WIde variety of heirlooms at Home Depot and Lowes

8 years ago

I buy most of my plants from a wonderful nursery in the area which takes great pride in an extensive and varied line of seedlings. In the past, Home Depot and Lowes have only offered a small selection of tomatoes, and they were not all that exciting. This year, two things have changed. First, Bonnie, the supplier of many if not all their plants is using a local grower to produce the plants. The quality is quite high, and the plants are notably better than I've seen in the past. I'm also very happy to see their obvious efforts to support the local grower. The plants are now only traveling an hour of so from grower to store. Secondly, there are quite a few heirloom and more unusual varieties in the offerings. Prices were also quite competitive with other stores. Might be worth a look to see if your local HD has similar stock.

Renais

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

booberry85
8 years ago
Its about time they broadened their horizons! I was really happy two years ago, when my seedlings I started from seed didn't do well, to find Cherokee Purples at Lowes! I was floored. They had never carried heirlooms before. I think both big box stores are starting to listen to customers wants. They need to be able to compete. Bring on the heirlooms!
fireduck
8 years ago
Good news...the secret is getting out! Some folks bad-mouth Bonnie...but I have had good luck with their plants.
Related Discussions
Boxed perennials at Home Depot/Lowe's
Q
Comments (16)
If that's true, it's a great idea; you'd know not to plant the infected individual out, and avoid infecting your soil. For some reason I've thought the virus could be latent for a year or more. Guess it's time to do some more reading. HVX does NOT live in the soil, it lives in the plant tissue. If you remove an infected plant from the garden, the virus will only 'stay' for as long as there are any root fragments still around. Once those root fragments die the virus no longer has a host and dies along with it. I cannot resist buying boxed bare root Hostas @ Costco every spring, even though I have bought several varieties from them which were plainly infected. I pot my Hostas in #1 pots when I buy those bare roots and you notice typically by the time 3 or 4 leaves have started to unfurl whether or not you have a problem. And I've never has a problem returning infected root stock to Costco for a refund. HD north of the 49th has limited variety in bare root stock and those are easy to pass over for me, but I have certainly seen HVX infected potted Hostas there, as well as plenty of mislabelled ones but that's a different story. And we ain't got no Lowe's here on the Left Coast. Yet.
...See More
Buying Tiles/Flooring from Home Depot/Lowes: Any Cons?
Q
Comments (9)
I've bought a lot of items from both Home Depot and Lowe's over the years. I've found them to be customer oriented, easy to do business with, and they carry a wide assortment of products. I've had doors installed, carpet installed, bought appliances, tons of tools, hardware, you name it. I'm looking at vinyl tiles at both stores right now, and carpet at Lowe's. I pay close attention customer reviews. Other than that, I have noticed that they carry a wide price range of items within a product line, to suit what their customers want. In researching the vinyl tiles, I've noticed that H.D.'s store brand has a lot of excellent reviews. I have also noticed that both stores have the bottom of the line, inexpensive varieties that have problems. But I think that's more because of the PRICE and not because it's at H.D. or Lowe's. Some of the vinyl tiles have complaints that the top layer will scratch off, pieces not be squared, the tiles iwthin a box won't match in pattern, etc. So I think if you inspect in person, and buy something that is not the bottom of the line, it should be fine (paying attention to customer reviews). I don't know about ceramic tile, but for vinyl tile, I was able to buy a single tile, or pick up a sample, and take them home for color inspection, and scrape them with a knife to test for durability. The one thing that surprises me, but which I think is the case, is that if there is a manufacturing defect, and the tile has been installed, I'm not so sure the big box stores will credit you. They may serve only as an agent with the manufacturer for you. You'd have to check on that, since I'm not sure. But then all stores would be this way. I love the big box stores. So easy to do business with them.
...See More
Fall mums from Home Depot/Lowes - edible?
Q
Comments (2)
I agree with floral-uk plus I think you should double check what kind of chrysanthemum you are talking about. When I googled edible chrysanthemum I got Glebionis coronaria. This is not the ornamental mum. There appears to be another type which is used for tea but again, I don't think it's what is sold at big box stores. Unless I knew the grower, I would only eat flowers out of my own garden.
...See More
Lowes/Home Depot plants -when do they stock what?
Q
Comments (14)
Just a word of warning regarding zones and plant hardiness. The USDA determines your zone by the average annual extreme minimum temp. This means that some years your extreme minimum temp has to be BELOW what the average minimum temp in that zone look like. I was shocked reading that you are in MA but zone 7. I don't think of ANYWHERE in MA as being zone 7. I think of the Cape as being solidly in zone 6, hence the ability to grow flowering mophead hydrangeas (grumble) and going down to zone 5 as you move across MA. I put in my zip code recently on a plant website recently and was surprised it tried to tell me I'm 6a. Sure, maybe THIS YEAR was 6a, but for the past several years extreme low temps have reached at least -20, which is a zone 5a temp. I won't buy anything for outside that isn't hardy to zone 5, at least. And at zone 5 I know there might be a winter where I'll lose it or it will need protection. Zone 3 or 5 is safer. I know the seacoast and Cape ARE definitely warmer, my family is from the outer Cape and I visit often, but I would not things for zone 7 expecting them to survive every winter. Plan to buy things hardy to zone 6 at least, and if you are on the water and get a cold ocean wind, you will probably need to protect things. Sorry, you said you are a beginner. I hated watching things die when I just started!!
...See More
digdirt2
8 years ago
No idea where the OP is located that local suppliers is a new thing but Bonnie's has always tried to use local growers whenever and wherever it is possible.

Dave
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
There has been a trend in the last several year, that we see a lot varieties that were not available as plant , commercially in the past.

Sey
Mokinu
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
We had Home Depot (bonnieplants.com) plants in 2014. Early Girl F1, Roma, and Lemon Boy F1 did fine. Roma was pointy for Roma. Husky Cherry Red F1 produced well, but split easily (the F2s I grew the next year didn't split, though, and had good flavors; I'm growing a few kinds of F3s this year). Bush Goliath F1 and Park's Whopper F1, didn't produce well (but the few Park's Whopper F1 tomatoes we got tasted good). Bush Goliath F1 waited until the end of the season to give us any tomatoes, but we got some (not a lot) then. I didn't do the plant shopping; so, I don't know what else they carried (but from what we got, it looks like it must have been mostly hybrids). That's good to know they're do heirlooms, too. I wonder if they are around here. I've been noticing that stores may be selling more heirloom seed packets, though.
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
I bough a Bonnie plant called "Tidy Treats". It is a compact indeterminant ( 3-5ft per Bonnie sit). But the plant has half a dozen tomatoes on it and it is about 6" tall. Seems to be growing bushy.

Has anybody grown Tidy Treats ?

Sey
qaguy
8 years ago
While I'm happy to see the two big box stores expanding their tomato lines, I'll still go to my go-to guy, Frank Burkhard in Pasadena for my plants. He's got tons of choices compared to the big box stores. Plus I like to patronize our local stores.

WIde variety of heirlooms at Home Depot and Lowes

Comments (7)

booberry85

fireduck

Related Discussions

digdirt2

Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7

Mokinu

Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7

qaguy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US