You Pays Your Money .....

.... and you takes your choice. Hobson's choice, in this case. I've been keeping an eye out for quite some time now for either a Cissus rhombifolia 'Ellen Danica' (Grape ivy) or a Cissus antarctica (Kangaroo vine).

Having used the fantastic resource that is the RHS plantfinder, I found two people that supplied these vines, one of whom is only 30 miles or so away from me: in May I sent an email asking if there were any in stock, and waited over 2 weeks for the reply which said 'no'.

The other supplier is in Margate, Kent. I stashed this little nugget of information away until yesterday, when we were in Kent to dump drop off the children with my MIL for a week; and DH, because he loves me, took me to this nursery (more about which another time, most likely).

This nursery had both plants in stock, perhaps 4 pots of each: 'rooted' cuttings only, not established plants, mark you, in 1 litre pots:


This was the best of the bunch.

This was with it:


Yep, that says £6.95 ($12 approx). It also says 'rhombifolia' when I'm fairly sure it's 'antarctica'; their 'rhombifolia's were labelled as 'antartica's. Although I really wanted a 'rhombifolia' I didn't buy one as they looked pretty ropey: as rooted cuttings, they didn't look established, rather, that they were at that point when you're hoping against hope (or experience) that they will make it, teetering on the point of no return. And I am the Queen of Failed Cuttings, so I'm pretty ie. extremely familiar with the signs.

My point is, £6.95 is extortion for an uncertain, mis-labelled, unestablished cutting, however hard it appears to get hold of. But I (or rather, DH) paid it, because it seems to be the only opportunity I had to obtain it. The law of supply and demand in up-close, personal, expensive, action.

It better live.