sally I own a nursery and am the local plant 'guru' much to my chagrin.

I don't sell peat moss, or any other sorta retail goods. I sell plants. So it really didn't bother me that they called, it was worth the entertainment.

I get calls all the time asking about culture on plants I do not grow or buy in. Nine times out of ten, it is a box store purchase and they left the store with a green thing, no label and no cultural information........so they call me. I am usually a good joe and try to help out a caller, but I always ask where they bought it. Sometimes it takes them back, and often I recognise a customer's voice. But to answer Sally question, heck yes, people will buy things cheap at a box store and then call an independant nursery for assistance in growing it. All the time. That isn't half as bad as somebody who buys something at a box store and then tries to RETURN it to me. That's happened as well.

As for return policies. If there is any question that the merchandise was less than quality, or if I suggested something might work and it doesn't.......I don't have a problem with returns. I always ask what they did or did not do to it, and most people don't seem to mind, as they appear to want to be able to grow things successfully. But if it is their fault, I tell them so. I have never had anyone insist I should refund their money after admitting they killed their own plants. As for people who buy stuff and then plant it and decide they shoulda bought a different shade of flower, then expect me to pay for their mistake, that's unfortunate.

I guess I mis-worded my comment. I was appalled that someone would call from that other store, Lowes in this case, to ask about which products to purchase from Lowes. I get countless calls from people asking how to care for plants they purchased from other places, and that doesn't bother me. It's the calling from the other place and asking advice about what to purchase that is going a bit too far.
But, people will be people, and I actually get a kick out of most of them. I wouldn't be in retail if I didn't.

Sally

One summer we had a woman return a hanging basket that she had obviously let go dry. Too dry. We told her that if she cut the plant back and watered regularly, perhaps a bit of fertilizer, it would come back in two weeks.

She insisted that she get a refund, so we said she should come back the next day when the manager of that department was in. We also said that we'd cut the plant back for her, water and fertilize it and she could pick up the rejuvenated plant in two weeks.

She went off saying she would be back to see a manager. We cut the plant back etc etc, and in two weeks it was looking fine. She did not return. We kept watering etc and in a month the plant was beautiful... finially, I gave up on her, and decided to hang the plant up to decorate the front of the store. When I lifted it up to hang it, I noticed the price tag on the bottom... it was not from our store! The price tag was from our largest competitor! No wonder she didn't return....

I've been reading your posts and I'm having a good laugh. I own a nursery and after a busy day in May when we run up the driveway to put the closed sign up. We get out the barbeque and some cold ones and sit around and share our stories about some of the comedy of the day. We roar with laughter. You have to have a sense of humor in this business or you'll fall apart.

One hopes that customers will show more common sense and decency if they are more knowledgeable about the product, and one has the time to educate them. I would have assumed the woman in question in the original post did not know that Cannas can freeze back to the ground in a hard freeze, and would have accepted the advise to prune back and wait for new regrowth rather than insist on returning them, but perhaps being told she was being unreasonable on-line instead made her dig her heels in and return them anyway, since it is Home Depot policy. Looking at the original post in the other forum, it was humorous that she responded with an "Only in California" reply, which seems to contradict the others here who also find her attitude out of step. However, being in retail, it does no good to inflame a customer who is potentially a repeat, long term client, and how much would it hurt to inform her rather than condemn?

Having dealt with retail customers in the past who could be stubborn, I've always preferred to tread lightly or respond in a humorous vein when possible. Of course, it was helpful to know that the nursery owner also gave all employees the option of refusing service to belligerant customers if all else failed.

Not to hijack this thread, but personally, I have always found it more annoying to deal with customers who apparently have no intention of buying anything, but ask a million questions and take time away from customers who are there to make a purchase. I still haven't learned how to escape these sorts of situations gracefully.

>Of course, it was helpful to know that the nursery owner also gave all employees the option of refusing service to belligerant customers if all else failed.Wow! Weren't you lucky. I, on the other hand, have actually lived the fish franchise cash register scene from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", only at a nursery. I don't think any of the other nurseries I worked at ever gave the clerks any feeling of being more than "jerks" (D. Horowitz), either.

Ron,
It sounds like from your experience mentioned above that you might not have ever been to any of the Berkeley CA nurseries.

Wow, people who shop and work at these nurseries are lucky !

There are nurseries like Magic Gardens, Berkeley Horticultural, The Dry Garden and Annies Annuals who pride themselves on their service as well as hiring those who are extremely knowledgable horticulturally and are given a fair share of discerning managerial decision making power.

