What do they list for their dwarf conifers? some arborvitae I see on line show things like 10x6 and all. maybe folks assume Lowes shows the same thing. Lowes here sells zone 7 hardy plants so I don't put anything past them.

I do agree it is a tricky thing. location makes a difference also. a southern magnolia will not grow as large here as in Atlanta.

As afar as I can tell, it's all a jumbled-up mess, some size predictions indeed appearing to be ten or twenty year projections, others, like those you've listed, being more truly predictive of size at maturity. I think they don't quite know what's what.

+oM

tag say.. whatever the guy or woman who wrote the tag wants them to say .... subject to how many they made at printing ..

i once asked a hosta wholesaler ... why a certain tag said something neither of us believed ... i seem to think.. they werent his tags .. and he said.. probably because.. 20 years ago.. they printed a half million of them.. or some such .. and they were still getting rid of the old ones ....

as you note.. those are not 10 year estimates ... nor 20 year ...

as i grew up on a street with sycamore .. plane.. let me suggest.. that one is closer to a 50 year estimate ... as are the oak est's

the redbud is about a 20 year est ... IF IT SHOULD LIVE THAT LONG ... one about that size.. came with the house .. and collapsed a few years later ... due to inherent weaknesses ...

there is no industry standards ... and that is the base problem ...

ken

Why do people interested in plants shop at Home Depot and Lowe's?