You won't find a uniformed waiter standing by your table at a hamburger joint, either. If you want a different approach, go to an independently owned and operated garden center. You are voting with your wallet every time you shop.

Have to agree with Ron that you are voting with your wallet
when you purchase somewhere. I prefer my favorite mountain
nursery but was shopping for a BBQ item and felt
compelled to comment to someone
about their plant disregard.

I have a cousin that gives me a Lowe's gift card every year. Often quite a chore trying to find any plants I want there. This year I think I picked out a hybrid clematis early in the season, before they were able to bake it. Later spent the rest of it on composted steer manure, which at 97 cents for a 2 cubic foot back was cheaper than having it delivered in bulk.

Later noticed that those bags were only 1 cubic foot.

Went to Lowes' last week for the first time in more than a year. Not for plants, but entered through the garden section and noticed they were still loaded with plants, unusual in the middle of summer. Many shade plants were in full sun and vice versa. Found some Hydrangeas that I had been searching for that were marked half-price. They also had 3 sizes of Endless Summer at half-price. Very surprising, considering the demand for them(3ga.=11$). Had to find the store manager and escort him to the garden check-out to obtain the correct price for the Hydrangeas. Why was I not surprised? If I could have obtained the plants elsewhere, I would have walked.

Some people do grow ferns and hostas in full sun. Those are probably the same people that work at Lowes, LOL. I sometimes think that I'd love to work in the gardening department at Home Depot, but I'd get fired for correcting all of the potential gardening errors I'd find.

I just recently went to Lowes for the first time a few weeks or so ago. I wasn't too impressed with their plants, but did manage to pick up a pathetic, practically dead clematis for $1. I figured what the heck, I'm a horrible clematis grower, I'll risk a buck. So I picked out the one that had potential, Estonia 'Minister'; oh how I wish I would've picked another!!!! I wasn't disappointed ;)

Lowe's here had several people working the garden department during a vist this year, with VENDOR on their vests. Local chain grocery store has the same kind of thing going. Asked assistant manager about a favorite pop that had disappeared, he replied he wouldn't know what happened as the pop vendors all rented the shelf space. I see this as yet another step away from good service.

i just bought a gal, Autralian tree fern for 10c, 4, 5gal exotic plants for $2 a piece at Lowe's. plant were mark down due to neglect, i saved almost $50 off regular price. can't beat that deal, and nope i do care if Lowe's employee are plants muderer:-)!

The only time I by plants at Lowe's is just before they put out there Christmas stuff. Sometime around the middle of Nov. They'll sell you stuff for 25 cents if you bargain with them.

Just think of how much you are helping all those greenhouse operations out there.........

Lowes is not losing the money, they are........

You are taking the food right off their table............

Be thankful for your jobs and income.

I'm occasionally inspired by a good sale... but without a doubt even a "healthy" plant once taken home from Home Depot or Lowe's will die. I'd rather spend the few extra $$ to buy local from the small guy on a product that will enhance my garden. I've already got enough for the compost bin!

Last night I saw a wharf rat shopping at Lowe's, in the garden tool section. The clerk I mentioned it to laughed, said something like they had lots of them(!). He DID offer to see about ordering a pruning saw I was looking for. And I got adequate help with the rolls of ADS pipe I wanted from the plumbing department (the clerk got them down for me, although maybe they are told to do this so the corporation isn't sued by shoppers pulling objects down onto themselves).

I might also have been more impressed if he had gone and grabbed a cart for me, instead of telling me to go get one.

>He DID offer to see about ordering a pruning saw I was looking for. Never heard back, unless he left a message at my other address.

Like many of you, I've learned to buy very little plant material at either Lowe's or HD. I've watched an employee at Lowe's spraying tropical plants in their "greenhouse" with very cold tap water from a garden hose during the dead of winter. As you've reported, I've seen fuchsias & hostas baking in the sun. And at both stores I've seen bedding plants at the height of the buying season virtually dying for lack of water. At HD, I picked up a 6-pak of tomato plants that were shriveled beyond hope of recovery and took them to the clerk at the register (only employee to be seen). I set the tomatoes on the counter & waited to see the reaction....she started to ring them up!! I said "I don't want to BUY the poor things...they're dying from lack of water...I just want you to see how badly someone needs to get out there and water stuff!!" She looked at me like I was wacko and I went home pissed.

I bought some bulbs yesterday at Lowe's. Mini calla lilies in several colors, canna, some caladiums, and spider lily tubers. They were firm, fresh, uncommon varieties, and healthy for much less than I could buy them anywhere else. My local nurseries do have some nice plant material but the service is no better than the chains and the prices are 3x higher. Ron, God bless you, I can get so fired up about lousy service and crummy selection but it is not worth the time. Used to take the time to ask for the manager and complain but it is an exercise in futilty. Life is short and death is long. So today I choose my battles carefully. But I do understand where you are coming from, my friend.

Drove a long distance to Lowe's in Merced, CA today.
Told the clerk that the hostas and ferns were in full
sun.

Hostas and ferns, full sun in June in Merced. I don't think they survived.

The last time I was in a Lowes nursery I remember overhearing a customer telling an employee that the plants 'over there' needed water. About five minutes later I happened to be standing 'over there,' as were about 20 other customers. The watering system consisted of rainbird sprinklers. Boy Wonder (that is what another customer named the Lowe's employee) turned the irrigation system on while everyone was shopping for plants. He looked over at us, then turned and walked away.

What a brilliant individual. I'll bet he goes somewhere in life. Somewhere like WalMarts training course for new managers.

