Hello from North Shropshire

[JonNo]

Hello folks,

Having signed up a couple of months ago I thought I'd better join the forum and introduce myself.

It all started for me many years ago "when I were a lad" of about 9 in junior school. I had a crush on the local park keeper's daughter and in an effort to bring myself to her attention I approached her Dad, told him I was interested in plants, and asked him to show me around the park greenhouses. He kindly did, and at the end of it he presented me with what I later discovered was a mature and rather beautiful Aloe Variegata. I had that plant for many years before it finally succumbed to age and no doubt my lack of knowledge on how to care for it properly. The seed was sown.

I kept a small collection of cacti on my office window sill for many years (along with banana plants!), two of which are still with me, an Haworthia of some type which started as a single rosette and is now about 18 inches across and lives in my front porch, and a Mammillaria of some sort (I think...) which must be about 10 inches long now and long since lost the ability to support its own body weight. Both flower every year.

I'm now approaching the other end of life's journey and having been free of the shackles of the 9 to 5 for some time now I decided about 18 months ago to rekindle my interest and build a small collection. Discussion with She Who Has The Final Word (who doesn't like cacti - at all) resulted in agreement to my having a window sill tray and as many plants as I could fit on it... Since then I've bought as many plants as I can squeeze on, all from a local mini-mart or on-line (mostly E-Bay), nearly all small examples (for obvious reasons), nothing remotely rare or unusual - but they please me. One (Mammillaria Gracilis) flowered for me last Summer, and I have high hopes for the coming year. I think I've identified all bar a couple of them, and may ask for help please on putting a name to that couple. I've also bought some seed from the BCSS, and am looking forward to Spring so I can give them a go.

Oh, and over the last three or four weeks I've had my first ever encounter with mealy bug! As a consequence of which four of my plants are currently in quarantine being sprayed - fingers crossed...

So, that's me. I tend to be a "sit back and read" type of person rather than someone who makes lots of posts, but I do hope to learn some more from you over the coming months -thanks in advance!

[AnTTun]

1. I guess park keeper's daughter story didn't really end the way you hoped? Besides aloe of course, but I doubt you hoped for that either
2. She Who Has The Final Word (who doesn't like cacti - at all) - now that sounds familiar
3. Welcome aboard mate

[JonNo]

Cheers for that, much appreciated.

No, park keeper's daughter came to nothing... Years later I spotted her on the Friends Reunited web site, and messaged her to ask if she remembered our school days - and she had absolutely no memory of me at all!

So much for my efforts, but I did come away with a love of cacti!

[el48tel]

Welcome to the forum
We all have ....
1 a different story to tell
2 a similar interest aka cactus and succulents

I too have "one has the final word .... but has been shown that I love her just as much"

You could start a one liner competition .... she was only the park keepers daughter but she ......

[rodsmith]

Welcome to the forum. I'm not too far away from you I reckon - near Market Drayton.

[JonNo]

Thanks, the welcome is appreciated.

A one liner competition sounds like a cracking idea, but I'm much too new to the forum to have judged the prevailing sense of humour yet..!

Hi Rod, nice to know there's someone else in this part of the world that shares the interest. Fabulous weather around here just now for growing cacti, eh?! If you're near Drayton but over the border in Staffs I'm guessing somewhere around Loggerheads? Had a fiancée in Drayton once upon a time, remember the place well... Noticed in your signature you know about Lithops, will have to ask you presently for advice on how to get my Pleioslipos Nelii to do something more than get dusty..!

[rodsmith]

Loggerheads it is! I have a young Pleioslipos nelii that I've grown from seed. They don't seem to need much water but I'm no expert on the species - yet.

[Peter]

Hello JonNo. I sent you a message, so check your inbox.
Peter

[JonNo]

Hello JonNo. I sent you a message, so check your inbox.
Peter

Hi Peter, thanks for the message - I have replied but my message seems very reluctant to leave my outbox... I'll keep trying.

Just been looking at your posts featuring your greenhouse. Wow..!

[Tony R]

Hello JonNo. I sent you a message, so check your inbox.
Peter

Hi Peter, thanks for the message - I have replied but my message seems very reluctant to leave my outbox... I'll keep trying.

Just been looking at your posts featuring your greenhouse. Wow..!

JonNo,
FYI, the message will stay in your Outbox until Peter reads it - only then does it move to your Sent box. A quirk of the PM system.