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call, will continue to expand the 

 number 



Barbara's favorites this year 

 (they change from year to year) in- 

 clude Lithodora ("long blooming; a 

 gorgeous blue"); Saxifraga x endressii 

 ~Red Carpet." Salvia "Cherry Blos- 

 som," "Peach (Vielba" nasturtiums; 

 Nicoliana sylveslris... 



Along with the new, she likes 

 the old-fashioned: Calliopsis and 

 Osteospermum are two of this 

 years reintroductions. 



■"Everything we can grow, we do. 

 We cant expand because of the 

 limited area, but we can buy in. 

 Last year (under the old zoning 

 regulations) it was 13% 



Are there trends? "People are 

 into everything," she says "They 

 read more and come in with articles 

 about plants that interest them.'" 



Barbara still grows cut flowers — 

 less than when she was wholesal- 

 ing, but enough to keep customers 

 coming back in the quieter months 

 of luly and August She tried offer- 

 ing cut-your-own, but people wanted 

 completed arrangements and were 

 willing to pay the additional cost. 



She sells no shrubs and. with 

 the exception of the luleurs and a 

 selection of decorative pots, no 

 hardgoods. Rye Ridge has one spe- 

 cialty: high-quality and unusual 

 plants for the garden These — along 

 with the individualized service and 

 lots of information — give it its niche 



MARKETING is done in two ways 

 Although its roadside presence is 

 very low-key, advertising is some- 

 thing Barbara strongly believes in. 

 "Its important to get the word out. 

 When sales are down, its easy to 

 rationalize cutting costs, but that 

 may be the time you should spend 

 some money selling your product "' 



She advertises weekly in three 

 or four local newspapers — and once 

 the people are there, she relies on 

 the display gardens (seeing the 

 plant growing helps people envi- 

 sion it in their own yards") and 

 signage. "Its hard to convince 

 people to try new plants — good 

 signage is one way of getting the 

 word out to them — we just dont 

 have the time to talk to everyone."" 



The signs give a lot of informa- 



tion. The sign for Sanvitalia, for 

 example, gives its common name 

 (Creeping Zinnia) and species 

 (Mandarin Orange) and tells the 

 readers that the plant is low, likes 

 sun and high temperatures, is 

 drought resistant, blooms early 

 summer until frost and "is great in 

 rock gardens. '" There is also a color 

 picture of the plant The sign for- 

 mat is set up on her computer, the 

 signs are printed out and taken to 

 a local copy center where they are 

 printed on thicker stock; then the 

 photo is added and the whole 

 thing is laminated (Barbara has a 

 laminator). Even with this, Barbara 

 feels more signage is needed. 



The information offered has led 

 to another aspect of Rye Ridge — 

 garden design and landscaping 

 Barbara does the design work (she 

 likes the "English cottage garden" 

 look) and she and a crew do jobs 

 throughout'the summer until hard 

 frost in the fall. These are smaller 

 jobs — no heavy equipment is in- 

 volved, but they allow her to see 

 just how some of the newer mate- 

 rial works out in practice. And it 



AUGUST /SEPTEMBER 



