| News From HostasDirect,
Inc.
Father's Day - this Sunday:
Our hostas and gift certificates make wonderful
gifts that last for years. It is too late to order
hostas for Sunday, but why not give a gift
certificate and let them enjoy selecting their own
hostas? If you are in the Roseville, MN area, our
retail site will be open this weekend Our largest
order this year was from a woman purchase a surprise
gift for her husband.
We have improved our shipping method!
Plants and labels are now adhered with tape to our
12 cell plastic packaging to prevent plants, soil
and labels from moving. In addition, we have added
clear instructions as to how to open your carton(s)
of hostas. We have also added a plastic bag (with
handles) to make removing the cell pack easier and
to retain moisture. Thanks to our patient customers
who assisted us in these improvements. Your input is
very valuable to us. We sincerely apologize to any
customers who had a problem.
My private collect garden sale. I
will be announcing via e-mail and newspaper when I
will have some yard sales of my 450 or so hosta
collection. We will also bring from our retail site
our Best Value TC and 3: Pots that are left. I need
to get caught up before taking on another project so
I can't promise a date. It will likely be 2 to 4
weeks from now.
Internet sale of my private collection: Prices and plants will be posted soon. These are
very mature clumps - 4 to 10 years old.
I.D.ealGardenMarkers™. We are working
on the internet software which will allow you to
create and have us print and mail garden labels for
you that are weather and sun resistant. Our retail
customers that saw our products wanted them - now!
We feel it is the best in the market.
Retail favorites: There are beautiful
hostas with characteristics our retail customers can
see live that can not be captured in a picture. I
thought you might like to know what our top selling
hostas at our retail outlet have been:
|
Rainforest
Sunrise
Great
corrugation and cupping for such
a young plant, thick,
slug-resistant leaves, and
beautiful dual-tone color. |
Rainbows
End
The leaves
literally shine. People
literally gasp when they see
it. I have never seen such a
glossy look before. |
|
Praying
Hands
The picture says it all.
This 3 to 4 year old clump
was taken from my garden and
potted up.
|
Pandora's
Box
Dug from my garden - about a
4-5 year old clump.
|
|
Cherish
|
Cracker
Crumbs
|
|
Ice Age Trail
 |
Customer Service Issue:
I said I would be honest and I will. In all
relationships, what people want is believability.
We got so busy we fell behind on a few paper work
items and a few shipments. A couple of suppliers
suddenly ran out of items we carry. We had a
problem with our shipping software and inventory
software - now fixed - meaning we had to do some
things manually which took a lot more time.
Forecasting how much staff that is needed is one of
the most difficult things in running any business
and in particular a seasonal business dependent upon
the weather. Going forward you should not see
these problems again as some new systems are in
place. We will have a larger staff in April and
May of next year. My apologies for those that
received a slower response from us. We tried very
hard, were working on little sleep, and got very
busy.
Honors: I am
thrilled to announce that Joseph Husby, my neighbor
and friend and a key part of our team, earned
Valedictorian at Roseville Area High School in his
class of 560 students with a perfect 4.0 grade point
average and perfect attendance for 12 years! He
was also first chair playing the saxophone. Joe
will be going to the University of Minnesota
Institute of Technology honors program next year.
Joe is a computer expert, has his own computer
business, and does much of our programming along
with 3 other people and our internet design firm,
Evolve-Systems. There are 10 pieces of software
integrated into our web site and operations. Joe
knows them all!
Coming in the future:
I encourage you to keep reading the upcoming e-mails
about future offerings to make your hosta and
gardening experience more fun, efficient, cost
effective and enjoyable.
Sincere thanks! On
behalf of all of our workers, which including
middle-aged house wives putting their kids
through college, college students earning their
tuition and gaining work experience, and middle
aged me (51 and holding), we sincerely thank you
for your business. We work very hard to serve
you and we strive for perfection.
Call me! If you have
any problems with our company please call me
directly on my cell at 651-398-8958 or work at
651-204-9922. Please speak slowly - there have
been messages I can not understand because people
have talked to fast - in particular their return
phone number.
Please tell your
friends and garden clubs about our company. We want
to expand so that we can offer more varieties,
services and garden products and that takes more
customers! |
