Gardening in a Cool Climate: 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.