Comments regarding Edelweiss Perennials

Bought 5 clumps of Alstroemeria at the Pacific Northwest Flower & Garden Show last February 2011. Planted said tubers in sterilized pots to grow them up a bit before setting them in the ground. When the plants started to grow they seemed rather weak. Cultural conditions were correct so I was puzzled. As the plant continued to grow I started noticing the leaves were streaked and splotchy which potentially indicated virus. E-mailed Edelweiss and they sent an e-mail back stating
"Turns out some of the most reputable nurseries will ship virused Alstroemerias. We usually don’t by plugs but we had to for a patented variety. They were tissue propagated, with are usually clean of any pathogens but these actually had the virus. As much as we hate selling plants with virus, there is nothing that can be done accept to destroy them all and live without it." Caveat emptor

"On Jan 3, 2012 8:09 PM, Edelweiss Perennials responded with:

In a perfect world, there wouldn’t be any diseases. Bearded Iris growers know that better than any and have learned to live with the mosaic virus. But since the Iris community is larger and more connected, Iris collectors have accepted that fact and you won’t find any negative comments on Dave’s regarding Iris growers selling virused Irises.
We almost quit selling Alstroemerias years ago but realized that because the virus is widespread, many nurseries don’t bother carry them and thus tall Alstroemerias hard to come by. So if we would quit selling them, they’d get purchased virused somewhere else but the selection would be smaller.
So we feel ourselves somewhat singled out. From what we’ve seen so far, many sources of tall Alstroemerias will send virused plants. (Of three major sources we ordered recently, all had it) The virus doesn’t bother the plants much, but only the leaves, not the flowers. The only time it’s noticeable is when the stems are about done blooming and/or the plants are stressed like in excessive heat, cold and drought. One can more likely get dwarf varieties without the virus, as they are mass produced in labs.

“RightAsRain” is the first customer that has ever contacted us about it. This means most people don’t even notice it or are bothered by it. If they did, we’d have heard it sooner and also you’d see more comments like this one on other nurseries’ reviews.

Also, we offered “RightAsRain” a full refund, but that she declined and asked us not to sell virused Alstroemerias. We also mentioned in that email reply that we almost quit selling Alstroemerias years ago and the reason why explained above.
Months later, she placed that comment, we assume she was not content with the fact that we haven’t quit selling Alstroemerias. Our intention was to talk to her in person and elaborate on this subject at the next Seattle Flower Show. Upon seeing this comment, we asked for the phone number by email but she unfortunately didn’t reply.
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