Here we are in early December and people were coming into a garden centre where I offer advice this week asking for pansies and spring bulbs. Should we be selling daffodils knowing the bulbs will not perform well, selling pansies that are not really winter flowering pansies but spring flowering! Less knowledgeable customers seem to think we can supply any plant or product any day of the year. Surely the better nurseries and garden centres should advise against carrying out tasks when the results are going to be poor or even a total failure – Looking the other way if we don’t sell those pansies will someone else? I am sticking to my horticultural principles but is it best for the nurseries or the customer? Are we simply turning down money that every nursery or garden centre needs.
I am old enough to remember the introduction of the modern busy lizzie and while gardeners moan about the mildew problems, it’s really an opportunity to find alternatives.
We have been in similar circles before – geranium rust on the old cutting varieties, rotting heads on African Marigolds, Pansy leaf spotting and root rots never mind the mildew on the so called winter Pansies which never really flowered in the winter and what did we get?
The hybrid violas that flower at lower temperatures and are much easier to grow.
So while the Impatiens walleriana may be on its way out here is a real opportunity to promote alternatives like the Begonia family – look at the huge range and types.
Why is nobody talking about the good alternatives? or do we just let the public down again after all downy mildew on Impatiens has been around for years and nobody in the media seems to be helping them find good alternatives.
