Presentation: The Incredible Nature of Brazil by Tracy Foster

 

Presentation: The Incredible Nature of Brazil

Tracy Foster is a frequent speaker at Friday Forum. As well as being a garden designer winning Golds at Chelsea, she is a botanical guide and gives lectures on cruise ships.

This time, Tracy gave us a fascinating insight into the plants and animals of Brazil, from where most of the species of plants originate, thought to be well in excess of 46,000.

We learnt about the Brazil tree, after which the country is named, which produces nuts but also wood for making violin bows and dyes. Living in the Atlantic Forest, the tree needs the special bees to pollinate it. The very heavy fruit which resembles a coconut can be dangerous to collect, especially on a windy day! It is propagated by the rodent Agouti which can chew the thick skinned fruit to get to the seed and disperse it.

Tracy also showed photos of the work of the world famous Brazilian landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx whose stunning signature style uses local plants and mosaic pavements

Display Table

Carol brought Nandina domestica (heavenly bamboo) and Leatris spicata

Sue calls her arrangement Three of a kind and comprises

Persicaria: Blackfield, Orange Field and J S Caliente

Penstemon: Threave Pink, Elgar Enigma and Pinifolia

Crocosmia: Limpopo, Okavango and Severn Sunrise

Kate brought: Ceratostigma willmottianum, Anemone “Dreaming Swan”, Eurybia x herveyi (Aster macrophyllus “Twilight”), Persicaria “September Spires”, Phlox “The King” and Monarda “Deep Purple”

Judith’s arrangement includes: Euphorbia stricta with its dark red stems, the annual Hibiscus trionum, Cynoglossum, Gladiolus papilio Ruby, Senna (Colutea), Crocosmia Paul’s Good Yellow, Phlox, Phytolacca laka boom and Everlasting flower

John brought a container of new Streptocarous sprouting from a leaf

Norma brought a caterpillar of the Box Tree Moth, Cydalima perspectalis, which has come over from Asia to attack our plants!

We had lots of plant on the Sales Table 

Gardening Matters

Here are some upcoming flower shows:

 

Admission

Adults £1 or by membership card

Children under 16 free

Refreshments (available until 3.00 pm )

Raffle, Plants, Calendars, Greeting Cards,

Tombola, Cacti/Succulents, Jams/Chutney

Next Meeting

6^th September – Bulb Bonanza. Hyacinth bulbs will be distributed to members to grow at home. We will also be discussing our favourite bulbs so do bring along any catalogues you have.

Garden Visit to Prospect House in Burton Leonard

It was a warm, sunny day for our visit to Cathy Kitchingman’s delightful and excellently maintained garden at Prospect House in the North Yorkshire village of Burton Leonard.

Cathy talked us through the various areas of this all season garden and patiently answered our endless questions.

We saw shady beds beneath the old trees, beds themed by colour, an ornamental pond, cutting patch and potting shed.  The soil is in tiptop conditions thanks to four compost bins and farmyard manure.  Cathy's friend, Georgina, and a couple of young people help with the garden.  All suitable plants are "Chelsea chopped" and Cathy is always looking for ways to improve the planting and every few years may completely redo a bed or border.

Parts of the house date back to 1785.  The border in front of the house was widened and is planted up with mainly white plants with some annuals added and are repeated along the length. We had delicious refreshments here. 

The ornamental pond impressed us with its planting and water quality

Two small, square beds with ornamental pears

The hot border

This border is planted up with blue, pale yellow and silver

This willow arch houses a bug hotel

Edibles and flowers for cutting which are supplied to a local shop

After having to remove a horse chestnut tree from this bed, it is now planted up and edged with Nepeta Walker low junior

The potting shop made us green with envy!  Tools of all kinds covered the walls, there was a wood burning stove and pretty lights.  Personally, I would remove the clock!

The garden is open to the public several times a year. Cathy runs gardening and floristry workshops in her amazing potting shed. 

A really enjoyable afternoon was had by all.  

Garden Matters

Friday Forum member Norma took a photo of this moth she saw in her garden. She found out from an expert that it is the Box Tree Moth, Cydalima perspectalis.

On Google there is lots of information on how to protect your box hedges from this moth from South East Asia which lays its eggs on the box tree. So anyone with box hedges keep an eye open for caterpillars and webbing.

Next Meeting

16^th August – Tracy Foster is giving a presentation: The Incredible Nature of Brazil