Go along with our Plant Buyers on a Trip to San Diego
Frequently, Roger’s Gardens buyers and horticulturists visit growers around the state and in other parts of the country, seeking out the best, newest and most amazing plants for our garden center. We probably do this excessively, but It’s part of what makes Roger’s Gardens a special place to explore.
Let’s take you along on one of our recent plant trips, this one to the San Diego area. You’ll be joining Kathleen, Rex, Matt, Isaac and Ron, all Roger’s Gardens horticulturists and buyers.
As you read this and enjoy the pictures and learn how we get the great plants that we have, we also have a chore for you at the end. There are two parts. First will be a travelogue, showing some of the places visited and giving some insight into how we make our plant buying decisions.
The second portion is where we need you to help us. We want your feedback – really. At the end of this article we’ll show you lots of plants and we want you to tell us what you like and what you don’t.
So here we go . . . buckle up and grab your clipboard, a laptop, some boots and a crystal ball. We’re going plant buying for one of the country’s largest and most well-known garden centers.
It’s 8 AM and we are pulling out of Roger’s Gardens and heading South. Over the past several days we have already decided on who we will be visiting this time, set our goals – both strategically and financially, and contacted all of the places we will be visiting. Let’s get moving, they’re waiting for us. As we travel down the highway the laptop is already burning through the battery as we crunch a few more numbers, look at our program calendar one more time and review our current plant growing contracts.
More conversation as we go reinforces our goals for the day. We also decide on each person’s role. We need a driver, a spreadsheet operator, a note taker, a photographer, a navigator. Hmmm, five roles and five people – perfect. It’s 9:15 and we get to our first stop.
Here’s the team you will be with for the rest of the day. From left to right: Matt, Ron, Kathleen, Isaac and Rex. The best plant buying and merchant team in the business.
Our first stop and we are off to work. Grower visits usually include a lot greenhouse visits as well as long field walks.

One of the challenges of plant buying is that we are almost always looking at plants that are far from ready to sell. We need to make serious financial decisions and binding commitments by looking, for the most part, at tiny little unflowering, unfinished plants. That’s why we need the crystal ball.
These Zygocactus on the left, sometimes called Spring Cactus are still a couple of months from bloom but look promising. We book some.
Calla lilies are planted from dormant tubers into four inch or six inch pots and then grown into a finished, blooming plant. There are about 500 tubers in each of these trays and about 15 trays waiting to be planted. You’ll see these in a few months at Roger’s Gardens, but they won’t look anything like this.
The calla tubers are placed into individual four inch pots. About six different colors are involved and each will grow into a blooming plant, eventually to be seen on our Garden Room tables at Roger’s Gardens. The crop here is about 5,000 plants.
Visiting plant growers is not what most people think it is. We are not looking at beautiful gardens or visiting arboretums. Instead, we are usually climbing through dirty, wet, humid and clumsy greenhouses and fields. Incredibly muddy shoes, sweaty clothes and dirty hands and a few bangs on the head and scratches and bruises are all part of the deal. We are not complaining, but it is hard work and we are all tired at the end of the day.
This is one of our favorite potted plants. It is a type of club moss (Selaginella), but a very special one with frosted edges. We contract lots of these almost always have them at Roger’s Gardens.
These are about ready to ship and will be at Roger’s Gardens next week.
Usually this plant, called a Splash, is grown in separate plant containers as either white, pink or red leaf forms. But we like this blend as well. Seems to add some interest when they are all mixed together. A good, colorful plant indoors or out, in a shady spot that our customers love.
Kathleen, our planted container designer, seems to like these a lot. We’ll take these.

A year or two ago this plant was all the rage. It is called Pilea peperomioides or Chinese Money Plant. It’s still popular. Roger’s Gardens was one of the first nurseries to offer it for sale and it is still a highly sought after plant.
This is one of our highest quality and favorite plant growers and one that we contract a lot of plants with. Look how perfectly each plant is spaced. They are also precisely watered and given just the right nutrition. Dianthus are the plants in the foreground.
They are also one of the best suppliers of quality succulents. Always well rooted, disease free and good looking. These are young starts that will later be shifted up to larger containers as they grow.

