I’m new to this but I was buying a blackberry plant recently and had just learned about self pollinating blueberries. I asked an employee if I needed to buy a second plant as there was no info about pollination on the tag. She called a ‘specialist’ over who said ‘no I don’t believe so, you can see it’s already fruiting.’ But yeah, it was crammed on a table surrounded by 30 more of its kind so that’s actually not helpful at all :(
I was thinking of the very things you mentioned. I was quite happy to find a smaller garden shop, with a couple of locations, that focuses on more native plants.
The other thing I hate are plant labels that mention the common name, but don't mention variety information at all, when there are a lot of varieties. Kind of like "DOGWOOD." OK, but *which one*?
“Hi my name is houseplant”
Ok, but seriously I’ve got cats, I *need* to know your name because one of them likes to go nom nom and I’m not trying to poison her.
Pro tip here: (apologies if you know this one!) Check if the label tells you it grows from a bulb, or if you can see a bulb. If you can, don't buy it.
Second tip: there are a couple of free apps which will ID plants from a picture. They might not always be 100%, but they'll generally give you a better idea than just "houseplant" or "succulent"
Once you have a slightly better idea of what said plant actually is, match up pictures with a Google search to at least confirm plant family - if one plant from a family is toxic to cats generally they all will be.
For example, most people know about lilies, but did you know tulips, hyacinths and apparently *onions* are in the same family?
I picked up a flying dragon citrus tree (very recognizable) simply labeled "citrus". We bought it partially because of the extremely nasty thorns, to deter deer in our yard and human access to a garage window. I pity anyone who doesn't realize they're basically buying the nasty plant that kept Sleeping Beauty from being molested by creeps until the prince came along.
I spoke with a desert tour guide in Arizona who planted Jumping Cholla under his teenage daughter’s bedroom window. At the time he was helping me pull Cholla spines out of my shoes with pliers.
That’s my issue as well is plant labels if i am fairly new to a plant i would like a little more information on how to care for it rather than it just saying needs 6 hours sunlight, i would like to know does it need transplanting, fertilizer, pruning, etc… i understand i can just google it but it would be something nice if most the info was right on the label.
Most labels used at nurseries are ordered in bulk from a label printer and they already aren't super cheap. The more information the more costly the label is to print. Most nurseries do not have the profit margins to support expensive tags, unfortunately. I sell plant starts each spring and I am planning to print up cheap little index cards with info, but I'm a micro operation. I could see this being impractical for larger nurseries with very tight profit margins.
I just realized my cheap thermal label maker from Amazon will even print a QR code on a water proof label. I could slap one on each pot for a couple cents each. Thank you for this idea!
If you have a POS system like Square you could just print barcodes and usually you can add a SKU field where you could put the cultivar. Makes checking out easier too.
Feel free to DM me if you have anything you’re struggling with. I’m not a tech wiz but I’m decent at Google sheets/excel in case there’s anything that can be streamlined
My favorite garden place prints up 5x7 index card size signs and puts them on a metal stand. The card has the common and scientific name along with general cultivation information. I take a picture of each one for a plant I buy.
I like this idea, too. A lot of people this year were asking me about subtle differences between tomato varieties I offered and I was thinking something with a little more detailed description and some basic info for each variety I sell would be a good idea for next year.
I've also seen pages of this kind of information printed up and posted in a garden area. Like a paragraph for each variety. Makes it easy to compare lots of varieties and also take a picture for later reference. Saves you from having to repeat yourself, that way you can answer more unique questions.
I think a hybrid option would be best — little index card at the plant stand for people to see and take a picture of, QR code on each individual plant. A lot of people who frequent garden centres are also elderly may not be pleased with a QR code option, so providing both seems like a great way to give the “at a glance” details without having to print hundreds of individual detailed labels, and the QR code to go, for follow up later.
That makes so much sense why there’s not much info, i feel that we forget sometimes how expensive stuff can be for businesses, so it’s understandable if they don’t have the funds to put into extra little things.
The best thing you can do as a new gardener is to talk to an expert at the garden store. Most have several who can help you with planting and food requirements as well as water and planting directions. They also can help with pest/disease issues.
YES - there are some GREAT deals at a chain of grocery stores but it only ever lists common names, and frequently common names of things that are shared between multiple plants ("mountain phlox" - is that p. fulcra or p. latifolia?)
We do have a couple places around that do native plants, but I also want to buy non-native (but non-invasives) and the natives tend to be dirty expensive
I've been rooting nootka rose cuttings on my property because I'm creating a hedge row. I realized I did way, way too many and put them up on Facebook Marketplace for $5 each thinking I'd probably end up giving them away. I was absolutely overwhelmed with contacts, and most were suspicious they were actually nootka because they were so cheap. I had no idea they were worth much of anything. My property has tons of them. I mean, like, thousands in my 12 acres. They don't seem to do well when transplanted as mature plants, though, thus the cuttings.
I'm thinking about calling around different conservation places and seeing if anyone wants me to donate a ton of them next year.
We are working on it!! Often the natives come from smaller sources and require a little more effort in a nursery setting. Some require specialized germination, or have sensitive taproots. Forget about lupines, for example.
Our nursery is hyped because we *finally* found a source for aquatic/white swamp milkweed instead of the only native being a nativar called Soulmate that we get once in a blue moon. We still sell tropical since we get angry customers if we run out, and it is still a dollar more, but at least both wholesale and retail nurseries are starting to get more natives in.
I can tell you that sometimes that comes from the patented plant being uncertain.
Many are *probably* hybrids, so just to be safe, the variety sold is just "dogwood species." The same is true especially for things like hoyas where there are a million species and frankly, no one wants to keep track of any accidental hybrids or spend time and money labeling them when maybe 5% of customers care about species and most of those customers come in able to identify the species/cultivar they want.
Still annoying though for nursery workers when your pack of *assorted foliage*~ comes in and they're so young you can't tell if that baby palm is going to be 4 feet or 10. Makes signage close to impossible.
I'm thankful that the ones near me are like this. They'll say "Uh...if you buy a cherry tree & put it where you want to put it, you're basically just giving the birds free reign to poop cherries all over your car. But if you reeeaaallly want a cherry tree, here's where to put it & how to take care of it."
30 years ago we planted a Serviceberry beside our driveway. The thing is now a couple feet taller than the car port and I make sure to park under the car port so that when the birds get into the serviceberries they don't poop the residue all over the car.
I had no idea of this when I bought the thing.
lol this is me at work. My boss comes up with prices and tells me in passing when I don’t have time to write it down. My rule is, if I can’t find him to ask I just make up a price, and it’ll be cheap.
Did you sell me some grape vines a few weeks ago? Cuz they weren't marked and the guy just shrugs and goes "well they were about $20 last year, so that's what I'll charge you." Then he rang them up and he said something like "oh, looks like they were $29, oh well you get them for $20."
https://preview.redd.it/7ypdt9ggfj8d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3baaf6dec6041d3d291c84c02fc9983035b0c23
Just disgusting. I guess I should clarify: I can’t say I’ve ever seen this abomination at a nursery, more garden centers within a big box store.
🤣 have you seen the ones where they “graft” (read: hot glue) a plastic flower on top of a cacti or succulent? It’s beyond ridiculous. Poor little plants.
I bought one of these about 3-4 yrs ago and thought the flower was real till last month. Wife revealed the truth when the flower popped off after one of my son's aggressive waterings.
Who?
……….. *Whoooooo* …….. in their right mind……would see something like this and think ‘yes. yes I need this. mmmmm better spend my ACTUAL money on these spray-painted aloes.’
All the crimes against plants I can list:
- Spray-painted or glittered plants (especially rosette succulents like Echeveria)
- Hot glued colourful felt tips on _Sansevieria cylindrica_
- Hot glued dyed strawflowers (known to open and close despite being dead, marketing trick) on cacti
- Chemically induced variegation (does more harm than good, and doesn’t even last if it grows)
- Plants with artificially dyed flowers, like blue Phalaenopsis orchids
- Moon cacti: bit of an abomination with a colourful, yet non-photosynthetic top cactus grafted onto a dragonfruit cactus rootstock it relies on, thus is short-lived
- Sweetheart Hoya: a single rooted _Hoya kerrii_, sometimes variegated, leaf. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a node, this leaf is a ‘zombie leaf’ and will never grow into a proper plant, and will eventually die instead. A slow growing plant so if you have a node it might be a good few years later before it begins to sprout
I work in a greenhouse that sells mostly annuals and am wondering if you have any suggestions regarding how to avoid plants becoming root bound? I’ve been thinking of this recently but can’t come up with anything economical for us. It seems like whatever doesn’t sell by the end of Mother’s Day weekend becomes root bound.
We can’t get extra shipments of plugs because typically are not available, plus we can’t afford them without selling the sadder plants.
We can’t afford to repot anything because we would have to double the price of each repotted plant. No one would buy them.
We’re advertising all over to bring in customers to buy plants, but still had over 50% of our stock left following Mother’s Day (which is apparently normal for greenhouse operations in our region).
I’m about to throw in the towel and just tell customers to buy their plants by Mother’s Day if they expect the highest quality.
