B. 



'asicaUi/, we re a ivarehouse. 

 We happen to be outdoors, that's all." 

 This descripton . . . is basically correct. 



However, a warehouse is defined by its contents and the contents 

 of this one are unusually varied and thought-provoking. 



they see — for example, I think the 

 Chinese fringetree (Chionanthus 

 retusus) is a great ornamental. White 

 flowers, dark blue fruit (on females), 

 exfoliating bark, does well in zone 

 5— it has it all, but I can't sell it at 

 gunpoint. People want their Newport 

 plum — people are fascinated by 

 purple leaves." 



He chooses items that "are not 

 necessarily commodity items," defin- 

 ing "commodity item" as "something 

 the big boxes get into; something we 

 independents can't offer at a com- 

 petitive price and still receive a sus- 

 taining profit margin. Ten-to-fifteen 

 percent is not sustaining." 



Not just the trees are big — maiden 

 grass {Miscanthus sinensis 'gracil- 

 liitius') — is offered in field clumps; 

 Harry Lauder's walking stick (Cory- 

 lus avellana 'contorta') is large enough 

 to accurately indicate its final place 

 in the landscape. 



The expected are here, but in 

 larger numbers and a greater choice 

 of cultivars — there are 900 crab 

 apples on the lot and perhaps 25 cul- 

 tivars; there are ten cultivars of beech 

 and fifteen of Japanese maple — "a 

 fun plant — lots of character." 



The usual is offered in unusual 

 forms — Jiiniperus Sea Green 'Pom 

 Pom,' for example, seems to be 

 wind-contorted, "oriental," and a to- 

 piary, all at the same time. 



IN THE FIRST WEEK OF MARCH, 

 balled-and-burlapped material — 

 as tightly budded as possible, starts 

 arriving (just before the blackbirds). 

 He buys from growers throughout 

 the northeast — Baker Valley up in 

 Wentworth; from Canada, Ohio, 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey: "I buy a 

 lot from Princton Nursery in New 

 Jersey. I go down in late summer 

 and pick what I want for the fol- 



lowing year. I spend a week in the 

 field, tagging individual specimens." 



"Labelling is crucial. I use a soft- 

 ware program designed specifically 

 for that purpose. Ninety percent of 

 what I order is already on the pro- 

 gram and the program allows you to 

 edit and create your own labels, so I 

 do the rest myself." 



Around 40,000 perennials are pot- 

 ted up. The three hoop houses — the 

 house across from the parking lot 

 and two others toward the back of 

 the yard — are covered with clear 

 plastic and filled with the more sen- 

 sitive material. He also offers a range 

 of annuals. Four types of bark mulch 

 are sold by the yard. 



"We do carry some commodity 

 items — bagged goods, for example (a 

 necessary evil) — for natural spin-off 

 sales, but only for that reason." 



In summer, about fifteen people 

 are on the staff; his wife does the 

 books. His sales are both retail and 

 wholesale. "We're not trying to sell 

 to the road contractor. We sell lo- 

 cally to the higher end of the 

 residential and commercial. We 

 do deliver, but are chosing to do 

 less design and installation work. 



"We've done very little marketing. 

 I think most advertising is a waste of 

 money. I do have an ad in the Exeter 

 Newsletter and in the yellow pages, 

 but visibility and word-of-mouth 

 have increased our business the 

 most. 



"I've never done a business 

 plan — there's a lot of impulse in 

 how things develop here. I've 

 never had any courses in plants or 

 botany. I got a degree in math at 

 SUNY Plattsburg— which actually 

 has been very useful in making the 

 numbers work. My family were all 

 farmers and I landscaped summers 

 to earn money for college — so the 



career choice isn't that surprising. 

 I've always liked the physical/out- 

 door/plant side of things." 



He experimented with being open 

 the entire year, but "it wasn't worth 

 it." He closes at the end of Novem- 

 ber and uses the winter for planning 

 and ordering. 



Perennials and shrubs are over- 

 wintered in the three hoop houses 

 covered now with opaque plastic. 

 "We don't overwinter evergreens — 

 we're wide open here and they'd 

 desiccate in the wind — but we do 

 buy some things — crabs, maples — in 

 the fall. It's a good deal for the 

 grower. We get a lot out of Jersey — 

 which is close enough climatically. 

 We cover the ball — big enough so 

 the root isn't really cut — with bark 

 mulch and they do fine. It gets them 

 onto our flowering schedule." 



"We don't grow ourselves, but a 

 grower could do well here. You'd 

 need to intelligently choose what 

 you grew and have a quick turn- 

 around. You'd also need to reach a 

 certain critical mass in order to 

 break even. Most material is grown 

 further south. New Jersey has an 

 additional month on each end of 

 the season, which adds up to an 

 additional year of growing time 

 for every six in New Hampshire. 

 Still, there's a 15-25% freight cost, 

 so that's in a local grower's favor." 



"Basically, we're a warehouse. 

 We happen to be outdoors, that's 

 all." This description — although 

 harsh, is basically correct. How- 

 ever, a warehouse is defined by its 

 contents and the contents of this 

 one are unusually varied and 

 thought-provoking. (BP) 



Stratham Circle Nursery is at 4 Col- 

 lege Road, Stratham, NH 03885; the 

 phone number is 603-778-3711. 



|uNE.IULY.1998 



