Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Only about 3 inches long, 1 by Kell

Kell wrote:
I just got your dmail Mommum. You have lapageria lust bad. LOL

AuntB is not a hybird but a member here. LOL. Carlos of UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens (usually called Berkeley Bot) did have many kinds at the sale. And he had new hybrids too. He is their master grower and hybridizer of vines there. Tons of rare passifloras too.

Anyway, to answer your questions, if you do make it to one of their sales make sure you are a member because by the time the general public is let in, things are so picked over. I was only maybe 20 minutes gawking around before I walked into the vine room and the best lapargias were about gone. I got the ones I wanted but not the bigger or the flowering specimens. So the lesson is as the gate opens run for them and do not look left or right.

Second thing is bring lots of money. Sadly, the prices have gone way up. I think I paid $40 last year for a gallon can and this year I paid $60. It maybe that I grabbed the best cultivars and they were marked more, I did not look at the prices of the others. I got the darkest red, a double red, and a picotee. Because I got to the lapergias 20 minutes into the sale, I didn't get any already in flower but others did and they were gorgeous. I got a bit carried away because of all the excitement in the room.

Carlos has tons of plants out for sale, some he keeps replenishing. So if you get there early, you will have lots to pick from. I think but am not positive the lapagerias were all the gallon size but he had passifloras in the 4 inch size also and they were big ones fo rthat size pot.

The nursery elite show up at these sales and they all know what to grab. Because there are real rare gems in small amounts among the common plants nurseries donate for the sale, you really need to know what you are looking at. The competition is stiff. And a few buy the plants at the sale and put them right out on ebay and get so much more for them. I have been watching 2 ebay sellers clean up on what they got so much cheaper at the sales.

Here is pic of some that were already sold. This has 2 plants in the pic.