Due to some pesky deer, I have lost my only specimen of Sempervivum "Michell's Gold".

Does anyone have a source where I might purchase a new plant?


Information links posted by Gramps
I've created a 5-page pdf that contains:
page 1-2 Information about Ed Skroki
page 3 is the Helen Payne book review
page 4 is a picture of Helen's book
page 5 is the page in the book that Helen autographed for me.

The link to the little pdf is: http://bit.ly/k5vpO9

I've uploaded two .PDF files:

[1] the biography of David Ford from my SempWorld

http://bit.ly/jAXzXe

[2] I located an obituary on David so I also made a .PDF of it for you

http://bit.ly/iG4f9y

Hi Gramps. Sorry to hear about the loss of that gorgeous semp. Many of us have struggled this year with losses due to deer, voles and other pesky critters.
I have a S. 'Michael's Golden' that I got from North Hills Nursery in Jan of this year. You might contact her and see if she still has one to spare. I don't see it listed on her site now. http://www.northhillsnursery.c...
She is a great lady to do business with.
Do you have any other semps?

This is what mine looked like when I received it. It is doing well and planted out in one of my raised beds now.

S. 'Michael's Golden'

Thank you for your quick reply.

Yes, I do have other sedum and semps... over 1000 of them.

I've been collecting them for over 30 years. The collection has grown so large that I have erected a 16 x 48 shadehouse to house them. I'm in the process of putting a new covering on it which was destroyed this past winter with the massive snows we had here in the Colorado Rockies ... we have an estimated 180% of normal snow pack. (Thank goodness for "global warming", hate to think how much snow we might have had otherwise )

I was lucky enough to make friends with the late Ed Scrocki and purchased almost one of every thing in his extensive collection. Mitchell's Gold was one of them.

Gramps

PS. Thank you for a great website/resource.

'Mitchell's Gold' = (syn. 'Mitchellii') ... GUSTAAF VAN DER STEEN (BE),
1976 ... SEMPERVIVUM TECTORUM (S. TECTORUM × TECTORUM 'Boissieri') http://miklanek.tripod.com/MCS...

OR
J.E. Mitchell / USA / 1976 / Eltern: S. tectorum x S. tectorum ‘Boissieri’ http://www.semperhorst.de/Dieh...

Wow, is this getting confusing. But I did find other references that it was J. E. Mitchell that was the hybridizer. I was getting so excited about this one and hoped to find it. Alas, it is nowhere to be found here in the U.S.

I am now wondering if my S. 'Micheal's Golden is the same plant that has over time changed names because of misspellings?

Global warming, I must have missed that time period. It looks like we may be having a second year in a row with record low temps this summer. I want my tomatoes to ripen this year.

I can only imagine what a wonderful site it is to look across your collection of semps. I hope you didn't lose any of them from the roof collapse?

We all hope you have time to share your experience and photos with us. What a gift that would be. Can you tell us a little about Ed Scrocki? How wonderful to have know him and have access to his collection.

This site is only one year old, it depends on members to help build it as an information resource. We all contribute to the database also as we can. Would be wonderful if you had time to share some of your photos and information in the database.

We are so glad you found your way to us.

P.S. I live about 3 minutes from Helen Payne's farm. We moved here about a year before her death. I never got to meet her. I pass her place several times a weeks.

Thank you for the additional information.

Sunny today . . . maybe I'll be able to get the new roof on the shade house.

Helen Payne ... I knew her and traveled to her nursery way back around 1970-1975. Great lady. Have you purchased her book? Good resource.

I probably purchased about 100 semps from her. I did not know that she had passed... do you know the date?

I will be happy to post lots of pictures as time permits.

Another ancient history note: way back in 1993, I ran a little research group called GAIA Research Institute which published a quarterly "newsletter" called SempWorld. Both of which are now defunct. Back in those days, it was before personal computers, internet, etc. I had to have SempWorld type set and then printed. I had mailings all over the world. As I can find copies of the few issues that I have, I will extract some of the info and post it here, if you wish.

