Gee, I wonder why our Lowes never has plants for $1.00??? Everything on their clearance racks are always dead or pretty near dead and they still ask way to much $$ for them. I rarely ever find anything good for cheap at Lowes, or HD for that matter ... guess I'm shopping in the wrong state. Unfortunately none of the big box stores garden centers here (Lowes, Home Depot, WalMart) take great care of their plants. I think they put them out in hopes of quick turn over but they either get watered too much to the point of floating in water or they don't get watered at all and sit out and scorch in the Florida sun ... then they put them on the clearance rack and only mark them 1/2 off but it's still way to much to pay to try to revive half dead plants. Last year I did get 2 Daylilies for a couple of bucks from a WalMart clearance rack and a little basket of half dead succulents at Lowes that I was able to revive but for the most part the clearance plants always look too bad for me to spend my money on. Now, if they were marked down to a dollar I'd probably take a chance and buy more of them.

DH and I went to Lowe's today...Looking for something in the hardware area...On our way home I mentioned that I hadn't even gone to the clearance rack in the garden section!
DH said, "Should we go back? You're not having withdrawals, are you?" I was quite tempted to tell him to turn round, but, alas, ... tomorrows another day!

Lin I wonder if it is because you have a longer growing season. Plus you have to be a frequent visitor or be lucky to hit them at the right time. I explained I have so much building work going on year round I am constantly in the stores. I have been back for the last 4 days and there was nothing there but plants that were put there when I picked up my last plants for 1.00 that I did not want or anybody else want. They are sitting there dying. But they have been there for two weeks now.

I probably would not go every week just to plant shop but because I am there buying building supplies I go there to check out what is on sale. I have been there when they are just putting them out so many times I am getting first pick of the best.

It is the same thing with tiles. I have picked up marble tile for projects in my houses that were Reg 22.00 a tile for 1.00 a tile. I was able to upgrade one of the homes with marble back splash for less than ceramic back splash.

Since I have two plants, I will experiment, one to be grown indoors, and the other outdoors. But of course will pull in the one outdoors if our temps go very low. I have read the hardiness of this plant is zone 8 through 10..while some sites say 10-11; I wonder which one is more correct. Have also read it belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family. Hmmm..I wonder if it will behave like my Euphorbia milii, where it will just drop the leaves during cold temps and just some back nicely by Spring.

Anyhow, have repotted the one for outdoors, our temps still so nice right now.

So the one outdoors:


And the one indoors, still in its original container:



Our local HD does not do much of clearance sales either..I wish we have our local Lowes here too..have to be in the neighboring city to visit one. I was actually tempted to buy an amaryllis at Lowes yesterday, but I saw it was those types that got painted bulbs ugh! So glad these crotons were at the clearance rack, now I got a nice experiment

tarev: I'm in zone 9b Florida and I've had Codiaeum freeze and die when we have winters with extended, extreme cold. If we have a sporadic night here and there with temp's in the low 30's or even freezing over the winter they seem to make it through okay but if we have two or three consecutive nights of 32ºF or below, they bite the dust. I'm speaking of the ones I have in containers; those in the ground may possibly survive with a good layer of mulch. I did at one time have some very large Croton in containers and I'd cover them with blankets but one year when we had really extreme cold (temp's in the 20's for a few nights and ice) they did not survive even with blankets over them.

Thanks Lin! That is good to know.

I will closely watch how temps and forecasts go.

Tarev the first pot you replanted is the pot all our Bromelaids are in. I thought when I purchased them that even if the plants died for 1.00 that was a good price for the size and attractive pot.

Did you buy that pot or was it with another Lowes plant you had purchased?

My crotons came in with just the typical 4 inch plastic containers. The clay pot was a container I used before to hang my other orchid container, so have re-purposed it now for one of the crotons.

People buy crotons here at the end of the summer when everything else is scorched and boiled. My experience is that if you're too nice to them, they die in a hurry. I used to try to keep them as houseplants and they never lived. I have one in a pot on the front porch but I'm pretty sure it froze last night. It's the same as the one on the bottom right in Lyn's picture. I love the colors but I've learned to think of them as an annual bedding/container plant. I planted pansies, snapdragons and petunias for the winter. They got the covers. I tried not to look the croton in the eye when I walked away from it.

