Dear All, I agree with Paige, that if you want to sure to get what you ordered, buy it straigh from the grower. The very rare species offered by wholesalers are most of the time to attract interest. When ordering the particular item most of the time, it has not yet arrived or is sold out. Concerning the fusion of the flower auctions in the Netherlands this has no direct impact of on the bulb trade. The 2 or 3 bulbtrading houses seem to have no intention of joining together, both have abandoned the auction system and are now mainly selling and buying through internet. Many growers have their own website, thus cutting out very often the middlemen. Kind regards -- Lauw de Jager Bulb'Argence South of France (zone 9 (olive trees) emailto: dejager@bulbargence.com Site http://www.bulbargence.com/ Le 4/03/08 21:21, « Pacific Rim » <paige@hillkeep.ca> a écrit : >It is fairly common for a > wholesaler to list plants on spec, if they have been available in the past, > hoping that they will be available again. And it is > not unheard-of for a small grower to confirm on spec. Crops fail, fools > oversell, shipments are confiscated by ignorant inspectors, or rerouted to > the wrong country, or rot in transit, or survive but prove not to be as > labelled.