Bilpin Plant Collectors' Fair 2010

Beaut Booty in the Car Boot!

Last weekend, we stayed in the Blue Mountains and drove to Bilpin with family on Saturday for the 2010 Collectors' Plant Fair. Guest speakers for the event included Dan Hinkley from the US and Australian gardening identity, Trisha Dixon. With over 40 stalls, it is becoming a mecca for gardeners and plant collectors of the region. Attending such events, I have only been on the first day - Pickings must be slim by Sunday judging by the buying frenzy in the first hour!

We arrived just before 10, not realising that it had started at 9 am -so the car park was full and buyers were already streaming back to their cars with various verdant treasures. Having been to the Open Garden Plant Fair at Lambrigg near Canberra a few weeks earlier, my green thumb was already pretty happy, so I first strolled from one end of the sales area to the other - looking over the selections of more than 40 stalls. it was delighful to see so many happy buyers - homing on on a long wanted treasure, seeking advice from the sellers and queueing for the coffee!

My current plant interests include the Araliaceae, the Apiaceae and Primulas, so, I was interested to find these in particular, and I was especially looking for Polycias spp. Polycias  is a genus of mostly subtropical and tropical foliage plants that are native to Asia-Pacific. I already had the fernleaved form of Polycias sold by Yamina and another broad leaved form of the Australian species, and hoped that someone might be selling some of the types from the Pacific that were common in Queensland gardens once. No luck. However I did buy the variigated Fatsia japinica and a dormant Aralia californica - Elk Clover - Fortunately, we don't have Elks in Canberra, but maybe the possums will like it! In the Apiaceae, I purchased a plant of Ferula communis (Giant Fennel) and Selinum carvifolia (Milk Parsley) (Left).

I also purchased a double blue and white forms of Prumula auricula - The varieties I bought at Bilpin last year have done well. No-one was selling Primula bulleyana, which I have from seed, with some plants now in their second season - I think I have the secret for growing P. bulleyana - I immerse the pots in water. I recently divided my plants - teasing apart each crown and getting 3 or 4 crowns from each plant. They had strong white root systems so I think they like the growing conditions. So far only a few flower heads have set seed- they didn't like the heat last summer. I use a fairly gritty potting mix for the Primulas, and add charcoal to the soil for the P. bulleyana seeing they are immersed in water.

Amongst my other purchases were:

Ensete ventricosum, a banana relative purchased bromthe Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Stall. I will need to keep it sheltered from the frosts here in Canberra, but I think it should be OK in a large pot to provide a tropical foliage effect next summer.

Albuca namaquensis (Syn, A.  circinata) . It hales from Namibia and has corkscrew spiral leaves and the flowers are reputed to smell like playdough!

Nothoscordum hirtellum an Allium relative with yellow flowers up to 2 cm across. There were 3 flowering bulbs in the pot and it put out new flowers a week later!. It is summer dormant, and comes from Argentina and Uruguay. It is a relative of Onion Weed (N. inodorum), a weed in warmer areas, so I'll be keeping it in a pot - although Bulbs for Warm Climates, by Thad Howard, suggests this is a non-weedy species.

The proud new owner of a prickly customer.

 

Gil Teague of Florilegium had a fine selection for the Arm-Chair Gardener.

 Bilpin Plant Collectors' Fair - 2010.

Pre-loved, hand-made and antique garden tools and paraphenalia.

Bulbs - My 2010 selections (well, at least some of them)

Last weekend, I bought a few bulb types at the Lambrigg Plant Fair, and I plan to plant some this weekend (except the Tulip - I will keep that til Anzac day). Yesterday, I moved  all of the pots of bulbs from last year's plantings from under the shade/dry of an Elderberry, where they had been for the summer. I immersed the pots in water for a while, top-dressed them with bulb fertiliser, which I then scratched into the crushed brick topping that I use to keep the bulbs cool, and rewatered. Today, I will move them to shade (for shade lovers) or sun - a couple of types are up already!

The illustration in this blog comes from on-line images of the  rare books collection at Missouri Botanic Garden Library (Also see Botanicus, the Missouri Botanical Garden's digital library portal,).

