Tag Archives: visit

A Visit With Phil

Posted on October 9, 2013 | 4 comments

I recently had the pleasure of meeting up with fellow Sarracenia addict-bro-dude-legend, Phil Faulisi. As always, my mind was blown by all of the fantastic specimens that I witnessed. Phil is an extraordinary and phenomenal grower, and has such an impact with my breeding efforts. Here’s a short video I put together as well as a slideshow from my visit over at Phil’s spot. And… uh, don’t mind the Bourbon. With Phil, it obviously has a profound effect on his creative process when he thinks about Sarracenia breeding. (Phil – just kiddin’ bro! Or maybe not? Heh Heh! Whatever you’re doing to come up with all of these wonderfully insane plants, keep it up!)

I can’t adequately put into words all of the fantastic-ness that I saw there… so I won’t even try to explain. Here are a few photos for your carnivorous plant viewing pleasure!

A visit with Phil – view in fullscreen

Phil – thanks again for everything bro! Thank you for your hospitality and your generosity. You ROCK! BACON. Josette – great meeting you as well! Nice car, but better watch out ‘cuz Phil may want to turn it into a planter, Hah!

4 Comments

Posted in Blog, Out and About

Tagged Phil Faulisi, Sarracenia, visit

Phil’s Visit

Posted on June 28, 2013 | 5 comments

I was honored to have the legend himself, Phil Faulisi, come by and visit the greenhouse. Phil is an accomplished breeder and does some spectacular work with the plants. His work has had a great influence on the way I think about doing crosses. Some of his phenomenal registered cultivars can be found here: http://www.carnivorousplants.org/cpn/Species/v38n1p12_22.html. More new cultivars from Phil will soon be published – so stay tuned! Anyway, it was great to spend the day just geekin’ out over plants and bouncing breeding ideas off one another. Phil – great having you and thanks again for everything bro!

5 Comments

Posted in Blog, Video

Tagged Faulisi, Phil, Sarracenia, visit

Family Visit

Posted on September 5, 2012 | 2 comments

This past Labor Day, 3 Sept 2012, I had the honor of having my Lolo and Lola (Tagalog for Grandfather and Grandmother) over to the greenhouse. I also had my younger sister and brother over for the first time here. They were lovin’ it! My Lolo and Lola are the reason why I started gardening, and have a deep love for all things botany related in the first place.

They are my inspiration and my strength. Growing up, I always hung out with them in the garden. I was always learning and absorbing as much wisdom as I could while playing in the dirt (and creating weird carnivorous plants out of non carnivores). Heck, my Lolo used to give me ricebowl haircuts in the garden; later on I became his personal barber and would fade him up in the garden. When the moved happened, it was a deep unsettling uprooting both for our family and for the garden. Literally. That garden was a place where we’d all spend a lot of time together. The garden was and still is a living repository of our stories and our memories. And it’s already been moved. Twice. My Grandparents have not seen the plants since. The other location was too crusty and dangerous (being that it was in a quasi-construction zone) and besides, the conditions there were not very good there anyway. But things for the plants are much better now and I can only look forward with resplendent wonder and solemn reverence.

Family Visit

What’s cool is that my Lolo brang over a rooted cutting of Cestrum nocturnum. It’s also known as night blooming jasmine, (or what I learned as “Dama de Noche” growing up) that he took cuttings of from the large plant we had going off at the old garden. I’m glad to have a piece back with me. The scent of that plant brings back memories of the warm summer nights from the old house.

I am truly thankful and so blessed to have my Lolo and Lola in my life. They’re still strong, and quick witted. (Dude, my Lolo still goes jogging at the young age of 90. FRRRRAAHKING 90!!!) I look forward to having them over more often now that things are getting cleaned up and settling down over here. I want them to witness the growth with me. My Lolo is very excited for me, and my Lola said “I remember these plants, I used to spend time with them and talk to them…” Dude, seeing their faces light up with those smiles after seeing the plants — that’s priceless.

Family Visit Thankful for family.

2 Comments

Posted in Blog, My Story

Tagged awesome, family, Grandparents, Lola, Lolo, priceless, visit

A Visit to California Carnivores

Posted on July 12, 2012 | 6 comments

Last weekend, Dahlia and I had a little weekend excursion in Sonoma County. It was a much needed time to relax after all the moving that we recently had to do. We’re settling into our new place nicely – but man… moving always sucks! (Thanks again to everyone who helped out!)

So anyway – what would a mini-vacay be without carnivores?! For me, vacations are never complete without carnivorous plant goodness. Since we were in the ‘hood of California Carnivores we decided to stop by to immerse ourselves in the carnivory. If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend stopping by. It’s always a pleasure to visit this magnificent and magical place. Thank you, Cal Carn for what you do. Continue to embolden and equip us to be better growers!

Click here for the full screen slideshow!

A few highlight photos are below the slideshow.

***

A Visit to California Carnivores

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Posted in Blog

Tagged brocchinia, California Carnivores, Carnivorous Plant, Catopsis, Cephalotus, darlingtonia, Dionaea, drosera, Drosophyllum, Heliamphora, nepenthes, out and about, Peter D'Amato, Pinguicula, Roridula, Sarracenia, visit

Guns and the Fountain of Sarrs

Posted on February 13, 2011 | 6 comments

Ok, for this post I have to stray *just a little* bit off the Sarracenia/carnivore path. Just as an FYI — I grow lots and lots of other *legal* things too here in my yard. Seriously. I’m a plant NUT, I grow all sorts of stuff, but it’s the carnivores and Sarracenia that I am overly obsessed with. Anyway, with all of this plant madness going on, I’ve recently been on the warpath of downsizing and simplifying some other things to make room for … EVEN MORE SARRACENIA!

One of my favorite plants, Gunnera, was running amok in my yard. So last week… I dug them all up. Freekin’ all day project that was. For those of you who don’t know, Gunnera is a monster. Awesome huge plant. Awesome. Huge. Behemoth things. I had G. tinctoria in abundance here in my yard, BUT being that my yard is not big enough, and that I am not able to meet their water demands, I had to give most of the Guns away. Luckily for me, fellow blogger homie Jenn at Dirty Girl Gardening was able to provide a home for them. Y’all can read more about it here. Also another plant ended up with fellow bloggers Meg and Matti at Far Out Flora earlier this year. I kept a couple small divisions back; however I know that these plants multiply very quickly and I feel as if I’m going to end up giving many away again soon!

[A couple G’s lookin’ like dead bodies… strapped down and ready to roll.]

[Trunk full of Gunnera rhizomes]

[The Guns arriving at their new home]

…And over at the G’s new home, what’s really cool is Jenn’s *Fount o’ Sarrs!* I think this is a pretty slick place to grow Sarrs. Mos’ def. It’s still winter and the plants are still somewhat dormant, but you can see that one S. leucophylla or leucophylla hybrid on the lower right sending up some new growth.

[The Fountain of Sarracenia]