I for one am gasping and salivating at "Naughty Norma" and "Kaitlin" and "Natalie" and... Laurier - you are evil!!! (but expect an email from me :)

Thanks Anna! I forgot to mention or maybe I was not specific enough, the $20/bulb is for the $10.50 bulb. Better said, add $10 to the price of the bulb you want. That is more accurate. A $17 bulb would cost $27 for example. But that will certainly be higher due to the fact that I'm still missing some costs. Sorry for not having been clear enough.

Laurier

Hi Laurier, I actually got a few bulbs from OZ before.....not that big of a deal......yes, shipping is expensive, but beyond that you only have to pay the phyto fee and your wire transfer fees. There were no other unknown costs when I did it 2x from OZ and the other 30 or more times from various countries around the world. I checked their site previously, but they did not have anything I wanted.....was hoping for rare Crinum, Amorphophallus and Typhonium from OZ, but they did not have any....total bummer :o) Dan

Hi Dan, The figures I have so far are this from their email:

"Costs involved in exporting to Canada (or anywhere else) are high. Quarantine costs here would cost about $160.00 plus courier costs to AQIS for inspection about $120.00 and also export certificate about $100.00. These are approx figures but wouldn't be far out."

That's more than $400 (canadian) and it doesn't include shipping yet, a figure that I should get sometime soon with more precision, so far I only have a very rough idea that tells me that the additional costs per bulb would be around $10 more than listed on their site (including all fees).

I haven't had a look at their other stuff since I'm after hippeastrum only and found they had some cultivar not seen anywhere or different enough from the ones we know well, enough to be of interest, to me anyway, and may be to several other persons. I fully understand though that they may not be of interrest to many peoples, for all kind of reasons: not different enough, costs, etc.

I suppose that if anyone wants anything very rare, he/she must find that one special dealer that has these items, establish a particular relationship in order to gain access to that treasure. At least, that's what I used to do when I was importing orchids for myself or for group orders similar to what I'm trying to do with this order.

Say Dan, have you ordered from Maguire before or was it only from somewhere else in this country? If you have ordered from them, would you mind sharing what was your experience with them? They seem very reliable and Veronica Read only has good words for them in her book.

Thank you for sharing that information Dan, and if anyone else has more to add, they are more than welcomed to do it.

Laurier

Hi Laurier, Wow, that is rediculous!!! I have not ordered from them, but individuals have obtained proper permits to ship plants to me from OZ. There were no quarantine requirements to obtain the phyto and they went to the local AQIS site so did not have to courier the bulbs (Dracontium, Hippeastrum, Typhonium, Amorphophallus) and saved that cost as well. I can believe that the phyto is $100 because the guys in OZ charge more than any other country in the world (or atleast more than China, Thailand, Latvia, England, India, South Africa), but as I said, the small suppliers (3 different ones) I purchased from did not have the other costs so I have no idea why this place does.....maybe they are too big and can not manage like the individuals I have dealt with!! Good luck with your order though :o) Dan

Hello again Dan,

Would it be too much to ask where you ordered from, their web site for instance? If you don't want to post them here, you can always send me an email. How long ago did you order from this country? Could these fees be somewhat new because of new regulations? I know that as a rule, it seems that companies involved in selling bulbs are very reluctant to order from Australia because of the very high costs and the very high price they would have to ask for their bulbs.

I like the fact that Maguire has many different cultivar to choose from. Do the smaller merchants you have dealt with have a good choice or is it limited to only a few?

Up to now, I have for around 50 bulbs from 3 potential participants. Let's hope we can work it out!

Laurier