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Old 28-03-2004, 05:53 PM
Sunflower
 
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Default Antique roses at...WalMart?


"Darren Garrison" wrote in message
...
Bought some two-gallon roses at Wal-Mart today, myself. I know that it is

a big no-no to buy the
hacked-root, packed in sawdust ones but should these be okay, even though

they are from Wal-Mart?
Last week I bought a "Livin' Easy" two-gallon from there for $12.97 (from

Weeks) and the ones I
bought today ranged from $5.97 to $7.88. I bought:

Tropicana
Gold Glow
Chrystler Imperial
Eureka

And one yellow and orange called "Novelty" that appears to be a

description rather than the name of
the plant.

Any reason I should expect these sizable, apparently healthy plants to NOT

do better than the ones I
have on order from a nursery for 2-3 times the price?


Wally World buys it's low cost crap from the cheap Texas growers who have an
epidemic of Rose Mosaic Virus. THey send the grade 1 1/2 or 2 plants to
canners who pot up the leftover roses that won't even make it to waxed
hackroot status at the discount Marts. Good thing roses are resilient
creatures that bounce back from a lot of abuse. Because once unloaded off
the truck, they'll receive no tender loving care for sure. They're likely
to be inside the shade structure and drowned while the hosta sit in full sun
and go dry or suffer any number of non creative moronic plant abuse.
Occasionally you can find a gem of a rose embedded in the manure, but it
takes a knowledgable eye and a lot of searching. There has been a
heartening trend of seeing antique roses ownroot at the Orange Borg and
others, but they too suffer the tortures of the minimum wage generation ADD
attendants.

Sunflower
MS 7b