This is largely copied and pasted from another forum I recently joined, I dont feel comfortable chiming in on this forum until I introduce myself, and this will save me alot of time, I hope its not a problem. Thanks for reading
Hi,
I just thought i might let you all know a bit about me my history, and my plants. Hopefully ill seem a bit less strange, maybe not :D
I come from a very strong ag. background, Im fifth or sixth confirmed generation farmin the same beautiful 100 acres in central KY. I love it here but nothing about the climate suits me! From the cold winters to the pollen overdose every year(day)...ugh. I do love the flora/fauna here, though a bit boring to me... I have a flair for the extreme and bizarre :S
Thats why I post this here, I see aroids isnt the most lively forum here but its were my interests have taken me. So seeing as the contributors of this sub-forum are the people i want to make freinds with the most, I may as well apologize now, Im sure I will:post too much, dig up ancient posts, step on a few toes, and generally just be a pest. I have basically no one to talk about these plants with, my favorite plants! Your probably stuck with me...
Anyway, I dont remember my first experiences with plants, I was far too young, but I first became truly interested in plants about the time I was flunking out of high school...Shortly thereafter I commandeered my dads derelict poly and wood greenhouse. My interests then were cacti and succulents and in no time I had more than a hobby would allow, opened up shop and expanded my plant base. It was nice! I had literally thousands of xerophytes and lots of other neat plants. I only grew what interested me, and was in a market that was overflooded with your average ole petunia baskets...bleh...not for me. It turned out I wasnt alone either. I grew my sales to several hundred dollars a week, modestly, did what I wanted, and owned THE COOLEST collection that I knew of. Being in a public place while selling these type plants allowed me to "inherit" so many nice old plants, and I could always justify buying any plant, within reason, on the grounds Ill propagate and sell them.
Sooo... The stock market crashed, as did my market, and I found myself with with an evergrowing collection that wasnt paying the bills like it had...ouch. Then it happened...
It was a dark and stormy night...it really was... :D
I was asleep in my bed... I felt a cold, but familiar hand lay upon my shoulder... I turned to see who it was... it was...INFLUENZA...AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH... So I spent that stormy night in bed, and it turns out that stormy night, a cold january night,the wind blew from the east that night. It never does that here, the mountains block it, usually. Well the temp. was -2 and the wind was steady at 20-25mph with gusts of up to 50. That wind managed to catch a corner of the poly and snatched it loose...and blew the door open. My "greenhouse" was now a 30 mph wind tunnel. Normally I would have checked it several times through the night. I did not. By morning when I oozed from bed and down the stairs, quickly solidified on contact with that air... and ran to the GH only to see plastic flapping, my heart sank, I entered, and was crushed. IT WAS ALL GONE, 50yr old jade trees 6 ft tall, wilting to the floor, aloes that outweigh me dripping their juice from the mushy leaves, and about 3000 misc. pots of plants, most succulents, but I also managed to lose about 30 varieties of EE totaling about 300 plants, and my sole amorph. The honeymoon was over...I salvaged about 30-40 plants, and was done...
Flash forward about 6 years and Ive got the bug again, more accurately maybe, my hearts healed, atleast enough...:D
I havent counted plants but ive got a nice shelf full of cacti and succulents, and lots of EEs, still only 2 amorphs yet. (pics are at flickr, my name there is grabmebymyhandle). All jammed into my little sun porch, but Im all but finished with my new greenhouse. Things are lookin up for me and my plants, but I also have a mortgage and a few more little mouths to feed(whoops). So its tough to justify buying new plants now, and the ones I want arent cheap or readily available.
Im lookin really forward to to talkin to people about the plants I like, instead of "Whoa thats gnarly, what is it" I hope to get a few "nice plant" or atleast someone know what it is...I just have no one to talk aroid with, my poor wife...Im lucky she hasnt snapped from all my plant jabbering.
To be perfectly honest, I really hope to find some people to trade with soon, I certainly have enough desirable plants to make some good swap, and I want lots more plants so...
I also must admit The only reason I came here specifically is this sub forums moderator, Thank you lari ann for all your hard work in this field, your plants are AMAZING, I only have the 2 you let slip away to the public but they are 2 of my favs, I drool at your sight regularly, I sure hope to obtain more in the future.
Im a bit confused on how to go about trading here, Ive found the list, but is there no "classified" forum? Im sure Ill get the hang of things
I see so many nice aroids on Ebay, but those little mouths I mentioned...eat alot. My plant budget certainly could use a boost, but as Im a master of scavenging and rooting little pieces I do have a reasonable collection to trade from...I really want some new EEs and amorphs!
So here we are, the end of my post, more like novel, thanks if you made it though it...hopefully Ill talk to you all soon.
