I'm picky. I try to find plants pre-peak, hoping to time it right and have a house filled with blooms Easter morning. The way things usually go, I find plants in the bud stage, and they usually bloom on about the Wednesday AFTER Easter.
The whole thing started several years ago. Believe it or not, the local Acme supermarket was my store of choice. If you remember Acme during its final days here in our area, it did nothing well-- expect Easter flowers. The chain must have had a good supplier. Nice stuff, cheap.
Acme is long gone. I shifted to the big box home improvement stores. They were good for a few years, and then there was an abrupt turn downhill. What you saw in stores on Thursday morning was usually at peak, or slightly past. More often than not, I left disappointed and empty handed.
I've had decent luck at the flower tents, and another supermarket chain. The supermarket flowers were pricey, but great quality.
My Holy Thursday trip this year began a little early. I had some extra time. The flower tents were still a couple of hours from opening, so I hit one of the big box home improvement stores because they open early. I didn't expect to leave happy. Shocker. I found a nice lily and some daffodils in a watering can as a pot. I was in and out in minutes. However, its tulips were weak, so I hit the other big box home improvement store just up the street. Tulips-- still days away from bloom. They were in my hand, and I was home in record time.
I don't know if my good fortune at the big box home improvement store was a fluke, or if they've really upped their game. We'll see next year.
