Brooklyn tree nurserys are rip offs

Why don't you check out the Brooklyn Terminal Market in Canarsie. I can't say whether the vendors there will match all the species of trees you saw in Western Mass and they probably won't match those really low prices. However, as a wholesale market, the BTM's vendors generally supply stock items to local and other retail centers at wholesale and to the general public at a noticeable discount. Don't go to the BTM expecting to purchase particularly unusual/rare/exotic types of plants, flowers, shrubs and trees. But I know I've seen Japanese Maples and Flowering Crab Apples there(albeit much earlier in the season than now.) You should at least give it a try because the market is big, the selection is large and whatever you find there is likely to be cheaper than at most local nurseries in Brooklyn.

BTW, on a recent visit, I ran into the owner of a local nursery who was making purchases. It was both a bit of surprise and sense of self-satisfaction to be buying flats of flowering plants side by side with him when I could have just as easily gone straight to his shop and paid much more for those same items with his mark up.

Posted by: Brooklynista at July 17, 2008 7:49 PM

Gee, Steve, thanks for bursting my "good deal" bubble! LOL. Doesn't matter though, Even if BTM is comparable to Lowes/HD in price, I would still prefer to buy my standard stuff at BTM. There's something about the energy of the wholesale marketplace, what with all the trucks, the movement of workers, the various vendors, etc. that appeals to me a whole lot more than the dreary warehouses of the big box stores with their interminable lines at checkout. I thought the quality was great at BTM at the top of the season. Now, is that "dead" time between spring-early summer and late-summer fall shipments. So quality? Not so much.

Werner, please do tell. Where is Frenchtown?

Posted by: Brooklynista at July 18, 2008 10:44 AM