Sempervivum Society Journal

Between years 1970 and 1985 the Sempervivum Society Jurnal was published.

Sempervivum Society was managed by Peter J. Mitchell, but after a decade and a half it seems to be vanished from Earth. If someone has ANY ide how to make such a society work again - speak lound and count me in!!!

Renata I have pdf files for the journals. How do I find out if I can put them on my web site for all to read?
Is Peter Mitchell still alive? If so where does he live?

Count me in.

Part of the issues are already online in .pdf, here:

http://stalikez.info/fsm/semp/site/bibli_gb.php?clc=132&zc=Ae1f1a1b1g1f1f1i1r1zuH

I find them very interesting!

If the society is re-started I will become member immediately.

I think one of the things do is to decide what we want from the society: newsletter, plant exchange, exhibitions (which continent?)? And then to decide if a formal society is the best or if a website can also have the same function. At that thime there was no internet ... I notice that many societies exist because only 2 or 3 people are very active. Then there are 100 members who pay membership, read a magazine and do nothing else. If that's not a problem: it's worth trying. But maybe first is to find out why the society stopped existing.

I have all the issues from 1970 to 1996. But don't feel right about putting them in my website without knowing it is legal to do. It would just be for the information they contain.

Sorry I can not help you with legal part ... Neither with information on Peter Mitchell!

I think that The Sempervivum Society stop existing because of lack of interest. They've done a great job! I believe there were really no young people to step on the places of Peter J. Mitchell, David T. Ford, etc ...

Nowadays the Sempervivum world is devided into those who speak German and those who speak English. It might sound stupid, but indeed there is a great language barrier. In Germany (Austria and German speaking part of Switzerland) there are at least 200 serious Sempervivum collectors!

Not so long ago Marea Sweeten from USA wrote "Sempervivum lovers unite!", but her wish did not came quite true. Well, it's my wish, too!

valleylynn wrote:I have all the issues from 1970 to 1996. But don't feel right about putting them in my website without knowing it is legal to do. It would just be for the information they contain.

I agree on this: way too many things are put online without the copyright holders' consent! I also agree about the "interesting" part

It looks like here's an address, but if it still works? Maybe something to double check with the british telephone guide?

http://www.tesselaar.net.au/plantprofiles/sempervivum_noir.asp

Thank you for the information illustrator. I sent them email. Hopefully I will hear back.
The files were sent to me by Glen Mentgen. He was a long time admirer of David Ford and used to make a trip twice a year to visit him and bring plants back to the US. David Ford gave him the collection of Journals and other publications and correspondence. Now Mr. Mentgen is in his 80's and wants to be sure this information is not lost.
If I get permission to use it I will share it with you Renata for your site. The more places we have it the better, so it is not lost forever.

As I see it, the real value os The Sempervivum Sociaty Magazines is the "history of semps" ... There are things there that are not written elsewhere, as the internet did not exist than. Unfortunately but there are very few photos.

The issue (not that is has something to do with the thema of this post!) is to find out how many cultivars DO NOT EXIST ANYMORE (they are lost for good).

Renata wrote:The issue (not that is has something to do with the thema of this post!) is to find out how many cultivars DO NOT EXIST ANYMORE (they are lost for good).

With so many cultivars around there is no way that all could have survived ... But I also think that not all cultivars are equally valuable. I think that for breeders it is very important to come with a number of new cultivars each year, because the new ones sell better to collectors. So chances are that between the new cultivars there are some that are very similar to existing ones, and they are named mainly because of this commerceal interest. If such a cultivar is lost some decades later: who cares?

I guess that the really important ones are the oldest cultivars and those which showed new characteristics first (and which are later used as the basis for many new crosses). Which ones these are: I cannot say, I don't know enough about the cultivars.

In addition, all wild plants with collection data are important as a gene-bank for both research and (hope it's never needed) re-introductions.

