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sahoyaref

I'm back!

sahoyaref
19 years ago

Well, we had a wonderful trip to Georgia! I loved seeing green grass and trees again, and for the last week it was as warm as it gets here in the summer! Wonderful weather! I have to say that you Americans are very fortunate to have all of the plants easily available to you that I saw at Target and Lowes. I got a Calathea 'Eclipse' (roseo-picta) at Target for $8 that costs $35 here (for a slightly larger size, but still!), and I would have bought several plants at Lowes, but I was on a budget, and also had to fit all of my purchases into my carry-on for the flight home. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the few plants I desperately wanted: Bllra. Tahoma Glacier 'Green', pink or purple cryptanthus, and a cobra lily. I suppose it was the wrong season for cobra lilies, and Lowes did have crypts, but they were all green or a dull reddish-black. It's great to be home again though, and my smallest mini phal was in full bloom when we walked in the door! =) It's very cute. My terrarium did quite well while I was gone. The pink polka-dot plant was mostly dead, eaten by the snails, so I pulled it out, and the entire terrarium was flooded, courtesy of the misting system, but I just syphoned the excess out, and everything is great! I guess the plants have been growing hydroponically for a while. =) I must get my husband to hook up that tiny fan in there soon to help evaporate what I couldn't suck out. A tree fern had finally sprouted a new leaf though, and a dend. that I thought was going to spike has made a cute little keiki. I wanted to see the flowers, but oh well! I've never seen a keiki before, so this is neat, too. I also put my new tillandsias in, and they look great! Most of them are just kind of tossed in, because I need to get more driftwood to mount them on, but that can wait. I will also be setting up a new terrarium for CPs soon, now that I got a VFT, ping, and nep from Black Jungle. I do NOT recommend Black Jungle, by the way, unless you only order tillandsias. Those are great, very healthy, but their other stuff is mostly junk. Small plants, in poor health, with lots of leaf damage, and no, it was not cold damage from shipping. The ping is actually pretty good, but the VFT is squashed, and the nep has about two healthy leaves now that I've cut the bad ones off. Also got an Alocasia nebula variety, which they substituted (against my wishes) for the species, which has now totally died, they also sent the wrong calathea (which I didn't want), and the mini peace lily was terribly damaged. They also refused to fix thier mistakes, so it's basically my problem and I'm SOL. So don't order plants from them! Except for tillies. Oh yeah, and the Anubias was also decent. All in all though, a very fun trip, and I will never travel with a baby again! Calvin got every possible illness the entire last week, and that was not fun. Fortunately, he recovered in time for the plane flight, but he was still crabby. Oh yeah, and I'm pregnant again! =) Not feeling sick or anything this time, so that's great. Anyways, I'll post new pics of my terrarium(s) when I've fixed them up.

Comments (9)

  • Cdfortin
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm glad you got to go to the botanical gardens.

  • Gianne911
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sounds like a wonderful trip! Too bad that you were unable to find any cobra lillies...oh well, they'll come one day! Interesting what goes on at home when your gone... :)

  • mrbreeze
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey congrats and welcome back! Glad you had so much fun and saw so many great things! I'm definitely adding the botanical garden to my list of things to see.

    Bummer about the crappy plants from Black Jungle. :( I ordered from them once about ten years ago and don't remember what i ordered. But I don't remember being upset by it either. Keep in mind that at this time of year most (all) VFTs should be dormant. So your smushed one might just be one that is dormant and has its 'winter' leaves (which are smaller and hug the ground more). I would transition it to the fridge until at least Easter if I were you. And I'd bet you a gallon of maple syrup that the Nep. will ...eventually...grow like crazy in your terrarium. I haven't had one yet that didn't, though one did sulk for a few months before exploding in growth.

