Re: San Diego Aroids (fwd)

Whoa!  I didn't mean anything bad about San Diego in general.  I meant only
that the only spot I was able to find was the Balboa Park Conservatory
which I found disappointing.  I'm glad to hear there are other places.
      Les

At 07:33 PM 2/12/99 -0600, you wrote:
>
>
>
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 19:27:57 -0600
>From: DJLEEDY@aol.com
>To: aroid-owner@mobot.org
>Subject: San Diego Aroids
>
>This message was submitted by DJLEEDY@aol.com to list aroid-l@mobot.org. If=
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>----------------------- Message requiring your approval -------------------=
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>Sender: DJLEEDY@aol.com
>Subject: San Diego Aroids
>
>I am taken back by the disparaging remarks about Aroids in San Diego appear=
>ing
>on Aroidl.  I collected aroids over 25 years (I was a very avid collector)
>until 1994 and have visited the public and private collections at Kew (the
>"old" aroid house), Munich with J Bogner  and the Missouri Botanical (with =
>T.
>Croat).  I have been to Selby, Fairchild, and the National Tropical Garden =
>on
>Kauai in Hawaii to name a few.  I have toured commercial and wholesale
>nurseries throughout the United States and toured hundreds of private
>collections.  And I have collected aroids in the jungles of Ecuador on two
>separate occasions.  Therefore I am qualified to speak and I believe that I
>have seen some of the finest plant collections, including aroids, in and
>around San Diego, California.
>
>In the early 1970=92s, before there was any popularity of aroids or even an
>International Aroid Society, one of the finest U.S. mail order nurseries
>dealing in aroids was Bill Virden in Poway, California, a San Diego suburb.
>Upon his death, that collection was dispersed with a significant portion go=
>ing
>to Sherman Gardens, north of San Diego (in Orange County, I think).  Even
>before that, one of the major contributors to aroid hybridization, Horace
>Anderson (as in P. 'Anderson's Red'), had a nursery in Encinitas, another S=
>an
>Diego suburb.  A number of named aroid hybrids (in the trade) came about
>because of his efforts and others in the San Diego and Southern California
>area.  A contemporary of Monroe Birdsey=92s and, I believe, a fellow gradua=
>te in
>Botany from the University of California,  Paul Hutchinson, had a nursery i=
>n
>Escondido, just north of San Diego, where a number of new aroid introductio=
>ns
>(newly collected material) were made in the 1970=92s and 1980=92s or before=
>.
>While I am aware of a number of spectacular private collections in the San
>Diego area, I believe that a major attraction of the San Diego Wild Animal
>Park, as well as the zoo, is its plant collection, including aroids.
>
>San Diego has a Mediterranean climate, which allows many aroids to be grown
>outside, including a number which cannot be grown in South Florida.  Add a
>misting system outside or a glass house to retain humidity, and most all
>tropical aroids can also be grown well in San Diego, California.
>
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