Big box store finds 2025

[JeskiM]

I left my sun goddess tricho out fully exposed on my driveway for the entire winter. It saw two cold snaps, one to 20F and one to 15F.

It had a tiny area of cold damage to show for it, then it bloomed 2 months later.

Yes, they can take cold. The one in question is about 2 feet long on the stalk that bloomed.

-Matt

[thyerr01]

@JeskiM Are they a couple of Banksias I see in pots there?

[JeskiM]

10 minutes ago, thyerr01 said:

@JeskiM Are they a couple of Banksias I see in pots there?

Yes.  There are 4 different species I have potted right there.  

ericifolia, menziesii, prionotes, and speciosa.

The speciosa and the larger ericifolia desperately need to be repotted ... they are looking very unhappy right now. I will wait till autumn before I do it.

-Matt

[JeskiM]

I have three other species tucked away in another part of the yard.

oreophila, plagiocarpa, and praemorsa.

Banksia are very tempermental for me. It took a while to figure out a good soil mix to grow them in pots. From seed I get very high germinatiin rate, but also get very high damp-off rates so I only end up with a couple seedlings surviving the first year. But after that they do ok.

-Matt

[JeskiM]

Ok, now back to big box stores ....

I saw pygmy date palms with 5-6 feet of clear trunks with fruit (seeds forming) at the local orange box store here in Georgetown TX yesterday.

When I go back I'll get some pics.

-Matt

[JohnAndSancho]

If I were smart, I probably would have tried to get them to cut this down to like $10. Saw Palmetto 5g they had it for $80 and something definitely fell on it. 

 

The clearance rack was brutal. Lots of Majesties that were absolutely cooked, one was snapped in half and very clearly dead. Maybe one or 2 of the cat palms could have been salvageable but my indoor space is kind of at a premium right now. Anyway I saw this Monstera Cobra and got a little excited and almost walked away with it. Then I looked and looked and I'm like - so the leaves go out at a 90° angle? What's so cool about that? Even if it is $10 and in good shape and in one of those stupid "self watering" pots. 

So I walked inside for giggles and grins. Anyway I came home with these 2 crotons. And I hope I end my streak of killing every single croton I've ever bought. I decided color was cooler than 90° angles. 

 

[OutpostPalms]

3 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

If I were smart, I probably would have tried to get them to cut this down to like $10. Saw Palmetto 5g they had it for $80 and something definitely fell on it. 

 

The clearance rack was brutal. Lots of Majesties that were absolutely cooked, one was snapped in half and very clearly dead. Maybe one or 2 of the cat palms could have been salvageable but my indoor space is kind of at a premium right now. Anyway I saw this Monstera Cobra and got a little excited and almost walked away with it. Then I looked and looked and I'm like - so the leaves go out at a 90° angle? What's so cool about that? Even if it is $10 and in good shape and in one of those stupid "self watering" pots. 

So I walked inside for giggles and grins. Anyway I came home with these 2 crotons. And I hope I end my streak of killing every single croton I've ever bought. I decided color was cooler than 90° angles. 

 

Ive been looking for saw palmetto at box stores and haven’t found them to so ended up ordering ones not even half this size online for $64 a pop. Mine are the silver but I was really looking for the greens. 

[JohnAndSancho]

8 minutes ago, OutpostPalms said:

Ive been looking for saw palmetto at box stores and haven’t found them to so ended up ordering ones not even half this size online for $64 a pop. Mine are the silver but I was really looking for the greens. 

Lowes in Meridian had a couple. I dunno if you've ever been to Meridian but there's literally no reason whatsoever to come here. If you had a family member move there, I'd recommend you just cut them off. 

[OutpostPalms]

9 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Lowes in Meridian had a couple. I dunno if you've ever been to Meridian but there's literally no reason whatsoever to come here. If you had a family member move there, I'd recommend you just cut them off. 

Hahaha! I got robbed in meridian once. Fun times. Used to pass through a lot when I lived in Starkville! 