Our Lowes never has plants on clearance either. If they do, they're about 95% dead and they still want 1/2 price for them. I used to find interesting houseplants at Home Depot but now they never have anything new. Just tons of pothos and corn plants.

I use to get some really different plants at the grocery store. I think after the depression they stopped putting them in the grocery stores. People were too broke to buy plants. They had a hard enough time just buying food.

Both my HD and Lowes get a small selection of different plants and you have to be there when the order comes in to catch the few that are different. The one or two different ones I think are accidents that slip in to the order. I have seen 20 photos and corn plants and one or two of something different. You know they are mistakes or maybe an order that got mixed in by mistake with the usual order.

That's true about the grocery stores. The plant/floral dept in my store has shrunk down to almost nothing on the plants. But, you know, I'm wondering if houseplants are "out of style" period. When you watch all of the home decorating/redo/house makeover shows, everything is bare. There's never a plant anywhere. Doesn't look very homey to me. And on that note, how many pothos and corn plants can they possibly be selling?????????

The crotons are thankfully doing well. The one outdoors had already endured 39F overnight two days ago. I do have it nearer to our house and under the porch light at night, do not know if it helped, since it is LED anyways. Today it is getting some nice rain drizzle. Watching our temps closely, if and when we get a hard freeze warning later on, it will go indoors fast.

The one indoors is also doing well, new growth slowly forming and dropped an older leaf this morning, must be a remnant of its sad state at the store.

The nearest grocery store we have here have a nice floral and plant kiosk..I always circle around there before I continue shopping. Last October my hubby got me 3 orchids, so it is now my rescue orchids since they were so dehydrated, and done with its blooms. Just annoying that the tag does not even try to id what orchid group it belongs to. It just says the orchid sellers name..duh..well, will just see if it manages to bloom what it is.

I see lot of poinsettia, cyclamen and amaryllis in our local stores now as the holidays are coming.

Maybe it is just a seasonal/location thing, as to why some stores do not carry lots of plants. With the holidays, the focus will be food and other gifts, and when Spring comes they will start carrying more plants again.

I have noticed less houseplants this year all-year at HD, Lowes, Wal-Mart, and grocery stores. It's odd.

Planto

Holly I never thought of maybe houseplants are going out of fashion you might be right.

Tarev I picked up another orchid to kill from the grocery store a couple weeks ago. I do not know why I do it knowing that I kill them. But I like them more than poinsettia, My decor is white, white furniture and rug in the living room. I always pick up the white blooming orchid and put it on the coffee table for the holidays and it usually stays in bloom until March. The leaves look pretty because I have a very pretty pot for the table. It lives through the summer and then about now (Dec.) it starts to die. It is as if it is telling me "You better go buy another Christmas orchid because I am going to die".

Awww...if you only live nearby, I would gladly rescue the orchid from you after its blooming period.

Do you ever repot it after you first get the orchid or even after its bloom period?? If that is a Phalaenopsis orchid, I find that these orchids do a much deserved long rest after blooming for such a long period. Then slowly grows new leaves and roots, drops older lower leaves, rests a little more, and come cold season it will try again to bloom.

I have never bought nor tried any poinsettia yet, even if I see them around. Usually I have at least one orchid rebloomer or my schlumbergera wakes up so I have those for my holiday flowering plants.

Can I brag a little? This is a poinsettia that I got from a client last year. It was in a six inch nursery pot. I brought it home from the clinic in June and it was pretty much a stick with a few leaves. Stuck it in a pot on the deck and this is what I have now. It's almost three feet tall and nearly that around. I didn't do anything to it to make the bracts turn red or make it bloom except to feed it Miracle Grow Bloom Booster all summer. I'm so proud of it!






On the other hand, this is my late croton. I feel so guilty for leaving it out there.

Brag away Holly!! Wow that is a very lovely poinsettia! So is it in full sun or in part shade when you grow it?? Makes me want to try one now!

Aww..sad looking croton indeed..maybe a light trimming of the drier leaves and keeping it in some shade and a bit more watering will perk it up.

Holly, are you going to bring that gorgeous poinsettia inside for the holidays?

As Tarev said, lightly trim back and keep in temperate conditions with bright light but shaded. I would not water it though. If it was highly stressed (way too cold), the plant simply can't utilize water or fertilizer now. Wait until the soil gets really dry and then lightly water, but mist the leaves every day or two in the meantime.