Online Plant Auctions
Bargain Cordylines
Hee hee. I'm fast becoming a believer in the online plant auction. In my first week I bid for and won two beautiful pink peonies, twenty-one green Cabbage trees (don't worry - there's room for them all) and a sprawling rose which I think is Nozomi. I'm only a beginner, just learning.
One thing I've worked out straight away, though. A seller who wishes to make-over their garden can get all the existing plants purchased and dug out by auctioning them as is, where is. Sone silly gardener with time on her (or his) hands will click that bidding button!
Actually, I've turned down several kind offers to dig out woman-sized Rhododendrons and Camellias. Bargains all, but I'd have taken hours to remove them. Aargh!
I'll Dig Out Your Cabbage Trees...
But I've successfully dug out three monster Cabbage trees for a bargain price. No problem! I cleared someone else's garden for them, and then drove away with spikes flapping out of windows and soil dripping throughout my tiny car. Hopefully I got the correct address...
The New Cordylines Are Planted
I like the randomness of the listings. One day there'll be a white Lilac, supposedly quite rare, and I'll get very twitchy in my bidding. Oops - too dear. Then some Phormiums at extraordinary inflated prices will appear - no thanks, I'm not even tempted. Double Snowdrops - I'm tempted again. Forty dollars for ten - I'm not. I never know what's likely to be up for auction next.
Agnes Rugosa Rose
The One That Got Away...
And there's always the one (or ones) that got away. Like the six Agnes rugosa roses and three Sally Holmes standards which I forgot about (and so did everyone else). Blast! I had the perfect places for them all...
Hee hee. My latest 'purchase' is more like a rose rescue - a Princess Di rose has been dug out and is free to a good home, and I've won the honour. Another tiny arc in the circle of gardening life - she's more than welcome to jostle for space in the Island Bed with a couple of Queen Elizabeths... Oops...
With bargains like this on offer I'm completely hooked, but spring is starting and the garden needs me more each day. I can't waste good gardening time sneaking inside to check the computer. Hmm... Perhaps just one last peep...
Footnote
Moosey uses the New Zealand online auction site Trade Me. That is, when she's not gardening...