OT:Shopping at MallWart
- Subject: OT:Shopping at MallWart
- From: B* S*
- Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 10:44:43 -0500
On 1/29/02 6:20 AM, "Jim Gibbons" <gibbman6@home.com> wrote:
>
>> Walter wrote, responding to Mark, who responded to Jan......
>
>> Better Homes and Gardens should be
>> ashamed for letting Wal-Mart use their name to peddle worthless (dead
>> ?) goods.
>
> The thing about WalMart etc. is although they might get their stock at a
> reasonable time and still green, they will keep it until ossified before
> realizing that it needs to be on clearance. I did buy a few Batik last year
> for 25 cents each and they have recovered. WM kept their amarylis hidden in
> a back corner of the garden center til they had all popped through the top
> of the box, many flowering on corkscrew stalks. This isn't confined to the
> biggies, one of my favorite real nurseries had rhizomes in brown paper bags,
> hand labelled, so you couldn't see what you had. Imagine the customer who
> bought the siberians!! that were bagged up just like the TBs.
I always watch WalMart's plant department carefully. For example, they are
now stocking a variety of blooming bromeliads (Neoregelias), primroses and
Dendrobium orchids. The trick is to get the plants after they have been
knocked down to a lower price, but before they have been fatally damaged by
the lack of care given in the store.
Yesterday I got a nice assortment (3 plants in 3 colors) of Dendrobiums for
$5.00. The plants (in bloom) were originally abut $10 each. If experience
is any guide, they will recover nicely, multipy, and thrive for many years.
Bromeliads are highly resistant to store conditions so I will have to wait a
while for them.
By the way, I find the same kind of thing at one of the big garden centers
in Richmond--orchids in bloom are priced fantastically, but after the
flowers fade on the ones they don't sell, the price goes down to ridiculous
levels. Las year, I bought a big Cymbidium for $18 that had been priced at
$75 while flowering. That plant is now blooming with 2 4-ft tall stalks
carrying more than 20 flowers each.
Our Walmart also has bearded iris on sale now, but they were not held over,
at least in our store. They were probably kept somewhere else, likely in
cold storage because some of them don't look bad at all. If you can pick
and choose and aren't too concerned about their being true-to-name, you can
get some cheap garden filler.
Caveat emptor!
Bill Shear
Central VA, Z7
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