I've been in contact with the ever-knowledgable and ever-gracious Ray Rogers (who literally wrote the book on coleus, if you haven't yet read it) who curates the coleus collection at Atlock Farms in New Jersey.
I will be making a trip To Atlock on Saturday, June 21st to visit his collection and purchase coleus, and would like to do a limited mini-co-op for coleus forum members. They have an extensive list of named coleus detailed at the end of this post.
Because my car isn't very big, I am limiting participation to 10 people, with a 10 plant maximum. Please also list 3 or 4 alternatives in case some of your top 10 are not available, and note whether you want substitutes in case your total # available is less than 10.
The coleus are in 4" pots (which i will unpot and carefully wrap the rootballs). Ray says that there are 2 crops available, some which are large beauties right now and some that have been rooting only for a few weeks, so sizes of your plants may vary. He has assured me that all are in great condition. Even greater is their very reasonable prices- each pot is $3.50 + 7% tax.
Of course, I will add shipping in a flat-rate USPS box, and figure the cost of gas. I'm about 2 hours away from Atlock Farms. I'll do the calculation today and post the total cost.
Here's the list of coleus they have. I spoke with Ray yesterday and he says that 3/4 of these cultivars are available, but I think we had better hurry as they're having their open house this Sunday, June 15th, and he receives orders for flat-fulls of pots, so the coleus may fly off the shelves. The sooner I give him our order list, the better. He will set them aside for us.
So if you're interested, please post here or shoot me a d-mail. First come, first serve, so flex your coleus-grabbing muscles now!
Alabama Sunset
Big Bob
Black Magic
Black Radish
Black Trailer
Blaze
Blusher
Brilliancy
Bronze Pagoda
Brooklyn Horror
Butter Kutter
Buttercream
Camouflage purple sport
Careless Love- NOT AVAILABLE
Carrot Cake- NOT AVAILABLE
Chuluota
Compact Red
Concord
Copacetic Yellow- NOT AVAILABLE
Dark Star
Definitely Different
Diane’s Gold
Dragon’s Tongue
Duke of Swirl
El Supremo
Emerald and Snow
Felix
Fishnet Stockings
Flamingo
Flirtin’ Skirts
Freckles
Glennis
Gold Giant
Granny Smith- NOT AVAILABLE
Grape Expectations
Green Earrings
Haines
Harlequin
Heart
Holy Guacamole
India Frills
Inky Fingers
Japanese Giant
Jo Donna
Kiwi Herman
Kona Red (Dipt in Wine)
Lemon Chiffon
Mars
Max Levering
Merlin’s Magic
Meteor
Micanopy
Night Skies
Odalisque
Pele
Penney
Peter Wonder
Pineapple Queen
Pink Chaos
Plum Frost
Purple Emperor
Purple Haze
Quarterback
Red Coat
Red Ruffles (the real thing)
“Red Ruffles”
Religious Radish
Rheingold
Royal Glissade
Saturn
Schizophrenia
Sedona
Smallwood’s Driveway
Solar Flare
Stormy
Stormy Weather
Strawberry Drop
Sunn’s Green and Gold
Swiss Sunshine
Tabasco
The Flume
The Line
Tigerlily
Tilt a Whirl
Tooth or Consequences
Trailing Salamander
Velvet Mocha
Wild Lime
Yalaha
This message was edited Jun 13, 2008 8:34 AM to add more detail
This message was edited Jun 13, 2008 8:36 AM to correct sales tax amount to 7%
This message was edited Jun 14, 2008 3:13 PM
This message was edited Jun 16, 2008 12:19 AM
making another coleus run- Atlock Farms, NJ- anyone want in?
Here's a photo of crop #1
Here's crop #2, which are not fully leafed out, but well-rooted and thriving.
Well, the pics are not enlarging when clicked on, so here's crop #1 again. These are really taking off.
Here's crop #2 again.
hmmm,
i just posted this two hours ago, but i am a little surprised no one's posted any interest. but maybe i'm being impatient...
anywho, i hope some of you do.
:)
joy
LOL Joy... I'm trying to decide. I keep raising my hand and then slapping it back down again!
I'm very interested, but I have so much to do that I keep wondering if I need another plant at all.
Put me down for tentative and if someone wants my place later they can have it.
hehehe Brinda,
I am the same way. i still have to plant about 200 coleus in the yard.
but remember brinda, you can always use another coleus LOL.
joy
Where is Ray? I'd love to see pics of these...
Black Radish
Black Trailer
Camouflage purple sport
Dragon’s Tongue
Harlequin
Mars
Meteor
Night Skies
Quarterback
Rheingold
Stormy
Sunn’s Green and Gold
I dont have much space to put the ones I have, but would like in if the prices are right. Reserving one space. Thanks for offering to do this!
ok here's the calculation:
Cost:
$37.45 for 10 plants (@$3.50 each+7% sales tax)
+$12.95 shipping (assuming using large flat rate USPS box; if you're only getting 5-6 coleus, then I would use the smaller flat rate box which is $9.80)
+$ 3.11 for gas
= $53.51 Total
IMPORTANT: Please send final list and $ to me via paypal by Thursday, June 19th. I am sending Ray updates on plants to set aside every day, so the sooner I get your list, the better. Please list your top 10 and 3-4 alternates. Also specify if you want substitutions if not all 10 are available, or a refund.
