World's most expensive snowdrop
22 February 2012
Mail order plant and seed company Thompson & Morgan has recently acquired the world’s most expensive snowdrop Galanthus woronowii 'Elizabeth Harrison'.
The snowdrop caused a frenzy with more than 30 bidders attempting to buy it, but Thompson & Morgan was successful, bidding a staggering £725! The previous world record price was £360 for Galanthus 'Green Tear'.
Last year Thompson & Morgan sold more than one million snowdrops and is hoping to add Galanthus woronowii 'Elizabeth Harrison' to its snowdrop selection. Although snowdrops are often slow to multiply, the company is hoping to speed up the process by investing in micropropagation; however it will still be many years before this bulb is available to the public.
Galanthus woronowii 'Elizabeth Harrison' was named after the owner of a Scottish garden where the snowdrop first appeared and has not to been identified anywhere else. It is golden with a yellow ovary and yellow markings on the petals.
It is not the first time that Thompson & Morgan has invested in its range of bulbs. In 1998 the company bought a black hyacinth called 'Midnight Mystique' for £50,000.