[JohnAndSancho]

1 minute ago, OutpostPalms said:

Hahaha! I got robbed in meridian once. Fun times. Used to pass through a lot when I lived in Starkville! 

Hail State! 

 

I live about 15 minutes outside of Quitman now, but at least Quitman has a great fried chicken spot. I used to work for Rent A Center up here and as many times as I went into the absolute worst neighborhoods Meridian has to offer, I've never been robbed here. I got robbed in Birmingham once outside the bus station once though, and the guy felt so bad when I told him that was all the money I had in the world he bought me a 6 pack and gave me a bottle of some mystery pills. 

[Fusca]

Not an unusual palm find at the blue store but rather unusual pricing on majesty palms.  Three different prices from the same supplier on the same 3.75-gal palms about the same height.   $49.98, $59.98 and $64.98!  I bought one of the $49.98 palms and it rang up $29.98!  😅  And this was after being told that the palms won't be marked down (clearance).  I thought about going through the checkout again with one of the $64.98 palms to see what I would be charged.

[Hu Palmeras]

On 2/4/2025 at 20:44, SeanK said:

$99. Dátiles Pigmy triples de 15 galones. Troncos de 6" a 12" en Lowes. 

Disponibles en HD, algunos modelos más pequeños cuestan $79. Estos ($99) son la mejor opción.

What a spectacular pigmy

[SeanK]

2 hours ago, Hu Palmeras said:

What a spectacular pigmy

Sí. Esto verano habían muchas buenas ofertas de P.roebellini aquí.

[JohnAndSancho]

On 8/22/2025 at 2:39 PM, Fusca said:

Not an unusual palm find at the blue store but rather unusual pricing on majesty palms.  Three different prices from the same supplier on the same 3.75-gal palms about the same height.   $49.98, $59.98 and $64.98!  I bought one of the $49.98 palms and it rang up $29.98!  😅  And this was after being told that the palms won't be marked down (clearance).  I thought about going through the checkout again with one of the $64.98 palms to see what I would be charged.

I was just digging through their app and they've got the big Majesties on sale for Labor Day. I'm not buying, but I might go take a peek after my brain scan tomorrow. 

[SeanK]

Costco today had L.chinensis and Bottles in pots. I didn't check prices.

[JohnAndSancho]

Didn't buy it. But probably should have. I'd rather have something cooler though. What's that come to, like $13? 

 

Ginger, I was not familiar with your game. Might have to look for cheap rhizomes, this stuff is gorgeous.

And some random Cordyline and crotons. I was good and spent $0.00. Harlequin cordyline if anybody cares. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Y'all probably know this already, but Wally World is clearancing the crap out of their garden center for Xmas stuff. I just walked out with 8 lbs of organic all purpose fert and 4 lbs of worm castings for $10. 

[Hu Palmeras]

You got a very good price, my friend. Exchange of seasonal merchandise.

[SeanK]

13 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Y'all probably know this already, but Wally World is clearancing the crap out of their garden center for Xmas stuff. I just walked out with 8 lbs of organic all purpose fert and 4 lbs of worm castings for $10. 

Ours haven't replenished plants since July 4th. I did see half-price citrus at the orange box store. 

[JohnAndSancho]

38 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Ours haven't replenished plants since July 4th. I did see half-price citrus at the orange box store. 

I don't think this one has either. There's more plants on the mums displays at the entrance than there are in the actual garden center.

They had gallons of fish emulsion for $16 too. All the fertilizer was crazy cheap. 

[Bkue]

Wishful thinking but our locals fall short. They always have Bismarcks, Christmas, and foxtails. Occasionally I will see coconuts. They have a regular supply of Clusia. Wish they had some prychosperma or archontopheonix or even Roystonea available. I would put any of those above the aforementioned for cold hardy and readily available just south of central Fla. 

[JohnAndSancho]

5 hours ago, Bkue said:

Wishful thinking but our locals fall short. They always have Bismarcks, Christmas, and foxtails. Occasionally I will see coconuts. They have a regular supply of Clusia. Wish they had some prychosperma or archontopheonix or even Roystonea available. I would put any of those above the aforementioned for cold hardy and readily available just south of central Fla. 

