Garden

[AussieLuvr]

I just love the young man and his sister who are the Roberta's reps.

What nice kids!

Their parents should be proud. You can just sense their niceness.

[Kachina624]

I just don't trust a word those Roberta's reps say.  Their exagerations are shameless.  Today they were describing the thousands of daylilies their plants would yield the first, second and third years.  I've never had one grown from the corm that bloomed the first year, and I serious doubt the TSV would produce 3800 blooms the third year; not even a fraction of that.

[AussieLuvr]

@Kachina624

I'm not sure that any of them are untrustworthy. I think a lot of it has to do with how and where and what zone the plants are planted in.

I have bought lavender from QVC that has a one star rating. Everyone who bought it .. over the course of a few years .. was sure that they'd received crappy plants and been lied to.

My husband was raised on a dairy farm and farmed himself until we were in our mid forties. He knows a LOT about soil types, how to fertilize, when to water, etc. He dug small "ditches", lined them with small rocks and then filled in the soil he'd purchased and made mounds. It looked like giant, long mole tunnels on top of the ground. We now have a wall of lavender out there that I have to thin out. I cut it back several times during Spring, Summer and Fall and can't stop the stuff. It grows like a weed here in NC because of the way he planted it. I have literally given pounds at a time of the blossoms and leaves away to friends and family.

We bought phlox that were a dismal failure.

But almost everything we've purchased has grown beautifully. Three years ago we purchased the gigantic hibiscus plants. They now dominate a 20 X 10' garden area and have seeded themselves with no help from us, and there are five of them out there. They are so huge that we are going to have to do some serious pruning this Spring.

I'm not saying they don't fudge the info when they talk about where the plants can thrive, and I don't buy plants from QVC withot doing homework on whether it will grow here or not.

[Kachina624]

@AussieLuvr.  They grow a lot of lavender here in New Mexico so I assumed it likes hot, dry conditions with well-well-drained soil.  I bet your yard smells heavenly.

[Lyttlewyng]

The Roberta's family are a pleasure to watch and my experience with their plants have been very good. 

[Caaareful Shopper]

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@AussieLuvr wrote:

I just love the young man and his sister who are the Roberta's reps.

What nice kids!

Their parents should be proud. You can just sense their niceness.

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@AussieLuvr  I agree, they are very nice, the whole family are nice.

But they are not "kids,"  The young lady is engaged and getting married shortly.  She mentioned it in one of the afternoon shows I watched. 

[EatWell]

@AussieLuvr

Who kids are they?

Hung

[ValuSkr]

@EatWell  I believe she's referring to Devin, Derek, and Stefani.  They're wonderful on-air spokepersons.  Their father is Kevin Wallien, who recently retired from the business.  Their uncles are Eric Wallien, President, and Koort, on-air spokesperson.  Devin is also an assistant buyer.

[ValuSkr]

Here's an interesting article about Roberta's from Greenhouse Product News (January 2018).  It describes the company's growth and the challenges of supplying QVC:

https://gpnmag.com/article/cover-story-a-unique-approach/

[EatWell]

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@ValuSkr wrote:

@EatWell  I believe she's referring to Devin, Derek, and Stefani.  They're wonderful on-air spokepersons.  Their father is Kevin Wallien, who recently retired from the business.  Their uncles are Eric Wallien, President, and Koort, on-air spokesperson.  Devin is also an assistant buyer.

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@ValuSkr

Thank you!  

I agree, as many have said here, the Walliens  seem to be a pleasant extended family.  Excellent and knowledgeable spokespersons.   And, I believe trustworthy in what they say about their products.  I have many success with their plants.  My only failuree was on me,when I tried to grow a plant that was not suitable to my zone.

Hung.