HAHAHA, what a great question!

I admit, I've seriously thought about this. For instance, when I see things that really are NOT supposed to grow down here on sale.... Hostas, Scullcap, Daffodils, Tulips.... I want to tell people to buy something else.

Heck, if I just tossed on an orange or red vest, I could probably get away with being an employee in the garden center... It'd be fun. :)

I've not possesed the level of self-composure that you both have shown....

I always start in with compliments...like, 'wow...those are beautiful plants and a great price...'...then, the door is WIDE open...

...I've 'explained' to an elderly lady buying 25 heliconias for a foliage 'screen', how it will be great until they die back and then return the following year....

...when HD had bananas on sale, another lady was loading up until I asked how frequentlyshe was planning on watering it...

...told one lady about those citronella plants not actually working to repel mosquitos...(bought some myself a few years ago...it didn't work).

...I've warned people about Blue Sky Vine eating your house too.

...I'm just trying to make this world a better place one garden at a time! ;-)

Occasionally I'll offer some advice to the person ahead of or behind me at the cash register. Usually I'm too self-absorbed in selecting whatever I need to notice other shoppers.

However, there was one time, last winter as I recall, where a woman was loading up a cart with Ficus repens - Creeping Fig. She and her friend were discussing a courtyard wall that she wanted to cover with the plant. Her cart already had 12 of the plants in one gallon cans and knowing how fast and furious the plant grows, I asked her how big the wall was.

"Only about ten feet long and four feet high." She looked down in the basket and then asked, "Do you think I should get some more of these?"

I took out eleven of them and put them back on the display, telling her that one was enough and that she'd end up regretting even that one. I moved off to the other side of the garden department to get a couple of terra cotta pots and didn't see her again until I was in the parking lot loading my purchases into the bed of my pickup. She'd bought all 12 of them and was stuffing them into the trunk of her Lexus.

Hi
I can't ever restrain myself lol So I try to select receptive people lol I have had very constructive conversations with people who were waaay ahead of me in selecting plants. One in particular was a state citrus inspector and he helped me pick out the best choices of trees from the point of good growth habits and early disease symptoms.!!! He also pointed out places where I could get better trees for a third less .
One man who seemed very knowledgeable about orchids and friendly at the same time.lol My question was "Is it possible to tell the difference between hybrid Cattleyas by looking looking at the growth habit without flowers."?
While I was showing him examples or the orchids in front of us and making the question MUCH clearer . He ran away lol.
One lady who was looking at some gorgeous hybrid Cymbidiums asked me if they were a good choice. After a long explanation of why the answer was no. She said "I just wanted them as a gift and they're so much cheaper than the florist , You can't get Orchids to reflower anyway" lol.
Since my wife's eyes always glaze over when I start talking plants I'm desparate lol
So far nobody has actually hit me or called me names lol gary

I'm also on the list to offer a friendly advice. I saw some one purchasing "Callicea repens"(Bolivian Jew).
I try warning them of their invasiveness and they just go ahead and purchase the plant. I try hard not to interfere
but it is the gardener in me that take over. I'm sure that
I'll do it again. LOL
Felix

Oh yes I saw a friend of mine buying some picky roses and after finding out she hated gardening told her she should consider Old roses or at least those grown on fortuniana stock.Another day this guy was buying lime because he wanted sweeter soil.I asked if he's gotten a soil test at the EXT office and he seemed rather miffed and said I just want to sweeten my soil . I looked at a store employee and he just went and got the lime. After that I am more careful not to interfere.
Once though at Rock City's orphan sale some man asked me a question and I helped but then he followed me around asking everything he could of me and I didn't mind helping but HEY others were getting all the bargains !!!LOL

I'm guilty of this. This spring saw a younger woman picking up the on sale tulips. Asked her what she wanted them for. Advised her that they usually will not grow here because they need the cold weather. Glad to see she put them back.

Also I'm always talking out loud to my husband about why this or that is not suited for this area. Usually while others can hear.

I usually chat with folks not only in line but while strolling around shopping.
Sometimes I can offer advice...and sometimes the peeps will give me some.

This isn't 'plant advice' but there was one time while I was in line purchasing (saving), yet another non-descript but wretched bagged orchid (LOL), when a gentleman behind me came up with two carts brimming with bags of red lava rock.
I shuddered when I saw his load.
A few weeks before, we spent three whole days systematically removing the stuff from a mid-sized area by the pool!
(That stuff FLOATS!!!!!!)
Hehehehehe.................

Its also a PITA (sorry Felix), to dispose of!

