I believe it's Tradescantia spathacea 'Variegata'.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tradescantia spathacea 'Variegata'

You are most absolutely right! Thanks Carol. Now I know how to care for it.

By the way...it is the nursery, not the Big Box store, that labels the plants....

I understand where your coming from but the Lowe's sign is right on the tag. Even if the nursery does tag them Lowe's cant tell me the name if I ask. I'm also sick of everyone telling me whose fault it is. If I sell a tree to someone I dont label it "Tree". I mean come on webkat you know what I mean get with the program.

A store who buys the quantities they do from any vendor can pretty much demand they label it any way they want it labeled. X mart does the same thing. They sell gobs of stuff with labels in it marked foliage, as if all foliage gets the same care. It's a cost cutter, and a cop-out. There are also supposed to be "plant experts" at Lowe's store. That's what they advertise in the local one. A plant expert should be able to tell you exactly what every plant is they carry in their stock.

That's exactly what I mean calliope. All I ask is for a seller to know the real (common) name of the plant that they sell. I didn't mean to be mean webkat it's just that some people on these forums come back with some really lame neutral responses instead of seeing the real point I'm trying to make. So it's not that I wont shop there anymore but Lowe's and their stupid excuses really make me mad that they call themselves a "garden center". It's really just a place that you can buy plants and not a place you can expect to get any helpfull information from.

"It's really just a place that you can buy plants and not a place you can expect to get any helpfull information from."

Precisely and if you remember this you won't get angry when you buy 'foliage' plants or 'tropical' plants. Thankfully you can find out at websites like this. Nice plant BTW. Most employees at big box stores have no clue what any plant is but you sometimes find someone that does. The low selection of a variety of plants (due to low profit margins from growers) annoys me more than not having a label:-) Everyone has the same plants on their property.

That's why I try to have different plants here in PA.
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That's great - love it. Musa basjoo, palms - you are a few zones north of tropical which is called Zonal Denial Disorder (ZDD) on a website called Webjungles which is devoted to tropical plants. You should check it out.

I have to laugh since I have a Giant Bird of Paradise in my upstairs bathroom that is 10 feet tall and a banana with one pup about the same height. Your musa comes back nicely planted in the ground which I presume you leave it or do you bring it in? It is supposed to be hardy to Zone 7.

This is actually my first season growing bananas. I'm pretty sure Musa basjoo is hardy to about -4F cut down and with heavy mulch. I want to keep the height so I think I'm going to store dormant in my basement's unheated storage room. I definately suffer from zone denial. Alot of us suffer from this horrible disease over on the palms and cycads forum. You should check it out. I'll check out Webjungles and let you know what I think.

Josh,

Nice Plants!

What is the one called you have in the last picture posted that's right of the black pole with the pleated leaves/fronds?
I have seen that particular one for sale at Lowe's and really like it, but as usual, there is no name tag.

Oh yeah, very annoying and very frustrating no matter WHO tags them, "TROPICAL" or, who doesn't bother with tags at all!
It's business as usual here as well!

Thanks,
Billy

Thanks Billy. The plant to the right of the pole is a Coconut Palm.(Cocos nucifera) It's just a baby. Hopefully the fronds will split soon. Then it'll look more like a palmtree.

No offense taken, Josh...

All I was trying to point out is that at the BB store, you will have a certain number of plants (either correctly or incorrectly labeled) for a fairly inexpensive price. They may not have an expert on hand 24/7 or even have one at all, but this is the "extra cost" of having access to plants which are more within an average persons' budget. It is up to you, the consumer, to decide whether it is worth it.

OR...

You can go to your local nursery where they still may not know about all of the plants and pay at least twice (if not more) for the same exact plant...many times these plants come from the same vendors...

Food for thought...

Josh, one word of enlightenment - don't mention cocos nucifera at Webjungles - nor worry if you get called a palm myopian - both are said in jest. It is a serious tropical plant sight with people from around the world. It takes some getting used to however as it is quirky because the webmaster is quirky.

Thanks Josh!

A plant source is only as good as the management. I have worked in the nursery profession for twenty years now. Worked for a large landscape/nursery business as a grower and then opened my own. I did a stint in a big box store and walked after a few months. There was a lot of potential in that place, but with the vendor not getting paid until the plants went across the register, precious little care was given to the plants on site, because the loss was somebody else's. It's not difficult to look at a plant and decide if it's worth the money and base your purchases on that, and it's also a fallacy that box stores always have the cheapest plants.

and it's also a fallacy that box stores always have the cheapest plants.

