by Lauren Vickerman

Created on: January 24, 2009

Summer will be here before we know it, and we are all salivating over the glossy seed catalogs that are showing up each day in our mailboxes. I can almost taste the tomatoes now. But when the soil warms and the sun is higher in the sky, my instant gratification mode sets in. I want an instant garden in two weeks or less, so obviously, my thoughts turn to container gardens and annual color. So, do I run out to Home Depot, or Wal-Mart to pick up flats and flats of color, or do I visit my local independent garden center and come home with a few choice annuals to complete my garden? My short answer is both, but read on.

First, define what you are looking to do. There is no question that the big box stores have plenty to offer when it comes to annual bedding plants. If you are hoping to circle a tree with impatiens or begonias, you will pay much less if you shop at a large retailer. You will need a large quantity of plants to complete the look you need, and for pure color impact this would probably fit your needs perfectly.

However, having been in the plant business for almost 20 years, I can tell you unequivocally that the small independent garden center is a far superior choice when it comes to overall quality and selection of plants. An independent garden center (or IGC) will often grow a portion of their own product. This is good for the consumer on many levels including that you are literally buying close to home and therefore your plants will be acclimated better to your growing conditions than many of the plants you see at the large retailers. The price that you pay at an ICG may be a mere few cents more than what you will pay at a big box store, but make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Often, an IGC will offer a 4.5 inch pot, for instance, and a big box will offer a 4 inch pot. It doesn't seem like a big difference, but it adds up. Not to mention that that 4 inch pot may have traveled over 500 miles to reach your local store. So how can it be cheaper, you ask? The big boxes buy in such large quantities, and over such a large area, that they can still pass along the savings to you. What they don't pass on is quality. How can a plant grown in the Carolina's 4 weeks earlier, shipped on shrink-wrapped crates with drastic temperature fluctuations be a healthier plant that the one your IGC owner grew himself with his own compost in his own greenhouse? It can't be, and it isn't.

Back to defining your purpose. I love annuals. They are a fascinating and exploding

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