I've found Weeks, Star, and JP roses at all the big box stores at discount prices. It has more to do with timing than anything else. The easy answer to your original question is that big box stores place market caps on all the items that they sell. All too often this means that they won't sell something unless it is cheap enough to buy from a wholesaler where the big box stores can make a 25-100% markup and still fall within the economical tastes of their customer demographic. They will also often under price similar items with little to no markup if there is competition down the road. There philosophy is that they can hold their marketing breath longer than the small operation down the street until it breaks the mom and pop shops. This is an aggressive tactic which has made companies owned by the likes of the Waltons (Wal-Mart) so successful. Once the competition has been run out of business they change their market line-up in order to rationalize the newer higher prices. We consumers are at the heart of the problem when we only want to pay $5 for a rose that cost significantly more to grow, graft, fertilize, water, spray, yank out of the ground, hose down and trim, tag, deliver, and pot up at a local nursery. From experience I can tell you that most roses sell, at wholesale price (bare root), around 4-9 dollars depending on how new or rare the variety is (demand) and popularity (supply). All growers will sell weaker plants in a grab-bag style at a lower price ($2-$3) with no tags. These are the roses that most big box stores sell to the public as "Promo" rose bushes. The mark-up is low, but it gets customers in to buy complement items that sell at much higher mark-ups (such as potting soil, sprays, fertilizer, etc.). Now, I'm all for defending and supporting the local mom and pop shops, but let's take a look at what they do...There are two m&p nurseries by my house that I frequent. One will sell me a Nelson's Florida rose bush at $25-$30 dollars while the other sells it to me me for $16. Both have employees and owners that don't have much more of a clue on how to keep a rose healthy (or what a healthy rose looks like, for all that matter) and both basically sell the same product. I know that the rose wholesales for around $10 and must be ordered in sets of five with a minimum total order purchase of around 100 rose bushes. In this case I will go out of my way and first see what the m&p nursery, that sells roses for $16 (a whole $6 mark-up), is selling before I ever spend any of my money at the m&p nursery that is selling the same roses for $25-$30 (a $15-$20 markup (that's more than 100%!)). The m&p nursery pays their employees the same salary, maybe even less, as the big box stores. They also are selling you on a false idea that what they sell is any better than what you can find at big box stores (of course you have to know for yourself what you are buying and weigh its value for the $ for yourself based on your experiences). So why support a business that keeps quality roses out of some people's economical reach? I apologize for this disertation-esque posting, but the us-agianst-them mentality gets old, especially when no one is to blame more than we consumers that demand everything to be much cheaper than its equal value in other countries, but, alas, that only leads to another discussion that I'll hold for someone elses thread, when it becomes available. Adrian.

This one was on the table at a book club potluck last week. Everyone raved and wanted the recipe. I'm going to cross post in new recipes. Zucchini Pickles - Heidi Swanson, 100 Cookbooks There are quite a number of ways to play around with the personality of these pickles. Sometimes I shave the zucchini paper-thin, resulting in a whispy tangle of pickled zucchini and onions. Other times I want my pickles to have a bit more bite, structure, and definition. In those instances, I slice the zucchini thicker, perhaps 1/8-inch, and let them drain as long as possible, sometimes overnight refrigerated. Also worth noting, when I make them for our personal condiment stash, I used a brown natural cane sugar. It gives the pickle liquid a brownish cast that, quite frankly, weirds people out if they don't know what is causing it. So, if I'm making the pickles to bring to a BBQ or something, I'll make them with regular organic cane sugar - one that is lighter in color.
 3 medium zucchini (1 pound / 16 oz / 450 g), thinly sliced
 1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
 3 shallots, thinly sliced 1 1/2 tablespoons fine grain sea salt 
1/4 cup (small handful) fresh dill sprigs 1 small fresh red chile pepper, very thinly sliced 1/2 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds 3/4 cup / 180 ml cider vinegar
 3/4 cup / 180 ml white wine vinegar
 1/3 cup / 1.75 oz / 50g natural cane sugar 
Toss the zucchini, onion, shallots, and salt together in a colander and place over a bowl to catch the liquids. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least a couple hours. Toss once or twice along the way. You're aiming to get as much liquid out of the zucchini as possible.

When you're finished draining the zucchini, shake off any water. At this point you want the zucchini as dry as possible. Place in a 1 liter / 1 quart jar along with the dill, chile pepper, and mustard seeds. Alternately, you can cram them into a 3/4 liter Weck jar like I do, but it's always a bit snug in the jar. Combine the ciders and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves, and continue to boil for a few minutes. Pour the liquid over the zucchini and seal the jar. Let cool, then refrigerate. The pickles are good for a week or so. 

Makes one large jar. Prep time: 120 min - Cook time: 5 min Here is a link that might be useful: Quick pickled zucchini

Cream soup and cream sauces. I'm more than grossed out by canned soups. It's so easy to make a white sauce in 3 minutes, who could ever prefer that salty gelatinous canned glop? Yuck. All baked goods: pies, cookies, quiches, cakes, brownies, muffins, popovers, tortes. I grew up in the farming Midwest, where you weren't a grown woman yet if you couldn't make a piecrust from scratch without a recipe. :-) I've never purchased a storebought crust, cookies, cake or boxed mix in my life. Salad dressings. For spinach: tarragon vinegar, olive oil, and a tablespoon of sugar, salt & pepper. Perfect. For arugula: lime juice, drop of olive oil if you want it, lots of fresh ground pepper, bleu cheese. For Romaine: olive oil, garlic, anchovy, lemon juice, mustard, salt, white wine vinegar, fresh block parmesan - blend in food processor until smooth. For mixed greens: balsamic, minced shallot, olive oil and salt & pepper. Breads, meats, dairy: we're very lucky to live in a relatively food-aware city surrounded by wonderful rural farmland, so we have access to an excellent bakery, locally raised meats and fresh dairy in glass bottles. Having grown up with lard sandwiches (yes, the Germans love them, with onion and salt on top -- I've never liked them myself), I can agree that the commercial lards sold in large supermarkets here are disgusting. Also have to agree that bacon grease from American commercial bacon is probably not very good; loaded with chemicals and salt. Definitely seek out and try the grease from non-nitrated bacon some time -- you'll be able to tell the difference in both meat and grease. Marion Nestle's What to Eat and Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma are good wholesome food reads, the former a tad less proselytizing than the latter, but both engrossing and excellent.

Coincidentally, I've been thinking about cake mixes...on another thread I wrote about making cupcakes for my grandson's birthday. I was just going to buy plain cupcakes and embellish them, because I want some vanilla, chocolate and need some # of gluten free. So I am really not up to making 3 batches of cupcakes (mostly because I hate the clean up in between batches). But then I realized I'd have to get unfrosted premade cupcakes from the bakery and I thought, sheesh, how lazy is that, buying cupcakes then frosting and decorating on my own. I can just whip out the plain cupcakes. A MIX, I'll use a MIX. Then I started searching on this forum for people's favorites and found this thread. And there are some references on the internet to TJ's having cake mixes, but I can't find out if they still do. Does anyone know? I love their pumpkin bread mix and buy a few boxes to last when they pull their seasonal stuff.