On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 02:32:00 -0000, "ned" wrote:

martin wrote:
On Tue, 4 Nov 2003 23:36:57 -0000, "ned" wrote:

martin wrote:
On Mon, 3 Nov 2003 09:48:23 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

snip
You often see buy and die
plants in some garden centres literally humming with mealy bug
on
warm days.

That sounds like an extremely dubious commercial practice.

It's certainly true in the Netherlands.

..... But we hold the Netherlands in such high horticultural
esteem.
............Well, all bar that Bakker mail order outfit, that is.
'Won't ever deal with them again.

What did they do to you? They are one of the biggest in NL.

We placed quite a big order for herbaceous plants and when they
arrived it looked like the sweepings from the packing bay floor. We
complained. We received a very condescending response advising us that
the plants were in a dormant state=20

LOL shades of Monty Python's Parrot sketch.

and that we should wait to see what
success we had when they revived. We pointed out that many were
actually black & rotting in their plastic containers and were never
likely to flourish, and asked how they intended to replace those that
did not survive four or five months after the autumn planting season
had passed. They sent replacements for those that were actually rotten
and those were hardly better than those we had complained of. We
eventually got a full cash refund. But never again.

We bought 57 beech hedge plants, the roots were without soil and
packed in very dry wood shavings.

They were all planted in the same way, three grew all the others were
very dead. It was our fault we hadn't looked after them or so Bakker
claimed.


'Disgusted' of Tunbridge Wells.
Was this recently? I could complain to the Dutch CA for you.
or
Would you like JennyC and/or I, the local urgler "protection" group to
go around and complain/knee cap them?
Bakker are only about 20 minutes from my home.
I can't burn their garden centre to the ground. Somebody already beat
us to it.
--=20
Martin

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 02:32:00 -0000, "ned" wrote:

big moan snipped

'Disgusted' of Tunbridge Wells.
Was this recently? I could complain to the Dutch CA for you.
or
Would you like JennyC and/or I, the local urgler "protection" group to
go around and complain/knee cap them?
Bakker are only about 20 minutes from my home.
I can't burn their garden centre to the ground. Somebody already beat
us to it.

:-))
Thanks for the offer, but its all in the past.
Only the memory remains.
....... If only they wouldn't keep sending their damn catalogues !!!!!
'Have to say it is some consolation to know that their greenhouse
temperature control was as efficient as their mail order dept.

--
ned

On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 21:30:32 -0000, "ned" wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 02:32:00 -0000, "ned" wrote:

big moan snipped

'Disgusted' of Tunbridge Wells.
Was this recently? I could complain to the Dutch CA for you.
or
Would you like JennyC and/or I, the local urgler "protection" group to
go around and complain/knee cap them?
Bakker are only about 20 minutes from my home.
I can't burn their garden centre to the ground. Somebody already beat
us to it.

:-))
Thanks for the offer, but its all in the past.
Only the memory remains.
...... If only they wouldn't keep sending their damn catalogues !!!!!
'Have to say it is some consolation to know that their greenhouse
temperature control was as efficient as their mail order dept.

Talking of which, all the local horticultural green houses have the
same computer controlled heating. They have an open day on the first
weekend in April.=20
Start:
The green house temperature falls to a preset limit,
then
computer system turns on gas burners which blow hot air,
until
greenhouse exceeds preset limit,
then=20
computer opens windows heat disappears
goto start.

I think I have found the cause of global warning.
--=20
Martin

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 08:37:33 +0100, "JennyC" wrote:


"ned" wrote
..... But we hold the Netherlands in such high horticultural esteem.
............Well, all bar that Bakker mail order outfit, that is.
'Won't ever deal with them again.
ned

I agree - total waste of time. Most of the plants arrive in a bad condition.

I once went to their nursery and the general state of that was the final straw
!

Don't they buy most of there stuff wholesale from Boskoop?
Martin

Probably. The 'nursery' was more like a garden centre and also the place where
they dispatch stuff. It was at least 10 years ago and maybe it's all different
now. But by the sound of this thread - not !

We have a local GC which has a similar way of working. You can get really nice
plants there, provided they have just arrived from the grower. Anything that has
been there more than a few weeks starts showing signs of neglect.

It is however owned by a wonderfully exocentric chap with a fine toupee !! (he's
so exocentric he could almost be British !)

Jenny

On Thu, 6 Nov 2003 07:14:40 +0100, "JennyC" wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 08:37:33 +0100, "JennyC" wrote:


"ned" wrote
..... But we hold the Netherlands in such high horticultural esteem.
............Well, all bar that Bakker mail order outfit, that is.
'Won't ever deal with them again.
ned

I agree - total waste of time. Most of the plants arrive in a bad =
condition.

I once went to their nursery and the general state of that was the =
final straw
!

Don't they buy most of there stuff wholesale from Boskoop?
Martin

Probably. The 'nursery' was more like a garden centre and also the place=
where
they dispatch stuff. It was at least 10 years ago and maybe it's all =
different
now. But by the sound of this thread - not !

I bought our DOA beech hedge that never was about 20 years ago.=20
In those days their garden centre was somewhere in Hillegom AFAIR.

http://www.bakker-hillegom.nl


We have a local GC which has a similar way of working. You can get =
really nice
plants there, provided they have just arrived from the grower. Anything =
that has
been there more than a few weeks starts showing signs of neglect.

It is however owned by a wonderfully exocentric chap with a fine toupee =
!! (he's
so exocentric he could almost be British !)

A toupee? Thanks for the tip :-)
--=20
Martin