Speaking of the big box stores, did you all see this story. Denver, NC is just outside of Charlotte. Turns out it was a customer, not an employee.
http://www.witn.com/content/ne...

At least I don't have snakes in my plants.................I hope.

That was not a happy customer....

two words come to mind....
LAW SUIT !......

I had just come home from Lowe's when I saw that and I always get up close and personal with the plant material while I am there so I had goosebumps reading it. You always get some kind of stowaways when you bring plants in from afar but a copperhead??? And a big one at that!

Wow, and Yikes! But thinking about it, our nurseries at the box stores are fenced with chain link. A snake can go through that easily enough. It may not have come in on a plant, but just wandered in from outside. The gates that they close at night have gaps underneath them, too.

They have no way of knowing where it came from, and really no way of preventing it. Snakes are everywhere, and generally don't stay near where there are people. There is a scent deterrent made for snakes, but I have no idea if it actually works.

They forgot to mention that the employees could neither identify the snake nor the tree.

Jim

Yeah, just came from Lowe's and they are loading up their clearance racks with plants that are neither suitable for Florida nor will they bloom again this year even if they were somewhere else. Delphiniums and lilies for 50cents each . . . ;argghh. I'd load up a cart if I could take them back to Utah with me. I was sorely tempted by a bag baby Vanda for $6.95 but resisted.

The gap under their gates is at least 2 inches. Designed to keep out people but not snakes or rodents (which, truth be told, are probably the reason the snake was in there).

Drat, our spent lilies are reduced to $3. I begged and begged for some for a propagation workshop and they finally relented and gave them to me for $1 and made me promise I wouldn't share that info. Ooops

Brent and Becky's Bulbs ( where I used to work) just announced everything left in stock is 50% off..I got a few white bletilla, some tuberose, some crinum, gloriosa (maybe...they might have sold out as I hit the transmit button) and eucomis.

Those are great, you'll have a nice show from them, Lindsey. I didn't have luck with the bletilla I tried, let me know if they work for you and I'll try them again.

Gonna hit Brent & Becky's right now.

@Ursula has experience growing Bletilla. I have them but this is my first year. I know they are listed as hardy through zone 6 and look forward to seeing how they do over the fall and winter months here in Mississippi.

I only got 3 just to try them out...They did pretty well for me in NC..and it's actually warmer there by a few degrees in the summer..I think the winters are close , even though the zone map says otherwise. I'm slowly reducing the giant patch of invasive Mexican petunia that one of my tenants thoughtfully planted...making room for the next orchid bench and a very small patio garden. My sister just gave me a huge bag of Amaryllis bulbs...so ..you might see me over at the 'what else are we growing thread' sometime in the future !

Ken, I might have to go measure the distance between my trees...maybe I can have a tree bench too!

You got to pay a royalty, Lindsey.

If you pour a concrete patio over top of where the Mex. petunias are, they might not come back, Lindsey. Very persistent, ask me how I know!

The amaryllis are wonderful, nice looking foliage all year, beautiful flowers in the spring and they increase to nice big clumps when they're happy. Very easy.