Sell Plants at the Farmers Market 

Thanks for the encouragement mildematilde.

Lucky for those who are close to Jason’s Nursery or farmer’s market where he sells his plants. Wish he have branch in T.O.

Thanks so much for the feedback and encouragement!

Agreed!! Jason is a great teacher!! 👏👏👏

100% agreed I’m six videos in and I’m so thrilled and impressed with this guy. 🌱

Nice! Sounds like a great project.

Thanks!

Just stumbled upon this video of yours. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-940Plg82sfM.html Thanks for the Info!

Thanks Chris. I appreciate the feedback. And yes, I do it for both reasons and hope for the win/win.

Thanks Gary - and you bet! I already pay enough taxes from my day job - then I hustle to make a small farm worthwhile. I take all the risk, but they'll sure want their piece if there's any profit to be had.

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm yeah mate they would milk ya dry. Taxes in my country are steep. Way above European average 😠

Comfrey is super easy to propagate, so your production costs are minimal. Common comfrey has a very bad reputation (locally) for taking over in the garden. My compromise was to get a sterile hybrid (Bocking 14) that isn't quite so hard to control. It gives me a "talking point" for selling (it won't self-seed) and because it's not so readily available from other suppliers, I can charge a good price for it. Can I give you some unsolicited advice? : maybe stick away from medicinal type claims. Comfrey, for instance, contains some substances (alkaloids, I think) that can be harmful if ingested in large quantities. You may be more qualified than me, but I always try to disclaim "I'm not the right guy for herbal advice - please consult a doctor or qualified practitioner".

Thanks for the encouragement Chris

Hi Kimberly. I have my fingers crossed for you and your cuttings. It's been complicated - balancing my "ideal" version of the rose farm with the realities of the local market and trying to make a living (day job). As you can imagine, the average customer at a local farm market doesn't understand or care whether a rose is uncommon, own-root, historic or hard to propagate. They'd be just as happy with a mass-produced floribunda or knock out, and they don't know any different until we talk for a while (if they give me the chance). So pricing is tricky. I've been selling roses (locally) for a while in the $15 to $20 range for well-rooted roses struck from cuttings the previous season. To me, this is a bit low. To the average customer, they're comparing it to big grafted or mass produced roses from the hardware store or some high volume garden centers (damn you Devan Greenhouses) which are much larger and selling at around the same price. So that's the compromise. For customers who understand the value of my roses (and trust me, I've been working the rounds at the local garden clubs to get the word out) they're aware that they're getting a smoking deal. For customers who don't know the difference, they're getting a smaller rose than they'd get at Lowes - and they're still pretty happy to pay and support a local farmer. I've been exploring options of how to market my specialty roses to a more specialty market while still remaining competitive at local sales. The mail order experiment this season was one such attempt. I've been toying with buying in starts of more common roses and selling them at the value price, while maybe presenting my specialty roses at a higher price point. I know it will make my market day more complicated (lots of icky picky conversations to justify the price difference) but I don't have a better plan yet...

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm Wow yes these are very good procedures you have in place. I feel like the main thing that sells the OGR is the STORY. Remember the Vintage roses and the Will Tillotsons catalogs from the 1960's to 90's? I feel like the genius that sold the roses is the story and history they carry. This provides the customer with a little conversation piece they can be proud of in their garden. (Usually linking Josephine Bonaparte or something in Victorian times, even able to sell "found roses" this way- Pulich Children, Peggy Martin, and Barbara's Pasture come to mind). IMO if people are willing to pay money for books (i.e."stories") then they would be willing to buy a piece of a historic story. This is my plan! Also have a property managing business to "pay the bills" because I am not sure if I am up for the scale needed to have the nursery pay all the bills :/ Luckily the local "higher end" (Chuck Hafner's) sell large potted bloomers for $30 to $40. And Lowe's/HD probably average about $25. Thanks for all the info and tips!!

I hope you have a great season - lots of new gardeners out there!

I usually pack them in bulb crates for transport.

Thanks. Yes, I've tried that with annuals - time sensitive, so when they're in good condition, I love to move through them fast. I marked them $2 each or 3 for $5, and just about every customer upgraded to 3 pots at a time.

