Re: CULT: wish - trial garden costs
iris@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: CULT: wish - trial garden costs
  • From: L* M* <l*@lock-net.com>
  • Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:19:16 -0500
Thanks for the comments, Alex.
Like they used to say, if wishes were pennies, beggars would ride. At least I'm getting my wish for warmer weather. ;-)
Tom Abrego told me once that way back when (probably before they moved to Oregon), Schreiners looked at property in the Oak Ridge, TN, area, about 30 miles from me, & were seriously considering moving their operation here. Something tells me that they would have moved again! ;-) 

Trial Garden Costs:
To move a row that is 100 foot long and 5 foot wide with multiple types of TB iris costs me at least $200 in labor. Medians cost more. For example, 4 plants of Jelly Belly filled a gunny sack with offspring in 1 1/2 years. I have over 120 rows. Add to that the costs of water, fertilizer ($900+ 3 times a year), weeding, irrigation supplies, etc., and I'm starting to get much more picky about what I plant. When you consider that most iris that are over 10 years old can be purchased for $5 or less, it is not cost effective to plant older plants that are harvested by hand in small quantities. Add to that the cost of selling, digging, and shipping hundreds of small orders of cheap plants each week, and you know why many of us refer to our love of iris as an illness! Because of this, trial gardens tend to be a network of friends growing each others plants for fun, because much of it is not viable commercially. Because of cost concerns my garden will change dramatically over the next few years, with the emphasis on rebloom, my hybridizing program, recent introductions, and a merchandising experiment I'm trying with reblooming medians (SDB's thrive and rebloom year round in San Diego County). 

Alex Stanton, Stanton Iris Gardens

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