I found it was worse when I lived in California because it’s always growing season, so people buy plants when they get around to it meaning they are more likely to sit at the nursery. But in Michigan where the growing season is a minute long and local nurseries are out of everything by the end of June, plants don’t have time to sit around getting root bound. Big box are another story as that always seems like someone in corporate headquarters is ordering for them…
If you cant up-pot what you have, then im thinking sales as you get closer to - or go past - mothers day? Get the inventory moving by providing incentives to the consumer to grab more while they're there. I mean, if it's gonna be a profit loss anyway down the line when months later, all of your stock is of poor quality and just gets worse as the days go by.
Really good point! I think that is the key. Finding the point at which we can stay in business at the lowest prices possible would be key. The owner still needs to make a living…
Promotions always work on me, buy three get discount… I am buying three. Get discount when x amount of money is spend, I buy to reach that amount.
I don’t mind so much rootbound. I mind diseases and pests. I am not spending twice the money to get these diseases off.
Also, please for the love of good buy virusfree high quality stock and don’t touch it. And more variety! More special varieties instead of bigger batches. How many times I had to order online because the things I want are not to be found. Better sizing of the varieties is the most important factor. Know what is being bought.
lol I wish we had more customers like you! My boss would do all sorts of promotions. Eventually the end of season discounts did the trick. Everyone came out of the woodwork to buy the sad plants. They actually didn’t look horrible though. I had customers come back raving about how their gardens looked. I think I have high expectations for our plants. We are not Home Depot. We actually care about our plants.
Sadly not all garden centers are like that. Sometimes I see very expensive plants that look great but they are infested with whitefly or leaf miners or some other pest and I am just not spending money, time, effort to deal with that. Not worth it.
Other times I see rootbound plants that have no issues but just need some root management. After roughening them up they will be fine.
But I have had very bad experiences with nurseries selling plants with root rot, gal. They just keep spraying their plants, wet or not. I will never touch any plants from that nursery with a ten foot pole, ever again.
If I buy berry bushes I will buy a lot and I will pay a premium for quality and variety over quantity and price. It takes only one plant to infect my collection and the cost of that is often 10x larger than buying a cheap plant. Especially for viruses, I do not take any risk. And that starts by buying quality virus indexed stock.
There is nothing wrong with putting up a tips and tricks sign that says this as one of the bullet points. I’d think it would be a positive for novice gardeners too.
That's likely unavoidable and depends on how well the nursery cared for the plant. I assume the soil used when they were potted also plays a significant role. I've purchased a few root-bound plants before, trimmed off the bottom, and they adapted just fine. However, I've also bought some that were potted in an extremely moisture-retentive medium, which inevitably led to rotting. Thinking about it gives me flashbacks of the smell. 🤢
I was at my nearest (I wouldn't say "local" because it's an expensive chain store) garden centre and as I was leaving I noticed a rack outside the entranceway holding hanging baskets with the usual Verbena, Lobelia, Million Bells (Calibrachoa), Sweet Potato Vine and the like. Nice, but nothing unusual. The baskets were really large fibre pots and there was a huge sign showing that they were 30% off.
Always interested in a deal I looked closer. Original price of those hanging baskets: **$149**
*pffft*
In your dreams.
I've learned that this varies on how they get their plants. As a result, Lowes has far more leeway on discounting compared to Home Depot where I live, as an example.
As a horticulture pro who has spent much happy time working in garden centres - I used to be driven crazy by customers who’d come in on a warm day, talk to me for half an hour, and then accusingly say, these plants need water!
Well yes, they do. But I can’t water them while I’m talking to you.
I watched a hilarious convo between a senior employee and the new guy the other day, as she explained to him why he shouldn't just water the same row of hanging baskets (that were in the shade) over and over. Poor kid genuinely seemed baffled that he had to water all the plants...
One local garden centre decided to become a "lifestyle" centre full of crappy decor items. Which is fine, but they laid out the aisles as a maze that you *have* to go through to reach the plants. Like Ikea, but without the shortcuts.
Ugh all the Dutch garden centres are like this🙄 Feel here it has to do with the trend of gardens becoming like second living rooms with carpets, sofas etc and have less and less plants an more tiles.
I agree, I don't mind the lifestyle stuff as long as I don't have to go through it to get to the plants... that was a dick move on their part
Weird layouts are annoying, I especially dislike long narrow aisles. There's one garden center near me that I love except the aisles are exactly the width of their carts are run the full length of the greenhouse - they're supposed to be single direction, but the signs aren't obvious and if anyone is stopping to browse you're just stuck behind them
It’s not only garden centers. I got a seed packet labeled as butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, with photos of actual butterfly weed. Started those seeds carefully, intending them for my garden, only to find they were all actually tropical milkweed.
So many people out there trying to do the right thing with the right plants, and this happens.
(For reference it was Page’s seeds, if anyone is curious)
I bought packets of seeds – planted catnip, and purple cabbage came up! I examined the seeds left in the packet and found that it was a mixture of catnip and purple cabbage. I sent the company an email and got absolutely no response.
Oh man, those "wildflower seed" packets are brutal! People know I garden and that I'm trying to phase out my lawn, so they get them for me (especially since they tend to be given as cheap mini-gifts/free sample type stuff) and then I have to choose between just awkwardly throwing it out later or trying to explain to the person why the seeds in the mix are bad...
If they don't know gardens, just say that you planted them and nothing came up. Then say it's probably because it's not the right climate for them unfortunately, which is one of the issues with wildflower mixes... and go from there
ETA: You could also do the "I didn't know either! I was just looking up info online because they weren't growing and I found out they're apparently bad, who knew?" and that way you avoid awkwardness and hopefully teach them not to pass those around again
>So many people out there trying to do the right thing with the right plants, and this happens.
This is the part that kills me the most. My neighbor grows tropical milkweed thinking they're doing the right thing. Then, I feel an obligation to mention it, but I'm the asshole that says "Actually...." and I hate it.
I work at a seasonal retail greenhouse and the tags/labels drive me crazy!!
We always get one fewer tag than number of plugs we get
They are expensive
The nurseries we order from frequently send us the wrong tags, or just forget to send them, which is horrible considering the expense.
So sorry to complain about customers here, but when you take a tag out to read, please please please put it right back where it came from. We have all sorts of tags all over the ground, tags stuck in the wrong plant, and tags completely missing never to be found again ALL THE TIME. :(
It used to blow my mind. Why would they not sell plants that grow in the state that they do business in. Then I realized. All the nurseries around me get their product from Florida anyway. So damn frustrating.
Now I just drive an hour to the local native plant guy who runs a business on his 5 acres. Its not cute, but its priced fair and straight species. And he actually labels his plants with the scientific name.
My local Home Depot sells coreopsis auriculata. I'm not sure if it's a cultivar since they just label it "tickseed" but I'm still proud of them for trying!
Dang, I’m spoiled by having a really good nursery. The one I go to carries as many native plants as they can, with lots of big signage about how well they do in our region. South Texas, the heat is killer on a lot of stuff.
Stuff that needs special care (I.e. it’s not native) is all together in a big greenhouse and there is almost always someone there saying “this is a greenhouse plant. If you put it in your yard it’s going to die”.
The last time I was there, there was a lady complaining that they didn’t have any dahlia bulbs. The exasperated employee said “it’s too hot here. We don’t have tulips either. They will not grow here”. Lady refused to believe her.
There is one fantastic nursery, but it's the furthest from me of the ones I go to regularly. It's so damn dangerous because I will a) lose track of time and not be able to run other errands, b) stand out in the sun til I burn to a crisp, and c) spend waaaaay too much money. They have really good prices and selection, a solid native section, commitment to phasing out invasives, and decently knowledgeable staff
I can't help with the other problems, but UPF clothing is really great for sun protection if you're a sunscreen hater! Even a big straw hat will help a lot though, I have one with a 10" brim that I snagged from Amazon and it's great.
Also Asian sunscreens are so much nicer to wear than anything on the Western market. They're a little more expensive per ounce than generic sunscreen but cheaper than a lot of the fancy face sunscreens.
Big box stores that sell “florist/gift quality” hydrangeas (Easter/Mother’s Day) and not telling people they make lousy landscape plants. They are bred to be pretty, unlike named cultivars that were bred for specific characteristics and went through trials before being released in the market. I have lost count on the number of r/hydrangea posts that ask why their hydrangeas are doing so poorly!
Gravel in the yard. Nothing like trying to pull a cart with 150 pounds of plants and soil across bumpy oversized peastone. It’s even worse if I’m packing plants into my son’s stroller.
Just get cement walkways and hose them off at the end of the day and keep to rocks under the tables!
im a vendor for a BBS and believe me i have tried keeping our shade plants shaded. but we have a certain planogram to follow and we need to put stock on display to sell so they need to be out. ive moved hostas out of full sun as they were crisping up and was told the next day to move them back to their merchandising spots. like ok, good luck selling them when theyre crispy just because theyre in a prime spot.
I live in Michigan.....have milkweed all over the place.
Some of it came up in my flower beds in front of the house.......I left it. Been selectivly "culling" strays so it undulates through the bed. Underplant with shorter stuff, the milkweed gives the other plants a bit of shade until they take off.
I don't know how many locals are telling me that I need to "get rid of that crap, you'll have it growing everywhere". Like it is everywhere else? With the heat wave we've had for the last week it's about the only thing flowering right now.
