New Plant Releases...Frustrated?
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- Carol Wallace
- Jojo
- Cottage_Garden
- Lynda04
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» Carol Wallace - New plants
I can shed a little bit of light on this having worked for a company that is exclusively mail order, and also having talked with many plant hybridizers and those who introduce new plants."New" can, as you say, mean that this is a new plant, never before available. But it can also mean that it's new to that catalog - and nothing forces the retailer to say which is which. After a while the avid catalog browser can tell - as they've seen and even planted some of the allegeldly new plants. But for the newcoamer it can be tricky.
And if it really is new, another factor may limit it's availability. Especially if you see that new plant with a price tag that seems high compared to other things the company offers. It really is in limited quantities.
If you've ever yead stories about someone buying a plant at an auction for some astronomical sum you're seeing the beginning of what will in a few years be a new plant introduction. Several years ago someone bought the hosta 'Patriot' at auction for $18,000. Yes - you read that right. It was clear that this was one gorgeous hosta, bound to be astrronomically popular - and so someone paid that for the lone existing plant in order to secure the rights to propagate it and sell it.
As you can imagine, in the normal way of propagating - by division - it took many years before there were enough to offer for sale. When they were offered the price tag was very high. It had a $35 tag when I got it - supply and demand. (I didn't really buy it - I don't pay that kind of money for plants. It was part of a trade for a logo design I did.)There is a catalog in front of me right now selling it at $9.95 with no worries about availability. It's still a very popular plant - but there is a plentiful supply of them to be divided and re-divided to make more and more.
So undoubtedly the guy who shelled out that hige price years ago made his money back a few times. But for several years it was a matter of short supplies and high demand. If you get frustrated like that with something you love this year and the tag is high, just try to be patient - soon there will be plenty and you'll pay less.
Of course many firms now propagate by tissue culture - and that makes for a whole new ballgame. They can easily and quickly produce tons of plants even the year of introduction - and keep the prices down. Then whether it is availabel to the buying public through their usual suppliers is really up to the judgment of the retailers - do they think it will appeal to their typical buyer - and how strongly. Since they are absolutely flooded with information on new introductions it can be tricky for them to predict which of the new ones will be popular with their own customers. One guideline that many have noted is that "if a popular garden magazine features it we'll have people here waving the article and asking for it." But that feature often appears after they have pretty well completed their inventory and before they have room for re-orders - and if demand was high all over - by then it may be gone.
I know last year I wanted the elephant ears plant Colocasia 'Black magic' - the company I work for liked it for its drama but didn't anticipate a hige demand for a big, coal black plant. But I work for them and asked early - and it was already too late. Horticulture magazine had done a black plant piece - and I was out of luck.
-- posted by Carol Wallace
» Jojo - Re: New plants
The thing is, new plants have new names. Many smaller growers have reacted to this 'new plant hype' by creating their own names for plants that are mere sports (usually reverting) or even just slightly different seedlings. Case in point: Heucheras and Helleborus orientalis 'hybrids' and I put 'hybrids' in quotes because that is extremely subject to interpretation.The amount of unregistered but 'named' varieties is astounding. Maybe they're not in the books but they're in the trade, and that's how new plants get out there -- not through magazine articles or tradeshows.
I don't disagree with the grower's reaction. I work for a grower. I guess you could say I am a grower, or was a grower until a short while ago (I was in fact at work yesterday but fixing the labeller does not really imply 'growing'). We don't exactly have a policy about this, but since we have our own labeller, grow lots of seedlings from bought and saved seeds, and need to create some hype of our own sometimes, we have come up with a few new 'hybrids'. Hybrids are not necessarily 'high bred'.
Next time you're at a tradeshow, and you see a new plant you like, ask the person at the booth where it is available. Then ask them where it is REALLY available though. And when. 10 years ago some really good marketing and a great plant was ruined by poor timing -- the flower carpet rose, you know, the ones in the milk of magnesia, gold embossed logo pots. These were great roses, purportedly. I saw a planting of them once years later -- they looked really scruffy, but that was a maintenance issue (apparently this rose would look great no matter what. I guess that didn't include island planting in gas station). Every gardener who went looking was disappointed. There were simply no plants. The people who put up the money for the special display case were even more pissed off. My ex-boss at a garden centre chain was one of them. A local grower was ruined by this as well. His one crop failure cost that family their business because everyone was so miffed at them.
-- posted by Jojo
» Cottage_Garden - skeptical
The difficulty with the plant business is that the new intro's are plants -- growing living things. So there are all kinds of potential problems in the pipeline apart from the usual retailer's nightmare of what to stock and how much at a time.... if the plants die or fail to thrive, there's not a whole lot that can be done to rectify the situation until the following season, or maybe longer. And too, there are so many microclimates and differing growing conditions that it is really tough to identify a plant that will be spectacular consistently over a wide geographic area and thus commercially successful.Over the years I have changed my approach to the new introductions. I used to relish the "new" things and covet them. Now, instead, I watch and wait until they come down in price. By then, as well, problems if there are any will have begun to occur and we will know if it really is garden worthy in real world situations -- or not.
If it really is something new, just to be sure it is a "good plant" in my terms, I tend to watch for it locally and then watch it being grown in local gardens and see if it is performing up to the hype. Then maybe I will buy one.
Not too surprising though is that stuff hyped big often drifts out of sight within another year or two unless it really is remarkable. But then we get a fresh crop of "new" stuff to examine each year, so that's ok. Otherwise we would run out of energy to ogle them and also run out of garden space for the ones that end up to be keepers. LOL
Quite often, the high priced new intro plant is not worth a premium in price, in retrospect, unless you are the kind of person who simply insists on having the latest thing to come down the pike.
I find this more often true in perennials than in woody plants, perhpas because there is more time invested in a woody trial, production growing and intro process than in a new perennial? I am not sure why that is. Wes, do you know?
Are the woody plant people just more conservative or are there fewer sales overall since people tend to replace perennials mroe often than they do trees and shrubs? Or is there a lag in introductions that is being overcome so now we will be seeing many more than previously? I know the N Carolina people have done lots of work to try to develop the woody plants industry for instance.
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Lynda04 - It's the same here..
in the Uk, I love being in the garden, but have to admit to not being a "Plantswoman"! My sister buys the magazines and catalogues, and tries to get hold of any new plant which might take her fancy. Last year (or was it the year before?) sis got hold of a new rose, the write ups were gushing in their praise, alas, the flowers lasted one day!! I admit it was a beauty, but so short lived, what a disappointment, in the end she gave it to me (where all of her disappointments go), I found it a good home in a neglected corner :-)I wonder sometimes if it is 80% hype and 20% truth with some of the new plant write ups.
Like your topic, I have a love of plants and I'll be visiting again.
-- posted by Lynda04
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