Sorry, I thought I corrected that - it is LOWE'S!(the home improvement store - not the movie theater!)

The Lowes by my house has a discount rack. When the plants start to look ugly and no one will buy them they put them on "the rack". I found a IML for $6...Lol They had 2 dwarf weeping Santa Rosa plum trees for $10. A Royal Apricot in a #10 for $7.99. All kinds of stuff.

Dont let anyone tell you Lowes or HD is a bad place because they are not. They just have some half witted employees taking care of the plants. If you know what to look for Lowes is a very good place. Thanks for the info:-)

I hear you! I haven't seen trees, but last year I scored jasmine and some (now gorgeous) clematis for dirt cheap - they just needed some TLC. My problem is that I want to rescue them all, so sometimes just avert my eyes and hope that someone else will save them ;)

Lol!! Seriously! Sometimes I dont realize after I buy everything that I dont know where to put it all! Yes I scored two nice star jasmine plants almost 2 years ago and now they are climbing up my patio and smell awesome! The Lowes by my house closed down so I have to go to Huntington Beach but they have an ever larger section!!

You can see the Jasmine on the pole kinda in the middle right. Basically %75 of the plants in this photo were bought for %50-%75 discount from Lowes. The pink bougainvillaea on the far left was only $6. All the hibiscuses were only $2...Lol I can go on and on. Basically if you want something just wait and it will end up on the rack sooner or later.

{{gwi:274905}}

Washington??? I wouldn't put Meyers in clay pots... the evaporation from the clay cools the soil and roots don't like to grow into cool soil. Just my opinion; ask Meyer Mike about this. I only grow Meyers inground.

Personally I would NEVER buy any tree from a big box stoe; they are junk wholesalers .who do not create the trees and have no reputation to protect. Much better to buy your trees from a reputable grower whose reputation is on the label. As a producer of quality Meyer lemon trees, I would NEVER sell my trees to anyone except the person who is going to plant them.

"Personally I would NEVER buy any tree from a big box stoe; they are junk wholesalers .who do not create the trees and have no reputation to protect. Much better to buy your trees from a reputable grower whose reputation is on the label. As a producer of quality Meyer lemon trees, I would NEVER sell my trees to anyone except the person who is going to plant them."

That is all well and good IF you have the choice- many of us do not.
I can buy plants locally at Lowe's or at Walmart- that's it.
I have no real nurseries or growers within driving distance.

I don't mind buying from across the country and paying shipping in order to get high quality plants and be certain that I am getting the variety I want but I can assure you that 99% of the other people in my very rural area do not feel that way and so Lowe's and Walmart it is.

I would agree that you can get some great deals on some good plants at Lowe's if you know what you are doing and have the ability to nurse them back to health.

I only WISH I could find trees like that locally! Good score Westgirl and thank you for letting us know. That was very thoughtful:-)

By the way, Blaze, WOW, I love the looks of your yard. It is so need and well maintained. Now, if only you could plant one of every citrus tree, right?

Yes, I found out the hard way that my Lemon Meyers hate clay pots..All my other citrus like them though. Crazy

Mike

In 2009 and prior to that, Lowes stores here carried 3 and sometimes 5 gallon citrus every summer. I looked at one particularly nice, particularly large pink grapefruit over the course of about 2 weeks, 3-4 times, and could never talk myself into buying it for $40, because I told myself I just didn't have room to winter one more thing (which is true!) then it sold and went away. Kicked myself for not buying it. So, I vowed to get one the next year.

Well, in 2010 and again in 2011, all they carried were rooted cuttings in a 4" pot for $20, and at that only Washington navel, Meyer lemon, and Tahitian lime. Sad in little things not at all worth the price.

I don't know why they quit carrying the larger citrus, perhaps the freezes in Florida in January 2010 destroyed a lot of the potted citrus crop, and prices spiked on the survivors beyond what a big box was willing to pay?

I think it had more to do with the quarantine blocking Florida nurseries from shipping citrus trees out of the State; they are beginning to find ways around that with some certified nurseries growing in screen houses being allowed to ship outside Florida.

I was waiting for some idiot to start in about the big box stores...

