Why do they make me hunt for information, like simply the name of the plant? ?

I think their ideal customer would not ask "complicated" questions like "what plant is this?".

Hey, if you knew what it was, you might know it wouldn't grow in your zone.

I noticed that they tend not to be specific about the cultivar, and sometimes event he species was vague. My guess is that they want to market things as generically as possible. If they don't say exactly what it is, they can do legally what I think Hirt's Nursery does intentionally: market things under a fancy, expensive name when they are the cheapest, commonest variety that exists.

I'll become less cynical about that kind of practice the first time I see a big company make such a mistake that favors the CUSTOMER.

No-Name labels let them market truck-loads of "whatever" with a generic label like "perennial for spring/fall". Hard to sue them for misrepresentation, as long as there is SOME spot on Earth where they might come back from their roots in a good year.

Even then - say they sell you a total and obvious annual as a perennial. If you don't have a DNA lab or skilled plant ID experts, if the label doesn't say what the plant IS, how do you know it isn't really a perennial? Maybe "it just died".

I felt lucky I had my QR code reader downloaded on my phone. But the info on the scan was just as vague!! I think you are right@RickCorey. It's a marketing scheme/scam. I was a teen when I tossed out my caladium that had "died". I learned at a young age to do my research before buying. They are making a bit harder to do that..

Sigh.

I have a gardening book from the 1940s, and even way back then, they warned about the perfidy and lack of integrity of "nurserymen".

This Grumpy Old Man thinks that the level of integrity in business (and politics) has been dropping like a rock for some decades, but it seems that labeling plants honestly or informatively has been "optional" for at least 70 years.

Caveat emptor!

I.e. "Good luck, Jack!"

Or more simply....because they can.

Yikes, that is the most generic plant tag I've ever seen! Shade Perennial...sheesh. For various reasons, I only buy plants from local nurseries, or exchange with trusted friends.

So. Can you see the plant behind the tag? I was so baffled by the plant tag I didn't think to take on of the plant? Curiosity has the best of me. What is it? It looked like s succulent, a puffy Mother of Thousands, but bigger and leafier.

The one I see to the lower right of the tag looks like Panda Plant (Kalanchoe tomentosa)

Part of it is just sheer BS. Too cheap to have a legit tag that indicates the actual plant. Even worse with many of those generic "perennial" tags is the lack of hardiness info. On many cases I KNOW what the plant is and KNOW it is not hardy in our zone. I always ask for a Supervisor and tell them "this plant is gonna die here". Lowes is good about it here. They are also great on their 1 yr guarantee.

My local HD sucks. Many of their plants have these generic tags that are USELESS.

It is like pulling teeth to get them to honor their 1 year guarantee. Once I took a plant back and they started grilling me. Then they called some other guy over and he gave me a hard time. I indicated that I was a Master Gardener, Master Naturalist, a horticulturist for over 40 years and ran a business at the farmers market selling plants. After a Supervisor was brought over and also grilled me, I told them they were clueless and told em where to put the plant. They finally gave me my refund. I buy few things there.

Sorry bout the rant.

I agree with Jay. Best I can tell from the photo, all the foliage in the background looks like Kalanchoe tomentosa. If that tag is in those plants, it really is giving invalid information IMO. I wouldn't call it 'tall' or 'perennial' and you wouldn't be growing it for the blooms anytime. Mine blooms in the winter months after I bring it in for the winter months. I've seen those tags and hate them.


Edit to add that mine was sold as the cultivar 'Chocolate Soldier'.

I am an unabashed cynic when I go into any place selling plants or seeds or any other gardening related product.
It is all about marketing and NOT honest marketing!
They want you to walk in and just buy the plant because it is pretty! and not because you want to keep the plant!

I once found blue poppies for sale as annuals! I did a double take because I think of them as perennials. That greenhouse was correct though---blue poppies are monocarpic-
the plants were all in flower.

Call you and raise you.

Last year I bought a Holly with a tag specifically for that plant from the grower no less that indicated Zone 5. While researching the plant I found that it is hardy to Zone 7. Now that really bites.

A vague tag is worse than no tag at all, IMVHO. And why does any tag need anything more than the name of the plant? The name is the key to any/all info about any plant. I wouldn't trust the info on the tag anyway, unless written by a local person.

