Pharmacist by profession, I live on the edge of a beautiful lake in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains near Redmond,
Washington. As a teen, I fell in with a rough crowd, of suspect character, and in so doing, wasted many years cultivating cacti and succulents, mostly Euphorbia and Pachypodium. One day about fifteen years ago, a photo of a man standing beside a single mature leaf of Philodendron maximum in all its glory, showed me the light, and realizing the error of my ways, I renounced leaves both fleshy and spiny for the only plants really worth growing, Aroids. I struggled along for a number of years, limited by geography and the lack of good sense among local nurserymen until finally able to attend the IAS Show/Sale for the first time in 2004. That trip was an absolute joy, a real eye opener, marred only by chance encounter with a suspicious Southern California marine biologist while waiting for the gates at Fairchild Gardens to open on Saturday morning, and it changed everything. The real world of Aroids, and the people who love them, was finally open to me. The following year, while perusing the offerings at the Palm Hammock Orchid Estates booth, I had the great good fortune to meet the lovely woman, Julieta, who is now my wife and the
mother of our son Robert.