Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 3.15 and 3.16

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Results of matches 3.7 and 3.8:

In match 3.7, Schlumbergera cvv. stomped Platycerium spp. pretty hard (73 to 32), which is more or less what I expected to happen.

Match 3.8 was surprising only in how close it was -- I wasn't sure which plant I expected people to prefer (and personally had a hard time choosing), but I figured most of the votes would come down on one side or the other. Though basically tied for the first couple days, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis pulled ahead in the last half of the competition, and defeated Cordyline fruticosa 56 to 49.

Today's matches:

Match 3.15
Aeonium spp. vs. Tillandsia spp. (air plants)

Clockwise from top: Aeonium 'Kiwi,' 'Irish Bouquet,' A. arboreum atropurpureum 'Zwartkop.'

Left side, top to bottom: Tillandsia xerographica, T. capitata 'Peach.'
Center, top to bottom: NOID, NOID, T. ionantha 'Druid.'
Right side, top to bottom: NOID, T. abdita Mexican form.





Match 3.16
Agave spp. vs. Calathea spp./cvv.

Clockwise from top left: Agave victoriae-reginae, A. americana medio-picta alba, NOID (maybe A. desmettiana?), A. marmorata.

Clockwise from top left: Calathea ornata, C. roseo-picta 'Medallion' (?), C. makoyana, C. insignis, C. zebrina.





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Saturday morning Sheba and/or Nina picture

(New toy.)

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 3.13 and 3.14

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

The results of matches 3.5 and 3.6:

Never really thought that Araucaria heterophylla had a chance at taking down Phalaenopsis / Doritaenopsis cvv. in match 3.5, so its loss (40 to 73) wasn't much of a shock, though it's still sad. To me. (I'm a little sentimental about Araucaria because one of my oldest plants is one.)

Hoya carnosa cvv. beat Cereus peruvianus in match 3.6, which is likewise not much of a shock. The final score: 67 to 44.

Phalaenopsis and Hoya carnosa will compete against one another on 25 October in match 4.3.

And now, the matches du jour:

Match 3.13
Adenium obesum (desert rose) vs. Haworthia spp.

(Various unidentified Adenium obesum cvv.)

Top row, L-R: Haworthia tessellata (?), H. NOID.
Middle row, L-R: Haworthia limifolia var. ubomboensis, H. cymbiformis (?), assortment.
Bottom row, L-R: Haworthia attenuata, H. limifolia var. limifolia.





Match 3.14 (the Pi Match!)
Cycas revoluta (sago palm) vs. Self-heading Philodendrons ('Autumn,' 'Prince of Orange,' 'Moonlight')

(Top: older Cycas revoluta. Bottom: young C. revoluta.)

Clockwise from top left: Philodendron 'Prince of Orange,' 'Moonlight,' 'Autumn,' 'Prince of Orange,' 'Moonlight.'





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Pretty picture: Paphiopedilum Hampshire White Light

Okay, well, the lead-ban post is going to be Sunday, I guess. I hope. However, this is a pretty awesome Paphiopedilum, I think:


It's a little strange that I think so, because this paph has most of the characteristics I find boring in Phalaenopsis (light color; rounded, flattish petals/sepals). But somehow what's tedious in a phal is awesome in a paph.

That would probably work the other way around, too. I'd love to see the Phalaenopsis version of this paph, for example. Or this one.

Ancestry: Paphiopedilum Hampshire White Light is the offspring of Paph. Shapelight x Paph. Skip Bartlett.

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 3.11 and 3.12

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Results from matches 3.3 and 3.4:

Breathing a sigh of relief over match 3.3. It's not that I thought Dracaena reflexa cvv. would defeat Aglaonema cvv., but y'all sometimes do things I don't expect, so I've learned to worry anyway. Aglaonema advances to the fourth round by a vote of 64 to 37.

I liked both plants in match 3.4 and really wanted to see them both do well, so it was difficult to decide, but in the end I went along with most of the rest of you and chose Philodendron hederaceum cvv. over Strelitzia nicolai / reginae. The final score was 63 to 42.

Aglaonema cvv. and Philodendron hederaceum cvv. vie for a fifth-round spot on 24 October, in match 4.2. And if I thought I was anxious about 3.3 and 3.4, I'm going to be nearly catatonic with worry over 4.2.