One of the most important qualities of being a top tier plant buyer is the ability to predict the future. Here’s an example. This is single plant of an un-named Echeveria selection. It might have promise or it might not. Even if we started now with a commitment, it will likely take three to six years before there would be enough plants to have anything for sale at Roger’s Gardens. But if we don’t start now, we may never have this plant.
Should we commit to it or should we pass on it? Big decision and lots at risk. Businesses can succeed or fail based on decisions just like this. To make that decision we need to be able to predict plant fashion several years in the future, we need to know the cost of propagating and producing the plant, we need to know if someone else is growing a similar variety somewhere else in the country, we need to know our costs and much more. It’s a business too.
If everything checks out, then we need to commit to the grower, which usually includes a contract, some numbers and maybe even some payment in advance. It’s much, much more involved than simply window-shopping for pretty plants. It’s risky business and a lot is at stake.
Off to the Hydrangea greenhouses. This is similar to what you see when the plants are at Roger’s Gardens. Great quality.
But this is how they start and often when we need to make our buying decision. These specific hydrangea starts are propagated by a Canadian grower, who then ships them at this stage to our grower, who then ships them to Roger’s Gardens once they are beautiful and blooming. At this stage we are looking at whether the plants are well pinched, have a healthy rootstock and will eventually make a perfectly finished, blooming plant at the nursery. Of course, the growers reputation, our relationship with them and our level of trust is a big consideration as well.

Each of us on the buying trip are plant nuts ourselves, so we always enjoy seeing amazing or rare plants, even if they have little business value. This is a single plant of Brighamia insignis, commonly known as Ōlulu or Alula in Hawaiian. It is a species from Hawaii that is now extinct in the wild. Very cool to see one. Yeah, we got our plant “fix”, now back to work.
This summer Roger’s Gardens will be introducing Dwarf Plumerias. Here they are in all their winter dormancy. But wait until summer and they will be incredible, with flowers aplenty. Imagine a compact, bushy plumeria that can live in a pot or in the ground and even after 10 years is only three or four feet. Perfect for smaller gardens, patios and balconies. Yes, these are very fragrant and yes, they will be at Roger’s Gardens this summer, but don’t tell anyone. We will sell out quickly.
With John, the dwarf plumeria grower, who patiently tends to his crop of dwarf Plumeria.

A quick stop at our secret cactus and succulent grower. This company absolutely grows the best large, landscape size succulents in Southern California. Acres and acres of large succulents.

Our last stop was to the grower of our fuchsias, among other plants. Finding a good fuchsia grower today is difficult. Most of the growers just don’t do a very good job any longer. But there is one quality grower left and this is them. We contract all of our fuchsias with this grower – why settle for second best?
Those are our Roger’s Gardens fuchsia baskets hanging from the wires. 150 of them, all coming to Roger’s Gardens over the next couple of months.
They’re still a bit young, but in a few weeks these fuchsias will be bursting with flowers and quite a bit larger.

We are thinking about buying a big batch of these new fuchsia varieties as well. They are a very compact grower, but especially floriferous and well branched. Not sure – what do you think? Let us know in the “Comments”.
These are very compact varieties with a very heavy production of flowers. Because they are compact and slower growers than the bigger traditional plants they will not be as large when you see them in the nursery. Here’s the dilemma: often customers want a large, but slow growing plant, so that they can keep it in its pot longer and not have to worry about it overgrowing its space, do a lot of pruning, etc.
Problem is, that to get a slow grower plant to a large size can take two or three times as log as it take for its fast growing brother or sister. Will customers pay twice as much, for what is often a smaller plant – often not. A real challenge in plant retailing.
Now, Tell us What You Think about a few of these Plants
Our Buyers are Listening.
We want your feedback. As part of this “day of plant buying” with Roger’s Gardens you get to play tell us what we should do. This is real, our plant buyers will be paying attention to what you tell us here.
Take a look at the photos and plants below, which are all numbered, and tell us which you like and don’t like. As a professional plant buyers, what we really mean is – tell us what you think will sell and what will not.
Be thoughtful though, this is real feedback, that our buyers and managers are going to use in their plant decision making. We may be setting contracts and making plans, based upon your feedback.
Give your feedback to us by making a Comment at the end of this article. Be sure to tell us what the plant number is you are commenting on. Be careful too, others will see your comments as well.
Here goes . . .
#1 (yellow) and #2 (pink). Two new African Daisies, a chiffon yellow and a pale lavender pink.. In a one gallon pot they would sell for about $12-13. Yes or no?

