Why plants come to Garden Centres

  Why plants come to Garden Centres 
  Originally uploaded by AtWaG

Are you one of those people who doesn't really make a distinction between Nurseries and Garden Centres? If you are thinking of buying plants this spring (N hemisphere) and want to get value for money then it's worth getting the difference clear in your mind.

Plants go to Nurseries to grow - Plants go to Garden Centres to die.

The Nursery environment is optimised for plants. Nurseries can be uncomfortable places for people because every effort is made to ensure the plants there thrive. Nursery staff wear Oilskins, Chemical suits, Leggings, Aspirators, Heavy boots, Thick gloves and at the height of summer almost nothing! Nursery people 'suffer' for the sake of their plants.

More and more these days Garden Centres are optimised for People (customers) and it's the plants that have to fit in and that means as soon as they leave the nursery they are on a road that leads to death - unless you buy them - the sooner the better!
Firstly most plants have to endure a period of being on stacked transport trolley shelves for as much as three days if they are traveling long distance from Nursery to Garden Centre. In transport the poor old plants have to endure light levels way below that which they basked in on the nursery and often they arrive at their destination gasping for water too.
Lucky plants get merchandised as soon as they arrive but often the trollies get parked up in a yard, waiting for space on the shop display units or for staff to be available to get them on sale. Once displayed on sale it's not a bed of roses for the plants because Garden Centre staff priority is to tend customers whereas Nursery staff priority is to tend plants. Sadly plants in some Garden Centres don't get the best growing environment or care and so begin a slow decline and if they don't sell they end up as compost.

So why do most Garden Centres have plants that look so good?

It's because they have the cream of the Nursery crops. A typical Garden Centre will buy from ten, maybe twenty different nurseries and their best plants will be gathered together for display for you the customer. The impact won't be diluted by young crops, or those that have just been pruned or those that have just finished flowering. The selection of the best plants has been done for the customers and the display can be impressive. But remember, these gorgeous plants are already doomed - unless you buy them - so take care when picking plants at Garden Centres and get to know the tell tale signs of plants that aren't worth your hard earned cash. Look out for signs of rotting leaves, wilting, damage due to tight spacing and make sure that plants in flower have plenty of buds left to come. If you see plants being picked over (dead-headed and cleaned of rotting leaves) by staff avoid them (the plants that is) they won't be good value unless reduced in price.

Garden Centres are a good place to buy plants even so, just be aware that fresh is best and fresh local even better. Deliveries come in towards the end of the week so the best freshest plants are to be had Fridays and Saturday mornings.

Retail nurseries are great places to shop for plants but you'll spend longer searching for the best plants and the range of seasonal plants won't generally be as good.

Busy people shop at Garden Centres and will get good value as long as they pick up the plants that have hardly begun the road to ruin.

Comments

[Melanie]

This is true here where I live also (Long Island New York). Luckily many plant farms are about an hour east of us on the island and we can drive out there and get freshly potted perennials. With the higher cost of gas we have to try to do our shopping all together but at least the plant material is worth the planning effort.

[mr_subjunctive]

Painting with a pretty broad brush there, aren't we? A number of things in this post are demonstrably not true of the garden center where I work. I'd also question whether it's that easy to make the distinction between the two types of business: we have characteristics of both.

[Rebecca]

I have to say that I disagree with your view that 'Plants go to Nurseries to grow - Plants go to Garden Centres to die'. I work at a local family run garden centre in Dorset.
Good Garden Centres, and they are usually independent small businesses, like ourselves, offer a two year guarantee on all hardy plants....and therefore we would be rather stupid to offer this if we were stocking plants that as you put it 'are on the a road that leads to death'!
If we stock plants from other nurseries they know the quality we look for. They are delivered in good time, grown on properly and well cared for during transportation. Wherever possible we buy local as we know how important it is to support local as we ourselves on local customers shopping and supporting us.

You say that Garden Centres are optimised for People (customers) rather than the plants but I again disagree strongly with this. We grow most of our own plants, have for many many years. We produce plants which are of optimum quality to sell to our customers. They have been grown in the correct conditions, have strong root systems and hardened off properly ready for the outdoors. Independant Garden Centres are unlike many other large retail organisations that sell plants (such as supermarkets and other chain stores), they buy at the best possible price to gain the most profit for themselves regardless of the quality or whether they have been cared for properly. Many of their plants they sell often do not have good root growth on them and therefore are not given the best start in life as soon as they are sold to the customer.

Our own Garden Centres are passionate about standards. Plants and Poeple (customers) are equally important. If we sold poor plants we would loose our customers and if we offered poor service we would have no customers to sell our plants to!

Unlike the multiples, independent garden centres offer a unique experience and aim to look different and offer different goods to the supermarkets/chain stores (which all look the same!) They are passionate about what they do, they offer expert knowledge and excellent service and that goes for us too! If we didnt do this then we would not survive as life is tough enough out there competing against the supermarkets/chain stores.......it would be an extremely dull place the only places to buy plants in were the supermakets/chain stores!

Independent Garden Centres support each other and treat their suppliers with the respect they deserve...we don't committ to large orders and then let our suppliers down at the last minute unlike the supermarkets/chain stores. If they are having a rough trading time the only businesses that suffer are the poor nurseries, farmers etc that have committed to growing stock/food for them!

Can you imagine going into your large supermarket and asking for expert advice on the plants they have for sale? I dont think so!

[Richard Loader]

Thank's for commenting Rebecca; there's very little there that we disagree about:
Local is best Yes - Independent Garden Centres do the best job - Yes
Homegrown stock is best - Yes
Independent Garden Centres have the best staff - Yes

Our only real difference is in regard to the suitability of the Garden Centre for plants long term.

I accept that the plants that arrive at the Garden Centres are of optimum quality but I still maintain that once they arrive at the Centres they begin to lose their gloss and for that reason the freshest stock is the best buy.

The rather controversial statement about plants coming to garden centres to die is an observation (not mine) that points out the difference in the environment that greets plants when they arrive compared to that they have been grown in - and how difficult it is to maintain them well after such a change.

Your other points do much to support the value of local businesses and I wholeheartedly agree with you.

Thanks again for your views, they are always welcome.