Seed and Bulb Exchanges, some Comments

Dell has sent out messages to this list of 121 offerings of bulbs and seed
since July 2002. I find that rather incredible. The BX was an inspiration
of Jim Waddick and I think it has served us very well. It allows seeds and
bulbs to be distributed when they are available, not waiting for a once or
twice a year date. I routinely share excess material with friends and
people I have corresponded with who share my interest in a particular
plant, but I have to confess that I really appreciate that I can send
things in bulk to Dell to distribute for me. It is very time consuming to
clean seed and bulbs. Some seed is especially challenging. The need to do
this happen when I have many other garden chores and am repotting and
checking on dormant bulbs. Finding packaging material, dividing seed into
packets for anyone who might request what I had, and getting to the post
office to mail them always takes considerable time when I don't have it.
Knowing I can send it to Dell who is an absolute saint for doing this part
of the job is often the difference between the seed and bulbs I don't want
going in the trash and getting to someone else. Since I get a postage
credit for what it costs to send materials to him, I can then request
something someone else has given and not have to pay for it.

There is a charge since it costs money to send things and for packaging
materials. There is no extra charge to send out materials to international
members. I am sure that sometimes if bulbs are heavy and to mail to
international members it costs more to distribute than the handling
charges and there are other times there is a small profit to balance it
out. Dell includes information in the BX offerings he gets from donors. If
I have time I send more detailed information that I do if I am swamped. I
am sure this is true of everyone who contributes. Since the donor is almost
always mentioned, it's easy to contact them for more information about what
they have given. People occasionally contact me, but usually I have no idea
who has asked for what I donate and whether they had any success.

As with all seed exchanges it is helpful to validate that what you have is
what the donor said it was supposed to be. Even those people who are
knowledgeable are not infallible. Many of us in this group are keen
gardeners with limited botanical knowledge so even if we want to know what
are plants really are, we may not have the resources to figure them out.
Each time I tackle an unknown I know it could take me a couple of hours to
pour through my books, look up the words I don't know and then I still may
end up with not being sure because my material doesn't quite fit the key.
One of the reasons why I've started adding pictures of bulbs and corms of
certain species is because I get so confused trying to figure out what some
descriptions are actually saying. And those descriptions are written in
English! Heaven help me if they were written in a foreign language for me
too. There are things I grow that the corm can be the defining
characteristic so understanding the words is necessary.

John Manning wrote a very provocative article for IBSA a number of years
ago. In it he spoke of how quickly material is hybridized and his belief
that very little of the material that most of us grow is pure. Even wild
collected seed could be hybrid if there are several species growing in the
same area that bloom at the same time. He suggested that most of us could
just garden for pleasure and perhaps set aside a few things to grow that we
wanted to protect that we are extremely careful to protect .

Many of us in this group are passionate about our plants and grow huge
quantities of things. (Note I'm going for the positive spin instead of
saying we are addicted to growing more and more.) I hate to admit besides
having a garden with all kinds of bulbs in the ground I also have more than
1200 pots and there are others who have more than I do. To hand pollinate
all of those things and make sure I did it before all the insects and birds
in my garden got to them first would be impossible. So instead of feeling
guilty that I am not protecting the identity of my plants, I have decided
just to enjoy them. So seed I give is mostly of garden origin and probably
is not pure. Every year I end up with additional bulbs and corms that have
ended up in pots that are mystery bulbs. Perhaps they came from errant seed
or tiny offsets missed when repotting. Each year I have three or four
community large pots I plant them in and then I enjoy seeing what they turn
out to be when they bloom. This year I'm thinking of sending these things
to the BX, but all I could say about them is winter growing mix. They could
be something really special or not. If I did this, I'd assume that the
people who asked for them would find it fun and not complain about not
knowing in advance what they might get.

Having said all that I too love to have information about what I grow so
appreciate it when people take the time when they have it to include
information about what they are donating. But I also know that sometimes
there just isn't a lot of time to write very much and I think Dell would
rather people donate with limited information than not donate at all.

Mary Sue