Thought some of you might be interested in this.

I have posted a new thread for trades I have available. There are some vines there that may interest some of you. Here is the link.

http://davesgarden.com/t/446364/

Hugo, you have a very impressive list of Passifloras and an equally impressive list of wanted items. Some of those things on your wanted list are difficult to propagate -- like the Artabotrys, Cananga, and Brunfelsia. If you decide to purchase those items from a nursery, I can recommend Gardino's, Royal Palm Enterprises, and/or Natural Selections. I would stay away from Top Tropicals and Aloha Tropicals for those items. Good luck and have fun trading! If I can ever root your P. Mollissima and P. Alata "Ruby Glow" for you, I might take you up on a trade. Do you use Oasis cubes to root your Passiflora cuttings?

Clare,
I'm just curious why you recommend some of these nurseries over the others? I thank you so much for your input since I know I won't be able to find and trade most of the things on my wanted list. The Brunfelsia americana is one that I am really, really looking for. I've never heard of Gardino's or Royal Palm Enterprises. I have heard of Natural selections. The only thing that put me off a bit about Natural selections is that they were calling A. macrorrhiza THE "Borneo Giant". The only one I know to be the real "Borneo Giant" is the Alocasia robusta but then again I'm new to ears so who knows. I'll check'em out again.

Regarding a trade, maybe you can just send cuttings through the mail and I'll root them here. Let me know if this interests you.

Hello!
I have a desire for many of your Passionflower vine seeds. We have a link to our business web site where we have many different types of seeds to offer. If you view our page we would be interested in trading with you anything you want for some of any of your Passionflower vine seeds. Email us at mountainmeadowseeds@frontiernet.net for a link to view. We hope to hear back from you soon! Thanks in advance!!!
mmseeds

Hugo, check out Garden Watchdog when you get a chance. The link is on this page. It is a really useful tool whenever you are unsure about who you want to order from. I have been ordering plants for a couple of years now, and there are some online nurseries which are consistently good, some online nuseries which are consistently bad, and some which are overpriced. For example, Aloha Tropicals consistently ships barely rooted cuttings for overinflated prices and frequently misidentifies their plants. Logee's has excellent quality plants and excellent customer service; although, some think their plants are too small. Top Tropicals has quality plants which are overpriced. Gardino's and Natural Selections also sell quality plants, but their prices are somewhat high also. Royal Palm Enterprises has great prices and is reputable. Gardino's has the Brunfelsia americana.

Gardino's: http://www.rareflora.com/
Logee's: http://www.logees.com/store/
Royal Palm Enterprises: http://www.rpetropicals.com/
Natural Selections: http://naturalselections.safeshopper.com/
Top Tropicals: http://www.toptropicals.com/
Aloha Tropicals: http://www.alohatropicals.com/

As for shipping unrooted cuttings, I would rather not. The last time I did that, they arrived in terrible condition, and the recipient was very unhappy, and that was when the weather was still cool. With the current heat waves across the country, I don't think they would make it. You have such an impressive list of Passifloras to trade. I have no doubt that you will be able to trade for P. Mollissima and P. Alata Ruby Glow from someone else if I am not able to root them for you. I will try my best. It's been so hot here that everything seems to be turning brown or turning to mush. If I can't root them now, I can alway try again next spring. Spring seems to be the best time for rooting cuttings.

Clare,
You're an angel. Thanks for all this info. I will certainly take the Garden Watchdog into account when ordering. There is quite a bit of info here in your post. I wonder what these companies think whent hey surf and find these comments about them posted here on DG.

Gosh Clare I totally agree about TopTrops being overpriced! My goodness I could go to the local nurseries and buy stuff and ship it and STILL be cheaper!!!

I am holding off buying the Thunbergia m. and c. from them too - maybe you and I should go in together, Bug, and you order one and I'll get the other and we trade cuttings!!! If they grow like other thunbergias we'd have cuttings to trade in no time!

LOL, Hugo. It is my pleasure to offer what I have learned. I doubt the companies can read what we write about them here at Dave's unless they are members, but maybe they are members. I have said the same thing about them on public forums like GardenWeb, which they have probably seen. If they paid attention to what we say about them and altered their prices, then they would benefit by increased sales, but I don't think they are smart enough to pay attention to comments made about them. It is much easier to ignore negative comments and dismiss the commenter as unimportant.

Edited to fix spelling.

Delphiniumdiva, I would highly recommend that you get your Thunbergia mysorensis from Logee's. It's back on their web site now. I got mine from them. Logee's prices are much more reasonable than Top Tropicals. They have other Thunbergias as well.

This message was edited Jul 27, 2004 6:47 PM

Delph,
I would be all for something like this. Clare is ahead of the game a bit so it would be up to us to decide to get the other two thunbergias. The coccinea is something else isn't it? Wow is all I can say.

Bug I have heard it grows like a weed too, so not much point in buying two, when we can just share! I'm going to check Logee's and see if they have anything else I just can't live without.

but the Top Tropicals plant will be 3 times bigger than the Logees plant and will have a solid root ball for very similar price. The Top Tropicals plant will almost double in size in a matter of weeks because they have such a well established root system. They take off like lightening.

It doesn't look like Top Tropicals has Thunbergia mysorensis for sale on their web site. Certainly, if the price is similar, then you can decide which one to order from. My experience is that Top Tropical's prices are about three times higher than Logee's, and their shipping and handling charge is about five time higher than Logee's. JMHO!