It's pretty frustrating for me to visit a garden center. Why I don't like to purchase flowers and shrubs there:
# 1:
Plants are offered in garden centers that don't fit in our climate. I often find plants for hardiness zone 11 (Southern border and Mexico) offered in Canada, which has a maximum of zone 5 with very cold winters.
Plants for shade are placed in full sun... The regional management always has their say about how the plants are to be displayed, and often they don't know the difference between a shade plant and a sun plant, either, or they don't care about the well-being of the flowers.
Just recently I discovered a whole shipment of Columbines sitting out in the south and western nursery front on the tables in the blazing sun. I mentioned to the staff that these plants needed to be under the shade building in the nursery and they told me that when they contacted corporate headquarters with this, and that the "planogram" was inaccurate, he was told that "we know where we want the plants this year. Put them where we tell you so that customers will see them and buy them and there won't be as many plants to throw out and in loss."
# 2:
None of the employees knows anything about plants, and they are not trained in any way. The big-box stores will hire people who can't tell roots from blossoms to work in their garden centers. I blame the managers and the low pay for it. Employees are not trained. They might work in the paint or wood aisles and then be sent to the garden center for the summer season.
You have to ask the manager (first find him/her!) because employees have no clue what the plants are all about. When I search for a certain plant, using the common as well as the Latin name, they stare at me like a deer in headlights.
# 3:
Not watering the plants - or between 11 am and 4 pm with the ice-cold shower over delicate blooms. On top of that, customers need to wear rainboots to wade through the aisles. I talked with so many garden center managers, some don't even know how to water plants, and if they know they don't train their staff to do it right: watering the soil in the pots, not over the flower heads.
# 4:
Too many annuals are offered in garden centers and barely any perennials and shrubs. They often don't care about the quality of the plants or lack staff that can help customers with knowledgeable advice. Another customer told me: "Why would you buy plants from anyone but a grower? You want an interesting selection, well-grown stock, earth-friendly growing practices, and sometimes some information or help to make your selection. So why buy from anyone but a grower/nursery?
# 5:
Big box garden centers are bad for the environment: If not cared for properly, or shade plants are placed in full sun or displayed too early in spring and get the frost, they are discarded and thrown into the garbage bin - plants and pots together... so that no one could come at night and get them. That is why at Lowes, WalMart, or Home Depot plants are not watered or cared for...
Fact is that a lot of these "big box stores" have an agreement with the plant suppliers that they have to take back the dead, unsold, damaged, etc. plants and are NOT paid for. The plant suppliers agree to this because who can get by without selling to the "big box stores? Plant vendors bring them in from various nurseries, and when the plants sell the nurseries give Lowes, HomeDepot, Loblaws, or Walmart a profit.
# 6:
Pricing is often not found on plants, but rather overhead and only visible in one direction. Or no prices are given. In these cases, I pack everything that I am interested in in my cart and then ask the cashier what the price is - and think about it if I like to pay that price or not. What I don't buy they have to carry back to the shelf. It would be easier if they would price them in the first place.
Nursery retailers' prices are not out of line; in many cases, I found them often lower than in big box stores. And I do a lot of comparison shopping! Locally owned nurseries are where quality plants are offered. The main business of plant nurseries is to grow plants for local people's gardens. The business of garden centers is to sell plants and lots of other related products.
# 7:
The plant grower/vendor is the loser. Some of the big box stores (Home Depot, Lowes, or Canadian Tire for example) commission - and do NOT own the plants they are selling until they are actually sold to a customer (called pay-by-scan). Then and only then does the store pay for them. So they don't really have an investment in how well the plants are doing. If they die, they lose nothing. The plant vendor is the loser.
People are often buying plants at big-box stores. That will not change. The plants that are still alive will be purchased and taken home to die - because the poor treatment at the store has weakened them.
I just hate to see plants tossed away. Even selling them at a discount, many plants would probably be sold to a person who could spend the time and care to revive them.
I don't buy at stores anymore that don't seem to care about
the needs of the plants - and their customers.
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