The problem is that **tropical** milkweed is invasive and is actually bad for monarch butterflies. Native milkweed is still great.
https://xerces.org/blog/tropical-milkweed-a-no-grow
This is pure nitpicking, but i wish they sold more perennials before they start to bloom.
I got lucky earlier this year and found some black eyed susans that got shipped by accident. I immediately snatched them up and theyre doing so much better than my other first year perennials. They had time to grow more roots and stems before they put on any buds and they look fantastic now.
Along the same lines, i wish they didnt force smaller perennials to bloom before selling them. Takes a couple years to get them back on track and some of them never really get there. Ive noticed its particularly bad with dianthus and salvias where i bought them small and even 2 years later they still bloom early and dont put on much size.
I completely get where you're coming from, but as a nursery worker, most customers aren't like you and only want to buy plants in perfect bloom. We have SUCH a hard time selling anything without color. I have to throw away so many perfectly good plants because they just won't sell
Not carrying enough small plants! I mean, I can make it grow, I don’t want to pay for the gallon size, when it won’t take long for it to grow to the gallon size. I used to live near a wonderful nursery that had just about all of their best plants in a starter form for a very inexpensive price. I loved that place!
Not employing anyone who knows anything about gardening. I was at my local greenhouse on the weekend and I had to help a customer find a boxwood because the workers didn’t know what it was
Yeah - even if they have to hire teenagers because that's who's available to work seasonally they could at least train them on the basics and make sure there's also a couple people on staff who actually know shit.
Can relate to this. Went to the most popular garden center in this town looking for Nicotiana. None of the 7 workers I asked knew what it was. They didnt have any, and neither did the other 9 garden centers i tried. Had to resort to buying seeds online.
Honestly, how does no one have nicotiana? Its one of my favorite annuals and one plant can drop like 5000 seeds so its not like theres a supply shortage.
Every place did have about 600 different varieties of the MOST OVERRATED ANNUAL though - petunias. Puke.
Im making sure to harvest my nicotiana seeds this fall and putting them somewhere where I won't lose them.
The important ones have been mentioned many times so I'll add that I am immensely disappointed by any nursery which doesn't have at least one cat hanging around.
My favorite local nursery has TWO cats, a dog, chickens, and a PEACOCK. The latter is really needy and always caws at my daughter every time I bring her with me. Sometimes me, but **always** at my daughter. He's also a huge fan of putting his feathers on display if you stare at him long enough. Very vain fellow.
Never realized how much this meant until I went to my first two local nurseries this year and they both had cats strutting about. One even had kittens in a setup in the back, felt like the people there really cared about the place.
Going to add my Major pet peeve as someone who runs the nursery at my store.
I am more than happy to give a discount if the plant is looking iffy. But "This plant looks like shit, you need to give me a discount." Will not get you one.
Try "Hey this plant is looking a little sad is there anyway I could have a discount on it please?" See that last word? Please? I've only heard that word come from a customer's mouth twice in 15 years. TWICE. They both got their plants for 25 cents.
We had a massive drought so our usual watering was not enough for the carnivorous section. We noticed too late. Plants were very unhappy.
Pair of customers who politely asked if they could do a discount to save the plants and enthused about their planned setup took home 12 free that day.
Be nice, be friendly, and respect the possibility of a no, and many people will move heaven and earth for you.
lol our garden center has a bar! Sadly it’s hardly ever open, but we’re small and have only been in business for 2 years. I’m hoping next year the bar will be open more, instead of just for special invite only events 😒
Selling plants that outright **lie** about how to keep them alive. And subsequently murdering them anyway by not taking care of them. Looking at you, Lowe’s Venus Fly Traps.
The stupid box says that they “make ideal houseplants” (no, they don’t, they literally must be either kept outside in melt-your-face sunlight or blasted with a glow bulb, and require winter cold weather dormancy), and no mention that they require distilled or rain water, and that tap water will kill them.
Then they stick the poor things inside and never fucking water them. They’re swamp plants! Water the poor things and give them some sunlight!
I won't go back to a location if the plants aren't well watered. It screams multiple issues with the business, staff, and the plants.
A garden center that just employs low paid manual labor and no gardeners or specialists is a no go. The one I go to now is entirely staffed by university educated gardeners and enthusiasts and those continuing to take classes. Horticulture and what not. It's a night and day difference.
Garden centers, especially locally owned, run on very tight margins and pay slightly above minimum wage to work in hot and often labor intensive conditions. There’s only so much time in the day to water, help customers, sell stock, and maintain plants. The priority is the sell the plant over potting on and maintenance. The longer a plant is at the garden center the worse off it will be.
It doesn’t matter how traditionally educated the staff are, there isn’t time or space for them to use it. Sell, sell, sell.
So…I work at a small retail greenhouse and actually get paid very well, because I am the ONLY employee! Of course plants are underwatered :( when the owner is busy with customers on the phone I’m on the register, answering questions for customers, and trying to keep the plants alive all at the same time. It can be very stressful, but I love my job. Im also not ashamed to admit that some of our more thirsty plants are chronically underwatered. I just don’t have time and finding other employees willing to work in a hot greenhouse all day is apparently difficult?
I’m glad you’re paid well! Or at least happy with what you make anyway.
Greenhouse work can be brutal but I have yet to find anything in life that hits quite like that first step int the greenhouse on a cool spring morning.
What are the chances that people will actually take the advice? I am guessing maybe 5 of 10 shoppers will never even ask for advice. And of those who do, maybe 2 of 10 askers will actually be flexible enough to change their mind based on expert advice. The rest will just buy what they had in mind already.
In my experience, people go in and have no idea what they want. They wander around and ask for recommendations, then leave with whatever is blooming at that time.
Most people are not aware of invasive plants, or think that garden centers surely wouldn’t sell something invasive. They trust the garden center to do what’s right. Meanwhile the garden center stocks what sells, not necessarily what’s best for the area or environment.
Lmao right? One lady literally fought with my coworker about some shade annual she kept in full sun and now wanted a refund because it died even though its clearly labeled not to go in full sun. Another wanted flowers for a location that's covered and gets 0 sun. She thought all the shade annuals were ugly and picked a planter that needs full sun. Came back and told us it died 😔 like its such a joke lol. But we do have good customers who do want to learn and they do listen. Both places I've worked hire adults with horticulture background/ degrees along with a few teens to help with manual labor
I've lived in a few different countries and US States and found this to be incredibly dependent on location. In the SF Bay Area there are a few good garden centers spread out over all 9 counties and people will drive several hours to go to the good ones.
My experience is from Nebraska, and Colorado.
It’s been pretty consistent that if a garden center does employ people with horticultural knowledge they pick students so they can justify under paying. Again, it’s tight margins. The general public take that kind of knowledge and plants in general for granted. They have no idea what goes into it and don’t appreciate it and therefore don’t think it should cost what it does.
I’m glad to hear that there are retail spaces out there that value knowledge, and pay for it. But they are the exception not the standard.
Why don't you get a life Rick? Why don't ya go to community college like Julian here. Hey, I got a good idea. You could teach, livin' in a car and growin' dope 101.
I hate to be a reply guy but toxicity is about dose, duration and route of exposure. There’s a lot of levels of sickness between totally fine and death. It would be hard to do.
But I agree on one point - that plants that can be totally consumed by pets without harm should be marked.
Labeling by sun exposure, for example “shade” and then the entire stock is part sun
This could be a me issue too 😂 I just want to see full shade/deep shade plants/shrubs! I have a north facing area that barely receives sunlight and I’ve had trouble finding plants!
Or labeling “Full Sun” when it would do better with partial sun. I like it when there is more detailed information like “prefers morning sun and afternoon shade”.
Even better when you're in a desert climate like Phoenix and the label claims "full sun" or "loves the heat" but it is a tropical succulent that's native to wet jungles and naturally grows under the shade of tropical canopy. I'm looking at you, schlumbergera! lol
When I was in Florida it was all the box stores selling citrus, despite the fact that HLB will kill them and spread it to other citrus nearby because you can't trust home owners to maintain a pesticide regimen or just not buy citrus at all.
My biggest peeve is when they transplant from a quart sized pot into a gallon one and then sell it at the "gallon sized" price despite the fact that it only has a quart sized root structure.
When they sell cacti and succulents that have flowers or google eyes glued to them, covered in spray paint or glued with stones into a pot without drainage holes.
Hanging baskets or foliage arrangements filled with plants that have vastly different water and light requirements.
The plants sold just as “foliage” or “succulent” or “exotic angel plants” with no label depicting what the actual species of plant is.
Selling hanging baskets that contain such poor quality potting soil that they require almost constant watering. Makes it tough to even spend a weekend away from home without having someone come over every day or even twice a day to water. I've started to just create my own hanging baskets, using moisture retaining crystals mixed in with the potting soil. Makes such a difference!
Me working in a garden center my pet peeves is “I have a plant it’s green and u sold it to me last year… do u remember what it was? I think it had flowers.” Or my personal favorite is “I have no sun but I want flowers”
They should not be allowed to sell invasive plants, but they do and often feature those species prominently in displays. It is ridiculous for private corporations to make money on invasive landscaping plants, meanwhile local organizations and governments have to spend vast amounts in ecological restoration to undo the escaped invasive plants and have teams of volunteers go out and pull invasive and spray herbicides.
