Isn't that the reason we all grow plants. It gives us joy and comfort. Hurts at first when they die but joy when we finally get it right and it grows and prospers. The real joy comes in when you can share your plants with friends and family.

Frenchy, where did you find that frog? That's great!

Sorry, off subject.

I just googled images of frogs and found this one. It's on a sanseveria plant so it is kind of related to plants

DaisyI said: Frenchy, where did you find that frog? That's great!

Sorry, off subject.

I was just thinking the same thing.

Every time I see painted plants I tell a store worker they kill the plant and it's wasting people's money, natural color is much more attractive. Do you know some people didn't even know they were painted they thought it was real and they work in the garden center!

I burst an HD employee's bubble one day when she was showng me the "blooming cacti" and I informed her that they were glued on.

I handed a cactus to a HD garden section employee and suggested he throw it in the trash. The young man looked very confused because he couldn't see a thing wrong with it. It was absolutely covered with mealybugs - I think they were piled 6 deep! Needless to say, I came home empty handed.

Because they work in the gardening section does not make them any more knowable than the ave. guy on the street. I was at a big nursery and showed some one there an aloe with aloe virus. He did know and immediately took it away and disposed of it. Still, the other aloes near it may well be infected as well. I think he might have been an owner.

Stush2019 said:Because they work in the gardening section does not make them any more knowable than the ave. guy on the street. I was at a big nursery and showed some one there an aloe with aloe virus. He did know and immediately took it away and disposed of it. Still, the other aloes near it may well be infected as well. I think he might have been an owner.

@Stush2019
Where I live everyone thinks if you work at a garden center you automatically are a plant expert. I think people still feel you should trust someone if they work it as a job, but honestly big stores with garden centers the workers are more knowledgeable how to unload stock and convince customers to buy, not actual plant knowledge.

This is coming from me, who grows my own plants and sees how poorly stores actually tell people to care for plants. I even sell my own plants but I hear all the time from people they usually Prefer to buy plants at the store because it's easy and the plants get tossed in the garbage by fall. Meanwhile I'm buying $1 clearance plants and getting great deals nursing them to health and getting gorgeous flowers and plants

Stush2019 said:Because they work in the gardening section does not make them any more knowable than the ave. guy on the street.

The other day I went to Lowe's. I couldn't find what I was looking for. A couple of workers happened to be chatting nearby, I asked them if they carried pumice. One of them said "Pumice??? What's that?" I told her, "You work in the garden section and you don't know?" She replied, "Should I"? The other one immediately said, "We should know, yes. Please let me ask the manager."

At least one of them knew to ask someone.

Not trying to go off topic, so excuse me, but pet stores are the same when it comes to the animals.

A number of the garden center folks are seasonal, so they sure aren't going to learn a lot about plants. Some are vendors, so they just unload them. But, th folks that have been there for years, there's not really an excuse.

Keith, I too always look at the clearance racks at Lowes and Walmart. Got many great plants for only a buck or two. I love buying expensive lilies that lost it's flowers for a buck knowing next year and for ever after they will come back and bloom. Same with hosta. Keep coming back even better. Home Depot doesn't have a clearance section. Nursery they deal with removes them.

Before joining this group and another garden site I'm on, I though I knew a lot about plants. I was wrong. Still learning at age 65. Experience alone is not enough. Got to be book smart and know how to use a computer. Today, just search any name and in minutes, your an expert. Until that is someone changes everything and have to start over. Like name changes and regrouping of species into other sub-species.