Sad Sight, frozen Phals

[fotofashion]

Yesterday I made my usual swing through the garden center at WalMart. I noticed a grouping of Phals on sale marked down from $15 to $13. But when I examined them closely, the leaves showed signs of freezing. There were a few that were OK but the majority looked like they would not survive. The flowers were drooping and limp. This made me both mad and sad. What business do they have selling frozen plants like that that will, at best, struggle for a long time if they even survive. The manager was not there so I told one of the employees of my disgust but I know that is as far as it will go.
What I cannot figure out is just when and where they were exposed to such low temps. They were from Costa Farms which is in California, right? We haven't had below freezing temps in a couple of weeks here in Texas.
What some businesses will do for a buck.
Beverly A.

[trdyl]

True, very true. While it is nice to see these big stores selling orchids. I would never expect to see high quality plants there. They are just not equipped to give them what they need.

[OrchidSue]

I thought there was snow in some areas of Texas recently, at least less than a couple of weeks ago. Maybe the plants sat at a distribution center in one of these areas before getting to where you are.

[Angurek]

It's really a shame that big-box stores sell orchids as disposable plants. In my opinion, if they wanted to sell "temporary" orchids, they ought to sell cut orchid flowers. It's a waste of perfectly good plants otherwise.

[fotofashion]

Same play, scene two. Well, the Phals are still there, more dead than alive now. I think I saw one that would survive. And they still want $13 for the poor things. They aren't worth trying to save even for free. I wonder if they will still be there next week.
Beverly A.

[Sandrilene]

It isn`t just orchids wal mart usually starts their garden center as soon as it is just starting to get warm. They put all kinds of plants outside then leave them there even in the frost and really cold temperatures then their inside plants usually die beside they put them on lower shelves that don`t get light and don`t water them properly. Plant killers.