- The weather turned wet in the afternoon hours, with rain coming down sporadically in drizzle and large drops making photography difficult. I did not get as much of the tour as I wanted. Frank examines a Chelyocarpus chuco that has grown quite well in the center of the back yard.

- Another shot with some more light.

- One of the last photos before the rain and dinner bell made us run for cover, was of a variegated Lady Palm. The tour continued for a little bit after dinner by flashlight.

...next, the first Sunday...

Ryan

Sunday, the First one, October 7th...

- I started off Sunday morning with my telephoto lens, just to be different. The customer on the left had photos of a plant for Jeff to identify.

- I was turning around at the right moment to capture Travis Searle escorting two customers away and down the road. The one in the center is friends with the one on the right, Suzy, one of Jeff's neighbors. The customer came looking for plants, and Suzy brought her by the sale.

- Turn that frown upside down. I think Candy on the right gave news of a Bromeliad variety that we no longer had for sale.

Ryan

- Travis was showing Suzy and her friend all over the place. I was outside the shadehouse and captured them as they were moving closer. I could not hear them yet, but I could tell they were asking Travis palm questions...

- He reached the point where he did not know the answer. Didn't take him long to find me.

- Macho, macho ferns...

- Three simultaneous "Hmmm's" captured in a photo.

Ryan

- Sunday went by quite fast. The weather was cloudy and overcast, but held out for the shorter day. A customer captures a shot of a blooming Brazilian Red Cloak, Megaskepasma erythrochlamys. The larger plant was flagged so customers would not buy it, in the idea that it will help sell the smaller plants, which it did.

- Petting is encouraged. Of the plants that is.

- Can't have enough Gold... Gold Dust crotons.

- Before leaving for the day, Jeff gave a tour to one of his friends, a veteran croton grower and collector.

Ryan

- The first Sunday came to a close. In an impromptu motion, volunteers at the sale decided to get a volleyball game going to end the day, to be played in the court belonging to Jeff's neighbors. A game like this had not been played in over a year, due to various reasons. The weather was rapidly declining, as this darkness was present in the mid afternoon. Travis serves...

- Flanked by Mandy Searle on the left and Michelle Searle on the right, Andrea Searle smacks the ball right back over the net.

- Who's ball is it? Apparently no ones...

- Battle of the cousins. Mandy goes airborne to hit one of Travis's shots back over the net.

Ryan

Conditions were absolutely horrid for taking action photography, but they wanted me to regardless. Light was vanishing by the minute and the clouds were spitting here and there. This game encouraged them to do this again the following Sunday afternoon, including additional recruiting to get more players. Wait until you see that game.

- Travis watches as a missed shot rolls under the net...

- With Travis and his neighbor Ron as backup, Jeff darts forward and punches the ball up into the air.

- It was a small game with 7 players. The game ended up being guys against girls.

- The ball was getting soaked and made a weird sound whenever someone hit it.

Ryan

- The last two decent unedited shots of the 'tournament'. Jeff had to sprint again to get this incoming shot.

- Travis barely tips this ball back over.

... first weekend at a close, an unusually busy second weekend next...

Ryan

October 12th, the Second Friday...

The four days between the weekends of the Extravaganza were used to clean the sales area and restock where possible. A few more signs, some re-arranging, etc. was also done with some spare time. Expectations for the second weekend were wide ranging. This is only the third time it has been done, and the second time it was advertised. It did turn out to be very worth while.

- I was unable to photograph much of Friday, due to a urgent situation that took me away from the nursery. -cough- Travis -cough- In the morning, I was met by a colorful surprise as soon as I arrived at the shadehouse. The one remaining Chambeyronia macrocarpa var. 'Houaïlou' had just opened a brilliant red new leaf.

- I was in the shadehouse for much of Thursday afternoon and this leaf had yet to open. It must have happened at some point during the night or early morning.

- I have seen specimens with new leaves before, but the shade of red on this particular leaf was deeper than the usual rose-pink hue.

- The color display does not last as long compared to the ones put on by members of the parent species. It had just opened and I could tell it was already starting to fade.

Ryan

- Some early action in the Croton section, a little while after opening...

- On the left, FM. Randy Wiesner (palmisland) looks for a croton or two that he doesn't already have in his collection.