    Oh one last thing i was going to say (a bit too late perhaps) is that some of those ugly green crypts you see are actually the pretty pink ones but have been suffering in low light too long. The pinkies definitely turn green in lower light. Sometimes at HD and Lowes you'll see a flat of them and some are pink and some are green and some are somewhere inbetween....whoa...I'm suddenly Dr. Seuss! I better go to bed. :)

    welcome back!! (Breezy would be a good baby name hehe)

  • garyfla_gw
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi
    Sounds like a great trip.Haven't been to those gardens in many years but hear great things about it. If you ever get to S.Florida do go to the Selby and the Fairchild gardens. Mind boggling collections of tropical plants.
    I've been to both these many times but have never got pregnant lol Maybe that's limited to Atlanta ??lol
    gary

  • sahoyaref
    Original Author
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    LOL! I was actually pregnant before we left for the trip, I just didn't know it for sure yet. And I will definitely visit more botanical gardens as i have opportunity. We want to go camping in BC next summer, so perhaps I will have a chance to visit theirs, or at least the Butchart Gardens. As for naming the little one Breezy. . . don't hold your breath. =) We aren't hippies! =)

    The VFT is rather ground-hugging, and since I have no prior experience with them, you could be right, Mr. B! It is very green though, not looking at all like it's dying off and going dormant, so I hesitate to put it in the fridge. Besides, I've read that you can skip the dormancy when they're young.

    Oh, and don't tell Canada customs, but I got a piece of Georgia moss across the border. =) It's wild-collected, and don't worry, there was lots of it. It's not sphagnum, but it is nice and lush, and I guess it grows year 'round there, because it's nice and green, and they don't get snow. So I hoping it will do well in my terrariums. I also got some more mopani wood last night (thanks to my DH, as yet another Christmas present), so I'll be working on my big terr. today! Also got some perlite. Now all I need to do is hack off a chunk of frozen peat from a huge cube of the stuff at a friend's house, and I can mix away for my CP terr!

    As for the crypts: NOW you tell me!!!! =P It's not TOO late, actually, because there is one at Superstore (here) that has a faint pink tinge near the centre of the rosette, and it would definitely be suffering from a lack of light. They sell plants according to pot size there, so it would only be about $1.50. I'll buy it next time I'm there if I can. It's not too expensive to take a chance on. =)

  • mrbreeze
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You know its kind of a weird thing but all my VFTs never really 'look' like they want to go dormant...and even after months in the fridge the leaves still stay green. It is true that they can survive w/out a dormancy (especially when young)...but ...they DO require it for long-term health. If you skip it this year, don't skip it next. (plus you should send BJungle an email and ask them if the plants were dormant before shipping). Good luck!

  • Cdfortin
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    To sahoyarf:
    Hi again! I'm a resident of Atlanta, and as soon as I found out that you loved the botanical garden here, I thought about Butchart Gardens before I even saw your post mentioning it! If you liked ABT, you will LOVE LOVE LOVE Butchard garden. I stopped by there for three days on my way to Alaska and it is incredible, out-of-this-world! You must go! Its worth an entire trip. Also I've spent several weeks a few years back in Calgery (is that spelled right?)...(just long enough to see the Calgery Stampede), Banf, and lots of other great places. It is certainly beautiful up there!

  • sahoyaref
    Original Author
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Funny how you say it's beautiful up here, because I thought it was more beautiful down there! =) We actually have quite similar trees, but yours are much bigger, and I love that. Just goes to show how people are never happy with what they have. =) Of course I do love it up here, otherwise I wouldn't be living here, and we'll never move to the States because medicare there is just a disaster, but it's a great place to visit. And people in the south are so nice! My baby son, Calvin, got sick while we were down there, and we thought he might have an ear infection, so we needed to take him to a doctor but we had no traveler's health insurance. (or we did, but it's the kind of thing where you have to pay up front and then later you get re-imbursed), and the doctor checked Calvin for free! It was most generous of him. Turns out Calvin didn't have an ear infection, but the doctor also gave us some antiboitics, also for free, in case he did develop one. BTW, it's Calgary, not Calgery, but I don't care that you spelled it wrong. =) The mountains here really are great though, you're right. I love camping and hiking in them. And they're much bigger than the Appalachians! I just didn't even find those to be really mountains compared to the Rockies. =)

    Mr. B: don't worry, I won't skip the dormancy next year. And I'm not going to bother emailing Black Jungle, because I'm mad at them and not speaking to them. =P =)

  • ladybug_guam
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sahy:
    CONGRATULATIONS! Hope all goes well with you and the baby!
    Glad you had a good time on your vacation!
    Ana :)