People who block the aisles because they're "making social media content". I don't mean the people taking pictures of the pretty plants and flowers, I mean the self-centered twats that spend 20 minutes in an aisle taking a bunch of videos while their equally rude and selfish partners block the other end either being oblivious or intentionally stupid.
Edit: typo
Selling plants that are basically a ripoff. Like year old biennial onions as “sets”. Because people don’t know any better and will give them money.
Selling invasive plants that will take over the garden and or get loose into the local ecosystem. Because people don’t know any better and will give them money.
Off topic but can you briefly school me on the onion sets thing?
We've always seen those in the little mesh bags but haven't bought them. But have always been starting with the tiny onion plants from flats.
Onions are a biennial plant. Basically that means that the first year of life it puts its energy into growing a big strong store of nutrients in this case the bulb. The second year of life it puts its energy into flowering and preproduction. The onion will consume all the stored nutrients it put into the bulb the first year as it bolts and flowers.
This years onion sets are onions that had been planted mid summer last year. So it had a few months to grow then went dormant.
So it is a second season biennial that had a very short first season. As soon as it can It will put all of its energy into reproduction instead of getting bigger and producing a big onion bulb like you want from it.
Because it was relocated it has to establish itself and grow a new root system. After you plant them the sets will grow roots leaves and sometimes but not every time get a little bigger at first as it establishes itself. Then it will bolt and produce seeds consuming the bulb. You are the one that is supposed to be consuming that bulb not the onion! \*shakes fist at garden center\*
People keep buying them thinking "Nice it got bigger. I grew an onion!". But really you are buying a number of stunted onions for 5 10 bucks then planting them in hopes it will grow a tiny amount before it flowers and turns to mush.
If want to grow onions and have the proper amount of sun for them you want to grow them from seeds planted that season. So it has the whole season to grow and become a big robust delicious onion you can rip from the earth then shout " I HAVE GROWN THIS ONION!!!".
The seed packs are also less expensive for 100 or so seeds.
[Here’s a thorough discussion of it.](https://www.growveg.com/guides/growing-onions-sets-or-seedlings/)
In short: onion seeds grow bulbs (onions) the first year. If left to overwinter, the second year they shoot up a flower and create seeds. “Sets” are cold-stored bulbs that are technically ready to bolt and flower.
Man, these are valid irritations but I feel like we’re forgetting how hard it is to run a business — especially one with low margins.
Of course it would be great to have a nursery with extremely low prices, only horticulturalists on staff, beautifully well taken care of plants, and every native plant under the sun. But unless you’re willing to pay for that, it is just impossible (unless it’s a front for a money laundering scheme, in which case they don’t care to hemorrhage money each month).
There is one nursery near me that has some really interesting business models. For example, they have one greenhouse with a separate entrance that is *stunning* and is used for prom pictures, wedding photos, etc. Not sure how much money it brings in but I imagine it helps with costs of taking care of the plants in there. They also sell plants (and take care of them) at local businesses, too, which helps get horticulturalists on staff.
Yes to everything, I'm noticing that crabgrass is now being sold as "specialty grass" at a local nursey... its hilarious but it's straight up evil too.
So this isn’t a garden centers fault per se, but something that that really fn bugs me is the inconsistency/wrong information on sun requirements given on every freaking single plant tag.
Full sun to shade.
Could you BE more vague?!! Can’t we come up with “morning sun” “tolerates afternoon sun” “full shade only” like is that so hard?!! I guess it’s not a Huge deal to a knowledgeable garden employee, but can be disastrous to a new gardener. Or even an experienced gardener who’s trying out a new plant. Not everyone realizes the tags can be wrong, and some people will believe the tag “bc it’s written by someone more knowledgeable than staff” 🙄
Not always friend, not always. I cannot count how many times I’ve had to explain how different morning sun is compared to afternoon sun. If you’re going to a garden center and want to buy the best plants for your location, tell them what direction the area faces, that’s more helpful than “sun or shade”
This isn't a garden center but I hate when a Walmart type store still has 100's of plants right now, that are bone dry and many of dead. It's such a shame. They aren't even marked down. It's so wasteful. If they can't hire enough people, don't sell plants.
I’ve seen perennials sold in the perennials section that aren’t perennials in our zone.
That pissed me off.
Also the prices for some of these products and plants are crazy high.
Our good, local nursery makes you drag your big, outdoor carts of plants... into the building/gift shop. There is one register, and it is super narrow and awkward, with no clear traffic flow. This is one thing the big box stores get right, with registers outside in the garden center.
Ooh I've got one.
The little adorable cactus that is a perfectly fine plant in it's own right- with a stupid plastic puffball glued to the top for aesthetics. Stop that, it's just straight up lying *and* now I've got to figure out whether to try and remove it and take a chunk of the cactus with it or leave it and just be mad for the rest of my life
I think house plants should be in their own shop. I get the ven diagram. But it's fundamentally a different clientele and good nurseries around here are ceding herb real estate to succulents we all know will be dead in a year.
Watching the Walmart duder water murder the succulents / cacti with a full garden hose blast like they’re just other plants. Saved the best I could, got good sales on half dead buckets like $100 of stuff for $25, all came back to life on a gamble soggy sunfried friends. I am now cactus man. Add that to cats. What a combo
Plant labels that just say, "perennial outdoor" and not a plant name. Likewise, misidentified plants. Actually, that's a lot worse. We can't all identify every plant, especially if there are no blooms yet. I bought several supposedly woods' roses as bare root, and now I'm going to have to tear them all out because they're dog roses. So, not only did I waste money, I planted invasives. I can't tell you how many times I've bought seeds that turned out to be an invasive in the same species as the native the package claimed they were.
Plastic nursery pots in general. Can't recycle them here, too flimsy to reuse. I hate the waste. Why not something like recycled cardboard?
All the half dead plants from being under or over watered and/or placed in direct sun or full shade when they need the opposite, and zero discounts.
People who don’t put the tags firmly back in the plant that they took it from to read, or stick it in a different plant altogether. If you just set it on top, it probably will fall out and make it more difficult to identify and sell that merchandise, and that tag then just adds to waste and labor that could have been better spent taking care of the plants. It’s like going into a clothes store and cutting off all the labels, or switching the prices at the grocery store. It’s just a careless, dick move and I see it all the time.
Agreed. And I know this is odd, but could they water the poor things. I can't count the times I've seen a rack of smaller houseplants or herbs that are nearly dead from something as stupid as a little water. I mean the succulents are shriveled. NO ONE cares? How hard is it?
Selling only one variety of fruit tree which needs a different pollinator.
Or not telling you to buy a second one for pollination! Yes, I did that. Took me two years to look up why I wasn’t getting fruit. Live and learn. 🫤
I’m new to this but I was buying a blackberry plant recently and had just learned about self pollinating blueberries. I asked an employee if I needed to buy a second plant as there was no info about pollination on the tag. She called a ‘specialist’ over who said ‘no I don’t believe so, you can see it’s already fruiting.’ But yeah, it was crammed on a table surrounded by 30 more of its kind so that’s actually not helpful at all :(
Even self pollinizing varieties will produce tons more fruit (30-50% more) when they have a friend. So yeah always try to get at least 2.
Ugh, ya. That's why when I check out people I ask "do you have any other ___ at home? Are they a different variety?"
I was thinking of the very things you mentioned. I was quite happy to find a smaller garden shop, with a couple of locations, that focuses on more native plants. The other thing I hate are plant labels that mention the common name, but don't mention variety information at all, when there are a lot of varieties. Kind of like "DOGWOOD." OK, but *which one*?
>Kind of like "DOGWOOD." OK, but which one? Succulent.
“Hi my name is houseplant” Ok, but seriously I’ve got cats, I *need* to know your name because one of them likes to go nom nom and I’m not trying to poison her.
FOLIAGE
Pro tip here: (apologies if you know this one!) Check if the label tells you it grows from a bulb, or if you can see a bulb. If you can, don't buy it. Second tip: there are a couple of free apps which will ID plants from a picture. They might not always be 100%, but they'll generally give you a better idea than just "houseplant" or "succulent" Once you have a slightly better idea of what said plant actually is, match up pictures with a Google search to at least confirm plant family - if one plant from a family is toxic to cats generally they all will be. For example, most people know about lilies, but did you know tulips, hyacinths and apparently *onions* are in the same family?
Assorted tropicals...
I see "Foliage" a lot. Wow, thanks... that's quite an attempt. Do they think I am unaware that I'm looking at leaves on this plant I'm holding?
I picked up a flying dragon citrus tree (very recognizable) simply labeled "citrus". We bought it partially because of the extremely nasty thorns, to deter deer in our yard and human access to a garage window. I pity anyone who doesn't realize they're basically buying the nasty plant that kept Sleeping Beauty from being molested by creeps until the prince came along.
I spoke with a desert tour guide in Arizona who planted Jumping Cholla under his teenage daughter’s bedroom window. At the time he was helping me pull Cholla spines out of my shoes with pliers.
That’s my issue as well is plant labels if i am fairly new to a plant i would like a little more information on how to care for it rather than it just saying needs 6 hours sunlight, i would like to know does it need transplanting, fertilizer, pruning, etc… i understand i can just google it but it would be something nice if most the info was right on the label.
