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| More than once I have had to find a plant table for our society raffle when the speaker does not provide one. In our area we have SBOE, Cal Orchids, Andy and the Cymbidium growers to choose from. We have done that a few times and the plants are becoming somewhat routine.
This time our speaker is going to talk on intergeneric Oncidiums and I ordered up a box of such plants from Hilo Orchid Farms in Hawaii. They are wholesalers and prefer to sell you a 'Box' which contains 24 plants. Normally you get 6 of each but with a little arm twisting she promised me no more than 3 of each. You don't get to select, they'll ship the best of what's about to bloom. I excluded straight Oncidiums. 2 weeks ago it arrived and will be raffled off in 2 days at our meeting. I got 24 plants all with ripe buds for $288, all inclusive.. Every plant has at this point fully opened a few buds, none of the spikes are fully flowered out, a perfect situation. I told them the day of the meeting and they timed it precisely. There are 10 different types none have more than 3 of one type. I have them all sitting together in the greenhouse and it is a stunning palate of beautiful colors on 2' plus sprays. I'm very pleased and would recommend them. 3 of us are going to get together and order another 'Box' for our personal collection. The day will come when I will need to order another plant table, has anyone done this and had a good experience? I would like to know. Earlier this year I got 25 budded, about to bloom, Cattleyas from Kawamoto, that was also a very positive experience. Nick |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by epiphyte78 9 (My Page) on Thu, Apr 21, 11 at 19:14
| I would highly recommend Oak Hill Gardens. They offer a large selection of species at wholesale prices. My society did a group purchase from them a while back and it was fun and educational to compare notes on how the species did in our different conditions. To qualify for the wholesale discount it was necessary to order 5 of each species...so there were quite a few extra orchids available for sale. I posted the extra orchids on Craigslist which lured quite a few orchid enthusiasts to our meeting. Here's an article I wrote on using Craigslist to help promote your society. |
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| The thing not to do is rely on orchid society members to provide plants for the raffle, you will get lots of daggy cast offs. So i always buy the raflle plants from a nursery and specify their choice of plant and sizes. I've always been happy with the plants received. Similar procedures with the gift plants at Christmas and the lucky dip night. I'm not going to go into great detail with the order, i just give the nurseries i use some broad parameters and trust them. 34 plants arrived yesterday to be on-sold at a show on behalf of the local orchid society. Total cost including freight $370 about 70% of the plants are in bud. Got to go and get them out of the bathroom otherwise there will be a domestic. |
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- Posted by lisa_z5wmi Z5 (My Page) on Sat, Apr 23, 11 at 20:32
| I can't imagine being able to resell 24 plants to our society members, even budded and at the great prices you are getting. We do a plant swap/buy for the holidays and getting $5 for an 8 pseudobulb, three lead cattleya would be big money... I think next time I am in CA, I am heading to your meeting! |
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- Posted by orchidnick z9Ca (orchidnick@yahoo.com) on Sun, Apr 24, 11 at 0:37
| We are a non-profit organization. That's because we spend more money than we make. Actually we try to break even. We do a spring and a fall show which generate profit which is then used for monthly expenses. This Friday the speaker asked us to donate $75 to the AOS and we spent $252 (3 of the plants were sold privately as we try to keep the plant table cost to $250) on the plant table. People bought about $180 worth of raffle tickets leaving us $178 in the hole. Our income from the shows supports this kind of activity. Nick |
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- Posted by lisa_z5wmi Z5 (My Page) on Thu, Apr 28, 11 at 11:38
| Well don't you know, but yesterday I got a Carter and Holmes catalog in the mail and it has a section for orchid society specials: 30 plants for $200. Looks like they are not blooming sized, though. I've not ordered from them, but maybe they are worth a look and will suit your purposes. |
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- Posted by orchidnick z9Ca (orchidnick@yahoo.com) on Fri, Apr 29, 11 at 15:08
| Our members like blooming plants on the raffle table. The Oncidiums were perfectly timed. I received them in full bud 3 weeks before the meeting and be the time of the raffle, they were all in bloom. Looked very festive. The other favorable thing about this is that no flowers were squashed in shipping. Nick |
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