I am looking for the book by Tony Avent, "So you want to start a Nursery" I have a bunch of plants I am willing to trade for anybody that might have this one. Thanks! Darren

I ordered from this company (Sexy Bloomers) tempted by the prices, of course (and was also just curious) and will NEVER do it again. It is not the fact that they ship late. They ship VERY late!! Way too late. They sent my order in May (this year). Poor plants were already growing in the bags. Of course those buds died after planting. I lost most of the plants, and will probably lose the rest of them during the winter, because they just didn't grow much during the year. The plants themselves don't look bad when you first get them, they actually look quite healthy, but they are really small - only two branches. When I asked about replacing some that died, Cher said their policy is that if the plant grew leaves already and only after that it died, than they will not replace it. I am really tired of this company... I was not surprised of this wacko reply. Tree peonies are not like other plants. Just because they make some leaves, simply doesn't mean that the plant is OK. Anyway, it is too late for you, ebster, you already paid the money, but I am writing this just in case other people are looking for this information. I personally would not recommend this company to anyone. I don't understand if SB know that the tps will be shipped late, why don't they just be honest and say so. Some people might still choose to buy from them. I had the same question. And I still don't understand why they do this. I was told October, them November, then December.... etc. As I said, my plants got here in May. I believe this is way too late for planting peonies. In the past, I have ordered tree peonies from two other companies (one of them being Tree Peony Garden) and I have to say: You get what you pay for! The other known, reliable companies might charge double, but it is definitely worth it. Valentina

I started my nursery business off in 2010 while I was still working a full time job. Slow, slow start, but having the acreage I do (see prior post) it was easy to just plant plants and take cuttings to sell. Really love doing this; still doing this, but not making a lot of money and could not do this if I was the only one working. I retired a few years ago, with the hopes of this taking off. A lot of work later, and I saw things slowly starting to work. I am state inspected yearly, grow only organically (not certified), and use no pesticides. So there is that yearly fee for the inspection. Remember there are pots to purchase, tags, signs, advertising, etc. etc. etc. etc........ However, life happens. My granddaughter happened. Babysitting happened and two to three days a week was taken up with this precious baby. I still have a home to keep up, supper to make, yard to care for etc....while my husband works 6 days a week at his job. I change plants that I sell periodically, if things are not selling. I sell daylily and hostas (easiest to raise and sell), perennials and shrubs. I love my gardens, but don't get enough time to do what I want to do. I'm actually thinking of cutting back and doing more online selling. It's really what you make of it, but really, the big box stores still get you, no matter what. Their prices are competitive (I had to raise my prices finally as I was actually LOSING money one year. I love the concept. I love the plants. But I'm already getting tired. All the work put into the greenhouses, area for the nursery, walkways, shelving etc. I don't want to go to waste. I do grow 99% of what I sell. That really helps. No overhead. Our property is paid for. Just note: nurseries are suffering the last few years. We've had three major nurseries close in our area alone. It's not easy. But please note. I might sound negative, but I'm still doing this! I love it but I'm only really open the warm months of the year here. I really wish anyone starting this all the luck and self fullfillment you can get. Good luck!

""One is greenhouse growing specialty tender plants like poinsetta." Not true. There is precious little money in a poinsettia crop" I know, I was surprised to learn they were doing this too. They must have found a higher paying market for them- maybe interior landscaping? I don't know more details, just that they are keeping that part of the business but looking to sell the retail store. They are growing other crops as well though, again, I don't have all the details. I dont' agree with the same comment about lily market, at least not daylily. The data I've seen is that there are perhaps 5 companies that are in the $10-20M annual revenue and literally hundreds below that. There are also quite a number in the $1-5M range. The majority are 58k varieties registered to date) for collectors and hobbyists. New intros are in the $100-400 range per single fan. Then the prices drop year by year until they range from $20-$4 for 2 fans on older cultivars that are still highly collected. Also, I agree that quality is a big concern and this limits the types of plants that are doing well. They tend to be sturdy plants that either go dormant or that are strong enough to tolerate digging, root cleaning, shipping well. There are state regulations on shipping that impact how they must be packaged and treated. Similar situation with Iris and Hosta. "I think this is a very important aspect of staying solvent and profitable in this industry. You have to really, really know your production costs and plot them against the returns. You cannot be all things to all people, and you need to define where your market with the highest return lays and not be sentimental about what isn't paying its way." Absolutely, I could not agree more! And you are correct, owning land is a major factor. In fact it also is a major barrier to those companies who are trying to sell their business because their land value is so high that they have a huge asking price for the business and it's tough to find buyers in that high range for a business that isn't turning enough profit to cover huge property loans. nwnatural, There are several Iris growers in my area which started me looking at this type of business. They aren't often "dig your own" as much as buyer walks the display bed and chooses what they want, then the owners or their workers dig the order from the increase beds. In the case of iris the order is usually held then dug & shipped in the fall once the plants have gone dormant. I've done a lot of internet research into what the companies are offering. I also use the ResearchUSA small business database available through my local library. That database allows you to search privately held companies by name, location, SIC codes and will give ballpark revenue along with some other details of the business. It's hard to tell how current the data is and there are many more companies in existence that have not made it into the database but it's a good place to get rough idea of a market and target business. I've added to that some interviews with insiders. Much more research to do before I would jump in though.