November 2014 snowdrops

[ruben]

Good to see you here to Sven! Looking forward to see pictures of you're nice collection snowdrops!

[johnw]

Luckely, I recentely managed to obtain some more gardening space.

Welcome Sven!  You of course realize this new space means you have officially entered the most serious phase of this snowdrop disease.....

johnw

[snowdropcollector]

Welcome to the forum Sven, it is good to have you on the forum. Looking forward to your postings 

[johnstephen29]

Hi I wonder if I could have the opinion of the other galanthophiles on here please, I was on ebay today & I was browsing through the snowdrops section. There were two snowdrops on the buy it now option Galanthus E.A.Bowles & Galanthus nivalis Berthille  one bulb for each. The sums wanted are in three figures, what I would like to know is are these prices the norm for these two snowdrops? The most I have paid for snowdrops is £20.00 including P&P from the continent which I though was very good, if I forked out as much as the two sellers are wanting I would be in big trouble. I haven't the figures in this post as I didn't know if it was ok or not.

[Maggi Young]

It would be surprising to see many of  'Berthille' on ebay - she has scarcely been released as yet- see this thread http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=11041.msg287924#msg287924

You can also see more about 'Berthille' here: http://le-jardin-de-berthille.over-blog.com/article-une-fabuleuse-aventure-1-122489581.html where we see that only a very few have been sold .
When buying on ebay it is always a good idea to check if the seller is using  a photo of their own plant or one taken from elsewhere - too many here have found that a person selling without h their own photos is not selling the true plant.

[art600]

I paid £60.00 for E A Bowles from very reputable reputable sellers.

I think it will be on sale again at the Myddleton House Snowdrop meet in January.

[Maggi Young]

Excellent point, Art - and you could see what you were getting, too!

[Hagen Engelmann]

This year all my cultivars with green tips show an intensive green color.
And some "normal" ones also have a hint of green. Here starts G cilicicus.
Why it is so?
Any idea?
Who made also this experience?

[Alan_b]

It is 'normal' for the rarest and most desirable snowdrops to fetch prices in excess of £100 (although this must be a manifestation of a collective madness amongst some galanthophiles). 

I paid £60.00 for E A Bowles from very reputable reputable sellers.

That was definitely the going rate last year (down from £120 a year or two ago).  If you cannot get to a snowdrop event, the "consortium" of which I am a part plan to auction one or two of our surplus stock of 'E.A. Bowles' on eBay in 2015 (if and) when they are in flower and can be photographed. 

If you buy a plant that is only distinguishable by its flower and you buy it out-of-flower then you need to be completely confident of the reputation of the seller.  eBay does not understand the concept of a 'fake' that can only be identified as such long after the time of purchase and is not very helpful under those circumstances.       

[WimB]

Galanthus cilicicus in flower and just like Hagen's it has green tips this year, last year there was a small green mark but this year they are more pronounced.

[Brian Ellis]

Welcome to the forum Sven, a shame that your camera does not do justice to 'Pink Panther' but Joe does say it is very difficult to photograph, perhaps it needs a bit of afternoon sun on it

John, there are not many 'Berthille' in the country yet, and the only way this would be true (and it is quite possible) is if it came as a good flowering bulb with side bulbs on it.  That way the seller could be using one of the bulbs this year to recoup some of the expense.  Mine came with a small secondary bulb but I have not looked to see if it is still happy - fingers crossed it is

[chasw]

Welcome to the forum Sven..................a little late I think apologies

[Alan_b]

Welcome to the forum Sven, a shame that your camera does not do justice to 'Pink Panther' but Joe does say it is very difficult to photograph, perhaps it needs a bit of afternoon sun on it

I think seeing colours that cannot be photographed is probably a manifestation of some sort of mass hysteria - 'galanthomania' if you will.  But let me offer Sven a belated welcome to the forum. 

John, there are not many 'Berthille' in the country yet, and the only way this would be true (and it is quite possible) is if it came as a good flowering bulb with side bulbs on it.  That way the seller could be using one of the bulbs this year to recoup some of the expense. 

However the seller on eBay did not use their own photograph but one that appears on the jardin-de-berthille web site and that always sets alarm bells ringing in my ears.

[Rick Goodenough]

Welcome Sven. I enjoyed your photos and will look forward to seeing more along the way.

[mark smyth]

When buying on ebay it is always a good idea to check if the seller is using  a photo of their own plant or one taken from elsewhere

Last week a seller was using my photos to sell about half of what he had for sale. If a seller can sell a snowdrop s/he must have photos no matter how bad