On Apr 7, 7:40*pm, wrote:
Wandered through a local big box over the weekend.. looking for plants *(lowes)

Noticed they have they Easter displays out, * some really nice potted hydrangeas. * I
raise big leafed hydrangeas myself... so I'm looking and it suddenly dawned on me....
These look like branches that have been cut off a blooming bush and stuck into a pot
of soil. *

Duhh... no wonder a lot of them will never grow... *they're *CUTTINGS, *in full bloom with
all the leaves. * *For years I always though these were actually rooted plants that would
grow in the container until they could be planted...... * *boy am I dumb !!!

It took me years to figure out that all those colorful holiday season poinsettia's were
also just cuttings taking off a blooming bush...no wonder they die after the holiday
season passes.

Anyway... *continued out to the shrubs and azaleas. * Saw some nice specimen azaleas,
glossy foliage, *white flowers. * *Checked the fact tag *and saw these beauties are
for hardiness zone 8. * *The store is in zone 6. * No way they would survive the winters.

And they *have *a complete display of encore azaleas, *maybe a dozen different
varieties, *none of which have a hardiness zone listed on the plants, * but are
actually *zone 7's or higher and will not overwinter here.

It makes me think about all the *'weekend' gardeners *who will buy these plants... put
them in the ground and then wonder why they don't survive. * Sure they have a one
year warranty *(store credit only) *but who can find a receipt after a few months.

You would think the big box stores would be more careful in what they sell. *I
guess making a buck is more important. *Perhaps this is also why a lot of
people feel they don't have a 'green' thumb.

Peter *(who used to not have a 'green' thumb, *but is slowly improving thanks to this ng).

one of the other things you're seeing right now are also what I call
"non-hardy azalea's and tender hydrangea's. They're hothouse grown
and forced to provide flowers at Easter time, out of their season of
flowering. Easter lilies as a matter of fact are a wonderful
example. I, myself, am planning to wait until the weekend to see if
Lowe's or Ho-Me Despot reduces their Easter lilies to zip doodle
prices due to the blossoms starting to demise, because I know that
once planted, they will return and not bloom until their true blooming
time of almost June!! Pottingshed gave me an Easter lily years ago
and alas it was among the victims of the mindless betrayal but after
sitting quietly in my rich soil for a couple of years, it righted
itself and started showing itself and only was just gaining it's wind
to wow me with incredible blossoms equal to greenhouse quality but not
Easter, but more like after Mother's day and well into June.
Something I more appreciated later on. I will replace what I lost
through their absurd reduction of prices. Not something from Beverly
(Pottingshed) but in memory of her's.

On matters of their selections, yes, a lot of stuff isn't hardy, and
one of the reasons they offer that "unconditional guarantee" and you
can take a dead plant back within a year (annual or perennial) is
because the nurseries that have contracts with them grow the plants on
huge scale and it's not worth it to worry about something that didn't
make it when a weekend gardener kills it or it dies from just not
being hardy. Too often the plants at Lowes and Despot are root bound,
or haven't had time to develop adequate roots at all to ensure
survival. I take overgrown pots of perennials and score or cut their
roots carefully to "loosen up their feet " so to speak and hope they
don't shock and die of too much room when I free them from their
boundaries and containers. They're all overfed and forced to grow
faster than they normally would to accomodate the overly demanding
weekend and sometimes eager gardener. I have sometimes even cut off
the bottom "foot" root piece of a container plant to try and get it to
spread itself out and survive. It works sometimes , sometimes not.

Sticks in the soil isn't always the rule, but I HAVE bought plants
from box stores and taken them home and plugged them into the raised
beds to discover that they were "bumped up" (potted into the next size
up) and hadn't had time to fill the pots with roots in time to sell.
And they didn't always survive, so I can see why you'd think that the
hydrangea's were just sticks in soil. I've seen what it appeared to
be. I agree with Veet, poinsettia's have to be stick grown or slips
to get the huge demand out there by Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Greenhouses start their poinsettia's in July! I worked a greenhouse
one summer and we got bundles of the new poinsettia's that were going
to be the new in vogue plants in lots of 50- 100 and we dipped each
end into root-tone and then stuck them into four inch pots of starting
mix with osmocote (sierra in bulk was the same time release food) and
they had them on tables that got spray mists. By a three week period
of time, we'd stuck thousands of them, and they were amazing to see
the different growth levels. By time to bump them into one gallon and
three gallon pots, they were forming their bracts. I learned to do
several shrubs by twig starting just from doing the poinsettia's that
year many decades ago.

My beloved Deutzia that John Skeffington started me from soft wood
cutting (new growth) was a CodsAll Pink double that I almost wasn't
able to find to replace when I lost it last spring to the great
betrayal. But thanks to Forest Farms, I've not only found it, I
ordered two of them and have them sitting out back ready to go into my
last home when we find it. They also have the Spirea billardii that I
loved, and I will get one or two of those as well from Forest Farms.
By the way, Gardengal, your Diablo ninebark has leaves on it!!!
Thanks!! anything you have to divide, I'm open to anything at
all........me mailing address is reliable for at least a couple more
months.
madgardener up in the green bowl gardening in containers zone 7a,
Sunset zone 36 experiencing Dogwood Winter at the moment! whose tree
peonies are full of buds!