Big-Box Stores & Native Gardening
Or in other words, how I learned to love the BOP
I love smaller nurseries. If you haven’t done so before, I highly recommend you open up Google Maps and check out if any family owned or any similarly down to earth nurseries are in your neighborhood. Oftentimes, the employees are fantastic to talk to and learn from, the plants are in good condition, and the vibes in general are enough to keep you coming back. The California native specific nurseries, in my experience, are always a joy to visit and worth talking about at length at a different time.
But, for a lot of people, those smaller places are probably not the most accessible or prominent nurseries in their neighborhoods. If you grew up in the Los Angeles basin like me, or most of suburban America for that matter, chances are good that the most frequented place to buy plants is probably the garden center of whatever big-box store is in town. I still remember the local Target’s garden center fondly, and I visited the one at the Walmart fairly often as well (please tell me that most of you still remember that Target sold plants). Those two, however, were secondary to the two heavyweights in this conversation: Home Depot and Lowes.
Whether you prefer the orange or blue store, the story is the same. You walk inside looking for something else, like a wrench or some screws, and you’ll pass by those sliding doors leading out to the semi-outdoor garden center. If you’re any bit interested in plants, why not take a little walk around and look at what’s for sale? Even if you’re not going to buy something, it’s a chance to get some fresh(er) air and sun after walking around inside. I’m sure many people have fallen into this trap, and before you know it, you’re loading a little plant into your car because an extra plant here or there never hurt anyone.
Of course, the other possibility is that you just need to pick up some plants for your weekend project, and the trip down to the big-box store is easy to make. Maybe you’re already signed up for a loyalty program or credit card at the store, or maybe you’re drawn to the sweet sweet discount rack of plants that have fallen on hard times. Regardless, there is a certain appeal in going somewhere familiar even if the plant selection isn’t as robust.
This is all to say that these big-box garden centers occupy a place in the gardening landscape, but what can they do for the California native plant gardener specifically? Big-box stores fill their inventory by buying in bulk from growers, and that means there is little wiggle room for more niche items. This is the equivalent to a “greatest hits” album or compilation for a band. You know exactly what you’re going to get, you probably won’t complain, and it’s really hard to mess it up. But, native plants don’t usually fall under that umbrella in these stores.
Emphasis on “usually.” I have had some successes with just frequent trips to my local Lowes, and in particular the discount racks. While buying some landscaping rocks, I found a number of ‘Margarita BOP’ penstemons going for $7. That’s right, these were 5 gallon penstemons with no problems, as far as I was aware, going for $7 because they were no longer in their flowering peak. I was way too excited to bring a couple home, and my only regret was that I did not purchase more. While foothill penstemons are not members of the local specific sage scrub that I try to model my garden after, I could not say no to a deal like that.
I put them into the ground, and soon, they were throwing up a handful of flowers here and there, even as summer was fully underway. It has been about 2–3 months since those penstemons came home, and they’re doing pretty well. I tasked one of them with surviving some nasty clay soil, and when I say clay, I mean it. Digging out a hole was more of an excavation than anything else, and I felt bad for doing it but I don’t exactly have enough space to be choosy. The plant is just fine for the time being, and both of them have continued to flower.
These BOPs bring such joy to the garden. I don’t know if it’s their pretty purple color (and I love me a good purple) or the fact that they were just $7, but they make me so happy. Besides, how could you be mad at any plant that’s called “BOP?” Since I have two of them, I’m in the habit of referring to them as BOP BOP, and I hope they continue to bring joy for years to come. On a recent trip to another Lowes for a bilge hose, I saw some BOPs on the clearance rack yet again, but they were not looking as healthy as mine were and they were going for $10.50. Maybe another day.
The other member of my native garden from a big-box store is the Juncus patens “Elk Blue.” It was not on sale, and was actually the first plant to go into the ground back in May. Like the BOPs, this juncus is not native to my area of the LA basin, but I was just so happy to find something from California in the store and I thought it would work well as the focal point of a bed. I’ve seen this specific cultivar sold quite often in the big-box stores, and I can see why. It’s a cool looking plant, and is fairly tough, although the hot summer and drought have been taking its toll on mine. To be honest, I have felt that it is a little out of place in my dry garden, but I appreciate it and I would wholly recommend a juncus for those of you with an area with more damp soil on your property.
This, unfortunately, is where my stories end for big-box native garden shopping. In fact, it isn’t even always easy to find something native to this side of the Mississippi. On one level, I get it. I’d wager that most shoppers right now, or people in general, don’t see the value in native gardening and want the familiar hits like marigolds or orchids. These big-box stores want to make money, and I’m not expecting them to actually want to do anything other than that.
However, I can’t get around how absurd it is that we can have plants from all over the world, but almost nothing from our own backyard. The recent push for water conscious gardening is fantastic, and I love seeing sections of stores dedicated to carrying plants that aren’t as thirsty. But is there any particular reason why most of these plants seem to be coming from everywhere other than California? I can’t tell you how many plants I’ve seen that originate from South Africa in a water wise section, and they’re fascinating in their own right, but what was the rationale in carrying those species over our own local ones?
I would wager that most customers walking into that big-box store are not looking for anything in particular, just for plants that won’t take up too much water and meet the specific needs they have in mind. It would be great to have the person shopping in LA county walk home with a plant that is native to the area, without having made an explicit decision to do so.
This movement towards native plants is amazing, and I’m happy to be a part of it. The cultural change that is happening is real, and I hope that homeowners and gardeners of all backgrounds are brought into the fold, especially as the drought only worsens. In an ideal world, I would love for everyone to be able to visit nurseries owned by people who care about the environment and this larger picture.
But I also hope that we can get more people to plant native not because that was some important consideration for them, but because those plants were available, affordable, and accessible. And for a lot of people, the most accessible place might just be the big-box store, and it’s important to reach them.
This is not a call to action, as I don’t think you can count on any business to worry about anything other than their bottom line. There are already foundations and people doing great work to push towards a better gardening future in California, and they deserve their credit. Just, I hope that in that future, there will be more people driving home with sagebrushes and manzanitas alongside their light bulbs, nails, and other home improvement mainstays.
If you’re looking to get into gardening with California native plants, skip the circling over discount racks like a vulture! If you are in the LA area, here are the nurseries that a lot of my plants are from: Plant Material and Artemisia. It’s always a good time to support your local nurseries, if possible.
