Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

-Chris Swartz

Buy from a nursery - the plants are usually older with a more
established root system, so they have a much higher rate of sucess. I
only buy annuals at Lowe's.


On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 18:47:31 -0400, Chris S.
wrote:


Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

-Chris Swartz

It depends upon the individual store... I have Home Depots I wouldn't think
of checking, while there are others that are adequately staffed and thus the
plants are watered regularly. If you can time your purchase shortly after
the shrubs are brought in, it's really the best bargain in town...

Dave

"Chris S." wrote in message
...

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

-Chris Swartz

Much of it depends on how well each particular store (e.g. Lowes, HD, etc)
cares for their plants and how long the plants you are buying have been
there. I have bought many Monrovia grown plants (common at nurseries) right
off the truck at Lowes and/or HD and have had great luck with them. And
just to be an ass, I'd like to remind you that you should never end a
sentence in "at" or any other preposition.


"Chris S." wrote in message
...

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

-Chris Swartz

The wife bought a few Crepe Myrtles from Lowes......and later we
bought some el cheapo's from a local nursery in town. They were only
bought about 2 days apart and the cheapie ones were better than half
the price of Lowes. All appeared to be about the same age and size,
but this year its apparent the el cheapos have out done themselves in
growth and bloom as compared to Lowes, which have yet to bloom and
always seem to be scragely looking. I know this is not a fault of
lowes, but I just thought it odd these el cheapos are doing as well
as they did. CM's in the south are extremely common, as they are
like weeds, everyone has them planted.

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:33:07 GMT, "Berob" wrote:

x-Much of it depends on how well each particular store (e.g. Lowes, HD, etc)
x-cares for their plants and how long the plants you are buying have been
x-there. I have bought many Monrovia grown plants (common at nurseries) right
x-off the truck at Lowes and/or HD and have had great luck with them. And
x-just to be an ass, I'd like to remind you that you should never end a
x-sentence in "at" or any other preposition.
x-
x-
x-"Chris S." wrote in message
...
x-
x- Hi All,
x-
x- Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
x- place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is about
x- twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.
x-
x- Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?
x-
x- -Chris Swartz
x-

--
Visit my website:
http://www.frugalmachinist.com
Contents: foundry and general metal working and lots of related projects.
Regards
Roy aka Chipmaker // Foxeye
Opinions are strictly those of my wife....I have had no input whatsoever.
Remove capital A from chipmAkr for correct email address

Xref: kermit rec.gardens:244696

Chris S. wrote:

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is
about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

Too many variables.

It's not like Lowe's ships plants to all it's stores from some central
location. Each store is going to buy from some wholesale nurseries in
their general area. And are you talking about a nursery that grows what
you're buying (or do they specialize in other stuff), or do they buy
from a wholesaler, perhaps even the same wholesaler as Lowes?

And it may make a difference what day and time you go. If you're there
as they're unloading them from the truck, how well the staff takes care
of things is a non-issue, and the big issue becomes whether the nursery
that the truck came from treats the load to Lowes as being a dumpster,
or if they service that account as well as they service the other garden
centers in the area.

There are just too many variables, and those variables are different for
me than they are for you, or any other person in this group.

Think of it this way: Which is better? The burger at the TGI Fridays
near the mall, or the hamburger at a randomly picked joint in town on
the old highway? Some people will insist that the local diner is going
to have the better hamburger, but I have to tell you, I've been in some
diners with lousy hamburger, even if they were buying their beef from
the same wholesale butcher.

Anyone who gives you a definitive answer to your question is basing
their opinion on far too limited information considering how many Lowes
are out there, and how many nurseries are out there. Unless the
particular Lowes and the particular nursery you have in mind are the
same ones they have in mind, a definitive answer is an answer you don't
need.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Blatant Plug:
Support me at: http://www.holzemville.com/mall/

And just to be an ass,
____Reply Separator_____
You succeeded !

If it 's the Lowes where I live, their shrubs are well taken care of, watered
and maintained. See when their shipments come in and go that day to see the
newly delivered plants. With shrubs, I find smaller is better and easier to
establish a root system over winter when planted in the fall. I bought all my
Yaupon holly shrubs there and they have doubled in size since last fall and are
starting to put on fall growth as temperatures have started t drop off.

