Went to a well known, local department/general store yesterday. It's a family run business that started out as a general store catering primarily to farmers. It's much bigger now, and despite my impending rant, i still feel that it's a well run, upstanding company, therefore i'm not naming names! i'm sure if you live in my area, you'll figure out where i mean.
Anyway, they have a fairly large plant/garden area, and is always one of the stops in my "Spring Hunt For Plants I Don't Have Yet" trek. Now, this isn't the only place i have seen this happen, but was a little disappointed that this store, the one i have known most of my life, is now carrying perennials that are NOT hardy in my area! *(A perennial is a plant that should live thru the winter - outdoors - and continue to grow for many seasons)* Not just borderline - a full 2 or 3 zones off from ours! Now, i live and breathe plants, so i know to check the tags before i fall in love with a particular cultivar, but most folks just want a nice plant, and will assume that if a local store is carrying this plant that says "Perennial", that of course, it would mean it's a perennial HERE, in zone 5, not (as the tag reads) in zone 7 (which is GEORGIA, not Ohio!).They do have a 1 year guarantee on perennials, but i don't know if they would honor that or just say, "Well, it's not hardy here, so the guarantee doesn't apply". i have a feeling they WOULD honor it, so then what? - then they lose money, guaranteeing plants that had no chance to begin with!
And it may not be the store's fault at all - are the buyers for the store given the correct information, or are they just told the plants are "perennials"? As i said, this is not the only place i've seen this happen, but i'd like to know where the fault lies....
***Oh, i have tried many plants not considered to be hardy here to try and stretch my luck, but that is MY decision, backed with the knowledge that it very well could die! As Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery likes to say, " I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times!" (by the way, Tony, I'm still waiting for my Tetrapanax "Steroidal Giant" to try to kill!). By the way, i would love to work there - after reading their catalog, i'm convinced everyone there is mentally unbalanced (i'd fit right in)! Here's their website ***
But i digress... no, the plant tags attached to these plants i refer to do NOT lie - they ARE perennial - almost ALL plants are perennial somewhere, if the situation is right. i get tired of watching "House Hunters" when the hunt is in the tropics, and my tiny houseplants (here) are 20 foot outdoor giants THERE! Saw one home and garden show a while back, the homeowners had a problem with a 25 ft. Bird of Paradise plant (no..colony)(no.. TREE!) that was taking over their front yard - they actually had to bring in heavy equipment to dig it out! LOL - that's what they get for living in Paradise - serves 'em right!
But, please, if you're new to gardening or not, pay attention to those plant tags - know what hardiness zone you're in and match it up to the plant tag info (note: if you're in zone 5, plants hardy to zone 3 or 2, etc. are fine - that just means the plant is good in even colder areas than yours, and should do great).
This is a fairly simple map, but you can Google for more detailed ones online.
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