Re: Re New Books
Moira - Ah, yes, the old old story - viz:
>
> I would however hasten to assure you that not by any means all the
>plants it lists are freely available in the local trade
Same things applies here, even with a quite recent book like Thomas
Ross and Jeffrey Irons' Australasian Plants in Europe - turning from
that to The Plant Finder is sometimes a very Mother-Hubbard-ish
experience: the cupboard is bare! It'll be interesting to see if Peter
Thompson's new one, The Looking Glass Garden, offers the same sort of
temptation/frustration.
>(the rarer Astelias for instance).
That was unkind since I'm still in pursuit of many of them! (Though
Gary Dunlop in Northern Ireland grows a remarkable range and I'm
talking to him nicely....!)
>
>The dumbing-down of the local plant trade here is also a growing problem
>and is much encouraged by the mass outlets which are only concerned with
>what will bring in the most quick money. It takes a dedicated small
>grower to have a pride in presenting the rare and difficult. I think to
>a large extent this function is fulfilled here by speciaist mail-order
>growers,
>
This sounds rather like the situation here ten years or so ago. Now,
mail order possibilities seem to have shrunk considerably, as small
nurseries, often one-man-or-woman bands, find the hassle and expense
involved just too much. There are still lots of small specialist
nurseries - indeed, more spring up all the time - but more and more of
them seem to try to survive on direct sales. It's really a
devil-and-the-deep-blue-sea problem for many: direct sales only means
that you only have a small catchment area, hence probably far fewer
(and probably not enough) customers; mail order means a bigger
catchment area and more customers, at least potentially, but also more
time-consuming and profit-diminishing labour (and less time to devote
to raising more - and new - plants). That, I suspect, is why over here
increasing numbers are not really 'full time' nurseries, aiming to
support at least the owner and his family, but 'expanded hobbies,'
providing fun + superior pin-money.
Tim Longville