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 18:47:31 -0400, Chris S. wrote:


Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

-Chris Swartz

"Chris S." wrote in message
...

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

-Chris Swartz

funny that you should ask that. I work for my local Lowe's in the Outside
Lawn and Garden section, but I have been a customer of theirs for years
before I started working there. I can tell you that some shrubs at Lowes
are affordable, and if the greenhouse specialist is on top of things, there
is a decent selection of unusual as well as local standards. Lowe's
specialist in the nursery section of OLG has the responsibility to purchase
their nursery stock from local nursieries as well as some select nurseries.
In the case of our Lowes here in Morristown, Tennessee, we even get shrubs
from Mean's Nursery in Oregon, trees from Alabama, tropicals from Florida,
and houseplants from Canada.

I can tell you that for special and unusual plants unless you have a nursery
that is on top of it and diversifies, you can ride the fence. Lowe's has a
strict policy with replacements for a year, and they have a pretty good
staff to take care of and watch over their stock. I stopped a shipment of
plants that had unidentified snails from a nursery until the company trouble
shooter flew out, treated the order and allowed time for the pests to die
before we were able to sell them. But that's because I will not sell a
diseased or infested plant to anyone. Most larger nurseries have a good
policy thru stores like Lowes and Depot etc and can't afford to lose the
volumn of business with diseased or infested plants and keep a vigil on
them. REPUTABLE nurseries.

I straddle the fence. I shop at Lowes regardless that I now work there, I
also order hard to impossible to find locally plants of all sorts from
companies by catalog as well as watch for local nurseries for unusual
bargains and plants. I don't pay attention to price when it's something I
know I can't find anywhere else or it will cost me shipping and handling. I
weigh the price factor in on what they have, and if I can get something
better by catalog, then that's the way I go. But usually some plants are
better bargains thru the mail because of selection, and other times you'll
get a better deal in size when you purchase a plant from a nursery. Large
companies like White Flower Farm (and even they ship things bareroot)
Wayside Gardens, BlueStone Perennials, Carroll Gardens, and such don't ship
out large pots. Carroll gardens does, and the previous mentioned companies
that I have ordered from do if you look in their catalog's for size
availability.

I would just way use your judgement. Lowe's has a plant policy and stands by
it. They usually deal with reputable nurseries and to me that means there
are people benefiting with jobs because of it and I don't resent it. Sure
they buy in bulk, but it still employs people and that's part of the
American system of business. Supply and demand.

Just remember to look for pests at other places like WalMart because they
don't have the time or patience or willingness to employ people to care for
their plants like other larger stores do like Lowes and some rare Home
Depot's and other ones like that. I hope this helps some.
madgardener off to werk now ironically enough..................

HERE HERE I could NOT have put it better Warren........ thank you for a most
insightful opinion. I mean it!! g You are 100% right and dead on the
money about everything you said. Now I wish I had read your response before
posting mine...........
madgardener
"Warren" wrote in message
. net...
Chris S. wrote:

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is
about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

Too many variables.

It's not like Lowe's ships plants to all it's stores from some central
location. Each store is going to buy from some wholesale nurseries in
their general area. And are you talking about a nursery that grows what
you're buying (or do they specialize in other stuff), or do they buy
from a wholesaler, perhaps even the same wholesaler as Lowes?

And it may make a difference what day and time you go. If you're there
as they're unloading them from the truck, how well the staff takes care
of things is a non-issue, and the big issue becomes whether the nursery
that the truck came from treats the load to Lowes as being a dumpster,
or if they service that account as well as they service the other garden
centers in the area.

There are just too many variables, and those variables are different for
me than they are for you, or any other person in this group.

Think of it this way: Which is better? The burger at the TGI Fridays
near the mall, or the hamburger at a randomly picked joint in town on
the old highway? Some people will insist that the local diner is going
to have the better hamburger, but I have to tell you, I've been in some
diners with lousy hamburger, even if they were buying their beef from
the same wholesale butcher.

