Who do you recommend? I DO NOT recommend wellspringgardens ebay or dot com. Sold me a green ensente and sold it as a red absynian(the red sport of ensente maurelli). Acmebymailorder on ebay, just plain ripped me off. He is no longer a "registered user"..whatever that means.

Who have you had good luck with? I need some bulbs as well.

That means he was kicked off of eBay, probably for the same reason of ripping people off.

What a timely question:) My son wanted me to look at the Alocasia 'Godzilla' on eBay and the usually lovely longiloba "Aurora" obviously altered by color enhancement by the same seller. I can't take these color enhancements as anything but deliberate deception.( Shades of TyTy,Batman & Robin!) In this case the eBay feedback system is not a good indication of what to expect (did it live?). The system seems always geared towards who not to recommend rather than who to recommend.You just have to hang in here forever to know who to trust.
It was also was a beautiful spring-like day in Dallas on 12/23, but between now and Easter we will probably get a lot of sleet, ice, hail & straight line winds, if not tornados.
A Very Merry Christmas to all,
Keiko

Hi. I am in Florida hense the likely stupidity of the following question: Why in the begining of the thread was it mentioned "now is spring". I don't understand because I am in 9a and my aroids will probably stay dormant at least another month until it really warms up. Someone please fill me in, are people really shopping for bulbs at the begining of january, the coldest month of ther year????

I kinda figured he was starting them inside. I'm hoping winter is over though :) Luckily we have not had much this year. The ebay feedback sucks because after you leave a bad comment, the seller usually accuses you of being a pain in the azz buyer, and to stay clear from you.

" I have a few people I've had good luck with in the past"
Who do you recommend?

It's almost 80 degrees today, THAT's why I said it was spring. And it isn't January, it's December.
My amorphs aren't all dormant and some are sending up new growth. Our freeze date is December 25 to January 10 or so. So it is time to start odering bulbs and digging in the garden. You quotes should be "...today is spring.." not "now is spring". Not everyone has to deal with freezing and snow you know.
Tally HO!

Must be nice....we were insanely warm today and were in the 40s......we were below freezing for 2 weeks straight earlier in December!! I'll be digging in the garden in 5 months.....Oh well.

However, to answer the question posed......Enid at NSE down in your neck of the woods is a fantastic person....you can not go wrong with her!! Buy from people off ebay that also sell off ebay as I said before....there are some awesome sellers on ebay and some advertising nonsense. If they say it is rare and it is obviously not then assume they are prone to hyperbole and take everything else they say with a grain of salt. The good sellers grow what they sell....if only in small numbers....they will have an idea of what they are talking about. I've also gotten EE from A&B in the past and was very pleased. Watch who posts here and then see if they sell on ebay (assuming they use the same name which not all of us do)....it will give you a starting point. Many people also post on aroid-l and sell on ebay under various names that are outstanding.....A man from the Netherlands comes to mind....Keep your eyes and ears open and you can find nice stuff from reputable people.....when you see it on ebay e-mail the person and ask to buy off ebay.....it saves everyone money and I find reputable ebay people are willing to do that....some will not but that is because they are trying to get everyone to bid up items rather than selling nice plants to people at a good price...I avoid these people like the plague!! Good luck expanding your collection and have fun digging in the soil :o) Dan

Well Dan I sort of have to disagree with you there. When I used to sell on eBay I was contacted by several people who claimed to be poor students or had some other sad sack story in order to get bulbs more cheaply than they were being auctioned for.
A year later and those people now have huge collections and are selling themselves. Lesson learned.
I think sellers have a right to make what they earn- people don't have to bid if they think the price is too high. A well known and popular nursery that sells aroids doubles the price that they pay and sells them for that, then charges a very high amount for shipping to cover their costs. No one complains about that but they will complain about ebay sales for any and all reasons.
Also, I believe it is illegal to contact ebay sellers and ask them to sell offline, I believe- read eBay bylines and be careful, or they may take action against you.