Calliope,

Where do you live?? I can't think of a single nursery around here whose trees are under 50 bucks...more like 75-100 with an additional 30-50 dollar fee if you want it to be guaranteed. At least the big box stores offer a free plant warranty for a year. I have found some really great trees/shrubs/other plants at those places for next to nothing.

It is fairly simple math, really...the big box stores make their money in other areas, too...not just their nursery stock....they don't need to mark their plants up as high since they count on a higher number of sales.

There are certain items you will find consistently cheaper at Boxes, others not. Tropicals, especially the larger potted ones like mandevilla or hibiscus, are one item. The local boxes sell them at a cheaper price than wholesale to the trade! And, they're really, really nice (at least when they first come off the trucks).

Depends on the tree here. The tree selections at the boxes are completely uninspired, and you'd better know what you are doing when you buy a container. You'd also better grab them as soon as they come off the trucks before they get tortured to death. At the box where I worked, I was FORBIDDEN to water, was the only real nurseryman on staff, and usually the only person on staff at my department, and they were more interested that I move lawnmowers and fireplaces than plants.

The annuals, well...........the boxes here are often higher than the independants. Ditto the larger perennials. Ditto the seasonal flowers. Ditto a good deal of the shrubbery.

I'm not saying people shouldn't buy plants/tree at boxes. I sometimes do, LOL. I'm just saying not to make the assumptions that you are getting your stuff at the lowest price. If you make that assumption, then their brainwashing really worked.

Just like anything beware the 'always' and 'nevers' and look for the middle ground. Bargains can be found anywhere and too much mark up elsewhere.

I am appalled that the growers only get paid when the plant sells and the big-box store where you worked refused to water. That would kill off stock in nothing flat. After the math showed lost profits I would have to refuse to sell to them. The Lowe's where I live in Southern Maryland does water as does K-Mart and Wal-mart. Lowe's was very sharp looking one year and the following year the nursery was a mess. I was told a different nursery manager. Things that offended were plants in all the aisles so one could not move around, hoses lying all over the place so you had to pick up your cart all the time, plants not grouped by type, and yes, lots of dead plants from lack of water. The next year, I presume after firing of said manager, the nursery section was nice again. I was also told the shortage of service help that year was a contributing factor to the mess.

Home Depot in this area is notorious for NOT taking care of their plants. I tried to water some flagging Clematis because I saw the waste and lack of regard for the work of the grower. The employees just shrug it off. They don't care because the store loses nothing if the plants are not sold. They are quite open about that fact. The dried out, dead and neglected plants are merely thrown out.
I find it appalling that the management does not respect the work or income of the grower.

Wow! This is awesome! I never expected this to be such a long thread on the name that plant forum. It's great. This is good information to know.

Yeah, I pretty much dont buy anything from Lowe's or Wal-Mart if I dont feel like I'm getting a deal. The plant that started this thread (Moses in a Blanket) was on clearance for $2.00. I bought two of them. Most of the other stuff I get in the fall and winter because they're Palms and Tropicals. That stuff is dirt cheap then. Another thing I just hate is when they put a Majesty or any other palm that would be $10.00 from Oct-March in a large pot and charge $70.00 to the unsuspecting "brown thumb". Then a month later I come back and get one for 10 bucks. Lowe's has had A $40 Bird of Paradise thats all torn up and brown since June. I wont even go back to pick up that mess. I get all my bananas and stuff like that from a tiny little place called Spring Rise Horticulture Center here in south central PA. They have the same size Bird of Paradise (about 6ft tall) for $20 and it looks great. She has never charged me more than $22 for anything. The banana tree on the right in the above picture was $19.99. The dwarf banana tree on the porch was $22. The largest on the left with all the pups she gave me for free because I bought the other two there and she was just going to throw it away. My whole point is if you're going to the big box stores go in the fall/winter or just find you're own special little place. Lowe's, Wal-Mart, K-Mart etc. are designed to get you there not make you happy.

I love my $11 Hibiscus marked only "Hibiscus" (Duh!!!) from Kmart. I generally don't purchase plants at big box stores, but I couldn't resist ;)
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The nursery across the highway had the same, marked the same (only as "Hibiscus"), for $40.

Nice tropical, Tracey...do you have any luck overwintering those, or is this your first one?

I tried to overwinter a tropical Hib once, failed.

WebKat,
If you ever go on a vacation that takes you out this way like towards Niagara Falls, you must go on a nursery tour with me. I can tell you don't have any places like we do here. You would feel as if you have died and gone to heaven and try to pack a vehicle full of plants for a drive home! : )
Remy

For winter, I bring in the tropical hibiscus and cut it back hard, place it in an eastern exposure window for winter, water and fertilize reguarly. It will come back nice and green and even bloom sporadically.