One late evening recently I was at a garden nursery and was taken around the place by two of the managers. We went down to goods receiving where a supplier had brought in a load of hydrangeas late in the afternoon after closing time. The managers who are also horticulturists took one look at the hundred or so crates of hydrangeas and unfortunately had to reject them because of the quality. To me the hydrangeas looked pretty and appealing but to the expert eye there were major flaws. The grower of these hydrangeas had grown them too close together which meant that they grew trying to reach for sunlight, which lengthened the stems. The result of this was that the hydrangeas had long stems and either drooped or fell down. Not every nursery has such strict quality control and most nurseries with lower quality standards would have accepted them. But how can you claim to be a tip-top garden nursery if you display hydrangeas like these on your nursery floor? Continue reading “Start-up risks that could spell game over for your new enterprise”
