Agapanthus colours

Andzik

In spring 2016, I visited a flower market stall in Amsterdam selling dry agapanthus roots. Apart from the usual blue and white varieties, I was very surprised to see ones which were described on the labels as being 'pink', 'red' or 'yellow'. I bought a yellow and pink one; a friend who was with me bought a red one. The stall where we bought them was recommended by a tour guide who said that there were many unreliable sellers there. I kept the labels from the two which I bought - see attached images. I tried internet searches to identify the grower, but with no success as there are no useful details on the labels. Needless to say, my friend and I had wasted our money as none of the roots grew. Other oddities which were being sold were tulip bulbs (some of which were in hermetically sealed metal tins), which were guaranteed to flower if planted asap (this was late April). We also bought some of these - amazingly, some of these did bloom later that spring. It is the agapanthus plants that I am most concerned about, as the colours we bought are not supposed to exist. How could growers and sellers get away with such a scam?

pansyface

Caveat emptor.

Fairygirl

 "How could growers and sellers get away with such a scam? "

Because people keep buying them  


The internet is full of scams - even better than that. Rainbow striped, multi coloured oddities of all kinds, in photoshopped pix. Usually seeds, which turn out to be weeds. Every year, there are forum threads about them. 

Lyn

For less than £5.00 you can buy these lovely seeds 😀

Fairygirl

Smashing @Lyn 
I'm of the opinion that if folk are daft enough to buy those, you can't really blame the sellers for flogging them. 

Lyn

I feel the same,  it’s funny though that some people genuinely don’t know,  one of those firms put multi coloured flower seeds on arse book and there were thousands of comment and likes,  people genuinely thought they were real.  
I reported it and had it taken off but I’m sure hundreds of people bought them.