Today's matches:

Match 3.11
Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail palm) vs. Oncidium alliance orchids (dancing ladies)

(Bottom left: Beaucarnea recurvata variegata. Others: B. recurvata.)

Left side, top to bottom: Beallara Marfitch 'Howard's Dream,' Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite 'NN #1.'
Center, top to bottom: Vuylstekeara Aloha Sparks 'Ruby Eyes,' Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl,' Wilsonara Lisa Devos.
Right side, top to bottom: Oncidium Saint Dawn Gold, Bakerara Truth 'Silver Chalice.'





Match 3.12
Dracaena deremensis cvv. vs. Sansevieria trifasciata cvv. (snake plant)

Clockwise from top left: Dracaena deremensis ''Lemon-Lime,' 'Warneckei' or similar, 'Dorado,' 'Malaika,' 'Janet Craig Compacta.'

Top row, L-R: Sansevieria trifasciata 'Black Coral,' 'Laurentii,' 'Bantel's Sensation.'
Center row, L-R: S. trifasciata NOID, 'Hahnii,' 'Hahnii Pearl Young.'
Bottom row, L-R: S. trifasciata 'Moonglow,' 'Black Gold.'





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Picture: Bryophyllum x houghtonii

My intended post on the possible ban on lead in ammunition and other hunting and fishing equipment, which I mentioned in passing on Monday, is turning out to require a lot more investigation than I had originally intended, partly because I really know very little about lead, ammunition, hunting and fishing. (I'm having a good time trying to learn stuff really fast, though.)

I'm still going to try to post it on Friday, and if not Friday then Sunday at the latest (for reasons which will be revealed in the post, I will be very disppointed if I can't post it by Sunday).


Meanwhile, here is a picture of Bryophyllum x houghtonii I took a couple weeks ago at the ex-job. (Originally identified as B. daigremontianum, but Lee, in comments, said the leaves were too narrow to be daigremontianum. I'm keeping the link to the B. daigremontianum profile, because it's still half correct -- houghtonii is B. daigremontianum x B. delagoense -- and the care is presumably interchangeable. It's quite possible that the plants I was talking about in the profile were also B. x houghtonii, since the ones at work all kinda looked like this, but we didn't see mature plants that often because we tried to pull them up, so the ID was sort of always shaky.)

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 3.9 and 3.10

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Results of matches 3.1 and 3.2:

Greensparrow, paivi, and Paul are going to be upset by 3.1: Clivia beat Cryptanthus, 65 to 50.

I found 3.2 really interesting to watch, because close votes usually swing back and forth between competitors, with one plant in the lead, then the other plant, then the first one again. Saintpaulia cvv. and Epipremnum aureum were frequently tied, but Saintpaulia grabbed a one- or two-vote lead after the first day, and remained either tied or with a tiny lead thereafter. Epipremnum remained close enough that it could have caught up at any moment, but it didn't: by the end, Saintpaulia had built a seven-vote lead, winning 63 to 56.

Clivia miniata cvv. and Saintpaulia cvv. will come together on 23 October, in match 4.1. Until then, we have more round 3 matches:

Match 3.9
Aeschynanthus spp. (lipstick plant, goldfish plant) vs. Spathiphyllum cvv. (peace lily)

Clockwise from top: Aeschynanthus lobbianus or A. radicans, A. longicaulis, A. speciosus.

Center and left top: Spathiphyllum NOID, possibly 'Golden Glow.' Bottom left: NOID, possibly 'Domino.' Top right: NOID, possibly 'Sensation' or 'Mauna Loa.' Bottom right: NOID.





Match 3.10
Chlorophytum comosum cvv. (spider plant) vs. Echeveria cvv. and related plants (Sedeveria, Graptoveria, Pachyveria, etc.)

Clockwise from left: Chlorophytum comosum 'Vittatum,' C. comosum 'Vittatum,' NOID.

Top row, L-R: Echeveria 'Perle von Nurnberg,' E. 'Topsy Turvy,' E. setosa.
Middle row, L-R: Graptosedum 'Alpenglow - Vera Higgins,' Echeveria coccinea flowers, Echeveria 'The Rose.'
Bottom row, L-R: Echeveria nodulosa, Pachyveria x glauca, Echeveria x shaviana 'Pinky.'

