Bum
Information Number 15: "All
plants from big-box stores are always healthy and hardy."
Well....in all fairness, many of the plants found in these high-traffic,
profit-motivated giants are hardy. And the prices are usually lower than what
you'd find in quality nurseries. Healthy? Well....maybe.
"Live Plant
Specialists" in most big-boxes do, indeed, receive limited training
before being assigned to the garden section of the store. They know about
watering, some have a "feel" for which plants the corporate offices
send to them need shade and which will tolerate direct sun. Some of these
hard-working employees even have a
past history of plant selection and care either in their own gardens or from
previous employment in a nursery.
None, however,
have any consequential say in which plants are sent to them.
"Experts" in corporate offices reserve that luxury to entirely to themselves.
None have any
control over the care taken in shipping, either. Trucks roll in on precise
schedules and, in far too many cases, opening the loading doors reveals plants
that might once have been near perfect specimens crammed and stacked with
precious little thought for what they'll look like upon arrival. Worse, more
than a few of those trucks were loaded (packed) too many days before actually
hitting the road, followed by even more days of darkness, wildly-fluctuating
temperatures and damaging drought.
I've worked in a
big box. I've seen badly damaged and sorely abused inventory yanked from the
extended dark of huge trailers only to be left baking in brutal
sunshine...alternating with heavy frost...day after night after day after
night. I've seen foliage disease, freeze burn, fungus gnats, whiteflies, and
broken branches and twisted and distorted leaves and flower buds. I've
witnessed explosive growth of weeds in the "soil" those plants are
locked in. And I've seen shameful mislabeling...in many cases blocks of plants
- mostly perennials - purported to be one variety turn out to be something
entirely different.
Bargains you can
find. Healthy and winter-hardy for the growing zone? Sometimes.