Thanks. No, I haven't - but it's a good idea really. I sell a lot of roses, and it would definitely save me from repetition if I were to have a one page handout available on planting, basic pruning, etc. I'd probably just do it on my laser printer at home, to save on costs. And, of course, it gives me one more chance to send customers away with web site info, Facebook, Insta and RU-vid links.

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm, Great, thanks for clarifying.

That's a common challenge in such a seasonal business. Some retail nurseries are only open for the peak season, others shift to indoor plants (succulents, tropicals) and decor. Larger growers often shift to fall mums, Christmas poinsettias, winter Hellebores, forced roses for Valentines, etc. There's no easy answer to a business that is still far busier in spring than the rest of the year.

One nursery talked about in class is open all year, started off small and got bigger. Has a cafe which is pretty good also a mini food store. More importantly they sell plants all year but also have a range of tools, soils, fertilisers, australian made soap, seeds and really just a bunch of knick knacks that helps with a profit the rest of the year. Almost forget they have a membership program, hold events/parties for selling plants with wine and free food. I put my name down for a wollemi pine, so they don't necessary do orders but they have interest lists? That would help too. Keeping customers is easier then getting new ones.

Hi Rob. I can help with the pictures, or rather Google can: if you do an image search, from the results page, click the "Tools" tab. This will bring up a submenu. Select "Usage Rights" and then "Labeled for reuse". That'll narrow the results down to pictures you can reuse without infringing copyright. As for the growing media, you'll have to figure that locally, because it varies so much from region to region. Here I can buy composted bark from landscape suppliers. Are there any horticulture suppliers who can supply a peat/perlite mix? That'll work too.

A happy new year to you as well!

Thanks Susan. Did you get the winter blast while you were here?

At the time it would have been around 0.74CAD to USD, so approx $623 USD. My average profit margin last year was 65%, so around $404 in profit for the day. Trying something different this year (of course) and I'll be able to share the results this Saturday.

Wow that's great .. I'll be tuned in . Thnx for getting back .... *subbed

Thanks. Many of the Farmers Markets here are more on the organic, premium, no-discounts end of the culture. I guess it would depend on the community as well. I just shrug off requests for discounts, as my prices are generally pretty sharp to begin with. A fellow vendor of mine does the "Sure - bulk discounts start when you get the purchase up to $500, so let's start picking some plants!"

Thanks Licia - we all hope for this year!

My pleasure. There definitely are some issues with trademarks, patents and licensing. I've made a couple of videos on those topics here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-940Plg82sfM.html and here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w9VWtoyJIl4.html . A bit of a pain, really - and maybe not such a big deal for casual gardeners and backyard growers, but worth knowing if you want to make a business of it.

Hi Cindy. I've sure you could, and it's just a matter of formatting and print options. Instead of 4x6, you may have to go 4.25x5.5 for each card, make sure to leave some white space on the edges for margins + cutting. I would encourage you to consider the photo developing option tho, for a couple of reasons: 1) the quality on the glossy photo print is excellent, and 2) the durability of the cards. Often I vend on rainy days, and there's lots of physical handling on these picture cards. The photo card stock is really dense, even hard to rip with your hands and it holds up to moisture well enough that I get 3+ seasons from a card normally. Not bad for around .10 cents.

Lisa picked up the white plastic stakes at the dollar store, but you can also find them on AliExpress or Amazon. For short-term use at the farmers market even something simple like double-sided tape will do the job. We've been experimenting with different solutions since this video - and currently are printing our own signage on a laser printer rather than using the photo developing option. The reason is just that the laser toner lasts longer than the photo ink when exposed to sunlight. No problem if you use the signs for only short periods, but since we've set up for sales on the farm we want something longer lasting.

