Over the last couple of years, it has become increasingly difficult to stay afloat as a small nursery. It's sad to say that a lot of small independent nurseries succumb to financial pressures each year and go to the wall, and I was recently informed very reliably that a lot are up for sale.
Running a nursery (I've discovered) is no mean feat. All of your stock is alive. You can't just walk away from it at the end of the day. It needs feeding, watering, weeding, cutting back, treating to prevent beasties, re-potting, dividing... you get the idea. And then there's the winter. We hardly make any money for three months of the year, so our prices have to reflect that during the peak season.
Over the last 12 months especially, most of our costs have gone through the roof, and the national minimum wage is rising considerably again in April. These are all things I need to consider.
I don't pay myself a lot of money (at all!), but I need to make it somewhat worth all the hard work, and I need to consider the health of the business, because, if I don't charge enough for the plants, there won't be one.
So, this year, our prices have increased more substantially than previous years. Most of the plants we sell can't be found in a garden centre, and other online nurseries who sell a similar range of plants to us tend to only sell piddly little 9cm plants, which I refuse to sell unless asked.
By purchasing from us, you'll get good-sized, garden-ready plants that will flower this year. They will be packaged with love and care (and you've told us how much you love our packaging!). We are a very small business and we may take a little longer than some of the big guys, but we know we're worth the wait... again, you, our customers, have told us so!
Considering that most Cranesbill plants will last 35+ years in the garden, I hope you'll still consider our prices a worthwhile investment.
Thank you for your continued support.
Happy Gardening,
Gary x
