Mail Ordering from Rob's Violet Barn

 I want to give a big KUDOS to the fine folks at Rob's who are offering some really cool and very interesting gesneriads lately!

It's one of the few places that you can get the truly "unusual" varieties and expand your collection of genera!

I've been mail-ordering a lot this past year, including orders which are 'winter shipped' and I have to report that I've not lost any plant material to shipping problems - even in the cold. The top picture was one of the recent orders with such lovely plants such as the little Diastema luteolumined (shown in the lower photo).

I also want to mention that I've received some very excellent plant materials from other vendors also.... (and I'm not trying to leave anyone out) such as Lyon's, Kartuz and Neil's Streps. I've gotten some really fine things from Ebay too.

The point here is that I encourage everyone to support their gesneriad vendors and order up some new and interesting plants!

For myself personally, I get bored seeing the same 'Lipstick' vines over and over with nothing else to choose from. That being said, the argument can be made that until you master that type of plant you don't need to go looking for something else.... BUT, I don't agree with that line of thinking at all.

I'm very interested in seeing as many and as diverse of plant choices as possible! If we are to interest the public in GESNERIADS then we need to have something to impress, excite, and wow people so that they want to learn more.

Think of some of the environmental campaigns to save certain endangered animals. Sometimes it's the 'cute' factor that first stimulates interest in the animal, such as baby tigers. Who doesn't love them???? But after getting people on board and educating  them as to the importance of the specific animal other things like the animal's environment become important too and also get the attention - AND hopefully the conservation efforts.

I feel we MUST get the gesneriads out into the public's eye. This will make our hobby clubs more exciting by hopefully getting more new members to join us, but it will also draw attention to the fact that we MUST have more study of some of these types of plants and their wild habitats.

Some of these plants are becoming extinct literally before they've even been discovered. There are new and previously UNIDENTIFIED GESNERIADS being discovered for the first time ever each year. Imagine finding a brand new species never before described in 2012? It should amaze and excite everyone that this is even possible! And to think that many are already gone due to habitat destruction before we can even see what is out there we're destroying.

Please... think of ordering some gesneriads! Vendors will supply what people are willing to buy, so please think of trying out some of the new and unusual, they are very rewarding to grow and have bloom! I'm excited.... I hope you are too!

Questions??

Comments???