Wow, I originally posted Disregard at Lowe's 8 months ago.
Still seeing follow-ups on this subject. Have been busy
raising grandchildren and haven't been on Garden Web.
Guess disregard will always be there at Lowe's, Home Depots,
and Wal-Marts, etc. Turning on the overhead
sprinklers?, unbelievable. I agree with Tracey NJ6 that
rescuing a plant and having it thrive is a good feeling.
Love clematis. Flowering plums have flowers, daffodils are almost
open, and iris are all coming up at 3,200 ft. and it is still Winter in the
Sierra foothills. Happy Gardening, Nancy, Monte_Vista.

worked in the garden department there they really dont care about the plants i was one of them i was told to drownd some and let basils die because vendors owned them not the store

Perhaps if you know more about plants than the service workers in your favorite home improvement store, you might consider applying there and providing your own services for pay, instead of complaining on the internet or wasting the time of the employees at said store. Everyone in a retail environment is hired to do a specific job. Many times, through no fault of the individual employee, supervisors mistakenly place employees into positions that do not allow them to excel in their specific area of expertise. Most workers do the best that they can with what they are given them, and by the end of the day, they've heard the same things (both good and bad) from hundreds of customers. The fact of the matter is, if you don't like what a store offers, do not purchase that product from the store, as others have suggested.

I disagree. I remember when Home Depot bragged about hiring knowledgable people in their departments. The plumbing employees knew about plumbing, the tool employees knew about tools, etc & so on. Well, that was then alright. If I could quit my job and make the same money at HD/Lowes, I would, in a heartbeat, but the salary is not there, and it's seasonal. The few times I've told the store manager about their less-than-knowledgable employees, it falls on deaf ears; they don't care, period. At least here on the internet, we can compare and bond over the same horror stories, and hopefully make people realize that big box stores don't care; they only want your money. A local nursery will more than likely give you the proper information about a plant, not a big box store, period. Just my 2¢...

Boy oh boy, do I hear you all! Lowes, Home depot, Walmart-they are all the same. Interested only in hiring uninformed, part-time, teenage slackers to run thier supposed garden departments! I am so tired of seeing lanky, leggy, wilting, and past good bloom plants and flowers at these stores. No wonder the seed packs and bulbs are the only decent items flying out the doors at these stores. This is probably because anyone with an ounce of garden gusto wouldn't be caught dead by one of these (pardon the pun) dead plants over growing their own. I wouldn't be surprised to see the same teenage part-timers/garden center experts pushing baskets at the grocery store while working thier second jobs! Oh well, what can you do.

Hi all, I have been the Garden manager of a Big Box store. First off you should know. The plant Garden Department is what is called a loss leader. The plants are a draw to the average home gardener. The money is made in the hard-scape supplies and garden supplies. At my store it did not matter if the plant died. We were credited for every plant and the next week it was replaced. The mark-up on plants are not very high in the big box stores. Not enough to bother with taking care of them. They are just replaced in the hopes that it is purchased before it also dies. The company has no care about having knowledgeable people or managers as employees. Some of my more lazy garden department workers complained that I was to hard on them, expecting every plant to be priced BEFORE it is set out to be purchased. Once I had a customer go over my head to a store manager, after I refused to special order some palms. He wanted 6 boxed woodididia,(sorry about spelling) palm trees. That is a boxed tree at 15 feet or more. The price was around $220.00 per tree. I tried to explain to the customer and the manager, that these palm trees would not live through even one winter here in the SF bay area. My speciality is tropicals. No one cared. Sure enough, come spring in comes a truck with all 6 dead palms. So glad his name was on the special order form/recipt and not mine. I liked his replacement better. Retired from there several years ago. It was the most stressful employment I have ever had. It would of been much better if I had been stupid about horticulture. I would of not been so stressed out about things like dried out plants! You always get what you pay for. If you want nice plants go to a nice place, with smart workers that take the time to water when needed. If you want cheap, dont complain.

I actually have enjoyed finding near-dead, clearance plants and seeing them blossom into really beautiful flowers and greenery with just a little TLC! Granted, they may not be award-winning or anything, but it has really been so fun nursing them back to health:)I am a novice gardener, so maybe this will get old after awhile??

Be advised "sad plants" may be diseased or pest infested when you bring them home. That's one way these may not be such a deal.

I don't expect Lowe's,HD or Wally World to have competent, knowledgeable staff in the garden center, any advertising or claims to the contrary notwithstanding. Unfortunately, some of the help at the locally-owned nurseries isn't that much better. Granted, I'm a long-time gardener, a former garden center manager, a master gardener, and spent 9 years in life science/biology research after getting degrees in chemistry and biology, so the locally-owned nursery staff may not be able to answer my questions, but I've noticed that they are perfectly adequate for Harry and Harriet Homeowner.

I'd like to give all my business to the locally-owned nurseries, but they, in catering to ordinary homeowners, have (and justifiably so, for economic reasons) switched to carrying larger plants at higher prices. I neither need nor want a plant in a #5 container. I want 4" to 1-gallon perennials, and 1-gallon woody plants. And I want them when I want them, either in early spring before most people even think about going outdoors, or in early Fall, when plants aren't all that sellable to the general public.

The same justifiable economic decisions that drive local nurseries' plant availability drive me to Lowe's and HD from time to time. I'd far rather the gardening world was perfectly tailored to my tastes and interests, but that isn't reality, economic or otherwise. I use mail order/online ordering to fill the wants and needs I can't obtain locally, pay the shipping costs without quibble in order to get the things I want, and there's an end to it.

I'm not about to blame big-box stores OR local nurseries for not catering exclusively to people like ME.

I love Lowe's garden center!

Here is a link that might be useful: http://groups.msn.com/LowesRedApron

I like Lowe's. They are getting better about variety. I just purchased beautiful Spring bulbs for 75% off. Well, it was about two weeks ago. However, I have little to choose from in my area. So, I just glad we have a Lowe's!