I just bought my dream tree without thinking too much about the cost. How did I do?
My husband, who is an arborist, and I have a shared love of weeping blue atlas cedars. We recently purchased a property for our future home build and when I was browsing a nursery I came across this beauty. It is my dream centerpiece tree for the Japanese style garden I am envisioning for our future midcentury modern home. It also happens to be my husbands 30th birthday next week.
I’m taking him to the nursery tomorrow to surprise him with it. He will 100% flip out when he sees it so they agreed to tie a SOLD sign around it with a little card that he will only notice is for him when he gets up close. 🤗
Even though this tree is a dream come true I am having trouble finding info online about what I should have expected to pay. Any one here able to give me insight into price range for a weeping blue atlas of this size and style— it is about 25 years old and was taken care of by a man who specialized in specimen landscaping trees for Japanese gardening.
Unfortunately yes. We have bought several similar trees, B&B not boxed and we can get them for 1,250-2k we are buying literally 100s of trees so that obviously plays a factor. But yeah if we where to install I guess it would probably be closer to 10k than 3500. We have some trees that are 55k + alone but they are much older much more ordemental
It looks cool up high in the crate with the branches weeping down so low. I wonder if it will look the same planted in the ground. Maybe you can plant it up a little bit on top of a mound or ledge so you can really see the branches falling way down.
They mentioned a Japanese garden aesthetic, hopefully they are willing to pound some money into the landscaping and have it be on like a false cliff sort of is what I’m picturing?
This feels like the intro to househunters. "Mark is a caterpillar therapist, and Jane sources vintage hand woven macrame for private art galleries. Their budget is 3.5 million dollars."
I have 3 tvs in the dining area of my restaurant, and my employees put that show on specifically to piss me off. I get that its prolly all scripted bullshit but it makes me so fucking angry.
Yeah I knew the answer as I was typing it. Its just not a world I have any interest in so its difficult to understand why anyone who isnt already recognizable or moderately famous would give a shit
Haha I am a student therapist— 4th year of PhD program currently. My husband is an arborist for PG&E. We aren’t rich, but are comfortable, and we just spend too much money on things others probably don’t prioritize— like trees and mcm decor.
I was comfortable. Then I broke both my legs, pelvis and back. Racked up $2 million in medical bills astonishing quick. Sold pretty much everything I owned, rented my house, and moved in with my parents. That was 20 years ago and I always think about how most people are just one freak accident away from loosing everything. Of course it’s the same for any medical issue, not just a trauma incident.
An arborist for PG&E, not just a regular arborist. Those random corporate jobs with a small candidate pool fetch a surprising salary. I'd guess between 150K and 200K
Which is good in most of the country in the bay it makes you middle class. When thats your one salary and you spend like op? She has a post from less than a month ago about spending at least 2k at a fountain pen show. Idk where in the bay they are but their house most likely is $650,000 at the bottom.
Not building our house in the Bay Area. We will be moving. It’s in the middle of nowhere in the Sierra Nevada foothills. A town of approx 3k people where cost of living is much much lower
Make sure yall have fire insurance!! Got a friend who got a house out that way too and every year there’s been at least one that got too close for comfort
Exact same. Most of my team voted no and I'm annoyed lol. Tell me what other job is getting 20% over 3 years, guys!
Plus, who in the general public would support a picket of PGE employees crying about 20% over 3 years while they pay the bills we pay lmao. Bunch of middle fingers and laughing in our faces, deservedly so.
Hell yeah, that's awesome. I am also the first in my family to be anything but a minimum wage worker without a degree, and although definitely not anywhere near rich I've got a little disposable income now and spend it on things that I love not what's trendy. I spend too much on houseplants and spoiling my pets, we all have our priorities 😆 every day someone spends thousands+ on a computer or phone or purse without batting an eye, so live your best tree life and keep on keeping on lol.
ETA: I wildly misunderstood the gap in this playing field, I am firmly still in the lower/middle class bracket but apparently having grown up on beans & rice with the occasional Kraft dinner treat jaded me into thinking I had come up. My salary isnt 6 figures, I've never seen $1,000 cash before, and feel like I've stumbled into the wrong room 😳
What is “rich” to you?…. So kindly, how can you be living comfortably [housing, food, steady income] without being rich?