I turned to him and said; "Where were you yesterday?!?
I'd have GIVEN you a ton of it for free! LOL

You guys crack me up!
LMBO @ Ricky...teehee!

What I find myself doing most is telling the clerks at the stores that their plants are mislabeled. Not that it does any good, but I purely HATE it when I see a whole shelf of something labeled entirely wrong, or listed as an annual when it's not, etc. I saw salvia coccinea, for instance, being sold as the little squat annual salvia (salvia splendens? saliva elegans? I can't remember the Latin name now) and couldn't believe the people grabbing it up to outline their flower beds with! I told the clerks that it wasn't that plant at all and would get three to four feet tall, and she looked at me like I had two heads. Ignored me completely, too.

And I did help once when a lady had a very nice Starburst clerodendrum in her cart. It was unlabeled and the store clerk had no clue what it was, so I told them. And then the clerk got out her big notebook of plants and couldn't find it, so I suggested she look it up under clerodendrum quadriloculare, and of course, there it was. Boy, she was impressed THAT day!

Also, I've been offered a job at a local nursery because I "know more about the plants" than their clerks usually do. I considered taking it, thinking about how much fun it would be. But then I realized I couldn't possibly work in the heat all summer. Now if they only needed me for winter and spring, it would be something to consider.

Marcia

I have often tried to help people who are clearly lost and there are no employees to be found or if I overhear folks talking to each other about basics. I'll let them know the plant likes shade or sun, a lot of water, a little, how large a plant gets, etc. but not actually discourage them away from a particular plant.
Imatallun, I'm not a fan of the Arecas either. Down to 2 now, one is on the chopping block next month. We had them all over the property. Messy looking things.
Nancy

I noticed the other day that one of the stores had beautiful hybrid tea roses for sale in full bloom and planted in an ornate, but small plastic pots. The variety of rose and the rootstock was not labeled. They were selling for $45! People were buying two or three at a time. I didn't say anything though.

I went to HD today and this is all I could think about as I saw all the little pots of bouganvilla everywhere. Thanks for the laughs.

If any of y'all ever run into me at the HD and see me buying something stupid I will regret, SPEAK UP!

Susannah

Thanks for the great replies everyone! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts, had some good chuckles, and learned a few pearls of wisdom about my approach for the next time I'm inclined to counsel someone in the plant section.

By the way, that lady buying the Bouganvillea acted quite annoyed when I asked her about planting in pots, and turned on her heels after responding. I quietly said "Well, good luck with them", to which there was no reply and deep, deep down I kinda felt those thorny plants found a highly compatible owner.

Marilyn

No long story here but I just love to see folks in line with their tomatoes during the months of April through July, usually with five or six plants...funny that the big-box removes the seed displays but continues to sell the plants right through our horrid summers.

Tom, what about those folks purchasing petunias in April? I've talked, stalked, and ... made an ash of myself. They'll die, folks! People sometimes look at me like I'm weird ... I'm a former Master Gardener and I can't help it! Why waste money??? Why gladly suffer defeat? I just don't know. Guess that's the way it is!

Beachlily, that's another good point. You suppose that's why the big-box has that one year plant guarantee that the uninformed don't use? They're certain they did something wrong and too embarrassed to bring the dead plants back when in reality the big-box should NOT have sold them the plants in the first place....

It is our duty as knowledgeable gardeners to share our experience and save the uneducated from themselves .
I often turn to a customer and say , " I wouldn't buy those if I were you . " If they ask why , we launch into a conversation . If they just walk away - that's fine too - at least I tried .
I learn as much or more just by talking with others about plant issues and 9 times out of 10 I give them this web address for more answers . This is where the REAL experts hang out !

I don't like to be overtly preachy or intrusive with people but I have on occasion said stuff like, "You do know about those, don't you?" And usually they say "What?" If they say "Yes" then I just smile and walk away.

I have to speak up in defense of areca palms. Yes they do go through a period of not looking so hot and yes they do need some maintenance, but if you hang in there you'll be rewarded with a gorgeous plant in your landscape. It takes a few years though. Mine went through a horribly ugly stage for years but in the past two years it's so beautiful. A stand of these would make a fabulous hedge, I've seen them.

Yes I had a fit when I saw our County workers buying cypress mulch by the truckloads!(kept quiet but surely smoke was coming out my ears) I asked the EXT agent about it and she too had a fit saying they were SUPPOSE to be using the Municipal Mulch(which is free)

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Some folks just don't want to learn anything so I stop as soon as I sense any sort of annoyance for interfering. I think people should save their receipts and just bring back those tulips etc when they die and get their money back. Big box stores may stop ordering stuff that doesn't grow here.

