As Jane McGary says, the biggest problem in getting Galanthus into North America is the paperwork and bureaucracy required. We (Colesbourne Gardens http://www.snowdrop.org.uk/) are one of the few UK suppliers to export snowdrops (as dormant bulbs, the only time we move them) to North America and it is a matter for major stress. The paperwork for each consignment is massive, but the worst part is not knowing whether the parcels will be inspected by British customs on the way out, and the CITES licences stamped properly: we have had great problems because this has not happened in the past. It's not surprising that some people choose the easy route and smuggle them in, but CITES has teeth in international law (think ivory, rhino horn, orchids) and there are potential phytosanitary consequences of unchecked material, so we do it the hard way. John Grimshaw Visit John Grimshaw's Garden Diary http://johngrimshawsgardendiary.blogspot.com/ Dr. John M. Grimshaw Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Tel. 01242 870567 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jane McGary" <janemcgary@earthlink.net> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 5:32 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] rare/specialty forms of galanthus > Kevin wrote >>Dear Fellow Bulb Fanatics- >> >>GALANTHUS >> >>Subject line says it. >>Seems they are difficult to locate in the states. Any suggestions >>or better to offer? Would like to get some soon. >> w > are convinced that this is a myth that began when we didn't have the > ability to store the dormant bulbs properly and ship them quickly. > When I was selling bulbs I always sent my Galanthus bulbs dormant in > late summer, packed in barely moist vermiculite, and I've received > healthy bulbs from the UK and Latvia at this stage also. It also > means much less expense! We may hear from Galanthus expert John > Grimshaw soon on this topic. > > Though I'm no galanthophile (snowdrop fanatic), we do have a few here > in the Pacific Northwest and it's likely that we'll slowly build up a > community stock of select varieties that will eventually be > disseminated. One problem is that the genus Galanthus is CITES > controlled (because of harvesting in the wild in Turkey) and > therefore very expensive to import: each listed genus in an order > requries a separate, costly CITES permit, even if the material being > shipped is a named variety that's been propagated in gardens for a > century. > > Jane McGary > Portland, Oregon, USA > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/