The 2020 Bulb & Seed Exchange list has now closed.
The Southern African Bulb Group will be running its Annual Bulb and Seed Exchange again this year, for SABG members only. We are hoping to run the exchange on the same timing as last season, so material is sent out in early September, and can be planted and started into growth in a timely fashion. I know this caused problems for a few of you, but generally it worked very well.
This Exchange is now a key part of our activities, so we are hoping for at least as many of you as before, if not more, to provide your spare bulb or seed material for the benefit of other members! It has been a difficult spring, but I am hoping that many of you will have had more time to spend in your garden collecting seeds, and will have a chance to get the summer repotting done nice and early.
Please note that although we call it an exchange, if you don’t yourself have material to offer, you will still be able to request seeds or bulbs from the list in exchange for a suitable donation to cover at least the cost of postage and packing. The page on Payments provides some information on ways to pay.
I would like to clarify our policy regarding sending items to overseas members. We are only able to send material to overseas members in ways complying with their government’s regulations (i.e. no mis-labelling of contents etc), and only when conforming with those regulations is neither too onerous, nor expensive (e.g. we cannot issue phytosanitary certificates etc). We expect the relevant member to be able to guide us in following their government’s requirements. Although we’ll do our best to comply with the regulations where possible, we cannot be held responsible for any bulbs or seeds which are confiscated.
In effect, this means that we are unable to send bulbs outside Europe, but can send seeds to some countries, if the member is conversant with their regulations.
The timetable this year is as follows:
• Genus • Species (including subspecies / cultivar name where relevant) • Source (when the item is derived from wild collected material it is useful to know a location for the collection) • Notes (any other information about the item you feel is useful) • Seed or Bulb • South African or 'Other' • Approximate quantity (for bulbs and large seeds)
I hope you find this exercise valuable and perhaps obtain some new plants. Of course, its success depends on the generous efforts of the donors, so please check whether you have some spares you can donate.
Best wishes
Jon Evans
[Copyright © 2021 by the Southern African Bulb Group and Richard White.]