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Would you rather own one rare plant, or a large collection of common ones?

Wolfn

Agent of Chaos
If you had to choose between owning one rare and special carnivorous plant (Cephalotus, Nepenthes Hamata, Heliamphora, etc) or owning lots of common carnivorous plants (Venus Fly Traps, Sarracenia, Pinguicula, etc) which would you choose?


Personally, I would own one rare carnivorous plant and devote all my attention to that instead of a large collection.


I was rearranging my plants today to make room for my new Cephalotus and Mexican butterwort and I thought it would be easier to take care of one or two plants instead of the large collection I have on my porch.
 
It depends on what that one rare plant is. If it were, say, N. edwardsiana, then maybe. If it's something like a Ceph, then I would want the larger collection of Sarracenias and Droseras.
 
"Rare" plants are becoming more common every day so I think I'd go for a larger collection. That's a pretty good description of my collection today - lots of stuff, nothing too unusual. But when people come to my house for the first time, they're like five-year-olds at the zoo. Rare plants have their allure, but to most people just about everything I grow is exotic and crazy, so I can settle for that.
~Joe
 
Ever hear the expression "a watched pot never boils"? I would rather have a number of so called 'common' plants to devote my attention to rather than being focused on just one rare one.
 
rather boring sitting and watching one plant.......a group is more interesting cause you always have something new to look at........
 
It actually seems easier to me to take care of a group than one plant. I don't know that I believe in the theory of a "morphic field" but a group of plants does seem to create it's own little climate unto itself. This grouping seems to help all others of the group along better than one lonely plant trying to make it on it's own.

I think it's more the "idea" of having the rarest plant more than the fact of having it that people get attracted to. "Won't the fellas Oh and Ah when I show them I got THIS!" I think everyone's guilty of that - I know I have been! But people will still Oh and AH over a plain old N. ventricosa if it's grown well, with big juicy pitchers on each leaf! :)
 
That's a good point, swords. I still get amazed by ventricosas and other common plants in the forums. Sure, rare plants are nice, but having just one plant seems boring. With more, something nice happens almost everyday.
 
You can't just have one ;)
 
I'd much rather have a bunch of nice, common plants. Honestly, I don't care how common something is if it looks nice. There are some painfully common Utrics out there that I love because they make nice flowers. :shrug:

Things are always dynamic and interesting when you've got lots of plants. Sure one might be doing crummy, but another is flowering like made, or it's time to make divisions of yet another.
 
  • #10
whats considered rare this year might be extreamly common in 2 years.......tuberous dews other than peltata were rather difficult to get ahold of a few years ago but more and more species are getting easy to get ahold off.....when i started in 2003 it was really something if yah had a Ceph or D. falconeri, now most anyone that wants one can get one rather quick for less than an arm and a leg......

as far as im concerned some of the most interesting and beautiful dews are the binata complex and capensis.....few dews can rival the looks of a really well grown capensis......one of the pictures that really sticks in my mind for nepenthes is a bush of a Ventrata a Hawaii grower had growing by his mail box.......

do i have some plants right now that are considered rare? yeah, but thats not why i tracked them down or got ahold of them, i got them cause they interested me and for no other reason.....i would want them weither they only a handful of ppl or everyone had them......
 
  • #11
Since I can count on a plant dying every now and then, I don't want one rare plant because it would eventually mean no plants. But I don't want lots of plants either because I have neither the space nor the motivation they need. I've been down that path a few times with various kinds of plants and hope I never do it again. My orchid collection, which once approached 100, is down to 4 and my Nep collection is down to 1. I have several Sarrs and VFTs too, but that'd OK because they live outside and spend half the year asleep. If my sunny growing space weren't so limited, I'd have more of them. I went a little crazy trading for cacti last fall, but they prefer being ignored, which makes them ideal for me.
 
  • #12
Since I can count on a plant dying every now and then, I don't want one rare plant because it would eventually mean no plants.

aint that the truth......every once in awhile something is going to keel over for some reason you cant put your finger on.....for example i can not grow D. adelae.......Andrew didnt believe me and sent me one......3 days later i had a dead adelae.......he said keep it, it will come back from the roots....8 months later still no growth....ive got its sister species, prolifera, growing happily but i cant get adelae to live longer than a week.....be damned if i can explain why?
 
  • #13
if you have one plant, you might spoil it, and it might die from the stress. on the other hand, more plants means more fun.
 
  • #14
I care more about looks, but it is nice if a plant is unusual.
 
  • #15
I would definitely prefer a large collection of "commoners" over one "rare" plant..
and hey..thats pretty much what I have! ;)

I only have two plants that could be considered "rare"..both sarrs..
one is a ICPS 'alabamensis'
and I have a genuine Leah Wilkerson division, straight from the bog..

everything else is common..I dont even have any VFT named cultivars..

Scot
 
  • #16
ive always wanted something in the middle, that is, a mediumish collection of semi-rare plants. Think unique sarras, a few nice neps (none of the $300 guys), cephs, tuberous dorsera, and some plants with high personal value (my first ever CP, a ventricosa 'red' for example), and thats my collection.

No N. klossii's, but a less common than N. ventrata and regular VFTs (which i have and love lol). But an excellently grown ventrata and reg. VFT surely out shine poorly grown rare plants, and 100% of "normal" plants..
 
  • #17
I like a variety, especially an array of sundews glistening in the afternoon sun.
 
  • #18
We are all collectors here...so the answer to your question was obvious from the begining.
One plant it's just too boring. A group of commons is a lot more nicer than just one plant/specie. Most commons, if grown in good conditions, are more nicer tham many "rare" species out there!
 
  • #19
.... i got them cause they interested me and for no other reason.....
Agreed - if a plant doesn't interest me - why bother? Some rare plants I wouldn't keep even if someone just gave it to me (as some may have noticed from some unplanned giveaways). People sometimes include one or more 'extra' plants in a trade - while this is a nice thing to do - most of the time - I give them away.

As for 1 or a bunch, as HNT noted, if you just have one it will die. Period. ... and you'll be so nervous that it will die, there's little enjoyment to come from growing the plant.

For building a collection, it's pretty easy to get the common plants - look for free seed, plants for postage, etc. For the 'economically-challenged', I recommend getting one fairly rare plant that's easy to propagate (ie:VFT 'Fused tooth', Ceph 'Hummer's Giant', Sarr var atropurpurea, etc). Let the plant get established and then make lots of them via propagation. Once you have one 'rare/uncommon' plant, it's pretty easy to trade for many of the other uncommon plants you might want (aka: CP currency).

In general, being a good propagator is one of the best & easiest methods to expand a collection. I've followed up with folks who've had a Hummer's Giant from me for a year and ask them how the plant is growing. After they tell me how well it's doing, I ask if they've pulled any leaves for propagation. The majority tell me that they haven't because they're scared. I always find that ironic because IME, they have a much greater chance to lose a single plant from some random event that they do taking one leaf from a thriving plant.
 
  • #20
I love my common plants, I only have capensis red and two ventrata cuttings but I really like them. I would have to side with the large collection regardless of how rare.
 
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