Anyone who gives you a definitive answer to your question is basing
their opinion on far too limited information considering how many Lowes
are out there, and how many nurseries are out there. Unless the
particular Lowes and the particular nursery you have in mind are the
same ones they have in mind, a definitive answer is an answer you don't
need.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Blatant Plug:
Support me at: http://www.holzemville.com/mall/

In article , Chris S.
wrote:

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

-Chris Swartz

I'd say it depends on what you're after. If you want plants that OTHER
THAN ultra-common growing in just about every other commonplace garden in
the same neighborhood, then you have to look for a quality nursery with a
larger variety of plants, as Lowe's & Home Depot only sell basic products.
But if you do need a fairly standard rhododendron or climbing vine,
there'd be no reason to pay more for a specimen the exact same size from
somewhere other than Lowes. Or if you're just kind of financially
strapped, and were only needing something like a butterfly bush that grows
rapidly from a small start that only costs a pittance from Lowe's, might
as well go for the Lowe's.

Sometimes a common plant is exactly what suits a location. The best
independent stores sometimes pay less attention to their "common" stock
because they know they can't beat the prices of the chains. Some while
ago, I wanted a rigidly upright rosemary for a dry hot area of the garden.
I did look at rosemaries in my favorite independents before buying it
vastly cheaper at Lowe's, in that case because Lowe's really did have the
best upright specimens as well as the best price, the independents had
strange twisty creeping varieties that are less "ordinary" but in this
case I wanted an ordinary rosemary.

On the other hand if you wanted a clematis that would be substantial in
size rather soon, you might not want to go for the cheap starts at Lowes,
which won't look like much for two years. A nursery that sells larger
older specimens charges more, but the plant is worth more. Standard
perennials that establish & spread with great speed, like penstemons or
campanulas, a little on-sale pots from Lowe's really is a bargain.

Now if you'd said Walmart, I'd say forget it. Not only are the plants
commonplace, but they're poorly cared for so apt to be doing poorly if you
don't get them the day they arrive at the store, & the price is the same
price or even more highly priced than at independent nurseries. At least
that's true of the Walmart in my county. But Lowe's, Home Depot, &
especially Fred Meyers, I'm sometimes impressed with the age & appearance
of some of the things they sell for half or a third what the same product
costs at an independent nursery.

If one isn't strapped for funds, there are good reasons to generally just
go to the nicest nurseries with the most varied stock, even if on some
days you end up getting stuff Lowe's carries cheaper. Because you can
wander through the Lowe's plant section a hundred times and see pretty
much the same stuff always, maybe once in that hundred visits spot
something rather unusual for a change. But at a really nice nursery, if
you stop in regularly, at least half the time you'll spot new stuff, some
of it unusual or rarely offered stuff not being mass produced for market,
some of it very new cultivars not yet widely distributed, some from very
small specialty wholesalers who don't service chains. Some of it is
offered in such small quantities you'll never even get a chance to look at
one before it's sold out, if you spend too much of your garden-shopping
energy at a Lowes and fail to check the specialists & independents at
close intervals.

Also as a generality, advice is more reliable & knowledge is greater at
independent nurseries than at Lowe's. There can sometimes be a
knowledgeable person working in one of the chain stores, who'd be great
nursery managers if allowed to be, but they seem to have very little
control over whether they have to work in the electrical department
instead.

Finally, staff & owners at quality independent nurseries are apt to
remember you as a customer, whereas the big chains will for the most part
never remember nor much care about your gardening tastes & choices. There
are pay-offs ranging from friendships to special bargains for patronizing
favorite nursery companies. There's a lot to be said even just for being
on first-name basis with some high-end nursery people, as I know in my
case, I have even been handed free plants. Owners have gone out of their
way to help me find scarce things I was after, & have even driven out to
visit my gardens -- not because I'm a big-money customer either -- I'm
actually rather poor. Even if there were no "perks" like the occasional
free plant or first-dibs on stuff that is a bit rare, the mere fact of
being known & of knowing people by name, it's nicer than always dealing
with mutually anonymous faces.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

another thing to consider is supporting your local small business when
you can. if you don't mind having no other choice besides the big box
stores where you can buy all the same plants everyone else who lives
around you can buy, go ahead and give them your money. if you like the
idea that your neighbor or your kid might be able to own and operate a
useful business that contributes to the quality of your community and
earns the owner a decent living and keeps some small architecture around
your town, consider putting some of your money into supporting such a
business. just for fun, try and find an individually-owned local
hardware store that's been in business for many years and go ask the
owner where you should buy your plants.

