. that i dont understand such ....

and if you have the money for a huge plant.. then pay to have it installed .. and skip the hard parts .... and again.. all the power to ya ....

ken

Well, I think I am a nice medium girl. No extremes for me. I find that if it is mail order, sometimes they come too small and I have to coddle them and pay such close attention or they will just melt away - very annoying. I would rather have bigger from mail orders, which end up being the same size as smaller at local nurseries, which is what I pick up there because of cost only. I am an avid overwaterer, I have found, so bigger actually does better for me, b/c they can withstand my enthusiasm to make them "happy" with overwatering them! But, as I said, I do select smaller locally for savings, anyway, even though I would prefer the bigger guy. Mail order, though, the bigger, the better! No melt-aways, please and no coddling!

and though it confuses me .. the peeps that want ASAP gratification...

I am for sure more mature than you Ken i.e. older ;). And I am betting that at some point, when you get a certain age, it hits you that you have less time to be patient (at least in regards to the growth of the plants and trees in your garden).

For the sake of a healthier plant, smaller is ideal. Me, I buy small. Main reason is because it is more affordable. Some plants are crazy expensive when they are bigger. It's a different story when it comes to something that is a very slow grower though, then I might consider a larger size. I'm an impatient person. Patience is a virtue....just gotta keep telling myself that.lol :)

I am old and do not want to wait 20 years for maturity. I do not mind a small perennial and have purchased small but I try not to buy bushes small. I need the gratification now so I can enjoy it as long as possible.

I do not want to be 80 to finally see the results of my work. If I was 20 years old I would buy small.

I think it depends on what I'm buying.

If it's a tree, I want it to be at least 4-6 feet tall.
If it's a Heuchera, small is great.
If it's one of the newer Echinaceas, larger is best.
It really depends on the plant for me. I just bought a weeping red bud tree. It is about 6 feet tall already and it instantly made an impact when I planted it. I don't want to wait ten to twenty years to notice my tree when you drive by.