MISTAKEN IDENTITY!!

It's annoying isn't it ? Grrrr.
Your pictures look lovely though ! :-)
Did you see the 'Disappointing Dahlia' pictures i posted ? Should be Pinelands Princess and it's most definately not :-(((((((

Its sods law isn't it, they are never better than what you would have hoped for are they? I must say you have had more than your fair share of plant boobs Spritzhenry...

Great blog, it did make me laugh and I enjoyed your photos. Thank you

How annoying and time consuming to have to move them, eventually I would imagine. Louise very kindly pointed out that my photo of Aquilegia 'Winky blue and white' was not that at all, I found the label, compared it to the Aquilegia II had in bloom, nothing like it ! A very deep purple, pretty but not what I'd planned for. This was from a national GC chain.
The Brodiaea 'Queen Fabiola' and Allium ostrowskianum are of interest to me as I ordered 100 Summer bulbs through GW magazine, the blue Brodiaea are flourishing, yet the Allium (pink shade) have yet to appear ! None of the Freesias have shown up either. Grrrrr indeed ! : o (((((

very frustrating barbara isnt it when that happens, its happened to me a couple of times but not as much as you, still all lovely flowers even if not what they should be ;o)) lovely pics to barbara

Absolutely... I detest it! I bought a rose a few years ago because of the name on the label...just what I was looking for I thought...it turned out totally different, I was fuming....but could not take it out on the rose bush itself...I had to learn to accept it. She is alright, but not as beautiful.... :))

Oh Spritz, I think we have all been there in one way or another, and as you said, it is so annoying. You put a lot of trust in buying a purchase, and I can see how easily mistakes can be made, before a plant has flowered, but a little more care and attention by some of these places, would go a long way!

I've not had this many 'surprises' Barbara but have had a couple with Dahlias. Most memorable was a supposed dark leafed yellow dahlia which turned out green leafed pink and white. A bit of a disappointment in the 'red and yellow' border but it's now one of my favourites - and it's still in the same place!

Good for you, Lily! I'm glad you liked yours...maybe you got used to it, did you? I like my deep pink Phlox - but I'd still like purple ones. :-((

I know that some GCs use the excuse that customers move the labels around when they read a label - but I've found that most places staple them on these days, so I'm not at all sure about that particular one!

There'd be steam coming out of my ears if I'd had all these mistakes! I guess it's evidence of the sheer amount of plants you collect B, that you have had so many errors! The two Lavateras look the same to me....am I going mad or just blind? That poppy wasn't a nice one. Glad you found a better spot for it...if it survives. Allium Ostrow...is lovely! :))

Luckily I dont get too many but a Lobilia this year turned out to be a Delphinium!

Crikey I'm not visiting any of the garden centres you've been too Spritz Lol

The second (wrong) Lavatera was a little darker in colour, Karen, but it bit the dust in the winter. I didn't weep over it, I dug it out! :-)

Maybe it's because I 'do' buy a number of plants that I get 'mistakes' - but this set are spread over a few years, remember....not all this year.

Denise - I can't understand your particular 'mistaken identity' at all! They are sooooo different!

Hallo Fractal - well, at least I had a great and unusual set of plants from the mail order company as compensation! :-)))

It was sent to me in the post last year with a label that said 'Lobelia Russian Princess' it was about 2" high and green. I still have it - but its a delphinium or will be next year! I already had a Lobelia Russian Princess so knew what they are like.

I can empahise spritz - I've had loads of 'wrong' plants over the years. The latest is what I had thought was sorbus reducta for many years now turns out to be sorbaria sorbifolia :-(

Its especially frustrating when you plan your colour schemes to harmonise and compliment each other, I would be anoyed too with all those mistakes, having said that the plants themselves all look lovely Barbara.

Thanks, Pp. It is indeed annoying!
I do usually plan an area quite carefully - so having to change things isn't easy. I wondered how many other people had found that they got wrongly labelled plants!

I bought a young geranium Bertie Crug [magenta pink flowers and bronze leaves]. It has lovely bronze leaves and small white flowers. grrrr
I have had a few mislabeled plants too over the years.

