Having a Plant Sale - any tips?

[Catalina]

My family is having a plant sale in May. We started way too many plants - again. Last year we gave away all of our extras, but this year we decided to have a little plant sale.
My parents had a green house/florist shop before they retired, so they are pretty good at selling plants -
I thought you all might have some ideas......
What would you like to see at your ideal plant sale?

I'll tell you what we are planning so far
Started plants - Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, broccoli, cabbage and herbs. I know we have some other things, but I don't have the seed book here right now. We have over 20 different types of tomatoes - all colors and about 17 different types of peppers.
Garden decorations - Glass plate flowers, painted cement mushrooms, mosaic stepping stones, tea cup bird feeders, succulents planted in hypertufa pots.
Garden helpers Bamboo poles, kelp meal, kaolin clay and neem oil.

What do you think?

 

[Catalina]

Oh! I forgot, we are also selling perenials, strawberry starts, raspberry starts (my Dad has 12 different varieties) and black raspberry starts.

 

[hikerchick]

The only thing I can say is have it closer to me!

 

[digitS']

Wow!

That isn't just a Plant Sale -- it is a Farmers' Market!

I have a feeling that your parents know all about making a nice display of sales items. Where will you be setting up? Think foot traffic. Or at least, a very slow speed zone with lots of parking.

Containers - maybe . . .

Maybe you can find someone with baked goods to sell on that day.

Steve

 

[Catalina]

Wow!

That isn't just a Plant Sale -- it is a Farmers' Market!

I have a feeling that your parents know all about making a nice display of sales items. Where will you be setting up? Think foot traffic. Or at least, a very slow speed zone with lots of parking.

Containers - maybe . . .

Maybe you can find someone with baked goods to sell on that day.

Steve

Good ideas!

We are having it at my parent's house. They live in on a residential street, but it is near a busy corner, so lots of traffic to see our sign! They also have a huge garage (in case it rains) and (if my dad every finishes it) small 8x10 green house.

Now my Grandma is getting in on it - she wants to sell hand knitted wash cloths. Hmmmm maybe I can convice her to make a few pies.........

 

[vfem]

Yeah, I wish it was closer to me as well!!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

One of the things I appreciate at a plant sale is information on the variety. As a minimum, the name of the variety marked in a way so that when I get it home, I know which one is which variety.

Any specific information on that variety can be very helpful. It does not need to be with each individual plant, maybe a couple of sheets of paper or poster hung up so they can read about them. Maybe something like: Rutgers - red determinate heirloom tomato, or Valencia - orange sweet pepper or Sapho - red French hybid cherry tomato. Since this is probably a one time deal, you might not want to go to this much effort, but maybe a photo of the produce. Maybe take some seed catalogs and cut out the description and photo of that variety if you can find that and post that information. Is it a hybrid or can they save the seeds? Whatever information you would consider pertinent.

How does the customer get the plants home without making a mess of his car? Maybe have some box tops, paper or plastic bags, something for the customer to carry them in and keep the dirt out of his car.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[Lavender2]

Great tip, RR ... I never had enough boxes...:/
Photos help a lot ... I used catalog photos if I didn't have a photo available ... I made a simple board with all the perennials I was selling.
It helped to group them: sun, shade ...

Have enough change for cash transactions.

Mention the sale to everyone you know so word gets around ... hand out or post fliers. I printed eight to a sheet cards and cut them up, ... family friends were happy to pass them to friends.

A sign on a major highway nearby maybe?

Sounds like you have some extra people to be around to help with questions and run the sale ... :happy_flower

If you think you may do an annual sale, have a sign-up sheet or cards for customers to fill out so you can send postcards for future sales.

Even the most common perennials will sell if the right person comes along ... pot up a bit of everything you have some extras of. I made a tidy profit from the shasta daisies that had seeded in my vegetable garden ...

The vegetable plants should sell well ... Best of luck!! Have fun!

ETA... I posted a sign if I needed more pots ... people came back with more than I expected ...

 

[lesa]

If I came across a sale like that- I would think I had died and gone to heaven!!!

 

[ninnymary]

I would be there 15 min. before you opened and would be willing to drive an hour to get there! Why couldn't you have lived in the bay area?

Mary