This year's Crocus cvijicii...

[Alex]

I agree about the need to grow on, although to be somewhat fair to the supplier I was referring to, he is usually pretty good about offering a credit in these cases if not an actual refund. I just don't think some people can resist the opportunity to make a very quick buck or several, so this sort of thing will always happen at certain establishments. I know the nursery business can be a very hard one to make money in, but..

Alex

[Gerry Webster]

I find the tone of some of the recent comments here rather disturbing with their covert implications of deliberate rip-offs (if not worse). I have no reason to believe that the majority of the UK suppliers are anything but honest, though it is possible they  place too much trust in their own suppliers. The  supplier who is the subject of the present thread (with whom I have no connection & have never met) is both expert  & responds in a responsible way to complaints (which  is not the case with at least one other UK supplier). This contrasts with the behaviour of  a major Dutch supplier whom I contacted last year to point out that their website contained, under the heading of C. cvijicii, a picture of, & a description of, C. angustifolius . They responded saying they would remove the offending entry. In the event, they did not do so. The supplier who is the subject of the present thread has always been relatively expensive but I have no idea what his 'mark up' is &, I would suggest, neither does anyone else. Of course, it would be wonderful if all suppliers produced their own plants but it is clear that the few  who do so necessarily  have a rather limited range.

[Alex]

Well, from my point of view I have never implied any deliberate attmept to defraud whatsoever. But you do understand that it is very disappointing when two of two very expensive, special Crocus varieties ordered by me from this source last year turned out to be garden centre types (OK, a posh garden centre...). When this amount of money is being asked for, which based on what we do know about these things must be very likely to represent a large mark up, the responsibility of the grower to ensure naming is correct, which is present in any case, is all the greater. So, this is a failure on behalf of the supplier. We have all been quite restrained in not naming, I think.

Alex

[Gerry Webster]

Alex - of course I understand that receiving the wrong plant  is disappointing. I also agree that it is the responsibility of the supplier to supply correctly named plants &, where this is not the case, to act appropriately. You acknowledge that this supplier has done so. As regards the size of the mark-up, I have no 'insider' knowledge so I am unable to comment.

[Lesley Cox]

Alex you are quite right about nurseries not being great money makers. Sure the big name places are different and properly so, but for all the many little nurseries who supply alpines as an example, or little bulbs, or many other "specialist" plants from fuchsias to geraniums or whatever, the nursery concerned is a labour of love in the vast majority of cases, and if costs are covered and a little extra to indulge in a few new or relatively expensive plants, we think we're doing pretty well. For many such owners the nursery has come about because the person concerned has an almost pathological "need" to grow and propagate plants. It is as natural to that person - and as necessary - as breathing.

Having said that, once we take that step of asking for money in exchange for our plants, we have responsibilities 1) to provide good value for the money we receive and 2) to ensure that what we supply is correct. Heaven knows the world of plant names is sufficiently complicated already, without adding the clutter of badly named material.

[mark smyth]

Quote from a seller to me at the Gala "snowdrops are the new gold"

[David Nicholson]

If snowdrops were the new Pound there would be no need for SuperGord

[Lesley Cox]

Quote from a seller to me at the Gala "snowdrops are the new gold"

Sounds like a comment calculated to part the fool from his money.