John Collins - introduction

Hi Everyone ,

Taking a leaf from Renata's post I've decided to do a little intro of myself .
My name is John Collins and I live in Blackburn Lancashire England . I have grown cacti /succulents for about 40 years and have been chairman of nearby Bolton Cactus Society for about 18 years . Unfortunately the society shut at Christmas due to lack of members , a common enough story .I still have an 8 metre long greenhouse full of succulent plants .
I have grown sempervivums /jovibarbas for about 30 years , though at one stage I gave away my collection about 10 years ago to my son in law , when we moved house .
I could see he had lost interest in them and I also realised how much I was missing them , so I reclaimed them and have been rebuilding my stocks ever since .
During my hobby time I have had the good fortune to visit and stay with David Ford , the English hybridiser and learn a lot from him .
Also I bought plants from the German nursery of the Countess von Zeppelin, of the airship dynasty and became a penpal for a while , being invited to accompany her and other botanists on a plant hunting trip in Eastern Europe . Unfortunately I was a young married man , young children and limited funds, so could not afford to go ...a source of some regret now .
Like Renata , I like buying /swapping new stock every year to keep the collection fresh , though the Euro exchange rate has made European purchases very expensive this time .
I grow my plants on raised tables with concrete block legs , which means they're away from slugs , easy to weed and great to stand and admire them .
I like to propagate and swap plants , but this year the offer to exchange has been met with virtual silence, so that's quite disappointing for me . Still its not too late , so anyone can still shout up !!!

Regards

John

Hm ...

John, I "know" you for years, but there are some facts in your introduction I have not known. Giving away your collection and reclaming it?

Frau Zeppelin died few years ago and though the nursery is very respectablie, they do not put enough attention to their / her cultivars. Sadly, they can not all be bought at the nursery.