There's a whole lot of consumin' going on out there!

The Snickers Impulse

Story # 152,

            I now know of two Florida foliage growers who are each shipping over 10,000 small pots a week to wholesale customers nationally.

 Why are gardeners buying these huge quantities of small plants (under 3” pot size)?

I ask everybody who is involved with small plants what they think is happening here.  Nothing is sold unless it has a name and a use.  The ‘use’ is the unknown.

I talked with Ray Roberts and his son Matt Roberts of Central Florida Ferns, who are a major force in producing small plants.  Their impression is that affordability and cuteness is the motivation for sales.  They are used in mini gardens, terrariums and as gifts.

Matt says it’s like the ‘Snickers’ bar at the checkout.  The impulse is --- It’s not much cost and you gotta have one.

It just may be as simple as that!

Asian Tray Garden --- A new type of Miniature Garden.

Asian Tray Garden 

Story # 144,

            Miniature Gardens with several plants and accessories have been difficult to standardize for wholesale customers because of the high input costs.

            With Asian Tray Gardens, an interesting new design is evolving by planting a low bonsai ceramic pot with three plants and one accessory.  We need a tree-form, a low shrub and a ground cover.  With a small Buddha replica the scene is set.

            One combination that looks nice is to use variegated Ming Aralia, variegated Peperomia ‘Pixie’ and Peperomia prostrata.

Replicas that you care about.

Story # 122,

Replicas that you care about.

            Miniature Gardens are a segment of Garden Centers that are struggling to find their way.  Workshops are highly successful for the few people that want to find out about this hobby.  But Miniature Gardening is trying to define itself.

           

            Will it be the up and down flash-in-the- pan like terrariums or can it become established similar to model railroading which is an enduring lifetime hobby for many.

            I see a phase of Miniature Gardening that could elevate it to ‘Art’ status.  If the display could be a replica of something that you care about, you might seek it out and be willing to pay a premium for it.

            The first example would be your house and property.  A scale model of your place could be very intriguing.

            Scaled down models of public buildings have always been sold in souvenir stores, but what if you had a Miniature Garden with all of the landscape.

            Expensive molds have been made to produce the most recognizable landmarks in big quantities.  The breakthrough now is 3-D printing which allows 1-of a kind to be made.

      3-D printing technology is rapidly becoming practical and affordable for any custom design.  You can order a model of your house and get an exact replica made for you.

            Put that in your Miniature Garden and impress your friends.

The trade show report

Streptocarpus 'Yellow Purple Cap' from Green Fuse

Story # 110,


The trade show report



      The largest horticultural trade show in the United States had many interesting trends going on last week in Columbus, Ohio.


      Well, trends that I care about anyway.  Miniature Gardens – up, Succulents – up, New plants – always, People that care about the plant industry – always.


      From Green Fuse, the only national importer/promoter of Streptocarpus, there are two new bicolor varieties.  Selected from Dibley’s Greenhouse, the world’s leading hybridizer of Streptocarpus, they are more interesting than the previous introductions.  The names are bazaar—‘Yellow Purple Cap’ and ‘Yellow Pink Cap’ but the plants will sell once we get them this winter.


      Although I’ve only recently looked for succulents, the category is expanding with an infinite variety of shapes, colors and forms.  Off-shore farms are producing these by the millions to help supply the demand for these care-free plants.


      The Miniature Garden segment (Lloyd Traven says it’s been going on too long to be called a trend) has some new players and all vendors said they increased over last year.  The accessories (trinkets) are infinitely more varied.  For example, a water- feature with moving water (electric pump).


      Mark, a new vendor for compact houseplants showed for the first time and was basically overwhelmed with interest.  He has 100 potential plants from years of selective plant collecting.  I hope to get some of them.


      I found a new Nematanthus that has creamy variegation that has never been seen before.  There will be a future story once more details are known.

