Re: San Diego Aroids (fwd)

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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