BCSS - Forum

As someone new to this fascinating hobby, I attach the under noted photo of an attractive display of well looked after cacti and succulents in a well known garden centre.

While the items are most attractive for buyers like myself, I noticed that the individual plants are not named which I find quite frustrating. Does this tend to be standard practice?

They all look Dutch, nothing wrong with that but mixed trays of Dutch plants are rarely named. They are usually well grown but can deteriorate rapidly in poor light in a garden centre. There can often be a few similar plants in one pot to bump up the size to something a garden centre likes to sell. Garden centres don't like to sell cacti in 5cm pots in mixed trays as they're too cheap! Cactus Nurseries are far better because everything will be named. Naming by Google doesn't work but this Forum is ideal for putting names to plants. If you see a well grown plant in a garden centre, buy it and put a photo here and someone will give you a name. The garden centre is very unlikely to know. An exception may be the plants sold wholesale to garden centres by Chris Pugh, I've only met him at wholesale nurseries in Holland but at least the plants he sells from Holland are correctly named when he distributes them to garden centres.
Stuart

Thank you Stuart for the helpful reply. The cacti are supplied by a nursery in Holland.

I will now look at some of the nurseries itemised by TBC&SS.

If you want to ID some of them, look here:
http://www.arianecactus.be/plantenlijst ... al=en&id=1

Unfortunately most garden centres sell unnamed plants, one of the rare exceptions near me was a wyevale centre that had a nice selection of plants with proper labels. I say was as they changed to a poor selection of unnamed plants which on my most recent visit had changed to a very poor selection

I have a GC near me that sells a good selection of labelled cacti and succulents at poverty prices. Sadly on more than one occasion I've spotted bored brats pulling the labels out quickly followed by frantic parents poking them back into a pot - any pot will do!

My local garden centre sells named plants. That could have something to do with me taking them trays of spare plants once in a while!

Ikea label most of their plants, which is perhaps surprising.

There are a lot of wrongly-labelled plants around, so it's always worth looking up a new plant to try to find out if it is what it says it is.

KathyM wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 3:25 pm Ikea label most of their plants, which is perhaps surprising.

There are a lot of wrongly-labelled plants around, so it's always worth looking up a new plant to try to find out if it is what it says it is.

The ones which my daughter bought for me were not. Those which have survived and grown have labels .... my best guesses.

If I venture into a garden centre I usually see what cacti and succulents there are; not usually that impressive and invariably no labels with much meaning. That display in the picture is a nice one.

My early years of cactus & succulent hoarding started at B&Q. That must be 30 years ago or more when I think you got eight varied plants for around £2. From Holland I believe and invariably grown in peat, but nice plants, poor labelling.

Much more discerning now and hate a plant with no plausible label! The best source is branches, shows, specialist nurseries & not forgetting some really excellent sellers \ growers of which at least two of the very best have commented on this very subject above. Free publicity!