Bromeliad Society of Victoria Inc
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Bromeliad Society of Victoria Inc. VOL 33 NO 2 April – May 2016 The April General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 27th April, in the Multi-purpose Room at Phoenix Park. Details Page 6 CONTENTS 2016 Calendar of Events ................................................................................................2 Editorial ..........................................................................................................................3 BSV President’s Report ..................................................................................................4 March Field Day at the Home of Nance Esmore ............................................................5 General Meetings...........................................................................................................6 Report of the February Annual General Meeting ..........................................................7 Fees For 2016 .................................................................................................................8 We’re Going to the Zoo .................................................................................................9 From a Member’s Garden ............................................................................................10 May Field Day at Andrew and Sue Raff’s "Chrysalis" ...................................................11 Discussion Group Meetings .........................................................................................12 Orthophytum ...............................................................................................................13 2016 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 27 April General Meeting – Hawi Winter NZ Conference 22 May Field Day – Andrew and Sue Raff 22 June General Meeting 24 July Field Day 24 August General Meeting 25 September Field Day – Jo Wilkins, Troposphere 26 October General Meeting 12-13 November BSV Annual Show 14 December Christmas General Meeting FRONT COVER: Squirrel Monkey investigating a Neoregelia at Melbourne Zoo Cover photo, and those in the Zoo article, by Noel Harcourt 2 EDITORIAL I was very disappointed to miss the brom planting at the Melbourne Zoo, as I was on a local garden club trip to sunny New Zealand at the time. Melbourne’s autumn weather was mild during my 3 weeks away so Brian only had to water my broms, and other potted plants, once. Luckily, Nance’s Field Day was rescheduled from March to April, and I was home in time for that. The May Field Day at the Raff’s should be a great experience for all of you, and I am looking forward to seeing how it has changed in the last 2 years since the January 2014 BSV Field Day there. Don’t forget to send me your contributions for ‘From a Member’s Garden’, and any other articles, large or small, to share with BSV members. Happy growing, Jill MIDHURST BROMELIAD FOREST DRIVE NURSERY NURSERY Specialist Growers of Tillandsia Located at REPTON, South of Seedlings and other Genera Coffs Harbour. SPECIES AND VARIETIES Hard grown to suit all Australian All quality plants at reasonable prices Plants for all level of collection. conditions. Beautiful TILLANDSIA, Wholesale and mail order only. VRIESEAS, NEOREGELIAS, AECHMEAS ETC. Write for price lists of Tillandsia Visitors Welcome, but phone first and other genera to: (02) 6655 4130 A.H. P.O. Box 612 Hurstbridge, Vic 3099 For mail order send S A E: PO Box 2 Phone ( 03 ) 9718 2887 Bonville, NSW, 2441 Email : [email protected] Prop. Peter Tristram www.bromeliads.com.au 3 BSV PRESIDENT’S REPORT Hi Members, Autumn is a great time to get out into the garden as the high temperatures of summer are mostly past and there is still ample daylight to get a lot done. The bromeliads are also still showing plenty of colour and there are a variety of flowers coming through. I was pleased to find a Wittrockia cyathiformis in flower in my garden but I only spotted it because the flower stem grew up above the surrounding foliage. The pink and white bract with the bright orange flowers is a real stand out and once I’d found one I spotted two more in different parts of the garden. That’s one of the great pleasures of growing bromeliads that have tall or brightly coloured flower spikes, they can appear in the garden when you least expect them, especially if your garden is crowded like mine and plants tend to get lost amongst the greenery. This is a good time to start winter proofing your garden which can include, making sure that cold sensitive plants are moved to more accommodating positions, feeding those bromeliads that benefit from a pre-winter boost and making sure that autumn leaves don’t clog up the vases of plants. Following the February BSV AGM we only had one change