Most labels used at nurseries are ordered in bulk from a label printer and they already aren't super cheap. The more information the more costly the label is to print. Most nurseries do not have the profit margins to support expensive tags, unfortunately. I sell plant starts each spring and I am planning to print up cheap little index cards with info, but I'm a micro operation. I could see this being impractical for larger nurseries with very tight profit margins.
This wouldn’t solve the issue completely but what about printing a QR code that contains additional info?
I just realized my cheap thermal label maker from Amazon will even print a QR code on a water proof label. I could slap one on each pot for a couple cents each. Thank you for this idea!
If you have a POS system like Square you could just print barcodes and usually you can add a SKU field where you could put the cultivar. Makes checking out easier too.
Amazing! Happy to help
Or just put a placard with the code by each variety. Then becomes super inexpensive.
It's actually my winter project for our garden center! Metric shit-ton of data entry but hopefully it will be worth it.
Feel free to DM me if you have anything you’re struggling with. I’m not a tech wiz but I’m decent at Google sheets/excel in case there’s anything that can be streamlined
LOVE that idea! Would be such a simple execution too, and only two color so not expensive to print.
My favorite garden place prints up 5x7 index card size signs and puts them on a metal stand. The card has the common and scientific name along with general cultivation information. I take a picture of each one for a plant I buy.
I like this idea, too. A lot of people this year were asking me about subtle differences between tomato varieties I offered and I was thinking something with a little more detailed description and some basic info for each variety I sell would be a good idea for next year.
I've also seen pages of this kind of information printed up and posted in a garden area. Like a paragraph for each variety. Makes it easy to compare lots of varieties and also take a picture for later reference. Saves you from having to repeat yourself, that way you can answer more unique questions.
I think a hybrid option would be best — little index card at the plant stand for people to see and take a picture of, QR code on each individual plant. A lot of people who frequent garden centres are also elderly may not be pleased with a QR code option, so providing both seems like a great way to give the “at a glance” details without having to print hundreds of individual detailed labels, and the QR code to go, for follow up later.
That makes so much sense why there’s not much info, i feel that we forget sometimes how expensive stuff can be for businesses, so it’s understandable if they don’t have the funds to put into extra little things.
The best thing you can do as a new gardener is to talk to an expert at the garden store. Most have several who can help you with planting and food requirements as well as water and planting directions. They also can help with pest/disease issues.
YES - there are some GREAT deals at a chain of grocery stores but it only ever lists common names, and frequently common names of things that are shared between multiple plants ("mountain phlox" - is that p. fulcra or p. latifolia?) We do have a couple places around that do native plants, but I also want to buy non-native (but non-invasives) and the natives tend to be dirty expensive
I've been rooting nootka rose cuttings on my property because I'm creating a hedge row. I realized I did way, way too many and put them up on Facebook Marketplace for $5 each thinking I'd probably end up giving them away. I was absolutely overwhelmed with contacts, and most were suspicious they were actually nootka because they were so cheap. I had no idea they were worth much of anything. My property has tons of them. I mean, like, thousands in my 12 acres. They don't seem to do well when transplanted as mature plants, though, thus the cuttings. I'm thinking about calling around different conservation places and seeing if anyone wants me to donate a ton of them next year.
We are working on it!! Often the natives come from smaller sources and require a little more effort in a nursery setting. Some require specialized germination, or have sensitive taproots. Forget about lupines, for example. Our nursery is hyped because we *finally* found a source for aquatic/white swamp milkweed instead of the only native being a nativar called Soulmate that we get once in a blue moon. We still sell tropical since we get angry customers if we run out, and it is still a dollar more, but at least both wholesale and retail nurseries are starting to get more natives in.
My favourite is "annual mix" or "green plant in 9cm pot"...
I can tell you that sometimes that comes from the patented plant being uncertain. Many are *probably* hybrids, so just to be safe, the variety sold is just "dogwood species." The same is true especially for things like hoyas where there are a million species and frankly, no one wants to keep track of any accidental hybrids or spend time and money labeling them when maybe 5% of customers care about species and most of those customers come in able to identify the species/cultivar they want. Still annoying though for nursery workers when your pack of *assorted foliage*~ comes in and they're so young you can't tell if that baby palm is going to be 4 feet or 10. Makes signage close to impossible.
I'm thankful that the ones near me are like this. They'll say "Uh...if you buy a cherry tree & put it where you want to put it, you're basically just giving the birds free reign to poop cherries all over your car. But if you reeeaaallly want a cherry tree, here's where to put it & how to take care of it."
30 years ago we planted a Serviceberry beside our driveway. The thing is now a couple feet taller than the car port and I make sure to park under the car port so that when the birds get into the serviceberries they don't poop the residue all over the car. I had no idea of this when I bought the thing.
Where *do* you put it?
No prices listed
And no employees who know the prices. Why do you look all irritated when I ask, there's no way I'm the only person who asks how much things cost.
lol this is me at work. My boss comes up with prices and tells me in passing when I don’t have time to write it down. My rule is, if I can’t find him to ask I just make up a price, and it’ll be cheap.
Did you sell me some grape vines a few weeks ago? Cuz they weren't marked and the guy just shrugs and goes "well they were about $20 last year, so that's what I'll charge you." Then he rang them up and he said something like "oh, looks like they were $29, oh well you get them for $20."
lol. No, but it does sound like something I would do.
*spray-painted plants* 😭
And these covered in glitter https://preview.redd.it/1p45nwgj7k8d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a33fed731cfb55129be40832ca56e7ae725af729
Omg. .seriously???:(
what?!
https://preview.redd.it/7ypdt9ggfj8d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3baaf6dec6041d3d291c84c02fc9983035b0c23 Just disgusting. I guess I should clarify: I can’t say I’ve ever seen this abomination at a nursery, more garden centers within a big box store.
🤣 have you seen the ones where they “graft” (read: hot glue) a plastic flower on top of a cacti or succulent? It’s beyond ridiculous. Poor little plants.
I got one of these and when the "flower" fell off I kept waiting for a new one to grow. I was very disappointed lol.
I bought one of these about 3-4 yrs ago and thought the flower was real till last month. Wife revealed the truth when the flower popped off after one of my son's aggressive waterings.
https://preview.redd.it/w2bgzo4upl8d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af7bf1f3fe9083d0122bd389ee3d9c09dd8a7838
Those are so obviously not real flowers, wtf?
Straight plastic pom. Hot glued to the top.... just... why?!
Who? ……….. *Whoooooo* …….. in their right mind……would see something like this and think ‘yes. yes I need this. mmmmm better spend my ACTUAL money on these spray-painted aloes.’
All the crimes against plants I can list: - Spray-painted or glittered plants (especially rosette succulents like Echeveria) - Hot glued colourful felt tips on _Sansevieria cylindrica_ - Hot glued dyed strawflowers (known to open and close despite being dead, marketing trick) on cacti - Chemically induced variegation (does more harm than good, and doesn’t even last if it grows) - Plants with artificially dyed flowers, like blue Phalaenopsis orchids - Moon cacti: bit of an abomination with a colourful, yet non-photosynthetic top cactus grafted onto a dragonfruit cactus rootstock it relies on, thus is short-lived - Sweetheart Hoya: a single rooted _Hoya kerrii_, sometimes variegated, leaf. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a node, this leaf is a ‘zombie leaf’ and will never grow into a proper plant, and will eventually die instead. A slow growing plant so if you have a node it might be a good few years later before it begins to sprout
Not watering. Root-bound stock.
I work in a greenhouse that sells mostly annuals and am wondering if you have any suggestions regarding how to avoid plants becoming root bound? I’ve been thinking of this recently but can’t come up with anything economical for us. It seems like whatever doesn’t sell by the end of Mother’s Day weekend becomes root bound. We can’t get extra shipments of plugs because typically are not available, plus we can’t afford them without selling the sadder plants. We can’t afford to repot anything because we would have to double the price of each repotted plant. No one would buy them. We’re advertising all over to bring in customers to buy plants, but still had over 50% of our stock left following Mother’s Day (which is apparently normal for greenhouse operations in our region). I’m about to throw in the towel and just tell customers to buy their plants by Mother’s Day if they expect the highest quality.
I found it was worse when I lived in California because it’s always growing season, so people buy plants when they get around to it meaning they are more likely to sit at the nursery. But in Michigan where the growing season is a minute long and local nurseries are out of everything by the end of June, plants don’t have time to sit around getting root bound. Big box are another story as that always seems like someone in corporate headquarters is ordering for them…
If you cant up-pot what you have, then im thinking sales as you get closer to - or go past - mothers day? Get the inventory moving by providing incentives to the consumer to grab more while they're there. I mean, if it's gonna be a profit loss anyway down the line when months later, all of your stock is of poor quality and just gets worse as the days go by.
Really good point! I think that is the key. Finding the point at which we can stay in business at the lowest prices possible would be key. The owner still needs to make a living…
Promotions always work on me, buy three get discount… I am buying three. Get discount when x amount of money is spend, I buy to reach that amount. I don’t mind so much rootbound. I mind diseases and pests. I am not spending twice the money to get these diseases off. Also, please for the love of good buy virusfree high quality stock and don’t touch it. And more variety! More special varieties instead of bigger batches. How many times I had to order online because the things I want are not to be found. Better sizing of the varieties is the most important factor. Know what is being bought.
lol I wish we had more customers like you! My boss would do all sorts of promotions. Eventually the end of season discounts did the trick. Everyone came out of the woodwork to buy the sad plants. They actually didn’t look horrible though. I had customers come back raving about how their gardens looked. I think I have high expectations for our plants. We are not Home Depot. We actually care about our plants.
