You know you have it bad when you start selling beloved items for plants. When i was the hottest hosta hybridizer I had people offering me heirloom jewelry and other valuables in exchange for hosta!
Of course even worse would be standing next to the highway with signs that say "Will Work for Plants"!
Oh, I'd take a rejected, headed-for-the-compost-pile seedling.
Patty has the right idea!
Just kidding, I'd never expect anything.
I'm happy just to have the name possibly be considered for a possible naming in the possible future, possibly.
Living in a valley full of iris hybridizers I definitely know the feeling of "I want that plant NOW". Almost everything comes onto the market in a couple years and I just enjoy the wait. Often times I get something in my own seedling bed that is better by the time the coveted plant is introduced even as I can do a similar cross myself. However, I DO understand the feeling! Most of us seem to have that "collecting instinct" that makes us want to have one of everything too. I used to be that way but now I'd rather have just the choice things and in just a few genera. This year I've already marked a few semps that "gotta go" to make room for something better.
I don't know how many of you have had this happen but at my parents' place in MA, several of the beds were out near the road and people would occasionally steal plants in these beds, mostly at the wrong time of year for transplanting. Ironically, my mom gave all sorts of plants away each year and had these people stopped and asked they would have been given a piece of most anything.
The only one that saddened my mom was the theft of a big clump of her namesake hosta. It was a huge clump. At the time it was selling for $100/ division so these crooks did know a good one!
I've been very lucky so far with no theft of my plants. A gazing ball once, but better than a plant! And we even live on a busy highway. What a shame you have to deal with that.
Am glad your yards have been spared any major theft. Since I've been in Oregon I haven't lost anything either and in MS I had a TALL FENCE around the garden. You couldn't tell I had anything of interest in there until the gate was opened. Here in Oregon I'm fairly far out in the country and the property 's access is limited from the road.
Still, I'm always glad when I give my plants to Toby for safe-keeping. One deer hoof could completely obliterate a semp so there is more danger than just a thief!
I don't have theft of plants here but the area has it share of home invasion. I'm well off the road and the chief of police lives next door to me. So there is a police car in the driveway. I also have 2 big dogs. Not a good place for those kind of people.
