For information on ivy care, go to www.ivy.org and click on “Between the Vines.”
Plant buyer beware
This is the time of year when thoughts turn to gardening, fired up by mailboxes stuffed with catalogs offering everything from tree tomatoes to purple green beans.
To avoid disappointment, be wary and read ads carefully. Find out everything you can about the plant being sold. Mail-order suppliers can be a great source for plants, especially if you’re interested in uncommon plants or hard-to-find varieties.
“Sometimes you run into an ad that makes such extravagant claims for a plant that you wonder how it could possibly be that great — and at a bargain price to boot,” says Michigan State extension specialist Mary McLellan.
“An ad or catalog will give a glowing description of the spectacular performance of the plant. Perhaps the plant did grow that much — or flower and fruit profusely at least once under ideal conditions in some other part of the country or world,” says McLellan.
The question is whether the plant can perform that well in your yard or garden. McLellan points out that sometimes an ad tells only part of the truth. Ads for zoysia grass say it stays green during the hottest, driest months of summer. This is true. What the ad neglects to mention is that it is the color of wheat stubble the rest of the year.
Missing information can be as important or more important than the information given.
The first step is to find out what the plant is. Ads often use common names rather than botanical names. Sometimes they even invent names. This makes it difficult or impossible to learn more about the plant.
The very real problem with common names is that plants are known by different names in different sections of the country. Each plant has only one botanical name, so if you know or can determine what that name is, you can consult books, references or the Internet to find out what you need to know.
Here’s what you need to find out: Is the plant hardy in Lancaster County? Or the tree with the phenomenal growth rate — is it short-lived in the landscape because of pest and disease problems? Many are. Or is it susceptible to storm damage?
Pictures often portray plants in full growth, but what you receive in the mail may be spindly little sticks with a few roots or a packet of seeds. It will be years before they look like the plants in the ad.
“Although it sounds cynical, a bargain that sounds too good to be true probably is,” McLellan says. To avoid disappointment, order only from reputable companies recommended by friends.
Buy locally when you can, so you can see the plants you’re buying. When you read ads or catalogs and see something that sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Bob Stiffler is a freelance columnist whose column appears every Thursday. He lives in Willow Street. Send your gardening questions to: Bob Stiffler, c/o Your Life, P.O. Box 1328, Lancaster, PA 17608-1328. Letters are edited only for brevity and will be printed in the order received. For a faster reply, e-mail him at: rstiffler@dejazzd.com.
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