Nematanthus 'Dibley's Gold' - 'Mini' Plants for Miniature Gardens

Nematanthus 'Dibley's Gold'

 Eighth in a series,


Common name:  Variegated Goldfish Plant

Botanical name:  Nematanthus gregarius ‘Dibley’s Gold’

Height: 5”  Width:  4”  Form:  Trailing

  Why would you want it?


      It is very classy.  Nematanthus ‘Dibley’s Gold’ is a mutation from the plain green species, gregarius.  Seldom seen in commercial horticultural because of its long production time.


What is its best feature?


      N. Dibley’s Gold’ has shiny leaves and variegated green and yellow foliage.


How would you grow it? 


      It can be grown in very bright light as a hanging basket but could maintain itself in lower light as a houseplant.


What would you do with it in a Miniature Garden?
      Category:  Shrub/bush


      ‘Dibley’s Gold’ could represent a decorative shrub when grown as multiple tip cuttings.  An older plant with more length would be arching.  Because it is slow growing, it will hold its place for a long time.

Peperomia prostrata - 'Mini' Plants for Miniature Gardens

Peperomia prostrata

Ninth in a series,


Common name:  Creeping Peperomia

Botanical name:  Peperomia prostrata

Height: 1”  Width:  4”  Form:  Trailing

  Why would you want it?


      Peperomia prostrate has interesting markings on fleshy green leaves.  It is rare but a durable plant.


What is its best feature?


      It is very slow growing so will not over take any nearby plants.


How would you grow it?


      As a houseplant, Peperomia prostrata can grow in very high light down to shade.  It can survive being dry without harm.


What would you do with it in a Miniature Garden?

      Category:  Ground cover


      Could be an interesting ground cover used near the edge of your container so it will trail out over the sides.

The clues are getting stonger...



Miniature Garden shown at Philadelphia Flower Show - 2013

 Story # 97,


      The Miniature Garden trend may bring houseplants back into the house.  Pretty subtle?


      Let’s define a houseplant as a plant that is part of the decorating of a room.  It is maintained by watering as needed and will be replaced if needed.  It will not be eliminated, as 99% of all houseplants have been in recent years.


      Flowering pot plants are serving as temporary color in homes and show up at holidays.  The exception may be Orchids and Bromeliads which have a very long self-life.


      If a gardener takes time to build a Miniature Garden, there will be an incentive to watch it and maintain it with live plants.  Some plants may need to be replaced.  The market for ‘Mini’ Plants will continue to expand.


                Houseplants are coming back!

How much should small plants for Miniature Gardens cost?

Nematanthus 'Cheerio'  for small pots

Story # 96,


How much should small plants for Miniature Gardens cost?


      It depends on whether you are buying or selling.


      The price system solves this question.  Sellers go for the highest price that keeps them in business for the short-run and keeps you coming back in the long- term.  Buyers go for the lowest price that can be found for the perceived quality desired.


      Sellers worry about the cost of production.  Buyers don’t care what it costs to produce; only how much they are willing to pay.


      The plants are in 2” to 3” pots.  My ‘Mini’ plants have been selected for being compact or miniature so they are proportional to the accessories in Miniature Gardens.  The correct plant that can be the tree form or bush-like or a ground-cover can be valuable for its intended use.


      Rarely, are they two or three dollars.  Some places get five.


                     Mostly, they are $4.00

Find this plant!

Hemizygia 'Candy Kisses' at the Philadelphia Flower Show 2013

Story # 92.

Find this plant!

      One of our declared missions each year at the Philadelphia Flower show is to find a new plant ------ At least, a new plant in my area of interest.

      This year I came upon a striking variegated specimen with somewhat shiny leaves that could have been a Plectranthus but was shown as Hemizygia ‘Candy Kisses’.  It was exhibited by Mrs. Samuel Hamilton who shows many exceptional specimen plants.

 

      I’ve never seen the Genus name, Hemizygia.  So is this a name change for one of the many varieties of Plectranthus that I know or a new exciting plant worth growing.

      It is described as a tender perennial that can be used in summer planters.  And it must be a short day flowering plant that could be a pot plant in the Fall and Winter 

      This is worth finding and growing to see its potential for tip cuttings in small pots for Miniature Gardens.

