Worsleya bloom

[KenP]

Second time this plant bloomed. First bloom was December 2022. 

[Carlos]

Amazing!!

[KenP]

Here is a photo from today. Not all fully open but rain has started. Not sure what the rain will do to the blooms. 

[KenP]

I am located in central NJ, northeastern USA. USDA Zone 7. 

[Arnold]

Great stuff, Ken.

[CG100]

Somewhere online, maybe here? there is a pic' of a raised bed with several plants in flower.

Based on not much available information/evidence, the problem is availability of plants (at modest cost) rather than in cultivation/propagation.

Single bulbs are £350 (USD450) each here in the UK. LLLLLLLOL

[Ron]

Lovely blooms.  I really like the growth form of these plants, especially the leaves, and the little offset.  What are the two conifers to the right of the Worsleya?

[David Pilling]

there is a pic' of a raised bed with several plants in flower.

Perhaps here (although only one plant):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2NkftDShAM


You can use the search function, top left to find Ken's blooms in 2022 here on the PBS forum, search for worsleya (all lower case).

350 quid a bulb, be interesting to see if high price begets more supply, or if they're just difficult to grow, or is it all fashion. Tulipomania.

[CG100]

I suspect that it is just supply and demand and there was only ever a small number of plants to start with. The £350 is pitched to be able to sell the small number available.

I am told that they are available/being propagated in RSA with one nursery which imported plants from Australia. I was not told, and did not ask, the price, although the implication was that it is large.

I suppose the strange thing is that they have not been micro-propagated. Presumably someone has done the sums and they aren't attractive?

Not that video, David. I recall a still photograph - probably as here, but I suspect that the pic's may have been "borrowed" from where I saw them originally -  Worsleya procera | GardensOnline

Small bulb here - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266790507032?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-153316-527457-8&mkcid=2&itemid=266790507032&targetid=4584757337008491&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=431353847&mkgroupid=1298523655396099&rlsatarget=pla-4584757337008491&abcId=9301942&merchantid=87779&msclkid=d4be258e72d61b7864ae437b4f5cd7b6

As mentioned by my contact in RSA, how did Australia get them, and how did one SA nursery obtain them from Australia?

[David Pilling]

It is the dream, find expensive plants and grow them for profit. But you'd have to have the knack of growing them.

Like being a professional.

Whatever field of interest you may have as a hobby, if you're good enough it can be a career.

The UK nursery Rare Plants feels like that.

"change in supply due to increase in price is called Expansion of supply"

No good saying it will take you 14 years either.

[CG100]

Lots of hobbies can make excellent pocket money - been there, done that, making profit of £1-2K per year.

Making a reasonable living from a hobby that does not become a way of life is very far from easy, no matter how good you are at it in most cases, and especially so if it requires lots of space. Paying off a large loan on premises is a huge ask, plus, the product of that hobby must be in considerable demand, far out-stripping what you'd normally produce when just selling off surplus from a genuine hobby.

Again, I can't remember where I was reading about it, but if you check the prices for single bulbs of brand new snowdrop cultivars (as in the one for sale may be the only one, anywhere) on ePay UK, they routinely sell for several £100's. Apparently they sell to people/companies who will micro-propogate them to have 100's and 1000's for sale within 3 years or so at several(+) £ each.
In the case of snowdrops, at least the potential market is limited only by price and the number of people inclined to grow them. In the case of Worsleya, you have those limitations, plus buyers must have the space and be able to keep them frost-free.

Fortunately, I am not tempted, and would not be tempted even at just a few ££ per bulb as, as unusual as the plant looks, I don't find it especially attractive - each unto their own, fortunately.

[Robin Jangle]

Ok. The only plants available in RSA came from the Frankfurt Palmengarten. I personally knew the horticulturist that acquired them - he was friends with the Curator.

I currently am looking after three of them for a friend. He acquired them from a very well-known bulb grower who acquired them from the same person I knew.

The market in RSA is way too small to justify the importation of such expensive plants. Good grief they barely sell anywhere.
The Australian propagules you speak of were acquired by an American nursery. And importing from the States is even more expensive.

[CG100]

I do not bet, but I suspect that RSA has a far larger market for Worsleya than does the UK, and the ones in the UK are certainly imported, not raised here.
Whether rescued from development sites, or from old collections, I do not know, but large and expensive, ie. old, native bulbs come up for sale in RSA every once in a while, so there is a market for probably similar numbers of expensive plants of other species.

All that said, the limitation on potential sales numbers is purely price which will be pitched to sell all that are available, be that 2, 22 or 222, or whatever. They "barely sell anywhere" because there aren't many to be sold. There is no way that any business is going to pitch things so as to not sell their stock.

I am unsure why importing from any country in particular should be more exepnsive than from another, costs relating to distance of transport apart. Unless US prices for the item happens to be far higher.