Welcome To My Home Page. My Name is Michael Mattlage and I live in the Upstate area of South Carolina, zone 7b. I have a passion for the group of plants commonly known as Aroids. These are plants that make up the family Araceae, of which there are just over 100 genera and over 3000, probably closer to 4000 species. Some familiar aroids most anyone knows are Philodendron and Arum, and most everyone that has ever grown a plant indoors has probably tried growing Syngoniums or Spathiphyllums, (the ubiquitos peace-lily).
Collecting and cultivating Araceae is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Most of the over 160 species from around 30 genera I have in my collection are from the tropics and need a warm humid environment. Providing an environment for these plants to thrive can prove to be quite tricky and rather expensive at times, but seeing these babies grow and flourish day by day is why I give the effort to do so. Walking into my greenhouse and having the feeling I am walking into a rainforest in Colombia or Borneo is what I strive for. Climbers creep up wet walls and terrestrials scamper around beds on the greenhouse floor. The greenhouse is small at the moment but in the spring of 2004 I plan to double its size, putting in new benches, beds and growing walls as well.
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