pebbles in nursery flat peat moss used for growing thyme

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guosui Bakersfield, CA Jun 26, 2009

As a footnote to my question re growing elfin thyme in a dry fountain, I wonder whether it is highly unusual to find pea-sized pebbles underneath the peat moss used to grow the plant. I take it the nursery (Barcelo) decided the thyme was so likely to die from overwatering that it put the pebbles in to insure complete drainage. I've never encountered this before and was curious whether this is a common practice for extremely drought-tolerant plants. It would seem to be a considerable nuisance to gardeners who want to put the thyme (or whatever) directly into the ground (rather than a container) but don't want to incorporate unwanted rocks into their soil.

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jun 26, 2009

I've never run into nurseries doing that. It's a common misconception though that pebbles in the bottom of something promote drainage, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if some people at nurseries believe that it would help. I think in your fountain thread I posted a link to tapla's thread in the container forum about why a "drainage" layer actually hurts rather than helps, but if you need it again let me know.

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guosui Bakersfield, CA Jun 26, 2009

ecrane3, I did read the post you referred me to, so I guess your assumption is correct, that is, even commercial nurseries, which one would expect to have expert horticulturists on staff, don't necessarily follow the latest knowledge concerning plant propagation. I guess I must be pretty naive to think they would, but maybe it boils down to the fact that some nurseries are simply better than others, just as with any other business, and some may hire more competent experts than others. Anyway, if you've never encountered this before, this may be a very rare practice, maybe even confined to Barcelo Nursery.

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