Re: Aconitum and the rest

**"* C* <d*@sympatico.ca>**

Hi all,
Melanie, it was your comments that prompted me to join this thread.

My day job, which I toil at only to support my true job of garden writing,
is at a comfortably-sized nursery and garden centre. We split our sales
between retail and wholesale- landscaping companies and other smaller garden
centres.
Several of us at the store serve on our local horticultural trades
association in various capacities. As such, we are familiar with the
businesses of many of our peers/competitors/customers. With these caveats
in mind, I want to make a few general statements.
Your advice to audiences to shop throughout the year is echoed by just about
any nursery/garden centre outlet. It is certainly to our advantage to
encourage repeat shopping. In this instance, it is also in the gardener's
best interest. We also suggest every two weeks: regular customers will see
what plant is in bloom when, what it looks like when it is out of bloom and
what the bloom looks like as it fades or dies.
The thing about looking at what is in bloom is that you have to know a bit
about the history of that plant. Was it grown here? Did it overwinter in the
area or was it purchased this spring, for re-sale, from a supplier a few
miles (or even Zones) south? Is that performance repeatable in your garden,
once the plant leaves it nutrient rich and pampered life? If it was over
wintered "here" was that outside, heeled into a protected bed, or put away
into a hoophouse? If the latter, was it "sweated" to encourage bud break in
the spring?

We have to work at educating our readers to ask definitive questions.
You said nurseries mostly sell plants that look good at the time of sale. It
is a "written-in-stone" rule that blooms sell. We rotate large blocks of
stock regularly in order to showcase those that are in bloom. We play games
with the roses- we'll take several pots of Livin' Easy , for example, and
split the display. One group will have its blooms turned away from
approaching customers, the other group will be moved a bit further away but
with the flowers facing customer. Guess which plants go home first?
You recounted your experience with ligularia. Plants do tend to get lumped
into definitive categories such as shade, sun, wet , dry etc. As a garden
writer, when I do a plant "bio" piece, I have time to discuss all of the
environments in which a particular plant will happily grow. As a nursery
worker, I don't always have time to do that even though I would like to do.
(If only the information seeking customer would come into the nursery now,
in November, instead of in May.) Plants will be lumped in easy or common
groupings but signage should be posted with more in-depth explanations.
Kirk asked for a list of recommended plants by this group. I know there will
be lots of similarities in the responses along with a few surprises. Here's
one of my recommendations: go to a local nursery which offers a warranty on
their plant material. If this warranty is 2 or more years, you know that you
are getting a plant that should live in your area comfortably. ( Our's is a
bit longer for 90% of our stock. The other 10% is unwarrantied but should do
well enough within our selling area if some cultural considerations are
taken on by the customer. Some of that 10% will be challenged as they
stretch the envelope; however, the lack of a warranty is something that
catches the attention of our customers.I believe most good nurseries will
have similar policies. However, warrantees are as good an indication as you
can get that a plant is tough enough.
Yes Kirk, we remember Limerock Ruby coreopsis very well. We had high hopes
that it would be as good as its counterpart- Moonbeam. One of the more
disappointing introductions.enough.
Your list of plants is impressive and encouraging, Kirk. Unfortunately we
have found that the professional group with the most limited, least
adventurous plant listing is the design/build firms. They seem to have lists
of approximately 75 plants divided into three categories: sun/shade,
wet/dry, bedrock/clay. The 20/80 rule is in effect for us. 20% of the
customers provide 80% of our business. Unfortunately, that 20% only uses 20%
of the plants available to them.
It's the horticultural society members, Master Gardeners, and garden
magazine readers, bless their hearts, that actively seek the new,
interesting and challenging plants.
Melanie, you made a comment about the tall lilies not fitting onto the
nursery-supplied carts. Maybe some other nursery workers, owners, might
want to follow up on this. Maybe we need to get a definition of what a
nursery is, as opposed to a garden centre, a holding yard, a turn-around
yard for the trade, a growing nursery even? We bring most of our plants in
on 4 x 8 skids when we ship from our farms. Some perennial skids have
several shelves but taller plants have unlimited access to, um, sky
space.Some bedding plants and tropical plants from contract growers or
outside suppliers are shipped on multi-tiered nursery racks buts those are
"baby" plants. Sorry about the mini-rant.
This all leads to an interesting- who is responsible for the customer's
knowledge? Plant sellers? Garden Writers? The customer themselves?
Dan 
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