Well I figured I should introduce myself. My name is Brian Williams. I am a avid plant collector, hybridizer and nurseryman. I am 28 years old I have been collecting for 15 years. My father and I own and operate a nursery in Louisville KY. I started collecting carnivorous plants and aquatics at a very young age. I still enjoy them but after a run in with a plant called Cyrtosperma Johnstonii I started collecting aroids. I have bought and traded with friends and collectors around the word. After years of collecting it became hard if not impossible to find new plants that interested me. Some plants took years to track down. So I started getting interested in the possibilities of hybridizing new plants. After one year of breeding and talking to some very interesting famous breeders. I found myself making hundreds to thousands of hybrids a year. Currently I am working on the following groups Cannas, Bananas, Colocasia, Alocasia, Amorphophallus and Anthuriums. But I am a person of opportunity and if something is odd and blooming at the same time I will try to cross it with another similar species. Over the past few years my interest in Canna breeding has really spiked. I have been breeding around 500 cannas or more a year for the past 3 years. Some new interesting things have popped up and I hope to share them with you on the forum. I enjoy talking to other collectors so feel free to contact me or ask questions. THANKS
Aroid collector and Hybridzer New to the group
Hmph! I think your ears are a little bigger than mine. LOL
Very nice to meet you. :)
Welcome to the site Brian!!!!
howdy from Richmond, TX
Welcome to DG and from Ky too. Close enough I could raid your gh. lol We have been seeing lots of your stuff here lately so nice to put a face with the name.
My what BIG ears you have!
Been reading about your place here on the forums and it is so nice to have you join us!
what an exciting adventerous life you are having. Look forward to seeing you post more pictures, especially of your creations.
By the way, name of those ears? And ya think I can grow them that big here in CA?
This message was edited Sep 9, 2005 3:39 PM
Great to meet all of you. Glad to find a good group of collectors and hobbiest like myself.
If you live nearby you should really consider visiting before I bring everything in for winter.
The plants in the pic are the true Alocasia Borneo Giant. These should grow well for you they are a lot like Macrorrhiza on steroids. Alocasia robusta is much harder to grow and slower.
Hi Brian... I remember exchanging e-mails with you several years ago. Glad to see that the passion is still alive and growing!! Welcome to this crazy but serious group of plant lovers.
Looking forward to seeing your hybridizing work on the cannas.
Unbelievable????????? beautiful..
Kaleem
welcome brian now that my teeth are out im comming to buy more plants lol welcome my friend
Jerry
Huge so big and beautiful wow.
Glad you told me of the forum Jerry. Always a pleasure to have you visit. THANKS
Glad the teeth are better.
Hi Brian and welcome! It's hard to make me leave the holler, but I've got to plan a road trip to Louiseville now. Wow! I've just started fiendishly aquiring cannas and aroids last year and am loving them to. Our zone has it's limitations, but I sure love going from the English cottage garden look in spring and early summer to the "get out the machete" tropical look of late summer. What's the name of your nursery? Can't wait to see pics of your new creations.
Neal
you have some great looking plants. Im a person who say's why if you going to plant flowers, go big
Brian , its about time you got here! LOL welcome on board.
Kyle
i anyone can make a trip to his nursery please do its the closest jungle i can drive to lol.
Ist really beautifull.
Jerry
Kyle good to hear from you. I was just admiring your canna hybrid seedlings in past post. Hope to talk to you more on the canna breeding. THANKS
Welcome Aboard!
Is that shot from your place?
We were planning a trip down to the nursery next weekend but will wait until after the show.
How long will the plants be out?
Ric
Welcome, Brian! That is one huge, gigantic plant! That would be fun to have next year!
:) Donna
lusting, drooling, coveting...
im sure his plants will be out for a few more weeks but i think ill go take some cool pictures today out there for everyone. Iget to his place every chance i get but its getting close to fall so i think we are both getting allitle depressed.
The plants in the pic are from my last trip to florida at a good friends and hybridizers house. He has these forsale and will be selling them at the aroid show. Mine is about 7ft tall now. I may get another one from him its the hauling them back that gets me but these are fast growers. So smaller ones are a bit cheeper and in 1 to 2 years you can get them this big. The plan is to hybridize with them and get some giant colorful Alocasias.
I usually start digging things up as soon as I get back. Manly the Xanthosomas and Alocasias go in first. Anything I think is really tender. I should be gone from the 14th to 19th or 20th.
Welcome Brian!
Haha...ask Jerry about Uncle Carla. lol
I'm sure we will see you before you leave. I think we are coming out later today. I miss the plants and it's always good to get some pug loving. ; )
I don't get on here much. Work keeps me busy, but this is a great group of people here. I know Jerry thinks the world of them.
And folks I promise you, it doesn't get any better than Brian. I'll never be able to thank him enough. A chance search on the internet found an old article about Brian in our local paper. We went there just looking for a cold hardy banana and bought a couple elephant ears while we were there. Well our passion spread as Brian introduced us to new plants. It was like we were part of the same cloth. Everything Brian loved, collected, bred, hybridized, etc... were stuff that we bought then loved, collected and we are working on the rest. Brian is so knowledgable, I'm almost envious. If he wasn't such a geniunely nice person, I might be. I'm thankful that we found him!
Gotta go argue about the remote! lol
Carla Bradley
(yeah the real CarlaB68. lol)
Welcome Brian, you sure have big ears!
Welcome to DG, Brian. I think my wish list just got even longer. Drooling....So many ariods....so little time.
Welcome Brian, good to see you here at DG. Hope to learn a bunch from you.
Linda
Brian, we really are'nt like those brain-sucking aliens from the old 60's sci-fi flick (well, maybe just a little LOL)!
Colorful Alocasias- Coooolll! What an exciting project. Sure am wishing you great success!
Welcome to Dave's Garden Brian.
Patti
Welcome Brian! Wow, wow, wow.
Erick
LOL!
Looks like her tongue needs pruning :)
Great Shot and Great looking Pug!
Ric
hey everyone this is one of his new hybrids and a link to a bunch of pictures i took at his nursery.
http://voodoo-lily.smugmug.com/gallery/658189
what did ya think of the pic it glows for me as well but whata pretty canna i put a bunch on my site brian
jerry
Hey Brian.
Those are amazing.
I was wondering if you had any Musa X Paradisiaca in your collections a Hawaiian variegated bananna.
Neil
Hello from Sulphur LA..
Wow what a big ear! Been search one for a while...
Tricia
Welcome Brian.....will be watching for your pictures and comments!
Neil I grew Ae Ae twice and have killed it twice. Its now on my wish list. I had it when I first started growing plants and it was one I really stuggled with. I had the plant about 10 years ago and sent a cutting to a friend in Florida to propagate I have sense lost touch with my friend. Hopefully he did well with it maybe I will call him up now that I think about it.