Does anyone know the reputation of:

Central Florida Farms
Asiatica Nursery
Fraser's Thimble Farms

Plant Delights is another good source, but they are high. Last year's best seller colocasia gigantea "Thai Giant" in a 4" pot went for $25. Some of the more common ones they sell for $15-18 in a 4" pot, that I can get locally for much lower in larger pots, so know what you are buying.

It would help to know what you are looking for Beachplant. Arisaemas, colocasia/alocasias, or amorphs? Worldwide Tropicals has a U.S. market now (Troy) and you can buy amorphs in the states w/o going overseas.

Oh, but you're asking about ebay. Haven't done much venturing into aroids on ebay yet. Mostly trading and buying from known retail sources. I have purchased some seed thru ebay, but not aroids. I was outbid on ebay, but the lady sold me the seeds off ebay for a lower price anyway. Of course, I didn't ask her to do that, she just offered to do it. So Dan is right about that aspect.

Susan

Susan,
Ive ordered from Asiatica and everything I have recieved was superb. very quality plants and some rare variegated varieties you wont see elsewhere.
Other superb growers are Enid, (as Dan mentioned) from natural selections, Aroidgrower, (Brian Williams), and there are many more but just cant think right now. Id have to say there are probably ALOT more genuine and decent collectors/sellers out there than there are ones that will rip you off.
I agree PDN is a little high on a few things but Id rather give them a little more of my money since they do alot of research for our benefit. You can be assured a nice plant with them as well.
Michael M.

Hi Honneybuny, First let me say that I think ebay is in general fantastic since you can get really cool plants that are rarely offered commercially :o) I guess I didn't mean you should give them away off ebay....unless it is me asking!!! It is simple math though....when you sell on ebay you lose around 10% so you can save the person that amount without any consequences to you and you get a happier buyer. I will not bid on ebay as I am pretty confident that most of the time the prices go too high.....I've actually e-mailed people and asked them to quit bidding because it was stupid how much they were paying.....but I'm sure I'm in the minority there. Sure enough though if the seller wants to turn you in I suppose they could....but the people I contact have retail outlets and they just do not have that plant listed on their site.....The biggest problem with ebay is that people just do not tell the truth....the adjectives rare, exotic, etc. are the most overused terms on ebay and they are used to try and convince the uneducated buyer that the plant really is rare or hard to find, even if it is not....shameful in my opinion....and the buyer beware nonsense I just do not go in for....if you are serious about the plants you grow and sell then one job should be to try and educate, and if people on ebay are advertising deceptively then they are a discredit to all of us who just love the plants....or maybe it is my rosy-colored glasses getting in the way again :o) I just got a bunch of fantastic Crinum from a person that sells on ebay....I bought them direct of course...saved myself enough to buy extras....and got to talk plants from Madagascar and Africa for a couple of hours..much more pleasureable than ebay, but I'm fortunate to live only 3 hrs away and have a brother that lives 30 min. away!!

Susan, the only one I know on your list is Asiatica....they have great stuff, but their prices are sort of high I think and their shipping is ludicrous in my opinion.....honestly, for a dormant aroid it should not cost more than $5-6 to ship and for a whole box full you can ship them for perhaps $15 or so...they are dormant after all so USPS 2-3 day should be fine. PDN can be high as well, but again, they have great plants and if you can stop in personally they are just fantastic....again, I do not know why their shipping is so high, but I've only bought from them on-site so maybe it deserves to be.

There must be other places that people can recommend though....As I said, Enid at NSE is great, PDN and Asiatica have awesome plants, Alan Galloway has one of the finer collections of Amorphs I've ever seen and sells via the aroid-l, The Philo. Phreaque is incredibly knowledgeable and has an amazing collection that he sells off on occasion....in FLA I should say....I got a couple of my first Amorphs from him!!! Again, good luck with collecting :o) Dan

Oh dear Dan, I don't like this at all. I hate to be at odds with anyone, on such a lovely Christmas night after such a nice, quiet day, and especially someone whom I generally admire the way I do you, but in your post I see so many things that are...... Oh gosh, I don't know how to say these things. You do have points I agree strongly with at the same time, though, so I guess it all evens out.

