Buying wholesale hostas and ferns is what you doubtless want to do you're on the grounds committee for your condominium complex. Maybe you're the new property manager for an office park. Wholesale nursery prices are the first order of the day, regardless.

Before you buy, however, you need to plan carefully, just as you do with your garden at home. The first step is to map out the plantings on a schematic. The landscaping needs to be as self-sustaining as possible. Wholesale hostas and dense groundcovers are ideal candidates for the tree-shaded walkways and gazebos. They'll do well as foundation plantings to front off the yews and azaleas.

Buying Wholesale Hostas

Quantity and eligibility are the two prerequisites for buying wholesale hostas or other nursery plants. Many if not all nurseries will probably ask you to provide a federal tax exempt identification number. That's generally enough proof of your eligibility to buy at wholesale rates. The usual minimum quantity of plants you're required by nurseries to buy is 500.

Although 500 hostas might at first seem like enough to cover the proverbial back 40 acres, they are not enough. Hostas grow and spread aggressively, yes, but not that aggressively. Your schematic of five buildings, intervening courtyards, walkways, and rim gardens might well entail 1,000 plants. You'll also need to stipulate whether you want container or bare root plants. When you intend to plant is also important. Nurseries will ship to accommodate the plants' being out of the ground for as short a time as possible.