I have just returned from vacation and I have disturbing news.
During my vacation, I had the chance to visit Longwood Gardens. I used to
look forward to going there primarily because of there fabulous Nepenthes
collection.
For those of you who are not familiar with Longwood's collection,
there is a great article in the December 1992 issue of the CPN with
fantastic pictures.
However, my most recent visit was quite depressing. They have
gotten rid of the main showing room for the plants and have put them in two
little nooks in the conservatory. The plants that I saw were pitiful.
Their leaves were yellow with red speckles (a sure sign of a plant in
distress). They were not pitchering well and one didn't have any pitchers
at all.
I was quite distressed by this scene and asked a very nice caretaker
if this was all that there was. He said no and offered to show me the growing
room. I agreed enthusiastically, as I figured that this was the motherload.
On the way to the growing room he told me that the person who had
been taking care of the plants had quit and the new person "wasn't doing
as good a job."
He wasn't kidding. Many of the plants in the growing room were doing
about the same as those on display. The fabulous N.tuncata displayed in the
CPN article was in dire straights. I couldn't find many of the plants that
were listed as part of the Longwood collected in the CPN article
Perhaps a formal letter of inquiry would get some answers. If the
new person has cultural questions concerning the plants, then we could
certainly help. Perhaps Longwood needs reminding of how precious these plants
are.
Chris