MEMBER PROFILE 



time of all. 



Mums start selling ("asters never 

 really caught on") in mid-August 

 and Wilbur offers a variety: 4- and 

 6-inch pots. 10-inch fiber pots and 

 half-bushel baskets. He also grows 

 hanging baskets — mums planted in 

 holes in the side of a 10-inch hanger. 

 He grows his crop on black plastic 

 in the open spaces around the 

 houses. He also rents land on the 

 other side of Silver Lake and grows 

 5,000 fiber pots there. 



The shop is stocked with pump- 

 kins, Indian com. and winter squash. 

 Ears of com are sold braided into 

 groups of three or singly — "people 

 like to pick their own." Pumpkins are 

 painted — and images are far more 

 than an outline of a carved face 

 Wilbur hires a local artist who creates 

 scenes of bare trees silhouetted 

 against the moon, haunted houses, 

 witches on broomsticks. cats, 

 ghosts — each pumpkin is unique. "We 

 sell hundreds" — painted, unpainted. 

 in all sizes, at prices ranging from 

 75 cents to S25.00. And there's 

 more artwork — this year, a panel 

 depicting scarecrows blowing in an 

 autumn field was placed behind 

 displayed pumpkins. Holes in the 

 panel where the scarecrows' heads 

 should be allowed customers to 

 stand behind it and be photo- 

 graphed. And Wilbur recently 

 bought a cider press and has be- 

 gun to sell cider. He has yet to de- 

 sign his own mix and presses what- 

 ever he can buy from local or- 



chards, but freshly pressed cider 

 sells well: last year he went through 

 200 bushels of apples. 



And in October, he hauls mums 

 and pumpkins and the cider press 

 on a flatbed trailer to the Octo- 

 berfest at Loon Mountain He 

 brings a collapsible frame that sup- 

 ports an awning — it's a newer ver- 

 sion of his and his father's wagon 



THE SHOP GOES THROUGH several 

 transformations: the first is in April 

 when bedding plants are displayed 

 on wire-on-wood-frame benches set 

 on concrete blocks; hangers are 

 suspended on the trusses above 

 them. Around the first of luly. 100% 

 shade cloth is put over the roof: 

 slotted bins are fit into plywood 

 support panels and the shop be- 

 comes a vegetable stand. And in 

 late fall, benches with 12-inch side 

 panels are set onto the display 

 benches and cut flowers are grown 

 in six inches of soil.. 



A sensaphone system helps 

 monitor temperature on winter 

 nights. Four years ago. Wilbur 

 bought a new emergency genera- 

 tor — a 15kw Wisconsin. He's used it 

 once — during a five-hour power out- 

 age caused by an ice storm. 



Problems seem to come more 

 from wildlife than weather At one 

 time, he raised bees, but bears 

 were getting the honey before he 

 was. The bears left when the hives 

 did. but racoons remain In sum- 

 mer, to prevent them from entering 



the houses, Wilbur strings strands 

 of electric wire at the places he has 

 cut and rolled up the poly for ven- 

 tilation The current is turned on 

 only at night, after all potential law- 

 suits have left. 



For a business that relies on 

 tourists, there's remarkably little 

 conscious image-making. If there's 

 an image, it's friendly and straight- 

 forward. Wilbur admits that he 

 could market himself more — espe- 

 cially since the new plazas and dis- 

 count stores clustered around the 

 intersection of Routes 3/11 and 140 

 have created so much traffic that 

 it's less easy to pull off the road to 

 make a spontaneous purchase. 



He does advertise — he buys a 

 border ad around a page of TV list- 

 ings — "where people will see it" — in 

 the local paper. And he does things 

 that put him in the public eye. One 

 year, he entered a float in the 

 Tilton Old Home Day parade. "Trel- 

 lised tomatoes and women in bon- 

 nets — "Old-fashioned Days' — we 

 won first prize, but we never did it 

 again " Another year, he created the 

 floral displays at a benefit dance 

 up at Gunstock. But these are not 

 part of any overall promotional 

 plan — just things any good member 

 of the community might do. 



"Friendly." "all-around " — Phillips 

 Farm Produce is at 256 Laconia 

 Road (Routes 3/11) in Tilton, New 

 Hampshire. The phone number is 

 603-286-3020. IBP I 



Laughton's Garden Center Inc. 



Cal Laughton, Florist 



Distributors of Nursery Overwintering Blankets 



WHOLESALE AND RETAIL NURSERY 



NURSERY STOCK • .\NNU.\LS • PERENNIALS • FERTILIZERS • INSECTICIDES 



1-800-633-0159 

 155-165 Princeton Blvd., No. Chelmsford, MA 01863 



CHARLES L\UGHTON. PRESmENT • DAVE POLGREEN. NXTISERY SALES 



THE PLANTSMAN 



