Tender bulbs to swap aghainst hardy bulbs...

[pontus]

Hello everyone,

The space in my overwintering garden shed is running out, so I am trying to swap a few of my tender bulbs aghainst preferably hardy ones of equal value.

I can e mail a full list of plants available to anyone of interest, but here is just a glance of a few of the plants i have in surplus that are now taking up alot of space..

Crinum moorreii various sizes
habranthus robustus
pleione formosana
various rare crinum hybrids Delegoense x lugardiae..etc and many more
haemanthus coccinneus various sizes
ammocharis coranica large flowering sized
various eucomis sp
pancratium tenuifolium
agapanthus hybrids dwarf blue huge clumps

if someone has anything hardy of equal value or equal rarity, i would love to swap a few of my bulbs....

pontus
pontus.wallsten@bluewin.ch
switzerland
http://pontuswallstenplants.smugmug.com/

[Tony Willis]

hello Pontus I have read your post with interest and see you have had no replies on the forum although of course you may have had private emails.

Whilst I am expressing a personal view which may not be agreed with by other members I do not feel your post is in the spirit of the forum as experienced by myself.

You ask to exchange for plants of equal value or rarity and I would ask what does this mean?

I will illustrate my doubts with an example.

Some years ago Darren gave a mutual friend some bulbs of Pterostylis coccinea and he gave some to me. These have grown well for me. Both Darren and our friend lost theirs and I was able to replace them. I see that on one website these retail for £14.50 each and yet none of the three of us have had at any point anything in return or payment.

I now have 100+ of these so are they rare? Only if you do not have it.

As they would flood the market if offered for sale are they valuable?

When I put a picture on the forum I received six requests for them. When they go dormant later this month these will be sent in lots of about six bulbs each and I will not get or expect anything in return.

I have received numerous packets over the years from people who have not had anything from me and I send things out weekly to others on the same basis.

I suppose the point I am making is that sharing is a wholly enjoyable part of being here, value and rareness are relative and not applicable to most of us.

[ronm]

I, for one, support your feelings 100% Tony. 

If I have enough to share I will, if you ( a generic you and not directed singly at Tony!) ask.  To me this is the sprit of the amateur grower.

[PeterT]

I am glad to see the plants Pontius grows and how he grows them. They must represent a lot of investment of time and money for him.

I too have been the recipient of generous gifts and swaps, and I have also given for free on occasion. However sometimes an inappropriate or greedy person asks for something; I reserve the right to say no!

I buy expensive plants but have a limited budget, and grow troublesome and slow plants despite lack of time. I do appreciate people being gratefull or offering something in return, if they are in a position to do so. This is normally the case.

Pontius,you may find that this forum, with mainly amateur and generous members, will return your generosity if you do not worry too much about value -but swap sensibly?
Unfortunately the one bulb which you list which I would really like is marked "sold out" - or I would be happy to swap for it, especially as the price tag would put it out of my budget if I were to pay in money.

[Tony Willis]

Peter

I am not sure what an inappropriate person is and yes it sometimes goes wrong but so it does in the rest of life and we usually survive. I wonder what the one bulb is,maybe somebody has one spare or even a potful?

[PeterT]

a hypothetical exampleof an inapropriate recipiant Tony..
Someone new to gardening who belongs to a flower aranging club is in his / her second year growing Dutch Iris for flower arrangements. If these were the first bulbs this person had ever grown, but counting themselves good with Irises, they asked Fred or Oron for some
Irs edomensis, -that would be an inapropriate recipiant.
If it were me being asked; I would have no problem giving them some Iris Magnifica and Iris pallida, in the hope that their gardening efforts would succede

As you ask Tony, the bulb which I covet is Haemanthus amarylioides, however I am content to wait for it -for now.

[Tony Willis]

Peter

we are clearly coming at this from totally different directions.

Firstly when somebody asks me for something, they are not interrogated and asked to pass a test to assess their suitability.That seems quite arrogant to me, and anyway if it is spare does it matter if they practise on it. Should we ask to visit to assess their capabilities,this in my case would open up some exciting possibilities for foreign travel.

Secondly if you never get a difficult plant to try then you will never get more experience. I remember being given a Primula aureata in the early eighties by one of the few people in the country at that time who could propagate it with the comment 'I expect you would like to try this but I also expect you will kill it. I did and he replaced it for me to try again and learn from my mistake.

Sorry to say I cannot help with the haemanthus.

[pontus]

Hello Everyone,

what i meant by equal value was either a plant in equal value to my original cost of the bulb or also in terms of rarity. For instance i would be happy to swap a eucomis autumnalis which is fairly common, for something such as a common lily bulb such as regale for instance, as that would be equal value roughly in price and rarity, but if i was to swap a large ammocharis coranica bulb which was originally expensive, and also will be expensive to post, i would prefer to have a bulb which is worth about the same or cover the postage cost of the heavy bulb.

i am sorry if i confused people but as english is not my mother tongue i sometimes make mistakes

i may have some more haemanthus amaryllioides in time, but they are very rare and hard to get hold of. i will let you know if i have more..

Pontus

[Maren]

Hello Pontus,

you didn't confuse me and I quite agree with your explanation about Swaps and your English is very good indeed.

Swapping can be problematic if the recipient doesn't consider the swapped item of equal value, status etc.

Many people give things. That's a different matter as they don't expect anything in exchange.

Whenever someone offers me a plant or bulb or seeds, I always ask what I can give in return and I am really pleased when people say what they would like.

[Tony Willis]

Pontus

first of all your English is excellent and as Maren says swapping on an equal value basis is problematic.

Maren as you say  being offered something is not the same as asking for it, a situation which I think is perfectly acceptable and I receive requests all the time as do lots of other forum members

I think the problem arises if you want to do it on a swapping basis when you have something that somebody else wants/desires but they have nothing you want. Do you give it them or refuse?

Offering postage is a given and it is quite reasonable to accept,not everybody can afford to ignore this cost.

Whatever the arguments I still think the goodwill on this forum is as a result of giving (with or without postage) and spreads interesting and difficult plants around.