- After the early morning rounds, photographing the Chambeyronia above and walking past the croton area, I headed out to the front and there was already a trailer full of plants heading out to the parking lot. It was slow for the morning as expected, since it was a weekday and the diehards had attended last Friday.

- I took this one photo of Randy moving about, then I heard a conversation taking place behind me... My ears were burning. I went to investigate and ended up having to leave the nursery to go help Travis, making this early morning shot one of the last for the day...

Ryan

...back at the nursery...

- Long story short, Travis survived. We did not make it back to the nursery until closing time.

- I had to hear what happened during the day in retrospect. As I got caught up, one of the last customers of the day looks through the Bromeliads.

Ryan

The second Saturday of the 'Ganza, Oct. 13th...

- We would be quickly reminded to the importance of having the sale span two weekends, thanks in part to the weather. We figured that the odds of having good weather was much better with six sale days spread over ten days, rather then just three. Right off in the morning, it rained to start the fifth day of the Extravaganza.

- The rain was intermittent. At most it was a heavy drizzle that was broken up by the shade cloth above into smaller droplets that were less annoying. Customers continued to shop regardless.

- Rain bands were moving overhead and we could see them on radar via smart phone. The rain fall reached a point where it was just enough to make people seek cover. Conversations continued. With his back to me, FM. Ron Kiefert (Moose) talks to the couple on the left, while volunteer Chris Mayhew does the same with the pair on the right.

Ryan

- I heard a loud, exuberant conversation coming from near the Croton area after that last downpour stopped. I walked over and found it had to do with this tall emergent leaf of a rather happy Mealy Bug Palm, Dypsis mananjarensis.

- It started to rain again so I began to photograph in haste. The color was not particularly showy, but it did stand out with those trademark mealy bug markings, and the fact it was coming out of a rather small 3 gallon sized plant.

- I think Ron was first to notice it, and was the one who brought the others over to gawk at it with pride.

- The new leaf was easily twice as long as the next one in age and had perfect markings along its petiole.

Ryan

- With lunch and snacks in hand, Ron takes up position in amongst the crotons. Ron and Chris volunteered to help out during the second Saturday. The normal bulk of family members and volunteers come to help on the first weekend, but are usually unable to do it again the second weekend.

- During a brief break in the clouds, Andrea Searle writes up a customer's order.

- It was getting close to lunch time.

- From late morning onwards, customers continued to enter the nursery all day long.

Ryan

- The family of three seen walking in above were greeted by Andrea as they reached the main road. It turns out it was their first time to the nursery during the Extravaganza. Andrea went on describing what the sale was, when it was held and what kinds of plants were available. She makes those 'bunny rabbit' (thumb on forefinger) hand gestures when she gets excited.

- A few batches of plants occupied the holding area at different times. Candy was at it again on the right, helping a customer with his landscaping plans.

- A good portion of the customers here today, attended the sale on the first weekend. They came back wanting more of one plant or another, or to tempt themselves again on something they passed up the first go around.

Ryan

- Coming back to help for the second weekend in a row, Derek mans the landscape plants along the main road. He always has that white hat.

- One customer after another was the rate during the day. Just steady enough to only need one person in each position around the sales area. On the right, Amber Searle writes up a long list of bromeliads.

- "All done, here you go."

- Rob walks over to lend a hand in the Bromeliad section while Larry was up at the registers.

Ryan

- The customer in white has been a frequent visitor to the Extravaganza for years. She mentioned making more room in her yard whenever she can and she grabs palms whenever they stand out to her, including the large Verschaffeltia splendida now on her cart.

- The palm was being driven around by her son, who I had to remind that if it starts to fall over, don't grab the trunk. (its armed with spines)

- The women in white above came shopping with a friend, the woman in black. Chris was showing her to the Cyrtostachys sp. 'Hybrid' group and explaining the differences in this new palm.

- It was also windy at this time, whenever it was not raining. As they left the shadehouse, I got ready to spring into action to help keep the palm from falling over. I ended up transporting it to the holding area.

Ryan

- The second Saturday was into the later hours, and the customers kept coming, just not as many as during the midday. Derek and Andrea combine their brains to help the two customers with a botanical predicament.