See, I'd LOVE that. The most exotic thing I've seen here was an $85 med fan palm and a green saw palmetto that something fell on. It's always just majesties in those "decorative" pots that aren't good for anything other than a bathroom trashcan. Bismarcks and bottles and Christmas palms would be super cool to see here, even though all of them are guaranteed to cook in our winter. And probably our summer too. 

 

John wants a Bizzie lol 

[JohnAndSancho]

Our local grocery store has an Ace hardware inside and they're remodeling so moving lots of stuff. Miracle Gro Shake and Pour for palms is $10.This info is helpful to absolutely nobody and I don't need fertilizer. 

[SeanK]

On 9/17/2025 at 1:52 PM, JohnAndSancho said:

Our local grocery store has an Ace hardware inside and they're remodeling so moving lots of stuff. Miracle Gro Shake and Pour for palms is $10.This info is helpful to absolutely nobody and I don't need fertilizer. 

I've never seen one inside a grocery store. I've seen ones with 3 aisles and others half the size of a WM.

[JohnAndSancho]

15 hours ago, SeanK said:

I've never seen one inside a grocery store. I've seen ones with 3 aisles and others half the size of a WM.

We also have a gas station/fried chicken store/tobacco store/vape store. They have the best fried chicken in town, and since it's Mississippi there's like 6 fried chicken places in a town of ~1500 people. 

[Keys6505]

Saw these today at the HD in Montgomery TX for $15.  1 gal Rhapis (!), bottle, and Cat.  I don't believe I've ever seen these sizes before and definitely not Rhapis.

[JohnAndSancho]

7 minutes ago, Keys6505 said:

Saw these today at the HD in Montgomery TX for $15.  1 gal Rhapis (!), bottle, and Cat.  I don't believe I've ever seen these sizes before and definitely not Rhapis.

👀👀👀👀👀

 

[SeanK]

Rhapis are a good find.

[JohnAndSancho]

Y'all could make some coin selling those on here and Etsy/eBay for $40-50 each lol. 

[SeanK]

No luck on the Lady Palms😭. 

Just this:

 

The taller one looks pretty good.

[Keys6505]

For any Houstonians, there are a few 7g serenoa on clearance for 50% off at the Spring TX Lowe's

[Chester B]

41 minutes ago, Keys6505 said:

For any Houstonians, there are a few 7g serenoa on clearance for 50% off at the Spring TX Lowe's

They had them on clearance months ago in Atascocita, but I ended up passing.

[Las Palmas Norte]

2 hours ago, Keys6505 said:

... serenoa on clearance for 50% off ...

I never liked the containers with drain holes not located along the bottom edge, regardless of the plants tolerance for wet roots.

 

 

 

[SeanK]

2 hours ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

I never liked the containers with drain holes not located along the bottom edge, regardless of the plants tolerance for wet roots.

 

 

 

I've never seen that.

[JohnAndSancho]

6 hours ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

I never liked the containers with drain holes not located along the bottom edge, regardless of the plants tolerance for wet roots.

 

 

 

If the pot is on flat ground it can block the holes. When I drill my 5 gallon buckets out, it's like a shotgun blast on the bottom and then holes an inch apart all the way around about 2 inches up. Yeah I'll hate myself when they root out but when they get that big it's either time for the ground or a giant tote. I'm doing my bananas like that. 

[Las Palmas Norte]

7 hours ago, SeanK said:

I've never seen that.

There's a reason for that being the case.

[Fusca]

18 hours ago, SeanK said:

I've never seen that.

The pots without holes on the bottom and only on the side are typically used for water loving species.  Here's a couple of examples for Ravenea rivularis and Archontophoenix cunninghamiana.  I've also seen them used with Phoenix roebelenii and Syagrus romanzoffiana.

[SeanK]

I've seen holes on the side, but they're at the edge of the base