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Why do plants cost so much?
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Every price tag tells a story
I have bought a lot of plants in my life. I have also, on various occasions, complained about their price. But in fact, most plants are a bargain, and here are a few reasons why.
Grower's costs and seller's costs. Sometimes the people who propagate and grow plants are the same people who sell them to you, but that's often not the case. Growers have one set of expenditures (including time and labor) while wholesalers and retailers have other expenditures. They've got to pass all these outlays on to you, the ultimate customer, and then try to make a little profit on top of that. So, right away, you're supporting two separate enterprises with your purchase.
The cost of acquisition. While some plants can be used to propagate many generations of daughter plants, and some operations gather seed or cuttings from existing stock, many nursery operations have to pay for seed, cuttings, plugs (small containerized plants), or parent plants. A small plug of a hot new perennial variety, for example, can easily cost a grower several dollars. Seeds and cuttings are generally much cheaper, but money is still money.
The cost of failure. If you're growing plants from seed, a certain percentage of those seeds won’t germinate. The survivors have got to pay for the victims. Diseases and insects can attack seedlings, cuttings, and transplants – once again, the living have to subsidize the dearly departed. Plants get damaged in ordinary handling, transportation, and in the market place. A dead or damaged plant doesn't generate revenue, and something has to take up the slack.
The cost of success. Even if every single seed grew or cutting rooted, growers still have to pay for containers, potting mix, water, heat, fertilizers, and help. It's true that economies of scale can significantly reduce the outlay per plant, but there's still a cost for successfully raising healthy, marketable material.
The cost of handling and transportation. Even within a nursery, plants tend to move around quite a bit. Carts are expensive, and automated systems are really expensive. Of course, even automated systems need human help, and humans, too, require money to operate. (Unless, as in many nurseries, they’re family members, but that's another cost we won’t go into here.) Plants then have to get to market. The Pacific Northwest is rife with wonderful nurseries growing wonderful plant material, but getting those plants here to the New York area requires a specially-fitted truck, a good driver, and a lot of diesel fuel. It also requires some serious logistics, once again requiring the assistance of those demanding humans.
The cost of packaging and marketing. Plant containers – even the anonymous black plastic pots that are all too often thrown into the trash after their contents have been disgorged – cost money, and sometimes a lot of money. High-quality gallon pots can fetch nearly a dollar a piece in small quantities, and 10-20 gallon whoppers are proportionately more expensive. Labels cost money, too, even if you invest in a specialized printer and computer to handle your plant database. Would you like a picture on that label? Be prepared to pay for the rights to use the image and to pay more for color printing.
The cost of maintenance. Once a truckload of paper goods or canned food is unloaded at your local grocery, it costs relatively little to have that merchandise sit on the shelf for weeks or even months. Not so with plants. They need to be watered, kept clean, occasionally culled, and if they're around long enough, fertilized or treated for pests. The mortality rate of plants in a retail environment can be high, especially in the big-box stores. Someone's got to pay for those losses, and that someone is you, dear customer.
The cost of an untroubled mind. If your nursery or retail outlet "guarantees" your plant purchases, the cost of that guarantee is built into the purchase price – guaranteed. I personally think that the year-long, no questions asked guarantee offered by at least one of the BBSs is just crazy. I've seen plants brought back that obviously hadn't been watered once since their purchase six months previously, and still the guarantee was honored. Depending on the contractual arrangement, sometimes the nurseries take a hit, but generally the careful gardeners are simply subsidizing the careless ones.
There are many more costs associated with growing and selling plants, but this list should be enough to get you thinking. The next time you get sticker shock standing in front of a rare Japanese maple in a twenty-gallon pot, consider what it took to make that encounter possible. Then grit your teeth, open your wallet, and enjoy.
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