Every year gardeners get wound up by news of new cultivar releases that are "the best", "the hardiest yet released", have "never before seen color", or offer "a completely new form" to the species. Spring catalog reports are glowing but you must hurry because "supplies are limited". Garden writers attend professional trade conferences to keep up on the latest plants, and in turn extol the latest plant patents they hear about. It's the "scoop" factor we are all prone to. New varieties and cultivars are show cased at Flower and Garden Shows to generate consumer interest and build demand.
I get excited about one or two I see. You get excited about one or two you see. We order from the catalog. We make an early visit to our garden center. We call around to see who has it and what they're charging for it. But alas, when our catalog order comes in the that new plant release is marked as "SOLD OUT" or "backordered", or "not available this season". Our visit to our garden center is greeted by head scratching and back tracking. "Gee, I wasn't aware that would be available this year, I think its still in the production stage." "I tried to get that in, but my supplier didn't ship it. Its backordered though, check back in about a month." If you happen to ask the guy watering plants at a home improvement chain he responds with "oh, what's that? Is it a tree or a shrub?"
Frustrated, we go home, revisit our catalog or magazine, and dream, somewhat disappointed in the distribution system of our economic system. I just have to wonder if Carl Marx was a gardener? But the pictures show such wonderfully full, mature specimens. Surely, they have grown this plant long enough to have propagated enough of it to meet the demand?
Does this scenario sound familiar? It does to me. I've been on consumer end and I've been one of the guys in the middle. The facts are: 1) it is hard to keep a secret in this industry, and 2) advanced hype creates demand. If you develop a better muse trap the world will beat a path to your door. Like in many industries, in the horticulture industry, secrets are meant to be leaked. Leaked secrets create mystique. And demand is often a function of creating desire. Look at the movie industry, always advertising features that are "coming soon to a theater near you".
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Wesley Ford's Plants & Trees topic, please visit the Discussions page.