- Late afternoon traffic jam in the shadehouse.

- There was about an hour left in the sale for Saturday at this point. Some of the volunteers who had served well for the day, decided to depart for home in amongst customers in line to check out.

- Amber writes up the woman in white.

Ryan

- The Thai Biennial was the premiere topic of conversation during the 'Ganza. The customer on the left in the black shirt, had an Asian themed design on it that led Jeff on the right to go into various anecdotes from the Biennial. Some more exotic than the next.

- I turned around for one brief moment and when I came back to the shadehouse entrance a large order was being assembled.

- The entire order sprung up fast and seemed to be moving quickly to beat closing time. Crotons were the majority, and at the last minute Jeff came walking by adding a Saraca thaipingensis.

- The customer on the right knew exactly what she wanted. Her white SUV was driving in on the far side of the cart as her plants were being added up.

Ryan

- Amber and Travis work to count all the crotons correctly and get everything added up in short order.

- "Bow wow." As the customer was paying, we began to load the plants in the back of the big white SUV, which was being guarded by a Smoke, or Charcoal colored Standard Poodle. There was also a Shetland Sheepdog but it would not come to the window.

- Jeff continued his Biennial conversations, as the two customers first seen above check out with their plants. This was the last or next to last sale of the day.

Ryan

Sunday, October 14th... last day of the 'Ganza

- Sunday morning was very slow with only the occasional customer strolling through, drinking their morning coffee or eating a small breakfast. This was the first photo of the day, and one of the few. It rained fairly consistently for most of Sunday, including now.

- When it did not rain, customers trickled in. Travis is returning from taking one customer and their load out.

- The afternoon hours of the shortened day came fast. In one slow moment, Travis does one of his vanishing acts. See if you can spot him.

- We had pizza for lunch, which means Charlie the nursery German Shepard also gets pizza for lunch.

Ryan

- The sale was officially over for the day and week and it was time for that volleyball rematch. Travis and I made it back to the neighborhood rather quickly so we were killing time playing with the dogs. Kane takes a moment to fertilize those crotons.

- "Pull my finger."

- Brindle is a ball of energy.

- Across the street from Jeff's house, we waited in Ronnie's enclosed patio for for the ultimate volleyball grudge match. It was flat out pouring rain but it did not deter anyone.

Ryan

- Wet dog. Jeff's neighbor Suzy corrals her new puppy long enough to get the ball away from her. The rain was at peak down pour and was getting loud.

- What do you do when its raining hard and you want to play volleyball? You play in the rain. The dogs became a quick nuisance and were kicked out of the court and put back inside the patio.

- I was taking photos with my telephoto lens through the screen enclosure from the relative safety of the patio. When I thought it could not rain harder, it did.

Ryan

- It's Suzy's turn to serve, if she can see the ball.

- It was becoming a sea out there, with little separation between the wet sand and the rain. Standing by the net, Travis yells at me as hard as he can, "Call my Dad!" He wanted to make sure Jeff came out and joined in the fun.

- Other people began to arrive and got soaked immediately. Alicia serves the wet and heavy ball the best way she can. It wasn't just the rain but it was windy as well.

- Wearing almost all black, Jeff Searle arrives on the court.

Ryan

- First order of business after Jeff's and Ronnie's arrival, straighten the pole and tighten the net.

- Travis and Michael charge the pole and force it over as much as they can, as Ronnie hooks the strap down. The rain has not let up at all the entire time they were out there.

- Jeff does a small celebratory dance after scoring a point.

- I did have a brief bit of fun with them. At one point I used my big shoe-mounted flash making some fake lightning, and watching them scatter a little. Then a little while later, lightning did strike and they did nothing... until the thunder came.

Ryan

- Andrea and others made their way over to the house, and then joined in on the volleyball game. This was all Andrea's idea so she had to play.

- Another Calderon in the form of Kimberly joined the match, aiding the side with her brother and dad. They continued to play for about an hour, then I headed back across the street when the rain slowed down.

The wet and wild last day of the Extravaganza was at a close. There will be a day where that court is filled with Palmtalk Forum members. For now, we celebrate a successful sale and plan to do it again in the spring. I already have ideas on how to improve some things...

Ryan

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