No, bot one time I butted in at Target or Walmart when I saw the woman in line behind me was buying a Beta (fish) that was on it's last fin. I said "did you pick that one because it looks like that?" She said "Yes, I think the white on it is pretty." I said "My sister's had about 8 of those and that's what they look like right before they die."
She said she'd keep her receipt and bring it back if it did. Atleast if she's not going to listen to me she's being smart about it!

Goldenpond I'm a garden newb. Tell me what's wrong with cypress mulch.

I was just at Home Depot and had one of the employees there ask if I were a gardener and asked about a plant that a Hispanic person wished to purchase. She aked me if it was a year round plant or not. I told her that yes it was a perennial or a year round plant. I had another customer stop me and ask me if the plant she was was looking at was good for here. I told her no and since she wanted some accent plants I took her to the crotons and chose several for her protected shaded area that does not get frost and then several other plants for the remainder of her yard. I also suggested a lemon tree and she was estatic. So I guess I got to offer advice without being the person to speak first ad then the salesperson asked for assistance once again as I was going out the door and the manager was there and did not know the answer either and they asked me if I wanted a job or if I would be nterested in being a consultant over the phone. I told them we would discuss it and I have an appointment for Friday. Who kmows? Linda

Great observations, advice and philosophy in the posts above, thanks for posting! I definitely enjoyed reading & learning...

oldflorida, I just wanted to mention that I concur. A well maintained Areca is truly a palm of beauty to treasure. I'd be proud to own one.

The three I inherited when I bought my home hadn't been trimmed or probably even fertilized for many years. (Don't know how many.) I gave them the true college effort for three years before removing two of them. I still have one and will try to come up with a little more love (after your post) in the hopes maybe this one can be coaxed into looking like she is supposed to look.

When you see people in line at a big box store with 8-10 plus arecas for "coverage", I don't think there's a prayer those palms will be maintained, especially because the desired look defeats the intention for which they're being purchased, and will undoubtedly be planted too closely together.

End of rant,
m

I've given out advice at the big box stores and have had people thank me for it. If I see someone making a potentially bad selection I usually just stand nearby and casually make a comment about my own experience with the plant. If they look interested in the info or ask me questions then I'll tell talk about it more. If they ignore me then I just continue my own shopping and let them learn the hard way.

The only time I really go out of my way to talk to someone about a particular plant is when I see someone with young children loading up their cart with a particularly poisonous plant like oleander. Then I just make sure that the person is aware that the plant is poisonous. Several people have thanked me for doing so and then asked me what might be better to plant in the areas that their kids play in.

:When you see people in line at a big box store with 8-10 plus arecas for "coverage", I don't think there's a prayer those palms will be maintained, especially because the desired look defeats the intention for which they're being purchased, and will undoubtedly be planted too closely together"

;-) I hope you don't stand next to me at Lowe's. I'm getting ready to buy about 8 of them to plant every 10 feet along the side of my property to screen it from a busy road a couple blocks away.

karalynn (vey pretty name, by the way), your approach (as well as retreat) sounds perfect.

oldflorida, I see arecas planted 2' from each other here in my little slice of paradise. If I ever get bored enough, I'll do a pictorial post of examples of why I hate seeing 6 - 8 arecas going out the door of a big box store. Probably the ugliest will be the one in my own side yard!

Did you ever write your neighbor back about the coconut palm fronds and the wall covered with roof tile?

I love this post and have been following along laughing because its things I do all the time!

I actually was at walmart last night and was browsing the plants as I always do on the way out of the store and noticed a lady pulling tags and following me. She was picking things up, putting them in the cart then going back and putting them down (these were periwinkles & red Salvia). Then she came over where I was looking at a purslane and said can those take sun? I grinned a bit at my husband and asked her what kind of plant she was looking for and got a response that she had a red door and two nice sized planters on each side and she wanted red flowering plants to go in them but it was sunny. Needless to say Max ended up going to the car and oading up our things while I helped her put together some red pentas for a nice little display on each side of the door.. She said you should have your own place .. I just smiled and told her I was working on it..

Feels good to help out when people actually appreciate it. Although I have came across those people too ho ask for help or your opinion/ experience and then do the opposite just because.. Hasnt stopped me yet and I dont think it ever will.

Happy Gardening all I think I may be forced to go Nursery hopping!

I'm really bad about talking people out of buying things at big box stores. When I see someone with a ficus, I always ask if they're going to plant it in the ground, and tell them the dangers. I saw one lady buying an areca, and we started talking, and she said she wanted it because she had a place under her front eave that needed something. She nearly passed out when I told her it would get 20 feet tall.

