maybe this is silly, but I realize there are a lot of new faces (and old faces) and I don't think we have an introductions thread. Some things you might want to share (meaning, I wanna know!):
- what gesneriads you like and grow
- what other plants you grow
- where you grow (home, greenhouse, yard, terrarium etc.)
- anything else you want to tell us
introduce yourself !!!
okay, here's mine.
I joined this forum right after MsC got it started. I grow a lot of gesneriads - sinningias, codonanthes, episcias, kohlerias, and the odd streptocarpus, alsobia, nematanthus, achimenes, columnea, aeschynanthus...... Probably the bulk of my plants are from seed or rhizomes or cuttings.
I also grow a lot of orchids (mostly ones without big flowers). I also like hoyas, mexican pings (a new interest), tillandsias, begonias (though I can't grow most of them), and woodland perennials like arisaema (jack in the pulpits - especially the asian ones) and tricyrtis (toad lilies) and polygonatum (solomon's seal) etc. Another recent interest is succulents like stapelias and epiphytic succulents.
My growing areas are (1) the growing shelves indoors, which are lighted by fluorescent tubes or compact fluorescents, (2) the office windowsill which faces SE (great!) and has the A/C vents above (bad!), and (3) the balcony which is 100% shade in winter and half morning-sun in the summer.
I also have a couple of small terrariums (hopefully a bigger one soon) and a lot of clear plastic sweaterboxes full of seedlings.
My real interest in plants is propagation, so some day I hope to have a nursery so I can propagate to my heart's content and not have to worry about running out of space. (And get some money back!) For the moment, though, I have a job that keeps me in front of the computer all day most days.....
ummm.... what else... The favorite thing in my gessie toolbox is - I hate to say this - imidacloprid. (toolbox thread is here: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/577582/) I would have lost the mealie battle long ago without it.
and... I have photos on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ki/sets/
Ki
(pronounced like "key")
This message was edited Jun 29, 2006 10:12 PM
This message was edited Jun 29, 2006 10:13 PM
hey there! i haven't really told you about me much. i am glad you started this. i have been on the a.v. board since march of 2006 and am enjoying it so much! i have found soooooo many special people. okay this is me....i am kelly i am 26 will be 27 in august. i have 3 kids ages 10, 8 and 4. i am a stay at home mom. i just got my first a.v. leaves in march of 2006 and had never grown a.v.s before this or their kin. i am now into episcias and they are becoming a fast favorite! i love most any plant! i just stared up my houseplants this spring and didn't have any really before this. i am also into any kind of lilies as you can tell from my name : ) dave's garden has been great for me as my hubby works out of town and is mostly home on the weekend. the kids do keep me very busy so there are times i miss a few days. i for the most part try and keep up the best i can. i hate missing days at dave's garden because i feel i am missing lots!!!
kelly
My name is Diane, 61 yrs. young with many health problems that keep me at home and very slow moving but I am happy most of the time. I have 4 grown children, 2 dogs, 4 birds, and a collection of fish. I like the cactus family the nastier the thorns the better. :) I love the AVs and am trying to get together as many as I can handle. I see a new one everyday that I love. I have some hosta, sages, and a couple other outside plants. I am sure I could tell you a lot more but don't want to give it all away.
woo hoo! a spiney thorns fan! (I'm too scared to grow those but I love them!)
come on everyone - longtimers and regulars included - please post a little blurb here. It'll be nice for our future visitors too.
This is great. I'm 64 and just remarried 3 years ago after being a widow for 20 years. I have 7 children and Bill has 3. So 10 children. We have 13 grandchildren and thus the handle "Nanna"
I started av's when a friend asked me to keep her plant while she was out of the country for 3 years. Naturally, I has to buy a friend or two. Couldn't let the poor thing be lonely. I fell in love with them and the collection just keeps growing.
This year I added 2 strep, 3 espicia, 1 chirita, 1 lispstick plant, and 1 goldfish plant. Also started begonias as house plants. The violets are up to about 60 plants, 80 or so plantlets right now, and two very full trays of leaves. All of them brighten my day. Whenever I don't know what to do with myself, I find me with my flowers. I love them and I love how they make me feel.
Edited to say: We have a large vegetable garden and I love to spend time there.
Who's next?
This message was edited Jun 30, 2006 12:05 PM
I bumped up the show me who your are smiles from everyone to go along with this !
