I was in a rush once and hit an HD far from where I lived. I thought the fastest way to find the roses would be to ask a clerk. I got to the word "roses" and his brow furrowed. I kid you not. He was saying unhelpful things like "Unnnh" and staring around blankly when I happened to turn around. The roses were right in his field of vision, and the word "ROSE" was printed prominently many many times. I turned back around and he was still floundering for a way to answer and had gotten as far as 'he could ask someone'. Never mind!
Go not to big box stores for gardening advice, for they will be both stupid AND uninformed.
Also, it is usually big-box-store policy to sell anything that the bar code reader can scan. They would sell cacti in Alaska.
I think the tradeoff is:
Big Box: cheap, and good luck getting something suited to your climate.
It will probably be a bland no-name cultivar. If it IS a desirable variety, it might be as expensive as a nursery. The name posted may be the wrong name. They may charge you the fancy-variety-price for a common variety bulb. Often the name will only be something very generic (what we call "NO ID"), and it STILL might be wrong.
reputable local nursery: more expensive, maybe much more.
Better and more unusual varieties.
Much more likely to be suited to your climate.
The labels will be accurate.
The advice is more likely to be good.
One thing I find: the most expensive nurseries may not have the best advice or most honest labels. There seems to be a "sweet spot" in pricing, where reputable nurseries tend to have reasonable but fair prices (more than HD because the bulbs, plants and seeds are better). Rip-off nurseries tend to charge all the traffic will bear, plus a little for the snooty factor.
BTW, that has a downside: by far the best nursery near me went out of business.
I would trust Lowe's garden center, or even Fred Meyers, more than HD.
BTW: I hope we aren't overwhelming you even more! Maybe better advice would have been: "pick up some bulbs anywhere, lighten your soil with compost, and stick 'em in the ground. Next year is plenty soon to get fancy-shamncy."
