Do you have a new un-named Snowdrop

[Rob Potterton]

I have received an email this evening from a Jane Hewitt; with her permission the contents as follows, anyone interested let me know and i'll put you in touch with the lady:

"I have been asked by a major international charity (which wishes to remain anonymous at this early stage!) to look into the possibility of having one or more snowdrops named in connection with the charity and, in due course, for bulbs to be available for purchase by members and supporters.   The charity has already done the usual named roses, etc, but, for reasons I can’t disclose right now, snowdrops would be particularly appropriate!  I do realise that once a new bulb is named it then has to increase, probably only doubling every year so it could, in fact take years to form a large enough stock to sell and therefor might be an unattainable dream …..  Are existing snowdrops ever able to be “re-named”, or is there any likelihood that I might find a grower who happens to already have a largish stock of new, un-named bulbs?

The RHS has recommended you as a bulb grower and I’d be most grateful if you could let me know whether you breed new varieties of Galanthus, whether any “un-named” or “re-namable” varieties are available, and indeed any other information or contacts that might be able to help me in my quest?

I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Regards   Jane Hewitt "

[Maggi Young]

This sounds like a very interesting project.

I know that a getting a rose named can cost (or did many years ago) many thousands of pounds... and they can be propagated relatively quickly.
Am I too cycnical in saying that a grower with a particular interest in the charity would be the best bet, since they might be more inclined to get involved? 

[Martin Baxendale]

I'm not sure this can work, given how long it takes to build up enough stock of a good new snowdrop just to satisfy the demand from snowdrop enthusiasts. I imagine the charity would be hoping to receive a share of sales and would want to sell very large quantities indeed which, as Maggi says, would work with a plant that can be propagated quickly to produce large numbers within a reasonable time scale. With a new snowdrop, even one that already exists as a small clump of say ten bulbs, you'd be looking at many years to propagate enough bulbs by chipping to have hundreds for sale, let alone thousands. That's if the charity want (as I assume they would) a really good quality and outstanding new snowdrop to be named for them. Someone perhaps could supply large quantities of a fairly uniform nivalis or plicatus stock from a naturalised population, or an indifferent snowdrop they've had for a long time but not named or not distributed, but I don't think that would be a particularly good idea. Re-naming an existing widely-available old cultivar, like Atkinsii, wouldn't be advisable either although I imagine it wouldn't be impossible given that you can register "trade names" for bulbs with previous names.

Then again, maybe someone does have large quantities of a very good new snowdrop that can be increased. I just thought it would be useful to put forward the drawbacks. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong.

[Martin Baxendale]

Rob, as an experienced snowdrop breeder I'd be happy to talk to Jane Hewitt if you don't get any offers of new un-named snowdrops available now in large enough quantities to suit the purpose she suggests, and explain the problems to her.

The problem really is that, as I'm sure you're very aware, it's one thing to find a new and special rose or sweet pea to name after someone or something when there are loads in the pipeline from a number of long-term breeders who are constantly bulking up new varieties for mass-market release. But it's quite another to find a lovely new un-named snowdrop in large numbers ready for mass-market release when only a few amateurs have been breeding them for just a few years (and often naming and distributing their best seedlings as soon as they have a handful to spare rather than bulking them up on a large scale.

I have a few of my earlier selected raisings bulked up to a reasonable extent (at a level where I could soon start chipping to distribute a largish number annually to snowdrop enthusiasts) but I'm still quite a few years away from having the sort of stocks that would be needed for a more mass-market release. I could talk to Jane about possibilities for the future, but I suspect that the charity is thinking of having a snowdrop named soon and then making it available for sale almost immediately.

Anyway, I'd be happy to talk about it to Jane so that she can report back saying that she's spoken to someone who breeds snowdrops.

[Gerard Oud]

faster than a speeding...... snowdrop
If they would be that fast to breed and chip like we wish they would be, it would not be that interesting and challenging, wouldn't it Martin

[Alan_b]

The other aspect to consider is quite what qualities a snowdrop would need to possess in order to have mass-market appeal.  I would think it would need to be instantly recognisable as different from the snowdrops people generally grow in their gardens, perhaps a really huge one or a really good virescent one.  I'm not sure, for example, that "E.A. Bowles" would cut the mustard, even though galanthophiles are willing to pay big money for it.     

