r the plants in garden centres forced??

was lloking around my local nursery yesterday and noticed that a huge amount of plants that are just beginning to come up in my garden are huge in the GC and practially in flower. Things I noticed were huge lillies,(mine are about 4 inches), lavender thats almost in bloom,fuschia which are big and loads of other things. they were all in the area which although its outdoord its protected so can only assume that they have been grown especially for sale or is it just mine that are a bit on the puny side?

 

Hi Lazy.
I put a couple of my lillys in the mini greenhouse I bought as they were a bit puny as well, :( just a couple of weeks and they are well away now.
MEF750

 

I have 50 differnet lilies - some in pots and some in the ground. THe ones from last year are furthest behind. SOme of these are only just sprouting from the ground. One of my pot lilies from bulb this year has flower buds developing now. I now what you mean about the garden centre ones. SOme of those are in full bloom! I also have a Fuchsia in bud. Still slightly worried about getting anything from the garden centres just in case of frost

 

try making a mini greenhouse over those in the garden, see if that will help them come on.
MEF750

 

I have some in pots and some in the ground. All are sprouting now, about 3-6 inches of growth. I don't expect to see flowers for a while yet.

 

Most of this seasons plants supplied in garden centre and are cultivated to ensure they are a good size for sale in Feb, March and April. Therefore they all need protection from frost, and then hardening off before planting.

However older plants, like the herbacious perrenials and roses etc are not brought on so quickly