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| Photo Credit: David L. Morgan |
| These greenhouse-grown bedding plants will be sold to retailers. But what sizes will they be labeled? |
Here’s a question: What do 1-gallon-size ‘Burford’ hollies from every retail garden center in your city have in common?
Give up? Here’s the answer: Maybe nothing. The reason is we’re not just talking about the plant – it’s the container, too. And here’s why: Since the start of the containerized plant industry in the 1940s, pot manufacturers have set their own standards. Being competitive, they’ve designed better and more utilitarian “cans,” each with its own dimensions and, ultimately, capacity. In the absence of regulations, exact quart, gallon, liter and other “standard” sizes were lost in the process. Even more confusing, manufacturers also created their own sizing language. A “junior gallon,” for example, is actually a half-gallon, and a “trade gallon” measures three-quarters of a real gallon. All of this means that the “2-gallon” holly you purchase from Garden Center A may actually be a smaller plant than the “2-gallon” one you could’ve bought at Garden Center B. Or vice versa. For obvious reasons, you – the consumer – may feel cheated by these ambiguous notions and become suspect of plant growers and sellers. Enter the American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA). To solidify standards in plant and container sizing, and at the same time bring credibility to the nation’s nursery industry, the ANLA published its American Standard for Nursery Stock, in which definite sizing rules are laid out. Selected plant retailers, like Lowe’s, have embraced these standards, asking their growers/suppliers to amend their pot-labeling practices to include more specific sizing information.
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