sam
z8/PNW

"Chris S." wrote in message
...

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

-Chris Swartz

I start most of my own shrubs from cuttings that I get from friends,
neighbors, and members of our garden club. I also start a lot of additional
shrubs along with annuals and perennials, which are sold at our garden club
spring sale as a fund raiser. Occasionally, when I can't find something
locally that I want, I make a list of "must haves" and check at Lowes and
other garden centers in Springfield, MO, on our occasional runs there. (Love
their Barnes and Noble Book Store!) The items I've purchased there have all
survived and done well. In fact, I purchased a Glowing Embers Hydrangea in a
gallon pot from Lowes this past spring for $6.95 that was a quality looking
plant at purchase time has since doubled in size. The same is true of a
blueberry plant I purchased at the same time. I've always had good results
with items purchased from them.

My least favorite method of purchase is through mail order, mainly because I
can't see the quality of the plant material before ordering. Most of the
time it's reasonable, but I find that I usually have to some babying in
order to get ordered plants to survive. This is even true of Bluestone that
has quality products. Even so, I occasionally lose a plant. I don't know
about other people, but I find it a pain to have to contact the service
department and receive a credit for plants that don't survive. It also irks
me that I don't have the plant I ordered in my yard this year and will have
to wait another year before it can be replaced.

John

While this may not be Lowes, I just have to say that I have gotten a
ton of plants from WalMart for FREE. Literally free. I drop by their
dumpster every Sunday, and it has yet to be found empty. They just
get their plants for free or next to nothing. Seems like it does not
matter what the plants are, they do wind up in the dumpster once they
get a new shipment in. I have all kinds of plants and most all have
responded and come back to a healty planat with a little bit of
pruning and decent waterings and a bit of fertilizer. I must have had
250 or more of those pink flower pots full of Petunias this year that
they sold for $3.98 a pot, I have about 40 of the Butterfly plant
bushes, tons of Hydrangia, and russian cane, as well as various trees
and shrubbery, roses bushes etc etc. At the worst they die, and I just
add the potted soils and roots in my garden for soil improvement.
Sure helps when yo have very sandy soils. The 5 grape vine plants I
found are all over 6 feet in length and doing fine. All I did was
water them good and then plant them.

At the end of the cool grass growing season I scrounged 11 bags of
manure, and close to 18 50# bags of rye grass seed, and other assorted
seeds. A test run n the shade of the rye grass gave e a good stand. So
now I have some to plant this fall for winter graze for my critters. I
know some folks would never think of dumpster diving, but I have found
lots of perfectly good things that is a sin to throw out and waste.


--
Visit my website:
http://www.frugalmachinist.com
Contents: foundry and general metal working and lots of related projects.
Regards
Roy aka Chipmaker // Foxeye
Opinions are strictly those of my wife....I have had no input whatsoever.
Remove capital A from chipmAkr for correct email address

I suspect this may depend on where you live. Here, both the plants in
the nursery, and the plants at Home Depot or Lowes come off the back
of the same truck(s) from the same supplier. I think Nurseries take
better care of them long term, where Lowes and HD buy them to move
them out quickly. I go to HD and/or Lowes on Friday, as that is the
delivery date of fresh plants. I buy them then.

Mary

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 18:47:31 -0400, Chris S.
wrote:


Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experience in buying shrubs or perennials at a
place like lowes verses a nursery. The stuff I see at nurseries is about
twice as expensive, but looks much healthier.

Should I stick with a nursery? Where do you buy plants at?

-Chris Swartz