Great fun. I do miss Jeremy's humor.

Our local HD NEVER marks plants down. I have asked. They say they can't. So we drive 30 miles to the next town and give our business to Lowe's. Just seems ridiculous to let plants die and still try to charge the original price. I have bought some really great things marked down at Lowe's. One example was 5 years ago, I got some mums for 25 cents. They bloomed every year after that except this year and that was due to drought conditions. I would say I got my money's worth from those mums.

sallysmom said:Our local HD NEVER marks plants down. I have asked. They say they can't. So we drive 30 miles to the next town and give our business to Lowe's. Just seems ridiculous to let plants die and still try to charge the original price. I have bought some really great things marked down at Lowe's. One example was 5 years ago, I got some mums for 25 cents. They bloomed every year after that except this year and that was due to drought conditions. I would say I got my money's worth from those mums.

It is the same in my area. They will never mark things down. It's so sad, and just seems so ridiculous to me. Oh well!

Lowes is my favorite place to get reduced plants. During the spring and summer, I pop in every morning.
My son's yard is full of plants I nursed back and gave to him and others

A Home Depot employee told me that the plants are owned by HD, so they send them back dead or alive
I haven't shopped there since. Its heartbreaking
At least walmart marks them down and if they aren't, you can ask and they usually will

I love getting plants marked way down
My husband doesn't feel the same way,

I was in HD yesterday and two employees were talking to each other. They were shaking their heads complaining that the plants weren't selling, the vendor keeps sending more of the same things and they were running out of room. One mentioned that certain withered plants needed someone to give them some TLC. Of course, I volunteered, but the person in charge said that she couldn't mark them down, as they belong to the vendor. I did find one of those grafted euphorbias in a cart of nearly dead plants. I showed the gardening guy a sign that I picked out of the cart that said 50 percent off. He knew that they didn't go together, but out of spite (toward the vendor), told me to take it to the front register with the plant and tell them it's marked down. So, that's what I did, and went home, a happy camper.

Yay, Deebie

That is a great story
Good for you

Thanks, Ibis and Jolana.

My local HD won't mark bulbs down either. I have bought huge bags of daffs (like 30 in the bag) from Lowe's for just a few dollars. It is totally wasteful to do what HD does.

Our local HD does mark plants down and I always browse there first when I'm shopping for plants.
Ditto Lowe's. I very seldom pay full price for plants. Most of mine are started from seeds anyhow,
but if I spot a good deal on the clearance rack and I know I can rescue it, I'll grab it. All of my
gerbera daisies came from the clearance rack, along with one very sad looking hydrangea for $5.

Let me add that another problem I discovered recently with HD is that they do not honor
military discounts for items ordered on line, even through the store's on line ordering.

The stores here are already selling fully grown spring bulb plants that have flowered and will not flower until next year plus they can't even be planted now! But they sell at full price! Plus they sell rose shrubs which you know won't last as they need to be outside and it's snow out so they'll end up rotting or getting aphids or leaf drop.

How sad.

Those forced bulbs should really be sent back to the growers - even crazy "rescue" gardeners aren't going to buy them. When they've been forced to bloom early like that, quite often they won't even bloom next year.

As far as the rose bushes go, if they're in pots, they may survive the winter with proper treatment. Kept watered and prevented from freezing/thawing they are quite resilient. I can't imagine they'd have bare-root roses for sale yet.

dyzzypyxxy said:Those forced bulbs should really be sent back to the growers - even crazy "rescue" gardeners aren't going to buy them. When they've been forced to bloom early like that, quite often they won't even bloom next year.

As far as the rose bushes go, if they're in pots, they may survive the winter with proper treatment. Kept watered and prevented from freezing/thawing they are quite resilient. I can't imagine they'd have bare-root roses for sale yet.

They are the mini roses with variegated flowers.

In that case, I'd be waiting for them to mark down the roses, so that I can rescue them.

Lowes is my favorite store for plants. I have not paid full price for plants in years. Lowes mark the houseplants/succulents down for a dollar and outdoor plants they have a 1.00 rack, 3.00 rack and a 5.00 rack. The plants are only being moved for new stock so their markdowns are like buying good plants that really do not need any special care for survival.

HD markdown a few garden plants at the end of the season but not any of the succulents or houseplants.

Our HD's never have distressed racks. They either toss them in a dumpster or send them back....not allowed to discount. Lowe's on the other hand, always has distressed racks.

I am not an "in the house gardener" so I stay away from house plants. I will, however, buy every 50 cent annual off the rack if it has any green in it. With gardens on about 1/4 acre of my 5, I always have some dirt to put annuals in. They are only dying because they are root bound and need some space. I can take them home, cut the deads off, put them in the ground and they will almost always come back. Dianthus are a great one. They will root in for the summer and come fall and a little cooler weather, start blooming again. I find some of these are really perennial as with some of the landscaping salvias and they will continue to come back again and again.

One of my plant nurseries will put their bulbs on sale at 50% off, caladiums, blood lilies, EE and others. In my area you can plant them and if the fall is extended, they will grow during the same season, then come back next spring.

I've had to go tell the manager at the farm supply store that some of the ginormous EE bulbs in the box/s were starting to rot and if they didn't sort them out of there they were ALL going to rot.

Last week I told the people setting up lawn mower displays at HD that they had better water their mini roses or they were all gonna croak.

I stopped by my favorite Lowe's today around lunchtime, and the vendor guy was pulling plants to put them on clearance I snagged 2 pony tail palms ( in nice ceramic pots) and a Silver Vase (blooming) bromeliad, for $5 each! The regular price of just the brom was $17.98, and it's even got a tiny offset starting. I'll enjoy the pretty pink flower for now, and transplant it later. The pony tails will have to be repotted as well, but I'll be able to use the ceramic pots for something else. Today was a good plant day