Re: nursery/Free plants

From: "J.F. Hensler" <hensler@povn.com>


If there is no money to be made in the Nursery business, then why are there so
many and why do people do it?  Any thoughts on this from anyone?

I wouldn't say there isn't ANY money in the nursery business. 

The large companies certainly need to show a profit if they are to keep printing
catalogs, hiring, and buying new varieties to resell every year. 

Running a nursery on a small scale, however can't be just about money. Common
sense would drive most to seek employment at McDonald's rather than try to earn
a living solely selling plants. 

In our case, it's the total picture that must be taken into consideration if the
nursery is to be considered a success. The nursery and garden combine to cover
(in a good year) a lot of the cost of raising our own food (veggies, honey,
lamb, and chickens) while allowing us to work at something we enjoy. The garden
feeds the soul as well as the body, provides the inspiration for the art work
done over the winter and, over time, produces improved plants for our area to
insure that we (and our neighbors) will have gardens that produce well, all in a
setting as beautiful as we can make it and with the freedom to set our own
hours.

If everything goes according to plan, wholesaling extra plants to larger
nurseries, selling the seed we produce, selling the extra veggies and starter
plants, honey, eggs, and lambs, provides a modest income. Certainly for the time
involved, it is less than even the lowest paying 9 to 5 job could offer, but the
perks make all the difference.

The free plants that are included with orders are considered a "thank you".
(Also, our garden produces some things in abundance, and I'd much rather share
these than compost them.) The free plants that walk out the nursery door are
more often a "sample" to encourage gardeners to try something that might be
unfamiliar to them. We consider these plants a form of advertising.   

If there is big money to be made for the small nursery, it would be from the
development of unique decorative perennials that would interest investors in the
larger nursery economy. From what I've seen personally, irises and daylilies (my
first loves) are not likely to fall into this category unless they were unique
enough for patenting (i.e. BLACK EYED STELLA) .... something traditionally
frowned upon by both communities.  

Of course, there's always the possibility that we opperate a small nursery
'cause we're nuts....... :-)

Christy Hensler
THE ROCK GARDEN
Newport, WA z4b
http://www.povn.com/rock



------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index