Lilies, lilies, lilies, get your lilies here! Beautiful Asiatic Lilies, fragrant Oriental and OT hybrid lilies (aka "orienpet"), big bulbs for small prices.
This group buy is for Mid-Atlantic Gardening Forum DGers who can pick up their bulbs at our Spring Plant Swap or are able to swing by Frederick MD for them. I will not ship bulbs.
Our suppliers will be Ednie Flower Bulbs and probably also ADR Bulbs, both sourced from the Netherlands. With the magic of wholesale at-cost pricing, the bulbs will be around $1 each. We had very nice lily bulbs from ADR 3 years ago, and I expect the same from Ednie. There will be a difference between dutch-grown bulbs that have been frozen over the winter and fresh-dug bulbs shipped from B&D Lilies this fall. Bulbs will likely break dormancy during shipping and must be planted asap after arrival, either in-ground or in a container.
The usual disclaimer applies. I'm not a retailer and can't just absorb a loss. In a group buy, everybody shares the risk as well as reaping the benefits. That means if something beyond my control occurs and we don't get bulbs (and don't get a refund), everybody will still need to pay me for what they ordered, even if they don't receive it.
That said, I've hosted several bulb buys from ADR, and we've always come away happy. I've never hosted an Ednie group buy before, but I've helped with one (for glads) and participated in a couple more. Both companies have excellent reviews in Garden Watchdog.
With wholesale orders, we get quantity discounts. Collectively, we need to purchase in bulk bags -- with lilies, that usually means 25 of a variety. Exactly 25. If only 15 of a variety are ordered, that number needs to increase or that lily will be dropped. If 30 are ordered, I will juggle numbers so everybody gets close to what they want.
I'll initially add 10% to invoices to help cover overages, so I can order a few varieties even if they haven't quite "sold out." As a group, we've always cooperated well to make things work out, and at the end that percentage is more like 1 or 2%, to cover re-packaging materials and pickup party stuff.
Ednie is giving us a break on shipping, $10 per crate (about half of what it will likely actually cost to ship to me). A crate holds 8 to 10 bags, depending on size/variety, so shipping will be more cost effective ordering 8 varieties (or 18) than, say, 11 bags.
Here's the page of varieties available from Ednie: https://gallery.mailchimp.com/8c507fc4b58c77ba5b9386bb0/files/Ednie_Lily_Bags_and_Collections_2016_With_Prices_09_18_15.pdf
Ednie's website is under renovation, so we have to look up descriptions and images. I'll post some links further down.
Walter says ADR's availability list will be up December 1. They have given us free shipping in the past, and I'm hoping they'll do so again, or at least give us a break on it. I'll check with them once their list goes up. ADR's site is here: http://www.adrbulbs.com/ Look at their spring/summer list for an idea of what they've offered in the past. Lilies will probably be a little over $1 per bulb.
I'll try to do a combined invoice for Ednie and ADR, but we will be putting in an initial order from Ednie by the end of October. We can put in an additional order from them later, depending on availability. We'll also place an order with ADR either by the end of December or by the end of the first week in January (I'll post specifics here as things develop).
Again, this group buy is for PICKUP ONLY. If you end up being unable to attend the spring swap, you can try to arrange delivery via bulb fairy (bulb ferry?), aka a friend who is able to pick them up for you. You could even make arrangements with a friend to pick up your bulbs and ship them for you. But I WILL NOT SHIP BULBS.
Happy Lily Shopping!