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/567697/
Is your picture in here ? We need everyone's smiles please ! Newbie's and longtimers :))
I'm Janis, I'm going to be 34 the 19th of July. I live in rural OH. DH and I have been together 6 years. I'm a SAHM of 4, boys 15 and 4 and girls 7 and 9. My 9 year old Tori has a rare genetic condition called an Arnold Chiari Malformation Type 1, and had brain and skull surgery in Sept 04. She is mildly MRDD and has numerous learning disabilities but is super smart! My 15 yr old is ADD, my 7 yr old is ADHD. My 4 year old is spoiled rotten and knows it! My DH considers my girls his daughters, and is the only father they have ever knows. My DH and DS 15 butt heads, but they are trying for my sake to get along. I have 4 neices and a nephew, that are the other loves of my life along with my kids. ANd my baby raccoons! how can I forget them! Frick and Frack are litter mates we got when they were about 5 weeks old, from a registered breeder here. They are about 15 weeks old now and are full of mischief! Worse than my kids!
Right now, I have a few perennials outside and 70+ African Violets. I haven't tried anything other than regular AV's.
My biggest love is Japanese Morning Glories, the bigger the better. Last year I had one that was 5 or so inches across, was a beautiful lavender/purple and glittered like it had been covered in diamond dust. I haven't planted anything outside this year because we are trying to buy a house, and I didn't want to leave my beauties behind :)
So, that's me... who is next?
Janis
I have been living in the US for one year now. I came here from England and this is a permanent move. I have many AVs and am building up my strep and episcia collection. I am also getting some seeds from the gesneriacea society and the propagation group.
Like Ki, i love propagating plants. In England I had a greenhouse with more than 150 tender geraniums (pelargoniums). I had to leave them behind but am starting again and am waiting for a order from Canada to arrive. I am building my scented geraniums collection and will start with hardy geraniums in the fall. I love the geraniaceae family and used to hybridise plants in England. I had some cool crossings.
I am in the process of starting a small plant nursery in my back garden. I will be growing streps, episcias and native plants to sell at the local farmers market.
I think that is all for now. :o)
Well, I'm Don. I live in the Southern Interior of B.C. Canada. Depending on the day or the forum, you could be talking to me or my dh. He is the Rose, Brugmansia nut, and although I love those and so many other plants and garden things as well, I tend to favor African Violets and Hoyas.
I am relatively new to African Violets, but am completed addicted to their beauty. My list includes:
Rob's BooLaroo
Glittter Fountain
Sunrise Waltz
Lil Thornbird
West Trail
Pacific Pearl
Optimara Da Vinci
Optimara Louisiana
Three Optimara noids
New babies from B-Mans Etna
and Rebel's Camille
Strep. Dibley's Laura
Strep. Dibley's Crystal Beauty
Strep. Bristol's Bluebird
More than a dozen Hoyas (my other obsession)
3 Epiphyllums
2 Phal Orchids
So that's it in a nutshell. Can't wait to receive Allisons prize package to expand my collection and be as proliforous as you all. Oh yes, and I Love Dave's Garden!
Warm regards,
Don
Hi All;
My name is bonnie & i just turned 65, whewww. I live in ill.i have been growing gessies for about 20 years on & off, but now have 3 lighted stands & grow about 50 diff. sinningia, 50 diff. streps & a few other gessies.I'm sure if i really took count there would be a whole lot more than that.I have 3 grown children & 5 grandchildren that probably think i'm nuts with all my plants,lol But they bought most of my plant stands, So they do help my addiction.I live in a apt. bld. so i don't grow anything outside.But do on all my windowsills.This is a great site & am thrilled to be here.
Hi my name is Melissa and I am 29. I turn the big 30 in Feb! AKKK! I have been married for 5 yrs but no children yet. I have the smallest AV collection here probably. It all started with my 95 year old neighbor gave me her NOID, that I almost killed. I asked for advice on this forum and I have 2 small plantlets of it now. I have a optimara NOID and here is a list of leaves I received in a contest from begoniacrazii:
Aca's Pink Delight
Arctic Fox(Senk)
Aly's July Fourth
Tensie's Trail
Lil Ballerina
Ruffles N' Lace
Party Dress
Early Spring
Louisiana Lullaby
Sunset Beach
Petrocosmea Pariyoram
I have a few indoor plants: peace lily, ivy, spider plant and 2 christmas cacti. Outdoors are 2 flower bed and a vegetable garden. One flower garden is for the butterflies. I basically will give anything a shot, I love all flowers! My vegetable garden is basically tomatoes and peppers. I plan to can spaghetti sauce and tomatoes this year. I believe that is it.
