So what is the goal?

Sinningia 'Li'l Georgie' in 2" pot (5 cm)

Story # 78,


 So what is the goal?


      I’ve been an opportunist in the plant business.  When I’ve seen an opening in the market for a new plant or a new size for an old plant, I’ve taken chances on there being a demand for it.


      The downside is that you can chase the market and never catch it.  The upside is that you can be progressive and be ahead of trends if you guess right.  We dropped growing market packs of annuals years before others moved into 4" pots.  The trend was that gardeners would pay more for a bigger plant for immediate flowering.


      Currently with very small production space, I’ve moved to small pots ----the Miniature Garden and Terrarium market requires the correct plants in small pots.


      I see miniature Sinningias as a worthwhile tiny specialty.


      The ultimate is one of the world’s smallest flowering house plants ---------Sinningia ‘Li’l Georgie’


      As described before, S. ’Li’l Georgie’ , a hybrid by Jim Steuerlein, proved to be the breakthrough that had limited the success of micro mini Sinningias.  The hybrid does not require the higher humidity of a closed container.  So now we have a flowering plant that can survive in an open Miniature Garden as well as a terrarium.


      Tissue culture is the only practical means of propagation.  Thousands can be produced.


      So the goal is:  Produce finished flowering ‘Li’l Georgie’s.  There is no competition.


      In marketing theory, this is known as a ‘New Market’.  The size of market or the number of customers is not known because no one ever had the product before.  In ‘New Markets’, it may take years before the demand can be found to absorb the supply.

      Nobody knows.


 The goal is to be the leading supplier of a very miniature flowering plant.

Buzzards are dumb but not stupid!

Baby Buzzard half grown

Story # 77, O T


 Buzzards are dumb but not stupid!


       The pair of buzzards that have nested in my barn for the last two years have hatched and raised three chicks.


      It’s been fun watching the babies outgrow their yellow baby feathers and grow rapidly through the ugly duckling stage to a full set of black wing feathers.

 
      One of their instincts is to go into the sun and dry their wings. 


      It probably takes some weight off and makes it easier to fly.

The Park

NYC Park Rules

Story # 76,  O. T.


      This NYC Park is along the East River.  It was a nice place to sit even though its postage stamp size stretches the concept of a park.


      Of course, there are rules.  How else can you arrest someone for being stupid or annoying if you don’t tell them in advance?


      If you make trash, be sure to not search through it for anything valuable.  

      If a bird or squirrel should somehow visit this park, do not give them any food -----they may decide to come back.


      Humans are not specifically excluded, so I guess you can be there, unless it’s dark.

One person saw it.

Sinningia 'Li'l Georgie'

Story # 75, Part II


       When I was at Longwood Gardens' Plant Shop today making a delivery, I noticed that a woman had a newspaper clipping in her hand.  She was looking for Sinningia ‘Li’l Georgie’ as shown in the Philadelphia Inquirer 8 days ago.


      Since I was stunned by that, I asked her about it.


      We were equally amazed.  She had come to Longwood because the story says that is the only place to find the plant.  And by dumb luck she met the grower.

Who will ever see this?

Sinningia 'Li'l Georgie'

Story # 75


      A copy of a listing in the Philadelphia Inquirer of Christmas gifts under $20.


The season's cutest plant. Sinningia 'Lil Georgie' tops out at 1 inch tall and 11/2 inches wide, making it one of the smallest flowering plants ever, says Gary K. Hunter, longtime wholesale specialty-plant grower in Drumore, southern Lancaster County. This new "micro-mini" hybrid is a steady bloomer, perfect for miniature and fairy gardens, terrariums, or open pots. To buy: $12.99 at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, which also sells Hunter's Sinningia 'Prudence Risley' ($12.99) and Poinsettia 'Ruby Frost' ($14.99). His website is garysspecialtyplants.com, but he does not have a retail outlet or online sales.

- Virginia A. Smith


        I’m sure you missed it, so here is a permanent record of the announcement.  And a picture.

My Mentor

 Story # 74

     In the book, Mastery, that I’m reading, the author proposes that the great masters of Science or the Arts had a mentor at some point in their training.  Masters like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford or Benjamin Franklin worked as apprentices and were then influenced by a mentor.

      My mentor in the greenhouse business was Donald Layser, a self-made man who created a plant business to make it into the top 100 greenhouses in the United States.  It was by chance that I got to work at Layser’s Flowers for several months during the Spring retail season.  My greenhouse production professor at Penn State, Dr John White, had a request for an intern and suggested that I try to get it for some real greenhouse experience.  The job was to work for Mrs. Layser in the retail greenhouse as the stock boy refilling plant inventory.

      I got to see how the whole place worked and as part of the deal I was to write a report on my observations.  

      Over the years, after I started my own business I would visit Layser’s to buy plants and get counsel from Donald.  Every once in awhile he would pull out that report and remind me that he valued it even though many of my observations were either off the mark or naïve.

      His genius in the plant business was that he would perceive what size and price the customer wanted and then figure out how to grow it at a profit.

      My business was small and his large so I always wanted to get his advice on things, so I could do the opposite of what he was doing.

      My mentor gave me a chance to see how commercial horticulture worked.  I would have worked there for nothing.  Of course, I didn’t tell him that until years later.

One extra flower

Sinningia 'Prudence Risley' - Three leaf

Story # 67, Part II,


      One extra flower.


      The three leaf Sinningia shown before, did it once---- A flower for each leaf axil.