There are always some plants that I find difficult to source, even here living in the land of bountiful independent retail and wholesale nurseries!! I attribute it to either the demand is not great enough to make continued propagation and availability cost effective or simply that there is a limit to how many different plants a nursery is able to offer any any given time.

Back in the day when I was the perennials buyer for a large local nursery, there was a limit on what I could bring in and offer customers just due to space restrictions. And I had a BIG area for display and sales. Also the fact that some offerings were just more seasonal than others so the availability would change through the growing season.

Given the astronomical number of perennials and their cultivars that exist, I really do not find this all that surprising :-)

There are some nurseries that I can find a wide selection of all sorts of things but not in my immediate area -- I have noticed that most of the nurseries in the metro area I'm in, even the independents, are carrying pretty much the the old stand-bys or latest and greatest.
Frankly they're all starting to look the same in terms of offerings, and I find that disappointing. I lamented not too long ago that it is difficult to find tall perennials around here -- the nurseries are carrying all sorts of stuff 2 foot or less, some 3 footers; anything taller than that is an anomaly or is a something like a hibiscus that always sells when in bloom (but even then -- the selection is pared down to mostly newer, shorter cultivars). I was like a kid in a candy store when I found a native plant specialty nursery about 20 minutes from me -- all sorts of beautiful, tall native plants woohoo!

And what is UP with every nursery carrying endless varieties of hydrangea. Holy cr*p how many hydrangeas does a homeowner need!?!?

And what is UP with every nursery carrying endless varieties of hydrangea. Holy cr*p how many hydrangeas does a homeowner need!?!?

This cracked me up mxk3!

(But kind of like the ad nauseum varieties of echinacea eh?)

"And what is UP with every nursery carrying endless varieties of hydrangea. Holy cr*p how many hydrangeas does a homeowner need!?!?"

I think the same could be said for a bunch of other plants as well. An almost endless selection of rhododendrons, azaleas, roses, heucheras and hostas here in local nurseries. And Japanese maples!! Personally, I do not find this to be at all concerning and appreciate the broad selection.

I know in my area plants have disappeared because they are past their "trend." Two examples--Geraniuim phaeum (specifically Samobor) and Mt St Helens rhodie. Two nurseries told me they remembered them being the "thing" years ago. I'm late to the party, as usual.

Just one of many reasons. I wonder if the move towards native is affecting choices? I'm moving towards more natives myself.

"Personally, I do not find this to be at all concerning and appreciate the broad selection."

I do, though -- because the monstrous expansion of the hydrangeas sections means less or no room for other shrub selections.

mxk3, your local nurseries must have less real estate than mine :-) There is always room as stock sells down and is rearranged and new seasonal stuff brought in. My issue is that things get rearranged so often I sometimes have to trek the entire 6 acres to find what I am looking for!

because the monstrous expansion of the hydrangeas sections means less or no room for other shrub selections.

And not just that, but rather IMO, too many of these newer varieties are hard to distinguish from previously available ones.

That latter aspect is the key point - there seems to be selecting and introduction of superfluous bigleaf hydrangea cultivars going on.

Regarding the larger topic perhaps current changes in plant retailing are simply part of trends in retailing in general. With the big shift to ordering off the web for instance having been deciding what is still feasible in the realm of brick and mortar garden stores. Otherwise since the pandemic manifested a situation has developed where material is flying off the shelves at independent outlets. At the same time that the production and supply end is not able to keep up - due to things like pandemic induced labor shortages. So at a longtime family owned retail source in my general area that I stop in at pretty much every time I go to the mainland for other business the quantity and selection present (at this busy time of the year anyway) may have changed quite visibly between visits even only a week or less apart.

Six acres! Wow, there's only one nursery near me that has anywhere near that space! And even that is probably only a third of it. That must be a wonderful place to wander around in. I'm jealous....

:)

Dee

I sometimes have to trek the entire 6 acres

In my neck of the woods there is so much pressure for the nursery owner to sell their land to a developer. They can get a huge almost immediate payout for their often prime real estate (as is also the case with farmers) rather than continue as an independent nursery. And so more and more it is the big box stores that are left to provide even much less than meh selections.

