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achnatherum

Wish me luck!

achnatherum
16 years ago

Well tomorrow is the big day! I have 300 grasses potted up and ready to go. Here it is 4pm the day before & I still have signs to make, pricing to do & a last minute tidy-up of 1/2 the pots ... Nothing like leaving things until the last minute.

We are finally having a touch of well needed rain so ... I am having a small enforced rest :o) After gale force winds & temps of 30C for the past couple of days I am not the least bit unhappy to be getting further behind - let it rain!

So wish me luck - it would be great if I could get rid of everything that I have potted up. AND ... never again! It's just too much darn work ...

Anyone out there doing similar crazy stuff???

a.

Comments (8)

  • donn_
    16 years ago

    Break a leg! I wish I was close enough to attend. I need more grasses!

  • Pudge 2b
    16 years ago

    Good Luck! You'll probably sell them all in record time...make a bundle...buy more grasses...divide some more...then say oh well, may as well sell some more next year, LOL.

    I started selling cut flowers and dried flower/grass/grain arrangements at a farmers market last year. Some days I wondered why the heck I was doing it, but at the end of the season I really missed it so guess what I'm doing again this year :).

  • grass_guy
    16 years ago

    Best of luck! Hope all goes well!

  • donn_
    16 years ago

    How did it go?

  • achnatherum
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Well .... the weather was great and I got to visit with a lot of OG lovers BUT ... I only sold about 1/2 my pots of grasses :o(
    Maybe a few more will go this week or maybe I'll just have to make a new garden. RATS!
    A.

  • donn_
    16 years ago

    Do you have a best/worst-seller list for us?

  • achnatherum
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    What an interesting idea Donn!!
    First, I have to tell you that a couple of things seemed to heavily influence what grasses sell over others.
    - how they look in the pot right now - so, obviously the slower growers aren't as appealing
    - how they look in the garden - big advantage over sellers with plants only in pots.
    - signage - over the years I have made up laminated signs (8 x 5)that have descriptions & sometimes pictures. The better the description the better the plant sells.Had I had more time& energy I would have put matching signs by the plants in the garden - I'm sure that would have generated some impulse purchases.
    - 'talking up' plants - especially the lesser known ones that I am really enthusiastic about.
    AND
    - variegation & colour sells!!

    so...
    Best sellers
    Miscanthus 'Variegatus'
    Arundo donax 'Variegatum'
    (only 3 pots of each & they were sold in the first hour)
    Miscanthus purpurescens (with its promise of good fall colour)
    Panicum virgatum 'Rehbran' (red leaf tips) - this bodes well for the cultivar that I have in trial :o)

    Miscanthus giganteus (only 5 pots and 2 priced at $25. also gone quickly.

    Hakonechloa macra
    Carex muskingumensis
    (did very well for people looking for grasses for shady situations)

    And purely because 'I' like Molinias, 'Skyracer' and 'Windspeil' did very well.

    Calamagrostis 'Karl Forester' was only 1 or 2 days away from blooming & I sold very few on day one. On day two I was commenting to a couple of people how surprised I was saying "ALL of these would have been gone in an hour had they been in bloom!!" Comments like that sold 20 plants :o)

    Worst Sellers
    Pennisetums did poorly - they have the slowest start & look the least advanced in the pots.

    Miscanthus 'Goliath' sold well & 'Roland' sold zero pots - I had a very poor description on 'Roland' & had I been able to talk 'him' up I'm sure I could have sold lots. In the past I have had lots of requests for that particular plant.

    Molinia 'Karl Foerster' didn't sell well - poor sign description and ... very similar plant to 'Skyracer'

    I didn't have all my grass varieties in the sale - this was just a way of getting rid of the ones that I had lined out for sale purposes. So all time good sellers like Miscanthus 'Strictus' aren't included in this list - I'm sure it would have topped the best-seller list.
    A.

  • donn_
    16 years ago

    Fascinating. Even in grasses, it's all about marketing.

    I have a patch of 7 C. muskingumensis, closely planted, and in their 3rd year. It's a gorgeous stand of grass, and really lights up the partial shade area it's in. A walker caught me in the garden yesterday, and asked about them. I described them to her, and she asked if I sold grasses. I told her I did, and that I had a dozen of them in gallon pots (1 year old's from seed). She haggled me down to $7 each for all of them, and even brought the pots back after she installed them. I had intended to dig and divide those 7 older plants this spring. Glad I didn't get around to it. They're their own best salesman.

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