Atlock only takes cash or check, and although i wish i could, i can't front all that money on my own. My paypal address is eskinol@aol.com. You can also mail me a check via USPS. I'm in the address exchange.
* Edited to correct sales tax info (was originally listed as 6%, but is actually 7%
This message was edited Jun 14, 2008 12:52 PM
*Edited to add more detail regarding payment and deadline
This message was edited Jun 14, 2008 3:11 PM
Hi Joy,
This is a very exciting opportunity! Thank you so much for offering to include a group of us.
You Know I want Flirtin' Skirts and Diane's Gold. Several others jump out at me, but let me look up all of them before I make a final selection.
Definitely count me in!
ok, so far we have:
1)Jadajoy?
2)SilkKnoll
3)Fairy1004 (paid)
4)9kittymom
5)Lulabelle (waiting for mailed check)
6)Kell?
7)ZZbabies (paid)
btw- if not enough people sign up, then each person can get more coleus, because I'll have more room in the car. I'll try to find box to fit in coleus... sometimes shipping by weight dimension is cheaper...
thanks,
joy
This message was edited Jun 15, 2008 5:34 PM
This message was edited Jun 15, 2008 11:26 PM
This message was edited Jun 16, 2008 12:09 AM
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This message was edited Jun 17, 2008 5:07 PM
Ray says:
Thank you, Joy, for doing this. By the way, the tax rate in NJ is 7%, not 6%. Looking forward to seeing you next Saturday.
Many of the cultivars are pictured in a certain book. I'll do my best to get pictures of the others this weekend and will post them ASAP.
R
Wow, you guys are just as bad as philly now:) in the PA burbs we only get charged 6%. Just a few minutes to DE and there's no tax at all. you know what they say about death and taxes...
Ray,
in case that some interested people don't have access to your book yet, is it ok to scan and post the pics here? i have your book, so i can do it. don't want to infringe on copyrights...
thanks,
joy
Gosh I want some and want to go too. What fun. I need to look over the list before I decide for sure. I sure do not have enough yet. LOL Aren't you so nice to offer.
LOL Kell... you best start deciding right now as it took you over a week to decide on the Baker's Acres trip. And Joy is going next Saturday!!!!!!!!!
I need to see your list first, as usual Miz Brindaful. I always think you pick better. If we went out to eat together I would be staring at your dinner plate wishing it were mine. I always drive Tom nuts doing that.
Are you serious Kell????? Allan does that to me all the time and it just makes me insane. I end up pushing my plate to him to finish as I hate when someone acts like they want my food. LOL Do you really do that to Tom?
I'm a fairly slow eater, always have been. Allan isn't a fast eater but he is what we call the 'human garbage disposal'! He will always finish what someone is throwing out. I have no idea how he stays so slim. Anyway, when he finishes his food... he will just sit and watch me eat or stare at my plate. I get the feeling he's thinking... "If she wouldn't eat so much, she wouldn't be so fat" So I just give it to him!
I do not just stare, I whine too. I say why didn't I order what you ordered? I knew it would be better. Oh poor me has to eat this while you have that which is so much better. I make it seem like he did something wrong by ordering something better. I excel at whining. I could win a whining prize. Last night I was ordering a custard dessert and he was getting a cherry panna cotta. He kept saying you really want the cherry panna cotta, I would say no I want the custard. And he would say you really want the cherry panna cotta. When I insisted I wanted the custard he said he was not sharing his. With that the waitress walked up and he ordered 2 cherry panna cottas. LOL His still looked better. I am so annoying.
This thread is getting long! good!
Pls. read the details of ordering on this post, especially deadline and payment information:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=5097272
that means you Kell LOL. you're hilarious. gosh, eat some foie gras for me next time you go out. i haven't had it in ages, and i hope i do before it gets banned in PA. or is it already banned there? i know people says it's cruel to serve it, but i visited a duck farm in france and witnessed "gavage" feeding of the ducks. They loved it! they were fighting for the feeding tube! i don't know how more humane caging chickens and livestock in tiny spaces is, and there's no banning of commercially processed animals. but i should shut up before i offend. sorry if i do...i don't mean to!
Oh I am so sorry to hog your serious business thread. I can go on about nothing for ages as if it is something.
We just happen to be going to an oh so fancy place tonight (The French Laundry) that I am sure will serve foie gras. So decadent. We have tried to get reservations here for ages, as in years. Then the other night at 4AM I happened to get up and just happened to try for reservations on Open Table for no earthly reason and there they were for tonight. Someone must have just cancelled. I thought I was dreaming. Definitely an omen to go! My husband had just told me that morning no more so fancy places for awhile. So much for that! LOL After tonight we will only be going to McDonalds for a month or 2.
oh no kell! i was being funny. and glad that people were posting and interested;) i loved your stories about eating out. they cracked me up.
