I'd love to know where you have bought bulbs that are consistently what they are suppost to be. No surprises or very few. Thanks.
Your Most Consistent Source
From my limited experience it's Willow Creek Gardens.It is the only broker?reseller?that has not sent me even one incorrectly labled bulb.The best bet though is people here,that we know and trust,selling their offsets.Very little chance of getting a mis-labled bulb from them.I have offsets from Liz(gordo),Maria and Carter;all that have bloomed are exactly what they are supposed to be
and I'm confident the others will be too.
This message was edited Feb 19, 2009 5:00 PM
Boojum,
Do you know the label or name of the one in your picture?
Ann
It's Charisma, Ann.
Good post, boojum. I obviously can't give you a good answer. Too funny, or not! Patti
Right, Patti. Where have you been buying? We are all struggling with this issue and with 4 replies I'd say nobody has a really good answer except trades and DG sellers! And Willow Creek (guess I'll check them out).
The bulbs I've gotten from Royal Colours have been good, and the ones on ebay have been correct to name so far. I think boxed bulbs or loose ones at the garden centre have been my most inconsistently named ones.
Thanks! I tried to get Melusine from JScheepers for 3 years in a row. That's how I got 3 freebies. They were as frustrated as I was.
The consistency question is hard to answer. I think this would mostly depend on how much varieties and bulbs you purchase from a company/person. If I order 3 bulbs from a company and 1-2 are mislabeled, that's bad for me. If I order 20 bulbs from a company and 1-2 are mislabeled then that's understandable for me. I have purchased from a lot of bulb comapnies and most of them have had mislabled bulbs. I agree with Kniphofia with Royal Colors.
There are a few garden stores nearby where I can buy bulbs in bloom. That has to be the most consistent source I have!
Hi all, I just bought some bulbs from Smith & Hawken online. They had great sales - 3 bulbs for $9.99. I got Sydney, Benifica, and Chrismas Gift. I hope they arrive soon! (and I hope I can figure out where else to stash them :-)
I've used Royal Colors, Van Engelen, Jacques Armand. My eBay experiences have been about 50/50 as far as correct names and healthy bulbs. For the last couple of years, many of the on-line resources (other than the ones I've mentioned) haven't been very reliable. I think the better bulb retailers are being cautious. I noticed that this last season's bulb offerings had few new varieties.
Unless I'm really impressed, I've chosen not to buy. I would rather trade bulbs with collectors at this point, people I know.
I'm more interested in making new varieties from my collection and marketing them as they offset or set seed.
Bulb quality has been a problem for a while. I became increasingly dismayed by wrong identifications, long waits for delivery and rot.
It's more fun and satisfying to trade among knowledgeable friends.
:-)
:))
I have been buying from John Scheepers for 8 years. Always received what I ordered. They have a catalog on line.
Today we added a category for Amaryllids (it includes crinums and clivias as well as hippeastrums) to the Garden Watchdog: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/advanced.php?category=163&cat[158]=163
If we have missed any companies that specialize in Amaryllis (not necessarily the larger sellers like Van Engelen and Willow Creek, since they have chosen to be listed under broader categories), please let us know...we'd be happy to check their current Wachdog listing, or add them/help you add them if they aren't currently listed.
And please be sure to rate your favorite sources; your reviews will help shape the way this sorted list shapes up: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/advanced.php?search_text=&cat[158]=163&cat[157]=&state=xx&country=XX&sorter=rating&submit=Search
Cool!