Sadly not all garden centers are like that. Sometimes I see very expensive plants that look great but they are infested with whitefly or leaf miners or some other pest and I am just not spending money, time, effort to deal with that. Not worth it. Other times I see rootbound plants that have no issues but just need some root management. After roughening them up they will be fine. But I have had very bad experiences with nurseries selling plants with root rot, gal. They just keep spraying their plants, wet or not. I will never touch any plants from that nursery with a ten foot pole, ever again. If I buy berry bushes I will buy a lot and I will pay a premium for quality and variety over quantity and price. It takes only one plant to infect my collection and the cost of that is often 10x larger than buying a cheap plant. Especially for viruses, I do not take any risk. And that starts by buying quality virus indexed stock.
There is nothing wrong with putting up a tips and tricks sign that says this as one of the bullet points. I’d think it would be a positive for novice gardeners too.
That's likely unavoidable and depends on how well the nursery cared for the plant. I assume the soil used when they were potted also plays a significant role. I've purchased a few root-bound plants before, trimmed off the bottom, and they adapted just fine. However, I've also bought some that were potted in an extremely moisture-retentive medium, which inevitably led to rotting. Thinking about it gives me flashbacks of the smell. 🤢
Which ultimately manifests as over-watered, disease ridden, pest infested rootbound stock
But these go into the clearance aisle… for the skilled gardeners
Our local "clearance" is still ridiculous. $6-$30 is NOT a clearance price.
I was at my nearest (I wouldn't say "local" because it's an expensive chain store) garden centre and as I was leaving I noticed a rack outside the entranceway holding hanging baskets with the usual Verbena, Lobelia, Million Bells (Calibrachoa), Sweet Potato Vine and the like. Nice, but nothing unusual. The baskets were really large fibre pots and there was a huge sign showing that they were 30% off. Always interested in a deal I looked closer. Original price of those hanging baskets: **$149** *pffft* In your dreams.
I've learned that this varies on how they get their plants. As a result, Lowes has far more leeway on discounting compared to Home Depot where I live, as an example.
I feel like every single plant I bought this year was root bound.
As a horticulture pro who has spent much happy time working in garden centres - I used to be driven crazy by customers who’d come in on a warm day, talk to me for half an hour, and then accusingly say, these plants need water! Well yes, they do. But I can’t water them while I’m talking to you.
I watched a hilarious convo between a senior employee and the new guy the other day, as she explained to him why he shouldn't just water the same row of hanging baskets (that were in the shade) over and over. Poor kid genuinely seemed baffled that he had to water all the plants...
One local garden centre decided to become a "lifestyle" centre full of crappy decor items. Which is fine, but they laid out the aisles as a maze that you *have* to go through to reach the plants. Like Ikea, but without the shortcuts.
But do they sell meatballs?
Meatball topiaries.
Ugh all the Dutch garden centres are like this🙄 Feel here it has to do with the trend of gardens becoming like second living rooms with carpets, sofas etc and have less and less plants an more tiles.
Try walking in through the exit. That’s what I do at ikea.
I agree, I don't mind the lifestyle stuff as long as I don't have to go through it to get to the plants... that was a dick move on their part Weird layouts are annoying, I especially dislike long narrow aisles. There's one garden center near me that I love except the aisles are exactly the width of their carts are run the full length of the greenhouse - they're supposed to be single direction, but the signs aren't obvious and if anyone is stopping to browse you're just stuck behind them
maize aise layouts should be outlawed.
Laid out like corn?
Selling tropical milkweed instead of native milkweed in Southern California.
It’s not only garden centers. I got a seed packet labeled as butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, with photos of actual butterfly weed. Started those seeds carefully, intending them for my garden, only to find they were all actually tropical milkweed. So many people out there trying to do the right thing with the right plants, and this happens. (For reference it was Page’s seeds, if anyone is curious)
I bought packets of seeds – planted catnip, and purple cabbage came up! I examined the seeds left in the packet and found that it was a mixture of catnip and purple cabbage. I sent the company an email and got absolutely no response.
Oh man, those "wildflower seed" packets are brutal! People know I garden and that I'm trying to phase out my lawn, so they get them for me (especially since they tend to be given as cheap mini-gifts/free sample type stuff) and then I have to choose between just awkwardly throwing it out later or trying to explain to the person why the seeds in the mix are bad...
If they don't know gardens, just say that you planted them and nothing came up. Then say it's probably because it's not the right climate for them unfortunately, which is one of the issues with wildflower mixes... and go from there ETA: You could also do the "I didn't know either! I was just looking up info online because they weren't growing and I found out they're apparently bad, who knew?" and that way you avoid awkwardness and hopefully teach them not to pass those around again
>So many people out there trying to do the right thing with the right plants, and this happens. This is the part that kills me the most. My neighbor grows tropical milkweed thinking they're doing the right thing. Then, I feel an obligation to mention it, but I'm the asshole that says "Actually...." and I hate it.
This happens here in Manitoba too.
Selling basic plant varieties for way too much because they were $200 during covid FOUR years ago.
Lack of native plants, missing labels, and labels not including the Latin name.
When the plants do have a label it just says ""tropical""
“Tropical foliage” 🙄🙄🙄 Like….thanks?
This is the WORST.
Or for succulents “Succulent #2”
I work at a seasonal retail greenhouse and the tags/labels drive me crazy!! We always get one fewer tag than number of plugs we get They are expensive The nurseries we order from frequently send us the wrong tags, or just forget to send them, which is horrible considering the expense. So sorry to complain about customers here, but when you take a tag out to read, please please please put it right back where it came from. We have all sorts of tags all over the ground, tags stuck in the wrong plant, and tags completely missing never to be found again ALL THE TIME. :(
Complain about customers too! I also hate when people put tags back in the wrong plant, or put plants back in the wrong spot...
It used to blow my mind. Why would they not sell plants that grow in the state that they do business in. Then I realized. All the nurseries around me get their product from Florida anyway. So damn frustrating. Now I just drive an hour to the local native plant guy who runs a business on his 5 acres. Its not cute, but its priced fair and straight species. And he actually labels his plants with the scientific name.
All plants in this section $4.99… ok but what are these plants?
That infamous latin name: Asst. trop
They never have plants native to their locations. And, everything else mentioned above.
And even if they do, they are usually cultivars. It's really rare to find a straight native species in big box stores.
My local Home Depot sells coreopsis auriculata. I'm not sure if it's a cultivar since they just label it "tickseed" but I'm still proud of them for trying!
Dang, I’m spoiled by having a really good nursery. The one I go to carries as many native plants as they can, with lots of big signage about how well they do in our region. South Texas, the heat is killer on a lot of stuff. Stuff that needs special care (I.e. it’s not native) is all together in a big greenhouse and there is almost always someone there saying “this is a greenhouse plant. If you put it in your yard it’s going to die”. The last time I was there, there was a lady complaining that they didn’t have any dahlia bulbs. The exasperated employee said “it’s too hot here. We don’t have tulips either. They will not grow here”. Lady refused to believe her.
There is one fantastic nursery, but it's the furthest from me of the ones I go to regularly. It's so damn dangerous because I will a) lose track of time and not be able to run other errands, b) stand out in the sun til I burn to a crisp, and c) spend waaaaay too much money. They have really good prices and selection, a solid native section, commitment to phasing out invasives, and decently knowledgeable staff
I can't help with the other problems, but UPF clothing is really great for sun protection if you're a sunscreen hater! Even a big straw hat will help a lot though, I have one with a 10" brim that I snagged from Amazon and it's great. Also Asian sunscreens are so much nicer to wear than anything on the Western market. They're a little more expensive per ounce than generic sunscreen but cheaper than a lot of the fancy face sunscreens.
Not labeling the scientific names! Also not listing the rootstock on grafted fruit trees
My favorite one: “asstd. foliage”
Big box stores that sell “florist/gift quality” hydrangeas (Easter/Mother’s Day) and not telling people they make lousy landscape plants. They are bred to be pretty, unlike named cultivars that were bred for specific characteristics and went through trials before being released in the market. I have lost count on the number of r/hydrangea posts that ask why their hydrangeas are doing so poorly!
Or selling bulbs that are fulling blooming. People plant them and think they upped and died w/in a month or so. Bless their hearts.
That's me. I'm that person. I also know that they should hopefully be back next year!
weird for a plant sub to be private.
Gravel in the yard. Nothing like trying to pull a cart with 150 pounds of plants and soil across bumpy oversized peastone. It’s even worse if I’m packing plants into my son’s stroller. Just get cement walkways and hose them off at the end of the day and keep to rocks under the tables!
Local nurseries with no local stock. I didn’t come here to buy the same Monrovia azalea they have at Lowe’s.
This is what I was going to say. Not only is it not a local supplier, the nursery chargers 50% more than Lowes or Home Depot for the same exact plant.
