I'm from the pro end - landscape maintenance. To echo what LG said - I'm a one woman show and work out of my house/van with no loans on equipment, vehicles and no payrolling of staff which makes this recession easier to cope with. I also deal with materials on a cash and carry basis and this is how I have my accounts setup with vendors rather then pay later. I drive around in an old green conversion van - I took all the seats out and put load shocks on it a few years ago to accomodate all the equipment and ammendments I tote around (after my pickup truck was totalled by an uninsured driver who did a hit and run). It is mechanically sound with no rust so it looks respectable when I pull up to a client's house. It was cheaper then purchasing an actual cargo van or another pickup truck. Sometimes when I'm driving around I can't help but wonder what the bank note is on some of these large landscape maintenance trucks - just the diesel to run them must be huge. And then because the cab is big you have to justify the cost by filling it up with about 4 - 5 guys. When you have a lot of overhead you have to have the larger jobs or lots of little jobs to survive right now! My business went up about 10 percent last year - but my bread and butter has always been maintenance and garden installations are gravy. We've also always lived very frugally (I can be found quite a bit over on GW's money saving forum - :)) I also try to stay diversified as much as possible - I will do anything from taking care of gravesites to garden coaching, plans for DIYers like gardengal, holiday decorating, winter pruning, general yard maintenance and some hardscaping with natural stone. I have some longterm clients that have been loyal, I get referrels through word of mouth, Angie's List and always keeping a stack of business cards ready to hand to people at trade shows, on jobsites, in conversation. I don't have a website yet - but I'm working on it right now as another marketing tool. I also try to get a feel for what everyone else is charging and be in the middle - it gives me more room to negotiate without cutting my own throat. My biggest competition has been the immigrant mow and go guys - they'll try and undercut me so I try to stay around their price point or just above and stress quality, horticultural knowledge, the English language, and great customer service and reliability. Also when conducting sales calls I carry around a huge portfolio filled with mouth watering progression photos of gardens I've installed, renovated and/or maintained throughout the years. If I can get in the door that's usually what seals the deal - a picture's worth a thousand words which is important because I don't unfortunately do lawns or plow snow which are my two greatest weaknesses compared to the competition.

Glad this got bumped to the top again. I thought maybe someone would want to hear how my Costco purchase has gone. I bought 3 TP's from Costco the end of Feb and planted them together in a big pot kept in garage. I was a little confused about Japanese vs Chinese in my earlier post - the Costco tree peonies were Chinese - don't know what Van B sells. I planted out the Cinnabar Rampart (Zhu Sha Lei) about 1 week ago. When I took it out of the pot it had begun developing new roots - good sign. It had begun to leaf out and looks quite healthy. The nice folks at A&D Peonies in WA had told me to plant it before it leafed out if I could - so tried to hurry to get it in the ground. Now its covered with a box as the snow is falling and not expected to quit till tomorrow. My favorite nursery told me that peony leaves would freeze on the tips and look uglier than normal if they weren't covered so my yard looks like a warehouse with boxes everywhere on the herbaceous peonies. The 2 not planted yet are P. Suffruticosa Hu's Red and Paeonia ostii White Phoenix. The P. ostii was a lot later than the suffruticosa's in developing leaf buds and its not as healthy a plant - the stems appear to be largely dead and the new growth is coming from the bottom and from the rootstock. There is a lot of conflicting information on the internet about P. ostii - some say its the easiest to grow, others say its susceptible to diseases and a weak plant. But the picture was pretty! Now I'm waiting for the snow to melt so I can plant out the other 2.

Attention all buyers! If you have purchased or received any blueberry plants from Van Bourgondien, Dutch Bulbs, or Simple Pleasures this season, then we have news for you! Van Bourgondien has chosen not to pay for the plants received. Van Bourgondien does not grow any of their own plants; they just buy from growers and resell to you, collecting your money in the process. But this year, they have chosen not to pay for the plants, and simply keep the money you have given them. Several companies from growers, to trucking firms and even the widows of growers recently passed away are now suffering the losses of their time and hard work at the hands of Van Bourgondien. Here is a link to the Better Business Bureau complaint against them, http://norfolk.app.bbb.org/complaint/view/48027658/c/3c982f , and also a copy of the letter sent to us threatening bankruptcy, http://www.theblueberrypatch.org/Van_Bourgondien_letter.pdf .

Shirley, I think I am still going to order my plants. There is no way in this world you can grow a stuttgart canna in south Texas. They are a bogg plant, that cannot stand any sun. I fell in love with it when Barry posted a picture of his on the brugmansia forum about 5 yrs ago, he was in Md, and had nothing but problems with burned leaves. Since I am not ordering plants, I think I will be ok. They have only positive feedback since January, if I do it now I think it will be ok. Timing is everything, I'll let you know as soon as I get my order. Barbra