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bruts_mom

popular plants

bruts_mom
15 years ago

I am looking for a list of top selling plants used by a florist and how you would price them.

Comments (6)

  • watergal
    15 years ago

    Are you talking about potted foliage plants, seasonal flowering plants, dish gardens, etc?

  • hanselmanfarms
    15 years ago

    My husband's aunt grew "Baby's breath". Lots of it, so much that a florist friend of hers ask her to supply it to the shop. I believe it is a perrienal. After awhile, the shop needed help and she went to work for them.

    Otherwise, I would ask around the florist community. Ask them, what is not available or what is needed that doesn't travel well. I'll bet they will give you a list. I know there is always some plant that doesn't travel well and needs to be purchased locally.

  • bruts_mom
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Watergal The answer to your questions would be yes,yes,and yes.

    I am looking for any info about selling to florist, hospitals, produce markets etc. Any input from ya'll about selling to these types of business would be great.

    Also looking for dish garden dishes. If any body knows where to get these or something to use instead of these dishes please let me know.

    Thanks hanselmanfarms for the Baby's Breath info.

  • muddydogs
    15 years ago

    Who wants to buy your dish gardens? The stuff you want to sell belongs to the pros. The best is already available and don't even dream about it if you're a user. Maybe a bouquet of dandelions is worth more money now because it's organic and beautiful.

  • bruts_mom
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    To reply to muddydogs I sell dish gardens to two retail shops,
    seafood festivals, but mainly word of mouth.
    What do you mean by "the stuff I want to sell is for pros?"
    or "the best is available" or the "user" part, truth
    is I didnt' really understand much of what you said so maybe you can clue me in and I'll start selling "dandelions"

  • calliope
    15 years ago

    So much of the floral trade is filled with flowers you might not even be able to grow in most parts of the country. Sadly, even those cut flowers you can grow locally have gone south of the border, and were one of the first of the green industry's lines to do so.

    I do seasonal potted stock, or at least that is what my business' main line was twenty years ago when I started it up. I sold heavily to florists then, but hardly at all anymore. There are several reasons for this. A major one is fuel cost. I no longer find it profitable to grow things like Easter lilies and simply rewholesale them now.

    The other reason is that if you want to sell to florists, you can.....but their supplies come in on a regular delivery schedule from wholesalers in major cities, and it's just SO EASY for them to bump on everything so that it arrives when the trucks come in. I had other, larger outlets who came knocking at my door, and it just wasn't worth the hassle anymore to keep making contacts with florists, who would often say ..... "oh geesh, your's are beautiful, but I didn't know you had "those" and just ordered them from my regular wholesaler. IOW, I had to be on weekly contact with them and push, push, push. Of course most florists expect absolutely perfect quality (and I don't blame them because of their price points). That meant I had to hold back a large block of my stock, because they usually kept overhead low and didn't order on speculation, and the stuff I held back was my BEST. Then if the florists didn't need all they asked to hold back, they usually didn't want to commit to paying for it. LOL.

    I still occasionally sell certain unusual novelty items they can't get anywhere else.....but have just not bothered to pander to them anymore, because they are low profit in hard times. (they also want substantial price breaks). I'm not trying to discourage you, there is a market there, but you'd better know your market really well to plan on a business based on it. If you did, you wouldn't have to ask here.

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