Selling hostas (and other perennials) - timing and soil source

I bought a 5 acre property in midwest WI (zone 4a) last fall. Approx. 2 acres are landscaped lawn/gardens, and it is chock full of hostas (many varieties), chives, irises, coral bells, lily of the valley, and other perennials that are in desperate need of dividing. I'd like to pot up the extras I split to sell next year.

My plan was to divide and pot in the fall, then sell either via Craigslist or farmer's market next spring/summer (once they're awake and pretty). Alternatively, I've also considered digging them in the spring and letting them get rooted in the pots a few weeks before selling. This may alleviate concerns over keeping plants in 1 gallon pots from freezing too hard in winter. At the same time it would dig into (ha!) my precious spring planting time.

I have 3 primary concerns:
(1) which season will be better to pot them up (fall/spring)
(2) is there a good price/source on 1-2 gallon pots (I need at most 200)
(3) what to use for the soil to fill them. I don't exactly want to just give up a bunch of my soil, do I? Its free and I do have 5 acres of it, but man it feels weird to send soil away and its strenuous to dig. Likewise it feels silly to pay for it. I also may want a different kind of soil for pots than what I have in my ground - clay/loam. Its heavy and doesn't drain that great. It does retain moisture well if you can get the water to run through it. There is also some expectation from folks buying plants that it resembles closer to a potting mix than someone's yard dirt. I don't have any finished compost yet, and I'd like to put what I've made into my own gardens when it's ready.

Does anyone else have experience/ideas with diving and selling perennials in this fashion?

I have sold extra plants a time or two and worked in a nursery for a few years. Seems like in our area, August is the prime season to plant perennials, but it's always so hot and dry then.  You could divide and pot them in late summer/early fall.  Things like irises will sell better if they're blooming or if you can provide a photo of what they will look like in bloom.  One nursery I worked at specialized in daylilies and 95% of the time you dug a division out of the field at the time of sale.  Unless a customer was looking for a particular cultivar, choice was usually determined by the bloom.  

One nursery I visited had sunken beds where the top of the pots were at ground level.  When asked, they explained that this helped the plants get through the winter better.  You could do essentially the same thing by sinking the pots into the ground until next spring.  As for pots, ask around.  I haven't bought a gallon-sized pot in years because I've had people give them to me or have bought stacks of them at yard sales for very little.  Chives actually are pretty shallow rooted and you could probably get by with a smaller pot for those.

The nursery I worked at used pine bark soil conditioner to pot all their plants.  I can't remember the brand name as it's been over ten years ago but I know it wasn't overly expensive at the time, though I was getting it at cost.  I'm sure when you need to fill a couple hundred pots it wouldn't be feasible.  I also understand not wanting to give up compost as I never have enough for my own use.

One thing I've found when selling hostas from my own garden is that a variegated variety will sell quicker than a plain green one.  Same for coral bells.

Good luck with your venture!

Michelle Heath wrote:I have sold extra plants a time or two and worked in a nursery for a few years. Seems like in our area, August is the prime season to plant perennials, but it's always so hot and dry then.  You could divide and pot them in late summer/early fall.  Things like irises will sell better if they're blooming or if you can provide a photo of what they will look like in bloom.  One nursery I worked at specialized in daylilies and 95% of the time you dug a division out of the field at the time of sale.  Unless a customer was looking for a particular cultivar, choice was usually determined by the bloom.  

One nursery I visited had sunken beds where the top of the pots were at ground level.  When asked, they explained that this helped the plants get through the winter better.  You could do essentially the same thing by sinking the pots into the ground until next spring.  As for pots, ask around.  I haven't bought a gallon-sized pot in years because I've had people give them to me or have bought stacks of them at yard sales for very little.  Chives actually are pretty shallow rooted and you could probably get by with a smaller pot for those.

The nursery I worked at used pine bark soil conditioner to pot all their plants.  I can't remember the brand name as it's been over ten years ago but I know it wasn't overly expensive at the time, though I was getting it at cost.  I'm sure when you need to fill a couple hundred pots it wouldn't be feasible.  I also understand not wanting to give up compost as I never have enough for my own use.

One thing I've found when selling hostas from my own garden is that a variegated variety will sell quicker than a plain green one.  Same for coral bells.

Good luck with your venture!

Some great points Michelle. Here the biggest plant buying season is spring. We have a late last freeze date and what I've observed here is Mother's day weekend +/- 2 weeks is a massive surge where everyone under the sun is looking to plant stuff because winter is finally over. I have been snapping photos of the irises and coral bells to use as plant labels. Both of these bloom after the time I'd like to sell them. I also hate the idea of trying to time sales with blooms- I know its will sell more because people want the pretty NOW, but I'd rather they get to enjoy the full month of iris blooms than buy and transplant while in bloom and watch all the flowers drop within days. I have heard of sinking pots for winter, but honestly thats a level of manual labor I am not up for. Most of my property is grass- a huge pain to dig through and then the soil is heavy and compacted as well. Good news on the variegated varieties selling better, that's all I have! Several variegated types and then a few of the really big leafed ones that look like they belong in a tropical rainforest. Thank you for your reply!

Oh yes!  Mother's Day weekend is huge here too and is honestly what I'd aim for and that's when I'm most likely to buy plants.  I had planned to try and sell hostas, chives and horseradish at a big sale the first weekend of August but it has been cancelled this year.  Now I'm aiming for spring when I should have much more ready.

As for sinking the pots, you could also group them together and rake mulch or grass clippings around them if you are worried about them surviving winter.  

I plan to plant bare root hosta into a propagation bed now in July, and pot in the fall, and selling in the spring 2026. Will I have any problems, other than watering ? Hal

Depending on your climate, this plan sounds feasible to me.

I live in zone 5b and have split/removed Hosta in most weather. It's a resilient plant.

I have a neighbor who has the largest hosta plants and I have found out his secret. His air conditioner drips water constantly from above on them and they seem to love it. I call that creative watering!

When I worked at a farm stand, we starting prepping (planting seeds) 2/1. We opened on Mother's Day weekend (2nd week of May), but often had people looking around Earth Day (3rd week of April), depending on the weather.... What was out earliest were blooming pansies, colorful and cold-resistant.

Mind you, since then, the USDA has revised our zone so that our last frost date is mid May now, instead of Memorial Day.

I would love to buy hosta starts in bulk if someone had them here!

If you do any winter mulching the 1/2 rotted straw or leaf litter are possibilities for soil amendments. I wouldn't buy hostas barerooted. If they'd survive that, home improvement stores would sell them that way. I think you're going to have to sell some soil along with the plants.