View Full Version : Maddening!!
Gardener972
05-02-2008, 10:22 AM
So as I'm calling around to different nurseries for a banana, I get, "Yep, we have 'em." I ask them, "Do you know what the name or variety is?" Their response, "No, it's just a green banana. I have a big one, and dwarf green one." OR "No, it's whatever grows around here." OR "No, it's just what they send us."
Most are bare root. Now... what are you going to guess these bananas are? How well will I do with a bare root plant?
Dean W.
05-02-2008, 11:44 AM
I know what you mean. I stopped by a nursery and asked them what kind they had. They said they were the yellow kind. :2788:
AllenF
05-02-2008, 12:37 PM
And I thought that all of the uneducated nursery people were in Alberta.
At least they know that Bananas exist. Even if the only ones that I can get are Dwarf Cavendish and Basjoo. I asked the 3 big nurseries in Edmonton about ordering agaves and supervisory employees at all 3 had never heard of agaves.
Allen
Gardener972
05-02-2008, 01:09 PM
I asked the 3 big nurseries in Edmonton about ordering agaves and supervisory employees at all 3 had never heard of agaves.
Allen
And that's a common plant!! I have agaves I'm trying to get rid of!
Ahava
05-02-2008, 02:22 PM
Eh most of the people in the lawn and garden dept at my job don't know anything about plants. I've gotten used to people not knowing anything at garden departments, I don't even bother asking anymore. Sad eh?
microfarmer
05-02-2008, 10:56 PM
Eh most of the people in the lawn and garden dept at my job don't know anything about plants. I've gotten used to people not knowing anything at garden departments, I don't even bother asking anymore. Sad eh?
Sad is a polite way to put it.
Richard
05-03-2008, 12:22 AM
I started working in the garden department of an "orange box store" here in San Diego a month ago. To work as a sales associate in the garden department, you have to pass 8 two-hour garden certification training courses and the 1/2 hour test at the end of each one. If you don't pass, your job is watering, sweeping, stocking, and helping people find products (e.g., where is the steer manure?). If you do pass, your job is answering horticultural questions plus all those other tasks. Today at the end of my shift I moved all the Zebrinas out of the fruit section and into the ornamental tropical section, and moved all the Passiflora edulis vines out of the ornamental vine section and into the fruit section. Both of these errors were performed by a supplier and not an employee!
AllenF
05-03-2008, 02:05 AM
Gardener;
Agaves are not very common up here for some reason.:o If you want any, they have to be ordered from British Columbia or Ontario.
Allen
mskitty38583
05-03-2008, 09:31 AM
everytime i go into the other store...i ask to see the hort. specialist they are suppossed to have there to," answer all my gardening questions" as they advertise,"you can do it, we can help".. but each time i go in there all i get is the manager who knows absolutely nothing about plants and even less about ferts, soils and mulches. so i go to my fav gh instead and he can," answer all my gardening questions", and he dosent act like im taking up his time. that is the kind of thing that makes you want to buy from someone. when they take the time to answer you and go out of their way to find that one little plant thats stuck in the back corner of the green house covered up by another plant.not the i dont know, attitude. i went into a walleyworld the other day just to see if they knew what they were selling and asked about a chinese fan palm. there were 4 sitting in the corner, and they told me they didnt have any. ??????????????
Richard
05-03-2008, 10:38 AM
... so i go to my fav gh instead and he can," answer all my gardening questions", and he dosent act like im taking up his time. ...
I'd do the same thing!
mrbungalow
05-03-2008, 10:52 AM
I come from the capitol of incompetance: Bergen, Norway. Who else would build 6 turnabouts on the city-freeway??
For instance: My local nursery has just discovered that exotic plants can survive and thrive here in Bergen, after a few customers have told them for about 5 years. This winter, they left all their surplus musa basjoos outside in small pots, thinking they would cope with -6 degree weather with no problems. They were offcourse dead as dead can be. Just a TINY amount of common sense goes a long way.
Besides growing plants, I make my own beer. There are about 2 stores here in Bergen that are in the business of selling raw materials for beer and wine-production. Neither of the store owners supply real beer-malt, and don't even know wich yeast is best for lager style beers. I ask: Why be in the business if you need customers to educate you??
"If you want something done, do it yourself."