Come on down to Berkeley and give yourself a great plant shopping opportunity and experience good horticultural nursery management.

I've been to Berkeley Horticultural nursery, couldn't get waited on/didn't feel there was much interest in doing so, something like that - but it was many years ago. Don't know the other places. I was also born in Berkeley. Yep: originated in the Land of Fruits and Nuts.

Well now, that explains it all

: ~ )

(wink wink )

Maybe this explains the return mentality that has begun to take shape due to the big box stores. On another forum someone posted about finding pansies on clearance at Lowes for $1 per flat of 12. The poster admitted that the pansies looked bad, but since another shopper was grabbing them up, she decided to get 4 flats. When she got them home and took them out of her trunk, she discovered what she described as little green bugs all over her arms. Of course, the pansies had aphids. Other posters were urging her to take them back! These pansies were on clearance! Now how could it be worth the time and trouble and expensive gasoline to take $4 worth of stuff back, especially since the stuff you bought looked bad when you bought it? Amazing.

Sally

Ron,
I can't quite picture smaller Seattle area nurseries such as Colvos Creek, Swansons, Bainbridge Gardens, Heronswood, or Wells Medina treating their employess so callously, at least on a first impression the only time I've been to Seattle, they all seemed like good places to work for both the plants and attitudes/atmosphere of the individual nurseries.

You are not the only person to feel neglected by staff at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, as they can get exceptionally busy, on weekends in particular. It is, however, a great local nursery to shop at because of the exceptionally well stocked variety they maintain, and the huge amount of local growers they buy from to furnish this variety. Annie's Annuals, (see their web site at www.anniesannuals.com for mailorder), is another great place to shop, especially with all the new plants she is continually introducing from South Africa/Silverhill Seeds in particular. Even some of the bigbox retailers have locally distinguished nursery departments here in the SF East Bay, such as Grand Ace Hardware Nursery in Oakland or the Pleasant Valley Longs also in Oakland. Maybe we are just lucky here, even though we don't seem to have the intense concentration of gardeners that you do in Seattle, where it can seem like everyone is a gardener...

I think there's hobby gardening vogue going on out here, with more interest in novelty and variety at nurseries. In Seattle there seems to be a plant nut every block or so in some neighborhoods, instead of the old miles of "yards" that still prevails in less urban settings.

Small independent nurseries have their own share of peculiarities as far as their employees are concerned - management is not always skilled in employee relations nor do they necessarily focus on developing employee loyalty, even with permanent staff. Sometimes the bottom line is all that matters. Having been intimately involved with the greater Seattle nursery industry for quite a few years, I can count several of the ones mentioned by bahia, plus a few more not listed, as having major personnel upsets over the past few years with long time employees bailing for greener pastures. Not all of them are great places to work.

OTOH, the permanent staff at most of these area nurseries is extremely knowledgeable and uniformly cordial and helpful. And I have never heard a Heronswood staff member have anything but wonderful things to say about working there.

Funny you should mention the loyalty factor, gardengal48. The Boston Globe had an article on exactly that in the Sunday edition:

-------------------------------------------------------

WORKPLACE
Some find it harder to keep the faith

In this era of mergers, layoffs and outsourcing, it's not surprising that some workers aren't enthused about their jobs - or their bosses.

And the fact that Generations X and Y are not as loyal to employers as their parents were is yet another reflection of our times. With their parents' pink slips still clear in their minds, younger workers are shifting away from the all-consuming career and opting for personal and professional balance instead.

Results from a new study seem to support the premise that many workers are losing faith in their employers. Released by Harris Interactive Inc., the New York market research firm, the survey of 7,718 working adults found that more than half don't trust their bosses. Others feel they've been treated unfairly, and complain of being locked into dead-end jobs.

Thirty-six percent of the people surveyed said their managers are dishonest and do not act with integrity. Twenty- nine percent don't believe top managers care about helping them to advance or improve their skills, and more than 30 percent are in jobs that aren't going anywhere.

Ken Dychtwald, founder of Age Wave, a San Francisco organization that counsels the government and private employers on services and policies that impact baby boomers and older adults, believes the findings point to a profound shift in the way people see their employers and jobs. He says the accounting scandals, coupled with the sluggish economy and layoffs, contribute to the negative views.

The survey, sponsored by 24 US corporations, including Age Wave, also reveals that younger workers are less likely to feel loyal to employers and are more distressed about the state of corporate America today.

