I agree that there is too much branding and marketing done for old plants
that should be sold because of how well it does in the garden. New plants
do require upscale marketing to get the attention they deserve, but if they
perform as well in the garden as they are promoted then they should sell
themselves without the higher cost of branding.

Just a note about PW, they only sell the growers rooted cuttings and not
unrooted. So the freight on 400 plugs was around $63 the last time we
purchased PW's two years ago. Now we do only unrooted cuttings from Simply
Beautiful and pay about $32 freight for 3000 cuttings. Most companies with
plants in the PW line are also withdrawing and not adding new items, that is
why you see more and more ordinary plants being added to PW.

The only premium cost that I consider to be necessary are the royalties for
patented plants. Though some are high, from $0.04 to $6.00, someone spent
years if not a lifetime working on breeding the plant.

My two cents....

"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...

"yourbuster" wrote in message
.. .
Hybrids don't always come back true and require a cross to exist. And
those
crosses are done by hand.

In addition, they are selling a brand. There is an advertising campaign
that tries to convince people that there is some added value to these
plants. Frankly, I'm sort of tired of all the hype. The "proven winner"
brand is the one that really gets me going. Each year there are more and
more plants sold as "proven winners." These plants are only sold in
larger
sized pots and have a premium price. Rather ordinary plants that could be
had at a reasonable price now cost a small fortune. I refuse to buy them.