I'm beginning to worry that I'll have the right plants in my garden Spritz! If knowledgeable gardens can buy the wrong ones what hope do I have? Lol

Another entertaining and thought provoking blog Spritz and the photos are excellent (as usual!)

its not that we buy the wrong ones its the mislabeling that does it. I often do a plant stall and people take the labels out to read it and then pop it back any where. One lady just popped it into the first/nearest pot to the front. when i asked her to put it back in the correct pot she said no as it wasnt what she wanted and walked off. grr grrr.

I dread to think what may have been sold un-knowingly incorrect. this is more of a worry when you have different colour forms of the same plant.

I didn't write my last comment very well, did I? Lol
I didn't mean that you buy the wrong plant but that you get so many labels mixed up by others.

Seeing as I buy my plants from supermarkets and B&Q I don't think I'll ever get the right one and I'll never know the difference! Lol

There isn't really an answer, unless you buy everything 'locally' when it's in flower, so you know 'exactly' what you're getting! The trouble is that if you want more unusual plants, you can only get them via mail order, and sometimes even the better Nurseries get it wrong, as some of us have found out. Very annoying!

As you say Spritz, it must be extremely annoying when you take so much time and put so much effort into your garden and your efforts are spoilt by one wrongly labelled plant.

I guess, as a total amateur, I don't have the same problems (as yet!) I would like to have co-ordinated borders and beds but I guess it will be ten years or so before I'm writing a blog like this! Lol

The way you work, Ian, I think it'll be MUCH sooner! Anyway, look at all the advice you have to hand now! LOL.

This is true Spritz, with all the great advice available here I will be able to have a great garden before to long. ;~))

How far have you got with removing the glass etc?

It's a slow job but we're getting there. I think we've decided to weed kill the whole lot and then rotavate it to level it off and start planting again next year. There are just to many nettles etc to do anything with it!

That's a shame - I've got some plants for you - will you be able to keep them in pots OK?

This blog made me giggle... very, very funny...
... Good one :o)

I think so Spritz, we have some very big pots which have held the likes of a vine, a delphinium and some lilies over the winter as well as some slightly smaller ones that had our platycodons (sp?) in. We do have the front garden where we can plant things temporarily! We want to concentrate on the back garden first as that is where we spend most of our outdoor time.

By the way did you get the PM I sent you?

Thanks, Tt! ;-) We all need to laugh sometimes, don't we....

Ian - I think so...I'll take a scroll...not a stroll, a SCROLL!!! lol.

Glad you'll be able to collect your plants...that's good.

Sh... I've tried several times to keep a serious face, reading through all your pics and captions, but I can't help but giggle at all those "surprise plants" ...

It's hilarious ... and well-written ...

... yes, we all need to laugh sometimes.. :o)))

You're very welcome to giggle - especially at the so called 'Bishop of Llandaff' which were about a foot tall - at the back of a 'hot' border! How pathetic is that! Poor little things - they got rescued and put in another place, but didn't survive the winter that year. And that lily! Well - really! I hated it...but it was funny as well....this huge spotted orange thing towering above my beautiful border! I can laugh about that, too. ;-)))))

May I suggest you print off this blog and show it to some of your visitors when you have your NGS Open Days ? It would illustrate in an amusing way, that gardening is far from straight forward .... Lol.. ;o)

Some of them are too busy asking raaaaather strange questions, Tt - and I try to keep a straight face and answer politely! I have a giggle later, though...;-)

When you are asked a strange question ...
... just hand the visitor a copy of this blog ...
... guaranteed to confuse ... ;o)

Now you've got me giggling, Tt! It certainly would confuse them...especially the man who mistook the Weeping Ash trees for Wisteria! LOL.

Lol... by the way, I replied to the pm you sent to me when you were away visiting..
no need for a reply.. just checking that your messages are getting through the mechanics of GoY :o)

Ooops! Sorry - I tried to 'borrow' my daughter's Applemac when she wasn't looking (or using it!) but it wasn't always possible. I 'think' I read it and then got turfed off.....thank you anyway...:-)))

These unwanted plants would look great in my garden would have a well looked after and cared and wanted home, would you like my address to send to .

I have been told always buy in flower you know what your getting then.

That's a very good idea if you're buying locally, 6d, but if it's a plant that's not generally stocked, and you have to get it by mail order, then you could have problems. Bulbs, seeds and tubers too - you look at the picture on the packet and hope the supplier got it right! They certainly don't always, as you've seen!