Okay, my turn :) My name is Jacki and I am 50 years old. I have a few health problems so I'm a slower mover, too, Diane. My three kids are all grown up already!
I started AVs with a couple of Lowe's noids, then found this forum and got bunches from Allison and Anna. I love growing them!
My other garden interests indoors are succulents. Outside, I love flower gardening and veggie gardening. I'm learning more about propagation this year and have many cuttings started of roses and woody ornamentals. Oh, and I have about 17 japanese maples started from seed~lol~ Those are just the green ones, the reds ones are still chilling! So I'll be trading with those someday...
Jacki
Jacki,
You sound like me growing trees. I love to try and grow a tree. I don't do a lot of one kind but do have three or four growing in containers. I have one that I have halled around in a very large pot from place to place. It is now about 7ft. tall. I like trying to grow trees. I have redwood seeds in a pot hoping they will germinate. It takes a long time sometimes.
Great idea Ki!
Perhaps it could go in the sticky notes as well???
I'm an original member to the forum, so I guess that makes me an oldie...lol My user name is MsCritterkeeper but my DG' buddies shortened it to just MsC a long time ago.
I've been gardening for about 30 years.
Hubby and I just recently moved from our home of 50 years on the Texas Gulf Coast to the mountains of Arizona.
I'm a stay at home wife & zookeeper to our beloved ZooCrew and plants we grow. I was a single Mom of 2 kids,and 2 foster kids. All are grown and ages 26 to 18. I'm finally a grandmother,too! I'm also a retired Medical Professional...and have had my own business.
My collection is a nice size & pretty varied.
I love any AV and most Gessies'. I'm very passionate about my Terrariums and I still have a small outdoor tropical collection of plants as well.
At the moment I have:
African Violets~ Standards, Semi's, Minis, Trailers
Episcias
Sinningias
Streptocarpus
Gloxinia
Columneas
Aeschynanthus
Nautocalyx
Begonias (my first love),All Types
Ferns~ Smaller types
Bromeliads
Orchids Phals & Dens
Any other house plant
I love to propagate plants like Ki, but I'm still working on my seed growing ability.:)
Glad to be here,
MsC
Hi, All...
New to this forum...mostly post on the Southwest Gardening Forum, who are a wild bunch, let me tell you! Come by and join us!!!
I started with AVs a few years ago with a couple of gorgeous noids from Trader Joe's...which had a raging case of cyclamen mites, and had to be thrown out.
Since then I have learned, and have had no more disease problems on my plants, except for the usual spring aphid infestation on the outside roses.
I am 68, live in nice, hot, dry Phoenix, which makes it easy to grow some things, and other things quite a challenge.
Married, 5 years after a long-ago divorce, two daughters, grown, husband has twin grown daughters and a grown son.
I have three grandkids, hubby has three.
Mine are about to move to California...darn I'm gonna miss them!
I have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 3 aquariums, and:
AVs
Hoyas
Plumeria
Ferns
Cacti and other succulents
Epipyllium and other jungle cacti
lots of houseplants...philos, syngonium, monstera, etc.
lots of outside things..passion vines, fruit trees, grapes, roses, amaryllis, morning glories, I forget what all...
Constantly bringing home 'found' seeds and cuttings and trying to grow them.
I love to read, am on the internet too much, terrible housekeeper (prefer playing with the animals and plants)
Getting back to church again after a year of losing my way..
Well, that's about it...
Sharon, hoping to get to know you all..
I am 50 yrs old w/ 3 daughters age 27, 19, & 17. My oldest & her husband live minutes away and are the parents of my only grandchild, Kai will be 4 yrs old in Sept & he is the light of my life- there are many days when he is all that keeps me going. I watch him during the week when his parents work. My daughter and I have a small floundering landscape business. Am now trying to think of other options. I have been married to my second husband for 23 years
I haven't had a "job" outside of the home for about 2 years and worked as an RN for 20+ years.
I have lived in many, many places in the US & also lived outside of Toronto for several years; I have lived in the Houston area for the past 26 years- my how time flies. I am originally from southern Cal- my grandfather was a cymbidium grower so my mom and I were just naturally drawn to growing. I have grown lots of different plants, AVs off and on- recently on when I saw all the variegated leaves, reds and fantasy flowers! Most recently have discovered streps and mini sinningia!
April