Tony, you are perfectly within the limits of being dead on. For many, many
years the floriculture industry has be moaning about this, as well. I don't
know, nor do I understand how to fix the problem, but I can tell you that in all
the greenhouse growing trade magazines, this is a discussion which enters the
picture every year.

Just when you think the plants are being labeled by their correct taxonomy, the
taxonomy changes. Or there are not enough plants in that particular variety to
warrant individual labeling. It's truly the bane of the industry, but there is
not valid excuse for it.

I ONLY shop at garden centers if they have correct labels OR if the clerks know
what I'm buying. I always have a white wax pencil with me because sometimes
they label a tray of plants, but not individual plants.

I do this because I am a plant collector. I have zinc labels on each plant,
engraved with what it is. I'm in full agreement with you. I don't have good
news for you or a way to fix it.

You may want to forward your post to www.greenhousegrower.com and as a consumer
let them hear your exasperation.

Victoria


On Sat, 8 Mar 2003 21:27:29 -0600, "Tony" wrote:

I'm frustrated about something and thought I'd vent here a bit, so excuse
me....

Where I live there seem to be 3 types of places where I can buy plants:

--Places like Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, etc. that have "garden centers"
but that isn't the main thing they focus on.
--Mid-size to large commercial nurseries that specialize in plants.
--Small "mom-and-pop" type places.

Of those 3, I'd really prefer to patronize the last two figuring that I'll
get better plants.

BUT, at least in our area the last 2 places are very bad about labelling
their plants well. Meaning, they give you the general name of the plant,
but not the particular name or variety. Generally, places like Lowes, etc.
actually have tags on their plant that give all the information one could
desire, so why can't the local nurseries? I understand that they often
raise the plants themselves, but I'd think that would make it more important
for their own sake to track these things better.

Example, earlier today I was looking for a Passion Vine. There are many
different varieties of this plant. One large local nursery had quite a
selection in their greenhouse. This nursery is the premier nursery in this
area with several locations and friendly, helpful stuff. They had at least
5 different varieties of what I was looking for. All of them labelled "Red
Passion Vine." Never mind that several of them had different leaf shapes
and other differences were obvious. They were all grouped together as if
they were the same. A very nice staff lady tried to describe the blooms,
but that's not very helpful and it doesn't account for how obviously
different plants would have the same bloom.

Another local nursery, owned by two very nice people that have sold me many
very nice plants, had a similar selection of diverse plants all bearing tags
that simply had their color--no other information.

I WANT to buy from the local nurseries, but I also want to know exactly what
I'm buying. I wish I had the experience to look at a plant and immediately
know what variety it is, but I don't--especially if the plant isn't in
bloom. I wish nurseries in my area would do a better job with this.

Tony