I'm a seller on Ebay, once in a while I sell "hard-to-come-by" types and I try very hard to be a reputable business person and a good member of both the gardening and the Ebay communities. I'll try it this way:

>First let me say that I think ebay is in general fantastic since you can get really cool plants that are rarely offered commercially

Oh yes. There are some very, very small time sellers who are fantastic. The very best sellers, in my humble opinion, are the hobby growers who have done enough actual trading to get a good feel for the best way to ship plants. Just my opinion.

>....when you sell on ebay you lose around 10% so you can save the person that amount without any consequences to you and you get a happier buyer.

Some of the really good sellers are more commercial than others and you can sometimes get a good deal from them. Better to check the seller's "me" page for a link to his or her website, though, than to use the Ebay mailing system to ask for lower prices. That's an offense that can get your privileges revoked

>I will not bid on ebay as I am pretty confident that most of the time the prices go too high.....I've actually e-mailed people and asked them to quit bidding because it was stupid how much they were paying

The first part is your choice but try to remember that the really small sellers often make very little return on their efforts. The second part is a violation of Ebay's rules. It's called Auction Interference and a seller who caught you doing it would be justified in being very, very angry.

>The biggest problem with ebay is that people just do not tell the truth....the adjectives rare, exotic, etc. are the most overused terms on ebay and they are used to try and convince the uneducated buyer that the plant really is rare or hard to find, even if it is not>

I agree, and it makes me mad. It really is the same old "caveat emptor" that goes on anywhere else in a free market. It's up the buyer to educate him or her self on what's fair and what's dear. There aren't any standards, which is why you see variegated syngonium advertised as "rare variegated philodendron" and such, but it's a hard job to get anybody to take on, and little incentive for Ebay to invest in it anyway. I would like to see Ebay host more small growers and become the premier place on the internet for good quality plants of any kind, rare or not. As long as there are cheats and fakes out there that's not going to be a possibility.

>if you are serious about the plants you grow and sell then one job should be to try and educate, and if people on ebay are advertising deceptively then they are a discredit to all of us who just love the plants

Amen, but you don't go far enough. It would read better if it said "if people on ebay are advertising deceptively then they are a discredit to all of us who just love the plants and an embarrassment to their fellow sellers on Ebay".

I have suggested that GW might think about expanding The Garden Bazaar to include hobby growers but haven't gotten any feedback of any kind. The really nice thing about something like that would be that one could track the kind and quality of information the seller is asking for and offering in the forums. Just a thought.

Hi Nigella,

Please, no reason to apologize. I love your posts and take your comments seriously. It only seems reasonable that we can disagree a little bit...makes us "family" after all :o)

I guess what I mean is that if I see you or Michael selling on ebay I know where to reach you to see if I can purchase off-line....I do not e-mail via ebay as I know some people get upset by things like that. For example, I just went over to Out of Africa a couple days ago after seeing on ebay that they had Crinum that were very nice...on ebay and their web site they were maybe double what I got them for by paying a visit this time of year....He is a great guy and I intend to go back to OOA this spring when he comes back from Madagascar with some other "bonsai" material to see what I can come up with!! I did e-mail someone once and said that $100+ for whatever it was that I was selling was ludicrous and I would sell them one off-line for $30.....I know this is a violation, but I just felt horrible that they were paying too much....I know I should not do this and will refrain in the future since I know it is not in ebay's best interest. Most everything I try to sell nowadays I sell as fixed price items......I just want to make a few bucks to afford to dilly-dally with other fun plants....I'm very excited about the Amaryllids now and am trying to scare up some of those!!

I am glad that you agree with the idea that people need to be more up-front with what they sell in terms of advertising it realistically.....my own personal creedo is that if it is available commercially anwhere in the U.S. that I can find then I do not advertise it as rare, because apparently it is not or it would not be commercially available.....I know that others may disagree with this level that I set the bar at, but that is just a personal thing so please do not take it too seriously.