DO NOT RE-VOTE IN THIS VERSION OF 3.10 IF YOU WERE PREVIOUSLY ABLE TO GET THROUGH ON THE FIRST VERSION; THOSE VOTES WILL BE COUNTED.




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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Question for the Hive Mind: NOID Succulent? Cactus?

This was at the ex-job last week. It seemed very familiar: I'm almost positive I've run into pictures of it on-line before, probably repeatedly, but I couldn't place it. Anybody know?

Scale: I think the pot is 2 in / 5 cm along the diagonal, but don't hold me to that. Small, in any case.
I kinda wanted to buy it, but I didn't want to buy if it wasn't a sure thing. I have lots of cacti (and a few Euphorbias) which have become etiolated from trying to live in a west exposure, and they're depressing to look at. Was not buying a good call, or should I go back for it?

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 3.7 and 3.8

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Results of matches 2.29 to 2.32:

I found match 2.29 to be really strange. I don't know what it is about rosette-forming succulents that y'all get so excited about, but Echeveria and its relatives have been cutting quite a swath on the way to the championship, and now Aeonium's doing it too. Worse, Aeonium's done it to Euphorbia milii, which I think was clearly the superior plant. So I don't like this at all. Final score: 58 to 52.
I don't really agree with the results of 2.30 either, but I expected it: the air plant group of Tillandsias defeated Dieffenbachia cvv. 66 to 43.

Aeonium spp. and Tillandsia spp. clash on 22 October, in match 3.15.

I'm more comfortable with the other pair of matches. In match 2.31, Agave spp. pulled ahead of Hippeastrum cvv., 62 to 48, though things were a little shaky there at the beginning.
Last, Calathea cvv. won match 2.32 over Opuntia spp., 62 to 45.

Match 3.16 will pit Agave against Calathea on 22 October. Something about that seems kind of absurd, but I guess if the universe survived the Agave-Cattleya match, it'll survive this one too.

This concludes the second round. Families leaving the competition in the second round were the Araliaceae, Begoniaceae, Commelinaceae, Compositae, Droseraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Leguminosae, Moraceae, Oxalidaceae, and Urticaceae. Let's give 'em all a hand!

[scattered applause]

The following families still have a (theoretical) chance to claim the championship: Amaryllidaceae (1 competitor remaining), Apocynaceae (2), Araceae (5), Araucariaceae (1), Asparagaceae (8), Bromeliaceae (2), Cactaceae (2), Crassulaceae (2), Cycadaceae (1), Gesneriaceae (2), Malvaceae (1), Marantaceae (1), Orchidaceae (2), Polypodiaceae (1), and Strelitziaceae (1).

My ability to predict the winners improved slightly in the second round: I got 24/32 (75%) correct.

EDITED TO ADD: Forgot to mention that the three plants I'm currently invested in (the two that I think are most likely to win, and the one that I'd most like to see win) made it through the second round intact.

And that's where we are right now. Today's matches:

Match 3.7
Platycerium spp. (staghorn fern) vs. Schlumbergera cvv. (holiday/Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus)

(Unidentified Platycerium spp.)

Center and top left: Schlumbergera 'Caribbean Dancer;' others are NOID.





Match 3.8
Cordyline fruticosa cvv. (ti plant) vs. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (tropical hibiscus)

Clockwise from top left: Cordyline fruticosa 'Florica,' species, NOID, NOID which might be 'Chocolate Queen,' 'Kiwi.'

All unidentified cvv. except left center ('Mrs. Jimmy Spangler') and bottom right ('Sunny Wind').





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Blogiversary

I've now completed a fourth year of blogging at PATSP.

I'm not sure how I feel about that, or whether I feel anything about that. The longer I do this, the harder it becomes to imagine doing anything else, so the less noteworthy it seems. I've been blogging, so I keep blogging, because I don't remember how I filled my time before blogging. It's not a bad thing, it's not a good thing, it's just how life is.

Maybe I'm not in the blogiversary spirit today. (Bloggy Claus is going to come down the tube and leave spam in my inbox for sure!)

Ah, well. I've been saving Gazania photos for this for five months,¹ so let's break 'em out.




