Thankfully we had a rainy day today so I was able to gather a few photos of our recent visit to PHOE in Miami! The first one is of one of the ponds that greet you in the parking lot. Unfortunately by the time we paid for our purchases we were tired and hot and I didn't take as many as pictures as I would have liked to.
This is the start of the display area - a huge island with some plants in the ground and some gorgeous Begonias on pedestals for viewing.
Tne next pictures are of some of the Begonias on pedestals in the island and in the center of the sales area.
Not sure but this one might be B. acetosa
You can't tell from this picture because of the sun shining on it, but the leaves were dark, dark maroon, almost black. This is one we left behind because my husband wasn't impressed with it.
This one we did pick up - B. paleata
This one was displayed but not available. However, they were willing to give us a cutting for $3.50 - but I don't have a name!
Lali, the next ones are for you :) Three shots of the sales area - this one from the center
And to the left:
And to the right - these just seemed to go on forever and forever - not only did they have pots on the benches, but under the benches as well!
Now to pay up and get out of here - we spent almost 2.5 hours here! (This pic doesn't even show the large box on the floor next to the cart!)
A close up of the cart - B. imperialis (on the right) was one of my favorites and they had hundreds!!!! I had really wanted to pick up some of the Episcias they usually carry, but unfortunately there were very few due to the hurricane damage to their suppliers.
Now I'm REALLY afraid to go. I better go with someone and let them hold my wallet! There's no way I can take plants like that home. Perhaps they will just do a bunch of cuttings for me? I can see it now, I'll be sitting on the plane with two huge begonias on my lap, one stuffed under the seat in front of me and several in my carry on bags in the overhead compartment
How in the world did you have such self control. I better just move to Florida! We got down to 27-28º night before last. Lots of frost!!
Lost an EE and some plectranthus that were not covered. :-(
Although it IS Palm Hammock ORCHID Estates, they only had one greenhouse with orchids, all non-blooming and since Orchids are an 'impulse' purchase for me based on what what I see flowering, we didn't have much to choose from. Possibly the lack of blooming orchids was also due to the hurricanes. However, they did have a few in the display area. This one, a cattleya - 'Betty Ford', was for sale in a couple of locations and was the most fragrant Orchid I've come across. They had one located in a small gift shop on the premises and the minute you walked in the door the whole place was filled with its incredible fragrance!
Lali, LOL - as I was waiting for my dragging DSL to finish posting the last picture, your message showed up. Funny thing is all I could think of was you and how you were going to get these back on the plane with you!
Ok, this is the last one for PHOE. Trying to pack everything in the van - this doesn't even show the box of plants our friend took home, extra plants behind the passenger's seat, plus the Vanda Orchid that was hanging inside the van!
Lali, the only good news I can give you is that they sell alot of the plants in 3"-4" size ($7.50), but the larger pots ($10.00) were much more enticing :) I really envy you attending the meeting in March - figure that PHOE will have everything 'spruced' up by then and have tons of beautiful Begonias for sale.
We also purchased a few other Begonias in Florida, as well as a few freebies from a supplier that we deal with (B. 'Rajah' and B. carolinifolia). I'm going to try to get photos of all of them so we can get them identified because some were not labeled. My only disappointment was that I couldn't find B. luxurians or B. aconitofolia at any of our stops :(
take a look at this b. luxurians I found yesterday at Ace hardware in Oakland (Kell turned me on to it a while back but yesterday was the first time I was able to get down there)
Pooh! It had a sold tag on it! (belonged to the owner really who is an expert gardener I'm told.
At an Ace Hardware store???? Geez, unfair to tempt you like that and then not have any for sale! Yes, I remember Kell's posting of her pic of B. luxurians and kicking herself for not picking up B. carolinifolia - I've wanted luxurians ever since! And then...when I got Mark Tebbit's book, I wanted it even more. Now I'm driving my husband crazy because after reading Mark's book we HAVE to go to Montreal Botanical Garden and maybe even NYBG to check our their collections. Already making my plans for our trip to Philadelphia Flower Show in March and see what we can find along the way for nurseries/garden centers to check out for their Begonia selections. We also checked out Baker's Acres site and have added it to our agenda for next summer's trip to Michigan (it's right on our way - well, almost). It's sad isn't it when you start planning your travel route around nurseries that you can check out for Begonias?
Be sure to get to Glasshouseworks nursery too (within 3 hrs from Bakers I think? ) Goodolbake are you out there?
my b. luxurians is about 7" tall now with some new leaves! Woo Hoo! I ordered one, and hopefully it will come looking like the one above.
I also have 3 rooted b. 'stewart's luxurians' - they are only just putting out roots now. no leaves yet, just sticks.
p.s.
http://glasshouseworks.com/
rcn48
Those are wonderful pics! Thanks so much for sharing them. I still have a few begonias left from my old collection andjust thought I'd peek in the forum to see the pics.Wow I'm glad I did.:)
I really was admiring your Episcia, too.That thing looks huge!
Thanks for the tour!
MsC
MsC, we were disappointed that they didn't have more Episcias to choose from. This one was in a 2" pot but 12" of trailing growth which will hopefully provide cuttings to make more.
Lali, I've been to Glasshouse Works before but always find their site so frustrating - on our dial up it takes forever to load. Tested my patience this morning and have spent the last hour checking out their selections! We have added it to our list to stop by this summer since it's not far from the route we take - looks like we'll have to spend an extra day on the road if we're going to both Glasshouse Works and Baker's :) We had placed a large order ($300+) with GW three or four years ago and never even received a response so I had kind of given up on them, but a visit to their place will be so much more fun!
