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| A prize-winning display. |
At last week’s Royal Horticultural Society Spring Show in London, galanthus featured large, perhaps larger than all the other lovely spring flowers on exhibit. Even I was nearly sated by the faux landscape displays dominated by snowdrops, but the many bulbs that were for sale “in the green” fascinated me most. How delicious it would be to buy a few and take them home….
Of especial interest was the manner in which the bulbs were sold. Some were potted up – one or more to a pot. No surprise there. Others, however, were sold in plastic bags with no evident potting medium. Presumably it had been washed away in the interest of selling many bulbs in conveniently portable packages, suitable for taking home on the Tube (or in my suitcase, I wondered?).
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| A portable bargain at $24 per bag. |
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| These puppies are merely $20 each. |
Also interesting was the variety of prices galanthus bulbs commanded. I had been prepared for this earlier in the day by an article I had read shortly after landing in some publication I was too bleary to note. The article’s focus was on a Galanthus called “Grumpy”, for the green blotches on its central petal clearly depicting a sad face. “Grumpy” is covertly grown in a secret location by a gardener named Joe Sharman, who collected it from the garden of the man who made the first surface crossing of the Antarctic over fifty years ago. Sharman, a nurseryman, claims that there are snowdrop thieves running rampant this time of year, so has hired security guards to protect his lucrative project. He claims to have sold a single bulb on eBay recently for 347 pounds (a cool $555). The average going price for this gem, however, is one hundred pounds per bulb. This, loyal reader, is $160 on the barrel for a cultivar that reputedly does not naturalize readily. While I didn’t see any of these on sale at the RHC (they were probably under lock and key), there were single potted bulbs for sale, ranging from $4.80 to over $32 a piece.
Wildly enthusiastic about galanthus as I am, these prices are too rich for my pocketbook. The basic garden variety snowdrop blooming bravely in winter “does it” for me. I suppressed my wicked thoughts about buying the plastic bags full of bulbs “in the green” and taking them home, customs being what it is. Instead, I’ll order lots next fall and pot them up to be planted “in the green” when my garden is finished next spring. That way I will have snow drops exactly where I want them. Can’t wait for the catalogues!
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| Priced from $4.80 to $40 per bulb. |
