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HOW TO MAKE HORT A BUSINESS

TO:
Carmel and others who would like to make horticulture your business,

I think that I can offer some help and suggestions by making myself
an example. I will be writing some personal things, not to brag, but
to say, hey, if I can do it you might be able to do this also.

Bobbie Brooks here in Gloucester MA

I have a young business, not too big, growing and selling plants,
part time, and designing and installing gardens....not landscaping,
but mostly gardens....

I have always been self employed.  This background may have helped.
I teach piano. I have also been in the antiques business for 15 yrs.
All this is said to make the point that I like making my own
decisions, making my own time schedules and living a life sometimes
sparse.  But I get up in the morning and like what I am doing.  It
never has been a 9-5 job.

About 9 years ago, after a divorce, and wanting to hold onto my home
and property, I decided to explore gardening with the idea that the
property could pay for itself as a backyard garden business someday.
I gave myself 5000 to do it. Made a room outside, instead of inside!
 The land, soil, and mother nature called to me.  Gardening is not in
my background, nor have I really taken courses. Self study for these
nine years has done nothing but increase. Know something, and I want
to know more.  <BG>  I remember that first year trying to learn,
asking questions from nurseries that just wanted to sell me things,
and thinking, isn't there a place to just observe things, or courses
without a complete degree?  Somebody tell me what the heck PH means,
or deciduous?  What to plant with what, and make a perennial garden
bloom continuously.  (Now you guys are lucky with listserves, and the
internet!)  I didn't even have a computer until 4 years ago.

I read every  hort magazine 10 yrs old and up.  I visited gardens.  I
talked.  I listened.  I traveled locally to follow up on gardens,
nurseries, etc.  I also got frustrated and VOWED that if I ever
learned how to GARDEN, not landscape, that I would PASS ON EVERYTHING
I could to others.   I do that now.  I searched out unusual plants to
put in the gardens I was developing.  At first it was, daylilies,
hostas, ground covers, HERBS in a big way- fragrant, not just
culinary, and dried flower materials ( a good business that I
developed until I got allergic to them).  And I attempted to
buy/trade, etc. all that I could.

One big early mistake was thinking that Mint was a ground cover!
HUH!  a groundcover growing to 4 ft  high!  LOL!!! and with me to
this day!!!! <BG>

In my search for daylilies, I discovered that there was a society
that met locally once a month. What?  A society just for daylilies?
I am not a joiner usually, but I went and that was the beginning of
the 700 cultivar collection, and now hybridizing efforts.  Daylily
enthusiasts ARE gardeners, and they share a ton of knowledge AND all
kinds of plants!  WOW!  My eyes lit up!

AND I let things happen.

By that, I mean, I was open to things, tried things and if they
failed, tried something else.  Starting with classes held here in my
house, to adult ed, to consultations, to selling excess stock, to
flea markets, etc.
Then to lectures, buying in wholesale and potting, to hoop houses.
From seeds started under lights, on makeshift tables made from hollow
doors placed on bureaus in my bedrooms, the floors, hallways, and
dining room.  And finally to pots.  Never have I spent what I cannot
pay cash for.  Time will let the business grow and my confidence grow
with it.

I have a unique business.  I learned a long time ago a rule- Find out
what is needed and fill that need.
There are a lot of nurseries in my area, there are a lot of
landscapers/lawn maintenance people, but NOT a lot of GARDENERS!
Tell them how to amend the soil, concentrate on what will grow well
with other plants, grow unusual plants - everyone sells impatiens and
marigolds.  Specialize in something.  Those were my highlights.  Show
them how to grow it by example.  Show them in a garden setting.

And, coming from the antique business where I learned that 'SHOWS'
sell things faster than shops, because of the need to purchase
quickly and the excitment of other people purchasing, I have opened
my gardens for sales on  just a few weekends.  Here I sell the last
weekend in May and the following.  I then Close.
Open again during daylily season for two weeks.  THAT IS IT!  They
have to buy then or else make an appt, or wait!  Amazingly this has
grown by word of mouth.  No ads. No mailouts (although I would
recommend that).     Signs on tel poles,  yes;  yard sale idea, yes;
BUT most importantly, I offer a unique and unusual business.  They
deal only with me. They can see the plants growing in the gardens
(instead of on a nursery table);   AND,  I offer advice about plant
companions.  I sell, if anything, Service and Advice.

For the design work, this also has evolved.  First consultations and
advice.  Then some design work.  Now landscapers come for garden
designs for their commercial sites and I do larger designs that
include trees, shrubs, etc.   I let what happens, happen. Sometimes
scared, but I always take it as a challenge to grow.

One bit of advice- DO NOT GROW BIGGER THAN WHAT YOU CAN HANDLE RIGHT
NOW.  I do not want to employ people, nor work at a desk. I do not
want to do just installations, wheelbarrow mulch or stay here waiting
for people to pop in at their leisure.  I want the creative end, AND
time to garden, and hybridize daylilies.  You can make your own rules
too.

It has only taken a few years to grow.  And I  now a need to put a
halt to things to keep my lifestyle.

What I guess I am saying is learn, study, be open to new things or
what may come your way, and then decide how far you might want to
take it, or in what direction.  Do what you are comfortable with.
Don't let the impossible stop you- just downsize it to where YOU can
do it!  Grow slowly.

I hope that I have not sounded  like I am boasting.  I am still
amazed that I am doing what I am.   I am just a simple gal, wanting
to share what I have learned and hopefully, as well, I will learn
more from you.  Gardening is a pursuit of life and my way of life.....
forever.

Submitted with respect to all those who know a heck of lot more than
I do, and with encouragement to those that may be able to go where I
have gone.

bobbie brooks, Gloucester MA

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