In addition, many of the workers were more concerned about job security, healthcare coverage and professional development than a fatter paycheck, suggesting that employers will have to offer far more than extra pay to retain talent.

Overall, only 33 percent of the employees were satisfied with their jobs, and 12 percent were extremely satisfied. Just 20 percent felt passionate about their work, and less than 15 percent described their work as energizing. And only 31 percent reported their managers or employers inspired them to do their best work.

According to the study, managers seem to feel the same way. One-third didn't care about their employers; another third said they would be willing to promote their companies as great places to work. Just over a third said the companies they work for have inspired them.

The happiest employees? Workers at small companies. In all, 49 percent were satisfied with their jobs, 44 percent felt energized by their jobs, and 53 percent were passionate about the work they...

I've worked in 6 local independent garden centers. The prevailing structure is to have a General Manager ("Program Director" in one instance) who is trusted to orchestrate the show, with or without daily participation from the owner. Sometimes this person is a member of the owner's family. Everyone else, including other management staff, is "expendable" (actual quote).

I've been told the General Manager at one of them practices pitting subordinates against one another, seeing who will come out on top. Same souce said this game is taught in business schools. I wonder how often I was caught up in this, without picking up on what was going on.

Same person also seems apt to fire employees, then try to get them back after a grace period. Power trip? Test of loyalty?

If you work for someone else you are working for the customers as well as the owner, subject to demands from both quarters. Working for myself I am subject only to the marketplace.

Bummer Ron,
Seems like your glass is perennially half empty and at times bone dry.

I'm not sure my observations make me a sad sack. In fact, I've already picked up 2 new customers this week.

Bahia, we have had the same problem with customers that have no intention of buying anything taking up alot of time asking questions, when somebody who is buying is standing there waiting. It is maddening, but we are getting used to it. And we, too, get asked about plants that we don't grow and never will grow. Oh well.

I was wondering about refunds, and how many of you offer them. My husband is the main guy behind our business, and he only guarantees that the plants will be healthy at the time of sale.

Last year, we had an enormous, beautiful flowering Mexican redbud tree for sale at the local H&G show. I don't know how big it was, but these people wanted to buy it, and have my husband come over and plant it for them and everything. He agreed to it for a total of $300 (tree and job). He made sure they knew that the tree would need some water to get established, but not to water it too much. Alot of our plants get overwatered and die, because people are used to buying plants that aren't adaptable to our climate and that need alot of water and care.

About two months later, these people called my husband and were very angry with him because the tree was dying. He went over to their house, and noticed that they had two sprinklers set up near it, and a hose right on it. He looked at the tree and determined that it had been overwatered. He told them to stop watering it, and it survived. They were alot nicer to him when they realized it was their fault that a $300 tree almost died.

That's basically why we don't guarantee our plants. Is there any reason why we should start?

I just got the revenge we all have dreamed of.

A small-job landscaping client (it could have become a larger job, but her whining warned me to cut things off early) asked me to help her and her husband to figure out what to plant where in their mixed up garden. He's a desert environmental scientist who brings home rare but scraggley plants from his travels; she's a ditz who loves foof and hates the desert stuff.

After walking the garden with them and suggesting they segregate the "desert collection" from the "pretty stuff". they asked me to find a replacement for some Bridal Wreath Spirea which they both hated that was planted in front under the bay window between two red Camellias. The replacements had to be shade-tolerant, low maintenance, and grow exactly to the base of the front window.

I love this kind of challenge, and was not going to cop out and plant Raphiolepsis or other obvious solutions. I was lucky enough to find some lush red Cestrums which were the exact color of their Camellias, and also exactly the right height.

They were thrilled. Uncommon plants to make their neighbors envious, and color-coordinated to boot! Having realized that this job was going to be more marriage counselling than landscaping, I submitted my bill and suddenly got very busy.

A month later, the wife called me and said she and husband had decided they didn't like the Cestrums, that the plants were sick, and they wanted to exchange them for camellias. I checked out the plants and found them eaten down two feet by snails. Wife refused Sluggo, saying she didn't believe in poisons (!?!), and demanded the receipt for the plants so she could return them to Lowes, where they will take anything back for a year.

I spent serious daydreaming time composing the letter which would explain why I would not help her return abused plants to a hapless vendor with a generous return policy, but she phoned me before I had a chance to write it. When she asked me why I wasn't cooperating, I said it was like buying a party dress, wearing it several times, spilling champagne down the front, then returning it to Nordstroms, because they'll take back anything.

