White Plant Outrage

[LaCicciolina]

I don't even care if I'm being unreasonable or that this this isn't even a proper AIBU because I need the world to listen (particularly anyone who is in purchasing in retail/garden centres) so I'm looking to get the message across via AIBU.

I buy a lot of plants for the house and garden. At this time of year I like hyacinths for indoors but WHY are there never any white ones left but there are tray upon tray of garishly coloured ones. It's because white ones are MOST POPULAR so stock more of those and less bloody blue and pink and purple.

It's the same for outdoor plants like geraniums - there's always loads of salmon pink, red, pale pink but such a shortage of white. You're lucky if you find one at the back. "Oh yes" says the assistant "we had some white ones in but they all went really quickly - they were in that empty tray there. We've got plenty of garish ones left though......."

Foxgloves? Yes you can take your pick of lemon, orange, purple but where have all the white ones gone? They've sold out because they're POPULAR. So buyers, when you're ordering for next year order five times more white ones.

Or if you are a grower, grow loads of white ones. They sell out first because people like them most. And guess what else? If there were more available they'd all sell out too.

Yes have a few garish colours by all means (a few people must like them although not so many judging by their constant availability) but when the white flowered plants go like hot cakes then clearly you need to take notice and stock more of them.

And this has nothing to do with racism before anyone is ridiculous enough to suggest it is. I just prefer white flowers inside and out for a calmer more relaxing environment. I don't want orange, blue and pink flowers clashing and hurting my eyes.

I'm not enabling voting as I don't care whether anyone agrees with me or not - I know I'm right - garden centres and supermarkets never order enough plants with white flowers. Buyers take note and stock more white ones. Rant over!

I hear you!

DH knows very little about colour, nothing about what works well together. He insisted on buying a yellow chrysanthemum at the garden centre last summer and planted it himself, we agreed on a spot where I couldn't see it from the kitchen. Boy, was I glad when the birds ripped it to shreds and the dog tore the rest of it out!

At least the ( rare) yellow snowdrops are not popular yet.

yabu

I love blue hyacinths! YABVVU

Totally unreasonable, gardens need colour

and i'm a buyer/garden centre manager,for 8 years, seen all the trends and preferences. white is not all that!!

the new instamums/mrs Hinch type are killing off colour

if the natural plants we nurture and sell came in grey or griege/beige then they would also be popular, with a tiny section of our customers. until next season, when a trend changes

White foxgloves are a less common variety of pink foxgloves. They're propagated by seed. Even if you cross a white foxglove with another white foxglove, not all your offspring are white. Other plants will be similar. It's not just nurseries not bothering to grow white, it's that they're less available naturally.

Ooooh, white plants. Never thought of this but I now have something else to add to my list of things I think looks rubbish and boring in white and I would never choose:
Walls
Clothing (especially for babies)
Crockery
Bedding

If gardens need colour why is everyone grabbing up all the white flowered plants?

they aren't.....they aren't as easy to grow!!!!!!

and are only now more popular with the bland new build mummies

this is funny I could have posted the opposite! I love rich vibrant colours in my garden and get so frustrated when everything available seems to be white and 'rich plum' is out of stock again. I swear all new varieties come out in white first. I find it very boring, especially in summer when white flowers just seem to disappear whereas reds, oranges and purples really shine and glow. Good thing we're all different! Try ordering from Crocus or similar online, they seem to have a white version of every plant (well they do when I just want a purple one anyway)

@MereDintofPandiculation I see your point on foxgloves but I'm sure white flowered plants of other types are easier to produce like hyacinths.

@MrsMercedes I'm not against all colour - I love lavenders and I'm fine with daffodils. I don't know where you work or where your retail outlets are but if you saw my local supermarkets and garden centres you would know that there are never enough white plants. They ALWAYS go first.

@OchreBlue I wish there were a few more like you in my area buying up the colours and leaving the white alone!

White = Boring
Colour does not equal garish
You are wrong 🤣

Have you considered that they don’t actually supply many of them because most people don’t want them and therefore the few available tend to be sold quite quickly?
It doesn’t make much sense for any company to not stock something that is wildly popular

if you saw my local supermarkets and garden centres you would know that there are never enough white plants. They ALWAYS go first.
If it isn't possible to create as big a supply of white ones, as a clearly knowledgeable PP has said then yes, they will go quicker. They don't have to be more popular to sell out quicker if they fewer in number to start with.

@dappledthings the PP was only talking about foxgloves being tricky to produce in white. They are definitely more popular (although I do accept that this might be due to me living in the Cotswolds and very tasteful gardens being a thing here).

I do find supermarkets and garden centers tend to have more of the garish bright colours though. If you prefer to select the plants in person have you tried a specialist nursery instead. Pp is right that the white version is often a mutation, a lot of wildflowers, like foxgloves, have a default of say bright pink and then an occasional albino mutation that's white and then an occasional dark stemmed, dark purple mutation, that both need selective breeding, so you're more likely to find them in nurseries, but perhaps slightly pricier.

OMG! Did you actually just make that statement....... although I do accept that this might be due to me living in the Cotswolds and very tasteful gardens being a thing here

Are you for real? I hope not because you come across as spectacularly pompous.

I quite like some white flowers and plants myself op......maybe the staff have first dibs?

White Pelargoniums/Geraniums don't last well, they get manky very quickly and for that reason I never buy them. They are available here but always look brown and droopy so people don't buy them.

Petunias are easy to find in white.

I am that person who buys all the garish coloured one. Deep blue, orange and lime green - yes please! Pink and yellow roses together - I don't care what everyone thinks of that! Add a bit of dusty miller, purple-leaved elder and sunflowers of all shades and I am a happy puppy.
Oh yes, and coleus, coleus everywhere.

i had white bizzie lizzies last year.....had to reduce them as nobody is fully confidant yet

@MereDintofPandiculation I see your point on foxgloves but I'm sure white flowered plants of other types are easier to produce like hyacinths. There's a whole group of plants, including hyacinths, where there's more than one gene governing colour. Everything present and correct = blue (the colour of the wild hyacinth), blue pigments missing = pink, both blue and white pigments missing - white.

The more colourful the better in my opinion! And the blue hyacinths smell the best.