There's a man down the road with a triangle palm planted under his front eave, but I don't like him, so I'm not saying anything.

Hi
Something I've always wondered about in the mass marketing such as in the box store. What percentage of these plants actually survive the store let alone the customer.??lol Would guess the nursery absorbs the loss.??
i go to HD frequently and just for fun I put stickers on various orhids just to see what happened to them. I'm guessing One out of twenty actually survives the store .
Maybe less actually get sold.
Wouldn't seem worthwhile to vend orchids in these stores?? Interestingly ,you are seeing more and more at cheaper prices,even more variety is popping up.
If sales are one in ten as it appears how can they make a worthwhile profit.??
. So the sales must be first time buyers,certainly not hardcore orchid fanciers due to the poor selection.
I find this interesting as Orchids are generally the uppermost priced group of plants.,Lousy landscape plants,difficult to propagate,and generally require different culture methods than the average gardener is familiar with.. So last question, finallylol
What percentage of these actually survive the customer??
From what I've observed the average experience with this method of purchase is bad yet you see constant expansion of this method of sales at lower and lower prices.
gary

Gary,

One thing to keep in mind with orchids at the big boxes is many are, for the money, a better deal than buying cut flowers because they last so much longer. I do that, knowing that I know very little about keeping it alive or getting it to rebloom after it finally peters out.

I just stick them in the boot of the palm tree out back and once in a blue moon fertilize them. And several have died out there, but one rebloomed for me recently. I felt like I doubled my money on that little very common purple and white dendrobium.

I do the same thing with the little broms with the spectacular flowers (or whatever brom's non-flower flowers are called.) After several weeks, the flowers die and I plant them in the ground. I've had several of those rebloom too, and I'm even bringing pups and big divisions to the swap. They're not fancy, but for the $8 I paid, I got a lovely flower in the kitchen window for weeks, and if I get more, wow, yippee!

I also think the orchids make much nicer hostess gifts than showing up with a bunch of cut flowers. If the hostess can't keep it alive to rebloom, he or she will at least get to enjoy the nice spray of flowers for much longer than cut flowers will last.

(so when you see me at HD, don't bother to counsel me on my brom and orchid buys... just all the other stuff I might buy and potentially kill or hate!)

As for the in-store kills, I saw a massacre in the making yesterday. Someone should go to the K-Mart in Miami Shores and convince the manager to sell them all the broms and orchids for cheap. They lost the shade covering in Fay and everything there is burned looking and won't last much longer. I thought about talking to him or her, but I don't know enough about orchids to think that even if they were heavily discounted, I could keep enough of them alive and get them to rebloom to make it worth it.

susannah

Gary
(someone correct me if I'm wrong)
I've heard that the garden departments at these big box stores are "lost leaders". That means that they expect to take a loss on that departmart or on the plants but when you come in to buy plants maybe you'll buy a bunch of other stuff...they count on it! It is worth it to them to do business this way. That's what I heard.

And like Susannah said...orchids or broms make a great gift to enjoy a few weeks and then set outside and let nature take its course. No one is going to take one of those back.

OK...I had to give in!! I thought about skipping this one but the BIG BOX STORE title caught my attention.

I work for HD as a manager in a dif department of the store despite my gardening knowledge. I have to go out there on occasion. I look for those customers that look lost and make small talk with them. I also like to learn what works for them or even the other day I had this girl that was going to plant a garden at her school for a group of 5 year olds and she had never planted a plant or seed in her life. So I was so happy to offer advice to her.

What messes with my head are things like I saw recently at my store. Why do people buy a pot that has a bunch of orchids in it and then return it to the store once the blooms are spent??

Man..You know what happens to that stuff?? It gets a label placed on it and it goes to the trashhhh...I always try to tell people about buying plants like that when I am outside.

Do you know how much that hurts to see a perfectly good plant going to the trash?? So many plants I want to take cuttings off of and/or take the plant home but that is considered stealing..

there are those who are always willing to abuse the system
they are creeps, scum and just plain dishonest and it is true where ever you go. it does make me sick to think about it.

Michi,

I'd like to lobby HD to let you take cuttings of anything that's headed for the trash. Heck, I think HD should offer bins of "trash" to experienced gardeners. Starbucks offers their coffee grinds to anyone who thinks they know how to use it. I hate to see things trashed that are valuable, usefull, and could be lovely!

As for returning an orchid when its blooms are spent, that is in fact stealing in my book.

Susannah