After a long silence, she asked when I'd planned to tell her that.

"When I figured out a polite way to write that in a letter."

May you all share in the joy of that one moment of justice.

I was talking to a clerk at a department store who said a lady returned an iron that was 6 years old and said it didn't work! She had the receipt, too. They gave her the refund. Some people have a lot of nerve.

She also told me that women will buy a dress for their daughter and return it after a week or so after being worn. They buy it for a party or some occasion. That's stealing!

Great reposte, PansySoup. I got my vicarious thrills from your success.

Interesting post everyone........
I buy alot of plants thru mail-order , Only once did I have to call and request replacements.The seller did a lousy job of packaging the plants prior to shipping.
karen

PansySoup,
You are my hero.

may you live long and prosper.

Thanks, Mich.

It helped that I used to own a bunch of little clothing stores (in your neighborhood as a matter of fact). I got a lot of practice.

And then there was a acquaintance of mine who used to whine about people taking advantage of the return policies at her garden center. One day, her boyfriend was installing a window air conditioner and dropped it out the window. It was so damaged that they couldn't even get it back in the box. Yet they took it back to Walmart and returned it! Now that's nerve!

I worked for years in retail management. Anything from the smallish family business to the big mega chain store.

I can safely say I will never work retail again. Particularly not plants retail.

The reason that the big box stores have these exchange policies? To drive EACH and EVERY one of the small independents out of business as quickly as possible.

As soon as the independents are gone and they have no more competetion that liberal exchange policy is history and the customers have no one to thank but themselves. I have seen it already in the big chain store I worked at for 7 years.

My favorite retail job as far as dealing with customers was a family owned business that allowed us to be nasty to nasty customers. We sold art supplies and one crazy woman wanted to return used clay. She told me she had put it in her cleavage to soften it but it didn't work! When I said no I wasn't going to accept a return on clay that had nestled in her cleavage she got mad and said "You should be like Nordstom's. They will let you return tires and they don't even SELL tires!".

So I said "Well why don't you take this clay to Nordstrom's and see if THEY will give you your money back!"

"As soon as the independents are gone and they have no more competetion that liberal exchange policy is history and the customers have no one to thank but themselves."

Not here in Canada. I buy a lot of goods at Walmart and Home Depot precisely because I CAN take anyhting back withe zero hassle. That was the case 10 years ago and is still the case today. I rarely do return an item but the policy gives me the confidence to make the purchase. Not only was my computer about 2/3rds the price as the same computer elsewhere but when I asked about return policy the answer was 'no problem'...at our small computer store (now out of business) there was a 10% restock fee or equivalent in value.

A customer oriented garden center stands behind a return policy and uses it as a positive. A customer bringing back a $10 plant might walk out with another $100 purchase if the store is on the ball. Sure, Walmart might take back the pair of shoes but there's a good chance you'll be going back through the cashier with a half dozen items.

I don't mind folks knocking the box stores but often I find the reasons exagerrated and out to lunch. Our box stores have good service, great return policies and great prices. One can criticize their pushing out the small guy, exploiting labor, etc. but tens of millions of peoploe who go through the doors everyday aren't stupid.

>tens of millions of peoploe who go through the doors everyday aren't stupidNo, just unable to shop elsewhere. Key phrases: declining wages, exporting of jobs, lack of alternatives...

If the mediocre plant departments such places have are all that is wanted, then I guess the competition they kill off isn't going to be missed. Likewise, the WalMart nearest here has a McDonald's in it. I guess it doesn't matter if the restaurants around it all dry up, too - the people in that neighborhood can just eat McDonald's every time they dine out.

We must just have a much more bouyant economy. We have lots of McDonalads AND lots of other restaurants. I don't eat at McDonalds but a lot of young families appreciate the prices. I'd think McDonalds competes more with home cooking and take-outs than other restaurants.

We have hort departments at the box stores AND healthy garden centers. Two of the largest garden centers in our city have undergone major expansion this year.

Sounds the same as here, alpiner. I think that it's in the places where "instant civilization" was created in the form of huge shopping malls plunked down in the middle of former pastureland, that the Big Box is the only game in town.

My New England community is rich in mom-and-pop businesses of all kinds, including garden center, restaurants and retail shops. Anywhere there's a history, there will always be mom-and-pops. It's where "history" has to be created with prefab materials that there is nothing but barren Big Box wasteland.

