Great stuff. I had never been to a gathering of cp-philes, but if this one was
typical of the rest, I'm going to be going to many more. It was a good group of
people, about 15-20, from all walks of life.
Several people had met previously or corresponded for varying lengths of time,
but others were largely unknown (like myself). Still, after the convention had
ended, we had made some good friends. While I'm going all mushy, I must give
credit to our hosts Carl and Sherry. These people would give you the shirt off
of their backs if you wanted it. Great sort. Well worth knowing.
Now on to the plants: Incredible. There were plants ranging from common to
unbelievable. I'll give you some of the highlights:
B. liniflora "Darwin"
Several species of heliamphora :)
That cross between green psittacina and green purp.
Several utrics new to cultivation (nana, laxa, aureomaculata to name a few)
Cephalotus "Giant"
D. regia
Many others that I can't recall right now.
... and rumors of a heterophyllous form of heliamphora. :-o
There were slides from Scott Bennett (who did that P.gypsicola painting on a
recent CPN), who is interested in morphological differences in Pings, and
Peter Northcote (I don't know what he was interested in, but he was enthusiatic
). Also, there was a talk on cultivating Utrics by Christoph Belanger, (all of
the new utrics are his)
After dark, there were videos by Bill Scholl of two of his trips to the tepui
mesas. Very educational on the ecology of the mesas and an interesting theory
on heliamphora being epiphytic. He has edited and narrated them and copies are
available: Mt. Ilu $30 and Mt. Roraima $20 (BTW the reason for the charge is so
he can get better video equipment for next years trip).
Also, good to meet you Rob.
Plans are already in the making for next year (possibly at Longwood gardens in
PA).
Larry, you were asking about culture under flourescent lights. If you opt to
cultivate with covered terraria, watch out for heat build-up. I have this
problem in the summer and must move all of my plant outside. One other way
around this is to locate the terraria in the basement or in an air conditioned
room. If you can keep temps down, you can grow a vast range of plants in the
combined high humidity, low temps, and adequate light.
Just read Roberts report of the Bay area meeting. Too bad you didn't get to see
the videos of the tepuis. Some great scenery.
I fully agree with your view of free plants. I was talking with Carl Taylor
(who has seen CP built up from the grass roots) and his policy is that the more
a plant is spread around, the more chance it has of succeeding in cultivation.
I fully agree with this. This is a hobby, not a commercial market. I did not
get interested in cp for a cash profit, I like the plants,and if I spread a
plant around then there's that much more pleasure out there. Also, there's that
much more chance that I'll get the plant back if mine dies :)
BTW, I'll be posting Lowries list soon. No really, I will be. :)
Good growing,
Davin