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¹ (Gazania is the Official Celebratory Flower of PATSP. Even, apparently, when I don't feel particularly celebratory.)

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 3.5 and 3.6

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

The results for matches 2.25 to 2.28:

Adenium obesum scored a solid victory over Zamioculcas zamiifolia in match 2.25, winning by 61 to 43.
Ficus benjamina lost match 2.26 to Haworthia spp. by a similar margin (40 to 66).
Adenium obesum will now face Haworthia spp. in match 3.13; voting begins October 21.

It looked like Cycas revoluta had match 2.27 all sewn up after about the first 24 hours of voting, but Tradescantia zebrina surged a bit in the last two days. Tradescantia still lost, but it was close: 56 to 50.
The self-heading Philodendrons beat Tillandsia cyanea in round 2.28, 54 to 45.

Cycas revoluta goes up against the self-heading Philodendrons in match 3.14 (the Pi Match!), also on October 21.

And now, today's third-round excitement:

Match 3.5
Phalaenopsis and Doritaenopsis cvv. (moth orchid) vs. Araucaria heterophylla (norfolk island pine)

(All unidentified Phalaenopsis cvv.)

Top: young Araucaria heterophylla. Bottom: mature A. heterophylla.





Match 3.6
Cereus peruvianus (peruvian apple cactus) vs. Hoya carnosa cvv. (wax plant)

L-R: Cereus peruvianus monstrose, C. peruvianus, C. peruvianus 'Spiralis.'

Clockwise from top left: Hoya carnosa 'Krimson Princess,' 'Chelsea,' all-green revert of 'Krimson Princess,' 'Krimson Queen.'





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Today in Poorly-Aimed PR Pitching

When you think of PATSP -- and I know you do, all the time -- what sorts of topics do you think of? If you're like my new friends at outdoor marketing company Bernard & Associates, you think of game hunting. Yes, the blog header says that the blog is primarily about indoor plants and retail horticulture,¹ but "cultivating indoor plants" is so close to "killing outdoor animals" that B&A sent me an e-mail anyway.

Doe. (A deer.²)
Aside from the added footnotes and the removal of the client's name, this is the e-mail I received:

Kindest Editor:³

 
This is Jeff Thruston from the Nevada based outdoor marketing company Bernard & Associates and we love your outdoor site!⁴ We have been in the outdoor industry for some thirty years. You may have seen our work with clients like Bass Pro Shops and Sporting Classics Magazine.⁵

We want to reach out to you with a gift from the [redacted], made possible by our friends at [redacted] Club -for you or your website's readers. In addition, we have some important news that affects all of us within the hunting and fishing industry.⁶


We have identified your site as one we wish to partner with.⁷ We would like to invite you to participate in [redacted] Club's Blogger Appreciation Program and receive a complimentary Associate Membership to the [redacted] Club.

⁸

With this complimentary membership, you will receive Fair Chase Magazine⁹ on a quarterly basis along with other member benefits. Please reply with your address so we can mail you your magazine. (*See below for more info on Fair Chase & Associate Membership benefits)

The [redacted] Club is always looking for like-minded Sportsmen and Sportswomen¹⁰ interested in preserving our hunting heritage. We want to get your opinion on upcoming news that will affect us along with some other things we have planned in the near future.¹¹

Benefits of our partnership will include all of the following, beginning now and running through the upcoming months:

· Complimentary [redacted] Club Associate Membership (you are more than welcome to do a contest or giveaway on your site if you are already a member etc.)

· In depth looks at the key issues that affect us as Sportsmen interested in hunting/fishing/conservation and beyond.¹²
· Insider news and photos of big game trophies taken recently across North America as well as trophies entered and accepted into the [redacted] Records.

· Video, photo and editorial content for you to choose from for your site.

 

Please let us know which of the following you prefer:.¹³

1. Keep the membership for yourself (Please forward your mailing address)
2. Host a contest or giveaway on your site for the membership (then send us the winner’s address once you have selected him or her).¹⁴

In addition to selecting your gift (or giveaway for your site) we would love it if you would post this video to your site along with some info on the threat by outside lobbyists¹⁵ in an ATTEMPT TO BAN ALL LEAD IN HUNTING AND FISHING. (See attached .doc on the threats of this lead ban¹⁶)
 

Video direct link
[redacted]

Video embed code

[redacted; also the video was incredibly stupid -- almost no content, but lots of be-very-very-afraid-of-the-evil-environmentalists language]


 

If you have any other questions or comments please let me know. And if there's ever anything in mind in terms of a custom collaboration with your site please let me know and I will see what we can work out.