They have a version of their web site just for dial up. Have you tried it?
here's the link.
http://glasshouseworks.com/textsite/index.html
i'm on DSL so I dont know if it makes a difference for you. But if you haven't tried it, it's worth a shot. And yes, the website is frustrating at any speed.
Im still waiting for Bakers to add photos and do mail order. (hint hint)
Hey, I dabble in web design... do ya think they'd trade begonias for web design?.....hmmmm LOL
Yes, I HAVE to use the dial up version - otherwise it takes forever to load. Although it's better, it still takes a long time.
Still more rain here so took the opportunity and made an inventory of all our Begonias this morning. 51 and that doesn't count duplicates!!!! I'm determined to get them all identified so I need to get busy taking pictures. Unfortunately alot of them look pretty sad after making the adjustment to being brought indoors so I need to hurry before they lose all their leaves. Even if they do lose their leaves, I don't give up on them - then when we get them back outside next spring they usually bounce right back.
Forgot to ask - do you get The Begonian? They gave us a complimentary issue while we were at PHOE and the picture of Luxurians on the cover is incredible!
I do get the Begonian. It's given with the membership to the ABS.
Cant wait to see your list of begonias. Please do post and expecially those with no id.
Here's a shot of my greenhouse a few weeks ago. It's more stuffed now due to the cold weather. But counting them all is a daunting task. Suffice it to say there are over 100 but I have no idea just how many i have.
Yeah, we're here. We pop in from time to time.
Glasshouse is about 1 hour and 45 min. south of us - near Athens, OH. We are a little northeast of Columbus.
Another site you might try is Firmly Planted. http://www.firmlyplanted.net/ It's the closest thing to Baker's Acres mail order without actually being Baker's Acres.
Kevin Reiner does a great job. The site will be updated for 2006 around the first or the year.
If you're in the area and you're interested in very unusual succulents, then Out Of Africa is the place for you
http://www.out-of-africa-plants.com They are about 15 miles north of us.
Let's not forget one of the premier Hosta gardens and nurseries in the country, Wade and Gatton.
http://www.wadegardens.com/ They are about an hour north.
Dave & Chris
This message was edited Nov 29, 2005 4:26 PM
Very cool! thanks for the links.
Dave & Chris - thank you so much for the links! We're putting together a list of stops on our trip to Michigan next summer and it's looking like we'll be adding another day to our itinerary so we can take it all in! Kevin's site (Firmly Planted) is great and I really enjoyed the links. My husband went to Dennison so he's very familiar with the Granville area :) We're still putting Baker's at the top of our list and hoping to meet both of you next June!
Debra
Debra,
The shot of your car looks very familiar right down to the bulb crate to hold plants.
It's not unusual for us to out-buy the capacity of the car. UPS Store to the rescue. Here's a tip if you don't already know: the plants are easily watered with a couple ice cubes placed in the top of the pot.
The pic that you thought might be acetosa is probably Morocco.
Looking forward to your visit. We're only 5 miles from Granville.
Chris
Chris, aren't those bulb crates wonderful? We use them for everything, even as our 'suitcases' so we can stack them and make more room for plants :) We've used the ice cube 'trick' before in a pinch, but usually have small water bottles "just in case" we pick up something in our travels.
The acetosa you thought was Morocco is definitely different. We have Morocco and it's more red, this one was definitely pink. I have to email Tim at Palm Hammock for id on a couple of the plants we bought and even though we didn't pick this one up (kicking ourselves now), I still want to know what it is for future purchases or on our return to Palm Hammock next year.
For our visit up your way, we're thinking of hauling the trailer - what do you think? :)
You may need it because I've got a list of Michigan 'must visits' you may or may not know about. Maybe a semi trailer.
Debra, Yours might be b. boomer (note the roundness to the leaves) Here are some comparison photos (NOTE: i do not own these photos, they were collected on the web)
I have b. orococo, morocco, and art hodes and they don't look like yours (have more serrate leaves - more 'pointy' than yours) but mine are also young plants.
But then again, yours looks like a cross between one of these five (in the photo) and a Brazilian species I have too.
You should post it to the yahoo forum. Tim reads it so he could id it for you.
goodoldbake, Please share your list of Michigan "must visits". I'm always looking for new ones to visit. Please list Ohio ones too. I will be going to Columbus and Dayton in May. I would like to make a few nursery stops along the way. Thanks.
Chris, no semi, but the trailer may be a necessity :) Even with the seats removed from the van we still always run out of room! Looking forward to Michigan "list".
Lali, Boomer sounds familiar so maybe that's it! We saw so many at PHOE and I got so confused - kind of like a "kid in a candy store". I really need to figure out how to use the recording feature on my digital camera so I won't have this problem in the future. I have a bunch of pictures from the botanical gardens we visited in Florida without names that I need to post in the ID forum so I can label them. I was thinking of emailing Tim directly but posting them in the yahoo forum sounds even better, more "brains to pick" - thanks!
rcn48,
wow thanks for sharing all those pictures. i am actually going there today or tommorrow. i was supppose to go on monday but i got called in to work.they are always short staffed and besides i am sure i will need the extra money for all the plants i will buy. i will take pictures and post them later.
cass
that place is incredible. boy my neck will be sore tommorrow from looking around all day. ha.i will put pictures later.
rcn48 you weren't kidding about betty ford. just intoxicating
candela, glad you finally made it to PHOE. I said something to my friend the other day who had visited with us about IF we go next year and she immediately said, what do you mean IF??? We're slowly getting her "hooked" on Begonias but her main interests are the Orchids. When she got back to Virginia she immediately ordered 'Betty Ford' so I'll get to enjoy the fragrance when hers blooms :)
This message was edited Dec 2, 2005 4:08 AM
here are a few pictures of my plants
as you can see i also got the b.paleata. todays favorite.