Over the years, I have lost countless small bulbs in the garden, so now-a-days, I plant them in pots, at least for the first year or two. I use terracota. The modern experts say black plastic is better, but I think this may be the case in cold climates. Here in Canberra, I think the terracotta works well ,with the planting topped with crushed brick to keep cool and reduce weeds (terracotta breathes, black plastic may overheat in late Spring) and the bulbs in pots moved to a cool dry spot over summer (at least that's what I tried this year, Spring will see if it worked!)

Some of the 2010 bulb purchases (Lambley)

Ixia paniculata comes from South Afrlca and grows on damp sandy soils . Needs room (avoid crowding) with max sun and bulb mix soil diluted with sand and some blood and bone (Ref), and a risk of weediness in Western Australia. Pictured in the ABC Gardening Australia bulb profiles.

Ixiolirion tartaricum, the blue Altai lily or Tartar lily,  a native of western Asia from Turkey and Eqypt East to Siberia and Mongolia according to Philips and Rix Bulbs. (Curiously, my Google for this bulb only gave two entries! but a lot under the common name see here). The Lambley label says it is rare in Australia, but easy to grow in hot dry spots (another post says perfect drainiage, and very dry summers, and protection from excessive wet in winter), while elsewhere it says plant at 5-10 cm.

Muscari ambrosiacum. (Pictured left) Lambley label says sun or light shade and can take summer dryness!


Muscari macrocarpum . Lambley label says grow in a spot that is sunny in winter and dry in summer. Fragrant grape hyacinth (bulb bigger than common grape hyacinth).  Native to the Aegean region of Turkey and Greece, growing at 10 to 800 m on mountain rocks and flowering in early Spring (ref)

Tulipa neustruevae The Lambley label says they're from the Tien Shan and Pamir Altai mountains and from relatively warm areas so may also suit Melbourne gardens (as well as Canberra natch) plant in sun or light shade and takes summer dryness! The web says plant 10-20 cm deep in early autumn with blood and bone or bulb booster round the planting hole and in mostly sand to some clay soils. I always think it is good if there are bulbs that can be planted deeper than the usual garden digging! See pic from "Dig the Dirt'...

I'll report progress later in the year!

Gardening in Autumn - 'Lambrigg' Open Garden and Plant Fair 27 3 2010

This is proving to be the wettest Autumn in Canberra for more than 10 years - lawns are actually growing - I was glad that I had decided to reseed and fertilise mine during a rainy day in Summer - because it is now showing the results.

Last weekend, I went to Lambrigg, the former home of William Farrer, known as the "Father of the Australian Wheat Industry" and his wife Nina, as it was open for the first time in more than a decade under the Australian Open Garden Scheme, and was also hosting the AOG's annual Canberra region Plant Fair.

 Nowadays, Lambrigg is the home of Peter and Kate Gullett and Peter grew up there. The garden has been developed over the last half century since the property was purchased in 1949 by Peter's parents. You can view a short interview and video about the garden: here, or read the Canberra Times story. For those with a sense of history, it is possible to walk to the graves of William and Nina Farrer and to stand on the steps in the spot that William Farrer was standing when he died, early in 1906 (but for me there was only time for plants!

It was a great day for plant lovers - a beaut garden, and a host of plant stalls - including stalls by Lambley Nursery from Ascot, Victoria (which specialises in drought and frost tolerant perennials), and by Yamina Rare Plants, as well as specialist hellebore, Clivea, Iris, Dahlia and bulb growers, amongst others, as well as the all important coffee stand and sausage sizzle ( and a stall selling 'glow in the dark' cup cakes - Bring back Anzac biscuits and scones, I say!).

I was pressed for time, so, arriving at opening time, I headed first for the plant stalls. I bought a few plants from Yamina - including the native fern-leaf Polyscias (which grows in a frost free spot outside the NBG Bookshop), Fothergilla major, Nothofagus fuscus (Reed Beech, a NZ evergeeen), Sambucus racemosa plumosa aurea and S. nigra laciniata. I got a range of unusual bulbs from Lambley as well as a couple of perennials. Hope to plant some of them over Easter.

After the plant stalls 'round one', I queued for coffee (along with half a million others), being gallantly made by the guys from one of the ANU cafes. A belated breakfast of bacon and egg sandwich from the Rotary stall, then a visit to the gardena and walk on the homestead verandah.

 
My tour of the garden was fairly quick, but it was a delight to see, and to sit in the shade - no time for the walk to the Graves of William and Nina Farrer, next time perhaps.Thanks to all involved in organising this great event!