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Old March 9, 2016   #8
PureHarvest
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b
Posts: 1,369
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If I may add some commentary as somebody who had 25 years experience in the retail garden center world.

1. If it is not showing some color, probably leave it back at the farm. It doesn't matter how good the picture on the tag is. Yes, full blooming plants aren't the best for transplanting, but you have human nature working against you to try and educate the buyer to buy green plants with no flowers.
You have some leg work to do to figure out days from seed or cutting to flower. Remember that the professional grower is using growth regulators to control size and still get blooms (not saying to do this).
Companies that produce cuttings for sale have good info on grow-out programs for all sizes of growers. They can tell you when to plant, temps, fert, and pot sizes.
Many can UPS you a tray of rooted cuttings and you have a major jump on the process, and uniformity. It's plug and play.

2. Even with point number 1 above, you should have tags in each pot. People want to know, even if out of curiosity. Price each unit if you can even if it feels repetitive. Consider a sign (about sheet of paper size) with name of plant near the grouping of one flower type

3. Consider a 2-fer price for hanging baskets. People (most) have two arms/hands.

4. Look at the grower's catalog and pick the stuff that has wow factor. Think like the customer.

5. Our best sellers were supertunia or wave petunias, sweet potato vine, lantana (hard to grow without heat), Rex-type Begonias (grown for foliage not flowers, the 'Big Begonia' Series Begonias (especially the burgundy leaf), New Guinnea Impatiens, Sunpatiens, Coleus (not the boring wizard mixes or similar from seed), Calibrachoa, Portulaca (the vegetative types, not from seed), Purple Fountain Grass.

Clockwise from left: Green Sweet Potato Vine, Rex Begonia (I forget the cultivar name), Sunpatien, Supertunia, Variegated Lysimachia
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Purple Fountain Grass and Fuchsia Portulaca:
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