And not EVERY plant sold at a big box store is bad. You try dealing with as many suppliers and customers and stores as they do and see how well you do. I can tell you that the margin of error for the big box stores is very low compared to how much volume they deal with. So why is it bad for a big box store to buy direct from a reputable nursery and re sell the product? Its called COMMERCE. Thats great that YOU WONT Mr. all mighty IML grower but please oh please can us little folk buy from a big box store when we see a nice plant? And guess what? Most if not ALL of those plants come from well established growers!

Anyways, sorry for thread jacking but I had to get that off my chest.. Maybe I came across a little harsh but oh well, I was waiting for someone to say what John said and the funny thing is is he was on my top 3 list to say it...Lol

Actually John, Duarte's Nursery is a very reputable nursery here in my neck of the woods. Their growing grounds are out in DeLuz (back side of Camp Pendleton, west of Fallbrook). They grow beautiful citrus. And, even stuck their necks out as a large commercial grower, and budded up the brand new Valentine pummelo. Paid off - they all went screaming out the door (CRFG members found out, and drove out to the growing grounds and probably cleaned out 1/2 their stock). Not very many big commercial growers will take that kind of risk, but they work with the CRFG chapters here, and we even go out and tour their facility now and then.

We're very fortunate here on the west coast to have Duarte's Nursery supplying a large percentage of their citrus, as well as Four Winds, and Laverne to name a few. All great growers. And yes, it is usually the staff at Lowe's that will cause issues with the citrus. Mainly not watering, rough handling, etc.

Blaze, take a deep breath.

Patty S.

I noticed my local HD has 7 gallon or larger Meyer Lemon trees this year, which is strange as they have never carried any kind of citrus before.

The last few years they have been selling cold hardy palms though, which sold very poorly (lucky for me as I snapped up quite a few at the end of the season each year for 50-75% off)
(This year they have no stock of these)

Anyway these Meyers are selling for $45 each, and I have examined them and they look very healthy, each about 4-5ft tall and small fruit.

My problem is I'm running out of room to put things indoors in Winter! So far I've resisted the urge to buy one, but if they end up marked way down, I may have to.

"Personally I would NEVER buy any tree from a big box stoe; they are junk wholesalers .who do not create the trees and have no reputation to protect. Much better to buy your trees from a reputable grower whose reputation is on the label. As a producer of quality Meyer lemon trees, I would NEVER sell my trees to anyone except the person who is going to plant them. "

I've bought several trees from Lowes, and frankly, they've been better trees than the ones I bought from expensive nurseries.

Frankly, they've got some damn nice stuff. There's no need for the mom-and-pop-show-elitism here.

I don't discriminating how the plants are distributed and sold. What I care for is the state of plants when I buy it, how much I pay it for , and how easy I get it. I love big box stores' citrus trees. They are the reason I grow so many citrus trees. Although, one thing I can blame them for is that they are the reason I run out of room in winter time. But I would happily move into my garage if I have to...

There are many facts contributing to unsatisfied customers. Many times, customer itself is to blame. I read in other thread about mislabled plants. Most likely the labels were correct when the nursaries shipped the plants out. I highly suspect it is the customers who misplaced the labels after they took the label off the tree for some information and did not put the label back to the correct tree.

I agree with some of your arguments that big box stores do not protect the plants well. Yes. I have seen that... dead or dying plants due to lack of water or care. More often, Citrus trees have root stock growing larger than the scion ( I got a few such trees by end of season for $5 each. Just took home and clipped the root stock shoots off. I am happy to do that for that price). I once bought some friut trees that only can be grow in zone 6 and above... What can you say, everyone, every corp. has their core competency. Big box stores are good at distributing the goods and products but are not good at taking care live plants. They are not perfect. But again, who is perfect? I have a Asian pear tree growing a European pear fruit right now. My tree was shipped directly from nursary... I think big box stores' nursary department staff just needs to be trained well to handle plants.
Another welcom trend ( to me), is that I see more and more rare and exotic plants( none traditional plants) show up in big box stores or local hardware stores sales for very reasonable price. You get bigger plant + pot without paying a dime of shipping cost. My local Lowe sales 1.5" pot size Catt. orchids for $5 and a next size for $7. etc.