Heading to Bob's on saturday

Ok it is official :) I am going to Bob's Smoley's on saturday.
This is not an all together good thing since I am going to be hit on so many levels LOL
Bromeliads, succulents and hoya OH MY!

Chris, Where is he located in Florida? Oh and you will be bring a uhaul? LOL Can't wait til ylou get back..


Dianne

Lorri,
I hope you will have a wonderful time. Please post what you find.
Patti

Please give us a hoya report when you return!

Have fun, make sure you make the house payment befor you go !!!

What a fun time you will have!!!!

This is not meant to rain on your wonderful parade...but just remember that Smoley is famous (infamous?) for mislabeling...which is a mystery to me because he buys from David Liddle. So...just be careful with the IDs. :). Get as many of them babies as you can....the IDs work themselves out!!!

Carol

Have fun! I never knew he ordered from David Liddle. I have gotten a few mislabels from him myself. But he does have a good selection. Seeing that many hoyas in person, ay ay ay!
Heather

(sigh) Some people have all the luck Ü
(it's that location, location, location thing again!)

Have fun, and again....just pick me up one of everything!! HAHAHA!!!!

I agree with Heather, he does have a great selection. Chris I'l D-mail you.....again:-)

Blessings,
Awanda

I'm glad you rained on her parade Carol, I wanted to say something about the labeling but didn't know if I should. I ordered from him once, and only one was labeled correct. But he does have alot of them. Buy one of everything, and figure out labels later !!!

I warned her via D-Mail a couple of days ago. Wish I could go with her. Would be easier for me now. I know what I would stay away from, and could shop by leaves and not worry about tags.

You will have a fabulous time. Hope he has as many hoya at his Florida nursery as he had in PA. If so, you will be thrilled.

His is in Dunnellon FL
http://www.bobsmoleys.com/
LOL and I should be bringing a uhaul..he has TONS of my fascinations..hoyas, succulents, and bromeliads!

Patti and Night..you bet I will post :) I just hope I have money in my account upon returning!

Tami (LOL) that is why I am bringing my husband...so he can keep me in line..though he has his own wishlist..he has been wanting an agave attenuata and he said he IS coming home with one :) Though I thought I was the one that wanted that so bad :) so you won't see me complaining.

Aloha...someone told me he is famous for mislabeling. I figured I would buy what I loved and bring it home :) if you guys can't help me with an id..then I will just love them as NOID plants :)

Tell me about it Heather..I already have goosebumps about going to his place :) Not to mention the succulents and such :)


Hey Nan :) he just moved here from PA lol so was not always my location but you know you are always welcome to anything I have :) and would be happy to pick something up for you if you would like.

I wish you all could come with me :) But I figure I will buy what I love and get red buttons like you suggested Night :) I won't be too worried about names :) and well you guys can help me figure out who is who :)

Oh if anyone wants me to pick something up..shoot me a dmail

I actually have never been there. But I have ordered from him. You will have to tell me all about it, lol!
Heather

I will bring my camera and will see if he will allow me to take pictures to share on the board :)

You are going to have so much fun. Seeing all those wonderful plants will be great, and you will be able to take them home with you. I agree with what everyone said about not worring about the labeling, just get what you want and enjoy them. Looking forward to your report and pictures. Have fun!

Deb

Well I am back from Bob's (phew) wow ..what an experience!!!!! I am still drooling from my nose to my toes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I still have not gone through everything and taken photos and could not take photos there.
For one, I am in a wheelchair and too much four wheeling to take photos and secondly it was pouring much of the time we were there!!!!!!
BUT I got some incredible stuff!!!! So I am eager to share with all of you!!!

I know this is not the agave forum but that is another facination of mine and I picked up a quadracolor agave (I have never heard of this) and it is truly SOMETHING else :)
I also found philodendron Monstera variegated which I have been hunting for forever!

Not to mention all the wonderful hoyas I picked up!

Bob was just a sweetheart. He showed us his whole operation from top to bottom :) He helped me hunt down plants and even pointed some out to me that were unique and exciting :) He also introduced us to his three lovely partners (2 corgies and a St Bernard) who were very eager to assist as tour guides.
All in all it was a wonderful experience and I am sure he will see me again. It was all that I expected and MORE!

For those I picked up for..I still need to go through the lists..Some he only had cuttings of...half price...so I took them :) if you don't want them..that is cool. I would not cry over more hoyas but ..I will get back to you in the next couple of days :)

But anyhow.....He is hightly recommended here :) and I have to say, of the vendors I have visited, he was the most welcoming :)

He even gave us tips on setting up my greenhouse MUCH cheaper then we ever expected to pay. :) That is yrs off when we get land but never to early to look into it :)

Wow, sounds like you had a great day!

Christina

Can't wait to see your pictures, Lorry.

Shirley

Can't wait to hear more Chris, I am also planning a trip in a couple of weeks!!!

Dianne

Sounds as if you had a great trip and did well finding plants on your wish list. Looking forward to seeing your list of new Hoya babies. Hope you got a picture of Bob and the dogs. Would like to see them.
So are you planning your next trip soon!

