ExoticRainforest

Hi :)
Welcome to GT.
Sounds like you have a wealth of knowledge to share with us!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I’m not sure about that Debbie, but I do love to read scientific plant literature. I have a good size library but my interests are primarily aroids (Anthurium, Philodendron Alocasia) and other rare species. I got interested in Impatiens psittacina as a result of the email that has been floating around for 2 years now. I was at first quite skeptical and thought it to be a fraud until a scientific friend in Florida produced the actualy botanical material written by E.D. Hooker in 1901. Then we began to find the plant in several scientific journals and traded mail with a grower in England who has been to Thailand and seen the plant in the wild.

I do my best not to talk over the heads of people, so if I do, please remind me! But I read a lot of botanical material on the specimens I collect and tend to sometimes talk like a botanist. I’m not a botanist! I’m just a collector with a large collection and likely the only “rain forest” in the Central United States other than some of the public botanical gardens. We now grow well over 300 species of aroids and several hundred orchids.

You can see many of them here: www.ExoticRainforest.com

-- Steve Lucas

bring it on—and we’ll ask questions!!!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Hello and WELCOME to GT!!! :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Just took the “tour” by the way … extraordinary …

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

I hope you enjoyed what you saw! Our “rain forest” was built based on a much smaller version of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami, FL. I have collected aroid and other rare species for many years and enjoy researching them with the help of about one half dozen aroid botanists who have become friends. If you wonder want Grandma meant by “the tour”, go to this link and you can see an overview of our tropical “rain forest”. Just follow the links at the bottom of each page.

http://www.exoticrainforest.com/atriumentrancelarge.htm

-- Steve Lucas