As spring blossoms open, a fierce flower fight is heating up in the aisles of home-improvement megastores.
The weapons are scientifically altered versions of common flowering plants, engineered to bloom a little brighter or withstand benign neglect a little longer. Lowe's and Home Depot are locked in an annual arms race to discover and develop new plants—ideally as exclusives sold in only their stores.
This year, Home Depot is touting an exclusive "Stellar Blue" ageratum, or floss flower, that hides faded blooms as it grows, requiring less clipping. Lowe's, meanwhile, is promoting a double-flowered African daisy called "Double Ballerina."
"We want to be better than the other guy," says Mike DuVall, Home Depot's chief plant merchant for the southern U.S. "It could be a flower with a stalk that sits up a little higher or has eight blooms instead of four. But we want to sell something that the other guy doesn't."
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