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Big crowds enjoyed the first day of the huge Plant Collector’s Fair in western Sydney today.
Obviously its absence from our 2012 calendars had built up demand as many were clamouring to get in more than an hour before the official starting time of 8am. Nurseries were reporting brisk trade as many plant enthusiasts found longed-for treasures and unusual bargains.
Plant collectors had come from far and wide, including Brisbane, Adelaide and all over country NSW to visit their favourite nurseries and buy a huge range of plants from tropical to cool climate, and desert to rainforest. Bromeliads, bamboo, Australian natives, perennials, cactus, edibles, bulbs, water plants – I don’t think it is humanly possible to go to this fair and not buy anything.
It was great to see so many different types of gardeners too!
And my haul? A deep red Gaillardia, half an orange salvia (well I had to share it with Peter Whitehead), a beautiful brom, Melastoma affine, Megaskepasma, Tibouchina heteromalla, Barleria and Ajania. Yes!
An excellent turn out to the newly transferred location of Hawkesbury Race Club Clarendon, while a clear trade off against the more pleasant delights of Peta & Peter Trahar’s Bilpin garden, certainly offered easy parking, toilets and fast food and plenty of room for everyone around the stalls .. Blinded by the delights on offer at busy points of sale everywhere, I could easily have missed these more prosaic considerations … species hippeastrum, Jungle Cactus (epiphyllum) of every kind, worsleya, stapelia gigantia, rhipsalis, exceptional bromeliad genii & species forms & hybrids, manfreda, senicio barbertonicus, many brunsvigia species and other amarylids, rosa sinensis ‘One Thousand Lights’, many ruelias, gloxinia species & other gesneriads for the garden, holmskioldia and excellent non invasive clump forming bamboos just the tip of the “planty”
iceberg… :0
CPF is THE destination for high interest and certainly going some way to closing the chasm of interest at “all under one roof” retailers of mass produced blaaaa, by giving the gardening public what they really want !!
Well done organizers Peta & Peter Trahar and Beth Stokes for keeping the bar high & especially extending to Guest Speakers like Rod & Rachel Saunders all the way from Silverhill Seeds in South Africa – very kool.
We were thrilled with the response to the 8th Collectors’ Plant Fair held at Clarendon in the historic Hawkesbury district – easy for Sydneysiders and surrounding country gardeners. It was a great weekend. Rachel Saunders’ presentation on Sunday re seed collecting was one of the best I’ve heard. Thank you Peter Nixon for your enthusiastic response to CPF. My haul of plants included Calliandra portoricensis – apparently according to the Friends of the Gardens becoming very scarce….and an Agave geminifolia. Ours has sent up a 2 metre flower head and may die. A replacement has been secured. The Fair will be on again in 2014 – not too many sleeps!!
Peta Trahar
PS The dates for next year’s Collectors’ Plant Fair are 12th and 13th April, again at the Hawkesbury Race Club, Clarendon…….we’re working on it now!
Peta Trahar
Hi Peter and Peta, Wonderful day congratulations to you both and all the helpers, we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Lovely saying hello to you again Peter, love to Peta Gai englefield xxxxxxxxx