L,

Will any of that grow where you are?

You should educate the garden manager there. They are the main influence on what gets ordered for the season.

Some accept the position as such, yet haven't a clue about trees & shrubs.

Annuals maybe.

My WM wasn't that bad.

Black Hills spruce, Norway spruce, white pine, scots pine, blue star & blue rug junipers, might've been one or two I forgot, oh, like CBS.

But then the WM garden manager lives next door and we've had some talks.

Still no clue but better than she was. 🤭

They sell hybiscus here and those buying, treat them like annuals.

Plant them, get beautiful flowers all summer, what's $43 to some people?

I should have explained, none of the stuff would have a prayer of surviving here. Yeah, Bill, expensive annuals!

"They sell hybiscus here and those buying, treat them like annuals."

Tropical hibiscus shrubs and jasmine along with meyer lemon trees are commonplace in nurseries up here in the spring -- all found in the "annuals" greenhouses. I imagine some over-winter them indoors (like my brother), some don't know any better and learn the hard way they're not hardy here, and some just don't care about the $$ and treat them as annual plantings. Truth be told, I've been very tempted to treat jasmine in the latter way...

"And beholding with amazement and horror the ridiculous plant offerings they have for sale. Japanese maples, wisteria, hybrid tea roses, hydrangea marcrophilia, and many more. comical."

LOL, sounds like my local HD's and Lowe's in NJ (Zone 7a/b).

P.S., I love Skip's Laurel, makes an excellent living fence between neighbors that is DEER PROOF. Guessing it is the cyanide.

Time to run L.

DW drug me into a 'Fleet Farm' this morning to look for something she wanted.

As I generally do, I headed over to the garden section to 'take a look'.

I wonder if they ordered too many at the store?

Great deal on bird's nest spruce (only one available). 🤣

Root bound 1+ gal. Black pine for only $18.00! Cross your fingers. 🤞

I didn't look at everything, but they offered nothing that I don't already have, or want growing in my yard.

There was some. Green sea juniper, blue forest juniper, various Thuja, several yews.

All garden plants and vegetables 25% off.

Another big box store offering I saw last week that has a near zero percent chance of surviving long term north of Detroit (except perhaps in a VERY sheltered location):

“DW drug me into a 'Fleet Farm' this morning…”

C’mon man, did she really have to drag you into Fleet Farm? 😁

Dave, several years ago a large home improvement chain based where I live started to sell Japanese Maples, European Beech, Japanese Black Pine and other such non-starters for this region. I of course had to try them all, and all to no avail. Based on what I’ve seen over the past few years, they’ve learned their lesson in willy nilly boundry pushing. For the most part they stick with the tried and true.

C’mon man, did she really have to drag you into Fleet Farm? 😁

Well, it obviously wouldn't be the first place I'd go to look for plants. ☺️

I don’t even know what Fleet Farm is

There must be something like this in your part of Wyoming.

I love Skip's Laurel, makes an excellent living fence between neighbors that is DEER PROOF. Guessing it is the cyanide.

I think that may depend on the deers' appetite and what else they have to munch on. Because I can assure you that deer in my neighborhood do indeed eat English laurels of all types.

btw, they also eat all manner of other plants that contain cyanide alkaloids........and there is a lot of those. It also seems that deer have no particular reaction to these alkaloids, possibly because they would have to consume vast quantities for them to be harmful.

IME, companies like Walmart, Lowe's, HD, Fleet Farms, etc. sell plants only as a sideline and typically use the services of a corporate buyer who purchases the plants they offer on a regional basis. They are bound to hit a few that are zone appropriate for the area but many will not be.

Buyer beware :-))

Gardengal, that truly surprises me! I wish they WOULD munch on the Laurel..., it is a vigorous grower here. I planted a bunch of new stuff this year, and deer ate the Hens N'Chicks (Sempervivum), Ice plants, Iris flower and did not eat the lilly grass..., but ripped it out of the ground! Most of my yard is fairly deer proof, Holly, Magnolia grandifloras, Smoke Tree, Yucca, Pieris, Gingko, Helleobores, ferns, Peonies, a few ornamental grasses. Maybe deer have regional taste preferences.

Maybe deer have regional taste preferences.

They certainly do!! Different species live in different regions and they have developed tastes for specific vegetation, often native to those areas but not necessarily. There are definitely some plants they will avoid no matter the species or the region in which they are common to - most grasses, hellebores and most plants with a strong scent and/or fuzzy leaves.