That should get your attention.
Has anyone else noticed how magazine writers, book authors, etc. will mention this little thing, but the plant itself does not seem to exist?
I've been chasing seeds for the Japanese variegated hops for a long time now, and after having searched he forums, found that no one else looking for it ever found it.
Does anyone have it, has anyone grown it, has anyone seen it in a catalogue (not Hudson, he can't get it...) has anyone heard of someone who had it, or for any matter, has anyone even seen one?
I'm telling you, folks, this annual vining plant is a myth.
(But I would still murder to get one, and reward a person greatly who found it)
K. James
CLOSED: WILL KILL for Humulus japonicus.
Hi Kenton,
Chiltern Seeds in Great Britain carries that!
www.edirectory.co.uk/chilternseeds/
I find they have stuff that no-one else does, and are wonderful to deal with.
Good luck, Cheryl
B & T lists it also.
Well, I hope after an order of £5.52, I should have some of them from Chiltern, in "4-10 days" Thank you so much, Cheryl! (-and Budgie, B&T may attract me when I'm looking for other rarities)
But the fact remains, why on earth have they lost popularity (and availability) in the states? Perhaps the war on Drugs has decided to completely erradicate family Cannabaceae!
K. James
I find it interesting that there are fashions in plants, just like anything else, I read an article last year, in which gladiola were described as "over the top vulgar"......
I guess I have poor taste, then, becase I LOVE gladiola.
Glads are awesome! Who could call them such demeaning words?
I have this terrible tendency of growing things one season before they become fashion 'trashy.' I am only one step ahead of the trends, usually. I had Double red Ipomoea and folks thought they were unbeleivable and rare; recently I saw packets of them at Home Depot!
Does Home Depot mean they are passe?
Not rare is Passe for me!
If visitors don't say "What is that!?" then It isn't doing the job.
An' lookin' at Home Depot means them ain't rare no more.
Oh, Kenton, you isn't one of those one-upmanship type dudes, is ya?
Rare here in a teeny tiny town like this, is anything that isn't a petunia or a geranium!!
Naw, me?
But I don't like a garden that acts obedient and sits in its place like a mute and loyal dog, (who, when you turn back to look at it, is always doing exactly what you expect it to do) no- I like a tendril to hang out and grasp a passerby, flowers that make a jaw drop or make a person think I'm lying to them: "No really, it's a banana and it lives outside." I would just love for a car to slow down, so that I know the driver- a victim of life- in the car has been galvanized from his stupor...
A tree that stands tall and green, looking like a tree?
Or something that bursts into bloom with the most unusual color and shape, politely but loudly asking drivers-by to slow down and smell the aesculus...
Gardens (and gardeners, subsequently) have such a demure niche in our world, why can't they be more exciting? I know that it is unlikely that a lady who walks her kids to school and passes my garden will have the same heart-pattering reaction to a certain new flower culitvar, but darned if I don't try to share that excitement with the world!
Shock'em Cheryl!
Knock'em out with a ten-foot square of hot-pink annuals, Stun'em with a laburnum's long, golden sping attire. Make'em blink with a trio of Trachycarpus. Double-tak'em with a hedge of fine Brugmasia in elegant harmony. Make that impressionable child walking home wonder where he really lives with a grove of wise Bamboo...
Want any seeds of this Humulus if I manage to propagate it?
I'd love some!
When we lived in Ucluelet, I had a HUGE bed of plain old mixed nasturtiums in the back, where not much else would grow, studded with dark red sunflowers and Shirley poppies and we had people stop and just stare - it was smack you in the face gardening, and I had lots of people tell me they drove out of their way just to see it.
That was fun.
Mmmmm. Nasturtiums...
My friend grows shirlies. She lives parallel to a main artery, and many folks drive by out of the way to see her garden. She has no front yard, just solid flowers. I think the Shirlies are the biggest climax. But judging from the hundreds of bulbs I planted for her this past fall, I think the poppies will be outdone by Narcissus. I love to watch her neigbors stop, smell, and look around when I'm working in her garden. she brightens a lot of folks' days.
People have got to be the icing on the top of the cake of flower-growing. I got a heart-warming message on my phone-machine last spring that called the Early waterlily tulip patch "soul food."
This last late summer, I was in front watering when I heard a mother speaking in spanish to her daughter about a plant that she remebered in Mexico. I invited them to my back garden and gave them my surplus veg that wasn't getting eaten. I was amazed and pleased at how many plants in my garden the mother said she used to grow in ol' Mexico. Dahlias, Nasturtium ("Masturzo") Castor beans, Papaya...
Is Ucluelet part of Nanaimo?
Ucluelet is a teeny tiny fishing village on the west coast of the island, about another hour and a half north of here -the road goes first to Ucluelet, and then about another half-hour further along, ends at Tofino.
We lived there 7 years, and when we moved down here, it was like moving to California - sunshine all summer! heat! less rain! No more hideous windstorms with gusting to 150 k!
People here in Port actually used umbrellas - the rain here is gentle and civilised. not horizontally into your face, like up there...
And it's so easy to garden down here, with all the sunshine in the summer.
My delphiniums are 3 times the height, etc.
C.