Heya! Glad I got a nudge, almost let this pass without our putting together a group buy box with Bill's 10% discount. Local pick-up only.. I do not ship bulbs.

As in the past, we are ordering from http://www.caladiumbulbs4less....

Bill is a class act all the way. We're always excited about getting our bulbs from him! Still, my usual group buy disclaimer applies... in case of unforseen disaster, we all share the risk, meaning if I have to pay you will owe me your share of the money regardless of outcome. I'm not a retailer, so I can't absorb a loss.

You can pick these up as late as the spring plant swap (at my place, date TBA, probably either April 30 or May 6), or you can pick them up sooner (depending on Bill's ship date, which in turns depends on the weather).

In addition to the 10% discount he's offering to ATP members (see his thread on this forum), Bill offers quantity discounts on his bulbs, so combining an order makes sense, especially if you want a few of this and a few of that (and, like me, missed his earlier deal on colossal bulbs).

I really want to take advantage of the great year that FL caladium growers had and get my hands on some of those abundant colossal (and super-colossal) bulbs this year! If you want regular size bulbs, that's OK, but if we're just a couple of colossal bulbs away from the next quantity discount I'd appreciate your ordering the bigger ones. I'm thinking I can put 1 in a pot rather than 3 regular ones, and they should also make stunning specimens spaced along a border. :-)

Ordering: Please order by posting in this thread. To change or add to your order, make a new post. Let me know if your numbers are flexible to help reach quantity discounts. Drum up interest in your favorites for better prices!

Pricing: the discount will help pay for shipping, but since costs have gone up we might have to kick in a little more than the per-bulb cost from Bill's site to cover shipping. I'll add a dollar or two or a couple of percent to each order to cover repackaging here. If your budget is tight, figure that this could be as much as 10% more -- $1 extra for every $10 you spend on bulbs.

Payment: If you've ordered in my group buys before, you can pay me at pick-up. If I don't "know" you or if you order a lot of bulbs, I may ask you to pre-pay before our order is shipped. Thanks!

***
UPDATE: Bill is such a sweetheart, he is letting us mix & match for quantity discounts! I think we're already at 25+, so figure about $3 per bulb plus shipping (the 10% discount will take care of some of the shipping cost, but estimate a conservative 50 cents per bulb when budgeting).

Adding a mix of "extra" bulbs for a couple of friends/neighbors that can't make up their minds other than that they want some.

6 colossal bulbs for Critter's MIL, 10 for Critter's Mom, 6 colossal for Critter, 18 colossal for Aspenhill, 8 colossal for Lisa, 12 colossal for Catmint, 6 extra

total of 66


1 'Blaze'
1 for Catmint

3 'Buck Rogers', colossal green & red
1 for Catmint, 2 for Lisa

1 'Candidum'
1 for Catmint,

1 'Candidum Junior'
1 for Critter(for Mom)

5 'Carolyn Wharton', colossal green & pink with red veins, sun tolerant
5 for Critter (incl. 1 for Critter's Mom, 2 for Critter's MIL, 1 extra)

3 'Florida Sweetheart': pink center, green edge, sun tolerant, great hanging basket variety
3 for Critter (incl. 1 for Critter's Mom, 1 extra)

2 'Fire Chief'
2 for Lisa

3 'Frieda Hemple'
1 for Catmint, 2 for Lisa

12 'Grey Ghost', colossal green & white, sun-tolerant,
6 for Aspenhill, 1 for Catmint, 5 for Critter (incl. 1 for Critter's Mom, 2 for Critter's MIL, 1 extra)

11 'Kathleen', colossal green & pink, sun-tolerant,
6 for Aspenhill, 2 for Lisa, 3 for Critter (incl. 1 for Critter's Mom, 1 extra)

6 'June Bride'
6 for Aspenhill,

2 'Miss Muffet' chartreuse and pink, fairly sun-tolerant, great in a hanging basket
2 for Critter (incl.1 for Mom)

4 'Postman Joyner' red with green edge, sun-tolerant
2 for Catmint, 2 for Critter (incl 1 for Mom, 1 extra)

5 'Red Flash', colossal green & pink & red, sun-tolerant,
2 for Catmint, 3 for Critter (incl 1 for Mom,1 extra)

5 'Scarlet O'Hara', colossal lime green leaf with red center and red veins, semi-shade
2 for Catmint, 3 for Critter (incl. 1 for Mom, 2 for MIL)

2 'White Christmas', dramatic white veining
1 for Catmint, 1 for Critter (for Mom)

total colossal: 66

non-colossal bulbs:

10 regular size 'Gingerland' for Lisa

Jill,
I am in for 'Grey Ghost' - full order for myself, largest size, and will go in on more if anybody else wants this one.

I am also interested in potentially sharing partial orders of what other people are wanting. The ones that caught my eye are 'Moonlight', 'Florida Elise', 'Kathleen', 'Pink Cloud', 'Pink Beauty', but I am pretty flexible and will wait to see what is generated from interest lists...

Grey Ghost is on my list, too. I like the softer look of its green-white combo. They are sun tolerant, too, although better with a little afternoon shade.

I want some for me and some for my mom, could do as many as 10 colossal. Nice price break if we get to 25... $34 for 10 colossal, $75 for 25 colossal. Hope more folks will be in for doing the colossal ones? (Regular size is $12 for 10, $26 for 25... and I'm willing to bet that 1 colossal bulb will have more impact than 3 regular ones.)

