For amateurs (that can mean so many things - example: the world's leading Bromeliad grower might be an amateur at bulb growing) - it would be helpful to actually make a list of what is considered to be worthy of that "rare list." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thesilentseed.com, rare and unusual plants from around the world tylus_seklos@aol.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Tim Harvey <zigur@hotmail.com> To: Bulb Society Pacific <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Fri, Jan 17, 2014 4:45 am Subject: Re: [pbs] ENSURING THE FUTURE OF OUR PLANTS OK, so here's a challenge for any botanic garden: pick a rare bulb (have to trust them to make a sensible choice there) and produce 100 of them in 5 years. I don't care how you do it - seed, tissue culture, divisions, etc. The chances are, if you can do that, it will no longer be rare. Pick one every year ... If you can't do that internally, select an enthusiastic amateur and task them with the goal. There's a large army of capable and willing volunteers out there that I think are under-utilized. T