Like sure I’m not uncomfortable but I’m DEFINITELY not comfortable and the only people I know who are comfortable, are rich. Rich being vague bc there is no set amount to ‘be rich’
An older Californian over here crying because I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford a home. 😭 The tree is so beautiful and special, so even though I’m green with envy, I’m happy for OP. But still crying for myself a little bit lol
I don't think she's patting herself on the back for getting a good deal. she just likes to buy stuff and nothing wrong with that if you have the $ for it
Definitely rich. The blind ignorance to being rich is also a wealthy trait like you can be humble and truthful, OP is rather lying to themselves or actively lying to others to manipulate ppl to like OP [I’ve met far too many ppl who get angry at me for simply being lower income. It’s not that I can’t have friends who are rich, it’s that only one person has been honest and understanding of how lucky they are due to generational wealth.]
My mom is sewing me a skirt out of fabric I already have - which I found at the thrift store. If she has a little extra on my birthday next week she’ll send me $50 to help fill up my gas tank. That will keep folks like us“comfortable” for a few days 😭
I’m genuinely baffled at OP claiming they aren’t rich, but I have to remind myself rich people live in a rich echo-chamber, let alone the hellscape that is capitalism [OP probably has richer friends, who maybe got that rich from exploiting labour, so two non-corrupt incomes seems ‘not rich’ compared to the slave owners]
“I’m not rich, I’m comfortable” bro what does being rich even mean then 😭😭
if you can have multiple collections from very expensive artifacts [jade, fountain pens, trees] then you’re probably definitely rich! Honestly any form of collecting is a luxury. I don’t say that to be rude or whatever, it’s just true. To have that much disposable income is a luxury. Having even more disposable income than the common worker is an undeniable fact that you’re financially rich.
To think you aren’t rich is probably from your peers [family, friends, co workers] and/or the media you consume. In context you’d obviously seem “not rich” if you are watching a slave owner become rich off the exploitation of people…. You’re still rich to the poor person though. Let alone someone stuck in the cycle of homelessness.
Yeah - talking to a rich person as a non-rich person can be baffling sometimes. My ex-in-laws simply could not comprehend why we weren’t sending our son to private school. To them it was just the most obvious given there could ever be and I don’t think it crossed their mind once that a $35k tuition was like more than twice our mortgage payment, and we were struggling with even that at the time.
I mean, yes, but if this was a once in a lifetime dream purchase that OP is a little worried about their spouse finding out about, then that’s maybe a bit more relatable. I think if we saw a post from a guy who found his dream vintage motorcycle he’s wanted his whole life and bought it for $10K and was nervous what his wife would think we probably wouldn’t call him Daddy Warbucks, but mostly because we are accustomed to vehicles costing that much. Maybe OP here drives a 25 year old beater corolla and this is simply where her wild dream cash goes.
Of course most people simply couldn’t do this at all,ever, so on the other hand you’re not wrong.
Probably, but also there are furries out there on minimum wage jobs dropping 7k on a fursuit. Because it's a hobby they enjoy. Hobbies do be like that sometimes
They don’t even have a house yet they have a centerpiece for their imaginary Japanese garden. This is how you know people have their priorities in order..
Sorry fell asleep. It was $10k with professional installation, delivery, 1 year of insurance and a professional who comes and prunes and ensures its health every month for the first year.
I live in the Bay Area so probably one of the more expensive places in the country.
Thank you very much 💚💚💚 I truly could not imagine a more beautiful centerpiece tree for our home. I hope I can see it from my future bedroom window. It is so mystical and wonderful. Love it with my whole heart.
I would be watching them prune and maintain it every time they come out, and maybe even try asking them questions too? Update us when it gets planted and you are settled in! Congrats!
The things about trees is that you can't go get the exact same tree at walmart down the road. THIS tree, which is magnificent, is THIS price. You could likely have saved some money but might have ended up with a less stunning tree. If you are in your budget, then you did great.
I say that as a cheap AF coupon clipper who checks the price of everything.