Some time ago Home Depot was being designated as something like "America's leading nursery" based on comparative total revenue amounts. It's certainly the case of questions being posted on this site in the past often being the result of experiences shopping at big box plant departments. Which are frequently identified in such posts as "the nursery". And where creative variety labeling seems to be routine with trees in particular. For instance last time I looked the HD in my town had what was clearly gold twig (vitellina) willow labeled Prairie Cascade in one part of the tree cage out in the parking lot and Navaho globe willow in another.

As a general rule, I can't find anything I want at Lowes or Home Depot. I don't buy the run of the mill, what everyone else has planted in their yards, etc. And yes, it's hit-or-miss at local independent/local-chain nurseries, you might get lucky or you might just find more of the same.

This drives me toward almost complete mail ordering, despite the horrendous cost of shipping, plus the generally smaller size offerings (probably also because of shipping).

I know nurseries everywhere have had lots of issues, however last year (Covid lockdown) nurseries boomed. It appears the same is happening this year...let's hope that continues.

i wanted to add that some nurseries will order things for people. I have a quite reputable nursery about 45 minutes away. I was looking for a particular variety of a shrub, and they didn't carry it but offered to find one. Two or three days later I got an email that they located one and it would be in the nursery in three days. There was no extra charge for this. Now, this was a $45 shrub; not sure if they would have done the same for a $15 perennial, but I suppose it's worth asking.

:)

Dee

If it's a Monrovia item for instance and they had a truck coming their way at that time anyway then all they had to do was ask them to add your shrub to their order already being delivered. In fact Monrovia has a system offered through their web site where retail customers can pay them a retail price for a plant they have available (as indicated by the site), designate a Monrovia customer location (local plant retailer) where they would like to pick their plant up and then go get it when it shows up.

So that yesterday while visiting an independent garden center myself I heard a woman working the yard telling a shopper about this. As though there was something the latter wanted that wasn't in stock at the garden center that could be gotten from Monrovia. With it being stated that there wouldn't be too long of a wait for her advance purchase because this business was getting stuff from Monrovia quite often.

One should be aware that not all Monrovia products are available this way and if any stock is low, priority will always go to their retail outlets first and to any individual retail customers second.

As a general rule, I can't find anything I want at Lowes or Home Depot. I don't buy the run of the mill, what everyone else has planted in their yards,

I would bet most everyone who frequent this forum are the same as you describe above.

This drives me toward almost complete mail ordering

I am doing this more and more but I am envious of you, as Americans have so much more choice (as compared to Canadians) in terms of nurseries that do mail order.

In fact Monrovia has a system offered through their web site where retail customers can pay them a retail price for a plant they have available (as indicated by the site)

I do buy the specific cultivars I want online, because even though there are many privately owned nurseries around here, I can’t always find the specific variety I want. Often, I can though. I did order online more this year because of fear everything might get sold quickly. And I have never seen the nurseries so full.

I guess I’m the odd one out here, because I do find what I want sometimes at Home Depot and Lowe’s. As long as it has all the attributes I want, I don’t mind if everyone else plants it too.

I think the Eleutherococcus sieboldianus variegatus you want is listed in Hortico's catalog under its old name ACANTHOPANAX sieboldianus 'Variegatus'.

In the past I contacted two local independent nurseries near me during winter. They gladly sent me a spreadsheet of their spring stock orders so I could plan purchases. They also were willing to order something I wanted during the winter and have it available during the summer retail season. I wonder, but it's possible if the nursery owner knew I wanted a particular plant, they might think others want it, as well. We complain at their stock, but as I'm thinking about it now, the only people telling them what to stock are probably breeder reps selling them on the "latest and greatest." They might be more willing to stock some unusual things if they knew we and others would buy. Thoughts?

is listed in Hortico's catalog

Thanks for checking this garcanad,

Just curious, what made you look there...have you been there?

I guess I’m the odd one out here, because I do find what I want sometimes at Home Depot and Lowe’s

I get the impression that HD and Lowes in the States have (much?) more selection of perennials and trees and shrubs than what might be the case for these same box stores in Canada.

I did order some perennials/grasses/roses from Hortico (almost) every year for pick up. They used to have more selections but gradually diminishing. The availability of their catalog items can be unpredictable.

