I decided to give it a try and stopped in at the Michaels craft store to pick up the Caspia he mentions. After looking around for awhile with no luck I inquired about same with a fellow that was working in the flower arranging section. He had never heard of Caspia and when he asked other employees neither had they. I thought it might be possible that they didn’t have it now because so much counter space is being taken up with Christmas related merchandise, but not to know what it was kinda baffled me.
So if anyone knows…
Is the item a plastic or a cut, real plant? Does it normally come loose, individually or in bags hanging a hook somewhere?
My Michaels has Caspia about half the time. When they have it I buy a bunch. It is true that a lot of the people there do not know what a lot of things are. We have more than one Micheals in Minnesota and sometimes one store will have it and not another, but you can’t always call, because the person answering the phone may not know.
It is a real, dryed plant, and comes in bunches in the dryed floral section and in a variety of colors. I use the green for regular trees and the grey when I put on Static grass to get the Fir tree look. It is real frustrating when they get some in and all the colors are wrong.
yeah, I’ve had a lot of problems with Michael’s employee’s not knowing what is in their own store, too. Can get pretty frustrating b/c you spend a lot of valuable time searching that huge store for what you want and can’t find. Be nice if you could ask and at least have someone be able to look it up on a computer system somewhere instead of the blank stare I get most of the time.
I’ve expeerienced the same thing in two Washington State Michael’s stores. Sometimes caspia is there and sometimes it’s not. Same thing with the employees not knowing what caspia is. It’s worth seeking out though. It makes great/natural looking coniferous trees.
Some places refer to Caspia as “Misty.” It may be that Michaels doesn’t have Misty either (I used both terms on their website and came up empty) but perhaps a more specific florist shop would know it as Misty. It helps by the way to go to Google Images and type in Caspia so that you’ll know it if you see it, even if the clerks deny having it in stock.
Baby’s breath isn’t caspia, but they’re both in the same genus of plant. You might try describing it in those terms (it’s kind of a baby’s breath, but fuller).
My experience with Michaels, though, is that especially at this time of year, they hire a lot of help off of the street and, while they train them in store procedures, they don’t teach them much about the product line.
Sometimes, the store manager is more knowledgeable, usually having worked there longer.
I didn’t link to baby’s breath, baby’s breath {gypsophilia muralis (Caryophyllaceae)} is different, though baby’s breath is available there too at that link, I think.
Yes, you did. However, the second of you two links is for baby’s breath and other gypsophilia plants. I wanted to make sure the OP didn’t go into the store looking for baby’s breath and come away with the wrong thing.
