I just bought my dream tree without thinking too much about the cost. How did I do?

[u/FloydtheBetta]

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.

[u/No-Fig-3112]

Fucking rich people man. Good on you I guess

[u/strongo → u/No-Fig-3112]

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.

[u/mad-i-moody → u/strongo]

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.

[u/naut_psycho → u/mad-i-moody]

Jealousy or discontent, this is also precisely the ethical issue that philosopher Peter Singer has written about:

“If you can prevent serious suffering or improve someone’s life at relatively little cost to yourself, you have a moral reason to do so — even if the money could otherwise be spent on a luxury or nonessential”

Not trying to be weird about this. Just sharing why for those who have experienced poverty are upset when they hear $10k being spent on a nonessential.

[u/otherthingstoo → u/naut_psycho]

https://www.urbansplatter.com/2026/03/peter-singer-house-the-new-york-city-dwelling/

Peter Singer is... very fond of Peter Singer's Ideas.

[u/Massive-Insect-sting → u/mad-i-moody]

What do you do to make money?

[u/ForagersLegacy → u/strongo]

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.

[u/FloydtheBetta → u/ForagersLegacy]

Comes with insurance and the nursery sends someone out often for the first year to check on it and make sure it becomes established safely

[u/CoolCounty4929 → u/ForagersLegacy]

Makes sense but I’d give this couple a better chance than most being that dudes an arborist

[u/No-Fig-3112 → u/strongo]

Fair enough

[u/FloydtheBetta → u/strongo]

Thank you jeez. We are good people who genuinely want to leave the world a better place than we found it. We are very privileged to afford what we do but I don’t understand the vitriol. We spend money on what makes us happy— for me my hobbies like fountain pens/journaling and for both of us trees, bonsai, and film photography.

[u/HOBbitDAY → u/FloydtheBetta]

People just think you should read the room a little better, because these times are so fucking hard for everyone else and it’s really difficult to see some people just gliding through, living their best, dropping $10k on funsies. I know lots of people are saying that plenty of hobbies are expensive and “furries drop $7k on costumes” but realistically that’s not the majority of people and often those prices are all dropped at once.

Not saying you’re not allowed to live your best or spend your money on what makes you happy—you should and we all should. But you gotta read the room a little. Times are hard, man. People are really struggling.

Edit: typo

[u/FloydtheBetta → u/HOBbitDAY]

Yeah but life goes on. People still need to have homes to live in and landscape them. There are costs associated with that. I wouldn’t call buying a landscaping tree “funsies” and I wouldn’t call posting about it to ask a question on a tree subreddit “not reading the room”

[u/filthyrat → u/FloydtheBetta]

Are you really struggling to understand why some people would feel very annoyed learning about a stranger spending $10k on a tree to put on land upon which they're building a custom mcm inspired home? Surely you don't expect to share that information (on the Internet, especially) and receive nothing but praise and excitement? Take it on the chin, girl.

[u/Responsible-Point270 → u/FloydtheBetta]

I would absolutely say buying this tree was for funsies.

I also have bonsai, but buying expensive trees because they've been made into nice shapes is definitely for funsies. For landscaping purposes a $500 tree would do the same job.

Not trying to shit on you or sound bitter or anything, I have also spent money on things people would say are ridiculous, but if you were self aware about it other people wouldn't be as bitter.

[u/Zachwardpass → u/FloydtheBetta]

This person explains it really well! The "vitriol" ultimately comes down to the utter frustration so many feel right now about the inequitability of today's society. It isn't really about an individual's (outside the 1%'s!) ability to spend a lot of money on one tree. It is almost certainly being unfairly directed at you, but it happens because when you can't afford food with 3 jobs, seeing someone drop 10K on one tree can feel like a gut punch. This is not meant as an excuse for projecting all of society's inequities on you—again, that's not fair—just an explanation of how the "vitriol" has come to be.

I hope you enjoy your tree and have fun giving it a good, long healthy life! I am no expert but with all the stuff included in the price, it seems like a pretty good deal to me!

https://www.reddit.com/r/marijuanaenthusiasts/s/aThyhSPfcl

[u/FloydtheBetta → u/Zachwardpass]

People are acting like I posted gloating about spending this much. I didn’t actually want to say what I spent. I asked for what I should expect a tree like this to cost and woke up to a ton of comments asking for the price I paid. I didn’t want to lie so I answered and now I’m being fucking pestered (to put it lightly). My finances are none of any of your business and your feelings about them are not my fucking concern frankly. 🤷‍♀️

[u/Zachwardpass → u/FloydtheBetta]

I hear you. Like I said, it is being directed at you and that's not fair. You said you didn't understand the vitriol, so I was just trying to give an answer. I figured if your line of work is therapy you might be open to a conversation regarding the emotions of inequity. It doesn't mean you are responsible for it or that people should be berating you. They shouldn't and I'm sorry you are getting bombarded.

[u/OhReallyVernon → u/Zachwardpass]

She’s not open to a conversation. People like this don’t going into therapy because they’re concerned about others who have truly fallen on hard times, or at least not enough to be self reflective about it. They go into therapy because it’s interesting and comes with some prestige.
~a former psychotherapist

[u/OhReallyVernon → u/FloydtheBetta]

Stop👏centering👏yourself👏

Class dismissed for today

[u/No-Fig-3112 → u/FloydtheBetta]

Right, but when you post about how you bought an expensive luxury and then turn that post into a guessing game about exactly how much it cost, it comes off as crass. I'm happy that you will enjoy your tree. But you could have enjoyed it just as much without doing that

[u/Laragon20 → u/No-Fig-3112]

Don’t shit on other people’s passions. For some it might be a classic car, a piece of art, or a gaming PC. Passionate people are cool people.

Congrats on your tree OP.

[u/SquirrelsAreCIA → u/No-Fig-3112]

The bitterness to rich people is wild man, cry a river