Thank you Pia. I really need to get out and get more Sept. 2012 photos.

snap away we love the pictures.

I just came in from working all day out in the semp beds.
I now have half of one of the 4 x 8 foot beds filled with different delosperma.
Maybe tomorrow I will be able to take photos.

Here's my Pacific Purple Shadows at the moment! :D cannot believe how green it is turning now when it was such a deep purple upon arrival!

It is the time of year, shorter days and cooler weather. The lovely dark color will return. It will be fun to watch all the changes it will go through.

I don't have that one, but I do have a young/new plant of Pacific Shadows.


I finally was able to get out yesterday and take a few photos to show what the colors are like this time of year.

Mine is certainly getting darker!

Wow, it is coloring up nicely. I just finished approving your addition to the database. Great photo Pia. Nice definition and up close.

[...I have noticed today that one of my 3 Purple Pacific Shadows has developed strange leaf formation. Could somebody please help me as to what has maybe caused this?]

Wow, that is cool Pia. It almost looks healthy, so not sure what would cause the leaves to be so thick. Please keep a photo record of it for us. It will be so much fun watching it develop.

Maybe send a photo to Fernwood (is that were you got it?) to see what he thinks.

I know right, I will send them a quick email and see what they think!

Can't wait to see what you hear back from them.

Here are my Purple Pacific Shadows covered in our first little bit of snow!

Great photos Pia. I can almost her their little semp voices, singing their joy at such a nice blanket.

Skulking around here in the Semp and Jovi forum I found this thread, when I was wondering who bred the Pacific Series. Does anyone know anything about Gary Gossett? Did he have any connections with Ed Skroki? Just curious. Keven has told us a bit about Ed; just wondering if he knows about Gary? MR

Calling Kevin, @JungleShadows.
There were all part of a great group in the U.S. breeding and growing sempervivum.

Hi guys. Gary is about my age. We met just once about 20 years ago out here at a hosta meeting. Robin Duback organized that hosta meeting and Robin and he were good friends. Gary was in the round robin that was the predecessor to the SFAN group; the robin included Patty Drown, Bill Nixon, Ed Scrocki, Mina Colvin, Helen Payne, Gary and myself. He went to U Chicago for a business degree but did end up working at Terra Nova for a while in the plant breeding program. Cynda just saw him this spring and gave me his email but no response.

His Pacifics are a wonderful series and this year I self-pollinated several of the unusual ones to see what might be behind them. The cross of Frost and Flame X Pacific Blue Ice looks very promising in the one year seedlings. Both are towards blue but they approach blue from two different ways and I wanted to see if the combination could be bluer yet. So far they are. I wish I had 400 instead of 40 to really test out the possibilities of that cross so I may repeat it next season too.

Kevin

Thank you for that information Kevin.

Thank you, Kevin. The people behind the plants we now take for granted are what I find perhaps the most interesting. Our ancestors didn't have nearly as much to enjoy. Are you familiar with Andrea Wulf's two recent books : Founding Gardeners and The Brother Gardeners? We ended up getting them for our library after renewing them several times from the local public... Fascinating history -- of course a bit farther back than any of our lifetimes...

I have a couple of Pacific Semps and was wondering about them so am grateful to discover this thread...

Mother Raphaela

MR, Don't know the book, but I have a couple that are genera-specific, talking about the pioneers in breeding daylilies and irises. Both are interesting reads.

I just finished writing a book on beardless irises and in each chapter I traced the development of the garden hybrids. The people that started breeding in each group obviously had a great vision as to the potential of these plants. It would be so cool for these pioneers to come back today and see where the breeding has taken them. I am fortunate to have been one of those pioneers in semps and hosta and to have seen things change in my 50 years of working with them. Hostas have gone from nobodies to the most popular perennial!

Kevin

That's great Kevin, about the book. I so will be looking forward to a sempervivum book from you.