Here's the page of "colossal" bulbs: http://www.caladiumbulbs4less....

thanks, Critter, for doing this again! I really like a variety, but usually only plant about 10-12 Caladium bulbs a year. Could I get just two each of:

Grey Ghost
Kathleen Red
Gingerland
Florida Elise
Moonlight
Red Flash

Catmint, as far as I can see Bill isn't selling just 2 of a variety, and so far between us I don't think Aspenhill & I are ordering more than 3 varieties ('Grey Ghost', 'Kathleen' and maybe 'Red Flash').

If you want more of an assortment, check out his mixes or caladiums by the pound. He's listing 10 mixed grade 1 bulbs for $11, add $1 more if you want to choose between white, pink, and red varieties. He also has some nice labeled assortments if you look on the "collections" page, http://www.caladiumbulbs4less.... . If there's a collection that catches your eye, LMK... maybe we can just split a collection and a set of colossal Grey Ghost.

That sounds like a good idea, Critter. I have to admit to being very partial to red caladiums. I'm fine with whatever works for the group.

I'm most interested in the colossal bulbs Bill has this year... some varieties are only available as smaller bulbs (still the big #1 grade that we're used to seeing from him).

Terri, Robin... How many colossal bulbs do you want altogether, or -- maybe a better question -- what do you want to spend?

Regular size bulbs are $1-1.50 (depending on quantity and variety); colossal bulbs are $3-3.50 (shipping per bulb will be more with the colossal ones of course since they are so much bigger).

Figure on putting 1 colossal bulb where you might otherwise put 3 regular ones (for instance, in a 10" pot or hanging basket). Bill suggests 5 grade1 bulbs in a 12" hanging basket, so I'm guessing you could use 2 colossal bulbs instead.

Catmint, I don't see a "Kathleen Red" -- 'Kathleen' is pretty much light pink with green margins. ? Also, do you need sun-tolerant varieties? (I need a couple sun-tolerant bulbs, but most of mine will be for my mom, and she has mostly shade.)

Am I too late to chime in? Just saw caladiums in containers on Pinterest. Looked fab. Would like 1-2 colorful colossal bulbs, say, $20-$30 range total.
Thanks.

Hi Critter I was just picking up on varieties that I thought others had mentioned. Whatever the group ends up with will be fine for me.

Great news!! Bill says we can mix & match the colossal bulbs for quantity savings... I'm sure we can get to 25, maybe 50. I'll talk to him soon for particulars.

Lisa, you'll get more like 8 bulbs for that cost! or did you mean 1-2 of a given variety?

Bill also mentioned that Gingerland doesn't make big enough bulbs to be called colossal, but maybe we'll get some jumbo sized ones.

Oops. Looked like colossals were an average $17.95/each. Glad to hear otherwise. I too like the varieties GG, Kathleen, Red Flash and Gingerland. Please put me in for $25 or so. Flexible about color combo.
Thanks.

I'll put you in for an assortment, Lisa! Appreciate your flexibility.

Catmint, go to the "colossal" page and tell me which ones and how many of each, please. Also LMK if you want 'Gingerland'.

Aspenhill is under the weather but will hopefully be back soon to finalize her choices.

We've got some warm weather in the forecast next week, good for shipping caladiums! Let's try to finalize over the weekend, maybe by Monday for sure. Spread the word!

I'm sorry--I'm feeling very confused right now. Are there particular colossal bulbs that we are ordering that I need to choose from to help fill out a bag? I also was thinking they run $15+ per bulb, is that not right?

Where are you getting that $ amount from? I looked above for a typo on my part and didn't find one. The prices on Bill's webpage are for MULTIPLE bulbs. :-)

Bill told me over the weekend that he will let us pick & choose our own assortment of Colossal bulbs... so you can order any number you want of any variety on the "colossal" page (or 'Gingerland'). He will give us a discount based on the total number (25, 50, etc). Right now, I think we're likely to get to 50 total, which for most varieties means a price of $3 per bulb plus shipping. Sweet!!

Yippie!

Jill, that is great news that Bill will let us mix and match. I'm pretty sure the others were getting that $ amount from the web page - i.e. seeing the price $17.95 under the photo but not realizing that the price was for 5 bulbs not 1, just as you thought weren't looking at it as MULTIPLE bulbs. Anyway, here is what I want to order of the colossal:

Grey Ghost - qty 6
June Bride - qty 6
Kathleen - qty 6

The other ones that I was potentially interested in weren't available in the colossal size, but I'm happy with these. Also, let me know if it ends up that we need a few more to make the next price break.

That's what I thought folks might be looking at... sorry, didn't mean to shout "multiple."
:-)

If everybody could post their order similarly, that would be great! Then we'll see what we need to get to the next price break. Bill always treats us well and then some!

ha ha - caps isn't shouting, it is EMPHASIZING lol...

@Catmint20906 and @5601Lisa Since Bill is letting us mix and match on the colossal bulbs, please let me know *exactly* what you would like from the list of colossal bulbs: http://www.caladiumbulbs4less....

thanks, Critter. Sorry I have been out of pocket--thanks for the reminder, and how nice of Bill!! Thanks for working out this deal with him.
I would like:

Buck Rogers--1
Postman Joyner--2
Red Flash--2
Scarlett O'Hara--2
Grey Ghost--1
White Christmas--1
Candidum--1
Blaze--1
Frieda Hemple--1

thanks so much!
Robin