#3. A nice variegated new Agave attenuata.This is an easy outdoor succulent in the landscape or a large container. Ten gallon plants like this would probably price out at about $100. Yeah or nay?

#4. Sanseverias or snake plants now come in a myriad of forms and colors and habits. They are about the easiest of all plants to grow, but quite slow growing, so a little pricey. Would something like this sell? Probably about $60-90.

#5. A succulent, named Echeveria cante isn’t the easiest to grow, but the powdery, ghostly color of the foliage is incredible and fashion forward people scoop these up. These would be pricey, at about $50 each. What do you think?

#6. This plant, called Aloe variegata, is another of the many architectural Agaves that can look especially nice in a clean, contemporary pot. A plant like this is only about $15.

#7. How about wine bottle succulents? Cool and trendy or just a silly novelty with no sales appeal?

#8. Here’s a completely crazy idea, or not. This is a big gorgeous tomato plant in a big tub, suitable for staying in this pot for then entire season. More important is that this is the end of February. If Roger’s Gardens had a crop of these, just like this, loaded with flowers and about ready to begin fruiting on March 1st would it sell. It would give the owner probably a two month jump on the season. They won’t be cheap though; probably in the $49.99 range. And these would be compact “determinate” varieties that won’t overgrow the containers. We’re thinking hard about this one. Should we do it?
Thanks for coming along on our plant buying trip and perhaps for giving us some feedback. If you liked this article also let us know, so we can do more.
Lastly, would a few of our most dedicated, over-the-top plant customers ever be interested in joining us on one of these plant buying trips? You would be in the van with the rest of the Roger’s Gardens buyers and involved in the conversations and buying decisions. We’ve never done anything like that before, but what do you think?
Best wishes and great gardening,
Isaac, Kathleen, Matt, Rex and Ron
Enjoyed the article. I loved the tomato plant in a pot – I personally wouldn’t buy the other plants but then I’m not a big fan of succulents or African daisies. One thing I do think Rogers Gardens could do more of is to have container arrangements in disposable containers that can be inserted into a client’s permanent container. That way after a couple months the inserted arrangement can be removed and replaced easily and the client has a mature finished arrangement that always looks beautiful.
Leanne. Good suggestion. This has been tried a few times before, but the challenge is all the various sizes of decorative containers. Any ideas how to solve this?
I LOVE plants &’would be thrilled to join the team in one of these buying “expeditions”! Please let me know!
Snake plants-no
The rest yes!!
Hi, I like the variegated aloe, the sanseveria, and the daisies. I especially love the dwarf plumeria. Is there drainage in the succulents planted in the bottles? Maybe they drain through the cork? I probably would not buy the tomato…no space and really here in Irvine, they seem to produce very quickly if planted later.
The blog is great and it would be fun to travel to the nurseries.
Thanks…Connie
Hi Connie. The bottle planters do not have drainage. Usually in a container that small you can get away with it, since it holds so little water and will dry rather quickly.
Yes on #3 the agave.
i really enjoyed that as much I did the Christ -mas buying trip
thank you for sharing with me !
Terry
Yes to the echeveria, tomato plant in tub, the wine bottle and the African daisies. Actually, I love ALL the plants you choose to sell and display at Rogers Gardens. A visit to your garden always makes my day.
Yes to the echeveria, tomato plant in tub, wine bottle and African daisies.
First of all, I am obsessed with this article. I have loved Rogers gardens since I was a kid. It truly is my happy place! I love this article because it allows us fans a chance to see behind the scenes in what makes Rogers gardens such an amazing place!! Please keep these coming!
Now to answe your questions:
1 and 2- yes
3-yes
4-no.. love the plant but the price it too high
5-no
6-no
7-yes and think this would be a fun class to create as well.
8- yes! Love love love tomatoes!
Thank you again for the article. Hope this helps!
Hi Lauren,
