I very much dislike trying to figure out gift plants for everyone just for the fact that you can not please everyone. The first year I sold I tried to send something similar to what they bought such as if they bought eyed plants I sent eyed or if they bought only patterns I tried to send another pattern of some sort. It got very time consuming trying to do that for everyone. I also do not have a lot of extra stock to have a list to choose from like a couple of sellers do, I just send what I have extra of. I have kept back a few plants that I have not listed to use as gift plants and I have also been given plants to send as gifts (James Hall has given me his intros to send to some- it gets them out into gardens that they normally wouldn't get to). Sometimes if I have extra I will include something I knew the buyer was looking for but didn't buy.
But again, you really have no way of pleasing everyone when it comes to gift plants. Some want them since they are new to daylilies and want all they can get because they don't have that many and others have no room for them so they don't want them; I have been asked by a few buyers to NOT send gift plants. Some people get very irate if they don't get gift plants and will never buy from that seller again and will voice it to anyone who will listen (I'm not referring to anyone here
) I have seen negative feedback left for sellers because the buyer didn't like the gift plant; nothing else was wrong with their purchase just the gift plant. I have been asked for a discount on an order if I don't send a gift plant and I explained that the gift plant is just that, a gift, and I could not discount the order because I was not sending a "free" plant (I had given them a deal on the plants already).
I do send extra fans when I can and I always send any increase the plant may have. I have even listed some plants as having less fans than they actually do so when the buyer gets it they will have extra fans such as I have listed some things as DF when they are actually TF or listed a TF when it is actually 4 fans. I can't do all of the plants this way but it happens more so when I list things in the late spring or summer after I have shipped most things out and do an inventory on what's left.
There are sellers who will not send gift plants anymore because of the way people are about it. I, for one, would rather have extra fans usually because I do not have room for extras I did not order. I do like getting a gift when I order new intros since there are usually more of them I want but limit myself to only a few from some hybridizers, however, I would be just as happy getting extra fans.
When I do get gift plants I do not want I usually just plant them in a big pot and grow them to give to our club for sales or door prizes. If I know they will not do well here I just toss them in the compost pile.
