"Angrie.Woman" wrote in message
. ..
Vox Humana wrote:



The Wal-Mart garden center near me a complete mess, as is the rest of
the
store. It always looks like a cyclone just struck. Lowe's has
consistently
better plants than either HD, Wal-Mart, or K-Mart. I suspect, as you
point
out, that the quality of the garden department depends primarily on how
interested management is in that department. I would be afraid to buy
any
plants from my HD if I didn't see them being unloaded. I know that
anything
on the sales floor has been stresses over and over due to improper care
(or
neglect).

I mostly just lurk here because I know squat about plants, but I always
pick Lowe's when I can find what I am looking for there. The plants at
the local nursery are about 4x's as expensive, and the plants at HD, W-M
and the grocery tent look sad compared to the Lowe's selection. It looks
like they take good care of their plants, or at least depend on a
reputable vendor.

At least the Lowe's near me has the common sense to move the dead plants to
the receiving area. That leaves the decent plants on the sales floor.

I like to shop garden centers and spend part of my weekend at such place.
Dedicated garden centers have a much better selection than box stores. They
have more unusual plants and wider choice of sizes. The plants are
generally healthier. The advice is much better. The people who shop garden
centers seem to be more friendly. The prices are often higher, but not
always. If you just want a flat of impatiens, then you are probably just as
well off at Lowe's but for shrubs and trees, the garden center is probably
your best bet. To get the best price you often have to buy things after
they have flowered and no one is interested. People what instant
gratification, so once the daylily or hydrangea has stopped blooming, they
aren't interested. The fall is usually a good time to get bargains on plants
at garden centers because they don't want to carry them over to the spring.