Thanks. I can fill in a few of the blanks for you I think. Federal regulations are mainly focused on the movement of regulated pests and disease - so if you plan to export plants to the US, or if you happen to be in a zone with a problem (Japanese Beetle in Vancouver, or nematodes around Niagara) you'd have to deal with the CFIA. You can check their site, but in most parts of Canada they're not concerned with small growers selling locally. Federal/provincial, you need to report income (as any business) and collect sales tax if you're business goes over a certain threshold (around $30k). Local laws about how/where you can sell and what business licenses you need - that's where you need to do some local research. Here in BC, since I'm on farmland, I have the (just about) unrestricted right to farmgate sales on my own property. I don't know how that is in Alberta. If you attend Farmers Markets or other plant sales, it's usually the Farmers Market itself that deals with licensing (but double check!).

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm thank you so much for your reply! It really helped to understand what it is I need to find out. Much appreciated!

Thanks. Depending on the variety, my roses can finish from cuttings (in a 1 gallon pot) in 9 to 12 months - so that's one of my slower crops. Most of what I start from seed take less then 4 months start to finish, and fall division of perennials finish in around 6 months.

Fraser Valley Rose Farm cool, thanks! Never done roses, but someone offered me some cuttings...

I definitely encourage you to try... my best results come when taking cuttings at the semi-hardwood stage. And customers do respond well to roses

I've been doing it as requested - but otherwise, just count money and note plants sold.

My pleasure. Thanks for watching.

Hi Robert. The stock is the same as they use for glossy photo printing, and surprisingly is fairly resilient to rain, so long as you don't store them wet. I use dollar store plant stakes (plastic, around 12" tall) and just tape the picture cards to the top.

Oh, and pricing - well, I've seen photo printing down at .10 cent per, so pretty affordable.

Different challenges for you. I wish you every success, and I'm sure you'll find a way to succeed!

I can only really say my local experience. They generally charge an annual membership/application fee anywhere from say $30 to $100, plus a daily stall fee. That daily fee varies a lot too, from maybe $30 on the low end, and I've seen it up in the range of $50. These are Canadian dollars in my own market, and it wouldn't surprise me to see regionally much higher or lower fees.

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm this is helpful, thank you very much. Grateful to have found your channel-nuanced information and I appreciate your understated presentation and humor.

Hi Patrica. No, we're in British Columbia. Sorry to hear your market days are so limited - it increases your risk level on the plants because your timing has to be spot-on. Much chance of marketing from your property? Or with a local garden club?

I do not believe so. My town has very few gardeners, as people here are more interested in moccasins, furs, and food.

Nevermind, I just watched the end of the video.

You bet. It depends quite a lot on the market and community (I've seen a big difference in urban vs. rural markets), but I always found I had to be pretty sharp on pricing to get a good volume of sales. Another vendor I know is quite is pretty aggressive in his pricing (on the high end) and it seems to work for him too. I guess there's a few different strategies that can work.

​@@FraserValleyRoseFarm also true. it's awesome seeing what I'm doing right based off of what people have been saying in the videos i've been watching. you make great content!

I haven't seen anything like that around here. I'm trying a flea market this year to see how that goes.

Thanks so much!

My pleasure. Glad you liked it.

It very much depends on the market location and time of year. The specialty plant events were excellent (pre-covid) on my best days I probably moved through 500 plants.

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm wow! That's awesome. I have 2,000 pots I'd like to sell this year and wasn't sure if that's realistic. I just need to get myself out there... can't wait to get selling. Thanks

Hi Angela - we keep the tags and re-use them. Customers sometimes ask for the picture tag, but when I suggest they use their cell phone to take a picture of the tag, they're usually pretty satisfied with that.

What kind of plants are those? sorry I'm new :D

Thanks Lisa

You bet!

Don't take your cues from me: I tend to underprice a bit compared to the market. We went with $30 for a 2gallon own-root rose this year (Canadian dollars). I did see some low-end competition near my own price-point (for the standard imported & grafted varieties) but most of the dedicated garden centers were up between $40 and $50 for 3 gallon+ sized roses, and up to even $65+ for Austin roses. It leaves me in a tough spot, since my own-root roses are generally smaller than the imported roses, and I feel 2 gallon is a pretty reasonable pot size to market them in. I might bump them to around $34 next year, and then offer a 3 gallon size more in the range of $40 - but that's something Lisa and I will lock down over the winter break.

A bit - but I enjoy the plants and customers, so not too bad.