Well i'm back

[nepenthes gracilis]

Hey everyone had a great road trip to Florida! Went to Disney, Universal, Islands of Adventure, Seaworld, Busch Gardens for the trip itself. On the way down on I-75 we got to see senile drivers, a mac truck tire exploded about 3 cars ahead of us and to top it all off I got a special photo which I will share later (which all the others this week sometime will also be uploaded...I have around 65-70 pic to resize and upload!

) But it wil be worth it... The highlight of the trip for me was to go to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and meet Ron Gagliardo the creator of the Akai Ryu VFT and a quick tour (the quickest he ever has toured he says!) of the Sarracenia conservation house which had all species of Sarracenia and all natural hybrids I belive if I remember correctly. I got alot of photos from their orchid, Nepenthes and other CP areas too. I might have a few photos up tonight if I resize all of them and am able to upload them quickly so maybe I will....until then.

 

[droseradude]

cool! nice to have you back. can't wait for pics

 

[eplants02]

Welcome back, Dustin.

Glad you had a fantastic time and can't wait to see the photos.

 

[Kirkscoastalcarnivores]

Hope you had a nice trip, I was redoing my garden, I live in the melbourne/palm bay area, I'm jealous

 

[Dyflam]

Did you ride the Incredible Hulk?

 

[SnowyFalcon]

Hey, sounds like you had fun! Can't wait to see some of your pictures!

SF

 

[schloaty]

Dustin, you were gone?

KIDDING!

Glad you had a great time! Can't wait to see the pictures.

 

[jimscott]

Gee, BCK said that he recently received a Nepenthes gracilis. So I jokingly asked if he meant that he received a teen from New York in the mail

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

 Jimscott  

Dyflam, no it was broken down and expierencing tech. difficulties when we went to Islands of Adventure at Universal.

Ok pics now.

Dr. Pat Calie of Eastern Kentucky University he specializes in botany and all the good stuff like that. My cousin Dr. Bonnie Gray of EKU is a Dr. of philosophy and introduced me to Pat on our sidetrip to Kentucky. Pat visited many areas with Sarracenia and saw every species in the south including jonesii,oreophila,flava atropupurea, alabamensis, etc. He is all for our project of the NASC and if anyone wishes to, can reach him at Pat.Calie@eku.edu He can tell you far more than what I can about the Sarracenia, my meeting with him was brief (around 2 or 3 hours) and limited things were discussed.

My mother and I in front of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

Various Orchids

N. truncata and ampullaria.

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Wonderful Phaphiopedilum

Some Phalenopsis in the heart of the Fuqua Orchid house.

A very nice N. lowii with exudate under the operculum.

No idea what this was....maybe N. spectabilis x maxima?

An impressive H. minor clump!

The bog gardens

The following photos are when I got to actually meet Ron Gagliardo (the creator of the Akai Ryu VFT) and he gave me the shortest tour he's ever given (he was pressed for time) of the Sarracenia house!

Some sort of S. flava Didn't look at the tag.

S. leucophylla 'tarnok'

Ron and I in the house.

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Some Orchids at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL

And the grande finale!!!

This guy was on the highway next to our vehicle and he was picking his nose and eating it! Photo proof!!!!

 

[BjørnNorman]

acutally, that is healty....

 

 but still gross!

anyway, nice picture!

 

[Spectabilis73]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW! NOSE-PICKER ALERT!

that sarracenia house looks awesome... maybe one day I'll be able to go there!

 

[eplants02]

Glad you had an awesome time, Dustin.

I gotta visit there sometime.