Ahava
05-03-2008, 02:29 PM
Besides growing plants, I make my own beer. There are about 2 stores here in Bergen that are in the business of selling raw materials for beer and wine-production. Neither of the store owners supply real beer-malt, and don't even know wich yeast is best for lager style beers. I ask: Why be in the business if you need customers to educate you??
"If you want something done, do it yourself."
Guess some things are the same all over the world! I work at Walmart, and the one thing that I hate is how we get sent products, like vacuums for instance, but we don't carry that vacuum's replacement bags o.O and I get to feel like an idiot when I explain to customers we don't have something like that. *sigh* I blame it all on the upper managemant. Who does the ordering for these companies I ask you? Because I know Walmart isn't the only one who does that kind of crap. Are they smoking something when they do this job? These people are supposed to have degrees in business management? And so it comes back around to plants... unless the manager or the caretaker is there, you could go up to the girls at the garden dept and ask them something as simple as, "How do you plant tomato seeds?" and they would look at you cluelessly and giggle. *rolls eyes*
damaclese
05-03-2008, 02:48 PM
boy do i know what u meen about wally world i was in there last night and asked the gardin atendint if she had any canna bulbs and she said she didnt even know what they were i just walked away it was easer then blowing a gaskit:2757:
damaclese
05-03-2008, 02:58 PM
I started working in the garden department of an "orange box store" here in San Diego a month ago. To work as a sales associate in the garden department, you have to pass 8 two-hour garden certification training courses and the 1/2 hour test at the end of each one. If you don't pass, your job is watering, sweeping, stocking, and helping people find products (e.g., where is the steer manure?). If you do pass, your job is answering horticultural questions plus all those other tasks. Today at the end of my shift I moved all the Zebrinas out of the fruit section and into the ornamental tropical section, and moved all the Passiflora edulis vines out of the ornamental vine section and into the fruit section. Both of these errors were performed by a supplier and not an employee! richard good for you im a 45 year old man living in vegas and i have to say that u are totaly right they dont do it right and i think its becaus they just dont give a EDITED if they do a good job or not im working for Starbucks and the Kids drive me nut not only are they planly under egacated but they dont even care to luren and there maners are atroshes this is why i only go to a real nursery now it beats being frustrated my main nursry is so helpfull if they dont know they always walke me over to there books and look it up for me or they take my nuber and call me back its realy nice and i love them for it im sending them some of my bananas when they ripin
51st state
05-03-2008, 06:28 PM
[QUOTE=mrbungalow;36454]which yeast is best for lager style beers
QUOTE]
Heineken yeast of course!
How's it going Erlend? weathers set fair here and I'm planting out
Gardener972
05-04-2008, 10:27 PM
Twice now I've been to the orange box store and w'world and told them how to water the plants. They just tell me, "I was told to water all the plants." I've taken them around to all the plants and told them what TO water and what NOT to water. Like... they water the cactus every day. Give me a break! No wonder the plants look like crap all the time! And I did it with MY time and didn't get paid a dime just because I love plants and can't stand to see them drown. Sigh... now my blood pressure is up. :2750:
Ahava
05-05-2008, 01:00 AM
[QUOTE=Gardener972;36559]Twice now I've been to the orange box store and w'world and told them how to water the plants. They just tell me, "I was told to water all the plants." I've taken them around to all the plants and told them what TO water and what NOT to water. Like... they water the cactus every day. Give me a break! No wonder the plants look like crap all the time! And I did it with MY time and didn't get paid a dime just because I love plants and can't stand to see them drown. Sigh... now my blood pressure is up. :2750:[/QUOTE
Oh I know it, but they doubly don't care because whatever starts to look bad gets damaged out and thrown in a compactor. I've seen them wheel buggy fulls of wilty but still thriving and very much alive plants. I have to walk away, makes me sad.
Richard
05-05-2008, 02:18 AM
I'm happy to report that the folks who water the plants at the orange box store where I work are good caretakers of plants. Now if customers would put things back where they found them a few feet away, I might have more time to help people with their questions!
Ahava
05-05-2008, 02:42 AM
I'm happy to report that the folks who water the plants at the orange box store where I work are good caretakers of plants. Now if customers would put things back where they found them a few feet away, I might have more time to help people with their questions!
Ain't that the truth! /sigh. Just don't hold your breath. LoL :2748:
Tropicallvr
05-05-2008, 03:48 AM
I come from the capitol of incompetance: Bergen, Norway. Who else would build 6 turnabouts on the city-freeway??
