Bargain trees

[pennytrains]

I ordered some trees for my layout and this is what I got:

To show the scale better, here's a Cape Cod:

Now, here's why I bought them.  One package, normal price six bucks.  The price I paid?  One buck!  50 cents a tree!  BUT, and it's a BIG but, Darice, the manufacturer is done, kaput, fin.  So if you want some, you'd better order them now from Factory Direct Crafts.  Look under miniatures.  I bought 12 packs.

Not on clearance or anything, I also ordered a dozen of these little pine trees that quite obviously share the same molds used to make the Plasticville pines:

The trunk is just a square white plastic stick but at 4 bucks a dozen it wasn't that much of a leap to add them to my order.

[fifedog]

Thanks for the tip, Becky. I have a ton of those evergreens on my layout, that someone had treated with green sawdust. 50 cents a tree is pretty thrifty. oh heck, I lost count.

[fifedog]

Staying on this topic, here is a sample of scenery materials that I keep on hand. Floral stems, flowering spriggs, miniature items, and even some commercial trees, most purchased from trips to Hobby Lobby, Michael's, JoAnn's, etc...most of which were during 40-70% off sale specials. 

When I get time, I use wire cutters to remove the "useable" foliage from the plastic stems, and store them by colors in Swiffer containers. I use a lot of JTT products, as well as some AMSI scenery that I purchased second hand. The flowering vines on the layout come from AMSI kits.

[BigAl 956]

Havn't done it but there was a story in CTT a while back about cutting up an artificial christmass tree. One closeout tree would yield an entire forest of trees for your layout at penies per tree.

[pennytrains]

I used inexpensive pine garlands for background trees on Disneyland:

These helped to obscure the fact that the fort was truncated.  But of course they were practically flat as opposed to what you would get from an older, bushier artificial tree.

[fifedog]

Here's a pic of my "work station" from yesterday. The trees are from dried out red sedum, that I cut last fall. We have that flower in our garden, and this was the 4th "harvest". I use clump ground foam, and Aquanet or green spray paint for adhering the foam to branches and seed pods.

Gotta work quick, and the key is to get the tree tops as wet as you can before grabbing a handful of colored foam and lightly pack it on the tree.

 

[fifedog]

Picked these two LEMAX weeping willow trees up at our local train show yesterday. Originally $8.99, I got both for $10. Well worth it. They are really wrapped up in the box, and as you can see they really POP once they're free. 

These are just right for forground scenery; something for the trains to pass behind. Think I might cover one with pink or white "blossoms" to represent a weeping cherry tree.