I'm getting my garden ready for a garden tour which is limited to 40 people. I didn't think I needed much just a few things. Well this month I spent $174 and last month $47. I can't believe I spent $221. Even my husband noticed. Yikes! I don't think I'll be doing this again. The one good note is that Alameda is very small and there is a chance I may get a referral for my preschool in the future. At least that's what I tell my husband , haha.
yes, this year the greenhouse we usually get our starts from went from four packs to three packs. so instead of getting a flat of 48 onions we had 36. same for tomatoes... i know he's gotta make some $ someways, but it messed up plans somewhat because i had planned for groups of 4 not groups of 3. oh well, we managed.
sorry, can't say anything about prices, usually for our own gardens we used to wait for clearance and late sales so could often get perennial plants for $1 in gallon containers. they might be limping along and looking sad but could often be rescued and would be fine the next season. i'm not much into annuals other than the garden veggies. if it will reseed itself then i'm ok. i'm currently enjoying the turnips and radishes that have reseeded themselves from previous years.
as for places to look, i'm not sure if there are any grain elevators around, but sometimes some of them have plants for sale. call around or search on-line. usually worth a call this is getting a bit late for some plants and you should start to see some hints of sales or be able to talk the price down a bit.
i rarely buy anything from big box stores greenhouses because the plants are usually not treated very well. i'll pay extra to the local greenhouse instead.
To answer your question, TOO MUCH $ !!!
I have noticed that you really can't count on the seasonal garden departments of most of the stores. WM has gone almost exclusively to name brand vegetables, like Bonnie and they will NOT discount them, even when the plants look spent. The local FS wants about 4x what everybody else wants you to pay, and I bought some ground covers for DD's yard, we had a small drought and lost them, money DOWN the drain!
I only want to buy annuals that are tough, like geraniums or wax begonias, anyway. The others pout and commit suicide if conditions aren't perfect.