Garden

[chessylady]

If at all possible, go to a struggling nursery near you and see/buy what is in season. You will likely get a heartier plant at a lower price. It will also grow well in your area.

[Caaareful Shopper]

I’m sure there are instances where the customer’s flowers did not grow to the expectation given in the TV presentation.  

However, I have a very hard time believing those are the majority or even near the majority of customers.  QVC is in the business of money.  Plain & simple.  Those two major flower vendors have been selling on QVC for decades.  I think they’d be long gone if the real flowers were such a huge disappointment to everyone in their own gardens.

[kaydee50]

I've never watched an entire presentation--5 minutes at most--but it never occurred to me that what they were showing were fakes.  Cold weather or not I think whatever they show should be the real thing.  They do remotes from Italy, NYC, etc. do a remote from a greenhouse and show the real plants and how they would really look.  Another reason to buy locally and not from TV.

[hopi]

@Carolinaking wrote These are million-dollar growers with huge greenhouses and staffs.  Yes, I can most certainly "expect" them to grow a viola (for example) in a greenhouse and show it live on air in bloom.  A viola is very simple to grow.  I have them growing outside in pots throughout the winter in zone 7, with blooms.  Not rocket science.  In many cases, they CHOOSE to show fake flowers instead of real flowers because the real flowers are not as impressive.  Just moments ago, Roberta's showed three REAL tuberose flowers and they were slightly brown, not completely straight.  They were real.  They were available. But the three pots of flowers making up most of the display were pure white, straight, fake flower stems stuck into pots to make a big, impressive presentation.

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It amazes me how many forum members encourage smoke and mirrors presentations that amount to fraudulent representation.  Living in Chicago it has been below freezing for weeks with large  amounts of snowfall and yet you can go into any grocery store and see major presentations of all type of live flowers that are stunning, exotic, simple, potted, cut from the area or not.  

We're talking stores that sell food - not greenhouses.

[fthunt]

I haven't read all the postings - so forgive me if I'm late with remarks:

For years and years - me stupid - thought all of those flowers were real.  Yesterday Phillip was on selling hydrangeas - and got over excited - and with both arms reached out to the plant and hugged it - and CRUNCH was the sound.  So funny - I have a Bose' surround sound so there was no way my TV was going to miss that CRUNCH.

[hopi]

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@fthuntwrote:

I haven't read all the postings - so forgive me if I'm late with remarks:

For years and years - me stupid - thought all of those flowers were real.  Yesterday Phillip was on selling hydrangeas - and got over excited - and with both arms reached out to the plant and hugged it - and CRUNCH was the sound.  So funny - I have a Bose' surround sound so there was no way my TV was going to miss that CRUNCH.

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If it wasn't so deceptive it would actually be funny.

[kelsey17]

I never realized it til i heard Pat J.D. say it to Philip the other day...how they were faux flowers.......as other posters have said i think they should show the real things....there are hothouses for plants all over .....i am sure they could manage to grow the particular plants they are showing and have them bloom at this time of year.....

[Carolinaking]

Retailers count on people being lazy after the sale.  Example: gift card purchasers (or reccipients) who never get around to using the gift cards.  If you look at the reviews, you'll see many 1 and 2 star plant reviews.  I've noticed that when the reviews on a QVC item get too low, that item is removed and returns in a different 'configuration', thereby deleting all the past reviews. Also, many people comment that the plants died but they never got around to returning them or calling for a refund, or it was too late.  If the seller says it will take 2 years for a plant to reach the on air size, most people would have long forgotten how big and bountiful the fake representations had been. These are all possible explanations for how QVC keeps selling plants that do not perform as advertised in their 'representations'.

[pupwhipped]

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wrote:

I haven't read all the postings - so forgive me if I'm late with remarks:

For years and years - me stupid - thought all of those flowers were real.  Yesterday Phillip was on selling hydrangeas - and got over excited - and with both arms reached out to the plant and hugged it - and CRUNCH was the sound.  So funny - I have a Bose' surround sound so there was no way my TV was going to miss that CRUNCH.

@fthunt, I saw/HEARD the exact same thing. I don't even have Bose sound and heard it. Those puppies were crunching! Toooooo funny.

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[Carmie]

It  never been a secret that most of the flowers are faux.  There’s no way to get a full grown plant blooming  on air in West Chester, PA to show the viewers.  If they imported them say from California. The prices would have to go up.  We are in the middle of a a snow storm with icy conditions.  Even our government offices were closed today.

Also, 10 people can buy the same plant and the plants will preform differently for everyone. Some people water, fertilize and have the ideal soil for plant to grow.  Others plant something and say a Hail Mary and do nothing else.

As consumers, we should all know that all business show faux things on TV.  Does your Big Mac or Whopper at your local McD or Burger King even remotely look like the ones on TV?

Most of the food shown in magazines is fake.  We live in a world where mostly everything photographed for a commercial or photo is faux or photo shopped.

if you don’t already know this, then where have you been?

If it bothers you, don’t watch or buy.  It is not going to go away no matter how much anyone complains.  This is life now and in the future.