Well, HD & Lowes new return policy is that you have 90 days, and after than 90 days, you get lowest selling price, even with a receipt. (I ran into that with some building materials I purchased, but didn't use for a project. Had the receipt that clearly showed what I paid, but they only gave me the lowest selling price, despite my complaints.) Not sure how that meshes with that "1yr guarantee", but I'll bet a lot more folk might actually start shopping at real nurseries again if they can't kill their annuals and return them.

Ronald Mac has had zero impact in Missoula on the eating establishments. New ones pop up faster than dandelions. Does anyone eat at home anymore?

"I don't mind folks knocking the box stores but often I find the reasons exagerrated and out to lunch."

Agreed.

They are what they are. Our outlets actually have certified hoticulturists and I have no qualms about the quality of plants. I'll buy from the big guys for my own stock for clients. A flat of marigolds is a flat of marigolds and a bag of vermiculite is a bag of vermiculite. I'll frequent smaller greenhouses for specialty items and plants I can't get elsewhere in the post rush season.

Wonders never cease !

I was stopped dead in my tracks today when cruising the isles at the San Rafael CA, Home Cheapo , and lo and behold what did I see. ? ...

A hand written sign in the house plant section proclaiming " No returns on Orchids ".

Now , why didn't I think of that ? ... I could have had 365 days of fresh orchids decorating my house.

Crumbs, foiled again.
Guess I'll have to stock up on annuals instead.
: ~ )

Good to read the answers on this forum. Laughs to ease the usual retail conundrums. Thanks.

To add, the nursery I work at specializes in native and unique plants, and grow our own, so our clientele is pretty swell from the git go. We do get newbies who want The Guarantee, though, and I patiently explain why our plants do well...no overfertilizing, grown on site, so ready to plant, etc. We deal with problems on a case to case basis, and will "work with you" on a problem.

As said in posts above, we work with the customer to give them the proper knowledge to site a plant correctly, spend a great deal of time to assure that. We also have a printed catalogue (a great labor of love), that goes into the hands of each customer, and a website re-iterating that info.

We have very few compaints of plants that don't thrive, both on-site sales and mail-order. Mainly, because we grow our own, select for good plants, and don't "hop" them up with chemicals. They are ready to get in the ground and grow.

Can't speak for HD on this one (not one close enough to shop at) but Lowe's does refuse plant returns. Our nursery has an open AR account with our local LoweÂs. Over the past two years we've spent more the 20k on various projects. This year for fun we decided to put in a few grape vines for $5.00 each. Just for the kids to have. So we bought 4.

After 3 weeks or so one of them didn't make it. I pulled it out of the ground and put it back in the plastic bag it came in and headed off to LoweÂs. We purchased them while I was buying other items so I just added them to the AR account.

When I tried to return them they asked for the receipt (which I have no idea which one it was on) I stated that I didn't have it with me and she promptly refuse the return. I asked her to look up my account and she simply said "It's not my rules" I was rather upset after all I've purchased in the store that they would not take back a $5.00 vine. And BTW no one else in town sells them.

Needless to say that pi$$ ed me off and in leaving the parking lot I backed my truck into someoneÂs trailer and broke my tail light. You're better off just not trying to return it.

And yes we do take returns. ItÂs just good practice and our customers appreciate it.

That is a joke, I hope.

We are a very small operation in rural Eastern Ontario that deals in high quality plant material. When people ask about returns we say.. "If there is a problem, bring it back to us to diagnose the problem. If we feel it is a plant problem we will replace it. If we feel it is a plant care problem we will tell you what went wrong and how to prevent it in the future." In reality we almost always replace the plant even if it is the customers fault and they almost always respond by buying more plants.

Thus we keep a customer, and the customer learns something and enhances their gardening experience, and tells others. We do very little advertising but we keep hearing about that people come here because of our reputation.

Once in a while, if we feel the customer is truly out of line, we make a decision to say.. "sorry, but no.." I believe in treating customers fairly, but we have to be fair to ourselves as well.

Laag No joke. I can even send you a pic of my tail light.

That sounds like a wise and rational policy. The best I've seen yet.

OK. How's this linking with the Wal-Mart thread?

I went through the most amazing return situation in my life this spring.

I bought a rear tine tiller at Sears. After an hour, I was discouraged that it popped out of gear about every 4 or 5 minutes. The guy said.. bring it back...

I got #2.. Went home, used it probably closer to 30 hours tilling things up.. and the belt wore out. I asked my inlaws to pick one up at sears on their way out, but there were none on the shelf. They ordered the belt to be in the mail in about 10 days. (um.. I need to till now..)

