So......I recently received streps in a trade. I haven't killed one yet and they all seem to be doing well. The flowers are just gorgeous and they seem easy to grow. Fast forward to yesterday when I saw Brenda's picture of 'Space Dust'. Dazzling. Today, I found myself perusing Rob's and saw some Bristol streps that caught my eye. At that time, I remembered that I have an empty shelf at home on my light stand. BEGGING for more plants to come sit a while. As quickly as I could, I ordered Bristol's:
'Sunset'
'Ravishing Ruby'
'Hey Mei'
'Goose Egg'
'Peachy Pink'
'Salmon Sunset'
'Party Boy'
'Party Girl'
'Sixth Scents'
'Very Berry'
and Columnea Schiedeana for good measure.
I've been such a bad girl today. LOL
Compulsive?
oooo...and such a lucky girl!!! Please post pic's when you get them....
Uh Oh ..... You've got the "Bug"!! And the Gessie Bug becomes addictive real quick! You may be a bad girl, but you've got lots of company!
Post pic's of your new babies when they arrive!
yup...the "bug" is bad....and good.....lol...I am thankful it's getting too cold to ship up here now or I'd be in real trouble with Hubby....I figure I've got maybe 2 weeks left.
I made up my mind to wait until next spring to order any new plants! I need to get organized and clean up the jungle of plants I have in my Florida Room, and out on the deck. But, I should have everything all neat and orderly by spring! LOL
Of course...that's not to say I can't get the odd treasure from the Walmart...if I'm there the day they get the shipment I can get the odd nice one...I have been known to run out and warm the car up then go back in and buy a plant...lol...works well when it's -25.
Ooooh ... 25!! When it gets below 30 here, I hibernate! We do get freezes at times .... it's been a long time, but we do get them. I don't even own a winter coat, so when we have real cold days .... if I must go out somewhere it's in and out real quick! Thank goodness when we do have temp's like that it's only maybe one or two nights and it warms back up during the day.
25 is nothing... it's the minus 25 that hurts....we can get a few weeks of it....
I can't even imagine minus 25!!!!
If you'd like....we could trade homes for a couple weeks in Feb.???
One has to experience minus 25 at least once.....
;)
Uh uh! I've lived 59 years without experiencing weather that cold, think I will just live the rest of my life in the South! About 15 years ago we did visit Denver, Colorado at Thanksgiving .... got off the plane with -7 degrees and that was a shock! Just can't imagine -25!
VERY nice selection Shanika, I'm SO proud of you :)
Please post a picture when they arrive OK?
I guess if you're going to obsessive, plants are the BEST obsession ;)
I'm just starting out myself but I can already feel the obsession beginning and I haven't even tried one yet *lol*
Kim
This is a thread I started after joining DG a year ago:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/658291/
I think we are all in the same boat!
Growhappy!!!!!!!!!!! That is fantastic...............what a great order...............this is the best forum...................we want pics as soon as you get them...................pictures are my fix for the day................
gail
Hi,
I am new to these and was just wondering is Rob's Violet Barn? Thanks,
Susan
Don't forget about Gary Mitika (Out of Africa)...........he has great streps...............in the garden watchdog...............also Brennans, Lyndon Lyons, etc.................Rob's Violet Barn pretty much specializes in the ones he has hybridized and then offers some others........he started the Bristol series.............(Robinson)
I can't find Gary Mitika in the Garden Watchdog?
Susan
Hi ya Susan ... Yeah, Rob's is the Violet Barn: http://www.robsviolet.com/
He is not there anymore.........................where is Gary?????????????? does anyone know????????? That Out of Africa site has nothing to do with the gesneriads...........i am going to google for him........................I loved him..........and his plants..........
when I googled a Dave's discussion appeared with the address
HYPERLINK@www.garys-out-of-africa.com
Now I am going to try that........maybe he is doing something different............
that showed an email address...............something is going on............as I looked at his list not more than a few weeks ago..........going to try the web site as above.
**************nothing works............someone who knows please tell us what is going on????????
This message was edited Oct 9, 2007 9:26 PM
That would be a real shame if he isn't in business anymore.He had some awesome plants at really good prices! Keep us posted if you find anything out Gail please!
