Re: Plants magazine

Extremely well said Doug.  You've given me a look at myself.  I have to
think about what I complain about (Magazines and plant selection).

PS planting your own seeds are a great way to collect the unusual specimen
rather rely on the nurseryman.  I am expanding my experience in this area
thanks to the advice on this list!

Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Green" <flowers@simplegiftsfarm.com>
To: <perennials@hort.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2002 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: Plants magazine


> >  Many of the perennials coming into New York and New
> > > England are from Canada.  These will be assortments quite different
from
> > > the
> > > local nurseries.
>
> Well, as the Territory Sales Manager for the U.S. east coast for a major
> Canadian perennial nursery :-)  thank you for this assessment. It is
> actually true - largely because of several factors. Canadians as a whole
> garden more than U.S. residents; likely spending more per capita on their
> gardens.  Also, our growing traditions are tied into the European ones so
> we tend to look to the continent for new plants.  This is not to say that
> the U.S. doesn't have great breeders or plant introductions. Far from it,
> the U.S. is still a major hort force - just different varieties.
>
>   Local
> > > nurseries will not take a chance on unknown plants and I guess I
cannot
> > > fault
> > > this as they know their market.
>
>
> This again is simply economics.  A local garden centre has to purchase at
> least 8 (in gallon sizes) of any plant to obtain it from a wholesale
> nursery. In other words, a full tray - depending on size of pot a tray can
> contain between 4 to 25 pots.  This is an investment that has to pay off
> and if that entire tray is not sold, the garden center loses money (the
> profit is in the last pots sold).  It is tough for small garden centers to
> carry the numbers.  Wierd plants just don't sell that well in some markets
> for local garden centres to carry many of the "different" plants.
>
>
> >===>I do understand why marketing theory prevents introduction of very
new
> >plants, Claire, but why do all the markets have to ignore us plant
> >collectors?
>
> Again, simple economics.  Collecting by the nature of the activity means
> those folks don't want what everyone else wants. The comments here about
> not wanting to pay the higher costs associated with "Plants" magazine
> points out the fact that many of you also don't want to pay the higher
> costs associated with new and very unusual perennials or the magazines
that
> describe them -  such as the new double Echinacea (or the ones coming
along
> that have different colours - all of which will find themselves in my
trial
> gardens this summer) :-))   The vast majority of gardeners are quite
> contented with the offerings of nurseries (Heritage Perennials for example
> produces approx 1600 varieties - enough for almost any gardener)   If this
> group hesitates to pay the big bucks for new plants; you can imagine Ms.
> Homeowner when she gets to the perennial section and sees a Hosta 'Tattoo'
> for $50. or a double trillium for $100.  ;-))
>
> We'll do the newest stuff because we can afford to trial them but we can't
> continue to do them unless they sell well.
>
> Specialist plants will never by mass-produced - if they were, they
wouldn't
> be specialist plants. ;-))
>
>
>
> >===>Yes, we need a magazine for the gardener's gardener, right?  Some
depth,
> >unusual plants, some taxonomy, genera surveys, etc.  But no one perceives
> >that there is a market for such a thing, apparently.
>
> Well again, speaking from some experience, magazines have to follow the
> money.  The fact that magazines (which are devilishly expensive to
produce)
> have to follow the advertising money limits what they can produce.  If
> there were enough advertisers willing to advertise to any market segment,
> there would be a magazine producing to that segment.  Face it guys - folks
> like us who collect perennials seriously are a limited market compared to
> the thousands who purchase annuals and woody plants. :-)
>
> This for example is one of the limiting factors that Organic Gardening
> faces.  It can't access an entire range of advertisers without annoying
> their core audience.  The magazine essentially is in a straight-jacket of
> what it can and can not afford to print.  Other magazines face the same
> problem with their unique markets.  The more specialized a publication,
the
> more limited it is in terms of both audience and advertisers who will pay
> to access that specialized market.  "Plants" is a specialized perennial
> magazine and look at the reaction on this list to that one. ;-(  It does
> come down to dollars and cents.
>
> However, if you can find the advertisers, I can find the writers. :-)
>
> Fortunately, folks like Chris find ways to let folks exchange information
> on lists like this. A fact that I'm grateful for (thanks Chris!)
>
> And to all of you who continue to share great perennial information with
> the rest of us - a very Merry Christmas from Eastern Ontario, Canada where
> the sun is shining and I'm designing my greenhouse for next year's garden
> construction project.
>
> Doug
>
> Doug Green
> Author of the award winning "Gardening Wisdom"
> See gardening articles at http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index