San Diego Aroids (fwd)

From: Don Burns <burns at mobot.mobot.org> on 1999.02.13 at 01:32:13(3028) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 19:27:57 -0600 To: aroid-owner@mobot.org +More Subject: San Diego Aroids This message was submitted by DJLEEDY@aol.com to list aroid-l@mobot.org. If= you forward it back to the list, it will be distributed without the paragraphs above the dashed line. You may edit the Subject: line and the text of the message before forwarding it back. If you edit the messages you receive into a digest, you will need to remove these paragraphs and the dashed line before mailing the result to the list. Finally, if you need more information from the author of this message, you should be able to do so by simply replying to this note. ----------------------- Message requiring your approval -------------------= --- Sender: DJLEEDY@aol.com Subject: San Diego Aroids I am taken back by the disparaging remarks about Aroids in San Diego appear= ing on Aroidl. I collected aroids over 25 years (I was a very avid collector) until 1994 and have visited the public and private collections at Kew (the "old" aroid house), Munich with J Bogner and the Missouri Botanical (with = T. Croat). I have been to Selby, Fairchild, and the National Tropical Garden = on Kauai in Hawaii to name a few. I have toured commercial and wholesale nurseries throughout the United States and toured hundreds of private collections. And I have collected aroids in the jungles of Ecuador on two separate occasions. Therefore I am qualified to speak and I believe that I have seen some of the finest plant collections, including aroids, in and around San Diego, California. In the early 1970’s, before there was any popularity of aroids or even an International Aroid Society, one of the finest U.S. mail order nurseries dealing in aroids was Bill Virden in Poway, California, a San Diego suburb. Upon his death, that collection was dispersed with a significant portion go= ing to Sherman Gardens, north of San Diego (in Orange County, I think). Even before that, one of the major contributors to aroid hybridization, Horace Anderson (as in P. 'Anderson's Red'), had a nursery in Encinitas, another S= an Diego suburb. A number of named aroid hybrids (in the trade) came about because of his efforts and others in the San Diego and Southern California area. A contemporary of Monroe Birdsey’s and, I believe, a fellow gradua= te in Botany from the University of California, Paul Hutchinson, had a nursery i= n Escondido, just north of San Diego, where a number of new aroid introductio= ns (newly collected material) were made in the 1970’s and 1980’s or before=

From: Lester Kallus <lkallus at earthlink.net> on 1999.02.13 at 04:12:32(3029) Whoa! I didn't mean anything bad about San Diego in general. I meant only that the only spot I was able to find was the Balboa Park Conservatory which I found disappointing. I'm glad to hear there are other places. Les +More At 07:33 PM 2/12/99 -0600, you wrote: > > > > >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 19:27:57 -0600 >From: DJLEEDY@aol.com >To: aroid-owner@mobot.org >Subject: San Diego Aroids > >This message was submitted by DJLEEDY@aol.com to list aroid-l@mobot.org. If= > you >forward it back to the list, it will be distributed without the paragraphs >above the dashed line. You may edit the Subject: line and the text of the >message before forwarding it back. > >If you edit the messages you receive into a digest, you will need to remove >these paragraphs and the dashed line before mailing the result to the list. >Finally, if you need more information from the author of this message, you >should be able to do so by simply replying to this note. > >----------------------- Message requiring your approval -------------------= >--- >Sender: DJLEEDY@aol.com >Subject: San Diego Aroids > >I am taken back by the disparaging remarks about Aroids in San Diego appear= >ing >on Aroidl. I collected aroids over 25 years (I was a very avid collector) >until 1994 and have visited the public and private collections at Kew (the >"old" aroid house), Munich with J Bogner and the Missouri Botanical (with = >T. >Croat). I have been to Selby, Fairchild, and the National Tropical Garden = >on >Kauai in Hawaii to name a few. I have toured commercial and wholesale >nurseries throughout the United States and toured hundreds of private >collections. And I have collected aroids in the jungles of Ecuador on two >separate occasions. Therefore I am qualified to speak and I believe that I >have seen some of the finest plant collections, including aroids, in and >around San Diego, California. > >In the early 1970’s, before there was any popularity of aroids or even an >International Aroid Society, one of the finest U.S. mail order nurseries >dealing in aroids was Bill Virden in Poway, California, a San Diego suburb. >Upon his death, that collection was dispersed with a significant portion go= >ing >to Sherman Gardens, north of San Diego (in Orange County, I think). Even >before that, one of the major contributors to aroid hybridization, Horace >Anderson (as in P. 'Anderson's Red'), had a nursery in Encinitas, another S= >an >Diego suburb. A number of named aroid hybrids (in the trade) came about >because of his efforts and others in the San Diego and Southern California >area. A contemporary of Monroe Birdsey’s and, I believe, a fellow gradua= >te in >Botany from the University of California, Paul Hutchinson, had a nursery i= >n >Escondido, just north of San Diego, where a number of new aroid introductio= >ns >(newly collected material) were made in the 1970’s and 1980’s or before= >. >While I am aware of a number of spectacular private collections in the San >Diego area, I believe that a major attraction of the San Diego Wild Animal >Park, as well as the zoo, is its plant collection, including aroids. > >San Diego has a Mediterranean climate, which allows many aroids to be grown >outside, including a number which cannot be grown in South Florida. Add a >misting system outside or a glass house to retain humidity, and most all >tropical aroids can also be grown well in San Diego, California. >

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