Hey, good morning, it's Jason from Fraser Valley Rose farm. Today I'm having a plant sale on the farm
You can see behind me. I've got these annuals. I've got perennials on the next two tables all lined up for sale to customers
I've got roses set up throughout the greenhouse here
If you are considering doing a plant sale
I'd like to take you through my process of how I've grown the plants how I've set them up
Whether you're just a backyard farmer, who's just trying to have another source of revenue or whether you're a garden club
I hope this could be useful information for you
So the first thing I wanted to start with is where do I get my plants?
so these annuals here are all grown from seed and
the perennials behind them are almost all grown from seed to
Now the annuals come to color really quickly so you can see that
You know within a course of 8 weeks 10 weeks
But even some of the herbs take less than that
So if you're talking about cilantro you're talking about nasturtiums
You can seed those and have them ready for sale within four to six weeks pretty easily. So
Lots of opportunity there on the seed and I wanted to say one word on the perennials
those are the two benches behind is that
Perennials don't go into color as quickly as the annual so you can see on the annuals
I've got lots of flowers lots of color to sell these and on the perennials
They don't go into color quite so quickly
And so you're having to sell those based on promise based on the idea that people will see the tags
See the pictures and decide to grow them to flower themselves
So for that reason having picture tags is really important something that shows off what the what the plant is going to do
Now is it worth it doing perennials? I think so. Absolutely. I grow my perennials from seed company called Jelitto
They don't pay me to do this. They just happen to be really really good: they have a great selection of seed and
What I find is that based on annuals and perennials
Perennials, I can charge more money for even though they're not in color even though they don't look as ready to the customer I can
Usually charge a dollar extra selling perennials over annuals so worth doing the second thing
I'll say but the annuals is there a short-term kind of a risk the they will actually
Mature quickly, but over grow quickly and if I have the leftover at the end of the season, I'm done. I'm throwing them away
whereas the perennials are a little bit slower and
at the end of the season if I still have them left I can just pop them into a larger pot size and
Carry them over to the next year
Let me show you some of the larger perennials and shrubs that I'm doing here as well on these two tables here
I have some of my larger perennials and shrubs the perennials I've usually done in this case from
division from mature plants out in the garden so that
Gets you a larger plant quicker or from carryover of the perennials that have grown in
previous years that didn't sell and I potted them up so I can sell them for a little more money in a larger pot like
This I could be selling a perennial for you know
Five dollars instead of over there where I'm selling them in a small pot for half of that or three dollars
roughly, so one thing I will say on the
Perennial end that I didn't mention previously is that some perennials are tender perennials and some are hardy perennials
I like to make that clear on the tags
So this gentian sage here is actually grown as an annual in my climate
Even though it is technically a perennial in some climates
It's gorgeous. It grows fast from seed like this
With these hot electric blue flowers so great seller and worth the price
But unless you're willing to overwinter it like a Dahlia lift up the tubers and bring it in
It probably won't survive our climate here
If you're in a warmer climate, it might be a different story and last but certainly not least here
I have my roses and all of these I do from cuttings with the exception of just a couple of the species
varieties that I grow from seed and
They bring a lot of customers to me. I mean, I know why I specialize in roses, but when I'm doing a plant sale
it's nice to have a couple of sexy plants things that people are really after in their garden and
I've lined up my roses here "A" to "Z" and it will bring in a lot of customers for me today. So
I know I covered a bit of this territory in my video on selling at the farm market
But in case you didn't catch that one or if I can point you that direction
Signage I think is super important. In this case. I don't want my customers wasting their time or even my time
Necessarily asking questions about how much something is what it's growing conditions are and so by making up these tags
You answer all those questions for them. They're gonna know what it looks like
Not that they wouldn't have seen anyway, but they're going to know what it looks like
They're going to have some information about whether it's tender or hardy. I'll put information in there about whether it's
going to be
Need extra watering or whether it's a "spready" type of plant and I'll put that right on the tag just so they know
what to expect when they put it in their garden and I don't have to answer quite so many questions during the day
I'm in a good position to compare for you the difference between doing it a plant sale like this and selling your plants at a
farmers market or other growing events because I do both
Most of the year I sell my plants at the farmers market or I go to plant sales
Hosted by other people and I got to tell you there's pluses and minuses to both things
So if I go to a farmers market, I really it reduces my amount of effort for the day
I don't have to try to attract customers. I don't have to advertise
I don't have to put anything out on Facebook or Craigslist or anything like that
I can just fire the plants into the back of my van. I can go to a known venue
They'll attract the customers for the most part
And at the end of the day I pack them up and bring them back home
And that's the end of my effort here hosting an event on my own farm
I really do have to pay attention to all those things. I have to advertise it myself
I have to look at parking. I have to look at mowing and maintaining landscape around the yard
They will see my weeds which is something that they won't see at the farmers market
and and the other thing is that at the farmers market I
Pick through a limited selection of plants to go with me one advantage to doing it
This way is I don't have to pick through I can put my whole assortment as I say roses "A" through "Z"
I've got all my large perennials all my annuals all my small perennials with me
So if customers they have the benefit of the full assortment
one other thing I can do here that I couldn't do at the farmers market is plants like these behind me on my left our
Bought in I bought them in to top up my selection of roses. So I have a supplier who gave me some bare-root roses and
Normally at a farmers market unless you've grown the plants from start to finish or some criteria like that
They don't consider them to be your plants. And for that reason you be a reseller and not permitted at the farmers market
So you've got to watch things like that at the farmers market, whereas here at the farm
I have a free hand to top up my assortment by using suppliers
So one last thing I had to consider when thinking about doing an event like this is how much time to spend doing
weeding and trimming and deadheading and
Mowing and cleaning up the yard and the answer is I had to be pragmatic about it
My customers know that I work off the farm and that the time that I spend here has to be spent on
The highest value activity presenting the plants for sale for me was directly related to revenue whereas mowing the yard
wasn't so to the degree that they may have to walk through a little bit tall grass to get to the gardens or
That they may see some weeds in the garden. That's okay with me now
My Gardens do look okay
And it's kind of nice if they can wander around
Look and get inspired and see some of the plants in the garden that they will want to buy from the tables
So for me, that's all a plus and that's all a
Positive thing but it isn't the main reason that they're here
the main reason they're here is for the plant sale and to see me, so
That is the end of the video. Thank you so much for tuning in today
I hope that this answers some of your questions about running a successful plant sale, and I know I've probably missed something
So if you have any questions specifically about what I do or what what you might want to do
Drop those in the comments below and thanks so much for watching