I'm afraid I have some unpleasant news. No, its not Tony - he's fine, so not to worry. However.....this is a sad tale about cultivating tropical plants in a cold climate like NY state in the winter. You best sit down, folks.
I just got off the phone with Tony and here’s the deal: his gas company stopped filling his propane tanks late in November, and DIDN’T TELL HIM! (He was paying through automatic debiting, so its not like he was missing bills or anything) Well, last night its minus 15F at his place, and the propane tanks run empty. A neighbor informs him that there is no exhaust coming from the greenhouse stoves, so he goes to investigate, and the propane heaters had been out for hours. Hours. Everything froze. It was cold enough that even buckets of water had formed ice on top. You can imagine what that does to Nepenthes. Tony says it looks like a sea of wilted brown lettuce in there today.
Tomorrow he is meeting with insurance and gas company personnel to find out what they can/will do for him. However, he finds this deeply disappointing and is not going to make any hard decisions about his intentions for a while, at least until he can determine what, if anything, survived. Can’t say I blame him, of course. Its not the monetary value of the plants - its the personal investment of love and time and effort to get to where he did. Insurance can’t redeem that.
I think its safe to say that if you have pre-orders with Tony for plants, that all bets are off right now. So, please don't nag him about plants you've been wanting to buy or trying to order - odds are that's not going to happen, at least in the foreseeable future. I'm sure he needs some time to get his head around this. :-(
That said, I'm sure he wouldn't object to hearing from appreciative customers and friends offering a supportive greeting - should you feel a need to say anything at all, that is.
Paul