Plants for sale at the Philadelphia Flower Show

Ladyslipper Streptocarpus for sale

Story # 91,


      Announcing the sale of Sinningia ‘Li’l Georgie’ at the Philadelphia Flower Show, March 2 – 10, by Meadowbrook Farms.


      Look for them there.


      There will be Ladyslipper Streptocarpus,  a few Columnea, Sinningia ‘Prudence Risley’, S. ‘Gabriel’s Horn’ and S. ‘Kristobel’ ------ Look for ‘Prudence Risley’ in the Challenge Class.


      Assorted ‘Mini’ plants for Miniature Gardens will go fast.  Get there early in the week or ask when the next shipment is coming.

Is there something going on here? Part II

Miniature Garden with Bird Bath

Story # 86, Part II


Is there something going on here?   Part II

     BusinessWeek had an article about the movie version of Les Miserables and the apparent success of a musical.  The speculation is that musicals are what people want and the trend will be to make more of them.  The movie critic is quoted:

          “In the end, it’s all about the individual movie.  Viewers will gravitate toward good works.
    They don’t necessarily care about trends.  Audiences are smarter than people think.”


     The trend may be toward Miniature Gardens.  The speculation is that people want them because it’s the new thing.


     Everybody likes the new and different but they may not know it’s a trend.


     They don’t buy because it’s the fad.  They buy because it has value for their interests.  A lot of good Miniature Gardens are being sold because gardeners are intrigued by them.


     Consumers are always smarter than people (sellers) think. 

Is there something going on here?

Miniature Garden with arbor



Story # 86,

Is there something going on here?

      Since I have a line of small plants selected for miniature gardens and terrariums, I have been watching for new types to add to production

      From one source in Florida, the grower states that they can not fill every new order for miniature plants due to the high demand.  They caution that you may have to be on a waiting list for product unless you are pre-booked for the Spring.

      Is this marketing hype or an honest appraisal of increased demand for miniature garden plants? 

 

 Assuming this is true, is there an upturn in the demand curve for small plants?

      So why not make more ---- faster?  The correct selected plants have their own challenges.   Because they are selected to be compact plants, the stock plants yield slowly, also.

      Can the trend be determined from a few clues?

      No.  But information will never be complete, so…

The Miniature Garden umbrella can cover a lot.

Miniature Garden with houseplants

Story # 85,


The Miniature Garden umbrella can cover a lot.


      We have a lot of terms floating around ------ Dish Garden, Table Top Garden, European Garden, Fairy Garden, Gnome Garden, and Miniature Garden— indoor and outdoor.


      My conclusion is that Miniature Garden can include them all.


      Table Top Garden is a better name for Dish Garden and European Garden.  Miniature Garden is more inclusive than Fairy Garden and Gnome Garden.


      Miniature Garden could cover them all.  The only division left is indoor or outdoor.  A small garden display that can tolerate freezing temperatures and wind is very special and difficult.


      The winner of words is Miniature Garden with houseplants.  Of course, house plants can be put outside in summer, but acclimating plants to abrupt change in environment going out (Spring) or in (Fall) has its own set of problems.


      My Miniature Gardens will be indoor with houseplants.

Are Miniature Gardens a fad worth chasing?

Miniature Garden scene

Story # 84,


     Are Miniature Gardens a fad worth chasing?


     At the MANTS trade show last week, there was a lot of interest in the vendors showing miniature garden accessories, miniature plants and clues to this evolving tiny piece of the horticulture market.


      Fads go up and down and this one is still trying to formulate into a workable specialty.  Garden Centers are giving space to the concept with displays of miniature replicas of trellises, wheelbarrows, tables and chairs.  The branded system of Fairy Gardening, Inc has plants selected to be suitable for small scenes, planted in shallow containers for indoor culture.


     It could turn into the equivalent of model trains.  Model trains have survived as a fascinating hobby with public displays, mostly around Christmas.  As a kid, I spent hundreds of hours playing with my train set and would add to it each year.

