I agree with almost everything you say Nigel, but I do think that Japanese Maples might actually be somewhat of an exception. Even here in the NL with Boskoop growing every tree imaginable, japanese maples with decent diameter trunks are way more expensive than almost everything else.
A 3" caliper Gingko will indeed cost you only about 40,-, (that slingshot I showed was 17,-) but a 3" diameter maple you simply won't find at prices much lower than the mentioned 200,- Many garden center carry those standard dissectums, those are usually somewhat cheaper, but any slightly less common cultivar usually has a rather hefty price attached to it.
Just saw some landscape deshojos at Lodders yesterday. About 3.5m (9'-12') tall, nothing spectacular shape wise, about 4" trunk calipers, they were selling for 600,- to about 1000,- O.k. so Lodder is maybe not the cheapes place for maples, but I don't think even Esveld would be selling a tree like that for much less.
If you like maples, you will simply have to reach a bit deeper into your pockets. A real shame...
Lodder has some very nice Deshojos at the moment. Selling around 240,- to 300,- which compared to the prices of some other material they're selling, is almost resonable.
btw. Female Gingko seedling? Hard to come by, very interesting... Smelly though....
