Visiting plant people in other countries (was: What's the deal with Hippeastrum arboricolum?)
Lee Poulsen (Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:55:51 PDT)

Can I just put in a strong encouragement/suggestion for the idea of
making the attempt to visit plant people if you ever get the opportunity
to travel to another country (or even to another part of your own
country, especially for the large ones like the U.S. or Australia for
example)? Plant people, for some reason I don't know, seem to be several
notches above the average person in being really cool human beings.

I haven't gotten to do this as much as someone like Mary Sue has gotten
to do. But it has been, without a doubt, one of the funnest things to
do. Whether you're traveling elsewhere just to do it, or because work or
something else gives you the opportunity to do so, I think you will find
it to be a wonderful experience.

Work has sent me to Argentina several times in the past year. So I made
the effort to spend an extra day in Buenos Aires on a couple of
occasions. On one of these, I managed to spend quite some time with the
elusive, but extremely knowledgeable Alberto Castillo. It was a
wonderful experience. He even showed me his collection! (Should I have
not revealed that, Alberto?) And although most of it happened to be
dormant when I went, it was truly a marvel to see. I was on my best
behavior, however. So even though many items caused a great amount of
bulb-lust, I managed to not steal anything at all. ;-) (He did give
me some seeds from some seedpods that happened to be ripe during this
visit.) And we talked of many things. We even debated a little, but it
was totally worthwhile and even enjoyable, and I hope to have another
opportunity to see him again in the next year.

On a more recent trip, I managed to finally get together with the
Mariano who wrote (below). Like Josh Young, he is another young
(20-something) plant lover. And quite a joy to have a conversation with.
In fact, we talked and talked and talked so much that he had to ride
with me to the airport for my flight home so we could keep talking. I
barely made my international flight, but it was totally worth it to have
met and conversed with Mariano. (BTW, both of them speak outstanding
English, even though they were kind enough to let me mix in some of my
poorer Spanish into the conversation. And we talked of many other things
besides just plants, believe it or not. ;-) ) And of course Mariano
and I teased/tantalized each other with some of the desirable things
we're each growing that the other would like to have.

The reverse situation is just as much fun: Inviting a foreign plant
person to stay with you if they visit your area. Or at least come visit
your collection. (I've had both Uli from Germany and Bill Dijk from New
Zealand stay at my place and had great conversations about plants and
other things. And even Mary Sue herself came down to southern California
on one occasion and visited my collection.)

So if you ever get the chance to go to Argentina (a wonderful country),
you should really try to hook up with Mariano or Alberto (if he'll let
you) ;-) or other people who also live there. (I'd like to watch Josh
and Mariano meet and talk...) Same for anyplace else. As good as the
contributions on PBS are from people from all over the world, it's an
even better experience IMO to meet any of them in person.

--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a

arnold140@verizon.net wrote: