A while ago I was at a big nursery, one that supplies dozens of garden centres with plants. The owner showed me his stock for the autumn season. Fine healthy plants: well-grown, disease-free and plump. Plants to be proud of. But what seemed to concern this nurseryman most were the pots that these exemplary specimens were growing in. Emeraldgreen pots. Again and again he picked up a plant, and burnished and buffed the pot until its plastic gleamed with a clean, bright-green shine. "What do you think? That'll make it sell! Don't you think so?"
Actually, I didn't think so, because I thought the plants, perfect specimens that they were, should be able to sell themselves unaided by cunning pots. However, horticultural marketing consultants think differently, and now we have heathers and conifers in chartreuse pots, patio roses in baby-pink or yellow ones and lavender in purple ones. We have point-of-sale promotional boards and posters, plastic labels with pictures, and cute and cuddly plant mascots. We have trees that are peddled on the merit that they fit in the back of the family car. Plants are being merchandised to within an inch of their lives. Which is inevitable, I suppose, and there's no stopping it. But what about the plants that don't look so good in pots (whatever the colour), plants that get leggy and threadbare when confined to a two-litre roundel of peat-based compost? Admirable plants like some solidagos (or golden rods), euphorbias, hardy geraniums, phloxes and erysimums. These non-pot-friendly plants seldom make it onto the "looking good" lists of the wholesale nurseries. But as soon as these same ugly ducklings are released from their potted prisons into the soil, they push out their cramped roots, put on crops of new little leaves and grow into horticultural swans, as it were.
In the same way, plants that are difficult to propagate - like the steely-blue sea holly, Eryngium x oliverianum, and the dwarf Acanthus syriacus - or those that are more limited in their appeal - like the spotted toad lilies, Tricyrtis and the less flashy foxgloves like Digitalis ferruginea - are less likely to find their way onto the shelves of your local garden centre. Which is not to say that you won't find wonderful plants there (even though some establishments are becoming more like supermarkets than plant shops with their obstacle courses of scented candles, hand creams, and barbecuing paraphernalia arrangements. You can certainly buy delightful plants in garden centres, but the rare and the unusual are slightly more elusive.
Away from the garden supermarkets there is a whole other world (fast becoming an underworld, if the marketers get their way) of places to get plants. There are specialist nurseries and plant sales to visit, garden clubs and plant societies to join, experienced gardeners to pester. If you see a plant that you fancy, find out its name and add it to a wish list. Keep the wish list close at hand - in your diary, inside your spectacle case or in your wallet - for consultation and new additions. You never know the moment when you will see a new plant or find a potential source of a coveted one.
The country is dotted with little nurseries run by plant enthusiasts who are zealously devoted to seeking out and propagating special plants, sometimes only a dozen or two of each variety. Seek these nurseries out and support them. And seek out the garden centres that are not part of a big chain: these - like a good delicatessen - are more likely to have unusual goodies for the discerning horticultural eye. Here is my own short list of specialist plant providers (there are many, many more. This is just a taster).
Garden Style (Main Street, Baldoyle, Dublin 13. Tel: 01-832 1640): the tiny shop has an everchanging stock of treasures, from big banana plants to little alpines.
Hardy Plant Nursery (Ridge House, Ballybrack, Co Dublin. Tel: 01-282 6973. Mail order and by appointment only.): a good range of carefully grown herbaceous plants - with an emphasis on Irish cultivars.
Cottage Garden Centre (Ratoath Road, Ashbourne, Co Meath. Tel: 01-825 6678): many grasses and herbaceous plants - including lots of hardy geraniums - and unusual shrubs as well.
The Seaside Nursery (Claddaghduff, Co Galway. Tel: 095-44687): a family affair run by the Dycks, in deepest Connemara and specialising in salt and wind-resistant plants.
Murphy and Wood (Johnstown Road, Cabinteely, Co Dublin. Tel: 01-285 4855): a small garden centre that always has an interesting selection of herbaceous plants, alpines, dwarf conifers (genuine ones like Picea - `Little Gem' that don't turn into unruly giants after a few years), and desirable shrubs like the rare, lemon-yellow paeony `Edith Cavell'.
And if you don't belong to a plant society or garden club, join one now. These are my favourites: The Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland (Swanbrook House, Bloomfield Avenue, Donnybrook, Dublin 4), The Irish Garden Plant Society (c/o The Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9) and The Royal Horticultural Society (Membership Department, 80 Vincent Square, London, SW1 2PE, England.) These last two societies distribute free seed to members.