I'm glad to hear you had a wonderful Christmas.....my family and I had a great time and built a nice big snowman to celebrate the day before and then went to Phipps to see the wonderful display of plants and lights.....I think my three children all agreed that Santa was a good guy this year!! Best wishes :o) Dan

I've got bulbs from Dan and Troy in the past and both are wonderful. What is NSE? I can't find it. I love plantdelights and will pay a little extra for a plant I can't find anywhere else. So much of what they sell won't grow for me here with the heat and humidity. Hostas are just expensive snail bait or a short lived annual here.
Dan I agree with you on the crinums, and often canna too. I can't hardly give away either one & then see them on e-bay for a fortune! I should start selling, nah, too much time out of the garden.
Last year we had snow for Christmas, first time on record. I didn't make a snow man, just worried about the jungle, which did fine.
Today it's close to 80 & supposed to be 80 tomorrow. Before coming to work I planted some amaryllis, a few cuphea cuttings, 2 hibiscus and some rescued crinums(probaby milk and wine). There are tons of things blooming and it seems like the trees are losing leaves while new growth is sprouting. The gingers have never died back. Hope we don't get a cold snap in January!
Thanks for the info. I'm tearing down the old aviary so will have a nice good size area that gets mostly shade, later afternoon filtered sun & will be perfect for the expansion of the amorphs. Found a great source of colocasia/alocasia in Houston & a good source for bromeliads, like I need more of anything!!
Right now I'm looking mostly for amorphs. But being a true plant junkie I collect anything I don't have!!
Tally HO!

I wonder why Troy is only selling amorphs (primarily). He has colocasias and alocasias listed on his US site, but nothing for sale under those categories. I realize it is a new venture, so am hoping he will increase his material. Also, I wish he would include hardiness zones for his amorphs. I would love to try others that might be hardy in my zone.

Dan, I found another source for cardiocrinum (different species). I have gigantea, there is a ssp., and two other different species that I'd like to try. Just wondered if you had attempted anything other than C. gigantea?

Susan

Hi Beachplant....NSE is Natural Selection Exotics down in FLA and Enid has wonderful stuff.....she sells aroids on ebay all the time, but has them at her web site or simply by asking anytime!! I got some nice tiny Crinum....all blooming size mind you, but the biggest fits nicely in a 6 inch pot!! Mike at OOA grows them in nothing buy either pure perlite or pure pea gravel.....claims that this mimics reality in Africa or Madagascar where they grow so I'll go with it and see how they do. I've got Cameron sending me a couple of Crinum variabile in Jan along with the Haemanthus....he says it is a winter growing species but Jim Shields has it on his web site that they are hardy in Indiana, zone 5!! By the way, Hosta are deer food in my backyard although I do have maybe a dozen of them. The cardiocrinum are slug food :o)

I just e-mailed a guy in Thailand a few days ago about aroids from over there....he works by having a cooperative of growers and said he could likely let me know what they have in mid-Jan so I may have some species if one or two people want to put an order together....we shall see....maybe nothing!!

Susan, nope I only have C. giganteum......I've seen the others on various web sites, but can not remember where right now.....I'm sure they would all be wonderful!!

I think that Troy is sort of limited by what the guys in FLA want to sell and what sort of mark-up they can get....I would suspect that it is not worth the cost to import Alocasia and the like from Indonesia unless they were really unusual species that could not be had here in the U.S., but maybe there are other reasons.

Here's hoping everyone has a healthy and happy New Year :o) Dan

Dan, let me know if you need someone to pitch in on an order. Tally HO!

Dan, that does make sense, but why does he have a category listed for them at all in that case?

Unlike the rest of you, I have to be careful what I order because it has to be able to reside comfortably in my back yard (zone 7). And looks like I won't have the available plant room for awhile yet. Or the money, for that matter. The doctor and med bills are mounting as we speak. I may have to just rely on the kindness of folks and seeds or tubers that I am able to acquire at minimum cost.

My cardiocrinum is planted next to a hosta, and the slugs go for the hosta and leave my cardiocrinum alone for the most part.

Oh, Happy New Year everyone. Here's hoping for a fabulous 2006. The last 3 months of 2005 have been absolutely treacherous for us here in Oklahoma City.

Susan