Is it worth to become the garden cultivars? some selections from the wild...

[Maggi Young]

I suspect that everyone has rushed to certain conclusions that may never have been Dima's intent.
I think he was asking if we thought any of the plants were nice enough to be worth bulking up, in a general way.  I do not think it is his intention, or that of the botanic garden, to get involved in the snowdrop industry 

[KentGardener]

Please everyone remember that Dima has never said that he will be naming these.  

He has only ever asked if they are nice and if people would like to grow them in their gardens.  

In his first post Dima sauid that he did not know if they are similar to other snowdrops already grown and is only asking if people like the ones he has found.  

[Maggi Young]

Exactly, John.... we must have been thinking and posting at the same time. 

[KentGardener]

You beat me to it Maggi - I kept re-wording mine so it took me 10 mins to write.  

[Martin Baxendale]

I think Lesley and I were anticipating the possibility that, given the admiration expressed for some of the snowdrops, it might be tempting for them to be given names.

And I think we assumed that the title of the thread "Is it worth to become garden cultivars..." indicated that Dima was asking if they were good enough to become garden cultivars, which would inevitably involve them being named as you can't have a garden cultivar without a name.

Sorry if I got the wrong end of the stick but I thought the title of the thread indicated that the end result, if people liked the snowdrops, could the naming of some or all of them as "garden cultivars". I just wanted to suggest some caution in that regard.

This is exactly why I held back from saying anything at the start as I knew it could end up going against me. I'll leave it alone now.

[Martin Baxendale]

Perhaps there's a semantic problem here. To me a "garden cultivar" is a clone selected out for growing in gardens and given a cultivar name to distinguish it. Perhaps Dima only meant (and others assumed he meant) "worth growing in gardens".

[Maggi Young]

Perhaps there's a semantic problem here. To me a "garden cultivar" is a clone selected out for growing in gardens and given a cultivar name to distinguish it. Perhaps Dima only meant (and others assumed he meant) "worth growing in gardens".

 Perhaps he did, Martin... that's certainly how I read it. 
All valuable comments, anyhow, I'm sure.

[Alan_b]

Perhaps Dima only meant .. "worth growing in gardens".

I assumed he meant "worth trialling in a garden".  It's easy to get taken with an attractive looking snowdrop but there is no guarantee it will come back the same next year - or even come back at all.  I'm sure we all know that.  And a snowdrop that sits there year-on-year but doesn't mange to bulk-up is never going to become anything more than a curiosity, whether or not it acquires a name.   

[Lesley Cox]

Yes, I read the original post - and the thread title - exactly as Martin did. I keep thinking of the UK show system whereby there is the requirement for a plant to have a cultivar name before it can gain an award. "Cultivar" to me therefore, is a plant, either man made or from the wild (and you already know I object to this), given a man made name. (And OMG I suppose I'm offending the PC adherents here too. Tough)

[mark smyth]

Very true Alan. Yesterday someone came to see my snowdrops and I said the same. Why cant snowdrop A be as vigerous  Wendy or these two unnamed plicatus

[art600]

Dima

I would be happy to trial all, except 4, in my garden 

[Martin Baxendale]

Since these snowdrops were collected in the wild, I assume they will have collection numbers and those could of course be used for identification for the time being, and any bulbs swopped or otherwise distributed could be sent out under those collection numbers just like any other wild-collected bulbs or seeds pending the naming of any clones which might eventually be considered worthy of naming.

[Alan_b]

This forum benefits vastly from the great range of contributors.  Not everyone who posts on the forum is a native English speaker (thank heavens) and so not everyone is going to be able to express themselves in English as precisely as they might have wanted.  We will drive valued contributors away if we start reading meanings that may never have been intended into what people write.  

[Martin Baxendale]

Alan I really don't think I or Lesley were picking anyone's contributions apart. Neither of us intended to be anything but helpful. If I have said anything to offend Dima then I will happily apologise to him and assure him that I meant no offence, only to offer advice.

[Lesley Cox]

I also don't think we were picking Dima's contribution apart, especially not to its disadvantage. We simply interpreted his comments differently from how others interpreted it. I thought that in subsequent comments from all who HAVE commented, any differeces in interpretation have been resolved and we can all surely accept that some of us think differently or hold dissimilar opinions from those held by other Forumists.

The great joy of this Forum is that so many people from all over the world feel able to express their thoughts on so many subjects. I would hate to see anyone castigated or made to feel he/she should back away because of some small mis-understanding.