Plant Specifications

This article is to share my frustration with certain people in the trade who do not take plant specification seriously. For council approved planting schemes this is very risky; replacing a sub-standard plant can be very costly. My core business in sourcing and supplying hardy stock to landscape designers, landscape gardeners and property developers, where plant specification is important. However many of my customers (who I love dearly, I must add) are not always familiar with plant specs. For example, the girth of trees, the percentage mix of hedging plants and most commonly the Latin names of plants. My role is to help supply the right spec, the true variety and above all a good quality plant. The real frustration comes when you lose a quotation, to find out that a lesser quality plant was accepted and not being able to re-quote on the new spec. My frustration is not just with customers (who I love dearly) but with suppliers. A classic example is the overall size of a plant. A Bay growing in Belgium includes the pot in all his heights...why, it’s the plant I’m interested in, the bit above the ground, you know the bit the customer sees! Also that little bit missing from the height, the 125-150cm plant that is actually just over a metre, but the supplier "thought it would do?". As a ‘middle-man’ this is very costly to me. My customer doesn’t want ‘hard-luck’ story; they want the plants I quoted for, at the heights I quoted for.So my message is:Be clear what you are asking for.Check closely what you are quoted for.Request images on expensive items.Don’t take chances. I’ve seen it happen and it’s not pleasant.This rant was brought to you by Charlie Pinder of Pinder Plants Ltd(ps Charlie can't spell for toffee, please forgive any mistakes...it's my LJ debut!)

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