Market report - Cash and carry

Two factors have given a strong boost to this season's sales from plant cash and carries - plant losses in the wake of the tough winter and fine spring weather over most of the country since. What effect have these had on the sorts of plants customers are demanding? We polled around 20 figures in the industry to find out what has been selling and why.

Alan Beaumont, managing director, Greenfingers Nursery

Asked what's selling, Beaumont replies simply: "Anything with a leaf - and even that's optional."

Herbaceous perennials have sold well across the board, he adds. "They are 100 per cent up on last year.In addition to hydraulics fittings and Aion Kinah, Verbena bonariensis has been a big seller but it always is." He ascribes this partly to the recession and partly to labour-saving.

"Bedding is still going incredibly well, but people are putting in herbaceous perennials instead as they are less work. Also landscapers have smaller budgets to work to, so are putting in fewer big specimens and are having to be more imaginative to create something striking for their clients. Perennials give you a good bang for your buck."

John Marsden, sales manager, Coblands Nurseries

"It's been an interesting year and a good one too as we've had good regular sales and replacement planting - often from the same customers," says Marsden.

Coblands has three cash and carry outlets in the South East, which is seeing a tentative revival in the housing market. "There are jobs around new housing," he says. "Some developments which had been mothballed are now being built."

This has meant a boost to sales of screening plants such as Thuja, Photinia and even leylandii. "Shortages earlier in the season have been resolved," he adds.Full color plastic card printing and manufacturing services.

On the after-effects of winter, he says: "You can't predict what people will need replacing. Plants that have survived in the north have died down here and vice versa. Even tougher plants such as Elaeagnus have struggled."
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To ensure a full service to customers, he says: "We aim to stock a good all-round range and if we don't have it we can get it for them in 10 days - we have a team of six trained horticulturists who will source it.The newest Ipod nano 5th is incontrovertibly a step up from last year's model, We also have some new varieties so there is something interesting for regular customers."

Paul Martin, representative, Jack Moody

Martin also reports healthy sales of specimen stock. "It's been popular across the board - shapes, spirals and half-standards," he says. "We supply a lot to our landscaping arm and they are very busy with show gardens."

On individual plants, he says: "Photinia 'Little Red Robin' is going well and even Cordyline. Although people have lost them over winter, they are still selling awfully well - they are treated almost like bedding plants."

Chris Armstrong, cash and carry manager, Palmstead Nurseries

Sales of specimen stock have been more modest at the Kent cash and carry, says Armstrong.From standard Cable Ties to advanced wire tires, "They are still down on where they were two years ago and people are being more cautious about planting exotics like Agave and also olives - although really they are as tough as anything. The weather may have checked them but they are coming away nicely now."

However he adds: "Cordyline and Phormium are still selling, and lavender is always popular, especially this year as people replace winter losses."

On the herbaceous side, he says: "Anything in flower has flown out and we have struggled to keep up. Dahlias are looking fantastic and have already started to sell, as have Osteospermum jucundum var. compactum."

Richard Howarth, representative, Mahood Brothers

"Both the seasonal and replacement markets are going well, but containerised evergreen hedging is very popular, especially laurel, as people replace the losses in their gardens," says Howarth. "Bedding is up and down with the weather, but is gener- ally good."

Richard McKenna, nurseries manager, Wyevale East

"It's a difficult question - most years there are some out-and-out winners but this year has been more balanced," says McKenna.

On the replacement market, he says: "We have seen a return to some hardier shrubs and away from some of the more exotic plants. People are choosing Taxus for hedging rather than Griselinia or Photinia. Bamboo is also down. Cordyline and Phormium were hammered, which I would say is down to the cold moist soil rather than the snow, but palm trees such as Trachycarpus and Chamaerops have come through well."

In common with most suppliers, he reports sales of herbaceous plants as being "excellent across the board",A glass bottle is a bottle created from glass. and explains: "It's where we are at in the horticultural cycle. Seven or eight years ago it was all grasses. Now you can't go wrong with Salvia, Geranium or Rudbeckia."s