OK, I'll pitch in too.

First, I try not to mention the rarest plants I grow, since friends have 
had prize plants disappear from locked greenhouses (someone took the wall 
apart to get in!)  It's far too risky to mention on a public list.

My favorite plant is usually whichever one I'm standing in front of at the 
moment, or which is currently in bloom.  Lachenalia bulbifera looks quite 
striking at the moment.  The Clivia robusta "Maxima" look nice, but will 
start to fade soon.

I do buy some plants, but also trade,  as well as beg and accept 
donations.  One kind soul (his name is not going to get posted) sent me a 
box of Eucharis grandiflora after I simply expressed my wish on one of 
these plant lists to own that plant again.  In this spirit, let me mention 
that I am looking for seeds of Haemanthus graniticus, H. tristis, and H. 
pumilio.  Just in case someone has a few laying around.....

Actually, those Eucharis may have been the last plants to arrive here, half 
a year ago at least.  We are about to clean and plant our Clivia hybrid 
seeds from last Spring, so soon there will be a new batch of "newest" 
arrivals coming along.

Since I'm downsizing and getting rid of the commercial/surplus stuff, I'm 
getting much more choosy about what plants I add to my collection.

The list of most difficult plants to grow -- all those I've killed in the 
past and given up on -- would be longer than my current collection 
list!  An unanswerable question.  What I'm prouder of is finding that I can 
grow Crinum bulbispermum, C. variabile, and a couple of their hybrids, as 
hardy plants outdoors in the ground all year round.  C. bulbispermum is 
common as dirt in some places, but I did not know it was hardy in zone 5 
till I was talked into trying it several times.

Were there any points I overlooked?

Jim Shields
in cold and snowy Westfield, Indiana
USA




*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344

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