Re: Nurseries
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Nurseries
- From: d* f*
- Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 14:58:17 -0800 (PST)
Tim and Moira,
Maybe it is my ignorance of what has come before in
California horticulture, and what has been lost to the
trade, as well as not being as well read as the two of
you, but these seem like extremely exciting times to
be involved with horticulture in the San Francisco Bay
Area and California in general. There seems to be a
never ending explosion of new plants to try, more
plant collecting being done by both individuals and
botanic gardens, and a general enthusiasm for new and
old plants here, that I certainly am not complaining.
If anything, the most frustrating thing for me is that
so many things which already are here in our superb
local botanic gardens, aren't generally more
available. Being more of a landscape design person
than a good propagator, I always prefer to take the
easy way out and start with plants rather than
cuttings or seed. I know that the first thing is to
let people know what you'd like, and hopefully they
will grow it for you!
We seem to be able to keep the middle ground of
industry people here in California as well, besides
the hobbiest/early retirees and young enthusiasts, but
it probably doesn't pay any better here than
elsewhere. The incredible price of California real
estate, and our continuing problems with energy and
water costs may start to take a toll if we here in
California can't turn this ridiculous current energy
situation around. Someone is really making out like
bandits here, and energy traders seem like the prime
candidates.
--- Tim Longville <tim@eddy.u-net.com> wrote:
> Mike, Moira -
>
> Many thanks for the grand weeping and wailing and
> gnashing of teeth! I
> didn't intend (honest!) to set off such a chorus of
> lamentation!
>
> I don't think the overall situation (yet) is as
> desperate in the UK as
> you make it sound in the US and NZ. Indeed, it
> isn't. If The Plant
> Finder can list 70, 000+ different plants, it really
> can't be, even
> allowing for the inclusion of hundreds of HT roses,
> this year's fancy
> bedding pelargoniums, etc etc.
>
> There is indeed a serious reduction in the number of
> nurseries
> offering mail order and that is a worry. There is
> also a worrying
> number of very high-quality long-established
> specialists going out of
> business (Hannays of Bath, the Evanses of Waterwheel
> Nursery, for
> example), partly just because the owners were 'of
> that age' but also,
> I think, because they'd grown tired of the
> increasingly difficult
> struggle to make the business pay.
>
> I don't, though, think there's any aggressive 'big
> business' invasion
> here of the world of the small independent
> nurseryman. Which is in one
> way encouraging and in another the reverse - since
> it's not happening,
> I suspect, simply because it's so obvious that such
> nurserymen are
> mostly in anything but a healthy commercial
> situation.
>
> I can't imagine, though, that there won't always be
> new people
> sufficiently mad about plants to take the job
> (vocation?) on - both
> young ones at the beginning of professional
> horticultural careers and
> older people taking early retirement from something
> else. Which is
> partly pious hope - but also (I'd bet money - though
> not much) a fair
> guess at the grip plant-addiction exerts and will
> continue to exert.
> Tim Longville
>
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/?.refer=text
