July 2006

The next meeting will be on Saturday, 5 August 2006 at the St Michael’s Church Hall, Upland Road, Kelburn at 2.00 pm, with plant sales from 1.30 pm. The programme is at talk on Mammillarias and the competitions are Mammillaria and succulent caudiciforms.

Nineteen members met At Waterloo on 1^st July for a workshop discussion on plant propagation. Ted Verrity covered propagation of Sansevieria, Frances Verrity leaf cuttings, Phyllis Purdie seed raising amd Morris Tarr on grafting Euphorbias.

Over 5 years membership	Under 5 years membership
Rebutia
1st R. marsoneri, Mauri McSaveney 2nd R. heliosa, Mauri McSaveney 3rd R. heliosa (hybrid), Phyllis Purdie	No entries
Agave
1st A. sp. (Lau 9452), Frances Verrity 2nd A. isthmensis, Phyllis Purdie 3rd A. utahensis, Chris Walsh	1st A. americana "Mediopicta", Barbara Nielsen 2nd A. patoni, Kay Keighley 3rd A. victoria-reginae, Barbara Nielsen

Fifteen mainly flowering plants were on display this month (counting a pot of seedlings as one). Cacti in flower included three Mammillarias - Mammillaria plumosa, M. hahniana, M. rubrograndis and a Neoporteria sp. While the latter are almost always winter flowering only, different species of Mammillarias flower at different times, meaning there is no month of the year without one being in flower. A pot of Hylocereus seedlings ("Dragon Fruit"), grown from a fruit bought at a supermarket, and a pot of Agave filifera seedlings grown from seed given away at the meeting two months ago, were shown and discussed, along with pots of Lithops and Rebutia seedlings brought in to demonstrate growing from seed. Besides the non-cactus seedlings mentioned above, flowering (or about to flower) succulents included two specimens of Sansevieria parva, the succulent bulb Veltheimia bracteata, the tiny-flowering pachycaul shrub Pachycormus discolor and Crassula lactea, a species with much larger flowers than most species of the genus, and vivid white. Amongst the non-cactus and non-succulent plants displayed this month were the bromeliad Tillandsia tenuifolia in flower, and the swamp-dwelling carnivorous sundew, Drosera aliceae. The latter could be great for keeping the sciarid flies out of your seedlings.

Thanks to the following for showing their plants this month: - Nick Perrin (2), Ted Verrity (3), Mauri McSaveney (4), Phyllis Purdie (5), Ian Fyfe (1)

At the meeting last December several members mentioned how much they enjoyed the members’ participation programme on "My favourite plant" and suggested we have something similar this year. Could members please come up with some ideas on a suitable topic.

This delightful plant was first described by Rausch in 1970, so is a relative newcomer to collections. Its name "heliosa" refers to the sun-like clusters of silvery spines which effectively hide the plant body. Rausch’s original description referred to plants found in Tarija, Bolivia at 2400-2500m altitude. He spoke of solitary plants 2cm tall and 2.5cm broad, with thick roots. In cultivation this species clusters prolifically, but it does have a nasty habit of dying off on you if you are not careful.

An open compost seems to be required, and as with most Rebutias (or most cacti, for that matter), frequent repotting keeps it growing strongly. It is suggested that over-watering can be a problem.

John Pilbeam says that he has found on splitting up a 10 year old clump that the stems were up to 15cm long, and that in this circumstance it is best to take as a cutting only the top part of the stem, to about 2 or 3cm long, paring the end, like sharpening a pencil, to encourage roots from around the vascular bundle.

Two varieties have been described - cajasensis, which is said to grow taller and smoother, and is more yellowish-brown and the flowers vary from orange-red to crimson. V. condorensis has grey-green stems and has darker flowers, red to crimson-purple.

During a recent visit to Copenhagen we visited the Botanic Garden. It is an Institute within the University of Copenhagen and cultivates a large collection of living plants for research, education and general information purposes, thus contributing to increase botanical knowledge and awareness of nature, not only nationally but also on a global scale.

The Botanic Garden displays Denmark’s largest collection of living plants and houses the only gene bank for wild species. The first Botanic Garden of the University of Copenhagen was founded in the central part of the old city in 1600AD. The present Botanic Garden, the fourth in the succession of university gardens, was established in 1872 on the former fortifications area of the city. The rock gardens and other higher areas are part of the old ramparts, while the lake is a remnant of the city moat.

Throughout the 10 hectares of the Botanic Garden there are many interesting features and collections. Particularly noteworthy is the Palm House, with tropical and subtropical plants, orchids, cacti and other succulents, and a historical collection of Cycads. Other greenhouses display collections of orchids from Thailand, plants from Madagascar, Bromeliads and insectivorous plants. In the outdoor section one can, among others, find arctic and alpine plants, wild Danish plants, perennials, annuals (probably the largest collection in the world), and tuberous species such as Cyclamen, Crocus and Fritillaria, just to mention a few.

There was also a very scruffy, newly planted Tasmanian garden in honour of the Danes’ new Tasmanian born princess. Unfortunately, I doubt that this garden will last.

They certainly are into collecting plants. They have a very big greenhouse for displaying cacti and succulents, and three large greenhouses for propagating. Clearly whoever is running it is especially keen on caudiciforms. There is also the obligatory very large nineteenth century palmhouse. We seem to collect those. We also looked at a large alpine rock garden rather like the one in the Dunedin Botanic Garden and whoever is running that is definitely into labelling. You look at the two hills it is on and it is just a forest of labels. And they are complete, family name, botanic name, popular name, and place of origin. Not many gardens do that well, but thank heavens for Linnaeus because we wouldn’t have known the plants without the Latin names. And while there I saw my first toad. Unfortunately the cacti house was only open between 1 pm and 3 pm which was not convenient for us because Ted had other priorities, so we just looked through the windows

The Membership Secretary has asked that all members supply their new post codes. I would be grateful if you could let me know, by e-mail, letter, or on a piece of paper, your new post code so I can forward them on to Joan.