Wow. Thanks for the compliments. So you know, we have a seven-step program for folks like you. Meets every Tuesday at 5 pm. And thanks for sharing you plant likes. The feedback really is helpful.
🙂
loved the idea of tomato plants that can stay in pots..for gardeners with limited sun this would be a real find…I would buy it in a second ,along with the miniiature plumerias
thanks for bring me on this journey with you
deana price…(mrs. steve price)
I’d LOVE to tag along this great trip!!!!
#1 and 2 – easy to grow plants but not unusual. I always like the rare colors or varieties at RG
#3-5 are way out of my price range. Even though I have 1/3 acre of property I don’t have much space for large plants
#6 looks interesting. I might fit one in my cactus area
#7 cute gift idea
#8 you can buy a lot of tomatoes for $50!! I think I’d rather get a few 4 inch pots of different types of tomatoes
Going on a buying adventure would be fun. Count me in!
Incredibly well detailed and insightful article. Thank you for expanding my horticulture universe!
I would buy one of your tomato plants in the container so that wouldnt need to plant it. Ive had a hard time with my plants getting diseased toward the end of the season. Maybe these would stay disease free?! I think its my soil that causes the trouble.
Yes to #6…but what size pot are you selling it in?
That’s in a six-inch diameter pot Gayle.
Do some plants sell better via the landscaping business as opposed to in store retail sales???
Thanks
Yes, definately Steve. Generally speaking retail customers buying habits are far more adventuresome, spontaneous and open-minded than the sdelections used in landscaping.
Dear Roger’s plant buyers,
Your blog was terrific, a window on your world. I especially liked the eccheverias and the compact fushias. The dwarf plumerias should be very successful: I have already bought 2 that are beginning to leaf now.
I would love to go with you if and when you are taking customers.
Thank you.
Ginny D
Hi there Rogers Gardens! Here is what I think. #1 & #2 – Yes — Love the new colors. Because African Daisies are sold at other nurseries, I think its a good price point. #3. YES YES YES- I love agaves and always looking for variegated everything. I can’t tell how large they are, but if in large enough pots, yes I think you customers would pay $100. #4. Snake plant– Yes I think they would sell because these are different and have fabulous shape. I think if you charge on the lower side they would definitely go quickly. #5.YES YES YES on the variegated aloe. #6.Meh. I think I saw something like these last week. (at Trader Joes possibly?) #8 – I would buy this in 2 seconds, but not sure about the buying habits of your vegetable plant customers. While I would want a large, compact tomato plant that looks beautiful and healthy, (vs. becoming leggy and scraggly,)- I wouldn’t want a black nursery pot. So even if it wouldn’t outgrow its pot, I would transplant it into something more attractive. Maybe show one in a great basket or pot for people who would want to plunk the nursery pot into something, without needing to fully transplant it.
Sorry on above I mixed up some of the plant numbers — #6 variegated aloes YES #7 Wine bottle #8 tomato plant…
Hi Sharon. Thanks for the thoughtful feedback. The tomato probably would not transplant well at that size, so it would have to stay in that plain black pot (ugh?). But it could be double potted into something more docrative.
Yes to all of the plants. Think the wine bottle plants a bit kitschy, but think you all could sell them.
Large potted tomato a brillanat idea! Especially for those of us with no place to plant them.
Varigated agave is beautiful – would add so much depth to a landscape.
From these photos above, I am most excited about the smaller size plumerias! Also, at Roger’s Gardens, I am always awestruck by the number of white hydrangeas you have on display. I buy them frequently and they have always been healthy and remained beautiful for quite some time. Though not pictured above, I love and purchase topiaries of different sizes and shapes. Lastly, I love your olive trees.
1 and 2… seem a bit common for Rogers these are super tough dry bloomers though
3. Love em but $100 is steep
4. Very cool well riced for strong cool mid century mod look
5. Gorgeeous… yes!
6. Hmmm…not so… want to see the bloom
7. Not my thing but easy kitchy/hostess tourist item
8. The classic $50 tomato in the flesh. Bet you’ll sell some but…
I thoroughly enjoyed this blog about your buying trip and process! Very well written!! Please keep them coming!