For instance: My local nursery has just discovered that exotic plants can survive and thrive here in Bergen, after a few customers have told them for about 5 years. This winter, they left all their surplus musa basjoos outside in small pots, thinking they would cope with -6 degree weather with no problems. They were offcourse dead as dead can be. Just a TINY amount of common sense goes a long way.
"If you want something done, do it yourself."
I hear ya on that!
I gave away a ton of M. sikkimensis X paradisica, and M.aurantica seedlings last fall, and told them "these are hardy bananas, but they must be sheltered till they get bigger", I was met with blank stares like, yeah right they are hardy, I'm not gonna take the time to over winter....I wonder if any survived?
mskitty38583
05-05-2008, 09:39 AM
whats real bad??? when you walk through the "other" store and tell them they have scale on their cyads and palms, they tell you that the stalks of the palms and cyads are suppossed to shed.???????? i look at them and tell them ok, scale is a bug, not a shedding problem. or when your walking around and someone ask the associate for help and the associate says i dont know. do yall find yourself jumping in and answering the question for the undertrained associate? it really makes me mad when this happens and the customer is a little elderly lady who has a hard time walking let alone trying to plant something in hanging baskets. and what makes me madder then that ...when the associates tries to get that same little elderly lady to buy things that she absolutely doesnt need for growing petunias in hanging baskets, just to make their sales look good. oh i just want to smack some people.
damaclese
05-05-2008, 09:43 AM
I'm happy to report that the folks who water the plants at the orange box store where I work are good caretakers of plants. Now if customers would put things back where they found them a few feet away, I might have more time to help people with their questions! You should see what they do here in Vegas Richard its a crime so much for are being stowerd of are planit ie. plants the put the rose plants out on to the hot sidwalk right in the sun then only wate them ones in a wial. they always look heat stressed they have the gall to try and charg you full price for them when they arnt praobly even going to live throw the transplanting
its at times like that i have to just let go and let god if u know what im talking about
Richard
05-05-2008, 09:17 PM
That's disgusting.
Gardener972
05-05-2008, 10:48 PM
The third week of April this year I was in the orange store looking for caladium bulbs because you're not supposed to plant them here until around the 1st week of May or they will rot in the ground. I was told they were in the process of putting them in the trash compactor and if I caught them I might be able to get some. Sure enough, two minutes later, they wouldn't have been in there! To beat that, I was charged FULL price! Go figure...:confused:
Another time in July last year at the orange store, I went at night and they had just put out aspisdistra out front, facing the brutal west sun. I told them they are shade plants and if they leave them there they won't sell any because they'll all be burned to crisp. They listened.
Why are these types of people working in a plant department anyway? They make the ones that know something look bad!
Oh, and yes, I too have answered customer questions that the sales people don't know.
Dean W.
05-06-2008, 09:31 AM
The third week of April this year I was in the orange store looking for caladium bulbs because you're not supposed to plant them here until around the 1st week of May or they will rot in the ground. I was told they were in the process of putting them in the trash compactor and if I caught them I might be able to get some. Sure enough, two minutes later, they wouldn't have been in there! To beat that, I was charged FULL price! Go figure...:confused:
Gardner, did they say why they were throwing them out? :0519:
Gardener972
05-06-2008, 08:46 PM
Gardner, did they say why they were throwing them out? :0519:
Yeah, they said it said on the package to plant them until the end of April and they wanted to make room for new merchandise. I told them that caladiums weren't supposed to go in until the first of May but they said they were only doing what they were told. I went over to another non-chain nursery and they had bins full of caladiums still!
They should hire us people that know a little about gardening as consultants!!
Dean W.
05-06-2008, 09:24 PM
How unfortunate...:0493:
Richard
05-06-2008, 09:44 PM
...
They should hire us people that know a little about gardening as consultants!!
Actually I work in the garden department of an orange box store in San Diego, CA. Most of the customers know me and trust my judgement. Today though, I asked a new customer if they needed any help selecting fruit trees for their area. He turned around and said "If you work here, you can't possibly know anything about plants" and then turned away. One of my regular customers was standing near by and we both had a good laugh.
