the first.... Galanthus wasp wanted

[KentGardener]

Hi All

I don't expect to stand a chance in hell of getting the plant I want, but I noticed that this area had zero topics and zero posts so thought I would start the ball rolling.

I would love to get Galanthus Wasp if anyone ends up with surplus this year.

cheers

John

[mark smyth]

here you go. You should attend the Galanthus Gala in Shrewsbury where there will be some for sale. There are places left

[Martin Baxendale]

Sorry John, I'd offer if I could but I don't grow 'Wasp'.

[KentGardener]

Hi Martin, thanks for the offer if you did have the plant - last year I saw it listed at £30, which is above my personal spending limit - I can't imagine many people will be growing it at that price!

Mark - when is the gala as I can only find details of previous years from doing web searches?  Hopefully not the second week in Feb, as in the past years, as I shall be in Madeira then.

regards

John

[mark smyth]

John it's the second Saturday in February every year. There is always next year! It moves around England too! Wasp is £30 because it only became available this year. I bought it this year and chipped one but they all failed. It's above ground already

[Maggi Young]

Do you guys have any idea how many fab crocus you could buy for £30? Or Erythronium..... I hear my husband call out. Or Rhododendron, for that matter, or... or...


I should modify that since "you guys" (John, Martin) do know better (though Mark could shop for Britain) .... I'll start again.... Do some of you folk have no idea how many fab crocus you could buy for £30? Or Erythronium..... I hear my husband call out. Or Rhododendron, for that matter, or... or...

[mark smyth]

well, as Adam Ant sang "dont drink, dont smoke, what do you do?". I save hard for things I like or want. Self confessed plantoholic and like we all know it's a drug. If I didnt do bat surveys my spending power would be curbed but I dont spend quite as much as people think. I just have a bad reputation. Just like the book collection in front of me. Quite small compared to someone I know who has quote "30,000" or is it 3000? Like I mentioned elsewhere I need a rich widow!

Photo of books taken just now. Folders on the top right are my slide collection and lectures within. All that wasted money on film! All lectures are now on a memory stick

[mark smyth]

wouldnt any Croconut pay £30 if they were offered a corm of Crocus gothenbergensis or one of the fabulous F1 hybrids I heard about

Sorry Ian for lifting one of your images

[Maggi Young]

Sorry, Mark, I'm being cruel to you... I know you are nothing like as good a shopper as our two dear friends from the south-west of Scotland, L.L. and G. McH.,  (initials only to spare their blushes).... and then there's A.L. and B.I.....and how could I forget A.N and D. B..... they are unstoppable!!

It is funny that you should illustrate your point with C. x gothenburgensis ... I know that many people find it beautiful, but I prefer its parents ! Mind you, as you know, it's growing in our frames, so it's perhaps easy for me to say that!!
Good luck with you Galanthus Wasp, John... ps... how much does a trip to Madeira cost!!???
I'm feeling poor this evening, you can tell, can't you? Apologies, All, forthe wind up!

[tonyg]

In my experience the more you pay for a crocus the quicker it disappears!  And NO I wouldn't pay £30 for any bulb .... if you hang around looking  long enough someone will take pity on you and offer a swap, even if gift if you've got a really long face    AND its not fair, I have to share my 'study' with two children and a musical wife (piano, flute and all those dots.)  So please take pity on me and send all your rare spares now ... and no more pictures of enviable desk and shelves rooms please.

[mark smyth]

Tony says "... and no more pictures of enviable desk and shelves rooms please" said room is my bedroom, photo library, computer room, seed collection room, shoe storage ....

I feel a red face coming on now I've seen the photo on line

[KentGardener]

Hi All

so many replies.

Mark - can I ask - if you paid £30 for one and chipped it and they all failed - and now it is above ground already. Does this mean that you spent £60 on wasp bulbs

Maggi - Madeira is costing £500 - but I am presently at the young age of thirty nine and three quarters - so I am sure you will understand why I need a nice holiday next year to take my mind off something I can't quite bring myself to mention...

Mark - I loved the second 'enviable desk and shelves room" picture - shows how much carefully framing a photo can do.  I must ask though - why the glass heads?  Unless you collect wigs you are wasting valuable bookshelf space.  (I personally will never have too many plant books).

cheers

John

[mark smyth]

well.. one is a glass head on which my head phones usually sit. The other is a plasma globe

[Thomas Huber]

Mark, I also love Crocus x gotenbergensis, but like Tony I would NEVER sell 30 pounds for any corm!!!!
The most expensive I've ever bought was Crocus mathewii for 10 Euro, but this was on top of my wishlist!

[mark smyth]

If someone really wants an item they will pay for it eg my Dianthus 'Constance Finnis' sold for 24 Euro and it was a cutting taken in September. One bulb of Galanthus 'Diggory' sold at an auction this February for £80 over three times it's price because the person who bought it could never get it from lists. Look at the Narcissus world. Some of their bulbs are £100 and over. I'm sure there are secret buyers in here but they dont want to say.