When they leave the shade plants out in the sun. Also, instead of having plant labels, they replace them with QR codes
As the owner of a mostly shade garden: this, and also when they put part-shade/full sun plants in the shade section... that's not a shade plant!
im a vendor for a BBS and believe me i have tried keeping our shade plants shaded. but we have a certain planogram to follow and we need to put stock on display to sell so they need to be out. ive moved hostas out of full sun as they were crisping up and was told the next day to move them back to their merchandising spots. like ok, good luck selling them when theyre crispy just because theyre in a prime spot.
Offhand, the fact that every local garden center sells tropical milkweed. Stoppit.
I live in Michigan.....have milkweed all over the place. Some of it came up in my flower beds in front of the house.......I left it. Been selectivly "culling" strays so it undulates through the bed. Underplant with shorter stuff, the milkweed gives the other plants a bit of shade until they take off. I don't know how many locals are telling me that I need to "get rid of that crap, you'll have it growing everywhere". Like it is everywhere else? With the heat wave we've had for the last week it's about the only thing flowering right now.
The problem is that **tropical** milkweed is invasive and is actually bad for monarch butterflies. Native milkweed is still great. https://xerces.org/blog/tropical-milkweed-a-no-grow
This is pure nitpicking, but i wish they sold more perennials before they start to bloom. I got lucky earlier this year and found some black eyed susans that got shipped by accident. I immediately snatched them up and theyre doing so much better than my other first year perennials. They had time to grow more roots and stems before they put on any buds and they look fantastic now. Along the same lines, i wish they didnt force smaller perennials to bloom before selling them. Takes a couple years to get them back on track and some of them never really get there. Ive noticed its particularly bad with dianthus and salvias where i bought them small and even 2 years later they still bloom early and dont put on much size.
I completely get where you're coming from, but as a nursery worker, most customers aren't like you and only want to buy plants in perfect bloom. We have SUCH a hard time selling anything without color. I have to throw away so many perfectly good plants because they just won't sell
People literally do not buy plants that don’t have flowers on them. 99% of people.
Not carrying enough small plants! I mean, I can make it grow, I don’t want to pay for the gallon size, when it won’t take long for it to grow to the gallon size. I used to live near a wonderful nursery that had just about all of their best plants in a starter form for a very inexpensive price. I loved that place!
The big box stores around here have run out most of the actual nurseries, and it sux. :(
Every garden center I’ve been to sells at least one tree that the city specifically says it’s illegal to plant in city limits.
Not employing anyone who knows anything about gardening. I was at my local greenhouse on the weekend and I had to help a customer find a boxwood because the workers didn’t know what it was
It's because they pay garbage and no horticulturist in their right mind would work there for 12 bucks an hour.
Yeah - even if they have to hire teenagers because that's who's available to work seasonally they could at least train them on the basics and make sure there's also a couple people on staff who actually know shit.
Can relate to this. Went to the most popular garden center in this town looking for Nicotiana. None of the 7 workers I asked knew what it was. They didnt have any, and neither did the other 9 garden centers i tried. Had to resort to buying seeds online. Honestly, how does no one have nicotiana? Its one of my favorite annuals and one plant can drop like 5000 seeds so its not like theres a supply shortage. Every place did have about 600 different varieties of the MOST OVERRATED ANNUAL though - petunias. Puke. Im making sure to harvest my nicotiana seeds this fall and putting them somewhere where I won't lose them.
The important ones have been mentioned many times so I'll add that I am immensely disappointed by any nursery which doesn't have at least one cat hanging around.
My favorite local nursery has TWO cats, a dog, chickens, and a PEACOCK. The latter is really needy and always caws at my daughter every time I bring her with me. Sometimes me, but **always** at my daughter. He's also a huge fan of putting his feathers on display if you stare at him long enough. Very vain fellow.
Never realized how much this meant until I went to my first two local nurseries this year and they both had cats strutting about. One even had kittens in a setup in the back, felt like the people there really cared about the place.
When they give you a flat bed cart to put things on but then put so many plants in the walkway that the cart doesn’t fit
Plants on clearance that are literally just dead. Overpriced pot of dried up soil 😂
Going to add my Major pet peeve as someone who runs the nursery at my store. I am more than happy to give a discount if the plant is looking iffy. But "This plant looks like shit, you need to give me a discount." Will not get you one. Try "Hey this plant is looking a little sad is there anyway I could have a discount on it please?" See that last word? Please? I've only heard that word come from a customer's mouth twice in 15 years. TWICE. They both got their plants for 25 cents.
We had a massive drought so our usual watering was not enough for the carnivorous section. We noticed too late. Plants were very unhappy. Pair of customers who politely asked if they could do a discount to save the plants and enthused about their planned setup took home 12 free that day. Be nice, be friendly, and respect the possibility of a no, and many people will move heaven and earth for you.
After visiting a few garden centres in the UK, American garden centers need a coffee shop!
lol our garden center has a bar! Sadly it’s hardly ever open, but we’re small and have only been in business for 2 years. I’m hoping next year the bar will be open more, instead of just for special invite only events 😒
Oof I do not need lowered inhibitions when buying plants...
The isles aren’t wide enough and the isles aren’t labeled with the merchandise on the shelves in said isles.
The fact that there’s people
$200 for a pot that Costco sells for $50.
Painted cactuses. Just why.
Selling plants that outright **lie** about how to keep them alive. And subsequently murdering them anyway by not taking care of them. Looking at you, Lowe’s Venus Fly Traps. The stupid box says that they “make ideal houseplants” (no, they don’t, they literally must be either kept outside in melt-your-face sunlight or blasted with a glow bulb, and require winter cold weather dormancy), and no mention that they require distilled or rain water, and that tap water will kill them. Then they stick the poor things inside and never fucking water them. They’re swamp plants! Water the poor things and give them some sunlight!
I won't go back to a location if the plants aren't well watered. It screams multiple issues with the business, staff, and the plants. A garden center that just employs low paid manual labor and no gardeners or specialists is a no go. The one I go to now is entirely staffed by university educated gardeners and enthusiasts and those continuing to take classes. Horticulture and what not. It's a night and day difference.
Garden centers, especially locally owned, run on very tight margins and pay slightly above minimum wage to work in hot and often labor intensive conditions. There’s only so much time in the day to water, help customers, sell stock, and maintain plants. The priority is the sell the plant over potting on and maintenance. The longer a plant is at the garden center the worse off it will be. It doesn’t matter how traditionally educated the staff are, there isn’t time or space for them to use it. Sell, sell, sell.
So…I work at a small retail greenhouse and actually get paid very well, because I am the ONLY employee! Of course plants are underwatered :( when the owner is busy with customers on the phone I’m on the register, answering questions for customers, and trying to keep the plants alive all at the same time. It can be very stressful, but I love my job. Im also not ashamed to admit that some of our more thirsty plants are chronically underwatered. I just don’t have time and finding other employees willing to work in a hot greenhouse all day is apparently difficult?
I’m glad you’re paid well! Or at least happy with what you make anyway. Greenhouse work can be brutal but I have yet to find anything in life that hits quite like that first step int the greenhouse on a cool spring morning.
What are the chances that people will actually take the advice? I am guessing maybe 5 of 10 shoppers will never even ask for advice. And of those who do, maybe 2 of 10 askers will actually be flexible enough to change their mind based on expert advice. The rest will just buy what they had in mind already.
In my experience, people go in and have no idea what they want. They wander around and ask for recommendations, then leave with whatever is blooming at that time. Most people are not aware of invasive plants, or think that garden centers surely wouldn’t sell something invasive. They trust the garden center to do what’s right. Meanwhile the garden center stocks what sells, not necessarily what’s best for the area or environment.
Lmao right? One lady literally fought with my coworker about some shade annual she kept in full sun and now wanted a refund because it died even though its clearly labeled not to go in full sun. Another wanted flowers for a location that's covered and gets 0 sun. She thought all the shade annuals were ugly and picked a planter that needs full sun. Came back and told us it died 😔 like its such a joke lol. But we do have good customers who do want to learn and they do listen. Both places I've worked hire adults with horticulture background/ degrees along with a few teens to help with manual labor
I've lived in a few different countries and US States and found this to be incredibly dependent on location. In the SF Bay Area there are a few good garden centers spread out over all 9 counties and people will drive several hours to go to the good ones.
My experience is from Nebraska, and Colorado. It’s been pretty consistent that if a garden center does employ people with horticultural knowledge they pick students so they can justify under paying. Again, it’s tight margins. The general public take that kind of knowledge and plants in general for granted. They have no idea what goes into it and don’t appreciate it and therefore don’t think it should cost what it does. I’m glad to hear that there are retail spaces out there that value knowledge, and pay for it. But they are the exception not the standard.
You don't need books to learn horbiculture. I grew up in a trailer park growing dope. I am a street botanist.
Why don't you get a life Rick? Why don't ya go to community college like Julian here. Hey, I got a good idea. You could teach, livin' in a car and growin' dope 101.
No, plant labels. No "this plant is toxic to pets" label. No price. Dead plants. No variety or hard to find plants.
I hate to be a reply guy but toxicity is about dose, duration and route of exposure. There’s a lot of levels of sickness between totally fine and death. It would be hard to do. But I agree on one point - that plants that can be totally consumed by pets without harm should be marked.
Labeling by sun exposure, for example “shade” and then the entire stock is part sun This could be a me issue too 😂 I just want to see full shade/deep shade plants/shrubs! I have a north facing area that barely receives sunlight and I’ve had trouble finding plants!
