tags & brochures just a snapshot in time

Listen up, gardeners and garden pros, you both might find this interesting. Yesterday at the MFGA/MNLA Summer Meeting I attended a talk by Lois Berg Stack, a horticulture professor and extension specialist up in Maine. She was giving a run-down of about 2 dozen annuals from her trial gardens that she thought were terrific plants. Her intro slide had a close-up of two annuals intermingled - ageratum and another lesser-known plant. What a pretty and serene combinbation.

Ageratum flowers, she pointed out, will become a tousled browning mess before you can put your camera away, and the other annual will peter out after a few days and really isn't worth its time in the garden. This picture-perfect slide is just a snapshot in time, she said.

Tags and brochures and point-of-purchase materials are wonderful ways to communicate how lovely plants will be in the garden. But those photos are truly just "snapshots in time." Many people coming through the garden center will see the pretty tag, and maybe if they are lucky will see the symbol for sun or shade. Impressed with what the photos promise, they'll place the plants on their carts and take off for home.

The tags will never ever show fading blooms or leaves overcome by powdery mildew or the results of planting full-sun plants in full shade. Nor can we ever expect to see a disclaimer at the bottom of the tag reading "this is only a depiction of the plant when grown under optimum condition by gardening professionals."

So, what are we to do?

Breeders are doing their part by breeding plants that will better resist powdery mildew or be better self-cleaning (meaning, those pesky spent flowers just fall off or otherwise disappear), and the like. Better performing plants have a better chance of actually looking like those beautiful photos.

For those of you making the plant purchases, aim for results like those in the pretty photos. But don't knock yourself if or when it doesn't happen. And your not completely gullible anyway, you realize some marketer is trying to lure you in.

And for those providing the plants - well, you tell me what should be done. I think it boils down to providing the best and most complete information possible. But how can we communicate this to the folks buying the plants?

Any suggestions from either side of the cash register?