Miami trip

[Guest]

In a recent mini-vacation to south Florida, I took advantage of the chance to visit Orgel's Orchids. Long time cp growers know the contributions that Clyde Bramblett of Orgel's Orchids has made with Sarracenia and Nepenthes. For those that don't know him, he is one of a hand-full of pioneers to the hobby. He was visiting Sarracenia habitat when sites were far more common and much less threatened. It's sad to hear how rapidly sites have given way to development. We would talk about an interesting site and he would finish by saying, "it's the same old story." Remarking that the site no longer exists. I'm amazed that he still shows enthusiasm for making a trip into the field.
  Our visit wasn't completely talk of gloom and doom. Clyde showed me around his greenhouses and pointed out all kinds of plants. My knowledge of plants isn't as complete as his, though he never made me feel inadequate. He was a very gracious host, and even kept my wife from being bored. We left that afternoon with a generous bunch of plants. I'm excited to grow them, not only for their uniqueness but, I appreciate the man that let me have them. I hope others get to meet him.
imduff

 

[PDX]

Imduff,

Nice report on your visit to Clyde. I know he's been through a few personal issues in the recent past and it's good to hear he's still getting along. I've not had the chance to visit him but have spoken with him on the phone a couple times and he's always been a gentleman and generous with his time. He's always seemed to enjoy talking of his time in the field.

I look forward to seeing photos of the plants this coming season.

 

[Guest]

Yes PDX, we left his place feeling sad for him. His wife passed away just last July. He did seem to have good spirits though. It goes to show that bad things can happen to good people.
I hate to turn this thread in such a somber direction. As I've metioned, we enjoyed the visit and really liked seeing his plants. He has a huge lowland Nepenthes and Sarracenia collection. To mention a few things, he has mature male and female N.bicals, plenty of S.rubra 'gulfensis' and numerous hybrids. One of the hybrids that I got had an out-of-season recent flower.
It's interesting to hear the adaptations he's had to make for Sarracenia in south Florida. His water is very alkaline and the plants can tolerate it for quite a while. Additionally, he mentioned that he has to repot everything yearly with new soil. To me his plants looked fine. They didn't look stressed at all. The plants I got were all bursting with new divisions.
imduff

 

[Lauderdale]

Thanks for the report on Clyde.  I live about thirty miles away but haven't visited him in about a year.  I am sorry to hear his wife died.
Yes, he is a very nice person.  Every time I bought plants from him he would say "You should have one of these" and give it to me. That is how I got my filiformis "all red".
I must take some time and drive down to see him.

 

[Trent]

Hi Everyone,
A group of us South Florida cp enthusiasts and friends visited Clyde on August 28, 2004.  My wife Michelle took some pics, here are a few.

The man himself.  

Clyde’s growing area for Sarracenia/Drosera/VFT/and everything you can imagine.  

Here is a S. leucophylla (green and white).

A S. alata or alata hybrid.

One of his large Venus fly traps.

S. purpurea

His Nepenthes/Orchid greenhouse.  It’s the closest I’ve been to seeing Nepenthes in the wild.  

I know this is the Sarracenia discussion group, but since we’re on this topic…

 
This is N. ‘Clyde Bramblett’ in his greenhouse.  We have taken cuttings of this plant since then.

Group of shady looking characters… (us)

Clyde discussing his S. minor ‘Okee Giant’ with Manny Herrera.

It's hard to capture Clyde's in a photo.  For those of you that haven't been there, or if it's been a while, hope you enjoyed!
We're planning to go down for another visit this month or next, Michelle and I will take more pics.

 

[The Griffin]

I saw a pic of N. ‘Clyde Bramblett’ on the site of his that his ....daugher-in-law(Sharon) put up? I had no idea what it was. What's in it? Does he sell it?

Cheers,

Joe

 

[The Griffin]

Uh, I forgot this was the Sarracenia forum. Sorry about that.
I have talked to him also, and he was very helpful when my daughter had a cp exhibit for school scince fair(I wanted a large nep for an example(he sent me Cornelius Bak=N. 'Gentle') and he was nice enough to mail it the same time I was mailing payment.

Cheers,

Joe