Nancy's bad experience at garden center
Hello Nancy - If I see a plant at a garden center that I like, (Home Depot,
Kmart, Wallmart), I go ahead and buy it, then when I get home, I do research
on the Web to see what it's all about. Sometimes I even post messages on
forums to ask about personal experiences with the plant. After all that = if
I don't like it, I bring it back to the garden center on my routine trip
back a week later..
Home Depot & Wallmart will even take it back if it's dead up to a year
later. Matter of fact, if you have the original pot it came in = at Home
Depot, you don't even need a receipt, they'll scan the pot, & give you your
money back. You could probably have a dead weed in the pot, and they will
return your money. Ha!
Think about this = plant the plant, and up to a year later, if you decide
you don't like it, pull it up and bring it back to Home Depot and they'll
gracefully return your money.
Since Home Depot doesn't have sales, only low prices, they have a new policy
of just scanning the merchandize, and returning your money = they don't even
ask for the receipt. You must have a pot with a specially made Home Depot
brand scanning label on it though.
How's that compared to another plant source, where you might spend $45 for a
tree, or shrub, then all you can do after that is pray that it'll grow &
stay alive.
la de da = Happy times are here again Nancy dear
Cheers = Cajun Joe in New Orleans
----------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Stedman" <stedman@INTERPORT.NET>
To: <shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 8:29 AM
Subject: Re: [SG] bad experience
I'll second this sentiment--I've had more trouble with garden center plants
being mislabeled or not labeled at all. And the salespeople--even at good
places, not just ones like Frank's--often don't know anything about the
plants. And naturally, they won't accept returns. I now mostly only buy
annuals at garden centers since, as someone else noted, it's hard to get
them sent to you at the right time via mail and the quality in this case
does seem much better locally.
I'll also agree about the big companies. I've had very pleasant dealings
with both White Flower Farm and Wayside. I've gotten many, many refunds from
Wayside, no questions asked. I've stopped ordering from them because I think
the hardiness difference (between South Carolina and New York) is too
problemmatic, but they really could not have been nicer.
Nancy S. (NYC, zone 6B)
>I bought 2 plants last year from a local nursery and both were incorrectly
>labeled. Wrecked my "black and gold" color scheme for that garden! Happens
a
>lot less with mail order for me.
>
>Diann
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: PRIMROSES [s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU]On Behalf Of
>> Susan Campanini
>> Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2000 5:07 PM
>> To: shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
>> Subject: [SG] bad experience
>>
>>
>> If shipped dead plants, I would definitely contact the company.
>> However, I did have a disappointing experience this year with Burpee (the
>> company that has just taken over Heronswood) and I didn't contact them
>> because it seemed like such a megabusiness that I figured it
>> wouldn't do any
>> good and I'd learned my lesson anyway ...
>> I have ordered perennials by mail order in the past from many
>> excellent sources with few problems. Lately, my local sources
>> have improved
>> and I haven't done much mail order. However, this year I got a catalogue
>> from Burpee (from whom I'd only ordered packets of seeds,
>> satisfactorially,
>> previously) in the winter showing wonderful glossies of annual starts of
>> plants I thought I couldn't find locally at such a good price.
>> First of all, we had a very early spring in Illinois and
>> I called to
>> ask when the shipment would arrive because I was ready to plant
>> sooner than
>> expected. It's a big company and nothing can be done about predetermined
>> schedules. If the computer says May 15 in Illinois is the last
>> frost date,
>> there's no arguing with it. So I waited a long time and it was hot by
the
>> time they shipped of course.
>> And then there were the other problems. Well, the double
impatiens
>> were all mislabeled, only one of the bicolor lisianthus is
>> bicolor, and the
>> gazanias were two tiny to survive. I wound up buying replacements
locally,
>> of course. I will not try to buy annuals by mail again.
>>
>> Susan and David in Urbana, Illinois, zone 5b
>>
>
