Question
i live in ohio.  i have established a "meadow" over the past 7 years having daisies, blackeyed susans, coneflowers, cosmos, liatris, lupines, foxgloves and many many more perinneals growing in it.  as a gardener, you know that i now have a huge meadow with many new baby plants every year.  i am on a mission to grow and sell plants next spring.  i have been saving seeds from mature flowering plants as well the new little baby plants that have grown this year.  when and how should i plant my seeds so that they will be ready to sell in the spring?  when should i repot the baby plants so they will be root established to sell?  could i even repot my large plants to sell  i am a rookie but would really like to attempt this.  i give away hundreds of plants every year, so i decided i would like to make a little money on beatiful flowers?   any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Kathy,
Thanx for your question.  I start my perennial seeds in the winter in late January.  Most perennials will not bloom the first year and this is frustrating for the flower buyer who likes immediate gratification and wants to see a flower.  Second year perennials sell much better.  The baby plants you speak of will probably bloom if they are second year.  Dig those up once they emerge in the spring and in a couple of weeks they will be ready to sell.  If you had a greenhouse, that would help a lot.  You can also pot up the bigger plants except I think lupines have a deep taproot which makes them difficult to transplant.  Coneflowers also have taproots that make them difficult too.  Cosmos are annuals.  You can start those easily in pots.  Liatris is like a corm/bulb and will emerge in the spring.  Just dig it up.  Foxgloves can be annual, biennial or short-lived perennials.  Biennials and perennials will not bloom the first year.  You can pot them up as they emerge.  Many people dig up starts out of their own gardens and sell them and swap-n-shops and farmer's markets.  I've done it before.  Practice makes perfect.  Just use a better-than-average potting soil.  You can buy that in bulk at nurseries to save money.  I hope this helps.
Tom