Then I would of stopped orering from the supplier at the first mistake, and complained and returned at their cost their mistake. Hence this is why I buy off ebay as you know what your getting and if not satisfied you can mark them and give a bad report which stops others having the same done on them. Or I ask my local nersery to order for me, then they are liable and local.

Yes - there's a good Nursery that will 'source' plants for me. That's where I got my Pieris this year. It's a bit annoying when reputable companies package Dahia tubers incorrectly, though - or Lily bulbs! Not a lot you can do about that, really, several months later when the plant flowers wrongly. :-((

I would still return it to them I know Wyevale garden centre will tell you to keep reciept even if it dies on you they will refund or swop .

Yes - ours is a good one, so I'm sure they would, but the plants I told you about in this blog are long gone now - apart from the ones that came mail-order, and they were very fair about it all and compensated me.

Its good you have found a good place and so they should compensate you from mail order.

I agree! :-)

:o)

This year I bought 3 apricot foxgloves on Ebay, (fancied soft apricot scheme) Gave good feed back as they were lovely, large, healthy plants, so excited as they opened...common purple jobbies:-( Seller did refund my money. Bought 3 double geraniums, only double jewel has opened so far, single little flower, haven't heard back from Van Meuwen yet. Great blog again Spritz, gave me chance to moan again . I thought patty's plum was a muddy brownish colour? Perhaps I've only seen it in the wrong setting. I bought some lily bulbs at Malvern, they haven't opened yet, but I think they are not what they are supposed to be either. Did you see Hampton Court this evening? Vicky's won another Gold and Plantagogo was featured...made me want more heucheras and heucherellas again, she now wants the national collection of tiarellas:-)

I seen it she had a wonderful collection of them

Wish I had - the Heuchera I got from her at Malvern is doing well.

Patty?? Muddy Brown?? Oooooohhhhhhh Ba. Shame on you! She's GORGEOUS.....Mind you, next to the coral one, she did look brownish, so it could well have been her companions that spoilt her true beauty when you saw her.

It really was very good wasn't it Sixpence:-) Barbara, I must let you know VanMeuwen have just let me know they are refunding the £20 + odd pence for the geraniums, and offered unequivical apology for my disappointment! So they must be ok company, I must say I have had no problems with them before, and shall of course do business with them again. I love a happy ending:-)

Well done! I'm pleased to hear that, Ba. :-))))))

I'm glad I'm not the only one that chuckled at this. Your whole garden look great to me

Thanks, Sandygirl - I don't mind a bit if people have a laugh - some of the 'mistakes' were funny!

Two possibilities - either you are suffering from the silliest nursery in history and a run of extraordinary bad luck - or you buy an incredible quantity of flowers - I rather suspect the latter!

How did you guess? LOL.

Oh dear, I know exactly what you mean, isn`t it annoying? :o(

Mind you, you DID make me laugh...lol! ;o))

I really don't mind! I wrote this blog with my tongue firmly in my cheek, but some of the mistakes were just a bit irritating! LOL.

Barbara, further to my comment about liliy bulbs bought at Malvern, they were supposed to be regale, for my perfumed round patio and muscadet, 'cos i like it. No flowers yet, but definitely not what I thought i had bought, hope they are beautiful anyway, but not bright orange!:-)

Ooops!!! More wrong labels, Ba?

I found 'a' lily at the back of the wide border - I planted a number of yellow tiger lillies there. This one is cream with spots, but not a tiger-lily shape at all! Not tall, either, so that's how I missed seeing it. :-((

Where the others are, I have no idea. :-(( Next year, they'll be in pots like 99% of the others I grow.

I think we must be fairly lucky reading this blog, only one mistake comes to mind one white hollyhock which should have been black, you must have made up for it though, I think someone is having great fun with you and your plants Spritz, have you got elves or fairies at the bottom of your garden?

Yep! Sure is Annoying, I have what was supposed to be a Blueberry bush and ended up as a big Non Edible Cherry Tree LOL Ha! It produced its first fruit this year...... WAIT! For it ' One Cherry LOL, It is still in a pot and isn't looking too happy but I'm not sure what to do with it as I haven't really the room for it, may have to give it away to someone who wants it.

Oh dear - a really BIG mistake there!

No, Dd....only badgers. Maybe they're getting their own back! LOL.