A different Valentine's Gift!

[mark smyth]

fools and their money ...

[Margaret]

I agree, Alan. It's a pity the snowdrop isn't more remarkable.

[Si_33]

As a newbie - I find this astonishing!! What is the provenance of the seller? Are they a well established outfit?

[Alan_b]

I would say that Evolution Plants are well-established as a specialist plant nursery but with no pedigree in snowdrops. It's a moot point if they actually can name the snowdrop they sold in any official way.  It would not surprise me if they are a bit embarrassed by the extreme success of their auction.

[Carolyn Walker]

Looking at this from a business and marketing point of view, the extreme success of this auction is going to get Evolution Plants publicity in the British papers and the snowdrop world that couldn't be bought for any amount of money, probably the intention all along.  Look at how much publicity Evolution is getting on this forum alone from the sale.  In marketing, name recognition is everything!

[Matt T]

Very astute marketing, but pure madness! Just think what that money would get you on the 50:50 plant stall or the nursery stands on saturday!

[evolutionplantsman]

Dare I step into this discussion, now that the bidding is over?

To answer the good question about how I plan to 'formally' name the cultivar, I will publish the name and a full description on my website, which is more than adequate to meet the requirements of the ICNCP. Registers are just informal lists of formally named plants. I am waiting to hear from the winner of the auction what the name is to be...

I understand that some galanthophiles will have mixed feelings about the auction but I'd respectfully make the following points.

1. The plant in question is genuinely unique. For me, the emerald green leaves are the stand-out feature. No other G. reginae-olgae selection is remotely like this one. The green tips on the outer segments are variable from year to year and frankly are just the icing on the cake. At any rate, I'm happy to stand behind this particular plant as worthier of a name than most named snowdrops.

2. As a galanthophile I personally feel that anything that increases the public profile of the genus is a good thing. The media love this story, as they should. It's a great 'feel good' news story! What could be more romantic than immortalising your lover by naming a plant for him or her? If the auction makes another dozen galanthophiles, I'm happy.

3. I sympathise with the point raised that highlighting the value of rare snowdrops increases the risk of theft. But what are we to do? Hide our collections behind barbed wire fences and exclude all but the cognoscenti? I have lots of fabulously rare plants growing at my nursery. Like anyone with valuable assets to protect, I have taken many different measures to deter thieves and to catch and convict those who won't be deterred. I'd rather risk losing valuable plants to thieves than hoard them like a miser behind closed doors.

Tom

[Martin Baxendale]

I think it's sad that this kind of marketing ploy will reinforce the impression, amongst the gardening public and the general public, that snowdrop growing and collecting is all about the money. The whole thing just strikes me as a tad cynical for my taste.

[Martin Baxendale]

The Daily Mail will of course lap it up.

[Lesley Cox]

Well I hope the t**t who paid the price will continue to think it's worth it. A great many lovers or "Valentines" are gone by the end of February.

[Alan_b]

What could be more romantic than immortalising your lover by naming a plant for him or her?

Nothing could be more romantic if it becomes a successful plant widely distributed but there is no guarantee that that will happen.  Lots of named plants quickly fall by the wayside.  Usually this is simply due to lack of popularity but with a new snowdrop, of which there are very few in existence, it could even happen that the entire stock is lost.  You have taken on a big responsibility to actually make something of this plant, Tom.  It's not easy to deliver on a promise of immortality.

I am by no means an expert on naming snowdrops but I have attended talks by people who are and they say the name has to be published in some distributed print medium for it to count; publication online is not good enough.  Personally I deplore this but that is what I have been told.  In this instance the name should make the newspapers so if you can slip in a bit of a description then maybe that will be good enough.  There is no UK-based registration authority for snowdrops (that I know of) but the Dutch KAVB are trying to build a register.  Given the commitment to try to immortalise this plant it seems reasonable to try to register it with the KAVB, even though this is by no means established practice for snowdrops of UK origin.     

 

[Tim Ingram]

Is it the snowdrop that should become famous, or however paid the auction price and gave it to their Valentine? But then the whole point of a Valentine is that only the receiver has some idea who that might be? I think Carolyn's right and so is Tom - so says a wishy-washy liberal! Snowdrops will get a new market, which must be good for those of us who grow and propagate specialist plants if it creates more committed interest amongst gardeners in their diversity. But the more trivial press will just deride the value that we place on these plants and many of its readers will agree. And thieves will prosper as they always have whenever something of value is easy to steal. But not many people will carry on paying £1600 for a snowdrop unless they are financiers more interested in money than plants!

[Martin Baxendale]

I think that the real long-term, sustainable answer to snowdrops becoming more popular as garden plants is the much wider availability of really good snowdrops at much more affordable prices, rather than headlines about crazy prices.

Bonkers snowdrop price stories just tend to drive prices higher, encourage snowdrop thefts and lead to more collectors stopping opening their gardens for fear of losing snowdrops to thieves.

And stupidly high prices for the newest snowdrops don't exactly encourage growers and nurserymen to bulk up new 'drops until there's enough to meet demand. Quite the opposite - it takes away the pressure to propagate and bulk up to meet demand and can actually encourage the very slow trickling out of small quantities of new 'drops, in order to maintain high prices.

[Darren]

Whatever I might think of someone paying that kind of money for a snowdrop I have to say I'm speechless with awe at such a genius marketing move. (Unlike with Maggi, most people would say they won't notice the difference if I go quiet...)

Hats off to you Tom!

For the record - No, I didn't buy it for Susan.  Firstly she would prefer a nice meal for Valentines day, secondly she would probably kill me....

[Gerry Webster]

What could be more romantic than immortalising your lover by naming a plant for him or her?

Almost anything.