Garden

[Sassyboo3]

If these people garden, you fooled me. They want you to burn dandelions.... usually the only food available for bumble bees when they emerge. Which they won't if you take advice from QVC and rake/blow your leaves. They sell so many invasive plants I cannot list them all. Native plants lists for your area can be found online and to save our pollinators.

Their gadgets kill so many insects (we have lost 50% worldwide) that hunger faces millions more everyday. The fertilizers they push do nothing to improve soil, which speeds up the destruction of our soil.

I could go on and on. Garden buyers need to do their research and stop pushing millions of customers to nudge us over the edge of a failed eco system!!

They have a great platform and should use it for good. Not to make matters worse!

[Kachina624]

@Sassyboo3    Keep in mind, like most retailers QVC is selling plants and products that people want.  Their goal is not to save the earth.  There are millions of acres of undeveloped land where dandelions flourish.  The average tiny little plot of residential  real estate that is someone's yard is not going to make a bit of difference.

As for invasive plants, it's each person's responsibility to do their homework before buying and planting any new species.

[chessylady]

Hosts go on and on about clean beauty products they sell. Yet QVC is selling invasive plants to people who have no knowledge of what these plants can do such as completely take over your property. There are also numerous complaints about the poor quality of plants a certain vendor sells. I believe QVC could do a better job. My advice to gardeners is to shop locally, keep the money in the community and get more detailed advice from your local Master Gardeners.

[QVCkitty1]

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@chessylady wrote:

Hosts go on and on about clean beauty products they sell. Yet QVC is selling invasive plants to people who have no knowledge of what these plants can do such as completely take over your property. There are also numerous complaints about the poor quality of plants a certain vendor sells. I believe QVC could do a better job. My advice to gardeners is to shop locally, keep the money in the community and get more detailed advice from your local Master Gardeners.

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@chessylady , That is excellent advice.

[kaydee50]

Another item I don't understand why people buy from TV.  As a previous poster said, go to a local nursery and get "expert" advice from the local gardeners.  

[cjm61]

@Sassyboo3 I can tell you are passionate about your post. It is great to research before buying anything. However, I don't believe QVC should be the gardener police. If what they sell is legal, it is up to the consumer to research.

I do a lot of research on many different items offered on the Q. People should do the same for their area. You mention "dandelions.... usually the only food available for bumble bees when they emerge". This is not the case in my area. For southern Cal:

What plants do bees love in Southern California?

Basil, rosemary, bay laurel, pomegranate, etc. Many herbs are also drought-hardy and great for bees – parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme is not only a familiar tune, but a bee paradise. Many of the local bee-friendly plants are also attractive – poppies, sunflowers, mallow, sage, buckwheat, yarrow.

Again, I believe it is the consumers responsibility to do their own research. I don't buy plants online much, I did have good luck though with the exception of one. None were invasive plants. 

[We rescue cats]

The amount of misinformation given out by some of the hosts and vendors on the garden presentations is enough to drive me to turn the station. The pricing is unreasonable as well, but it is up to each person to check that against their favorite supplier. The information about the bees is valuable and needs to be shared. No matter where one lives.

[Angelmanmom]

I must respectively disagree with you re your statement that "The average tiny little plot of residential  real estate that is someone's yard is not going to make a bit of difference." Your statement can apply to almost any singular action from one individual.  We as society have learned that many "one little actions" can indeed have a profound effect on our world.  You can count my average tiny little plot of residential real estate as a welcome refuge for any little creature that has the good fortune to arrive here!  No pesticides for the animals or streams will come from here.  Just doing MY little part to make the world hopefully safer..........

[gardenman]

You would have to live in a very strange part of the country where dandelions were the only bee food available. There would need to be no flowering trees, clover, native plants, etc. Bees will even feed on the excretions of aphids. They also feed on the extra-floral nectaries of some plants like laurels. They also would have had to have used up all of the honey they'd stored away to get through the winter.

Will bees feed on dandelions? Sure. But it's far from their only food resource. You can feel free to wipe out dandelions without fear of starving your little bee friends. They have lots and lots of other food options out there at any point in the growing season. Bees can die from many causes, but starvation is the least of their worries. Saying bees will starve if you remove dandelions is misinformation. Bees are resourceful and will find food elsewhere. When bees starve, it's typically because a beekeeper took too much of their honey. 

[NYCLatinaMe]

Apologies that I have no idea what this product is, and I personally do not grow plants, but I like them, so I am a fan.

What I wanted to post is that what we do in tiny little plots of real estate does have an impact in the environment.

The worldwide bee population is declining.  If QVC is encouraging people to install devices that kill bees, that is not a good thing.

The only knowledge that I have is from flooding, which has increased in NYC due to increases in rain caused by global climate change.  Currently, NYC is busy building rain gardens to manage stormwater.  The rain gardens do not seem like a lot to look at.

But these little rain gardens reduce ponding and allow rain to be naturally absorbed into the ground instead of flowing into the sewer system.  They help reduce flooding.  They also green our communities and can provide summer shade.

If these small rain gardens can reduce flooding, I would think many individuals killing bees could have an impact in the declining worldwide bee population.

If there are any bee population experts out there that disagree with what I wrote, I would be happy to be educated on this.