snow drop bidding has started

£190 + £2.75 postage and packing

 

I think T & M bought the one ("Elizabeth Harrison" I think?) with last year record breaking price ... i.e. the price paid is for the opportunity to propagate it.

There have been about a dozen Green Tear auctions this season, all went for about £250 a bulb (except latest auction @ £190)... Dunno if T&M is buying all those ... or collectors desperate for the next-great-thing.

I have bought several unusual / rare snowdrops. My limit is around £10 a bulb, and I'm sticking to things that are "good do'ers" - which is probably why they are only £10 a bulb! Several I have bought were £50 or more only a year or two ago, but plenty of people have propagated them since and the price has dropped accordingly.

For anyone who fancies it propagating Snowdrops offers an interesting hobby. 2 - 3 years to bloom from seed, and the chance of creating an novel hybrid. Not much space required, and they can be pretty much abandoned during the Summer when you want to go away

 

Are you selling any in the green Kristen ?
errr ummmm ( cough, cough)
Jenny

 

£142 at the moment
imagine spending that and its turns out to be just a normal one from Wilkos, I hope no one on here has any ideas !!
Spruce

 

Let me just get my spade, put a few gallons of petrol in the car, and I'll let you know in a few hours time

I think that's why they are sold in-the-green - the plant will arrive in-flower so you will know what you are getting.

I suspect that snowdrop collectors would prefer to buy bulbs when they are dormant and don't have the upheaval of digging up. The whole in-the-green thing is interesting; from what I have read a bulb transplanted in-the-green will not make any new roots this season, so any root damage detracts from how much energy it can store in the bulb for next year. The flip side is that dormant bulbs must not dry out, so quality nurseries that ship them dormant do so "moist", and experienced people buying them know that they cannot hang about before planting.

But I reckon that most people think of drifts of snowdrops, which you can buy from places like Eurobulbs who would sell you 3,500 bog standard ordinary snowdrops for the price of one Green Tear bulb !

 

£210.90 Bargain!!

Val

 

Blimey ... I was expecting it to take a couple of years before the price came down !

 

They don't!!!
That said, there's not a huge difference. And it is only a spring flowering bulb - not a time of the year that I have that much interest.

Not really. There are Gallanthophiles the world over. I do find it odd though..............

I think that I paid the same for my Bat Plant when the blooms were over - it was £50 in bud.

I hope that was a species one! I have one Cattleya (a noid) which I love, so I kinda get it!

 

It died?

It happens in all seriousness. It was a couple of years ago (somewhere in the Central TV region) that a collection growing in a woodland setting was raided - anyone remember this?

Imagine being a collector who has paid top dollar for one and then T&M come along, throw the weight of their resources behind propagating it and start knocking 'em out at five for a fiver!!!

 

Paid £75 for my Chusquea gigantea (bamboo). But if it does well, it will really be worth it.

And also paid £50 for a Masdevallia hercules (rare orchid). That died after about 2 months. So that worked out to about £1 a day!

Won't discuss my tree fern disaster

 

Ouch!
I fancy a Masdevallia, but am put off a little as I've read that they can be a bit fussy?

Tell us more!!!

 

There are some easy to grow species.
Most come from high altitude forest, so need cooler tamps, abut high humidity.
The lowland ones are a bit more tolerant of higher temps.
And the hybrids are easy. Keep damp and they should grow and flower well.

Well......
I bought 3 x treeferns when I redeveloped part of my garden with rasied beds. I think they were £100 each.
That bad winter of 2010.....They died, even though they were wrapped up with fleece.

 

Thanks for that! I'll do a bit more research.

Treeferns as in DA's? If so, respect for even trying!

 

DA - Dicksonia antarctica?

Yup, they are supposed to be fine if you protect them.
But mine weren't! Maybe because they were only recently planted?
I was really upset I lost them, and it put me off gardening for a year or two.

 

Same happend with my 4 I was gutted but I bought 1 foot logs and grafted them in the tops of the old ones last year , I have photos of them in my album

Spruce