Compulsion

[gamekeeper]

Recently I mentioned having purchased "Stitch in Time",after reading an article in Fine Gardening Magazine the author said don't let the price put you off you can't live without this plant.Well you would think at age 63 I would learn.Obviously I bought one with no regret but realized this morning as I parused in the gardens that like the dogs in my kennel I don't prefer a particular breed but love a good one of any species.In this case I could have gotten a good many plants for my new garden with what I spent on Stitch.No doubt that is what my higher power had in mind for me and I am happy with that

[jgh]

I am someone who has to have "all of them" when it comes to certain families... the Fragrant Bouquet family, for example... I'm still collecting them, even the great-grandchildren like Mojito and Cerveza, even though the young ones don't appear any different than their older, cheaper relatives, Fried Green Tomatoes and Fried Bananas.

So I keep getting all the Summer Music Family... Summer Breeze, Last Dance, Dance with Me, Summer Lovin', etc. So I had to have Stitch in Time... and next year I plan to get Mango Tango.

But without putting either of us down, I do think that those who didn't succumb to "the latest thing" syndrome will be better served in the long run. Right now the SIT that most of us are paying $25 to 45 for are all first and second year tcs. In about three years you will be able to let the growers take the losses on the ones that don't grow (this family is notorious for rotting in soil that is too heavy and damp) and then they will sell nice mature divisions at half the cost of today.

And when its all done, I think SIT will be a novelty, while summer Breeze and Last Dance will be relatively easy to grow showpieces in our gardens. Ah, well... in fifth grade I absolutely HAD TO HAVE those "flamenco boots" with the high heel and the elastic sides... and I enjoyed the novelty and being the first one on my block...

[Hey_J]

Ah, well... in fifth grade I absolutely HAD TO HAVE those "flamenco boots" with the high heel and the elastic sides... and I enjoyed the novelty and being the first one on my block...

ROFLMHO! 'You're the 'stitch', Jim!!!! I'd sure love a pic. of that one, then and now!!!

[Chris_W]

Well, I had to have Stitch in Time too, and sold a few of the larger ones I had last summer. But took a hit with the smallest ones (lost a few) and a couple came back solid yellow, even though they were perfectly colored last year...

Now I'm looking at some very nice plants that overwintered here once, will give them a second winter in the ground, and will sell them next spring for $40.00. However, I might wait until after they leaf out to ship them, just in case any more decide to go all yellow...

I have a feeling that Stitch in Time will likely disappear from the market after a while, and the price will never go down. It is a patented plant, so nobody is allowed to propagate them (not growers, sellers, or consumers), plus they are extremely difficult to produce in tissue culture, so I think after a while nurseries trying to TC them will give up on it. At Walters Gardens they had about 30 of them, and Amy told me that was all they got out of a thousand plants. Since nobody can propagate them there isn't even any way to recoup losses from the ones that sport to yellow or die, so that means we either have to raise the price or suck up the lose...

[Diana]

HAD to have Stitch in Time too. The $40 plant came as two divisions last year, one with one eye and one with 2 eyes. I separated them into little pots. The one eye-ed plant came back tru to form and color. The two eye-ed plant came up all green. So I cut that off to force dormant buds, which did leaf out with SIT coloration...then it began to rot. I unpotted that jewel and removed all the brown roots and soaked it in fungicide for an hour or so then put it into a smaller (very smaller!) pot to see how it will do. Yes, it is a touchy plant, but nothing elese looks like it. Compulsion. Yes. Sounds like my experience is very similar to others'.

-Diana

[sugar]

I agree with Chris on this one. I've read somewhere about excessive cull rates in the TC lab, so the price will really never come down that much, and within a few years, it will get hard to get one.

I'm one of those guys buying a lot of recent introductions. I often read that most of the new introductions aren't worth it, but most of my favourite plants are recent introductions. Those that don't live up to the promises, leave my gaden.
I haven't got a Stotch In Time because I don't really like the plant that much...

[thy]

Thanks for the rot tip--- have to add some grit to the soil... I like it and Mango Tango too..and have both