It is a high quality Hybrid Standard Cymbidium. Maybe it is a one off seedling and that is the reason for "No sale". There are at least 10,000 registered Cymbidium Hybrids on the register of Hybrids kept at Kew so unless this is a a widely distributed mericlone (Copy) your chances of getting an id are very low. No tag on the plant at the nursery?

rosewinda, I've sold roses wholesale and retail inland in SoCal as well as right on the beach within a very short drive of Malibu. The problem is two fold: the majority of the consuming public only know the J&P catalog and traditionally buy those. "Gardeners", you know, the mow/blow/go primarily know Iceberg and Knock Out, and a few traditional HTs and floribundas by name. I've dealt with the well-healed and the "house poor" and all in between. I've sold to MANY of the mow/blow/go and the high-end "landscape professionals" and it's the same thing. VERY few know anything other than that blamed J&P catalog. Those are the roses which sell themselves so they are more likely to pay the bills for the nursery. The second part of the problem is the lack of the OGR material to compete with the wholesale budded. I realize there are areas in the US which buy plugs and bands and grow their own, and there are those who buy in bulk from Hortico and Pickering. I can't address those as no one here in SoCal does that so I have no experience with that. None of the wholesale producers we have greatest access to produces the material you are seeking. Specialty nurseries do, the Burlington Roses, Vintage, Roses Unlimited, etc., produce those wonderful roses, but they are never in sizes or stages of development competitive to the wholesale J&P, Star, Week's product. Add to that the lack of wholesale pricing for the specialty product and you can't win. It has been possible in the past to pay as little as $5.50 wholesale for a Grade 1 J&P bare root rose. You have to add soil, pot, water, labor, time, rent on space or opportunity cost to that to come up with the final cost. The specialty sources sell the same plant to a nursery as they do YOU. How can a nursery buy a Bon Silene from RU for $18 plus shipping, receive a plant smaller than a one gallon size (NOT to dishonor RU as I have nothing against them. The same example can be made using any specialty source you choose), pot it up, then wait for it to develop into a plant which can compete in size and flower production to a several month old budded HT? I tried doing that when Ashdown was in high swing. I bought hundreds of OGRs from them, skewed toward the Tea, China, Noisette, Hybrid Musk and others suited to the coast and inland communities we served. They sold because I sold them. Very few moved on my days off. Even after trying to ignite my co workers to their benefits and value, they didn't sell themselves like the front line moderns did. No one advertises them as new moderns are advertised. There is no money in it for producers as there are no patents on them so the only money they can make from them is from selling the actual plant. Most modern roses don't require that because the market KNOWS what to expect from them and the average consumer bases his/her selection on the pretty flower and PRICE. Browse the threads here frequently proclaiming the find of $3 roses here and there. Price is probably equal to the pretty flower as the driving factor in the sales of the vast majority of roses. A nursery can't competitively sell roses which cost them two to three times what a wholesale budded modern can, particularly when there is such a greater development time between receipt and retail size and bloom. Large wholesale producers DO bud a small selection of OGRs. You've seen them in the J&P and Star catalogs for years. The last major producer to offer wholesale budded Teas, Chinas, Noisettes, HPs, etc. was Armstrong way back in the 1970s and early 80s. I have also tried in vain to carry smaller own root plants of these specialty types, priced lower than the five gallon bud and bloom moderns and had a devil of a time selling them. Yes, there were the few who were intrigued or who knew what they were and loved finding them, but it required tremendously more time and effort to move a ten dollar plant than the $15 five gallon ones which sold themselves. Some years ago, I managed a specialty, walk-in rose nursery here in the San Fernando Valley. Limberlost Roses specialized in OGRs in five gallon to boxed sizes. We had a tremendous selection and the business climate was MUCH better than now. We brought in OGRs from Canada and specialty American sources, then grew them up. Even advertising in every paper, newsletter and online, and with competitive prices to the other nurseries in teh area, business wasn't sufficient to remain IN business. Those roses aren't going to pay for themselves, and we're talking MY kind of roses. There isn't enough demand for roses in general, much less the specialty ones you desire. Your local nursery had what he can sell and remain in business. Kim

Usually if you google your state's name along with words like nursery regulations or something similar you will find your states rules for selling live plants. Many states have relaxed rules if you are small time or backyard growing and not involving greenhouses and many acres in production. I live in NC and they have wonderful laws concerning sales tax for home grown plants (like, no license required and no sales tax collecting). You can start small and grow over time. There is a reason that mail order nurseries charge an arm and a leg to ship plants - it is a nightmare! Dealing with shipping providers that want to raise their rates everytime gasoline goes up a penny; that commit to certain pick up date and time and then forget to tell you that they've changed their schedule; that decide to change the nature of their contract with you on a whim... the list goes on and on. When you look through all the prices being charged for shipping and handling - remember that no one is making money with these charges except the carrier. So the last thing I would consider if I was small time would be mail order. That being said, selling plants on ebay is often the easiest way to get into business. Farmer's markets are different city by city and town by town. Some only allow so many plant vendors, some only allow home grown plants (no buying in plugs and growing them up - which is the industry standard nowadays). So you have to check on your area markets and see what's available. And you have to check your communities rules and regulations on being a vendor (something you have to do no matter where you want to sell). Most states have native plant societies and these organizations often have spring plant sales which are more like a big craft sale and often booths are available for vendors. You do not always have to be a member of the organization in order to sell at the festival but sometimes you do. Keep in mind that everyone wanting to market native plants will be there right beside you. The same goes for butterfly organizations. I sell plants at a small local farmers market. I started out promoting natives and butterfly plants. They are not big sellers in my community. Butterfly gardening and native plant gardening are a big thing here and many very accomplished gardeners belong to these organizations - and they share their extra plants with club members for free. So the people I expected to sell to aren't used to seeing a price tag on their favorite plants. The customers that attend the market I sell at seem to enjoy seeing native plants for sale, and they enjoy my enthusiasm for natives and butterflies, but they never buy them. Since you said you weren't in it for the money, consider yourself warned - every person putting in a butterfly garden for the local elementary school and nursing home will be hitting you up for free plants. They have all the drive but no funds. For every 10 plants I end up donating I probably sell one plant (this is not the way to conduct business). Not only do I feature natives and butterfly plants, I also often have host plants with larvae already on them (like fennel with swallowtail caterpillars). Kids LOVE them, but when their mother lets them choose one plant to buy, they pick the fruiting strawberry instead. Don't get your hopes up too high. Growing plants and Selling plants are two different things completely. The first thing you need to do is figure out where you can sell stuff (from your home, at a festival, at a market), then figure out what rules apply to that type of selling, then start selling stuff. You'll never learn how to sell stuff by reading about it - you have to jump in and start selling. Good luck!

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