Sincerely,
Gramps

Hi Gramps, would love to see your information from Sempworld! How exciting. I think we miss out on a lot of personal interaction by doing everything on the computer, but in some ways it's so great that we can see other places and meet people with the same interests without leaving our house.

I've got 100 named varieties, but one day, I'll have more. I grow lots from seed so I have more kinds than that, but I might need a bigger nursery!

Welcome Gramps. How lucky and honored we are to have you join us! I'm really looking forward to seeing pictures of your wonderful collection and any information you can share from Sempworld. To have known Ed Scrocki and Helen Payne is so exciting. I bet you have some great stories too!

Welcome Gramps, Wow over a 1000 semps!! What a grand collection. We sure look forward to your pictures. What a grand way to gain Semp Knowlwdge.

Gramps she died some time early 2000's. We moved here in 1999 and she was still alive but in a nursing home. I wanted to go visit her, but she was very ill. Not sure what was wrong with her. I would have love to just go sit with her, not sure if she had any family around or not. Have not been able to gather information.

Do you have a list of the ones you got from her? I had one growing here that came from her. The Teals built this house in 1950 and got plants from her. I don't know what the name is though. Just know they are tough and rarely bloom. Seems as no one has moved into her big 2 story house, they property just seems to be sitting there.

We would love to have you share anything you have Gramps.

I have located the premiere issue of SempWorld which so happened to be the issue that profiled Ed Skrocki and did a book review of Helen Payne's "Plant Jewel of the High Country".

I have also located my autographed copy of Helen's book.

Not exactly sure on how to share this information with you, but I think that I will attempt to scan the pages of interest and turn them into a very short .PDF ...
I'm assuming that everyone has access to the Adobe Reader.

As soon as I get the .PDF created, I will upload it to one of my websites.

Later,

Gramps

Thank you so much Gramps. I look forward with eagerness to seeing it.

I also have an autographed copy of "Plant Jewel of the High Country"! I was so thrilled to get it!

I'm also excited to see your websites! And thanks in advance for the SempWorld information.

I don't have any of her books. : (
Where did you get your Chris?

Okay ... let's see if this will work for you.

I've created a 5-page pdf that contains:

page 1-2 Information about Ed Skroki
page 3 is the Helen Payne book review
page 4 is a picture of Helen's book
page 5 is the page in the book that Helen autographed for me.

The link to the little pdf is: http://bit.ly/k5vpO9

Enjoy ! ! !

If this works, let know if you want me to do more . . .

Gramps

It works Sorry, it was so exciting to see it. Now going back to read it.
Thank you so much Gramps.
Do you have any other web sites we can access?

I can't thank you enough Gramps for posting that link.

Wow! Very nice Gramps...

Hi, Gramps. Good to see you here. I don't know how you manage a 1000 type collection. That sure seems like a lot of work. My collection numbers over 100 varieties and it sure keeps me busy.

I really appreciate seeing the SempWorld extract and want to suggest that you scan all the issues and save on DVD's or a web site. So much information regarding the history of Sempervivum and Jovibarba (and related) has been lost over the years, in part because the technology was not conducive to sharing or too expensive to reproduce and distribute. You would be doing all of us a great favor. It also is important to remember those that came before and made contributions. You could even probably sell the DVD's for a reasonable price. My main concern, however, is back when it was being published, people knew and recorded information that may not be on record anywhere else.

I'm curious as to how you feel about the Jovibarba vs the Sempervivum in your collecting "preferences".

Watch out for Lynn, she seem's bent on getting one of the 12,734 known varieties of Sempervivum and Jovibarba known for her collection before the end of the decade!

Won't happen in my lifetime twit. I only have about 250 named semps.
Wow, so there are that many? 12,734?

Gramps do we still have serious semp hybridizers here in the US?

I agree with twit, I can't even imagine how much information has been lost. Like how do we find sources for information on what semps were used in each named semp? I have some that it would sure be interesting to know parentage.

See you all in the morning.

Thank you Gramps! Really appreciate this information. This is so exciting!

Lynn, I purchased her book from a used book store on Amazon. It has her signature, but no personal note like Gramps book has. It still has the yellow jacket on it too.