Iris Cohen wrote:

In some states, like California, there are laws governing the information that
must be included on plant labels. Unfortunately, this only applies to outdoor
plants. Therefore, nursery stock which originates in California, like anything
from Monrovia, will be properly labeled.
The local nurseries are not going to do anything they are not forced to do by
law. And the mom-and-pop nurseries can't afford the time to research the
subject.
If you want named cultivars of a particular plant, you probably have to
patronize the specialist mail-order houses & pay the extra cost.

Nonsense. If a nursery wants to be successful (and this is a very competitive
business given the influence of the 'box' stores), then providing proper
informational signage and correct labeling AND customer service is essential. The
nursery I work with is individually owned (could be termed a "mom and pop", but
only with a pop), but informational signage and labeling is a priority. It is all
created in-house (I write a good portion of it) and is included in addition to
growers' tag info. Growers' tag info tends to be very generic and does not always
reflect correct growing conditions for our specific location - Monrovia is
notorious for this. Monrovia also tends to rename previously named cultivars with
their own cultivar name.

While I realize that the PNW is a very active and competitive gardening region,
there is no reason why this attitude should not be carried into other areas of the
country. Running a nursery or garden center business is the same as running any
other business - to succeed you must offer a quality product at a reasonable price
and provide enough of the extras - superior customer service, guarantees, correct
information and labeling - to attract your customers away from other, competitive
sources. It's a matter of professionalism. There is no excuse for improper or
missing labeling (other than the odd misplaced or missing tag) - it reflects only
laziness or lack of knowledge.

BTW, when a plant label goes missing at my nursery and we are unable to be sure of
the particular plant/cultivar in question, it is sold at a significant discount.
The 'mystery plant' area is extremely popular with bargain hunters.

pam - gardengal