The problem of poorly labelled plants can originate from several possible
sources. It is a problem but if you visit a place which does supply you with
good quality plants, with a healthy root ball at a fair price and your gripe
is with their labelling alone. Then I'd recommend that you bring your gripe
to the owner's attention and see how they react. There is no point
abstaining from an otherwise good plant source if you know the labels are
poor kind of shooting yourself in the foot. Buy the healthy plant at modest
price with a poor label, do some research and correct the label when you put
it in your own back yard.

A common miss-labelling problem which I do object to and which I regularly
come across at locations which buy-in in bulk is due to the meddling effects
of the marketing professionals. In an age when new homes and gardens for
first-time buyers are getting smaller, when such people have not the desire
or the time to research their garden plants as enthusiasts may do, they
simply want to buy plants of a certain size that does not crowd their living
area. As a result it is very hard to find a plant carrying a labels that
honestly declares the plant's ultimate size as 20 feet, that it will do so
in five years. Otherwise such plants would never be sold. Consequently most
advertised sizes are 4-5 feet height and spread or less.
Regards,
Mike Gilmore
www.winsfordwalledgarden.freeserve.co.uk