Galanthus - Ebay digression 2012

[bulborum]

The Elizabeth Harrison is payee 10 ++++++ times already
free advertisement for minutes
They aren't stupid at T&M 

Roland

[Mavers]

Whenever I see Alan Titchmarsh's mug shot as I enter B&Q I think .....TART!!

Has he ever seen the inside of a B&Q 'plant concentration camp'?

Plants left on trolleys for days unwatered, hardly any headroom above them so not enough daylight.

Very depressing for plant lovers like us. 

[Sean Fox]

It annoys the hell out of me Mike, why can't they employ people in these places that have a basic understanding that plants can't survive without water and how to use a hosepipe properly. The number of times I've seen plants having their leaves sprayed and the person doing the watering thinks that's a good job and then moves on to wet the leaves of the next set of plants (leaving the compost completely bone dry)!!! 

[Mavers]

I don't know Sean....... mind you the horrible cold, shady, soul destroying plant concentration camp at my local B&Q would unhinge any plant lover to the point they would climb the 20ft stack'em high racks & impale themselves on the equally high security fencing.


Like I say Titchy's a TART!!

Sold himself out to the likes of B&Q.

[Carolyn Walker]

It annoys the hell out of me Mike, why can't they employ people in these places that have a basic understanding that plants can't survive without water and how to use a hosepipe properly. The number of times I've seen plants having their leaves sprayed and the person doing the watering thinks that's a good job and then moves on to wet the leaves of the next set of plants (leaving the compost completely bone dry)!!! 

As a local nursery owner, I can't resist responding.  It is much cheaper for them to throw the plants away than it is to take care of them in the store.  This is true at all levels of plant production for big box stores, which I assume this is.  If you are appalled by how the plants are kept in the store, it is even worse before they get there.  In the US at least, these plants are produced by underpaid workers in squalid conditions spraying chemicals wantonly without adequate protection and with profligate water use.  Plants are thrown away at all levels.  A friend who worked in one of these places calls it the "dark underbelly of horticulture".

And yet I can't tell you how many times I read about the deal that some gardener just got at the local big box store and how everyone should shop there.  And the reverse, even on this forum, how shocking the prices are at a local nursery.  When you shop at big box stores you are supporting this kind of approach to horticulture.  Local nurseries care for their plants and are knowledgeable about what they sell, and none of them are getting rich in the process.  Not only do I care about quality at my nursery, I can't afford to throw any plant away.  You get what you pay for and your purchases are what drive the market.  I will now get down off my soapbox.

Carolyn

[ronm]

100% behind you Carolyn, .

[mark smyth]

I was a prison warden in the plant area of a local B&Q 

One day while watering plants the store manager shouted "havent you got anything better to do?"

[Sean Fox]

It annoys the hell out of me Mike, why can't they employ people in these places that have a basic understanding that plants can't survive without water and how to use a hosepipe properly. The number of times I've seen plants having their leaves sprayed and the person doing the watering thinks that's a good job and then moves on to wet the leaves of the next set of plants (leaving the compost completely bone dry)!!! 

As a local nursery owner, I can't resist responding.  It is much cheaper for them to throw the plants away than it is to take care of them in the store.  This is true at all levels of plant production for big box stores, which I assume this is.  If you are appalled by how the plants are kept in the store, it is even worse before they get there.  In the US at least, these plants are produced by underpaid workers in squalid conditions spraying chemicals wantonly without adequate protection and with profligate water use.  Plants are thrown away at all levels.  A friend who worked in one of these places calls it the "dark underbelly of horticulture".

And yet I can't tell you how many times I read about the deal that some gardener just got at the local big box store and how everyone should shop there.  And the reverse, even on this forum, how shocking the prices are at a local nursery.  When you shop at big box stores you are supporting this kind of approach to horticulture.  Local nurseries care for their plants and are knowledgeable about what they sell, and none of them are getting rich in the process.  Not only do I care about quality at my nursery, I can't afford to throw any plant away.  You get what you pay for and your purchases are what drive the market.  I will now get down off my soapbox.

Carolyn

I don't want to get into a debate about the ethics behind mass produced plants sold at places like B&Q and plants sold by nurseries like your own Carolyn ,but do I think there is a place in the market for both to be honest. Just as in any marketplace there are people who will pay for quality and those that want (or maybe can't afford to spend alot) a cheaper alternative. If being able to buy a cheap lot of bedding plants from a local DIY centre encourages people to take an interest in gardening then so be it. You never know, it may inspire them onto growing other things.

[JimF]

In the US "Big Box Stores" [BBS] are the same as "DYI". In the US BBSs do not pay their vendors for the plants they have until the plant is purchased at the cash register. Thus no incentive to care for the plants. The vendor absorbs the loss, not the BBS which doesn't even own the plant. There are people in BBSs who care about plants, but they are few and not encouraged to.

Plants are there to attract customers into the store to buy other more profitable items. The plants are called "loss leaders" - advertisements in the trade.

A careful shopper can get good plants inexpensively when plants first arrive, but they also get potential diseased plants. Two years ago a massive outbreak of late blight on tomatoes was traced back to an industrial grower of tomatoes for BBSs. The article is still on the New York Times website. The same thing happened in Alaska where I grew up and we were the only State in the US that had no late blight. Alaska was in negotiation with China to sell disease free potatoes to them - first for the US - and a crop my own family raised. The first year a BBS moved into the Valley it sold tomatoes with late blight. China cancelled its negotiations with AK and farmers lost a market for crops and potential expansion.

Disclaimer: I work for a nursery/garden center. We sell plants as our livelyhood, not as loss leaders or advertisements. Time and time again customers returned shamefaced saying they bought a plant at a BBS and it died, was weak, or spread disease, so they return to us. I tell them Big Box Stores are fine for hardware - because they've are hardware stores - but would you buy meat from your dentist just because she or he had a freezer full in the lounge?

If we don't support good local nurseries, small seed/bulb listers, or garden centers (even those who enter the 21st century and sell on eBay like the very reputable Beth Chatto Nursery) they will disappear - and so will much of the joys in our lives.

Convenience and low cost always has a hidden price. Are we aware of that? Do we want to pay it?

Jim

[annew]

Gerard gave the  Galanthus registrar details again earlier this month:

http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8571.msg230084#msg230084

Crumbs, Maggi, you didn't need to shout 
(Thanks for the directions)

[Anthony Darby]

I would hope nurseries in the UK don't adopt any of the US practices. Unpaid workers. Sounds like slavery to me and I thought that had been abolished!

[Maggi Young]

Gerard gave the  Galanthus registrar details again earlier this month:

http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8571.msg230084#msg230084

Crumbs, Maggi, you didn't need to shout 
(Thanks for the directions)

Probably not.... but you heard me, huh?! 

[annew]

Yup! 

[JimF]

I would hope nurseries in the UK don't adopt any of the US practices. Unpaid workers. Sounds like slavery to me and I thought that had been abolished!

Sorry if I made it sound like the workers aren't paid! It's the company "selling" the plants to the BBSs that isn't paid until the plant actually passes over the BBSs' cash register, the customer paying for it. Still an awful business practice to my mind, especially with a living thing. But it tells you how much money the company selling to the BBSs are still able to make with probably 40% losses. . .  not counting what dies on the gardener.

And yes, it may create new gardeners, but I hope they'll then turn to the nurseries for their plants and variety next time.