February 15, 2005

Contemplation...

Have any of you ever bought bulbs (flower) from Home Depot or the like? Were they viable? Did they suck ass? Were they true to color?

I remember when I was living in the sticks and when you went to a feed and seed to buy agricultural products, you knew exactly what you were getting...not so much around here.

Oh well. I think I'll go buy some manure and make myself feel country out in the flower beds.

Posted by Tiffany at February 15, 2005 01:49 PM
Comments

I have -- in fact, I purchased a bevy of bulbs last Fall from the local Home Depot. Alas, it's too early to tell yet.

My mom, however, buys all her bulbs from Home Depot and they always come up just fine.

Posted by: mac at February 15, 2005 02:55 PM

You can also get decent bulbs and stock from WalMart (although that might be a regional thing, they're pretty good here). The best thing to do, but not the cheapest, is to find an old fashioned nursery in your area and talk to them. They'll know what works best for your climate.

Posted by: Ted at February 16, 2005 12:58 PM

Howdy Tiffany,
In my previous life as a trucker for 28 years, I delivered to the home and garden departments of every big chain store in the country. They all buy their plant stock from the same few growers so go for the best prices on plants that look about the same. There are only a few nationwide growers and the rest is grown regionally, but every store within 100 miles of you will get the same stock from the same growers. Most of what's sold in Durham, Raleigh, and Greensboro comes from Metrolina in Charlotte and a couple of growers in South Carolina.

These days I deliver flowers and they come from the same places except for the exotic imports from South America, Holland, and Hawaii.

Same goes for brick, block, lumber, appliances... they're all the same products in different wrappers. Even in things like soap powders, I once saw Tide, K-mart Brand, and Sears Brand detergent coming out of the same machine in Georgia.

As Ted said above, if you can find a local nursery their plants might be more in tune with where you live, but none of them come from much more than 200 miles away. Costs too much to truck 'em any farther.

Now house plants are sometimes a different story as many of them come from Florida and Central America, but you keep 'em inside so it don't matter.

Posted by: Billy The Blogging Poet at February 17, 2005 07:21 PM