Ashdown Roses stays in business AND has a Great Sale

14 years ago

A great sale is happening at Ashdown Roses and the only thing closing down is plant retail sales. The prices are so great that you can purchase roses and cover shipping costs for less than you'd have paid for a rose alone. Buy in groups and in quantity and you save even more. There are some special roses available so help them out and order at least a few. Paul's workshop plans are so exciting - imagine him coming to your garden and sharing his experience! He was just here in mine and I can tell you I won't soon forget his visit. I learned so much that it has changed my approach to the roses permanently.

Sue

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Comments (9)

jaxondel
14 years ago
This all sounds so mysterious, so confusing, so aggravatingly vague. So Ashdown is staying in business afterall? Hmmm . . . For the vast majority of us, attending far-flung workshops and hosting Paul in our individual gardens ain't gonna happen. Bottom line here for me is that there's now one fewer sources for roses.
allison64
14 years ago
It is sad that we won't be able, after October, to buy from Ashdown. I am surprised by the announcement. I had noticed as of late when searching out certain roses Ashdown was within the top results on Google. This was new. I figured they had upped their promotion practices/budget and it was working. I was very happy to see this. Also, there was an Ashdown blog entry on selling roses on Ebay. If I remember correctly, they said it was taking off. So I thought this new "push" was the direction they were going in. First thing I thought was that quick! Did they give it enough time to see if it would become successful? Just what went through my mind.
It's a bummer. I just bought my first Ashdown roses and am thoroughly happy with them and the customer service. These are "specialty" roses and it made the adventure....nice.
Of course I wish them all the best!

Allison
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OK Harryshoe time for me to chime in too. I do buy from big box stores but I purchase the majority of my roses from nurseries. We have opened up our own pharmacy to try to have the small personal feeling of a home town pharmacy like in the old days. When we were younger and our kids were younger we only used our local independent pharmacist and that is what persuaded my husband to go into that profession. Everyday we are asked if we match Wally World and yes sometimes we do just because the drug is cheap and can afford to buuut.... we know full well they are not getting the same kind of service at Wally World that we do our best to provide. Anyway to get off my soapbox.... I hope more and more people consider using local businesses whether it be grocery store, pharmacy, nursery, or whatever. Anyway everyone have a great spring and summer and I look forward to seeing everyones beauties, Judy
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Ashdown Roses stays in business AND has a Great Sale
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Comments (9)
The last thing I expected when I logged-on this afternoon was to learn of this unfortunate turn of events. Quite a number of roses in my garden, as well as roses I've bought as gifts for friends, came from Ashdown. I'm sure most of us here were pulling for the Ashdown folks to survive the virtual parade of stressors they've had to deal with in the last few years. Here's wishing only the best for the Ashdown crew and their terrific collection of roses. Have to admit, though, that I was a bit nonplussed as I read through the list of available sale roses and found several that had long since been added by email to my 'wish list' at Ashdown. These were roses that I'd gladly have paid full price for. Today, of course, all of those have already sold out. Come to think of it, I never once heard from Ashdown about any rose on my 'wish list'. It was a good concept; too bad it seems not to have worked.
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Dear karl_bapst_rosenut, Mr. Zimmerman kindly clarified that his company, Ashdown Roses, is NOT being sold to another nursery. I am positive that forum members comprehend that Mr. Zimmerman is the owner of Ashdown Roses. Independent nursery owners are unsung heroes who are dedicated to educating masses, supporting the worldwide rose market, graciously providing us with roses to cherish in our gardens, and preserving our environment. Furthermore, forum members are wanting their favorite (and also addition of) independent nurseries in their specific regional locations so that they can indulge in the enthralling world of rose gardening. A silly and sweet tug-of-war of words ensued between forum members about where they want the independent nurseries. A few months ago, I met Mr. Zimmerman at the Heritage Roses Northwest (HRNW) society meeting in Seattle, WA. I was elated to meet a pioneer in the field of roses from whom I purchased roses for my humble garden. There were many attendees at the HRNW meeting who traveled from adjacent states. We joked (and secretly wished) that we'd love for Ashdown Roses to relocate to our region. Practical considerations such high shipping costs (which is regulated by the mailing industry) may be a blocking issue in purchasing roses from independent nurseries in distant locations. It is my belief that forum members do not have dubious or malicious intentions to destruct the reputations of independent nurseries. Thank you for sharing your concerns with forum members. I sincerely request that we do not have a row about the matter in discussion. We are a family of rose enthusiasts! Rosy hugs to you. Reem
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Anyone have any ideas for spreading the word to local nurseries without being offensive? There's one in particular right in my area that's across from a high-profile, big selection of Proven Winners, overpriced place. The service sucks, but people must go for the selection. The smaller place is family owned, with good service, but it sells mostly annuals, super-common perennials and shrubs, own-grown and Proven Winners. No one around here sells old roses and this nursery could fill the gap left by Great Lakes Roses if it wanted to and give people a reason to come, or at least cross the street... With its location, the nursery is in a situation to cater to wealthy and very wealthy people (who not only have a lot of rose-growing land and could hire the gardeners to care for them, but would be enticed by the idea of an antique rose, especially because of the history and not everyone has one -- roses as a staus symbol), and also the poor and not as wealthy in my area who also have old and historic homes where such roses would fit right in and low-care would be a big bonus! If this place advertised in the Michigan Gardener (our state gardening magazine), was featured in the paper by a well-known gardening columnist (who would probably love to help) and put ads in the 2 small-town papers and the neighborhood and historic district newsletters, they could easily drum up a lot of interest! Would you write a letter? Go in? What's the nice way to say, "Look, your nursery is boring, most of the traffic is across the street, and there's not much reason to shop here. This might be a little risky, but there is some demand for these roses here that could help your business, you're in a good situation to really market yourself in the area and beyond, and here are a couple of vendors that you can buy from"?
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rosesnpots
14 years ago
jaxondel, Allison

