pm2, You are an experienced gardener, so you probably know that some variegated plants start out green early in their lives and develop variegation as they mature. Just a thought that might or might not apply to your expereince I have a lovely unusual variegated solomon's seal that is yellow and green. Went to buy more and the exact same plant in a pot is white and green. Noticed that the bottom leaves had a hint of yellow. I'm positive that as the plant ages into its habitat it will "color up". That also explains why I didn't recognize it when it came up. I didn't remember buying a yellow and green poly. I dn't think I did! But the yellow is much prettier.

Eeek, I posted to this last night and it is not showing up! It was a confession that CHAD made me do it...I ordered one of the Evergreen (Lust, lust!), and the "twofers" of Promise and the white one. I would not have done that but then realized that my whites from last year are taking time off, and I will need those for post Christmas bouquets. IT is raining cats and dogs and little fishes here this morning, with 4 different weather warnings on "weatherbug". Sure hope the power does not go out in my greenhouse or everyone will catch cold out there! Our gas fireplace is down for "maintainance" (backordered parts) so can not bring them into the house to warm up either. IN this weather we get slides on the edge of of the island that take power poles down with them. We are high (But not dry) on top of the island so we only have a problem if the wind blows trees down, but being without power on this end of the island is a misery.

I always thought pike had too many stores. This town is extremely sprawing but even "family-owned" chain garden centers that are prominent in other large metros only have maybe 3 locations. Pike has 17! Just in the atlanta area. To make matters worse, if you ask me (not an actual fact) their customer base would appear to be... not growing that fast, as more and more people move into zero lot line, cluster homes, town homes etc and don't have any where to grow anything. Their product offering hasn't been adjusted to offer these customers much, if anything, for the smaller lots. They should be going after these customers with free workshops and plants to solve problems they have with the small garden. And also appealing to a younger crowd.

I was in the Winchester Mahoney's today, and it was miserable. I went there to get ladybugs to get rid of some aphids. I'd called in advance, and was told by the surly woman on the phone that they do have them, at a price of $12 per 100 ladybugs. This sounded unlikely, since ladybugs usually come in amounts of more like 1000. As it turns out, the packages they sell contain 1500, not 100. If I'd believed them about the amounts, I would have considered the price entirely too steep. I was also told that the place to go to pick them up was the "Garden Center." I pointed out that their whole store was, in fact, a "Garden Center," and the surly woman said...oh, I don't remember, but something surly. I figured I would figure it out when I got there, and that I could always ask someone. That was a huge mistake. When I first arrived, I saw a couple of employees who quite deftly avoided my gaze. I meandered my way to the area marked "vegetables and herbs," since I wanted to see what might be left, and I thought I'd pick up some bamboo stakes while I was at it. What I found were a whole bunch of dead or dying plants, which weren't so much as marked down. Some hanging baskets of miniature tomatoes looked like they might have still had some hope, if only anyone had bothered to water them. Most of the herbs were very sad, and looked like they'd been neglected for some time. What I didn't find were any employees. As it turns out, I'm 8+ months pregnant, and the walk from the entrance to that section wore me out...so I sat down, and waited for an employee to come by. And I waited. And waited. And waited. A lost-looking little old lady approached me, and asked if I knew if anyone actually worked at the store, because she'd been trying to find an employee for quite some time. I told her I didn't know. She tried to ask me her questions, but I didn't have any answers for her. So I waited some more, getting hotter and hotter, and watching more lost-looking customers congregate in the area, asking each other their questions. The little old lady wandered through again, looking like she still hadn't found anyone to help her. Eventually I pulled out my mobile phone, dialed 411, and got them to connect me to the store. Again, a surly woman (perhaps the same one from yesterday?) answered the phone, and I explained that I was in the "herbs and vegetables" section, along with many other customers in need of assistance, and that we'd been trying to find someone to help us for a very long time. She wanted to know if I was in the "South Greenhouse," or something like that, but I couldn't find any signs that said anything of the sort. I repeated that I was in the "herbs and vegetables" section, according to both the signs and the things on the shelves. She hung up on me. Eventually an employee came down to help. He seemed to take pity on my extremely-pregnant self, and was kind enough to go get the ladybugs for me, and also a cold cup of water. I asked him about soft plant ties (the sort that look like cut-up nylons, only green), but they had none. I don't know if he ever caught up with the little old lady. I eventually made my way back to the cash registers, paid for my acquisitions, and left. I was extremely disappointed. I used to think of Mahoney's as one of the best places to go for high-quality plants and supplies, but today's experience has completely disabused me of that notion. Then I got home, and when I went out to release the ladybugs in the evening, I could no longer find the massive colonies of aphids which were present (along with their ant farmers/guardians) just a few days ago. I wondered if my whole trip had been wasted...but at least that part isn't actually Mahoney's fault.