Wholesale Sales | Egan Gardens of Salem, Oregon

Parents, staff, and event coordinators,

Poinsettia sales have proven to be an excellent fundraising project for many schools, churches and charitable organizations. Though there are lots of them going on already the market does not seem to be overfilled. If any classes or clubs at your school are looking for a way to raise money, we’d be glad to help you with a sale.

Generally, a group contacts Egan Gardens in September with a tentative order based on their sales goal. For example, if there are 30 kids wanting to sell plants and each figures they can sell 6, they place an order for 150 to 200 plants. Some groups decide to make things easy and sell only red poinsettias, the most popular, traditional color. Others may choose to give their customers more choices and sell red, white, pink and variegated (Jingle Bells). Most sell just the 6 1/2” pot size, a 5 to 6 bloom plant. Regis High in Stayton sells the 5-6 bloom, a larger pot with 7-10 blooms, and big planters, and they do well with all three sizes, in red, white and pink.

We recommend starting sales early in fall, even if people aren’t really ready to think about Christmas yet – just remind them that they don’t have to get the plants until December. We growers already have the crop all planted, and there’s no chance to add to or subtract from our crop, so orders do need to get to us as quickly as possible. The first week of November is when most groups give us their final, firm numbers. An order form of some kind will help your customers decide and you to keep track of your sales. We strongly urge your salespeople to collect money at the time they collect orders. People sometimes forget or change their minds about things ordered 2 months ago. Don’t let them. If you sell far beyond the amount you’ve tentatively requested, it’s a good idea to keep us posted so we can try to be sure we can fill your order. Likewise, if you don’t sell anywhere near what you hoped, please keep us informed of that, so that we have time to find other customers for those plants.

Egan Gardens can deliver your group’s whole order to school, church or other location on the day you chose, or the day we decide on together if your first choice is already overbooked. Usually the week of Thanksgiving and the week after are the most popular times. If a sale is quite large, we can go to two or three locations if necessary, as long as they’re fairly close together.

Finally a real sales pitch for us as a supplier. The plants we grow are so much nicer than what you’ve seen in stores. You and your customers won’t believe the difference between plants fresh from the greenhouse and the tired things in grocery stores. They cost more, but they’re worth much more. We’re proud of our product and we think you’ll be pleased to offer them to your friends, family and local businesses.

Sincerely,
Ellen Egan

9805 River Rd. N. – Salem, OR 97303 – Phone (503) 393-2131 – Fax (503) 390-9020

Egan Gardens sells wholesale to garden centers, landscape companies, florists and fundraiser projects. The main qualification for purchasing wholesale is that the plants are to be resold. Poinsettias are an exception, as we sell to many churches and businesses for decoration. A nursery license is not necessary for our purposes, though maybe the Oregon Department of Agriculture might want you to have one.

Orders can be picked up at the nursery; we also deliver throughout Western Oregon and Southwest Washington. The minimum order for free delivery is $300. For smaller deliveries, or those to locations more than 100 miles away, there is a charge of $25.

The wholesale division is open all year, and there is always something available for sale. We put out a wholesale price and product list, which we will gladly send you. Here's a quick run-down of the types of crops we grow, so you can see if you'd be interested in checking further.

January-March: Cold-tolerant pot crops: 4-inch Primroses, specialty Primroses, Ranunculus, Anemones, Cinerarias, perennials.

April-May: Zonal geraniums in 4-inch and 6-inch sizes, colorspots in 4-inch sizes, specialty and vegetative annuals in 4-inch and 5½ inch, Ivy Geranium, and other 10-inch hanging baskets, 14-inch and 16-inch combination baskets, and perennials.

June-July: Geraniums while they last, colorspots in 4-inch sizes, warm weather specialty annuals like Lisianthus and Pentas in 5½ inch, various hanging baskets, and perennials.

August-September: Garden Mums in one gallon, two gallon and belgian type mums in 12-inch tubs, Dwarf Carnations, pansies in 4-inch sizes, fresh colorspots through August, and perennials.

September-October: Garden Mums in 4-inch sizes, larger sizes while they last, Pansies, Ornamental Kale, and perennials. Order Poinsettias now.

November-December: Poinsettia delivery.

We fax weekly availability lists; if you would like to receive these please contact Lori Brown, head of the wholesale division, at (503) 393-2131 or e-mail at egangardens@qwest.net.