The French Laundry!!!! you're so lucky! That would be a dream for me. i was never able to get a reservation there when i was single, and now that we have two little ones, not for a while. i hope it stays open for awhile. funny thing about working in the business is that you work so much you never go out to eat- especially on a saturday night! Their tasting menu is worth it. If you get the menu, can you scan it for me? i miss working in fine dining so much, and doing off the cuff tasting menus, so i would love to see what they're up to.
i still have my menu from Chez Panisse in Berkeley from over 10 years ago. they made the best creme brulee- the simplest french dessert, which i've made about 10,000 times, and have had many times, and their blackberry tea creme brulee is something i will never forget.
have fun!!!!
ok, so there, don't feel bad, i've hijacked my own thread LOL.
OK, all you coleophiles out there, here's the scoop on photos of the Atlock coleus: I'm going to post 11 of them here (and make comments) on this thread. All of the others on the list are pictured in a certain book . . .
Also, it appears that we're sold out of Careless Love, Copacetic Yellow, and Granny Smith. However, current plans have us propagating many of the cultivars for an event this fall.
Ray
Here's Brooklyn Horror. It's a distinctive beauty, I think, and it grows well. I guess the "Horror" relates to the chopped-up leaves spattered with something? I have no idea how it relates to Brooklyn.
Very few of these to go.
Dragon's Tongue foliage is extremely variable, ranging from all-black to mostly green with some black. Wait long enough and an all-black plant will probably go green and then back to black again.
Good grower. Very "moody."
Emerald and Snow has been pictured and discussed on this thread off and on over the past two years. Should have been called 'Emerald and Pale Gold' based on how it grows here.
PIctured with Pink Chaos (see later).
Nice. Vigorous and fresh-looking.
Granny Smith is just a bit yellower than Granny Smith apples, and sometimes there's a little white in the center of the leaf.
Can grow rather large. Excellent color to combine with many others. I suspect it will not tolerate a lot of sun.
Jo Donna hits me right in the eyes. Powerful color and a good grower. Sun tolerance unknown, so try it in more than one exposure.
Give Merlin's Magic some time to grow into an intricate mound of foliage. Wow. Definitely variable from leaf to leaf, but the overall appearance is one of lots of color.
Micanopy is one of the Florida sun coleus. In time it develops a tapestry-like coloration that's far more attractive than what's shown in the picture. It can get big.
Pink Chaos is well named: zippy pink and suggestive of uncontrolled action. Give it lots of bright light for maximum color. It can be a little open unless pinched every now and then.
Shown with Emerald and Snow, presented earlier.
Like Merlin's Magic, Quarterback might take some time to develop into a beautiful mound of spattered foliage. The leaves eventually get rather large. Bright light to sun produces much yellower leaves.
Royal Glissade came from the University of Florida's breeding program and reportedly can take full sun, where the foliage will exhibit mostly red shades. Less light produces yellow-green leaves gorgeously air-brushed with red.
Exquisite. Gets pretty big.
Velvet Mocha - or is it Mocha Velvet? - technically should be preceded with Lancelot. Apparently there's a series of these in the works. A recent thread highlighted the love-hate relationship out there for this one. I love the color, which combines with almost everything (assuming it's given enough light/sun). I hate how it wants to produce stubby leaves with age, wrecking the "shredded" look of the foliage.
Grows like a weed for me.
So that's if for the pictures.
Ray
Thanks Ray
WOW Ray, you are making it hard to say no! Great photos!
Eskinola, we got home about 10. So about 3 and 1/2 hours of eating. I could be sick. If you put an apple in my mouth I would definitely resemble a roasted sow. I wonder how many calories I ate tonight. I need some antioxidents IV push! They give you an oh so fancy menu on very good paper and even a matching folder. Very fancy, the fanciest menu we have gotten. Though no chef signed it. LOL! That is the latest for these rock star chefs!
I took pics of most of the courses. My son was not amused. If he could leave me home he would. Of course I am paying so he would take my wallet. LOL
We walked thru their veggie gardens before we ate. It was a beautiful day.
We did not have many vegetables and what was there was, was miniscule. But they did have a good size garden. They also had a vegetarian menu. Now I wish I had that.
1 more picture before I go to bed. For 1 of the courses, they offered Japanese beef or veal. If you ordered the Kobe, they brought out a piece of it before they cooked it for show and tell. My son and husband both opted for this. I, thank goodness now, (for I am listening to MSNBC where they still are going over Tim Russert' s death; they just had his doctor on, I am a goner for sure), went with the veal. I will say Japanese beef is incredible. Nothing like US beef. But it is very heavy, very rich.
Look at the marbling! Before and after shots.
Shoot, I made the menu entry to small to read. Here it is bigger.
You can see how little of the veggies they serve.