Deb

Oh goodie, I am glad you had a good time. Lots of hoya??????
Now that you mention it I remember the St. Bernard from when I visited his nursery in PA. Big boy!

Sounds like you had a great time, can't wait to see the photo's of your new hoya.

Can't wait to see your pics! I'm planning on visiting him on June 13th. After that, he said he's going to be away at a show and sale for the rest of that week. I wanted to go down on a Saturday so I could take my time, blah, blah, blah. LOL I'm glad I emailed him and asked when his operation would be open that week! I coulda missed him entirely and that would not have been a good thing!

Oh Lorry - I can hear the excitement (And exhaustion) in your email!
I am sure you had a fabulous time and I can just see you doin' WHEELIES in excitement! hee hee Glad it was a good day. =0)

By the way - - does he still have a greenhouse in PA? I've heard both YES and NO. Anybody know?

Anyways - anxiously awaiting to hear all the detail and see pictures, Lorry. What a great time!

Bets

Yes guys I did have a blast :)
and I am sure you will have a wonderful time in JUNE :) He is just too nice :)


I asked him specifically about that Betsy..and he said no he doesn't. He said they moved the whole operation down here.

Lorry - sounds like you had a great - and worthwhile - time!!

Betsy - road trip????

Hehe if you guys ever wanna take a road trip to his house..You can come stay here with me :) I am a mere 3 hours south of him :) and I have an SUV!

Bob moved his entire operation to Florida a year or so ago. He had a nice setup in PA off to the east of Pittsburgh. He used to have a big sale every summer. People would drive from all over the place to visit. It was pretty cool.

He MOVED IT from PA?! Ah drats!!! =0(

Lorry, me & my sis may just take you up on that offer someday. =0)

Sis - 'Road Trip' nooooow means to FLORIDA! Shall we go?? hee hee

Sure thing :) You guys are welcome here any time :)

Ok I have not taken photos yet..we are having some wonderful rain so everyone went outside for a nice soaking BUT
here is the list I brought home
micrantha
matilda (new variety! Too cute...little hearts)
Red buttons
fungii
kerrii variegated (I already have albomarginata now I have the reverse of that ..green outside and white inside)
Imperialis
australis variegated
purpureofusca
polyneura
parviflora
rigida (sp?) would help if I could read my own writing
Merrelli variegated
multiflora (cuttings)
Retusa (cuttings)
gold star (cuttings)
Verticillata Alabomarginata (cuttings)
Pottsii chang mai (cuttings)
Macrophylla (cuttings)
Membraifolia (cuttings)

Nice list, Chris! Matilda should be cv. Mathilde. You're right, it is really cute.

Christina

And cummingia (sp?)
and YES Christina that is it! She is just adorable!
I paid 25.00 for her but she really is a good sized plant and I adore her :)

Is it cumingiana you mean?

pubicalyx 'Red Button'
purpureo-fusca
cv. Gold Star

It's passed midnight here and those are the ones I can help you with right now. I'm sure others have more to add.

BTW, you can see my little Mathilde here: http://www.myhoyas.com/Hoya%20cv.%20Mathilde%20min.htm

Christina

LOl I found the right spelling it is cumingiana :) Bob's spelling is worse then mine :) yup that is it :) heheh I am still working through his mispellings :)
She is TOOO CUTE!

thanks for the corrections :) I need them!

Your Mathilde is GORGEOUS :)
I will be posting pictures probably tomorrow :) after they soak up all this lovely rain :) I spent the day today repotting everyone :)

You know..I will need to look at mine again..he said it was mathilde but I dont' think it has the blotches on it :)

Could you tell me what IMG stands for and CV?

thanks
Lorry

Lorry, that's what I call a real shopping spree? You did great. I am sure they are going to love the Florida weather and you will soon be sharing pictures of gorgeous blooms.

Deb

It does have the splotches LOL..I just couldn't see them through the water spots :)
I sure hope they like it here :) right now they are still enjoying the rain :)

and I didn't mean IMG..I meant IML I think LOL
It is on one of my plants

IML = Iris Marie Liddle. David Liddle in Australia is one of the BIG BIG BIG hoya growers. He names all of his discoveries "IML" with a number following it. It gets much more complicated than my simple explanation.

CV = Cutivated variety, not a species plant. The letters should be written lower case as below such as:
H. pubicalyx (species?) cv (cultivated variety) Red Buttons
H. pubicalyx (species?) cv (cultivated variety) Pink Silver
H. pubicalyx (species?) cv (cultivated variety) Fresno Beauty


To make it even more complicated there is a plant named HSI 037, it is believed to be the original H. publicalyx. HSI stands for Hoya Society International.

Y'all jump in if my explanation is not technically correct. Don't want to mislead one of the newbies.

I gets even more fun.......

Had to come back and add this.....

In the Jan - Mar 2006 issue of The Fraterna, Ted Green wrote a couple of pages about the difference between a mutant and a hybrid.

Briefly, a mutation or several mutations is what creates new species. He lists hoya that are concidered mutants and lists the hybrid plants as well. The publicalyx varieties I mentioned above are on his list of mutant plants. It's all very interesting.

Susan