Monday, September 23, 2013

THE VEGA BAJA GARDEN CLUB

The September meeting of the Garden Club was opened by Val Duckworth, who welcomed members to the new season of meetings. 

The main speakers for the meeting were Anna and Harrie van Djik. They spoke about three very different plants, all sharing the great benefits to the gardener of being easy to grow, requiring little space, and best of all, giving wonderful results with little work!
The first of these plants, the Dragon Fruit Cactus, Hylocereus Undatus, comes originally from tropical America.  It is a fast growing, climbing cactus with spectacular large white flowers that bloom at night so as to allow pollination by bats!
 The edible fruits are egg shaped and sweet, with a unique perfume. The second plant, Ipomea Alba, otherwise known as the Moonflower, originates from subtropical areas, and is another climbing plant, twining up supports to reach heights over 5 meters.  It is easily propagated from cuttings; three placed at the foot of an obelisk will create a wonderful feature for the evenings. The beautiful white Moonflower blooms are about 12cm across and open very quickly, each one in about two minutes.  In a matter of forty minutes or so about 200 blooms will appear, creating a most spectacular sight.
 The Strawberry Tree, Arbutus Unedo, was the third plant discussed; this lovely slow growing tree does not need pruning, bears small white blossoms, and red berries which take a year to mature, so there are blossoms and fruit at the same time.  The fruits can be made into jams and liqueurs. It is disease resistant in Spain and can manage the dry summers without watering. Anna and Harrie’s excellent and beautifully illustrated talk was very much appreciated.
The Photographic Competition followed, members had been asked to bring in photographs of their own, the theme being,” A Corner of your Garden”.  Many very good photographs were entered. They were judged in two categories, the first being the choice of members and the second the choice of David Stokes, and a small team of expert phtotgraphers, of Costa Blanca Photogenics
David had given members advice about taking good photographs at the June meeting,.
The members’ choice was Ron Harris’ photo, whilst David Phillips’ photograph was the choice of David Stokes. 
The general question and answer time covered the topics of orange trees, oleander and cherry trees. There was the usual raffle of plants.
The next meeting will be held on Monday 7th October at 1.45 for a 2.00pm start, at Los Rosales Restaurant on the CV895 Lemon Tree Road, Campo de Gaurdamar.     If you are interested in gardening and would like to attend the meeting, you will be assured of a warm welcome.
For further information, please contact Val Duckworth, tel. 966 716 527

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