About a week ago, we went to check out what our local Pennsylvania Home Depot, just to see what plants they had in for the new season. (For British readers: Home Depot = B&Q, only much bigger).

The first thing we noticed as we approached the entrance was this pallet of forsythia. About 5-6ft/1.3-1.8m) high, and grown in the open ground with their roots wrapped in sacking (balled and burlapped, as the US has it), they were priced at $22.98 ($24.36 including local sales tax). That’s £15.85 in British money.

Interestingly, they were marked as “local grown”. There’s a small but growing inclination in the US in favour of food, plants and other products being grown locally. Their source was given, these forsythias came from about 160 miles away. Not very local by British standards, of course.

Then yesterday I was at the plant centre at the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at Wisley, south of London. Not entirely similar, of course, but I took a look at their forsythias. Theirs were in pots, unlike the Home Depot ones they were named (‘Weekend’) and they were about 18-24in/45-60cm high. They were priced at £9.99 (including tax), that’s $15.36. So they were a about a third of the size – and two thirds of the price. Not sure how local they were.

Two things struck me about this. It would be good if British gardeners could buy forsythias that size at a reasonable price. But, also, that the Home Depot forsythias were probably too cheap.

Next time I pass a garden centre, I’ll pop in take a look at their forsythia.