Profit from geraniums

Big commercial growers all over the country count geraniums among their top money-makers, and the number of semi-amateurs who have found geraniums profitable is legion. The accounts that follow are typical of countless success stories.

When only thirteen years old, Elvin McDonald, then of Gray, Oklahoma, built a 6- by 9-foot lean-to at a cost of less than one hundred dollars, and it became a money-maker the first year. Young McDonald started cuttings and seedlings of rare geraniums-cactus, scented, and fancy-leaved types-in flats in his home, and as soon as the greenhouse was completed moved them in. Within two months the cuttings were ready for sale.

From one $30.00 ad in a horticultural magazine, he received more than $500.00 worth of orders-all in less than 2 weeks.

With this money to purchase additional stock, he began growing more than seventy-five varieties of geraniums, mostly fancy-leaved and scented, since they had proved to be the best sellers. Because the glass of his little greenhouse extended almost to the ground, plants thrived under the benches, affording valuable topside space for rooting cuttings.

In South Bend, Indiana, Mrs. Mabel Welborn makes a dandy profit from geraniums. She started with a little 7- by 12-foot lean-to built on the south side of an unused henhouse; now she grows in a new 14- by 20-foot greenhouse, built for $250.00. One year she advertised in the local paper for Memorial Day, but found that many of her plants were too large and expensive for this holiday trade. Since then she tops taller plants in January, and propagates the cuttings, and sells bushy topped plants to the early spring trade. She prefers a seasonal trade, running ads for Easter, Memorial Day, and Christmas. The rest of the year she runs her house as a hobby, building up her stock of fancy-leaved geraniums. One of her favorites-and well liked by her customers-is Appleblossom Rosebud.

Geranium Society

If you are concerned with geraniums, do join the International Geranium Society, 3632 Vinton Street, Los Angeles 34, California. It publishes an excellent booklet full of helpful information.

Tags: home greenhouse

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