Post by richs on May 23, 2011 11:55:11 GMT -5
So my other half looks at me and says on Friday, "Let's get the hell out of here this weekend, and go over to Napa for the day and just chill". With all that's been going on lately for both of us, it sounds like a more than welcome idea and the hobbyist in the front of my mind (he doesn't live in the back) is already thinking "You know, California Carnivores is really not THAT far away..", along with the conflicting "Man, there's so many plants out there already", then back to the "Yeah, but..." so all of know what I'm talking about.
Upon mentioning this, my partner who is looking at me like I'm a junkie in Times Square on payday, begins extolling the virtues of freshly pressed olive oil from St. Helena (It's true!), but also says "You know we decided to go to St. Helena first, but if there's enough time in the day we'll go over there." The junkie calms down, knowing there will be a score later on in the day - I in turn, start saying things like.."You know, I just want to look, I probably won't buy anything" This only makes my other half laugh - with that combination of "yeah, right" and "oh sh__"
So after a early afternoon of going through St. Helena/Napa, (and yes, it is God's country - beautiful beyond words in the spring!) I get the "So you want to head over to CC?" (Oh and by the way, on the way over to St. Helena, we kept getting stuck in traffic on some of the one way roads - I in turn am only rolling in my mind how this will set us back on getting over to CC, as this was going to be our last stop). The score is going down. Let me just add here that my other half is a plant lover as well, only soooo much more in control in these situations than I am.
We get over there (jealous?!
) and the place has DEFINITELY expanded to say the least! As we walk in, there is a beautiful memorial bog planted in a slightly raised bed that had some Dionaea specimens in there that made me GNASH my teeth! Now I can grow some pretty good plants, but these were MONSTERS (like his display specimens inside), HUGE, gorgeous, lush Dionaea (WITH FLOWER STALKS!!). Just past the display, what I saw the last time to be empty rows upon row of plant tables, is now overflowing with mostly Sarracenia species and hybrids, along with Byblis in different stages of growth, but I can't concentrate on that right now, because someone in there is trying to buy my plants! I feel the need to put on a crash helmet, my partner is looking for my wallet -
As we walk in, my wallet begins to burn as I see that Peter and Damon have expanded the sales area as well, and I turn to my other half and simply state, "I'm fu--ed", to which he replies "I knew that when you wanted to come here". However, I am determined to show that I can "control" myself. The first table, however gives me a lot of hope. The Sarracenia crosses in there are incredible, IE: they have "Gin Goblin", but with very interesting variations on it, (as it is seed grown) so there were some really beautiful examples of it, but that was ONE cross - also, these plants were not only beautiful, but quite affordable too, taking the sting out of being a little tight in the wallet.
Richard walks over to Peter's display plants, and I leave him to it, letting his femme fatales work their magic on him, buying me precious, precious time to lust over the sales tables and to figure out just how to manipulate my finances. Just then, Peter walks over to us and we begin having a great talk about everything from fertilizing Sarracenia seedlings to great old movies, which only gets Richard even more enthusiastic (Thank you Peter!) The fire has reignited (yet again) and when we finally leave there, an hour or so later - I have won!! I got the best of both worlds - spending only 40, I walked out with 4 4" plants that Damon and Peter both have created - Beauties!! (There will be pictures of the whole collection on one of these threads, or a photo bucket link, as right now, our weather as been unseasonably cool so far, with a lot of rain - see it does rain in Calif!, so everything is a little "off" right now) and even Richard walked out with a Sarracenia hybrid 'Rhoda Penmark' from the movie "The Bad Seed". The story behind this is that we like old off beat horror movies - I showed him "Carnival of Souls" and he wanted me to watch "The Bad Seed", as he said it was one of his favorites in that genre, so when I saw the plant, I was like "Oh, yeah, you HAVE to buy this one!"
As we attempt to leave, I remember that we haven't looked back at where the Sarracenias and the Byblis are, so I ask Peter if we can walk @ back there, he smiles and says "Of course!", knowing a junkie when he sees one, and it's Sarracenia wonderland back in there - it was amazing to FINALLY see a Byblis plant(s) not only grown beautifully, but in different stages of growth, not to mention the beautiful sulfur yellow flowers, and yes, the plant does have kind of a honey smell to it! There's a back area, I'll call the Champagne Room - as there is no admittance, but POOLS of Sarracenia, Drosera and Dionaea and God knows what else in there, but I want to get in there. I'm sure there's no lap dancing going on in there, but I'm thinking, some day... So, we leave CC, I'm ready for a post spending cigarette, even though I no longer smoke, and the scary thing? I want more! I'm already planning, plotting and scheming on how to make this happen without jeopardizing our home tranquility. Where to expand? What plants can be divided to make room for new acquisitions?.....stay tuned.