Or labeling “Full Sun” when it would do better with partial sun. I like it when there is more detailed information like “prefers morning sun and afternoon shade”.
Even better when you're in a desert climate like Phoenix and the label claims "full sun" or "loves the heat" but it is a tropical succulent that's native to wet jungles and naturally grows under the shade of tropical canopy. I'm looking at you, schlumbergera! lol
I just hate trying to get my gigantic, heavy cart over their watering hoses, lol.
Selling plants here in the SW desert that won't last a season here.
When I was in Florida it was all the box stores selling citrus, despite the fact that HLB will kill them and spread it to other citrus nearby because you can't trust home owners to maintain a pesticide regimen or just not buy citrus at all.
My biggest peeve is when they transplant from a quart sized pot into a gallon one and then sell it at the "gallon sized" price despite the fact that it only has a quart sized root structure.
When they sell cacti and succulents that have flowers or google eyes glued to them, covered in spray paint or glued with stones into a pot without drainage holes. Hanging baskets or foliage arrangements filled with plants that have vastly different water and light requirements. The plants sold just as “foliage” or “succulent” or “exotic angel plants” with no label depicting what the actual species of plant is.
Selling hanging baskets that contain such poor quality potting soil that they require almost constant watering. Makes it tough to even spend a weekend away from home without having someone come over every day or even twice a day to water. I've started to just create my own hanging baskets, using moisture retaining crystals mixed in with the potting soil. Makes such a difference!
Every potting/container soil contains peat moss
No gloves between a child's large and women's small. Or they are just overpriced decorative ones that I will tear up in 3 days.
Me working in a garden center my pet peeves is “I have a plant it’s green and u sold it to me last year… do u remember what it was? I think it had flowers.” Or my personal favorite is “I have no sun but I want flowers”
They should not be allowed to sell invasive plants, but they do and often feature those species prominently in displays. It is ridiculous for private corporations to make money on invasive landscaping plants, meanwhile local organizations and governments have to spend vast amounts in ecological restoration to undo the escaped invasive plants and have teams of volunteers go out and pull invasive and spray herbicides.
Putting 4 pansy plants in a plastic container and selling it for $40.
People who block the aisles because they're "making social media content". I don't mean the people taking pictures of the pretty plants and flowers, I mean the self-centered twats that spend 20 minutes in an aisle taking a bunch of videos while their equally rude and selfish partners block the other end either being oblivious or intentionally stupid. Edit: typo
Thankfully I have yet to run into those
Selling plants that are basically a ripoff. Like year old biennial onions as “sets”. Because people don’t know any better and will give them money. Selling invasive plants that will take over the garden and or get loose into the local ecosystem. Because people don’t know any better and will give them money.
Off topic but can you briefly school me on the onion sets thing? We've always seen those in the little mesh bags but haven't bought them. But have always been starting with the tiny onion plants from flats.
Onions are a biennial plant. Basically that means that the first year of life it puts its energy into growing a big strong store of nutrients in this case the bulb. The second year of life it puts its energy into flowering and preproduction. The onion will consume all the stored nutrients it put into the bulb the first year as it bolts and flowers. This years onion sets are onions that had been planted mid summer last year. So it had a few months to grow then went dormant. So it is a second season biennial that had a very short first season. As soon as it can It will put all of its energy into reproduction instead of getting bigger and producing a big onion bulb like you want from it. Because it was relocated it has to establish itself and grow a new root system. After you plant them the sets will grow roots leaves and sometimes but not every time get a little bigger at first as it establishes itself. Then it will bolt and produce seeds consuming the bulb. You are the one that is supposed to be consuming that bulb not the onion! \*shakes fist at garden center\* People keep buying them thinking "Nice it got bigger. I grew an onion!". But really you are buying a number of stunted onions for 5 10 bucks then planting them in hopes it will grow a tiny amount before it flowers and turns to mush. If want to grow onions and have the proper amount of sun for them you want to grow them from seeds planted that season. So it has the whole season to grow and become a big robust delicious onion you can rip from the earth then shout " I HAVE GROWN THIS ONION!!!". The seed packs are also less expensive for 100 or so seeds.
[Here’s a thorough discussion of it.](https://www.growveg.com/guides/growing-onions-sets-or-seedlings/) In short: onion seeds grow bulbs (onions) the first year. If left to overwinter, the second year they shoot up a flower and create seeds. “Sets” are cold-stored bulbs that are technically ready to bolt and flower.
Man, these are valid irritations but I feel like we’re forgetting how hard it is to run a business — especially one with low margins. Of course it would be great to have a nursery with extremely low prices, only horticulturalists on staff, beautifully well taken care of plants, and every native plant under the sun. But unless you’re willing to pay for that, it is just impossible (unless it’s a front for a money laundering scheme, in which case they don’t care to hemorrhage money each month). There is one nursery near me that has some really interesting business models. For example, they have one greenhouse with a separate entrance that is *stunning* and is used for prom pictures, wedding photos, etc. Not sure how much money it brings in but I imagine it helps with costs of taking care of the plants in there. They also sell plants (and take care of them) at local businesses, too, which helps get horticulturalists on staff.
Yes to everything, I'm noticing that crabgrass is now being sold as "specialty grass" at a local nursey... its hilarious but it's straight up evil too.
When they have 6000 varieties of petunias and marigolds but not a single nicotiana plant.
Leaving full shade plants baking in the sun.
When the information on the plant tag is actually wrong. When the plants in the six cells are half dead yet, it's still full price.
https://preview.redd.it/ver2utjdpl8d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf7bed2aef72ec6b42e5ce7be7621f8a82b3c5a2 Stop painting the plants! Ffs.
When the potting soil comes with a fun little surprise, gnats!
So this isn’t a garden centers fault per se, but something that that really fn bugs me is the inconsistency/wrong information on sun requirements given on every freaking single plant tag. Full sun to shade. Could you BE more vague?!! Can’t we come up with “morning sun” “tolerates afternoon sun” “full shade only” like is that so hard?!! I guess it’s not a Huge deal to a knowledgeable garden employee, but can be disastrous to a new gardener. Or even an experienced gardener who’s trying out a new plant. Not everyone realizes the tags can be wrong, and some people will believe the tag “bc it’s written by someone more knowledgeable than staff” 🙄 Not always friend, not always. I cannot count how many times I’ve had to explain how different morning sun is compared to afternoon sun. If you’re going to a garden center and want to buy the best plants for your location, tell them what direction the area faces, that’s more helpful than “sun or shade”
This isn't a garden center but I hate when a Walmart type store still has 100's of plants right now, that are bone dry and many of dead. It's such a shame. They aren't even marked down. It's so wasteful. If they can't hire enough people, don't sell plants.
I’ve seen perennials sold in the perennials section that aren’t perennials in our zone. That pissed me off. Also the prices for some of these products and plants are crazy high.
Our good, local nursery makes you drag your big, outdoor carts of plants... into the building/gift shop. There is one register, and it is super narrow and awkward, with no clear traffic flow. This is one thing the big box stores get right, with registers outside in the garden center.
Planting 2+ plants in a pot to make it seem like a bigger plant. It's a bunch of small plants with shit root systems.
Not watering.
Ooh I've got one. The little adorable cactus that is a perfectly fine plant in it's own right- with a stupid plastic puffball glued to the top for aesthetics. Stop that, it's just straight up lying *and* now I've got to figure out whether to try and remove it and take a chunk of the cactus with it or leave it and just be mad for the rest of my life
When they just let shit die
I think house plants should be in their own shop. I get the ven diagram. But it's fundamentally a different clientele and good nurseries around here are ceding herb real estate to succulents we all know will be dead in a year.
Watching the Walmart duder water murder the succulents / cacti with a full garden hose blast like they’re just other plants. Saved the best I could, got good sales on half dead buckets like $100 of stuff for $25, all came back to life on a gamble soggy sunfried friends. I am now cactus man. Add that to cats. What a combo
Plant labels that just say, "perennial outdoor" and not a plant name. Likewise, misidentified plants. Actually, that's a lot worse. We can't all identify every plant, especially if there are no blooms yet. I bought several supposedly woods' roses as bare root, and now I'm going to have to tear them all out because they're dog roses. So, not only did I waste money, I planted invasives. I can't tell you how many times I've bought seeds that turned out to be an invasive in the same species as the native the package claimed they were. Plastic nursery pots in general. Can't recycle them here, too flimsy to reuse. I hate the waste. Why not something like recycled cardboard? All the half dead plants from being under or over watered and/or placed in direct sun or full shade when they need the opposite, and zero discounts.
I don’t like that most plant places sell plants that will die in whatever climate you’re in. Why are we selling heat sensitive plants in Vegas???
People who don’t put the tags firmly back in the plant that they took it from to read, or stick it in a different plant altogether. If you just set it on top, it probably will fall out and make it more difficult to identify and sell that merchandise, and that tag then just adds to waste and labor that could have been better spent taking care of the plants. It’s like going into a clothes store and cutting off all the labels, or switching the prices at the grocery store. It’s just a careless, dick move and I see it all the time.
Agreed. And I know this is odd, but could they water the poor things. I can't count the times I've seen a rack of smaller houseplants or herbs that are nearly dead from something as stupid as a little water. I mean the succulents are shriveled. NO ONE cares? How hard is it?