Gardener972
05-06-2008, 09:53 PM
Exactly what I'm talking about! You have to prove yourself and it shouldn't be that way!
mskitty38583
05-07-2008, 08:41 AM
"If you work here, you can't possibly know anything about plants"
wow! what a compliment to anyone who works in a garden center or nursery and knows about gardening and plants. but a lot of the time its true. most of the people at these places would not know a dogwood tree from a palm tree, which is sad. if they did know more and could help people, the store would make more money and they wouldnt have to throw away half of their plants at the end of the season.
rain forest
05-07-2008, 11:50 PM
i work for royal parks...i love plants but when you deal in thousands upon thousands of them you become blaise after a while they become like any other commodity "sad to say" ..as for knowing a dogwood from a trachy! that's simply not true, a lot of the guys & dolls have an amazing knowledge for all the obscure types of plants ....remember one plant my have hundred of varieties
mskitty38583
05-07-2008, 11:54 PM
come vist the walleyworld in my town....you would see what i mean. lol!
rain forest
05-08-2008, 12:05 AM
come on get a reality check here please ...you my like fish but if you had to gut them all day for a living you'd soon change your tune!!! these people don't walk around with a basket leasurly pick flowers for the table...it's not Mary poppins
Richard
05-08-2008, 12:25 AM
come on get a reality check here please ...you my like fish but if you had to gut them all day for a living you'd soon change your tune!!! these people don't walk around with a basket leasurly pick flowers for the table...it's not Mary poppins
But the employees they are talking about only have shelf-stocking skills: knowledge of horticulture is completely lacking.
rain forest
05-08-2008, 12:36 AM
most of the advice we give out gets ignored anyway Q will this oive tree grow on my stoop A. no it needs full sun ...Q why did my olive tree die on the stoop?
vicman2
06-24-2008, 02:14 AM
Great forum. I'm new to bananas having just purchased a 5' green banana from Home Depot and 4' Red Leaf from a local nursery. I do not expect great advice from retail places. I come to forums like this one. I have had some success with Bamboo's and Palms thanks to advice from the various online forums. I live in Victoria, British Columbia which is on the edge of the hardiness range of bamboos, palms and bananas. The various municipal districts in this area have full time gardeners that look after their tropical plantings. These people are trained horticulturist and earn $20 to $30 per hour plus benefits. The people at Walmart, Canadian Tire and Home Depot earn around $10 to $15 per hour and are expected to know hardware, plumbing and gardening. Buy your plants at these places and search for advice elseware. Home Depot has a one year warantee-so save your reciepts.
I live near the Butchart Gardens (500 metres away but am 60 metres higher in elevation) I get more frost days than them. Much advice is very site specific and you have to have some common sense when applying advice.
damaclese
06-24-2008, 07:43 AM
Bad language only makes people not listen please Be kind i think as adults we can all talk with out resorting to disrespectfully discourse
i would ask this person why this topic makes you so mad that you have to rebuke people with such anger remember the vast majority of people here on Bananas.org are Farly experienced armature gardeners and do have a some knowledge of plants and their care
MediaHound
06-24-2008, 07:50 AM
Pauly, I think rain forest was referring to the uneducated people at the garden centers, not the members here... regardless, I have deleted the post as it was a bit vulgar and obviously the meaning was confusing.
Cheers guys
Lagniappe
06-24-2008, 01:23 PM
http://www.bananas.org/13721-post25.html
microfarmer
06-25-2008, 02:03 PM
I gave up on asking for advice from the box stores. I dig up my own and run with it. I also help people in the stores with plants I know about.
"you put the lime in the coconut and mix it all up" - jimmy buffett
I put the lime in the coconut and mixed them both together...:0517:
Las Palmas Norte
06-27-2008, 12:31 AM
I never go into a big box store or most garden centers for advice. I've seen far too many inaccuracies and careless practices. I believe they should stick to BBQ's, plumbing /electrical supplies and lumber.
Cheers, Barrie.
Richard
06-27-2008, 04:00 AM
I never go into a big box store or most garden centers for advice. I've seen far too many inaccuracies and careless practices. I believe they should stick to BBQ's, plumbing /electrical supplies and lumber.
Cheers, Barrie.
You might be surprised who works in Home Depot garden centers. Take Tom Del Hotal of CRFG fame for example ...
Las Palmas Norte
06-27-2008, 12:47 PM
I don't doubt there are a few good people here and there. My experiences have lead me to my conclusions and I hope someday I'll meet a knowledgeable plantsman in one of those stores.
Cheers, Barrie.
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