Regarding your questions…
I believe the succulents in the wine bottle is clever and perhaps a project for one of your “hands-on” seminars but s bit too “kitschy” as a retail item.
The large tomato plant appeals to me and I think would to other “tomato growing wannabes”! I’ve tried in the ground, in a pot, in a hanging bag with very disappointing results. So, a new idea for growing tomatoes at home appeals to me. And, perhaps by spending more the quality of the plant would yield better results.
#1 and #2 – Yes, especially the yellow
#3 – I love agave plants and I tend to love variegated varieties of any plant, but for some reason I just didn’t love this one…and for $100, this would be a no for me.
#4 – These are beautiful and similar in price point to the other unique snake plants that you sell. What makes Roger’s Gardens unique is the availability of different varieties of the same plant.
#5 – There are so many other succulents in similar colors available that I’m not sure I would invest $50 in this one.
#6 – Always unique and easy to grow – $15 is not an unreasonable price
#7 – Roger’s is known for its unique gift items and these are similar to other succulent “planters” that you offer
#8 – A definite no on this one. The best part of growing tomatoes is getting to try all the different varieties. I’d rather wait an additional two months and pay $50 for 10 different varieties than just one bland plain old red tomato. Besides I already grow all my tomatoes in a pot and I can control the soil and organics and don’t need to pay for someone else to do it for me.
I was under the weather resting in bed so this was a fun distraction. I’m looking forward to the dwarf plumerias in the summer!
The hydrangeas and fuchsias are interesting to me to give some color in the garden. Succulents do nothing for me, especially with the drought possibly over.
The large tomato plant isn’t worth it to me because the small ones grow so fast.
Tomato plant in a pot is a great idea–go for it.
To answer your questions:
1. & 2 – yes
3. yes
4 – no
5 – I definitely think there would be buyers for this
6 – not crazy about the Aloe
7 – I think the wine bottle succulents would make a nice & unique hostess gift!! Definitely yes on these!
8 – No on the big tomato plant. I couldn’t justify spending this much money on a large tomato plant like this in a black container.
I have fond memories of driving down to Begonia Gardens in Leucadia years ago to buy fuchsia plants!!
Love, Love Roger’s Gardens!
I would like to go along for the ride sometime. Let’s do an auction for kid gardens or something and the prize is going along for the ride.
Me First….
Nice idea Cheryl.
Nice article and would go on a trip.
In all cases, the appeal of the plant when I see it at the nursery is the bottom line: if the plant is superb and perfect for my purpose, I am more willing to purchase at a high price.
1 and 2: No. Too expensive when planting in quantity
3 – 5: Yes. (but 5 may be too expensive depending on its size; $50 is expensive unless it is a good size. But ditto this for all of the plants.)
6: Yes. Love it! I did not know aloe is an agave…?
7: N
8: N. I don’t have enough sun/space to grow tomato
I would love to design a space using some 4’s for vertical lines and 5’s for lower element with light colored small rocks covering the soil. It would depend however on the actual sizes of the plants. Would have to see the actual plants themselves.
In general, Rogers plants are at the high end of the pricing scale compared to other nurseries. However, the plants I have purchased at Rogers have been consistently of superior, superb quality which makes them easy to care for, strong and healthy, and they do not deteriorate.
I would love to go to the greenhouses with you!
[…] books based on the inspiration I received from the photographs I snapped while on one of our most recent day trips to a very popular nursery growers region in Southern California. Our general manager had a vision for the plant buyers at Roger’s […]
To everyone who has commented so far, we all really appreciate the time you have taken to give us some feedback. You are all special people – most would not take the time to do something like this, giving a company such detailed feedback. Trust me, we are reading every comment.
I especially really enjoyed the comments on the dwarf plumerias and the big tomato, which had lots off both “yes” and “no” comments. Boy, you are a fickle group – haha.