You both have a lot of good questions. The best way to get your answers is to read Paul's letter on his web site(main page). I have provided the link below.

jaxondel, Do you not say where you live but it is anywhere close to Norfolk, VA. Paul Zimmerman will be here on Oct 18 as the guest speaker during the regular meeting of the Tidewater Rose Society. And of course all are welcome.

Liz

Here is a link that might be useful: Paul Zimmerman's letter
allison64
14 years ago
Hi Rosenpots,

I read the letter earlier today. I don't have any questions. I just didn't expect change and was blabbing my thoughts.
Actually, I do have a question. Which roses to get!!! :-)

Allison
pfzimmerman
14 years ago
Things were doing fairly well but a integral part of our plan moving forward was the sale of the property and the equity we would realize from that. The cash was needed as a cushion for the slower months that are normal with our industry. In a small nursery even though we may have a slow month sales wise our production, office, fertilizing, care and everything else continues on its normal pace.

I was giving the property till the end of summer to sell and when it didn't this was the best choice - which is to suspend plant sales and cut all the overhead. In the end it's another sign of the economy.

I realize the plans may seem vague because we are best known for our plant selling. But I've built up other aspects of the business like licensing and my traveling out to do workshops. So for now we are ceasing plants sales (read high overhead) and focusing on those other aspects of what we do.

We are closing only part of the business, not all of it.

Paul
rosysunnygirl
14 years ago
Hey Paul, I noticed you said "suspending" not stopping... so does this mean that once things finally do turn around, Ashdown might jump back into the retail rose biz? (Maybe?)
seattlesuze
Original Author
14 years ago
From your mouth to God's ear, Rosysunnygirl!
pfzimmerman
14 years ago
Never say never. I just want to set us up so if we resume rose sales it's a part of what we do but not the main part. And quite frankly the economy has to recover. Everyone has been great about supporting all our Independent Rose Nurseries but all you have your limits too during these times.

Plus if rose sales are not the main part I can focus on the rare and unusual and that is where the fun is! And I also love teaching aka the You Tube Videos and now I can take the show on the road.
allison64
14 years ago
Hi Paul, I am sorry to hear about the property. I wish you all the best in your endeavors. Are you planning on blogging your adventure for us?
Oh yeah, will you keep the website up in some form? The library?

Thank you for all your hard work! Hope to see you in my neck of the woods!
Allison

Ashdown Roses stays in business AND has a Great Sale

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Ashdown Roses stays in business AND has a Great Sale

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