Looking forward to working with you,¹⁷



Jeff Thruston

Bernard & Associates



--
Find attached images for you to use along with the video above.
Also, we have an important article on the lead ban attached
--
About the [redacted] Club:

[redacted paragraph about the club's founding, history, accomplishments, blah blah blah]

About Fair Chase Magazine and your Associate Membership:

[redacted paragraph about Fair Chase Magazine which pretty much duplicates what was said in the main body of the e-mail about the benefits of subscribing]



 
--
[redacted and redundant bit of names, e-mail addresses, and websites]

The saddest part of this whole thing, I think, is that someone got paid to write it. Someone thought that this would be relevant to PATSP, and e-mailed it to me, and then they got a paycheck for doing so even though there was basically no way it was going to benefit their client whatsoever.

There are PR firms that bother to read the blogs they're soliciting, and learn names, and that sort of thing, and show some basic respect for the other people they're involving. It's not impossible to do, and it would get better results. (There are also PR firms that don't take rejection well. That's a less effective way to go. You should read the link, though, because The Bloggess is way funnier than I am.)

Stay tuned for the lead discussion. It'll be very.

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Photo credits: Doe by Coolstock, at Wikipedia. Buck/hunter by Matthew.j.obrien at Wikipedia.

¹ I should actually probably re-write that sometime.
² (A female deer.)
³ Strike one. If you can't be bothered to type in my [fake, granted] name in your pitch, then you know how seriously I take you? I've basically already decided no, I don't want whatever you're selling, I don't want to promote your product, I don't care about you at all. Because that's the message you're sending me. It's one freaking line of text. Make the effort.
On the other hand, I am apparently also kinder than all the other editors of the world (the rest of y'all are apparently terrible assholes), and it's nice of Bernard & Assoc. to notice.
⁴ Strike Two. And it's only the first paragraph.
⁵ "Sporting Classics Magazine?" What differentiates "classic" sporting from regular sporting? I'm genuinely curious about this. And is hunting a sport? I mean, I don't have a huge problem with hunting, honestly -- no desire to participate, but whatever rotates your turtle -- and I recognize that there are both physical and competitive elements to it, but "sport?"
I suppose if NASCAR's a sport (and I'm told, repeatedly, that it is, just disguised as driving at high speed in large circles for way longer than any normal person would want to drive at high speed in large circles), anything can be. Maybe I should declare indoor gardening a sport. Lord knows it's way more physical than I'd like, and I suppose it's competitive in some circles: I've seen the posts about the African violet shows.
Mr. Subjunctive, Sportsman. It sounds nice.
⁶ Indeed they do. But just 'cause it's important doesn't mean they're not going to make you wait to hear it, and then only if you download and unzip a .zip file, which contains 40 files, about half of which appear to be references to, or misnamed duplicates of, the other half. It's a curious method for spreading important information.
⁷ For "partner with," read "exploit."
⁸ Not sure what purpose the extra spacing serves here, but it does lend the e-mail a bit of suspense and/or excitement. How many lines will separate the next paragraph?
⁹ I find this name amusing/perplexing. Surely it's only a fair chase if the animals are armed, too. I mean, you could call shooting high-speed, pointy projectiles at defenseless animals from a distance "fair" if you wanted to, but only if you'd consider some guy in camo shooting at a naked, unprotected you "fair" too.

