A good majority of the walmarts in my experience buy plants from Bonnie Plants and they are darn nice plants. However, my mom in Minnesota has better luck with sweet peppers grown locally.

Canadian walmarts I'll bet do buy locally. Shipping anything to Canada is a pain in the butt.

Acclimation to a specific area in the country can count for a great deal as to successful growing of store-bought plants.

wife works for walmarts and i am going to have to agree with SHOWME that they buy from bonnie plants. the bad thing at lest in ohio they never have the same type two years in a row.
dan
let it burn

All my pepper seedlings I bought from HomeDepot and Walmart are Bonnies. Good to hear ya'll think highly of bonnies....As I was a bit worried buying from Walmart

The only worry I have about buying from our local Wal-Mart (and some of the other big-box stores in my area, for that matter) is the way they take care of their plants. If I can pick up a plant fresh off the truck, before they've had a chance to mistreat it, great. But I don't ask them for advice because they either don't know the answer or don't have time for me.

Please note that I'm not talking about ALL Wal-Marts - just the one I have experience with!

Walmart hooked me up this year. I stopped there this year expecting a poor selection, but they had the best selection of plants, all in great condition. I had alreay filed many spots in my contatiner garden, so I didn't buy much, but I could have done my whole garden for the year with what they had there. Last year Target had the best to pick from. This year, Target didn't have much that looked good. Home depot and Lowes are pretty consistent.

With the big box stores, it's all about timing and luck. You have to make your rounds looking for the fresh deliveries, all the while trying to decide whether to hold out for something better, which may never come.

ok kids look at this ...
quote"In the year 2000, our business had grown to 24 growing stations and a sales force of 175. Five years later in 2005, we have 35 stations in 25 states. 293 route salespeople deliver quality vegetable and flower plants to over 8,000 accounts throughout the United States. "
end quote.
This is what i am getting at.
you guys may buy from walmart and you may be buying Bonnies but you may also be getting a plant bonnie did not grow.
in the end who cares .... really??
we have 1 store that buys from 5 or 6 of us sellers.
we all do our best and if it goes bad it is usally cause some moron has no idea what watering means...
12 million wave petunias are hard to grow as they need alot of attention.
these hot peppers are a little more forgiving at least the 7 or 8 i take on.
next year i will post a thread on the hardest pepper to grow.
no ... i will post it now../

shayne

We had a hard freeze here about 2-3 weeks ago and my local W*M didn't even attempt to bring their plants inside or even cover them up. What a sorry looking mess the next day. A week or less later they had all new plants. Ask the dept mgr when new deliveries are coming in and be there early before they kill the plants. It just so happens that the mgr at my store is an old friend & he knows virtually nothing about gardening other than the selling end.

Shayne,

Are you saying that even if a Bonnie label on the plant it doesn't mean that they grew it? I get the picture now. Seems alright to me as am sure they wouldn't distribute bad plants.

jt (a little slow at times)

I have a friend that is a contract grower for Bonnie Plants with a station in Montana. They have the freshest plants. Deliver twice a week to every box store. Most vendors only deliver every two weeks and drop off a semi load. Stores do not take care of plants very well. Bonnie salesmen go more often with smaller loads so there is always something new out of the greenhouse depending on the season. Plants are grown in a cooler house and not forced with too much heat or fertilizer. This makes a hardier plant. If you can't find what you want at WM go across the street to Lowes or HD and they probably will have something different. Just wanted to set the record straight for all you wondering. happy planting.

> Plants are grown in a cooler house and not forced with too much heat or fertilizer.

mich44,

Thanks for the info! Does Bonnie use growth retardants to keep the plants stocky and healthy looking after delivery?

jt

I forgot to add that keeping seedlings cool and little or no fertilizer is my seedling strategy too.

jt

I go check out Walmart early in the season. They have a pretty good selection and plants are small, cheap and healthy (for the most part). I assume they buy from local growers, especially up here in Canada, and I like that.

It is later in the season that Walmart becomes a poor choice for plant shopping. They don't seem to repot plants that have outgrown their pots, the selection is much narrower, and they don't seem to take care of their plants very well.

In my experience, Walmart (and other large chains) tend to kill or seriously stunt plants if they are left in their care for too long. The time to shop is early in the season, when the plants are just arriving from the growers.

I am a supporter of my local nursery...family owned for like 100 years! I might pay 20 cents more to buy things there...and literally...it is 20 cents more for a tomato or pepper plant....but at least I know their employees get paid well and return back year and year, some of them for 20 years!!! It is nice to see the same people working not to mention, if I have a problem with a plant they help out BIG TIME and take it back for a new one if I do something terrible and screw it up! The only time I try to buy plants at a boxstore is at the end of the season when things are 50% off or more! Then I drop perennials in for the next year and they are good to go! My mom used to buy from the nursery and box stores and all her plants always seemed the same!!!