Why can't garden centers figure this out?

[meridannight]

Scored this beautiful Bromeliad (should be an Aechmea) today. I don't know how it is in the US, but over here garden centers cannot be trusted to have correct names for the plants they are selling, and even if they happen to name the plants correctly, they can't figure out the right care for the plants. I find it inexplicable.

So I bought this beautiful Bromeliad, and took it home to find that the substrate it was in was completely drenched! It was planted in pure peat moss (that's the fault of the nursery it came from) and it was mucky and literally dripping with water as I pulled it out of its pot. This is an epiphyte! It barely needs any watering in the root zone at all when it's planted in a substrate like peat! It's not like the garden centers don't have anybody with a botanical background working for them. They do. And they still don't know how to care for the plants. Pisses me off.

Luckily I got the plant within 2-3 days from when they got it, so they hadn't been abusing it for too long.

[Paul S]

I think that is a Guzmania. In Europe these plants are raised by the 100 sq metre in the Netherlands in giant glasshouses and it is easiest for them to root them into peat in their production lines. From then on they are treated as cut flowers in terms of longevity - just disposable - they aren't intended to survive for longer than a couple of weeks. I'm not saying that is the right way to go about things or that I agree with it, just that is what happens.

[meridannight]

Yeah, I know. Mass production, computerized greenhouses, etc, etc. I was just venting.

All of that applies on the nursery side, though. The garden centers themselves, though, should act more educated than that. It's not that difficult. Some of them actually act like they're trying to sell living things and care for them accordingly, but for a lot of them plants are just money. They don't really care for the plants and it shows. I hate that attitude. If it's just money you're after you should be in a different line of business, one where your actions don't affect living things. There are plenty of inanimate things to sell to people.

It might be a Guzmania. I wasn't sure, the tag said 'Aechmea' but I doubted that myself.

[Paul S]

Over here in England the overwhelming majority of garden centres are only in it for the money - mostly they sell sundries like pots, chairs, lawn feed and spades. It is usually the tea room that generates the most cash, staffed by ladies of a certain age on minimum wage. Live plants are just another range of 'things' that can be sold at a mark up. They take a Danish trolley full of plants with nice bright flowers, sell enough in the first week to make the profit. Matters not if the rest die. The kind of expertise needed to keep plants alive and healthy isn't there.

[gave_agave]

Over here in England the overwhelming majority of garden centres are only in it for the money - mostly they sell sundries like pots, chairs, lawn feed and spades. It is usually the tea room that generates the most cash, staffed by ladies of a certain age on minimum wage. Live plants are just another range of 'things' that can be sold at a mark up. They take a Danish trolley full of plants with nice bright flowers, sell enough in the first week to make the profit. Matters not if the rest die. The kind of expertise needed to keep plants alive and healthy isn't there.

I actually find that the selection of pots in UK garden centers is often abysmal, and my reference is Dutch garden centers. It is easier however to buy jackets, jeans etc in UK garden centers than in Dutch ones.

[Paul S]

Yes, Dutch guys take it seriously. It is said that the English are a nation of gardeners but, from time spent in the Netherlands, we are nothing compared to the Dutch.

[meridannight]

I actually find that the selection of pots in UK garden centers is often abysmal, and my reference is Dutch garden centers. It is easier however to buy jackets, jeans etc in UK garden centers than in Dutch ones.

Wow, jeans at a garden center! Over here it's the interior decor that's doubling as the main stock for some garden centers. Wall clocks, duvets, candles, tableware, and all kinds of trinkets to decorate your home with.

[mcvansoest]

Yes, Dutch guys take it seriously. It is said that the English are a nation of gardeners but, from time spent in the Netherlands, we are nothing compared to the Dutch.

Funny that you say that my mom is keeping two golden barrels (or at least one still) and a prickly pear or two alive in the windowsills of their top floor apartment in Haarlem.... Those GBs are old, I got them when I lived in Amsterdam during grad school... which was 90-94.... then are terribly etiolated, but keep going. I have to get her to send me a fresh picture.

[JoyinAlb]

I feel your pain. I gave a “the garden manager” at a box store a lesson on watering succulents one day because she was watering them every other day. She said “They keep getting all mushy?” When I told her, “Once a week”, she looked at me like I was crazy and asked if I was serious.
How did she get that job?

[meridannight]

Transplanted and ready for his new life. Was able to get an ID as well: Guzmania lingulata variegata. So, the variegated version of the most common Guzmania. But I think this is a good-looking specimen still, and I hope it will produce some pups once it's done flowering.