[Martin Baxendale]

The other aspect to consider is quite what qualities a snowdrop would need to possess in order to have mass-market appeal.  I would think it would need to be instantly recognisable as different from the snowdrops people generally grow in their gardens, perhaps a really huge one or a really good virescent one.  I'm not sure, for example, that "E.A. Bowles" would cut the mustard, even though galanthophiles are willing to pay big money for it.     

Agreed, I think it would need to be a fairly classic snowdrop but a big improvement on the usual imported garden centre nivalis, elwesii woronowii. Something big enough to stand out from those, yet refined and elegant, but not weird or quirky, and a good doer, a strong grower that would clump up quickly. Probably the sort of thing I'm trying to breed, a really good garden plant. Except that I don't have the sort of numbers of any one seedling yet to be able to propagate the sort of quantities that would be needed. I'm not sure anyone will have sufficient quantities of anything good enough but not yet named.

[Gerard Oud]

It kept me thinking this idea that it might be a good idea to start an auction like an auction for classic cars and paintings etc. That for this charitything Mrs Jane Hewitt starts collecting several named and unnamed snowdrops from several nurseries/ collectors/ breeders. She can organise an auction where people can see new snowdrops and bid on them for the charity, with a online version it would be international!
I can already imagine myself sitting there hearing the voice of the chairman; "And here we have number 15 unnamed plicatus greenstriped found by the snowdropman, we start bidding on 20GBP!!
She doesnot have to wait till there is a certain stock available of unnamed snowdrops, but can start right now!
If needed i do have some!

[Martin Baxendale]

Rob, I've sent you a personal message that may be of some help.

[Jane Hewitt]

I'd like to thank you all for your helpful comments and various separate emails too.  I'm in the process of reporting back to the charity and will summarise my research along the lines of the project being a non-starter as a "new" galanthus would take too long to propogate in sufficient quantities and would sell at too high a cost for those likely to want to support the charity by purchasing bulbs.  I'll suggest that they consider another bulb, perhaps a white tulip, but I don't think this will have the same appeal.  No doubt you galanthophiles won't be surprised by my findings, but thank you again for bearing with this novice!   Jane

[Alan_b]

For any type of bulb, the fastest you can propagate it is to cut it into pieces, wait for the pieces to grow to a decent size then repeat the process.  For a snowdrop you might get an average of 12 pieces and wait an average of three years until you can repeat.  So after 9 years you would have 1728 bulbs starting from one single bulb

I don't know much about Tulips but the process must be the same.  You might get more pieces per bulb but I don't imagine tulip bulbs mature faster.  So if you got 24 pieces per bulb and it still takes three years to repeat you would get 13,824 bulbs after 9 years.  That's obviously a much larger number (x8 larger) but still a long wait! 

[Martin Baxendale]

Jane, I think you're probably right. Reading between the lines of what you've told me I think the price per bulb would be much higher than your members would be looking to pay, and the quantities they would want would be far more than you're likely to have available of a new snowdrop variety. From what I understand of the situation, your members would be expecting to buy packets of bulbs, a dozen or more at a time, for a relatively low unit price. But you won't find any new-ish snowdrop available (given the time and effort involved in raising and multiplying them) for less than a few pounds a bulb. Even starting with a decent quantity (maybe a few dozen) of a new-ish snowdrop, which I have, you'd still be looking at quite a few years to increase them to the sort of numbers you'd need.

[Martin Baxendale]

Alan, I think the difference with a tulip or daffodil is that there are many breeders around creating new varieties as a business, who may well have decent quantities already bulked up of bulbs ready for naming and commercial release. That situation just doesn't exist with snowdrops yet (though I am doing my best  )

[Lesley Cox]

I've not heard of tulip-chipping. Does this happen? The process in general seems best to apply to Amaryllidaceae.