It's in the sellers' best interests to put the names. Many people go searching for particular plants that they don't recognize if not blooming yet, and/or are susceptible to collecting names, or species of a genus. If I see a mystery plant and don't realize it's one I don't already have, I might not get it. The conditions at the grower/store usually cause the tiny succulents to look so much alike, but I know that after I take them home and give them much more light, their pretty colors can really manifest. If a name can confirm it's something I don't already own, my curiosity about observing to see how it's different will open my wallet. W/o a name, it may or may not be the same thing I already have. I have zero budget for buying the same thing twice because of vague or missing labels.

I didn't buy a mystery plant a couple weeks ago that I suspected was a Homalomena because it didn't say that's what it was. This is not a "wow" attractive plant we're talking about, but very generic and nondescript, plain green plant that had about 7 leaves; the kind of thing probably only someone looking for one would want, so it really could use some help being recognized. Although Homalomena is on my wish list since the old days of plant books with black'n'white pics, if I'd parted with $5 and ended up with some less common Spathiphyllum, I'd be very disappointed. I know I don't want any more of those at all. I have a small enough plant budget that I don't need to branch into mystery plants that may be something I actively don't want. I can easily spend it on accurately named specimens somewhere, never had a problem blowing the entire budget that way yet.

We seem to be in an age when people have lost the desire and ability to self-teach. In the "old days," when one had to go to an actual library *building* to seek the knowledge, or purchase ones' own books, it seems like people were more able to and interested in self-educating. I taught myself how to type, garden, cook, get taxes done, fix some things, do various crafts, filed a pro se bankruptcy, and other mundane stuff that's helpful to get through life because I wanted to learn and made the effort to seek the knowledge. I don't see people doing much of this anymore, and on garden groups on Facebook, people constantly ask the simplest questions that take longer to type than to google. Some of them don't realize the ARE ON the internet. It's flabbergasting! There is the entire world of info instantly available, and they don't even know they have it in their hands, let alone how to use it.

>> We seem to be in an age when people have lost the desire and ability to self-teach.

I agree. It's easier than ever to find information - even easy-to-digest information - sometimes even CORRECT information - but once it requires any effort or, perhaps, thought, many people act as if a Google search is harder than teaching themselves Greek.

It's raining soup, but some people won't even hold out their bowl.

I guess big box stores are even worse than I thought. Once I went to one I was unfamiliar with - HUGE plant section. I asked a clerk where the ROSES were, and his brow furrowed. I could see smoke come out from his ears while he tried to process the complicated question "where" and the esoteric, incomprehensible gardening jargon "ROSES". He fumbled around rather than admitting which part of the question was difficult, and then i saw them over his shoulder, where he had been sweeping earlier. Okey-dokey. I guess not everyone can recognize roses or read the word "ROSES" on large pots and labels.

He didn't seem to have any brain damage, other than being a teen aged guy in a job he didn't appreciate.

Seriously, LOL, Rick! The raining soup thing could be a bumper sticker!

I forget who I stole it from but ... always to call that kind of plagiarism "research".

I know that enthusiasts for space colonization refer to solar power and asteroidal metals that way: it's raining soup, but we won't invest in soup bowls.

If all the plant sellers labeled their plants with the correct name , then gardeners would be more successful at gardening . They would soon have lovely flower beds, borders, hedges and such. And would not be buying from them as often.

Their motto must be "It is best to tell a lie, so the plant will up and die. There is money to be made here, because they will be back next year. And the next year, never fear."

Well, something like this.

Reine

Nice rhyme,

Like the pharmacy that sells acne cream AND candy and ice cream. Repeat business.

In rebuttal of that theory/analogy, I propose that dead plants possibly cause a lot of people to give up instead of buy more. Relying on or even hoping for the repeat business of the addicted yet uninformed enough to succeed doesn't sound like a viable plan to me.

I do think it's an active conversation at the growers though, and possibly also at the corporate level of the/some BBS's, from comments about painted plants, irradiated philodendrons, Sansevieria plants with fuzzy paint, glow in the dark plants, blue orchids, and vague tagging, that I've seen "out there" or directly received in response to questions from a large, well known operation. I think that would fall under the category of hoping to attract new plant lovers by getting their attention via novelty plants, new versions of old plants, or ordinary plants with something done to them (like some kind of paint.) Surely the idea goes past potted house plants.

I've tried explaining that the true addicts already know the plants, and are mostly trying to find something they know about but don't already have, or something so unusual they've not encountered it before at all (not just a diff color flower or dwarf version of an well known plant,) but I'm not sure how much impact that had.

Basic marketing = identify your customer.