My HD just got a new nursery mng. And it is looking so much better. It has a lot to do with that person, but also the store mng. If the store mng doesn't see the potential, they won't allow the nursery mng to order anything different.

There does seem to be a big difference between our local stores. The HD near work always has an interesting table of more unusual perennials. The one near my house doesn't have that but carries several more interesting shrubs. the local Ls must have a terrible garden mgr because their plants are always underwatered, wilting and pitiful. I've complained to them but it's the closest nursery to my house and I'm ashamed to admit I still shop there from time to time. Mostly I try to give smaller nurseries and the HD my business.

Occasionally I find a really unusual something or 2 at HD and L's. Walmart is actually much better for that though.

Target used to be great, they would have stuff pretty regularly that they probably shouldn't have, LOL, but they just closed their garden dept, permanently, because they wanted to expand their store and that was the only thing they could ax. Pity.

WRF you have got to get to the new HD at Pines and Hiatus.
They currently have bat plants. (Not in bloom)I got dwarf jamacian and red Christmas heliconias there . They have Nun's orchids. It looks like it's taken care of with gardener hands. I agree the right person in charge makes all the difference.

coffeemom, is this the bat plant you are speaking of? I had never heard of it and went to look it up. This is a neat flower!
http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/product/7338/1
I killed time wandering in my local L's yesterday; walked away empty handed so it must have been poor. I'm just starting and need everything!

They have black Bat plants...in bloom...at the Coral Springs HD as of 2 days ago if anyone is still looking.

Kristi, I just got about 15 new heliconias...even the one I thought was dead has come back with a new shoot. So don't buy any more heliconias, I'm going to have plenty to share soon!

The HD near Sawgrass Mills had huge pots of a heliconia about 6 or 7 feet tall (in the pot) for $39 labeled 'rostrata'. If I didn't just get so many, I would have given it a shot. Lol, as it is...I have no clue where I'm going to put my new heliconias!

Kristi, I have been on a hoya binge this week...so I'm sure I will be down to the new Hiatus one soon! Thanks for letting me know where it was. I only knew a new one was coming cause I went to the clearance sale at the old one (got a bunch of shovels, that's all they had left by the time I got there).

In every business, even big box stores, it's always about the people. We have 2 HD's in town (Naples) the one farther away from me on Davis(of course) is the good one, where you can tell the plant manager has a feel for plants. It has different plants than the nearby one, Pine Ridge (about 10-15% different stock), better displayed and taken care of.

It took me a long time to figure this out about the world in general but...the person you are dealing with makes the difference. It's wonderful to find someone good at what they do.

My husband likes the L-store for hardware but I just use it for potted soil. Less interesting plants but not badly tended to lately (last year it was bad).

I agree that it depends entirely on the store, the manager, and to a lesser degree, the rest of the help. My local HD is above average for both selection and plant care. (Meaning they generally keep them watered and looking reasonably healthy until they are sold.) Labels are another matter. MOST of the time they are accurate, sometimes not so much so. But the Lowe's is worse. I have been in there when fully half of the perennials were sitting under big signs announcing annuals for sale. This included Mexican sage (salvia leucantha) and Mexican heather (the cuphea). Now most of you know that these are grown as perennials down here, though I suppose it is possible they might be annuals way up north.

My local Lowe's DOES have a much nicer selection of garden art, pots and birdfeeders, pond supplies and the like. But it's catch as catch can on how the plants might be looking, and as I say, the labels are usually WAY off.

The SuperTarget near me does an above average job, too. They insist on labeling ALL salvias as salvia coccinea, even the little squat red bedding salvias (which I think are salvia splendens or maybe elegans?) and are guilty of other mislabeling, too. But their plants usually look really healthy, and they often have good buys on things like salvia guaranitica and other less common annuals and perennials. They have gorgeous begonias (the fancy leaved ones) and last year had fantastic coleus. The perennial kind.

Our WalMart needs Dustin Hoffman in his Rainman role out front...he can just substitute WalMart for K-Mart and be right on the money, if you remember the line. I hate that store. Crowded aisles, messy displays and poor labeling...and that's before you get to the Garden Center, which is worse.

That about sums it up for the big boxes in my area, as far as I'm concerned. I shop HD & Target for bargains and/or common plants, since I'm in those stores often anyway, and then I hit the local nurseries for more interesting (and more expensive) things.

Marcia

I really like our Home Depot in Clermont. It has a nice selection, and the plants look, for the most part, very healthy. I also appreciate the Florida Friendly label, since it's helped me find things like Purple Showers that the butterflies love but that I wouldn't have tried otherwise.

Our Lowes is no good, and the Target has a very slim plant selection. We don't shop Wal-Mart, period, so can't give a report on their stuff.

Cheers!
Heather W

I agree, Heather, that the Florida Friendly label at Home Depot is very helpful. That's how I got turned on to Purple Showers ruellia, too. And lots of other stuff. It's the first thing I look for when I'm shopping at their Garden Center.

Marcia

On the Treasure Coast, both HD and Lowes are stocking more Florida native plants. HD has Florida Thatch Palm, coontie, walter's viburnum, beach sunflower, railroad vine. Lowes has both Dahoon and East Palatka Holly. Gone are the days of findly only ixoras, hibiscus and crotons.

I agree with all of you. It's probably the manager of the garden dept who makes the difference. I've heard employess say they were going to put holes in the foil at the bottom of the pot so that the plants wouldn't sit in water. That tell me that they're watering and that they know plants which sit in a pool of water die. I even look over the bagged orchids and some of them are pretty nice too. We don't have maybe one or two nurseries here in my area and if there's one in Cape Coral I've never seen it.

Last Mother's Day, there was a display of very large Bat Plants inside Wal-Mart - like near the tacky gift aisle. We went back a couple of weeks later and I made my husband walk the long way so we could go in the Garden Dept door. I had a feeling all those Bats would be moved to outside, and sure enough, there they were, all jammed together on a bench. So I asked the Garden Dept lady about possibly getting a price reduction, since they were leftovers from Mother's Day. She asked the Mgr and he cut the price in half!

What a great guy! (This was in Naples)

Some Wal-Marts have a clearance rack for their plants and I've gotten some really good deals on wilted or leggy or ratty-looking treasures. They just need some TLC for a while, but for the most part, it was worth it. (This was in Sebring)

Has anybody tried Wal-Mart's Perfect Mix potting soil? It's really a lot cheaper than Miracle Gro Mix - $7.50 for 2 cf.

Susie

One of our customers worked for the big nursery in Homestead that supplied HD's with plants. She told me that the store manager decides how much the nursery manager can buy. I've been at the Lowe's in Jensen Beach when the vendor's personel stock the shelves, water the plants and deadhead. It kills me to go to these stores and see plants that are just sitting there with their tounges hanging out for water and also needing deadheading.
The other thing that buggs me is the generic labels on things, "Citrus-Orange". OK but which one?!!! That might work for the northern gardeners who might try a "Citrus-Orange" on a whim, but savy FL gardeners know there are many varieties as well as places to purchase orange trees. UGH! Why don't they get it. They can tell the growers that plants need labels that are more specific. I try not to buy much plant material there. I prefer independent nurseries, plant sales and swapping with other gardeners.
Susie try the Jungle Mix at Lowe's. IMHO it's much better than Miracle Grow. They have several types. I think you'll like it.