BCSS - Forum

Thanks Peter,

That would be interesting

I understand Brian Lamb's private collection is also on that coast, no doubt nearer to the Gibraltar Botanical Gardens where he works, but I don't think it is open to the public. Evidently he transported the bulk of Edgar Lamb's former Exotic collection to his new home there when he moved to Spain.

DaveW

A great garden in general is Yorkgate, a private garden managed by Perrenial, which is the new name for the Royal Gardeners Benevolent Society

York Gate Address

Back Church Lane,
Adel
Leeds
LS16 8DW

Entrance times and conditions at http://www.perennial.org.uk/york_gate_i ... ation.aspx

It has a small greenhouse with cacti and succulents recently taken over by a keen volunteer with some unusual South African succulents. The whole garden is well designed and beautifully kept. There are plants for sale.

The RHS handbook mentions CAE HIR (Gerddi Cae Hir Gardens), Cribyn, Lampeter, Ceredigion, SA48 7NG, as having a bonsai enclosure also a cacti collection.

Has anybody been there? It's of interest to me just now because Mrs T and I are off to South Wales next week.

http://www.caehirgardens.com

Is there any scope for including people who are willing to let guests peruse their private collections? If my rubbish collection was worth looking at, I'd love visitors. I thoroughly enjoy looking at even the most modest of collections, so long as the collector is receptive and happy to chat (and provide lots of freebies in the form of cuttings, seeds and "spares" Oh, and the odd gin and tonic

Very good idea, I say.

DaveW wrote: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?

DaveW

Unfortunately many countries don't have/have never had a 'National Cactus Society' like ours and this includes Spain. All that exist are a few local clubs which tend to be relatively short lived. Even in France and Italy where the hobby is quite strong the societies are fragmented and tend not to cover the whole country. This makes information gathering difficult, but even more valuable if we can document places of interest and keep it up to date.

Nurseries are a slightly different problem. It must be remebered that to operate in some European countires, unlike the UK, nurseries have to be licenced. This makes it much more problematic for small start-up nurseries or people operating sales 'part-time'. In so far as they exist they tend not to want too much publicity to draw attention to themselves. There is also the factor that larger wholesale nurseries operating in these areas tend to discourage visitors so also don't advertise their existance.

Tony Mace

Asclepiad Stevo wrote:Is there any scope for including people who are willing to let guests peruse their private collections? If my rubbish collection was worth looking at, I'd love visitors. I thoroughly enjoy looking at even the most modest of collections, so long as the collector is receptive and happy to chat (and provide lots of freebies in the form of cuttings, seeds and "spares" Oh, and the odd gin and tonic

Very good idea, I say.

Yes there is Steve.

I must apologise this isn't up and running yet too much going on that the forum & website has had to take a bit of a back seat however, things are getting better and after ELK I'll get to work putting this together.

Excellent, thanks Bill. Us cactophiles must meet more often.

Apicra wrote:Of course, Birmingham Botanical Gardens have a decent c&s greenhouse open for public access, near where the BCSS has held many shows:

http://www.birminghambotanicalgardens.o ... arid-house

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble,
Horrow Branch

I visited the Birmingham Botanical Gardens two weeks ago and as luck would have it the arid house was semi-closed as the collection is being rejigged. When I told them I had come specially to see it, they let me in but the display is not in the best of condition at present.

Rod

What ever happened to this project? hope it didn't die! I'de love to go on a grand tour of england and visit everyones collections

Some branches hold open house days, but I don't really know how they work. There's one on the Bradford Branch calendar for Sunday 1st July. I assume it's for people who have collections living quite close together?