 
     With miniature gardens, the problem is where do you start and how do you make one?


     A new venture, Amy Kate Miniature Gardens, in Dallas, Texas has been successful with workshops in friend’s homes showing and selling the plants and accessories for your own Miniature Garden to take home.


     Is it opportunity or uncertainty when there is no established standard plan for creating a miniature garden?  Nobody knows what they should look like.


     Whoever can bring order to this hobby will make the fad a standard.

More better...

Sinningia 'Li'l Georgie' with 14 flowers grown by Jon Lindstrom

More better…


      New Year’s resolutions are always about improving------ more better!


      More better, of course, should be correctly said as best.  Good, better, best.  It’s worth striving for the best but it’s an elusive goal.  I want to grow plants better than last year. And next year, I will want to grow them better than this year.


      Plant growing is my ‘Art’.  Art as described by Seth Godin in his new book, The Icarus Deception.     What Seth is preaching is that ‘more better’ is not going to get us anywhere.  What we need is ‘Different’------- better ‘Art’.


     He says that  making average products for average people is no longer the best use of our time.


      Sinningia ‘Li’l Georgie’ is my ‘Art’ project.  Jim Steuerlein created it and shared it with the World.  My guess is that every Miniature Garden needs ‘Li’l Georgie’.


      It is the best miniature flowering plant.  If plant lovers agree, then the Art will be complete. 

Sinningia 'Li'l Georgie' grown by Gary's Specialty Plants
with 14 open flowers and 11 buds

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.

The Million Dollar Idea...

Miniature Indoor Garden



Story # 69, O T


      Back in our Grove City College days, a bunch of my fraternity brothers and I would have late night sessions where we brainstormed what great idea would bring us fame and fortune ------Well, mostly fortune.


      As far as I know none of us ever came up with the million dollar idea.


      What we were too naive to know then was that the idea is the easy part.  Execution is the hard part.


      In case you do have some idea that you are sure will work, you may want to go to www.Udacity.com and look at their free course on how to build a start-up business.  It will save you a lot of time doing the wrong things.


      I read that Intuit, the QuickBooks Company, gave an employee a million dollars for devising a product that turned into a 400 million dollar business.


      Where in the plant world is there a parallel story?


      Are indoor Miniature Gardens the next million dollar idea?


      Or will Sinningia ‘Li’l Georgie’, one of the world’s smallest flowering houseplants, be the next million dollar idea?


      Nobody knows.

                                                                                                      Sinningia 'Li'l Georgie'

What if nobody buys it?

Sinningia 'Li'l Georgie'

Story # 65,


      A very big bet has been placed on S. ‘Li’l Georgie’.


      What if nobody buys it?


      Entrepreneur books always have a chapter with stories about products that were built that nobody wanted.  It’s the opposite of ‘Build it and they will come’


      Since nothing can be sold unless it has a name and a use, maybe we need 20 ways to use it.


      What could you possibly do with a miniature flowering house plant?

'Li'l Georgie is available Sunday

Sinningia 'Li'l Georgie'

Story # 59,


      Sinningia ‘Li’l Georgie’ will be for sale Sunday, 30 September, at the Mid –Atlantic Gesneriad Show, Sale and Symposium at the University of Delaware.


     Come there to get one and see for yourself if this is the miracle plant that I’ve been telling you about.


      Every miniature garden needs ‘Li’l Georgie’!

I can see clearly now...

Miniature Garden at the trade show

Story # 53,


      I can see clearly now…..


           If you make something that people ‘remark’ about,
           then it could be remarkable. 

                          Paraphrasing Seth Godin


      Did you see it?


      If this is the buzz after a trade show, then something new and good must have happened.


       At the OFA International Horticultural Trade Show in July, there was a large segment of the 8,000 attendees that were collecting information about Fairy Gardens and Miniature Gardens.


      Presuming that this will carry into next year’s show with more products and players, I can see Sinningias flowing into this mix.