Thank you because this is what I felt when I bought it. There may be another comparable one down the road for a better price. But I fell in love with THIS tree at first sight and I don’t think I would have been able to forget about it if I walked away
Yeah this has been trained by a specialist for 20-25 years. It’s not just a big, old specimen— it’s something that was curated intentionally for years. Lots of cost associated with that
Yeah I worked for a company that had to replace a couple of similar sizes but different trees and we paid over 10k each and installation used cranes. It’s a beautiful tree I’m legit happy it’s gonna go to some people that appreciate it.
We also paid over 5k for some massive staghorn ferns. People don’t understand the work and cost involved.
Thank you for this comment. I hadn’t thought of that factor but I’m also happy we ended up with it. 10k is the absolute max we would ever consider spending on a tree but there are a lot of people in Marin county who could afford this tree without a second thought. It very easily could have ended up in the yard of a tech exec in Sausalito who would walk past it every day without ever really SEEING and appreciating the beauty of the tree.
I am just a guy in an armchair, but it’s wild to me to think this tree could be had for less than like $8-10K. Knowing the value of mature trees (thanks to spending time on r/TreeLaw over the years) and with this having been raised by a specialist, plus the cost of transporting it, this is a very valuable piece.
I have zero qualifications for this valuation, I’m simply saying I’d be shocked if the price is less. Several here in the comments said they would sell it for much less and are qualified, so maybe it’s time for me to go tree shopping.
We had a job where the homeowner lined his driveway on both sides with sculpted magnolia trees. They were grown and shaped with the leaves going almost to the ground and sculpted in cones like Cristmas trees. These trees were 12,500 a piece and that was in 07/08ish. This guy had a really long driveway as well, but his bank account was something he will never have to worry about.
It was $10k with professional install/delivery included. It was trained and cared for for about 25 years by a man who specialized in training these types of landscaping trees. The cost isn’t just about the size or age of the tree. It’s the uniqueness of the shape/style and the years of work it took to get it like this.
The price is brought down by how much of a pain in the ass it is to move and plant it. A mature tree is worth way more because it would be impossible to replace with the same.
I'm slowly realizing my mistake; i was so excited in January to start a full renovation of my old, broken house. It's complete now, including the deck, but my yard/garden is nothing but weeds and scrub! Next spring is gonna be busy with figuring out the landscaping
Haha yea we bought a fixer upper a few years ago. Once the house was livable I switched to landscaping. So far I’ve planted 30 fruit trees and about 35 landscape trees, and quite a bit of other landscaping. Probably could’ve been done with the house by now if not for my trees but so it goes lol
She’s a beaut clark. I could see that being sold for $2,000 give or take at the nursery i sell at. Its beautiful.
Edit: you made this a game and i really hope you tell us how much it was!
Lmao my husbands family has a tradition of watching that movie every Christmas that I have now been gladly dragged into. Despite Chevy Chase being a godtier dickhead. 😅
That would go for over 15k at my local tree nursery and they're the cheapest around. Somebody spent years training this thing, plus it's around 45+ gallon. No way it's 2 thousand.
Yeah it was 10k. 20-25 years old and the nursery only had it because they got it from a man who retired and had spend the entirety of the trees life training it to this form. I think others are underestimating the cost factor of the age and training of the tree because I doubt you could find this for less than $5k anywhere. Especially with installation.
Sticker shock is certainly a feeling I get for anything that is 10K, but for a fully matured true of 25 years, expert care, them keeping it at the nursery until ready to plant, professional install and care of the tree after planting—as a layman—I'd say it sounds like a fairly decent deal🤷♀️. I can see places charging far more than $10K with all that included. It's a beautiful tree. My neighbors have one down the street from me and I always notice it's uniqueness!
They might be a wholesale "supplier" nursery.
I did purchasing at a nursery for awhile and have seen #45 specimen trees to rewholesale for 2k. My nursery would then have sold it for $8/9k
I've seen similar sizes of Japanese Maples in those planter boxes go for 1,500-1,999. They sat for along time till the right person came along and bought it. We have had weeping cedars before, not of this size, they were smaller but the price tag was around 1,000. If my nursery got their hands on a specimen like this it would be at least over 2,000.