in the administration and that was the outgoing of Eric Friedman as Librarian and in with Gayle Kerr. Many thanks to Eric for his fine work in looking after the library during the General Meetings and thanks to Gayle for taking on this role. Thanks also to all those on the BSV Committee and those undertaking other roles in the BSV, we couldn’t function without you. Due to Easter Sunday falling on our usual Field Day date for March, the Field Day at Nance Esmore’s home in Glen Waverley was postponed to 10 April 2016. I enjoyed seeing a lot of members at Nance’s because it’s a garden well worth visiting and Nance’s hospitality was second to none. The April General Meeting will feature a rendition of Hawi Winter’s talk at the last New Zealand Bromeliad Conference and will be well worth attending. Try not to miss it and don’t forget to bring in plants for the display table and the sales table and some supper to share. Bruce Lee 4 MARCH FIELD DAY AT THE HOME OF NANCE ESMORE Held on Sunday 10 April Nance has been collecting bromeliads for many years, and was looking to reduce the size of her collection and to show her garden to BSV members. Over 35 eager people attended Nance’s Field Day on a lovely cool Sunday afternoon. Everyone had a great time socialising, and many plant, and plant-hanger, bargains were to be had. We all went home with something from Nance’s collection. Thank you to Nance and her daughter Sue for their hospitality. 5 GENERAL MEETINGS These are held at Phoenix Park Community Centre, Rob Roy Rd, Malvern East. Melway Ref. Map 69, D2. Meetings commence at 7:45 pm sharp. AVAILABLE AT EACH MEETING At each meeting you may take advantage of the following: 1. Raffle. 2. A Bromeliad Book Library. 3. Members plant sales table. 4. Plant display and competition. 5. A section for your problem plants. Ask the experts what they think. 6. Books for sale. 7. Accessories for sale. 8. Lots of other interested growers to meet and chat with. OFFICE BEARERS 2015-2016 Position Name Email Phone President Bruce Lee [email protected] 9726 6126 Vice President Chris Larson [email protected] 9568 8856 Secretary Kerry Lusk [email protected] 0438 798 568 Treasurer Chris Baker [email protected] 9596 1992 General committee Barry Robinson [email protected] 9801 1628 Jill Abbott [email protected] 0400 921 374 Robert Mather [email protected] 0431 968 358 Len Murray [email protected] 0413 809 744 Mike Raymond [email protected] 0411 283 369 Non-committee Positions Membership Bev Leishman 9561 4419 Secretary: [email protected] 20 Gallery Place, Wheelers Hill 3150 Librarian: Gayle Kerr Plant Vote: Bev Leishman Raffles: Gary Lee Plant sales: Cheryl Johnston Supper Coordinator Jane Baker Patron: Maurice Kellett Life Members: Nance Esmore, Chris Larson, Jean Nicol, Len Summers Editor: Jill Abbott [email protected] Production: Brian Abbott Deadline for all editorial and advertising is the first Tuesday of publication month. 6 REPORT OF THE FEBRUARY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING held at the Phoenix Park Community Centre on Wednesday 24 February 2016 A pleasant late Summer evening saw 32 members, including three new members, Gwenda Eleftheriou, Barbara Clemson and Rhonda Caulfield welcomed to our meeting. We enjoyed a colourful bench of over 50 high-standard exhibit plants, a well-stocked sales bench and a supper table well laden. The new committee and support position holders were installed and our 2016 year got off to an excellent start. After supper we were feasted by two member demonstrations by Chris Larson and Bryan Paten who showed us how they mounted bromeliads and tillandsias their own styles. I think we all learnt a lot from Chris and Bryan, and certainly appreciated them sharing their knowledge, tips and experience with us. Following these practical demonstrations three mounted branches of bromeliads were auctioned for the society. There were a lot of smiles that went home with treasures. Many of us were inspired to ‘give it a go’. Thanks Chris and Bryan! RESULTS OF THE POPULAR VOTE: TILLANDSIA: Another spectacular Tillandsia reuteri grown by Chris Larson was a standout winner in this section. Its large green foliage with a 65cm multi-branched pink and green inflorescence tipped with purple was about to burst with mauve flowers. A stunning plant. OTHER BROMELIADS OUTSIDE OR SHADEHOUSE GROWN: A most unusual sight on our bench was a large pot of Ochagavia litoralis almost a metre tall and 70cm in diameter . It was a winner grown by Robert Mather. Its spiny, leathery, greyish reflexed foliage contrasted with a long pink waratah-like inflorescence bearing dozens of pink flowers which won favour over more than 20 other lovely plants. Thanks for bringing it in Robert. 7 GLASSHOUSE /POLYHOUSE GROWN: A navy and cream ceramic pot of two plants of an unnamed strong