?^ The Crops are Traditional. In June he pots up the 

 fall's hardy mums, planting rooted cuttings in 3 1/2-inch 

 pots filled with Metro 510 He repots once and fills the 

 houses (the plastic rolls up and, in warm weather, comes 

 off) and between the houses and the hillside that drops 

 down to the road with the 6 l/2s and 8s. He pinches 

 heavily and uses Florel to produce a full, dense plant. 

 17,000 pots will be ready by late August — along with 1,000 

 of asters ("they go well — 1 sell out "| and another 2,000 of 

 cabbage, kale, sedum, and fall pansies ("pansies didn't go 

 well last year, but 1 want to try again"). About 1000 pots will 

 be sold retail (the hillside of mums is its own advertise- 

 ment); the rest go to wholesale customers. 



Poinsettias arrive in July. Although he grows a few of all 

 types — lingle Bells, Pink Peppermint, Marble, "red is what 

 people want." He often uses odd-sized pots — 4 1/2-inch, b 

 1/2-inch — "you get a bigger plant" And they are bigger — his 

 4 1/2 has six-to-eight blossoms; his 4 1/2, eight-to-twelve. 

 His 10-inch (a five-plant pinch) is four feet across and ship- 

 ping requires making his own sleeves — he's currently look- 

 ing into having sleeves made to order How does he get 

 the plant size? Pinching heavily and giving them plenty of 

 space seem to be key 



For Christmas, he also brings in Christmas cactus, which 

 he sells in 6 l/2s. An early spring crop (Easter and before) 

 includes Asiatic lilies ("if you miss the date, you can still 

 sell them"), hydrangeas (the florist variety) in 7 l/2s, and 

 azaleas. 



The bedding crop is straight-forward. The 1994 spring 

 wholesale price list contained 22 species of annuals and 

 seven of vegetables (no gourmet items) grown in trays of 

 806s. Houses are filled — the only space is a foot-wide walk- 

 way down the centers. 



New Guinea impatiens (he likes the Kientzsler Paradise 

 Series — "bigger flowers; better performance in general") is 

 Mark's best seller He sold 5000 4 l/2s this year; he hopes 

 to double that next. He grows geraniums (a wide variety, 

 but feels the Oglevee and Bartlett introductions are most 

 vigorous), but sees the market declining: people "want no 

 cleaning, nothing fussy." He used to grow 10,000 4 l/2s; now 

 he grows 8,000 and plans to cut that to five He also grows 

 Martha Washingtons and miniature roses 



He claims no specialty, but does sell a lot of hangers — 

 about 3500 of them: New Guinea impatiens, cascade petu- 

 nias, fuchsia (nine varieties, mostly in the California Dream 

 series — "people insist in hanging them in the sun and 

 these seem to take the heat better"). He grows Proven Win- 

 ners — scaveola sells best ("It's a tough good-looking 

 hanger") He grows eights and tens and some 12-inch 

 Buddy Baskets of impatiens. "Big" seems important (one 

 customer is asking for 26-to-28-inch coco baskets) and 

 people are willing to spend for big bright high-quality 

 plants — maybe because a lot of the houses being built in 

 the area today are bigger and a larger plant is needed to 

 make an impact. 



In the two houses with benches, the material can be four 

 deep — the plants on the bench, a row of 4 1/2-inch impa- 

 tiens on a narrow shelf going down the center of the bench, 

 and two layers of hangers Shading doesn't seem to be a 

 problem 



?^ When Mark was the only employee, he'd leave a 

 note for retail customers, telling when he'd get back. It's 

 still pretty casual — the only retail marketing is one 2x3" ad 

 in the Deny News before Mother's Day, but the retail side of 

 things has consistently accounted for 20% of his business. 

 Some accommodations are made. In the month of May, the 

 driveway in front of the three New Englanders is filled with 

 benches of bedding plants ('It's not bad — for one month, 

 we don't get to the dumpster") a checkout counter is set 

 up in the first house, and one person hired to help out 



Customers can go into any of the houses — "they like 

 poking around, even the steep climb doesn"t bother them." 

 Nothing is marked, but "we're very personalized," Mark 

 says "Usually one of the employees goes with them — and 

 we help them choose and do all the lugging." 



Mark does grow some things specifically for retail: a few 

 herbs ("mints are down, but basil. ..no matter how much I 

 grow, I sell out") and perennials (3500 quart containers, 26 

 varieties). His jumbo annuals (7-inch) also aim toward the 

 retail trade as well as landscaper clients, but these are 

 seen as a filler until the mums start selling at the end of 

 August 



Mark sees the business as moving more and more to- 

 ward wholesale He sells to local garden centers (Manches- 

 ter south) and as far west as Vermont. He delivers free of 

 charge, provided the customer buys a full load. He rents 

 two vehicles — a van and a Ryder truck — in the busy season 

 starting in April ("it costs a lot in spring, but we make up 

 for it by having no expenses the rest of the year"). Local 

 landscapers buy here as well. "I send out a price list to 

 wholesale customers," he says, "but word of mouth still 

 works best '" 



Prices are higher than some of the larger wholesalers, 

 but he feels his quality makes him competitive. And his 

 plants justify his price. 



Expansion continues — Mark"s eventual goal is 45,000 

 square feet of production area — and this summer, three 

 new greenhouses are being built behind the New England- 

 ers. One's a 17x48 propagation house; two others will be 

 used for production. The emphasis will be wholesale; the 

 crops will be traditional — and quality will be high: high 

 quality still sells the traditional crops. (BP) 



{Orchard Hill Greenhouses is at 92 Pillsbury Road, Londonderry, 

 NH 03053. The phone number is 603-437-3906.) 



STEENBURG & CAIXIORAS 



THE AUCTION 

 PROFESSIONALS, INC. 



AlCTIONEERS: 



Archie Steenburgh 



603/989-5690 



Route 10, Haverhill. NH 03765 



Peter Callioras, C.A.I. 



603/868-1070 



Calef Highway (Lee). Dover, NH 03820 



August & September 1995 