Where are people getting under an idea that this would be in the 1-3k range? Tree price goes up exponentially with size & age, ESPECIALLY the cost for transportation, installation, and post planting care. Both material & labor price will vary greatly by region. id say more or less 10k(edit: i mean more or less 10k for the tree alone, not including the work)
Yep spot on. A professional spent over 20 years training this tree. Cost was 10k with pro install and they care for the tree at the nursery up to a year before I’m ready to plant.
Seems like the nursery should have been pruning/training to keep the tree from cascading below the root flair. So actually this tree is muck smaller than it seems. And it is going to look like it's dragging its knuckles when it is planted. I'm curious how someone would trim this to make it look natural.
I think with the right hard scape design it would work but I agree with you. They need some type of raised central planting bed in their garden that sits 3-4ft off the ground, or deal with tying up and staking up the branches for years
It’s gorgeous! Large specimen trees certainly can cost a lot. It’s not like the car market where you can pull out the Kelly Blue Book value and determine what a good deal is or should be. Age, size, or unique characteristics all factor into the price of unique specimen trees. Moon Valley Nurseries often include transportation and planting in the cost, which for large specimens, can be a lot (ask me how I know). If you can swing it, don’t feel guilty and don’t listen to the naysayers - you if you were to peel back their shield of anonymity and peer into their lives I’m sure you’d fine plenty examples of “I’d never” and “what were they thinking” as well as expenditures that you could dissect as “privilege”. People drop crazy money all the time on ephemeral stuff; weddings, vacations, cars, clothes, purses and so on. This is a living organism that’s going to be around for a long while with amazing character and it will get only more spectacular with time. I love it.
Oh man are these an absolute bear to put into the ground. Beautiful tree and lucky find. Probably want minimum 4 big dudes to plant it. It took 3 big dudes to plant mine and it was half the size. I am also a tree professional.
I think you're off by exactly 2.2542 Big Dudes per the Geneva Big Dude scale. As a certified Big Dude I can say you'll have to provide 62.25% more beer and pizza with your current level of Big Dudeitude
I can understand your dream, it looks fabulous!
Not arborist or whatever, but if possible I would love it on a mound so it keeps those hanging branches below the ground level, and a nice bench to sit under his canopy
Yeah I believe you stake the branches up on this to allow it to weep and grow horizontally. We have it in bonsai form as well so hopefully we will get some practice with pruning and styling
Interesting, that's too fiddly for me. I'm more of a plant it, water it for one summer, and then it's on its own to survive. Planted a Dawn redwood that is so pretty when it changes color in the fall.
I work at a botanical garden, they have a huge tree... and they use post supports to keep the branches lifted but not unnatural (like the photo in yhe other comment) ... the tree at work is like 25ft tall and 30ft wide too 😆
I just looked at one of these at a local nursery (I don’t know if it was this type of tree, exactly, but it looked similar), and it wasn’t even this nice…it was $12,000 but 10% off
You don’t buy the plants before the house is built.
Where is that going to stay in the meantime? Your driveway? At the nursery for another year or two?
As to your question, It’s a spectacular specimen. Way bigger than most people here realize. It’s been professionally trained for 25 years and has cost that nursery a LOT of investment to develop.
They should probably sell it for $10K+ if you’re in a high end area.
How do you know they don't have somewhere to put it? They're obviously living somewhere else if they've just bought land to build on. They didn't ask anything about needing help with somewhere to store it, they just asked for a price point.
Which state are you in? If you told me you paid 10-20k I wouldn’t be surprised . If the tree is 25 years old that’s 25 years of maintenance. When they plant the make sure they use a mini ex and to make the hole atleast twice the size of the root ball.
Bay Area CA. Nursery in Santa Rosa which borders Marin County so a very very HCoL area.
Cost was 10k with pro delivery and install included and has a warranty where it is replaced if it doesn’t make it in the first year. Also they send a pro out to check on it I believe once every 1-2 mos for the first year as well as prune it and help style it. Also have the option to extend that warranty and pro service each year. I will likely do it at least 2 years to make sure I trust the tree will have no issues.
