If plants are being offered, always try to find the plant's true name. It's best to know the scientific name, but rarely are they listed. Usually only the common name is given; and in fine print. If you know the plants scientific name, you can find out if the plant is suitable to grow in the Tucson area. The common name may or may not be a legitimate one. A recent advertisement for roses listed the variety as AFlaming Fury@. The fine print indicated that AFlaming Fury@ was the name the mail-order company had given to >Blaze=, an old fashion climber. The add also pictured a hedge of flowering roses, not likely to be formed with a climber like Blaze. 

An advertisement for a walnut tree did list the scientific name (Juglans regia), but in such fine print as to require a magnifying glass to read. The >pitch= included the promise of Aover 3,000 walnuts and 8 months of shade@, which might be true when the tree matures. That could take 8 to 10 years! The ad also suggested the tree will grow practically anywhere, from ACanada to the Gulf of Mexico@. But Juglans regia, commonly called English walnut, is not recommended for the desert. The nuts are susceptible to sunburn. 

Many plants nationally advertised are not adaptable to large parts of the country. Take for instance Myers zoysiagrass. It has been promoted as a lawn grass for decades through ads in popular print media. Zoysia has many pest problems, is slow to establish, and cannot be winter over seeded. It=s not a lawn grass I would recommend for Tucson. And springs of zoysia ordered through the mail are often so small as to be extremely difficult to handle, plant and grow.

Many ads do not specify the size of plant to be shipped at purchase. If no size is indicated, you=ll probably receive a small seedling, or in the case of trees, a sapling. Vegetables and herbs offered through the mail are almost always seeds rather than plants. A tree tomato promotion offers two tomato trees for only $9.48 including shipping and handling. According to the ad they=re shipped Ain their own pre-treated, pre-sown, and pre-fed nurseryman=s starter pots. That=s a lot of money for a few seeds, a cup or so of soil, and two small pots. It=s anyone=s guess as to what the pre-treatment consists of.

Along with outrageous promotions for plants, there are lots of miracle products being sold. One such product called >Rootblast= promises to accelerate root growth and increase yields of Aup to 300%@. And not only does it increase roots and crop yields, it also makes fruit Ataste noticeably better@. Because the product is identified only as >Rootblast= it is impossible to determine whether it has any value at all. It could be just plain old phosphate fertilizer, that can be purchased at any garden center or nursery. Considering you get enough to treat 50 plants for only $11.95, including shipping and handling, sounds like a good deal. However, in another part of the page-long ad we find that the treatment recommended per plant is just one teaspoon. That means your really only getting 50 teaspoons of this miracle product. Considering a 20 pound bag of phosphate fertilizer costs around $6.00; only 50 teaspoons of the stuff for $11.95 is a little steep! Maybe the miracle is that they can make so much money selling so little product.

Whether it=s plants or products, if the advertisement sounds too good to be true, it almost always is! Rely on reputable local suppliers of plants and products, they know what works and what doesn=t. If your tempted to buy from those appealing ads, just make sure you do your homework and know what your getting before you order.

Written by John Begeman, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University of Arizona, 520-626-5161.
Material originally appeared in Arizona Daily Star gardening column, on April 25, 1999
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