Upon mentioning this, my partner who is looking at me like I'm a junkie in Times Square on payday, begins extolling the virtues of freshly pressed olive oil from St. Helena (It's true!), but also says "You know we decided to go to St. Helena first, but if there's enough time in the day we'll go over there." The junkie calms down, knowing there will be a score later on in the day - I in turn, start saying things like.."You know, I just want to look, I probably won't buy anything" This only makes my other half laugh - with that combination of "yeah, right" and "oh sh__"
So after a early afternoon of going through St. Helena/Napa, (and yes, it is God's country - beautiful beyond words in the spring!) I get the "So you want to head over to CC?" (Oh and by the way, on the way over to St. Helena, we kept getting stuck in traffic on some of the one way roads - I in turn am only rolling in my mind how this will set us back on getting over to CC, as this was going to be our last stop). The score is going down. Let me just add here that my other half is a plant lover as well, only soooo much more in control in these situations than I am.
We get over there (jealous?!
) and the place has DEFINITELY expanded to say the least! As we walk in, there is a beautiful memorial bog planted in a slightly raised bed that had some Dionaea specimens in there that made me GNASH my teeth! Now I can grow some pretty good plants, but these were MONSTERS (like his display specimens inside), HUGE, gorgeous, lush Dionaea (WITH FLOWER STALKS!!). Just past the display, what I saw the last time to be empty rows upon row of plant tables, is now overflowing with mostly Sarracenia species and hybrids, along with Byblis in different stages of growth, but I can't concentrate on that right now, because someone in there is trying to buy my plants! I feel the need to put on a crash helmet, my partner is looking for my wallet - As we walk in, my wallet begins to burn as I see that Peter and Damon have expanded the sales area as well, and I turn to my other half and simply state, "I'm fu--ed", to which he replies "I knew that when you wanted to come here". However, I am determined to show that I can "control" myself. The first table, however gives me a lot of hope. The Sarracenia crosses in there are incredible, IE: they have "Gin Goblin", but with very interesting variations on it, (as it is seed grown) so there were some really beautiful examples of it, but that was ONE cross - also, these plants were not only beautiful, but quite affordable too, taking the sting out of being a little tight in the wallet.
Richard walks over to Peter's display plants, and I leave him to it, letting his femme fatales work their magic on him, buying me precious, precious time to lust over the sales tables and to figure out just how to manipulate my finances. Just then, Peter walks over to us and we begin having a great talk about everything from fertilizing Sarracenia seedlings to great old movies, which only gets Richard even more enthusiastic (Thank you Peter!) The fire has reignited (yet again) and when we finally leave there, an hour or so later - I have won!! I got the best of both worlds - spending only 40, I walked out with 4 4" plants that Damon and Peter both have created - Beauties!! (There will be pictures of the whole collection on one of these threads, or a photo bucket link, as right now, our weather as been unseasonably cool so far, with a lot of rain - see it does rain in Calif!, so everything is a little "off" right now) and even Richard walked out with a Sarracenia hybrid 'Rhoda Penmark' from the movie "The Bad Seed". The story behind this is that we like old off beat horror movies - I showed him "Carnival of Souls" and he wanted me to watch "The Bad Seed", as he said it was one of his favorites in that genre, so when I saw the plant, I was like "Oh, yeah, you HAVE to buy this one!"
As we attempt to leave, I remember that we haven't looked back at where the Sarracenias and the Byblis are, so I ask Peter if we can walk @ back there, he smiles and says "Of course!", knowing a junkie when he sees one, and it's Sarracenia wonderland back in there - it was amazing to FINALLY see a Byblis plant(s) not only grown beautifully, but in different stages of growth, not to mention the beautiful sulfur yellow flowers, and yes, the plant does have kind of a honey smell to it! There's a back area, I'll call the Champagne Room - as there is no admittance, but POOLS of Sarracenia, Drosera and Dionaea and God knows what else in there, but I want to get in there. I'm sure there's no lap dancing going on in there, but I'm thinking, some day... So, we leave CC, I'm ready for a post spending cigarette, even though I no longer smoke, and the scary thing? I want more! I'm already planning, plotting and scheming on how to make this happen without jeopardizing our home tranquility. Where to expand? What plants can be divided to make room for new acquisitions?.....stay tuned.