The other comment that is in a lot of your replies is your interest in joining us on one of these trips. Frankly, I had no idea there would be this much interest. I just tossed that suggestion into the end of the article on a whim. Now I seem to have opened up Pandora’s box.
Hi Rogers, just wanted to give feedback from someone who has shopped at Rogers for probably at least 30 years plus. I now live in Austin, Texas and La Jolla, CA so I get around to all the nurseries and yours is still my very favorite. I make several trips up to Newport during the summer and love to purchase plants for my LJ oceanfront condo deck and my big house in Austin. I am a fan of hardy interesting succulents different than HOME DEPOT. I say YES to that precious aloe and agave. Those are tough, easy and beautiful. I also love the idea of a dwarf plumeria….especially if it has to be dragged into the garage in the winter. I say NO to the wine bottle. I love a nice glass of wine but not seeing succulents sitting in a wine bottle with no drainage. I always have loved your special little succulent arrangements in grey or terra cotta or even a hypertufa type pot. More natural looking. Also that Cantu echeveria is NOT a good idea either. I bought one at Rancho Soledad Nursery many years ago and waaaaay too finicky and you will have to find just the right spot and even then you better be prepared for disappointment. I won’t comment on the daisies, hydrangeas and tomatoes because those are not my specialty as I don’t have room in La Jolla and Austin is way too hot in the summer. I will suggest Tillandsia’s however as a show stopper idea for a wall arrangement as my oceanfront deck is a PERFECT place for these sweet babies. I have 2 large Monkey Ladder wreaths from Indonesia that I got in Solana Beach. There are a great many nurseries down here that I collect them from and they are sooooooo wonderful. I also would love to see you have more exotic type Bromeliad varieties as another alternative to orchids. I also have a Hindu/Indian Rope plant I bought from you a couple of years ago that is HUGE!!! This is also on the oceanfront deck which is a big challenge here on Windansea Beach with all the wind and salts…….very very salty. I don’t mind the snake plants but would love to see you carry those Cardboard cycads?(cannot remember the name). Anything different, hardy, not too finicky and maybe try to get in some more interesting begonias again. Ones with some variegation or spotted leaves….the cane ones. If you did do a big Tillandsia display maybe also offer a workshop to teach people how to care for them. It is not hard but I went to a class at Weidners down in Encinitas and it was put on by one of their wholesale tillandsia growers and it was wonderful!! I would also book Debra Lee Baldwin from Fallbrook to come up and do a workshop on succulents. You could also sell her books which are fabulous. I do love you all and thank you for working so very hard to make Roger’s so wonderful…..keep it up and thanks for letting us give feedback as I have A LOT of opinions……xoxo
Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for all the great feedback. It is really helpful and comments like yours guides us in what we should and should not do. Since I wrote this article several months ago, here is a little feedback on some of your comments:
· We indeed did introduce Dwarf Plumerias last summer and they were a big success.
· We agreed that the wine bottle was a bit novelty, so we passed on it.
· Yes, Echeveria cantu is beautiful, but especially difficult to grow for most people (it prefers coastal fog, a rocky/gravelly soil and only grows on a slope). Beautiful, but a death plant for most people. We sometimes still bring in a couple, but we agree – it’s not something we won’t promote.
· I like your idea of more exotic bromeliad varieties, esp. during the summer months. We are looking for a vendor now that can supply this. Haven’t found one though.
· Cardboard cycads (Zamia furfuracea) are cool, but also a bit pricey. We get them when we can find them at a reasonable price.
· We don’t have a decent vendor for cane begonias. Terrific plants, and something that is WAY underappreciated and very wonderful. But, they are difficult to ship and not especially fast to grow, so very few vendors.
· Debra Lee Baldwin did a seminar or two here every year for several years and it was always HUGE. She’s a friend, so I’ll see what we can do.
Thanks again for all the great feedback.
Ron