I called around to sears stores and service centers within a 100 miles and no one could swing me a belt (for sale or otherwise).. Finally, the guy at the store where I got is asked me when I picked the thing up.. it had been about 18 days ago.. so he said I should just bring it back..

So, I did.. and picked up #3.. I didn't have enough tilling left to wear out #3 within a month, so I guess this one is a keeper.

I guess in the 'big numbers game', this policy makes sense to them. I have no idea why you can't buy that belt off the shelf at sears.

As a new employee in a garden center, I'm starting to see some amazingly bald-faced returns- 'I bought this boxwood topiary last August, on sale (on the receipt(which the customer doesn't have), no guarantees, refunds, or returns on sale items), didn't repot it , didn't water it alot, & IT DIED-what can you do for me?' Well, not much...why didn't you water it or ask for help earlier? I am amazed at the things people try to return, months later, without a receipt, in poor condition (which was not the case when they purchased it)-I tremble if I have to return something the day after I bought it, for a legitimate reason, w/ receipt intact. I am an advocate for customaer service, but some folks try to take advantage of the leniency of the owners/managers, I understand trying to deal with things on a case by case basis, but some people just feel they are entitled to too much...

I wonder if it's the same way with online purchases. Are people just as bad?

Here is a link that might be useful: Online Return Policy

The plant retail business is not for me, thankfully. I've seen enough, like all of you, to know that most consumers are common-sense-challenged when it come to plants and keeping them alive. It's one thing for a plant to not flourish under correct conditions and ask for a refund, but people generally abuse their plants and expect garden centers to refund money. Most of the time, the plant is planted in the wrong spot, not hardy in this area, overwatered, or underwatered. A neighbor of mine bought 6 jasmine trees and planted them around his home outside. Of course they died over the winter becayse they are not hardy for this zone. He actually dug the dead trees up and returned them to the store. A friend of mine asked me to look at her dying shrubs and plants which she paid to have put in by a landscaper recently. Everything looked bone dry and I asked her how she was watering the plants. She indicated that she sprinkled water over top of them, but the thundershowers lately did the job so she didn't even have to water with the hose! Where do you begin with someone like this...LOL. I had to explain that overhead watering is not the proper way to water, how much water plants require, especially new plantings, and that pop up thundershowers only wet the soil surface and do nothing really for the plant. She was ready to call the landscaper and have the plants returned, geez. The hanging basket people get me the most. They water the plant and it comes out the bottom of the pot, but they really have let the plant dry out so much that the soil is repelling water down the sides and running out. They return the plant half dead and wonder why. Basically, they didn't know how to water the plant properly. Etc...etc...etc...The only good benefit of half dead returns is that they may get clearanced and I'll buy them to rejuvinate and plant at local schools and public places.

I agree about working retail - I did it for two summers and that was enough. People can be so clueless. Now I take my knowledge on the road working for an interior plant service and try to educate people when they ask me semi-intelligent questions. Most people say, "Wow, you must have a green thumb!" Maybe I do, but mostly I just read a whole lot about plants. Obsessively, actually.

When you read about highly successful people or hear them talking about themselves on radio or TV, sometimes they mention being told by parents or others on the scene that they were spending too much time on what they were interested in or even that it was a waste of time.

Keep on obsessing.

Hey bboy, thanks! It took me 40 years to find my life's work, although tropical plants have been my hobby since I was 6 years old.

I doubt I'll ever be highly successful, although my life has taken some pretty interesting turns, so who knows? Someday I may write a book or start my own plant company. For now, I'm just a nameless "plant lady" working for a company that treats me decently and getting paid to do what I love.

After reading these posts I have all these fond memories wonderful customers and theor cheerful manors. Like the time I had a 65 year old woman call me a motherf___er to my face and slam her hand down breaking my countertop because she wanted her 10 dollars back on a sale maple tree she had bought and 1 week later come back with bone dry dead tree. It's people like this that makes me not have a refund/exchange policy, and I never will.

As for Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart soon enough they will give up too. I have talked to several growers that are already quitting the HD, Lowes, Walmart consignment policy. Now if walmart has to actually pay for what they sell I'm sure you won't see that huge pile of dead plants in the parking lot every year. Plus eventually these stores will stop taking the loss on their garden departments that add up to millions of doallars every year for them.

There's a whole range between insane and sane. Some that might be on the edge of the wrong end shop at nurseries.

One of the trade magazines says people are starting to turn away from the big boxes and back to independent garden centers.