I’ve seen Rhubarb in HD/Lowes. It’s usually sold alongside the asparagus roots. “Victoria” is the cultivar.
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I won’t buy fruit trees at big box stores anymore, they do bring in varieties we should be able to grow but it is the rootstock that becomes a concern for me. Many fails in our cold weather are due to the fact that these nurseries, in warmer climes, use rootstock for their own zone, not ours. I would rather trust a nursery, who identifies the rootstock, and ship in a smaller tree than trust that the one before me in the store may or may not live.
We get hard frosts till the end of May and these stores don’t have the plants in the store, they are in “stand alone” plastic hoop houses which have no heat. If you don’t grab all your plants, esp. bedding plants when they first come out you might as well not bother. The late frost or snows ten to wreak havoc and mid season most of these plants look like something the dog slept on.
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I’ll keep an eye out for it. Have you seen it already this year?
I haven’t but I have seen it every other year. In the Home Depot here it’s not kept in the garden center, but it was near the front in what I think is a “seasonal” area. The vendor sends a half-pallet with these and other things on them. This has those little wine bottle sized sleeves of grapes, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc on it. IIRC the Lowe’s one had some “unusual” things like Goji Berry on theirs.
BTW I checked out the Home Depot fruit trees. I didn’t have my phone with me but I recall some of the apple cultivars being things I’ve never seen in a big box store before including Gravenstein, Arkansas Black and Spartan. The usual Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Honeycrisp, and Granny Smith were there. Strangely I saw no McIntosh.
There were also some interesting pear trees.
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Do you remember what pears they have this year?
E plums have their uses and Stanley bears consistently and doesn’t get much black knot.
I am using frozen halves of E plums every morning with frozen blueberries in oatmeal or on waffles. The plums create an exquisite sauce. E.plums are less watery, so better for this purpose. In our climate they often achieve higher brix than J. plums or pluots.
Ones in stores are usually picked hard and sour.
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Seckel and Anjou were two of the pears they had. There was an Asian pear with a name that, if I recall correctly, starts with a K. I would have copied down these things if I had my phone with me. This is in Connecticut. I’m not sure how much regional variance there is with them.
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He has the same display here in Texas. Front bins and shelving just down from customer service area. Rhubarb (Victoria), asparagus, grapes, blueberries, blackberries, etc
I had 2 of those blueberries work out nicely. I got them seeing short, healthy-looking green and potted them up. Now they got planted outdoors and look like my mail-order ones. No word yet on being true to variety, though.
I also returned the box from one that croaked. No problem returning it. This was Lowe’s.
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I got all of my blueberries from lowes and HD. Like you, dont know if true to type but they are all doing great and have in a few seasons gotten 40+ lb’s from 14 bushes. They are all over 5 yrs old.
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I got one blueberry this year from WM. Nice big plant and looked better than the ones I bought for about the same price at a reputable nursery. They only had one variety. So i won’t know what to expect from that. Lol. But it was a nice plant with nice roots but wasn’t rootbound.
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I got a marked-down Bald Cypress (big/healthy) from Lowes a few years ago, maybe $10 or so. Also a Prime-Ark Freedom BB for a couple of bucks. My wife stalks them around the time they start their 50% and 75% off sales of flowers. Usually stuff they didn’t water properly and has a few brown leaves…
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Here is my biggest pet peeve with box stores. The wholesaler sends them Apache blackberry, but Lowe’s doesn’t have Apache tags and sticks a different variety label on so they can scan it
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Heh, spot on example… I have an Apache blackberry, bought from Lowes, which I doubt will get off the ground without a trellis. No contradictory wholesaler tags or labels on the pot but I’m definitely wondering now…
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Home Depot just got garden soil? bunch of pallets of it are sitting in the snow filled parking lot waiting for some sign of warmer weather.
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This actually may be win for the BBS’s. At a nearby Walmart was a bunch of trees with Chestnut Hill Nursery and Orchard labels.
There was Dunstan Chestnuts, Deer Candy Persimmon and Kaki Persimmon (unknown variety) and some Pecan I think among the trees offered.
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I bought two Jonagold from HD about six years ago. They both are truly dwarf, but not Jonagold. Haven’t been able too figure out what they are. I saw a Jonagold at HD this week so grabbed it, maybe this one is true to its sticker. I’m a sucker for punishment. I’ll just graft over if it isn’t. 24 bucks isn’t much and I have plenty of apple trees to enjoy.
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Not an issue for everyone, but Lowes here has a Veterans discount, and Home Depot has a veterans parking spot. I appreciate those gestures. Not needed, but a nice touch.
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That 10% discount for vets at Lowe’s and Home Depot is nice. I used it when I redid my kitchen floor and saved a decent chunk.
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i never remember to take advantage of that. thankfull they have it.