Hi Fred and Welcome!!

All that you say about filling every surface in your house and every nook and cranny with plants is my story exactly!!
And, if you haven't already, when you have the time, read as many back threads on this forum.. as you can learn so much and you'll get a feel for all of us around here.
Most of the time we're a pretty lively bunch! ;-)

This forum is a lifeline for many of us addicts who stand alone in our families and in our hobby and you'll make some new friends ..people from all over the world who'll make you feel so "not alone" with your addiction.

I'm just an hour or so away from you in MA also.. down on the South Shore.

Donna

Hi Donna,

Thank you for the encouragement and the warm welcome. It's so nice to see that I'm not the only "nut" out there. I hope to be able to share bulbs and other goodies with the group and maybe, just maybe, I'll have a little more room for other stuff...yeah right who am I kiddin'. As for my addiction, I'm afraid it's a deadly infection...lol.

Fred

Fred...it's called CHAD! Compulsive Hippeastrum Acquistion Disorder!! Donna and I have it bad!
Setting up my 8'X8' greenhouse this weekend...Ok working on the foundation this weekend, and maybe the GH will go up next weekend. Double the growing space!! YAY. All...(I've lost track) ~600 plants will enjoy it, although many babies will spend the "winter" inside. I have over 300 pots!
;-)
K

Welcome Fred!

It is wonderful to see a fellow PBS member join our Hippeastrum loving family.

Cheers,

Blanca

Blanca has CHAD too! Hi Blanca!! Miss ya!
Em me.... We need to chat!
K

K,

You've got mail.

-B

welcome to the nut house im in australia we have this addiction over here as well lol drugs would be worse and more expensive you will find everyone is very friendly they dont bite unless u ask nicely lol happy hippie growing danny

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I feel right at home with the rest of you "nuts" and sadly, yes...I am a victim of CHAD...sigh :-) and I wouldn't have it any other way. I figure it keeps me out of trouble and I don't hurt anybody, they just stay clear of me. My partner looks at me and says "Good God, more plants"? I just stand there, hang my head and say...yup.

Hello and welcome!:)

Just do what I did - Make a lonnnnnnnnng bed to stick 'em all in. They stay out there all year. hehe. About 98% of them are all seed-grown and aren't old enough to bloom just yet. The whole 'cross-pollinating and planting seeds' thing is just... way too addictive.

Though I guess with you being in zone 6, a permanent bed isn't quite an option...

Hi Dragonstone,

I only wish I could plop them all in the ground, it would save soooo much wear and tear on my poor aching back.

I have already moved about 100 or so pots of the more "tender" stuff indoors, but I still have about 200 posts of Clivia to move...big sigh :-). Such is the life of an addict and with CHAD complications to boot!!!

Fred

Oh Oh Fred..I have Clivia too, but most are still seedlings and or sprouting seeds! I'm embarrased to say how many seeds I bought this year!

Donna

Hi Donna,

Oh..I have those too. Mine range from the really big (and flicking heavy!!!) to seedlings I just got last year. Is there any hope or cure for us??? lol

Fred

I won't tell how many Clivia seeds Donna bought, but it makes me wonder if she's switching teams!!

Fred, I never officially said "welcome!". We trying to mix a little fun in with the advice and answers. There have been a few spats on the list, but they are few and far between... And we are family after all, so it happens. Most of the old timers on the list are very passionate about Hippeastrum so we get very wrapped up in the topic.

Welcome welcome welcome! I am lucky that I don't expect a first frost till December. I think the last time I counted plants I have about 600 (including seedlings), in about 300 pots. I have about 150 named hybrids...including Gordie, which I registered with KAVB. Photos are posted in this forum...search for Gordie. I have many of my own crosses that I expect may bloom this spring. Sort of like waiting for a birth!

Any way...again, welcome!
Kristi from Spring, TX

HI Kristi,

Thank you for the warm welcome!!! I suppose if I lived in a warmer climate, I would have acres of hippies as well. Since I live in a much colder climate, I'll have to live vicariously through others and use every inch of space in my house to grow 'em...lol. I'm very happy to be part of this wonderfully looney group (I'm a total looney bird myself) and again thank you for the warm welcome.

Fred

Dear all,

I thought that some time ago we extended the definition of CHAD to "Chronic Horticultural Acquisition Disorder" because many of us are so severely afflicted that our addiction has spread to many other types of plants. Fred and Donna, you are not alone in your affection for Clivias. I am smitten too!

My lifelong passions have been cacti, caudiciform and pachycaul succulents. Bulbous plants were a natural outgrowth of my love of water-storing plants. In addition to Hippeastrum, I grow other Amaryllidaceae including (but not limited to) the following, which are listed in alphabetical order not by preference: Amaryllis, Ammocharis, Boophone, Brunsvigia, Clivia, Crinum, Cyrtanthus, Eithea, Eucrosia, Haemanthus, Hymenocallis, Ismene, Lycoris, Nerine, Pamianthe, Pancratium, Phaedranassa, Rauhia, Rhodophiala, Scadoxis, Sprekelia, and Zephyranthes. I also admit to growing a few intergeneric hybrids (e.g., Amarcrinum, Amarine, and Hippeastrelia) and blushingly confess that a few orchids have been spotted happily cohabiting with my humidity loving plants.

Cheers,

Blanca

Wow Blanca,

You're just as insane as I am...lol. With the exception of just a few of the things you listed, my growing list is almost identical. My biggest affliction is when a leaf, twig or bulb is either broken off or damaged, I try to "rescue" it and guess what...more plants!!!! Aren't we such a lost cause?

Hi Fred,

I am the same way. Even a small piece of basal plate gets TLC. There is always a recovery ward here. The plants want to live, and I like to help them. At least it is a kind madness.

-Blanca