Specks 2012

[ChrisR]

[Geoff Lovell]

Well said Tina.
If you steal a pound or a million you are still a thief, or if you prefer a self confessed habitat stripper.

[Lithos]

Rolf, - only ever given away by me, never sold.

[Tina]

only ever given away by me, never sold.

why did your partner send me a cheque then ??
I won't be adding to this as it's off topic & getting silly.

but I will certainly miss buying plants from Specks not least because they also give you advice on the best cultivation methods for that specie, I will have to stock up at ELK.

[Terry S.]

Victoria was collected from the wild and flowered for the first time in Paxton's greenhouse at Chatsworth.

[ChrisR]

And it was still there last time I looked.......trust the Sage of Epsom to spoil my party by bringing a giant water lily to it!

[Aiko]

Are Ernst and Marita moving to Hungary ?

That's very funny. I don't know what else you wrote as it was removed before I read this but that made me laugh out loud when I read it.

I don't quite see why Hungary is funny, though...

The reason for stopping seems they are retiring. I don't know if they keep on selling plants on stock after said date, or someone takes over, or whatever other direction things could take.

[Al Laius]

Hungary is probably an eBay reference, as there are certain plants on a certain Hungarian's eBay pages which are allegedly straight from habitat.

They might be retiring from selling direct to the public but rumours are that they will continue (and perhaps expand) their wholesale business, thus avoiding much of the public scrutiny. Who knows.

Al

[Aiko]

Now mentioned on their own home page:

"16 September 2016 we will close our nursery in Erkelenz-Hoven."

[FlorentG]

Some will be pleased to hear this: I heard that Specks will be closing up their shop in September.

That will certainly not stop the demand for habitat-striped succulents, unfortunately... Someone will take over the job.

When I read this post, I can only feel sorry for the lack of "education"/awareness of some members. Please, don't call yourself a plant lover if you knowingly grow habitat-collected plants. Most field-collected plants of South-Africa (that's the area I know best) are from areas that are not directly threatened by development/grazing/mining/etc. A significant proportion are local endemics, which only occur in a restricted area. Poachers don't think about plant population long-term survival; they take all they can carry.

I did visit Specks as I started to grow succulents, and bought plants, but with a little bit of thinking and research I soon came to the conclusion that if everyone behaved like me the consequences on natural habitats would be significant. Collectors don't do *anything* for the conservation of species. If you want to conserve a species, you protect its habitat. Once out of its habitat it's not worth anything.

Florent

PS : Not all plants sold by Specks are from habitat. But a large proportion are. It's very easy to tell apart. On Liz's pictures, the Euphorbia thai hybrids, small Aloes and small Avonia papyracea are surely not from habitat. The other ones, yes. Only the south-african Pelargoniums are doubtful to me.