"I get the impression that HD and Lowes in the States have (much?) more selection of perennials and trees and shrubs than what might be the case for these same box stores in Canada."

Not all of them do! The HD closest to me carries nothing of interest.......unless you are looking for fruit trees labeled in Spanish. Bog standard stuff otherwise and not much of it. I do sometimes peruse their annuals and seasonal stuff when I am there but that's it. The nearest Lowe's is a 40 minute drive so I have no idea what they carry plant-wise.

I visited my local independent nursery earlier this week and was rather amazed at its bareness! At this time of year, it is usually so fully stocked it is sometimes hard to make choices or even see everything to make any choices. But according to a staff member I spoke with, good spring weather has brought out the plant shoppers in hordes and they had pretty much wiped the place clean over the weekend!

I should know better :-) Thursdays and Fridays are the best days to visit as they have done their weekly restock and the weekend shoppers have not yet hit the place.

"But according to a staff member I spoke with, good spring weather has brought out the plant shoppers in hordes and they had pretty much wiped the place clean over the weekend!"

Which is exactly why I went out and bought the fruit trees I wanted ASAP, plus the fact places got wiped out of stuff d/t pandemic factors last year.

My sister and I take a lunch and annual shopping day every May toward the middle of the month, but this year we're going early because we fully expect there will be a mad run on stuff, gotta get out there early to make sure to get the few must-haves on my list (a few things I don't start from seed).

but this year we're going early because we fully expect there will be a mad run on stuff, gotta get out there early

Its the wait for the summer annuals that have me on "edge". It will be like Black Friday this year once these plants arrive at the nursery.

@rouge...I actually drove by Hortico’s yesterday! What a coincidence.

For me a great loss has been the sale of a nearby nursery to different owners. They used to have a huge area (comparatively, GG ;-) ) with all kinds of perennials, a very good selection of hostas, a special corner with rare plants, plus seed grown varieties they ordered from smaller growers. One year there were seed grown peonies, including “Molly the Witch”, and at other times a greenhouse full of young hellebores which they would grow on for a year or two. I still have several very nice nameless hellebores that I was able to buy at almost half price because they were too young to be put out for sale yet. I had first choice and best price. They would search for a particular plant if you asked them, and they had many staff members who knew their plants. Now the perennials have been moved to what used to be the area for the annuals, much smaller. The main sellers now seem to be big hanging baskets and pots with annuals, plus of course vegetables. The perennials are on the whole the same you get in the big garden centres. I hardly go there any more.

A lot of us in southern Ontario will really feel the loss when Lost Horizons finally closes, which looks like it will be at the end of the season. There was (is?) just no one ready to take over the business. Sadly, one of the prime candidates was also so much of a plant collector that they were never able to save enough money to be able to even have a down payment...but that’s another story...

While we are lamenting I'll join in. I've noticed two big trends in local nurseries. First, bigger and bigger pots of perennials. No more 3-4 inch pots at $4.00. Huge pots with 3/4 plants stuffed in at $15-$18 dollarseach. I understand the labor/profit economy of scale, but for us gardeners with limited budgets and/or who enjoy watching plants grow it's just sad.

The exception is perennials which are sold in spring for window boxes, especially heuchera. These can be found in much smaller pots with much smaller price tags. I noticed a reduced selection this spring.

Second, preassembled planters. Garden centers are stuffed with identical arrangements. Why do people want to buy something that hundreds of other customers are purchasing? For instance, 5 daffodils with a few grape hyacinths, and white alyssum in the corners of a birch log planter. Maybe a few colorfuil pansies tucked in. Around here you'd know they came from McCues in Woburn or Billerica (probably assembed at the gigantic Cavicchio Brothers in Sudbury)

I get not having the time or energy (I missed Christmas pots completely this year) but gee, this approach to even the most simple design is depressing.

"...there is quite apparently this phenomenon now where large swathes of consumers prefer ordinariness."

This is, unfortunately, very true. Not just in gardening, but in home design/decorating, too. Whatever happened to making one's own space --- one's own? There's lots of things I don't like or that wouldn't work in my garden or home but I will give props if it's done well. Heck, anymore I'll give props just for doing something different.