Notice that only the person gets a gun. Fair chase my ass.
Again: I'm not necessarily opposed to hunting, I swear. Particularly when it comes to deer and rabbits. But I do have to call bullshit on the word "fair."
And "Fair Chase" actually just makes it sillier. A fair chase would be something like, the people track the animals for an hour, and then someone blows a whistle and the animals get to track the people for an hour, back and forth until somebody gets killed.
I will concede that hunting is more fair than some of the other methods people have devised for killing animals, because with hunting there's at least the chance that you'll lose track of the animals and they'll get away. Cows at the slaughterhouse aren't as lucky. On the other hand, hunting carries a greater risk of wounding an animal and then losing track of it, so that it dies slowly and in pain, or is permanently crippled, or whatever, which doesn't happen with the cows.
¹⁰ Capitalized for no reason because Sportsmen and Sportswomen are Important! (B & A do get points for explicitly including women, though I'll have to take these points back a few paragraphs later, when they mention Sportsmen without Sportswomen.)
¹¹ Nope, still not telling you about the important news which will affect you.
¹² And by "and beyond," I assume they mean hunting/fishing/conservation IN SPACE.
Don't know what else it could mean.
¹³ This may be my first sighting of the punctuation combo ":."
Actually, period usage is all over the place in this e-mail; one gets the impression that Bernard & Associates doesn't intend to put a lot of work into their blog outreach.
¹⁴ I apologize to any PATSP readers who might have been interested in this, and/or to my brother-in-law, who might be interested if he doesn't already have all those things; I assume they're not going to let me do it now that I've made fun of their pitch. (It's my position that they should write less mockable pitches, and pay attention to which blogs they're pitching. And also proofread: it's not just for sissies anymore.)
¹⁵ As opposed to "inside lobbyists," who are apparently A-OK. But hey, at least we've finally heard something about this VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
Also it's disingenuous to pretend like they don't have their own outside lobbyists working on this too. (Along with lobbyists for the lead mining companies, I'm going to assume.)
¹⁶ Because I do not want to reproduce this entire document on the blog, I'm going to summarize it, in my own inimitable fashion, as another post, later this week.
¹⁷ (as long as I don't have to read your blog, learn your name, or in any other way treat you with ordinary courtesy,)

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 3.3 and 3.4

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Match 2.21 to 2.24 results:

In match 2.21, completely unexpectedly, Dendrobium cvv. and Beaucarnea recurvata were essentially tied for three days. I expected Dendrobium to walk all over Beaucarnea (it's colorful, it has flowers, orchids have a lot of fans in general, Beaucarneas are strange-looking), so this had me very puzzled. In the final count, Beaucarnea actually won, by a vote of 58 to 56. I demand that y'all explain to me what happened.²
The other matches from this set were a lot easier to predict. Oncidium alliance orchids stomped Polyscias fruticosa hard in match 2.22, winning by 64 to 37.

So Beaucarnea "The Orchid Killer" recurvata faces the Oncidium gang in match 3.11. Voting will begin 20 October.

Match 2.23 appears to have been much easier for people than I anticipated. (I was expecting there to be complaints about having to choose between Dracaena deremensis cvv. and Schefflera actinophylla / arboricola, but nobody did.) Dracaena deremensis breezes through to the third round by a vote of 63 to 38.
Match 2.24 shouldn't have surprised anybody: Sansevieria trifasciata cvv. took down rhizomatous Begonia cvv. 78 to 33.

Dracaena deremensis and Sansevieria trifasciata will challenge one another in match 3.12 on 20 October. There's really no outcome there that's not going to leave me disappointed.

And now for today's matches. I may have to sit out 3.4; I don't know how I'm going to choose between them.

Match 3.3
Dracaena reflexa cvv. vs. Aglaonema cvv. (Chinese evergreen)

Clockwise from top left: D. reflexa 'Riki,' 'Anita,' 'Song of India,' 'Song of Jamaica.'

Clockwise from top left: Aglaonema 'Emerald Bay,' 'Brilliant,' 'Mystic Marble,' 'Sparkling Sarah.'





Match 3.4
Strelitzia nicolai/reginae (white/orange bird of paradise) vs. Philodendron hederaceum cvv. (heart-leaf philodendron)

Clockwise from left: Strelitzia nicolai, S. reginae flower, S. reginae.

Clockwise from top left: Philodendron hederaceum 'Brasil,' P. hederaceum micans, NOID, P. hederaceum 'Aureum' or something similar, species, P. hederaceum 'Frilly Philly.'





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?
² Okay, yes, I was one of the Beaucarnea votes, because my main principle in making these decisions has been will it die on me?, and I have a better track record with Beaucarnea in that respect. But I don't understand the rest of y'all's thought processes.