Same as other retailing the usual situation is a core group of key employees doing office functions etc. and the rest are often seasonal clerks and car loaders who aren't being used by management as anymore than bodies - when it gets busy during the peak spring season there can be a lot of bouncing around from one station to another, in response to customer requirements. Hence "monkeys". They all have a pyramid structure, same as other stores, with most of the people "on the floor" not being the best informed and best paid part of the staff - any operations that are doing otherwise are the exception rather than the rule. In his book on the subject called Profitable Garden Center Management (which I must have loaned out and never gotten back, as I haven't seen it in years) Louis Berninger (sp) described an actual garden center that had had an expert employee called Otto who was available to customers and able to answer their gardening questions, said every garden center should have their own "Otto" to meet this need. Note that he was talking about a single employee providing this function - of course in combination with other duties - and felt it necessary to point out the desirability of having somebody interacting with shoppers who really did know something. I know people who have been awarded the CPH - I can talk circles around them about plants and gardening. What it boils down to is that in actual general practice the advertized cadres of multiple expert staff persons always on hand to answer your every question is a lie. Both at big box plant departments and at large independents. Hence the numerous posts over the years complaining about getting a bum steer from somebody at a "nursery" - whether they were actually talking about an actual stand alone garden center or a big box plant department. In retailing in general the irony is that at the same time that diversity and complexity of modern inventories is driving an increasing demand for service retailers are moving in the direction of more limited service. This post was edited by bboy on Fri, Mar 21, 14 at 15:33

Uh, no. I called the moment the storm hit and cancelled it because after one look at my back yard, I knew there was no way I could make it. I couldn't even get out of my own yard until the city came to clean up the trees later that PM. And then asking our guys to walk or come on the bus and having to get home in potentially bad weather is not happening. Rain is ok as they have umbrellas. If you can come during the week, we are open Tuesday and Thursday AM 10-12 for work, and we'll also be there to serve you. Next date is April 5th for a Saturday. My Saturdays are kind of full up until then getting my house and property stabilized, plus I have to begin working full-time at one of my "real jobs" to pay for the tornado damage here. GGG

not a Wal Mart fan here, but i am desperate. do they sell the square "jiffy strip" peat pots? i found round peat pots at HD, but i specifically want the square ones that are clustered (2x4, 3x6, etc). i am hoping this is what Wal Mart is carrying....where are they located? in the garden section? i found them online but i need them soon enough that i would need to pay as much as the pots cost in order to get them here in time. i have my growing rack setup in the basement, and will need to transplant to real pots by friday. hoping to find some of what i'm looking for by then.

Wow, I also live about a mile from the Nature Center at Snake Lake, what a coincidence, we are probably neighbors. I have a small pond and I can tell you some of my experiences with it, though it sounds larger than yours. I have four goldfish in mine, and they do just fine over the winter. Even this past winter when temps got so low that I had a good two inch thick slab of ice over the top, they emerged just fine. As someone said below, as long as it doesn't freeze solid, they will be fine, they will just hibernate their way through the winter. Keep in mind that the fish will also eat any duckweed you put into the pond and nibble on your plants too. Mine mostly eat the larva of the mosquitos and gnats, but I have seen them go after the duckweed too. In fact, the handful I got last year didn't make it through the summer. Being so close to Snake Lake, and probably a bunch of other "ponders" in our area, the damselflies, and even some dragonflies show up at my pond without fail every year. You won't need to worry about that. They have a knack for finding water. I am not sure if the edges of my pond are too steep, but I have yet to have any frog stick around long enough to mate with another and produce tadpoles. They do find the pond, as I hear them every once in a while. Since they haven't produced tadpoles the "natural" way I have scooped some tadpoles from a local pond so that I can see them swimming around and watch the little guys hop around later this summer and hopefully eat some of those pesky mosquitos and gnats that seem to hatch even though I have the fish to eat their larva. If I can't find any at local retention ponds, their is a pond store on Tyler street between Center and 56th. I can't remember its name, but he has everything from fish, to tadpoles, to plants (including hyacinths and duckweed), to any and all equipment you might need. Good luck with your pond! Erin