Wild Flower Bouquets

[elf]

Come to think of it, if I could see only 2 vendors there when driving by, I wouldn't stop. You'll have to get more people involved somehow. Maybe invite artists and a bluegrass band, heck, even the sock monkey and funnelcake crowd would make it look bigger from the road..

 

[lesa]

Sorry you had a disappointing first day...That stinks. My daughter and I did a flea market once. We sat there all day and made $7.00. It can be frustrating!! You have a wonderful product to sell and lots of good ideas- you will succeed! Good luck!

 

[journey11]

Hey V, I was just making a midnite raid on the garden for some carrots to snack on and it occurred to me that carrot tops would make a really nice filler for a bouquet. I put some in with some daisies my DD had brought me. I don't know of too many other things that carrot tops are good for, other than composting... :happy_flower

 

[vfem]

Hey V, I was just making a midnite raid on the garden for some carrots to snack on and it occurred to me that carrot tops would make a really nice filler for a bouquet. I put some in with some daisies my DD had brought me. I don't know of too many other things that carrot tops are good for, other than composting... :happy_flower

Ahhh... my carrots are long done. But I was using fennel and dill which the tops are similar!!! Anyways, yesterday was kinda a bust too. Only 5-6 people stopped by because they saw us advertised on facebook and knew us through mutual friends. I made out with only $19 for my time yesterday... and I sold one large bouquet that was supposed to be $10 for $5 because I was leaving. Mostly sold jam, and it still cost me $10 to be there all day.

I was BEGGED to try again next week. IF by chance I do go back next week, and it doesn't work out, 1 vendor there told me she would stop at my house and pick up my jams and sell them for me. She also thought about buying off of me to add to here CSA orders she does, but she can only fill 6 CSA a month, with a waiting list of 21 people for when any of those 6 people drop out of the program. I'll think about it. It may be nice.

I also may have my jams available at a local friends coffee shop here soon. If that works out, I won't bother with the flowers. I may offer some up to local nurseries or florists. We'll see. I know the weird thing is, I have people who want to buy plants off of me.. mainly my 2nd year cone flowers (3-lobed and black-eyed susans) so we'll see if that is an option.

If ANYTHING ever works out, I could raise the money to go ahead and build my greenhouse finally!!!

 

[elf]

The cool thing about the bouquets, though, is you're looking at almost pure profit since you already grow the flowers; just whatever you wrap and/or contain them in. But they may be harder to market and shelf life is short. Perhaps the coffee house also needs fresh flowers to be replaced weekly by you. Are there other restaurants/cafes that could make up a weekly route? You'd have to do it at wholesale prices and undercut the florists. In addition to small bouquets for each table, don't forget larger ones for entrance foyers and restrooms. There's a lady here that buys up silk flowers at yard sales and craft stores, then rearranges and does this, probably just for foyers,etc.. She swaps the arrangements out at least seasonally, storing stuff in her attic, then rearranging and cleaning it. Most of the nice cafes keep little vases of flowers on the table and I'm always disappointed if they're artificial.

I sold plants for at least 10 yrs. as a spring thru fall weekend hobby, listing in yard sale ads and putting up a sign each weekend. I kept stock plants in pots. From those I made root divisions and cuttings, repotted and sold. I sold at 2.00 for gallon pot, larger ones more; every variety priced the same because I hate math. With money earned I bought more plants and materials. I used venetian blind strips and Decoart markers for tags. I quickly found I could not buy potting soil and sell for this price. Made my own: got truckload of ground pinebark delivered from a nearby mulch co. and added largest bags from farmer's supply of vermiculite, perlite, lime, sometimes peatmoss and fertilizer. As the pile partially composted, it got better, so I tried to buy bark and prepare ahead of time. Usually got a load in fall and by spring it was perfect. This was where I also buried my kitchen scraps. I ordered a truckload of used plastic pots (several hundred) through an ad in the Ga.Farmer's Market Bulletin. I only sold hardy perennials - nothing to lose unless they die. What didn't sell one year just got bigger and I sold for more money the next year. I did well on wkends between Easter and Mother's Day. Pretty well in early summer from repeat customers, and a little only from serious gardeners in fall. I could sell anything IN BLOOM. Started small, gained repeat customers because they said my plants came back and the ones from stores didn't. Perhaps because they weren't pampered (no greenhouse) My motto was "If I haven't killed it, you probably won't either."

 

[digitS']

There you go, V!! How about that?

And/or, set up your greenhouse and add annuals and perennials from seed.

(I like annuals . . . )

Steve

 

[lesa]

I love Elf's idea....I so prefer to buy plants from a fellow gardener, than to spend money in the box stores, for plants that are grown who-knows-where! A few people are selling potted things from their garden on craigslist, around here...It would be great fun, if you could do bouquets for restaurants... Something wonderful will work out!

 

[vfem]

Thanks for the fab ideas Elf. I put a listing on craigslist to try to get some interest locally... maybe people will just look there and meet me up somewhere rather then trying the farmers market.

I will give it one last try on saturday.

But it would be nice to set up deal on craigslist and drive the customer to do pick ups AT the farmer's market so that is shows actual people stopping and looking and parking. Forcing business to occur there might help

 

[elf]

Yeah, I've done some good business on C. List. Bought sinks, ceiling fans, chickens, finding out about events. Haven't sold much there. LOOK OUT FOR SCAMMERS. I will no longer post my e-mail there. If they won't phone me they're up to no good. A free sample to a restaurant you really want may be worth it. If you go the bootleg plant nursery route, my customers wouldn't buy unless the plant was really filled out, no matter how cheap it was. Except maybe if it had a nice bloom. Two ladies fought over a plant in bloom even though I had another to offer that was to bloom the next day. So second yr. perennials sold well but first yr. not so much. Our county got picky and started only allowing 2 yd. sales per yr. and they checked ads. That, along with my landlady's decision to freerange her chickens and killer rooster (decimated all my smaller pots), drought, water restrictions, my husband's diagnosis of cirrhosis, notification to fix up his condemned rental properties or else (with him semi-invalid at that point), our move (got most of the several hundred potted stock plants but many had died) did away with my little business. But it sure was fun! If I get my chickens in a row, I'll go back to it, and who knows, maybe go legal and get a license.

 

[vfem]

Yeah, I've done some good business on C. List. Bought sinks, ceiling fans, chickens, finding out about events. Haven't sold much there. LOOK OUT FOR SCAMMERS. I will no longer post my e-mail there. If they won't phone me they're up to no good. A free sample to a restaurant you really want may be worth it. If you go the bootleg plant nursery route, my customers wouldn't buy unless the plant was really filled out, no matter how cheap it was. Except maybe if it had a nice bloom. Two ladies fought over a plant in bloom even though I had another to offer that was to bloom the next day. So second yr. perennials sold well but first yr. not so much. Our county got picky and started only allowing 2 yd. sales per yr. and they checked ads. That, along with my landlady's decision to freerange her chickens and killer rooster (decimated all my smaller pots), drought, water restrictions, my husband's diagnosis of cirrhosis, notification to fix up his condemned rental properties or else (with him semi-invalid at that point), our move (got most of the several hundred potted stock plants but many had died) did away with my little business. But it sure was fun! If I get my chickens in a row, I'll go back to it, and who knows, maybe go legal and get a license.

Yeah see... life happens! :/ I know the feeling, otherwise gardening would be my HOBBY like it was intended. :weight