Mr. Mentgen has 1,000 different sempervivum, many from David Ford and Ed Skrocki. He is looking to place them (some which are species plants) so they will not be lost forever. We are in the process of trying to find a way for that to work.
Any ideas on how to do it?

Many of us have a "list" which contains name of the variety / cultivar, date we get the plant, name of the person that gave / swap / sell it to us, and other datas and comments (like breeder, size, doubtful name etc).

(This is not the invention of modern day Sempervivum lovers, it's rather what the semp enthusiats were doing some 20 or more years ago!)

I hope Mr. Mentgen has the same list. This is a start to work with such a VALUABLE collection of semps!

Of course, finding a trustful person to carry on his collection is the most important! Perhaps doing by the system of computers - "making a backup copies" would be the best idea - finding two or even three persons from different places so the collection will not get lost because of some bad weather conditions or so ...

We have a group working together to make sure his collection will live on.
Your above thought about a number of people having them to insure they do not die out.
Also those that will participate are to see they get out to other semp collectors.
I also keep computer records on when I acquired a plant, where it came from and other important information concerning the plant. We've also been taking photos in all seasons to document what the changes are for each variety/cultivar.

Great - seems like all the work is done!!

The real work is yet to come. : )

I wish it was easy to share plants outside the US. Some of these may be of interest to those on the other side of the water. : )

Will keep up updated on the progress.

I am interested in buying (some of) them off and take care for the collection!

I am not sure how to send to Europe Renata. I will have to look into that. When I know what will be available I will give you a list. : )

When I read these posts, it occurs to me that this could be a very important function of a semp society: to make a central database of who grows which variety. Then it becomes easy to see which varieties are grown by many people, and which only by one person. Rare varieties can then be spread amongst some more people so they will not become lost accidentaly. (It's also easier to contact someone who has something you want ...)

That is one of the things we are working on. A database showing who has what. It will be open to everyone on the internet. And they can list what semps they have in the database. There will be no charge for participation.

Excellent!

The only drawback I see is that occasionally you hear that plants are stolen (rediculous considering the low price of most semps and also considering that many people will give ofsets for free if you ask nicely).

Nowadays it is not so difficult to figure out who is who and to find someone's address. Any ideas about this issue?

DOGS!!!!! We have never had our place broken into. : )
You can't come onto our property without the dogs barking.

I myself am a cat lover so ...

My dog will definately bark when someone approaces the house, don't know if she will really defend the property because no-one was trying yet (hope it stays like that, otherwise she's impressive enough). The problem with dogs (with my dog anyway) is that they don't care too much where they put their feet, so she's occasionally stepping on my precious plants. Untill now this didn't cause serious damage.

I can't imagime a house without cats either, I have 2 cats myself. The cats don't really guard the house and although they catch/eat birds, they didn't prevent that birds pulled Rosularia apart last winter. Rosularia is under an ugly wire cover now and cat-hairs are on most of my semps, but are mainly a problem for taking photographs. Renata, the cat on your photograph looks very much like one who we "got with the house" (he was owned by the previous owner of our house and we took him over with the house). After several macho-years he disappeared without a trace, I miss him, he had such a strong character (also smell occasionally when he had slept in the neighbours stable)!

Back to the subject: I think that the problem of thefts could be a reason why some people would rather not put their collection "online", which is why I mention it.

We have one cat and I love her. She is getting old and doesn't hunt like she used to. Mostly sleeps in the house now.

I am really not worried about some one trying to steal my collection.

I too had a problem with the birds scattering my Orostachy and Rosularia this winter and had to cover them with wire until they get strong again. The Orostachy becomes so tiny in winter it is almost hard to find them.
I will post photos of them later today.

All my cats are living with me in the house. The one the photo is 2 year old male Scottish Fold. Beside him I also have 2 other breed cats and two adopted strays and a some kittens that are about to leave the house very soon.

Two cameras but do the "guardian work" for me -