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| Tolumnia in Spike on Windowsill |
Orchids are very exotic. They are big and flashy or small and cute.
Orchids take a long time to grow and flower.
Tolumnia were formerly a part of the more common genus, Oncidium, and now have their own Genus.
This one on my windowsill has a spike moving toward opening colorful flowers.
This wonder of nature requires a lot of waiting.
Anticipation.
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| Sinningia 'Prudence Risley' on the Windowsill |
We sell thousands of plants every week
of the year.
I often wonder where they all go ?
Luckily, for us and our garden center
customers, the final buyer likes plants.
Sometimes, they just want a cheery
flower with color to make their day.
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| Begonia 'Painted Lizard' is a Winner |
The problem with sports is that half of the teams lose at every
contest. A 50% failure rate is not good
so each team must convince themselves that they are better and will win, despite
the odds.
Sports are perfect metaphors for describing
business and life.
The Summer Olympics prove that the
best athletes in the world still lose to the top three medal winners.
The phenomenon of ‘Winner takes all’ is especially cruel. Second place gets to try harder next time.
The theory of the ‘long tail’ of sales
has given the non-blockbusters hope. In
movies, records and books, the top best seller gets the profit, but the
remaining lower ranking digital creations may get a few sales.
But physical products like plants
are limited to the 2-3 best varieties due to limited greenhouse space.
New and different plants create excitement
in garden centers, but only the winners show up next year.
So, what is the conclusion based on
sports metaphors.
Keep introducing new plants. If they prove to be different enough, you
win.
Why is Crown
of Thorns (Euphorbia) ‘White Lightning’ so rare?
‘White Lightning’ is an exceptionally
good plant. Highly variegated green and
white, with red flowers, it likes sun and tolerates being dry.
It’s the perfect houseplant for a
south or west window, which seems too bright for shady foliage houseplants.
But why so rare and expensive?
A Florida succulent/ cactus
wholesale grower has a lock on the tissue culture supply. It grows slowly, taking months to get to a
nice 4” pot size.
Like many rare plants, it takes
someone to champion the plant.
I’ve been watching Crown of Thorns
for 50 years and know ‘White Lightning’ is worth the effort.
We sell them through our 100 Independent
Garden Centers and internet sellers.
Find them here: http://www.garysspecialtyplants.com/locations.html
Call your Garden Center to see if
they have any in stock. Ask them to get one
for you. They live for years and are a
decorative houseplant. It can be grown outside
in summer, if you like.
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| Begonia amphioxus on my windowsill |
Begonia amphioxus grows on windowsills!
This rare Begonia species is tougher than first thought.
If you find this cute Begonia for sale
on the internet, the seller may warn you that it must be grown in terrarium – high
humidity conditions.
This is wrong. It does
not.
I’ve proven conclusively that it will grow on your windowsill
without any additional humidity.
Once considered very rare, now it is a commercial plant with
limited production.
This story is to stamp out the myth that Begonia amphioxus is
a needy, soft species what can only live in a terrarium, which few indoor gardeners
want to deal with.
We have propagated and sold thousands of ‘Spotted Lizards’ into
Independent Garden Centers on the East coast.
It holds up just fine.
How did the myth get started?
An unrooted cutting requires higher humidity while rooting. Then they are weaned off mist and hardened
off for sale. Many internet sellers do
not acclimate young plants, so warn you to immediately move them into
terrariums.
Great advice, if you’re building a terrarium.
But for the rest of us, find acclimated plants that are ready
for your windowsill. They will thrive
there.
Customers who sell our Begonia amphioxus by retail mail order
are:
Hirt’s Gardens (hirts.com)
My Garden Channel (mygardenchannel.com)
Retail garden centers are found on our locator map:
garysspecialtyplants.com/locations.html
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| Begonia 'Painted Lizard' -- Million Dollar Plant |
How to go from Figurately to Literally?
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I talk about the Million Dollar Plants that are in the
future. This interests me and is fun to
speculate.
Of course, nobody knows the potential of a new plant. Who knew that the Chinese Money Plant ---
Pilea Peperomiodes, would zoom up. The species
had been around for years, and nobody noticed.
A Canadian grower sensed a demand was showing up in Europe, took a
chance and grew thousands for the North American market. He guessed right and caught the demand going
up.
We are still growing Chinese Money Plants and sell hundreds
every week. It has been a Million Dollar
Plant, if you add up all who have benefited from it.
I want Begonia ‘Painted Lizard’ to be my Million Dollar Plant. How can that possibly happen?
A new hybrid (malachosticta X amphioxus), there are less than
50 plants in the World. If we could sell
them for $6.00, we would need 166,666 pots per year. If we could get 4 cuttings per stock plant,
we need 41,666 stock plants to cut from.
If we could get two crops per year, we would only need 20,333 stock
plants. See the supply problem?
Going the other direction, who will buy the 166,666 pots @
$6.00? That could be easy, given the current
high demand for houseplants, especially a new one.
Can you literally make a million dollars with a new plant?
Yes, but there is a lot of work and luck in between. |
