So, now it’s 2022 and the problem lives on. I just left Target, livid. An employee was dumping houseplants into a large plastic bag. I had to stop and ask her what she was going to do with them and she said they would be thrown out because they had “expired”. Not expired, as in, died, but had reached a seemingly arbitrary expiration date like a carton of eggs might. Let me be clear - these were not dead or dying plants and could have sold at their original price. These plants were beyond perfect. Several were a variety I have at home that looked significantly better than my own. When I mentioned it to the Customer Service rep helping me he said “you should see all the food we toss”. Really? Their defense, of course, being that don’t want to be sued if someone gets ill. There are ways to tackle this obstacle as well. In NY, for instance, companies are protected from liability with insurance provided. These items absolutely could be effectively donated regardless of all of the circumstances mentioned above. All that would be required is a little time, ingenuity and a genuine willingness to support the community that ultimately keeps their store open. Darcel is correct. The world has changed and with all the steps these corporations claim to be taking these days to be (or striving to appear to be) socially and environmentally conscientious they are still failing on many fronts. They’re going to a lot of trouble to change the way people think and behave yet as a corporate collective they seem to be in “do as I say, not as I do” mode.

Thank you so much Dottie for answering my question. I am not a Charlotte native and although I LOVE living here with my family, I've had some interesting experiences when visiting the local nurseries. I don't fit the regular "look" of the common gardener and when I visit mom and pop stores, they aren't really happy to help me unfortunately, so I've resorted to ordering mail order or visiting the big box stores that are a little more integrated. :) I really would love to get some native plants too, so its a shame. If you know of any nurseries that would welcome me, please let me know :). That is why I wanted to know if I could get any of these plants at Home Depot or Lowes. Funny you should mention the butterfly bush; I had a white buddleia that I brought with me all the way from Jersey City and it grew and bloomed profusely. I love it, and I want a pink one now. I have a lot of room to plant which is one of the reasons I LOVE it here so much! I have Mexican Zinnias and Verbena Bonarienses and what you say is sooo true! It is a beautiful sight and I love showing my children the goldfinches. There was no nature in the city where I used to live, except maybe on rooftop gardens. heehee. I've always wanted to try yarrow and gaillardia. They seem so easy and considering the droughts we've had, I'm hoping they are low maintenance. Again,..thank you so much for your help and please post back if you know where I would be welcome to visit. I would love to help support local businesses if they were friendlier to me.

My home town Lowes sells the same plants from the same growers that supply the upscale nurseries in my area most of the time, Lowes has fall sales, my local nursery does not, I went to the upscale one and was amezed at all the diffrent new perennials they had and I loaded up my cart, never would I have done this at a box store. checked out and then got told they are not perennials that will look better next year but shabby looking annuals that they moved over to the perennial table, which they do every year and makes for some very unhappy plant buyers. yeah I returned them all, next time I'll just trust my judgement and not who I buy from. I know most of the perennial that are sold around here, but just the very basic annuals that are out there and they did have some diffrent looking ones. I have not been very happy with buying from nurseries in my area, I've seen just as many troubled plants there only they want way more $$$ and never seem to get new stock. if they have three types of hostas they are well stocked!

Many years ago, I recall about 70 cubic feet of bulbs being destroyed. All of them viable. Mostly daffodils. Four major crates of bulbs. I was told that HD sends back the tag for credit. They do mark them down for a short period before throwing them out. Tax-Exempt organizations might have access to the merchandise. I have also learned that 90% of merchandise returned to big-box stores is also discarded. It is easier/cheaper to dump it than to put it all back in the packages and placed back on the shelf. People tend to not purchase a package that has been opened. Economies of scale. It is a sad state of affairs. These stores have become trash generating machines.