Dealer Plant Sale: present were Chuck Powell, Peter
D'Amato, Carl Wong, Rick Walker (yay), and
a woman selling some seedlings she grew. Peter brought
only a few things, because I think he had a guest with
him. The plants offered by everyone (except Rick) started
at $5.00 and went up to $15.00 for a 3 year old Sarracenia.
Species selection was good for a beginning collector, but
neither I nor Rick felt the urge to purchase much.
Auction: depending on how you looked at it, either the
high or low point of the show :-). There were about
30 items auctioned, and the price on each averaged at
least $30.00. Heliamphora and Cephalotus went for over
$50.00, including a couple of H. ionasii seedlings which
still had their cotylydons! Rick and I were both somewhat
dissapointed that anyone with lots of money could cruise
in and buy a mature, rare, plant, I particularly since I
felt that at least some of the buyers (including one guy
who's killed many plants) were probably not going to be
able to keep the things in the kind of shape that made them
so attractive to buyers. Peter D'Amata jokingly mentioned
that any of these plants were ribbon winners at a flower
show, but I think some of the buyers might actually enter
then even though they didn't grow them. Considering that
at least one local flower show gives cash awards for ribbons,
this is disturbing.
Enough complaining. I was excited to see some Nepenthes
growing in rock wool. It's a very clean and convenient medium,
but the danger of using the stuff dry will keep me from trying
it.
Slide show: A very interesting, but somewhat drawn out, slide
show about a trip to the Illu Tepui and Mt. Roraima (sp?) in
Venezuala (sp?). Some of you will recognise that these places
are 2 of the 5 fog-shrouded plateaus which are the home of
Heliamphora. The slides were presented by Bill Baumgartle,
who was one of 4 people on the two trips to the mountains.
Bill Scholl was another person. Bill, BTW, is the son of
the woman who runs Maries CP and Orchids, from whom you can
buy lots of expensive Helimaphora, Cephalotus, and rare
lowland Nepenthes. I can't begin to describe how strange
the biology of the Tepuis are, but the slideshow was pretty
neat. There was video also, but the meeting hall closed before
it could be shown (the meeting was not well organized).
Anyhow, we saw slides of H. minor, heterodoxa, and ionasii
in their native habitat, along with some info on day/night temps.
Heliamphora is certainly an interesting plant in the niche
it fills. I'd like to get one eventually, having had one
years ago and killing it via some cultivation mistakes. After
seeing the presentation I think I have a much better idea
how to grow it. In fact, I bid on some small H. plants/seedlings,
but I stopped bidding at $45.00 :-(. Same thing on some nice
specimens of Cepalotus "Giant form".
Raffle:You pay 50 cents per ticket, or 3 for $1.00, the tickets
are put into a can, shaken, and randomly chosen. Unfortunately,
in the 3 raffles I've seen, the same people win several plants.
I've traced this to 2 causes: one, they don't mix the tickets
correctly. They definately give the can a good shake, but anyone
who's dealt with a can of tickets knows that this doesn't change
the stratification of the tickets. You must manually mix them.
The other reason for multiple winners is that some people invest
$10.00 or so for tickets. Doing so is a good, and fair IMHO, way
to have a decent chance of getting some nice plants at a discount.
Plants raffled were good specimens, including one Heliamphora
seedling which was probably a few months old. I hope the guy who
got that can keep it alive.
Overview: The slide show was interesting and worthwhile, although
the room was hot and yucky. A concern I have about the long-term
viaability of this `club' is that many of its boosters are either
dealers, or buyers, leaving people like me with less benefit. Next
meeting will allegedly be a display of CP-related art, which I
expect to be mostly boring. I'd much rather see a display
of specimen plants, and a discussion about how to grow them
successfully. I may suggest this to the officers. Next meeting
is also election of new officers, so we'll see how much interest
there is in the club.
A new collector goes through the buying phase, and at such time
dealers, raffles, and auctions are a good way to get plants.
However, after the first acquisitions, buying further, expensive,
plants seems like a bad idea. You don't develop the contacts
with people to trade with, and you may become mercenary in trying
to sell whatever plants you've gotten propagated. I've been
fortunate in that I received plants from people on this list
when I was starting out, and I passed on some of my spare plants
to Rick when he was starting out. I currently have some N. mirabilis
and N. rafflesiana seedlings at home. If I took them to the
meetings I could probably auction them off for $10.00 or more
(a similar plant went for $15.00). After going to the meeting
however, I think I'd rather send my spare plants to people on
the list, or to trade with others. Maybe it'll help my karma
in winning the raffle next time :-).
I think my Nepenthes seedlings, which are coming up on a year
old, will be up to traveling soon. If you would like to have
one, send me email w/ your name and address, and I'll put it
on my list. If you have any extra CP for trade, send that
along too. I know there are more people on the list than I have
plants, but I think the interest level is enough that I can
get most people plants. Here's to free plants. (BTW, on this
list at least, it's been the custom to send a check for enough
to cover shipping costs, or to send some plants back in exchange.)
Robert