Albert's Greenhouse

Every so often, a much ignored segment of plant fandom experiences a renaissance. That's quietly happened over the past couple of years among the ten or fifteen of us who are vitally interested in ant plants.

I was able to order, this late summer, not one or two or three different myrmecodias, but a total of eight different ant plants, right off of e-bay. And I could have had eight different ant ferns ... if I were willing to pay through the nose for it.

This is unheard of. No more than 3 years ago, it was nearly impossible to get ant ferns from anyone in the USA, and we were limited to one or two species of caudiciform ant plants with poor documentation and questionable naming. Now we have available to us many different types with reasonably accurate descriptions and names.

How did this happen? One guy named Frank in Michigan got interested. Very interested. And he went to the trouble of asking some questions, finding some papers, badgering some people who had mislabeled stuff, and importing and growing some plants. And he started selling them on E-Bay. And that's how renaissance happens in the exotic plant world. One guy gets interested, and that's all it takes to really make a difference.

Thanks, Frank. For the plants, and especially for taking the time to share.