Plant marketing and plant tags — what is your best source of information?

Gardeners are always on the hunt for new plants. We gather ideas from fellow gardeners, plant catalogs, websites as well as garden center impulse purchases. How do we know if we are getting a great plant or falling prey to smooth copywriters?

Hot new plants — are they really?

New plants hit the retailers with slick marketing tags. The description is glowing with phrases like “new and improved,” “vigorous grower” and “outstanding flowering.” The marketing firm did its job to make the plant sound glorious. You must have it.

You will never see a plant tag plainly state the negatives like “does not tolerate heat,” “requires a constant supply of water,” “only flowers under cool temperatures,” “hates clay soils.” You get the picture.

The bottom line — new plants are not usually tested in the real world, like your garden. They come on the market, often rushed to beat out the competition. Experience shows most new plants are not able to fulfill the promises made to you. Some people, like me, take the wait-and-see approach and let the first adopters work out the kinks of what the plant needs. Second generation releases are sometimes better options.

Plant tags are helpful

The plant nursery tag is small but chock full of information. Can you trust the information on it? Like the marketing material, it’s only going to reveal positive attributes like height, spread, sun exposure and other cultural information. The real question becomes — is that information accurate for the brutal Midwest conditions?

From my experience, this information is vital but must be interpreted. Take heights and spreads of trees and shrubs, for example. I like to figure out where it was grown and make educated guesses. A tag might say a spruce grows to 50 to 70 feet. Evergreens are most likely grown in Oregon or Washington. No tree in Kansas City gets that tall. Our soils, winds and rainfall don’t support that growth. I would recommend backing down to maybe 50 feet, 30 to 40 feet is more likely since it is slower growing.

Exposure is difficult. Tags indicate sun exposure to be either sun, part-sun, shade or a combination. Again, where was this information gathered? Afternoon sun in Michigan is not the same as a sunny August afternoon in Kansas City.

What if the tag said sun to part-sun or part-sun to shade? I would plant in a location receiving morning sun and afternoon filtered light. What about shade to part-sun? Avoid afternoon sun. Part-shade to sun? I prefer morning sun and afternoon shade. The first location listed is probably the plant’s best exposure.

It can be confusing, so doing your research before making purchases will help you wisely spend your plant dollars. Fellow gardeners and Extension offices are your best source of information. Even those glossy catalogs and websites can help. Just remember their goal is to sell you plants.

Dennis Patton is a horticulture agent with Kansas State University Research and Extension. Got a question for him or other university extension experts? Email them to garden.help@jocogov.org.