Successful Gardening Ventures

In Virginia, a woman apparently doomed to bed and wheelchair found her means to recovery by having a greenhouse built on a city lot and running it for profit. She scouts seedsmen in China, India, Japan, and England for rare plants. Her knowledge of greenhouse operation came the hard way, by experimentation. Today her greenhouse is stocked to the brim with virtually every kind of gesneriad. Her articles in plant publications whet readers' appetites for the unusual things she sells over-the-counter and through the mail.

A business executive in New York set up a prefab greenhouse with no thought of operating it for profit. The house and potting shed cost approximately $3,000.00, although he saved $1,800.00 by erecting it himself and doing his own mason work. An achimenes authority, he soon found he had an over-supply which collector friends wanted. Currently he has a self-sustaining hobby which will bring in sizable dividends when he has more time for it. He has made a cross between a species sinningia and a rechsteineria, the tubers of which he sells for $20.00 each.

A young man in Oklahoma paid a substantial part of his college tuition with the proceeds of gesneriad sales from cuttings, tubers, and seeds sent through the mails. His less than 10-foot-square greenhouse is too small to accommodate specimen plants, but he can grow quantities of gesneriads in flats and hanging baskets. From these he harvests the material he sells.

One Sale Paid for My Greenhouse
At a national African violet convention a commercial dealer heard me talking about a white-flowered Episcia dianthiflora. Later he wrote, "If there is such a plant, we might be interested in buying propagation stock." The upshot was that I sold enough of these plants to pay for my greenhouse.

Formerly, I used to send out a listing of many kinds of African violets, gloxinias, and other gesneriads. Then I tried advertising,  running my  ads  simultaneously  with  pertinent magazine articles. Results were good. After you have once advertised with the larger magazines, you receive monthly letters announcing future articles which usually feature photographs of the plants discussed. I found it paid to tie in ads with the issues that carried stories about the plants I was selling.

Currently I grow my gesneriads for commercial firms, selling tubers and seeds rather than plants. These are easily shipped, and I use the top cuttings of my rare gesneriads to propagate more material.

Geraniums (Pelargoniums)
Wherever you are located, you can be sure of an active demand for the geraniums (Pelargonium). You will sell bright-flowered singles and doubles as spring bedders, for foundation or patio plantings, for window boxes or planters. Zonals and Martha Wellingtons are specialties for Memorial Day, and the trailing ivies for poolside plantings and hanging baskets. The dwarf, cactus, fancy- and scented-leaved varieties are year-round sellers to collectors. The "unusual and fine-flowered" sorts (such a wide classification!) also appeal to collectors— both advanced and amateur. Since geraniums ship well, selling them to collectors alone can provide a year-round business if you wish to specialize.

Pelargonium Types
The species, seldom available from local florists or plant counters, are a first-rate specialty for collectors or hybridizers who want to cross species and hybrids. And where can you find these buyers? Join the International Geranium Society (address, page 257) and obtain leads on collectors from other Society members; or advertise in the Society's publication. Advertise in a national gardening magazine or run an ad in a
local paper. You may find many collectors right in your own area who have previously had to "send away" for additions to their collections.

Tuberous-Rooted Pelargoniums
Tuberous-rooted pelargoniums are interesting but may have limited sales to only the more advanced collectors. However, if you intend to specialize, it will pay you to grow a few pots of them so as to have a well-rounded list to offer. These include some species with unusual coloring. Pelargonium gibbosum has nearly black-red flowers with chartreuse margins; P. frutaceum has petals spotted with yellow.

The Fragrant Ones
The scented-leaved sorts with odors suggestive of fruit, spice, or various perfumes appeal to everybody. Place a pot of the old favorite, rose-scented Pelargonium graveolens to the front of a counter, and as you talk with a customer invite him to press the leaves with his fingers to get a whiff of the delightful fragrance. Very likely he will want to buy the plant. Other favorite scenteds include the lemon P. crispum, peppermint P. tomento-sium, coconut P. grossularioides, nutmeg P. fragrans, apple P. odoratissimum, and apricot P. Ninon. The pungence of pine is given off by the leaves of P. denticulatum.

Martha Washington Pelargoniums
Growers on the West Coast sell the pansy-flowered Martha Washingtons (Pelargonium domesticum) to home gardeners. Almost every yard flaunts these gorgeous beauties. In other sections, they are sold only as spring gift plants or as

Decoration Day specials.
Because they are not so easily grown as their relatives, the zonals, you may find it wise to buy rooted cuttings and grow them on in a cool greenhouse. You can get assorted labeled varieties in red, pink, purple, and white for about $10.00 per hundred. Plant these directly into 3- or 4-inch pots. Water freely and keep at a temperature around 55 degrees.

Good sellers are Empress of Russia, Jungle Night, Carmine Queen, Misty Rose, Stardust, San Diego, Mrs. Mary Bard, Ballerina, Azalea, Mary Elizabeth, and Senorita.