Ello, ello, friendly neighborhood Resource Plus vendor here. Long story short, we're the people in charge of marking down plants at Lowes, and so here's how it works. (Located at the Orem, Utah location by the way.) It used to be that we could mark the 'distressed' plants down to whatever we wanted. Now, however, we have to follow the 1,3,5 rule. If $0-$4.99, it goes to $1. $5-$9.99 goes to $3, and $10-$14.99 goes to $5. Anything 15+ goes down by 50%. Now, if these don't sell fast enough, THEN we get to mark them down more, usually by about 50% off the current price each week. As for choosing which plants to mark down, it varies. I personally usually wait until the plants actually need some TLC to look good. My manager wants them marked if dying. If dead, diseased, or bugged, we are required by law and company policy to dispose of them in the trash compactor. Stupid, I know, as I have seen many savable trees, bushes, and flowers (not to mention benches, cabinets, toilets, ect...) crushed. But we CANNOT give them away. Don't ask. That bit about Home Depot getting credit back? It's true. They expect their plants to die, and are little better than Walmart about watering. This is not just me supporting Lowe's (as being seasonal does not bring loyalty), but from actual experience as a gardener. I don't like HD plants, never will. The success rate has just been too low. Walmart is fine if you catch them before they die of drought. (And yes, we will make deals on mass buys of clearance. We want them gone.) If you have any other questions about the program, let me know. I'll gladly help. And if you are near the Orem, Utah Lowes, pop in and say hi to the vendor. This post was edited by CinderSparx on Wed, Sep 17, 14 at 18:52

Oh I forgot one (you reminded me Brambles about experimenting!): 4) Sports - I give most of them away, but once in a while, they're nicer than the parent. I have two tricks to increase the possibility of sports. a. make a "fake" leaf stem, by breaking the stem off of the leaf, and then trim part of the leaf blade on each side of the stem. root it as you would a leaf. the leaf will make many more babies, because they can grow from the sides of the "stem" as well as the cut end, and a few will be sports. b. I learned this one years ago when practicing the propogation of chimeras. Use a dupicate plant, if you don't want to risk losing one of your collection, and use the chimera method of removing the crown. I usually take the suckers when they have 8-10 leaves, and remove the lower 4 leaves to provide a tiny stem for rooting the sucker. I put down the 4 tiny leaves, and voila, they very often make sports. One day, I'll have plant to register!, but knowing I'll never have the space to try hybridizing, this is a fun alternative. Russell

Kendra and Lisa are very right. As unpleasant it may be, unfortunately you have no choice thanks to our arrogant ancesters who thought it would be a good idea to bring the rats over here. They are certainly the most Undesirable, disgusting, deceiving pest. They don't even have a song! Do what you can to prevent them from getting to your precious bluebirds. But yes, you have to check out Sialis.org! The site is literally like a book!

They just discovered the fourth body, of 4 children, man threw over a bridge somewhere around Mobile, just to get back at his wife. Youngest was 3 months old. HORRIFIC!