GH Looks like you got bit hard! Isn't it amazing how being such a bad girl sometimes can make ya feel so great?LOL..Good for you.You picked some real beauties! I want to see pics too when they arrive!
www.garys-out-of-africa.com
it worked for me see if it will for you
Sure enough Moretz..Thanks! I wonder what the heck was going on? Nice to know hes still around : )
well gessis had the email in hres and that is why it isent working right,it goes to the email addy and not the website
your welcome glad i could help
Thanks, Moretz but why isn't he in the Garden Watchdog..............they don't have to pay to be on this site if we put them there do they???????????????????? we need to find out............he is such a nice person and a good good grower...................someone ask administration would you?????????????
your welcome and sorry cant help you on that question lol you will have to ask someone else sorry
I am just being lazy (LOL).........will do it and ask..........
He's still in Watchdog: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/advanced.php?search_text=Gary%27s+Out+of+Africa
Just not showing up on the page of top 30 vendors. Maybe because no one has added any reviews lately?
Makes sense Lin..Thanks..Here i got all shook for nothing..lol..
LOL I loved your old link, Lin. My mother was visiting today and her eyebrows were definitely raised when she walked into my livingroom and saw all the new plants. Way out of control here. I have started taking pictures of each plant and put them into a photo album with an index card showing the care for each plant. I brought the album to work and handed it to one of the women I work with, telling her they were pictures of my babies. She got all excited and almost fell off her chair laughing when she realized they were my green babies. LOL. Last week I took my friend to Logees for her first visit. She spent $500, the poor thing. Then we went to New England Bonsai Gardens and she spent another $500 on containers. I felt bad for her, but it also made me feel not so nutty afterall, to see how quickly she lost control. : )
he has a new site then..................because when I looked under the G's for him.............he wasn't there....................and look how few reviews are there for him.............we have all ordered so much from him and given him good reviews.................thanks for finding it, Lin.........you try looking under the G's where he has always been listed please, Lin..........
Oh my goodness .... I can only dream of spending $500 in one day of plant shopping and another $500 on containers! Lucky Lady, that friend of yours! Now, you just need to tell her about DG and talk her into joining! .... she's already addicted to plants, might as well join the rest of us addicts and enablers in the chatter and trades and posting pic's of our babies!
Ok Gail ... I will go look. I have never purchased from him but I haven't purchased much from any internet site. I am new to this purchasing plants through the mail. I have ordered a couple of times from Rob's and Bluebirds since joining DG but that's all. (So far!)
Gail: I found him under the G's. Way down the list, but he's there:
http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/vbl/g/
Gail: It looks as though there have only been 4 reviews for his company in the past 12 months.
I just gave Gary a review. I had ordered from Gary several months ago and failed to post how satisfied I was with the plants and service. His plants are surprisingly large and healthy. Several are blooming now - I'll take pics tonight and post tomorrow.
I may be telling my age here but when I first started with my 'addiction' there was no internet ordering and only LL's offered color catalogs - but it did seem to me that there were more large vendors. You had to mail in for a catalog or list, wait for it to arrive, and then mail or call your order in. It took months to get plants. And......depending on the vendor - that special plant you had your heart set on (and maybe placed a whole order to get that one plant) may not be available or it would be mislabeled and you only found out after it bloomed. At that point you didn't know what plant you had. The only way you could actually see a plant's bloom was to either attend a show, order the color catalog, or rent the show slides from AVSA. But on the up side, we used to also be able to gointo any food store or nursery and choose from tables full of large 'labeled' Optimaras and Ogelvee (sp?) streps.
Internet ordering is awesome and affords the opportunity to see a lot of beautiful, blooming plants that have been normally real hard to find. And...like Gail I like seeing all of the beautiful plants everyone else has.
Susan
Oh Susan ... I too remember the days "before computers" ..... Not because of ordering plants from a catalog, but remembering doing bookkeeping on a humongous strange looking machine, and typing on something called a typewriter! LOL. I even remember before the electric typewriter's when we had those manual things with the handle you had to pull when you got to the end of a line! And ... yeah there used to be many more nurseries/garden center's around .... I've always remembered the Optimara label plants but had totally forgotten about the Oglevee label! Haven't heard that name in years so just had to google it:http:
http://www.oglevee.com/Articles/Product/StreptocarpusInfo/galaxy/culture_info.html
http://www.oglevee.com/Articles/Product/StreptocarpusInfo/galaxy/zoe_info.html
Gosh ... we are showing our age, aren't we?
Just getting here to catch up, but Shanika you ordered some beautiful Streps!! Congratulations on the great haul! You'll post pictures when you get them, right?? ;o) I love Streps!
Here's some of my streps. I've never had any luck with these plants, but with tips and suggestions from the experts here I have managed to keep them alive and get a few blooms. Of the ones I ordered from Gary I only lost 2 and I think they got too hot. Gail gave some good advice to put them in a cool, shady window.
This is Salmon Sunset, the very first bloom
