Page 2 of 6

Re: 'Places to Visit in the UK' forum?

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 10:27 am
by EddieA
Thanks everybody for getting this going!
Well a Google map and a forum for pics seems to be the best way to go about it.
Bill
Where can we put it?
I thought that each entry should be a separate thread under a 'places to visit in the UK' topic sticky. or maybe even on the main index? As long as it's always easy to find instead of having a moveable thread somewhere that people have to keep track of.
What do people think is the best way to deal with nurseries and commercial institutions?
Originally I thought of just places to visit as 1) gardens or exhibitions. and then, 2) I liked the idea of Mike P who suggested including
those people who have collections and sell a few plants but do not really have a commercial nursery.(They tend to be the hardest to track down)
.
Each entry should include contact details, opening dates and times too.
However if we include all nurseries, garden centres and retail outlets both the topic and the Google map are going get extremely cluttered. I think that would take us too far away from the original concept and too much information might mean people were less inclined to use it.
Maybe at the top of the Forum we should have a sticky pointing to a list of commercial nurseries and use 'Places To Visit In The UK' for categories 1 and 2, above.
I think the sticky should also include links to the Google maps listed above (nurseries and BCSS brnches, as these are also places to visit)
What do people think?
Are we agreed that each place has it's own topic? If so do we just start a post under the main heading and include our photos in-line?
I was hoping to ask Iain of ' 'Is there a Cactus House near you?' fame to get the ball rolling as his thread inspired me to start this in the first place.
Eddie

Re: 'Places to Visit in the UK' forum?

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 11:34 am
by DaveW
An international guide would be nice for Europe at least for people on holiday, both nurseries, botanical Gardens and even any collections open by prior appointment would be welcome. Dirk's map is a step forward, but some areas seem totally barren of cactus interest, although cactus and succulent societies supposedly exist in those countries and they are ideal cactus growing areas?

I noted when I was on the Costa del Sol there was nowhere for a cactophile to visit, as Dirks map shows, apart from the Botanical Gardens at Gibraltar and in the other direction not until El Eijdo, a 305km stretch by coastal motorway according to Google Maps. I am surprised the Spanish Society does not seem to cover the Costa Del Sol at all and the society link on Cactus Mall did not seem to reach anybody?

From El Eijdo on there seems more for the cactophile, but the length of the Costa del Sol arrowed from where I stayed inland from Velez Malaga (marked with a cross) seems to be devoid of nurseries or collections, even though many British ex pats live on that coast and thousands visit it every year?
MAP.jpg
Perhaps all the cactus societies could get together and provide similar guides for their own countries on the lines of Dirk's map?

DaveW

Re: 'Places to Visit in the UK' forum?

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 12:15 pm
by EddieA
DaveW
Perhaps our one will set the ball rolling and encourage other European societies to follow.
If we were to do Europe I hope it would be a separate thread from the UK one.
Alternatively we could do UK and if it's a success expand it to Europe?
Eddie

Re: 'Places to Visit in the UK' forum?

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 1:22 pm
by Bill
We can't include commercial nurseries in any way or form apart from those that advertise in the Journal for whom there is already a webpage and googlemap. This does not preclude recommending places in response to questions.

Bill

Re: 'Places to Visit in the UK' forum?

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 5:08 pm
by bcss
Here is a possible one for your list:

http://www.manornursery.net/page/manor_nurseries_cacti

Re: 'Places to Visit in the UK' forum?

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:14 pm
by Paul D
The one which started this thread, the Aberdeen Duthie Park Winter Gardens, now called the David Welch Winter Gardens, has a website at http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/parks/po ... tergdn.asp.
It's not much of a website but if anyone wants more info there are a few folk on the forum that know it well (including me).
How do we go about setting up a map?

Re: 'Places to Visit in the UK' forum?

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 9:00 pm
by Bill
Paul D wrote: How do we go about setting up a map?
Patience Paul, I'll set it all up at the weekend, what I need is stuff to populate it with.

So far we have:

Aberdeen
Manor Nurseries
poss Chester Zoo
Ness gardens Wirral
Kew & Wisley
Eden
Winterbourne Gardens
Poss welsh mountain Zoo,, they used to have a small but nice collection in the tortoise house, I'll need to check if it's still there
Treborth Gardens

Bill

Re: 'Places to Visit in the UK' forum?

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:45 am
by Paul D
There is also an excellent collection at the Kibble Palace, Glasgow Botanic Gardens:

http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/residents/ ... ration.htm

Re: 'Places to Visit in the UK' forum?

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 8:12 am
by Iain
Once Bill sets up the map, I'd be happy to supply photos of Aberdeen (the David Welch Winter Gardens collection). I'm going on holiday this weekend so it may have to wait 10 days though. Still hoping to stumble across collections in the Salisbury / New Forest area.....succulent detectors initialised and ready to scan. :geek:

Re: 'Places to Visit in the UK' forum?

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 9:00 am
by Tony R
An excellent new display of mature plants can be seen at Capel Manor College EN1 4RQ. This display bed has been constructed this year by members of the BCSS Lea Valley Branch (particularly Roger Day - "Well done, Roger!") and students of the college. See:

http://www.bcss-leavalley.co.uk/CapelManordis.html