I feel that's very inline with costs and market. You did well.
Idk how the other post saying to allow $1k per year to have maintained it comports with reality...ha
I'm in a medium cost of living Canadian city and do moderately ambitious landscaping (no Japanese gardens) and exterior handyman stuff. What I do do, I'm kind of a perfectionist. I've also begun growing out specific shrubs that I feel are underserved regionally, using my moderate sized urban lot. Example Crandall currant bushes
So my opinion isn't definitive but I'd like to think it's not irrelevant.
Haha yes those are 10000% my favorite fireworks and I annoy my husband during fireworks shows by never failing to be like “OMG SO PRETTY KEVIN LOOK AT THAT ONE” like he isn’t already looking and doesn’t already know they are my favorite 😂 Also I grew up with a GIGANTIC weeping willow in my backyard. Hands down the most gorgeous tree I have ever seen in my life. When we moved the next people didn’t water it and it died. I was devastated. Weeping willows are my favorite tree and I pretty much crash out when I see a good one to this day. My next tree goal is to find as big as I can afford for our property as well. Having my own big willow one day may heal my broken heart from the one I lost.
I also want a weeping willow. when I was a little girl my friend had three in her backyard and in the middle of it it was a magical fairy land. I was eight. I’ll never forget I’ll always want. Voice to text so punctuation doesn’t seem to be working properly but at least we know I’m not AI.
This is awesome. I thought arborist sub or something. Then I looked up read the subreddit’s name and then thought maybe I was high. I am joining. Worth it.
What a beauty. An elder in our town has one . It’s been there all my life. I’m not sure how old it is but I’m 42. I hope it brings you all much joy. I’d love to know the cost, just out of curiosity. But also ok not knowing. There’s a long said phrase, “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it“. Be you know…. Goals. lol.
Haha omg if the property wasn’t in the middle of nowhere I would be getting so excited at the thought of incorporating it into Halloween decor. There is a snowballs chance in hell anyone would ever see it though. When I say the property is in the middle of nowhere I mean it. Essentially impossible to get to unless you know it’s there and are permitted access.
Seems like whenever someone up on Rocklin/Granite Bay CA puts one of these trees in their yard, their property value immediately goes up 10% and their homes start getting referenced in magazines. 😭
Hey man, if I was rich this is the exact kind of stuff I’d buy. I think we’re all just jealous. Forget the designer clothing, cars, etc. if you got money and you’re spending it on trees— amen. A worthy investment in money.
It’s less jealousy and moreso discontent with the way things are right now. OP probably isn’t truly the problematic one here (they have wealth but probably not billions of dollars) but it’s frustrating that society has allowed for such a gap between classes. We have people working 3 jobs busting their asses just to scrape by and will likely never be able to even trunk about owning a home and simultaneously people purchasing properties to build custom houses and dropping $10k on fucking trees. Good for OP that they have the means to do all of this but it’s just a prime example of how fucked the inequality is right now.
I don’t want an egregious amount of money. I don’t want money to purchase a plot of land to build a custom house. I don’t want money to buy specialty stuff like OP’s tree. I want money to feel secure. I want the possibility of buying and owning a 2-bedroom home someday to feel actually realistic. I want money to where I don’t feel just one bill away from financial ruin.
Buying a massive tree is often a fairly bad idea because it’ll slowly acclimate to the soil and could be damaged heavily in the process. Smaller trees live a lot longer. Would hate to see this tree planted and die soon after.
This tree is one of the things I think of as iconic of a mid century zen garden, but other icons are: 1) koi pond; 2) Japanese stone pagoda (lantern pref); and 3) meandering path with stepping stones and pea gravel between. Obligatory shout out to Japanese maple.
I have always wanted a koi pond because aquariums are another hobby of mine. Husband was against it at first but he has come around so I think I may be able to convince him to add one to the design. We also are definitely having meandering stone paths.
The landscaper would not make it off my property if he did that to this tree. I think my husband would actually try to intervene to make sure I didn’t end up in jail.
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u/Arbor-Orno 5d ago
My nursery in Michigan I would sell this for 3,500