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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,296
Registered: ‎09-18-2010

Bulbs from your local garden center

I keep hearing different hosts, who are selling different plants/bulbs saying that our local garden centers don't have ones that will compare.

I have ordered quite a bit from QVC over the years, but not sure I have ever ordered any plants or bulbs.

Is there really a difference? I'm looking at day lilies. TIA

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,809
Registered: ‎12-24-2010

Re: Bulbs from your local garden center

Host have no clue what's at our garden centers!   Sales talk - but at garden centers you don't get a lot of information.  Seasonal help can't tell you if plant will grow short or tall - and bulbs especially.  (round things in a box - color of what plant will be is a gamble).  There are hundreds of varieties of one plant.

QVC does say theirs grow shorter - which I prefer.  Local market = hard to know.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,749
Registered: ‎03-15-2014

Re: Bulbs from your local garden center

I think the Cottage Farm daylilies that blossom large and continuously are rather unusual.  But I've never looked for them in garden stores, and who knows if their claims are true.  I have only a few Stella D'oro - the kind Philip Watson never missed a chance to denigrate.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,322
Registered: ‎02-22-2015

Re: Bulbs from your local garden center

[ Edited ]

Daylillies are the easiest plant to grow! Daylillies and pansies were some of the first things I remember growing as a pre-schooler. If you have a friend with them, ask for a starter piece. Daylillies will grow in almost any soil, they love sun (but will tolerate partial shade) and once established will multiply by the second year. If you can't get them from a friend or neighbor, buy them on sale at a big box store. The less you spend the better! They will reward you for decades with many, many blooms. Be sure to divide your plants every three or four years for best flowering and spreading results. ENJOY.

 

ETA: Read the labels on each plant for the size, color and bloom time. You'll find many varieties and choices from which to choose. Stella D'oro is an old, proven in any location, excellent Daylilly. In Phillip's first book, he talks about its merits. 

 

Also, do some reading on them prior to shopping (try Google, various on-line nurseries, the library, etc.)

Money screams; wealth whispers.
Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,902
Registered: ‎11-24-2011

Re: Bulbs from your local garden center

@happycat  I've purchased many daylilies from my garden center.  The plants are already growing in pots that I just transplant in my garden.  I have purchased some bulbs from Cottage Farms and they have all done well but it takes awhile for the bulbs to grow.

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Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,102
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Bulbs from your local garden center

Mass merchandisers (Walmart, etc.) are filled with bagged bulbs, perennials, and the like these days. Is there a difference in quality? Not much if any. If you're buying plants/bulbs in the bags sift through the sawdust, wood shavings, whatever, in the bag to see what you're buying. Some bags will have bigger, healthier looking plants/bulbs. You can buy the best of ten, twenty or more bags that way. In mail order, you get whatever the person packing your order drops in the box. It could be better, it could be worse. I like shopping for plants early so I have the best selection. If you wait until later on the bagged stuff, you're stuck with whatever everyone else has rejected.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,672
Registered: ‎05-13-2010

Re: Bulbs from your local garden center

[ Edited ]

@happycat  I agree with all that @BirkiLady  Ms BL shared. And I will again chime in and say buy local and here's why - if you take a minute and look at the pots of plants and where they were grown, you may surprised to know they're from reputable nurseries who grow for your better local nurseries and even big box like lowes, home depot and the like. You probably will recognize some.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,604
Registered: ‎10-25-2010

Re: Bulbs from your local garden center

I have a ton of bulbs in my gardens.  I bought many of them at Walmart, the grocery store,Costco,  and some unusual ones at my garden center.They all came up beautifully.

 

I bought over 300 bulbs from one of the vendors who are on QVC, don't remember which one.  I planted them last winter and was looking forward to them coming up last spring.  Well, not one bulb did anything.

 

The area where they were planted was a new bed and thickly covered with mulch. The mulch was not disturbed, so I know they were not dug up or eaten.  The daffodils that I got at Walmart and planted on the same day, came up in the same bed and they are starting to sprout again this year.

 

It doesn't make a difference where you purchase them IMO.  I like bulbs planted in a group, so I buy a lot of them for each planting.  I try to find healthy bulbs for cheap.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 19,486
Registered: ‎03-16-2010

Re: Bulbs from your local garden center

Years ago I used to buy all of my bulbs from Breck’s and they were always superb.  A few years ago I bought some daffodils from them.  They bloomed for a couple of years, then no blooms, just foliage.  I also bought some cheap daffodil bulbs at Walmart the same year.  They’re still blooming.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,654
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Bulbs from your local garden center


@geezerette wrote:

Years ago I used to buy all of my bulbs from Breck’s and they were always superb.  A few years ago I bought some daffodils from them.  They bloomed for a couple of years, then no blooms, just foliage.  I also bought some cheap daffodil bulbs at Walmart the same year.  They’re still blooming.


Two reasons for just foliage after several years —

 

plants have sunk lower in the ground and/or need division in the fall & replanted at the proper depth.

☼The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. GBShaw☼